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"Oh, I'm very sorry. I don't know anything about all that."
"You've had your little joke. I trust you enjoyed it. Mord, take him back to the dungeon. But this time find a smaller cell, with a steeper floor."
"Lysa..." Catelyn couldn't help but be disappointed in her sister. She was always a little petulant, but this is something else entirely.
"Remind me to have words with my wife about how we serve justice in the Vale" Jon Arryn said to no one in particular. The anger in his eyes though cut through everyone.
"Is this how justice is done in the Vale? you accuse me of crimes, I deny them, so you throw me in a cell to freeze and starve? Where is the King's Justice? I'm accused and demand a trial."
"If you're tried and found guilty, then by the king's own laws you will pay with your life."
"I understand the law."
"We have no executioner in the Eyrie. Life is more elegant here. Open the Moon Door."
[Several men begin unwinding a giant crank on one side of the room. In between Tyrion and the raised throne is what looks like a well. The well's floor begins to open and wind comes howling through.]
Those who had not seen the moon door before leaned forward with curiosity.
"You want a trial, my Lord Lannister. Very well. My son will listen to whatever you have to say, and you will hear his judgement. Then you will leave, by one door or the other."
"No need to bother Lord Robin. I demand a trial by combat."
[Subdued laughter fills the room, Catelyn and Lysa exchange looks.]
"You have that right."
[Multiple knights come forward to volunteer as champions. But one knight does not. Lysa's eyes catch his.]
"Ser Vardis... You're quiet. Did you want to avenge my husband?"
"With all my heart, my Lady. But the Imp is half my size. It would be shameful to slaughter such a man and call it justice."
"Agreed."
"You demanded a trial by combat."
"Now I demand a champion. I have that right, same as you."
"My Lady, I would gladly fight the Imp's champion for you."
"Ser Vardis would be a tough champion to beat" Jon Arryn muttered to himself.
"I wouldn't be too glad, ser. I name my brother, Jaime Lannister."
"But perhaps not tough enough" Jon Arryn sighed.
[The room shudders.]
"The Kingslayer is hundreds of miles from here."
"Send a raven for him, I'm happy to wait."
"The trial will be today."
"Lady Arryn wishes to be done with this swiftly" Doran commented out loud, "at the expense of the accused's preferred champion."
Jon Arryn narrowed his eyes, not at Doran Martell but at his wife's image. She was being too hasty in this matter, and something told Jon that it was not because she wished to be rid of the Lannister.
"Do I have a volunteer?"
[Again, the majority of the room laughs quietly.]
"I'll stand for the dwarf."
"Look at that brother, you've made a friend" Jaime chuckled.
"Remind me to find this man when we return, brother. I would like to befriend him." Tyrion said to his brother.
[In the throne room of King's Landing. Ned sits upon the throne as a fill-in for Robert, as he is the Hand of the King. Baelish is at his right and Grand Maester Pycelle to his left. The room is filled with people.]
"You're looking like royalty sitting on that thing" Lyanna teased.
"I could do without it," Ned said stiffly. He wasn't all too thrilled with seeing himself on that blasted thing.
"They burned most everything in the Riverlands, our fields, our granaries, our homes. They took our women and then they took 'em again. When they was done, they butchered them as if they was animals. They covered our children in pitch and lit them on fire."
Everyone winced, some outright gasping and sobbing at the story the man told. Who could do something so cruel and disgusting?
"Brigands, most likely."
"They weren't thieves, they didn't steal nothing. They even left something behind, your Grace."
"It's the King's Hand you're addressing, not the king. The king is hunting."
[A second man walks forward and empties a sack onto the floor. It's a pile of fish.]
"Ah," Tyrion said in realization and feeling slightly bad. "My father's retaliating."
"He'd go to such lengths? All for arresting you?" Catelyn asked in shock.
"He's ready to do worse, Lady Stark. You dared to throw dirt at House Lannister by arresting me. My father is not the most loveable father, but he will not sit quietly if anyone insults the House. He is capable of worse, trust me on that."
"The sigil of House Tully."
[Whispers to Ned]
"Isn't that your wife's House - Tully - my Lord Hand?"
"These men, were they flying a sigil?... A banner."
"None, your... Hand. The one who was leading them... Taller by a foot than any man I've ever met, saw him cut the blacksmith, saw him take the head off a horse with a single swing of his sword."
"Always hm spearheading these atrocities" Oberyn spat venomously.
"Strange isn't it? How Gregor seems to do the same thing over and over again?" Doran questioned.
"What do you mean?" Elia questioned.
"Gregor threatened to cut Ser Renly and then Sandor in half after he lost the tilts, and he did slice the head of his horse clean off."
""An animal like him will do what he does best, over and over again" Oberyn waved them both off from overthinking it.
But Elia was thinking, and she was doing so with her elder brother.
"[Whisper] That sounds like someone we know. The Mountain."
"You're describing Ser Gregor Clegane."
"Why should Ser Gregor turn brigand? The man is an anointed knight."
"A dog is a dog, no matter by what name you call him" Oberyn muttered in disgust.
"I've heard him called "Tywin Lannister's mad dog." I'm sure you have as well. [whispering to Ned] Can you think of any reason the Lannisters might possibly have for being angry with your wife?"
Oberyn blinked and then narrowed his eyes.
"All of this sounds a little too convenient, no?" Margaery Tyrell commented. "You have Ser Jaime attacking Lord Stark so brazenly, and now you have Lord Tywin doing the same but to a whole region of the Kingdom."
"Father rarely sees right from wrong if he perceives an insult," Tyrion told her bluntly. "This is not surprising."
"Of course, Lord Tyrion," Margaery said smiling.
Joanna frowned. She agreed with her youngest that Tywin was capable of this. Yet young Margaery's comment did make her wonder.
"If the Lannisters were to order attacks on villages under the king's protection, it would be -"
"It would be almost as brazen as attacking the Hand of the King in the streets of the capital."
"I cannot give you back your homes or restore your dead to life. But perhaps I can give you justice in the name of our king, Robert. Lord Beric Dondarrion.
[Beric Dondarrion steps from the back of the room forward.]
"You shall have the command. Assemble 100 men and ride to Ser Gregor's keep."
"As you command."
[Ned stands up with the assistance of a cane. He steps forward.]
Catelyn winced at seeing her husband this vulnerable. He wouldn't be able to protect himself with his leg like that.
The guilt hit her hard.
"In the name of Robert of the House Baratheon, the First of his Name, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, I charge you to bring the king's justice to the false knight Gregor Clegane and all those who shared in his crimes. I denounce him and attaint him. I strip him of all ranks and titles of all lands and holdings, and sentence him to death."
"Perhaps it would have been wiser to summon Ser Gregor and Lord Tywin to answer for the accusations" Jon Arryn said pointedly.
"And have Lord Tywin say the same thing he did when asked to answer for the murders of Rhaegar's children?" Ned challenged.
"He is still a high Lord and a Warden at that. You do not want to give him more cause to make his atrocities worse than he's already making it." Jon Arryn said
"How much worse can he get than raping and killing innocents?" Ned asked
Jon Arryn did not have an answer to that.
Ned Stark took it as his victory.