[Chapter Size: 1500 Words.]
---------------------------------------
The two then discussed some final details before Tyrion departed with his men.
Once Tyrion had left, Schiller immediately wrote a letter, tied it to a raven's leg, and sent it to Riverrun, requesting support.
The fine weapons looted from Riverrun could be sent back to the Iron Islands, while the worn arms could be redirected to King's Landing for secondary use, avoiding waste.
Upon returning to the Red Keep, Tyrion began at once to prepare for reorganizing its garrison. He needed to secure control of King's Landing's forces as quickly as possible. He did not trust the Cult of the Sun.
In his eyes, Theon was an utterly treacherous villain, a man without a shred of credibility.
Thus, Tyrion set his sights first on Janos Slynt, the greedy upjumped knight who had been made a lord without the slightest sense of honor.
Gods, who would ever raise such a man to command the capital's garrison?
That evening, Tyrion summoned Janos Slynt, who arrived cheerfully, convinced that Tyrion meant to flatter him.
After all, every new Hand of the King who came to King's Landing always concerned himself first with the commander of the City Watch.
Tyrion sat at the head of the table, with Janos seated at his left.
"What a luxurious feast!" said Janos. Though he loved coin, he was not overly fond of personal extravagance. What he enjoyed most was the feeling of piles of gold dragons stacked safely at home.
Many lords, of course, hoarded dragons in their keeps, hardly an uncommon vice among the nobility.
"Perhaps you should try this wine." Tyrion poured him a cup. "Taste it, Lord Janos."
Janos took a sip and said, "Arbor Isle wine, very fine indeed!"
Tyrion smiled. "As you wish."
"By the way, Lord Janos, tell me, was it your order that your men turned on Stark in the throne room and captured him so suddenly?" Tyrion asked.
Janos was startled. "Aye, it was me. He was a traitor. That was my duty."
"The fool probably never even realized you betrayed him simply because my sister offered you more gold, did he?" Tyrion said with disdain.
"I have my own honor! I will not serve a traitor!"
"Ah, forgive me, Lord Janos, but in my opinion, you have no honor at all."
Tyrion sneered. "If you had the slightest sense of duty or honor, you would never have allowed Theon Greyjoy to carry off two-thirds of King's Landing's food stores!"
The mention of Theon Greyjoy wounded Janos's already fragile pride.
"He commands six thousand men, many of them ironborn, and the king himself trusts him. That is beyond my say!"
Tyrion shook his head in disbelief, setting down his cup. "But behind you stands the Queen Regent, Cersei Lannister!
If you and my sister had the faintest respect for King's Landing, you would have stopped Theon from seizing two-thirds of the city's food!
But instead, you looked the other way, stripping our people of sustenance for the sake of your own grasping rights!"
Janos rose, indignant. "Had we tried to stop Theon Greyjoy, he would have taken the city by force, and the garrison is already stretched thin!"
"Theon Greyjoy could never have seized it by force. He is a hundred times shrewder than you, greedy, ignorant, short-sighted geese that you are," Tyrion spat.
Janos was no match for Tyrion in words.
At the sting of Tyrion's scorn, Janos pointed furiously at him. "You're drunk, dwarf! Do you think I'll sit here and let you shame me?"
He glared at Tyrion, as though ready to attack him at any moment.
"Dwarf? By the grace of the Seven, that's a dreadful insult, Lord Janos! But you will sit here and let me shame you, or else my friends will." Tyrion turned his gaze to Bronn.
Janos looked at Bronn, who only smiled and nodded, making clear he would indeed handle matters.
Janos's lips moved, but no words came. He knew his own worth.
At last, he managed only to say coldly: "I shall report tonight's events to the Queen Mother. Just you wait."
"Ah, but now you have broken the laws of the Seven Kingdoms. You betrayed the former Hand and stand accused of taking bribes. Therefore, you are sentenced to exile upon the Wall!"
"What?" Janos was stunned, unable to react at first.
"Guards!" Tyrion barked toward the door.
Two Lannister guards entered at once, seized Janos, and had him put on a ship that very night, bound from Blackwater Bay to the Wall.
Watching Janos shout that he had powerful patrons, Tyrion could only sigh, thinking bitterly that all his supposed allies were fools.
Slynt was, without question, a cruel man.
Born low, he had clawed his way into the post of City Watch commander through shady dealings with Petyr Baelish, out of Robert's sight.
Later, during the incident in King's Landing, he had deserted to Cersei and been granted the title of Lord of Harrenhal.
Yet the lordship was hollow: no power, no true lands, no loyal bannermen. Nothing but an empty title.
Thus Tyrion had dismissed him on a single pretext, and there was nothing Janos could do to resist.
Tyrion poured a cup of wine and handed it to Bronn. "A toast to you, the new Commander of the Goldcloaks, Lord Bronn!"
Bronn grinned as he accepted Tyrion's wine.
…
Riverrun, the Riverlands.
Theon lay atop the city wall, propping his chin with one hand as he looked down wearily at his foster brother Robb, who was still shouting insults from below.
"Does he never tire?" Theon muttered to Ulmer Goldhand.
When he turned and saw Goldhand's face twisted with fury, Theon suddenly realized how deeply these men valued honor and family.
Goldhand was near to bursting. "How can he speak so of you, Your Grace? It was his father who took you hostage, yet now he dares claim he welcomed you into his hall? Seven hells, I'll take his head myself!"
Theon quickly raised his hand to stop Goldhand, who was already reaching for his sword. Speaking gravely, he said: "I am King of the Iron Islands. I must think of you, and of all the Ironborn. We cannot fight now.
We have enough provisions to withstand a siege and wait while Tywin clashes with the Northmen. So long as we hold Riverrun, we still have a chance to retake the Riverlands and restore the glory of our ancestors."
Goldhand was a man of fierce loyalty, famed even among the Ironborn for his honor.
"But Your Grace," he protested, "I cannot bear to let him dishonor you so. I must kill him!"
Theon seized Goldhand's head in both hands and fixed him with a hard stare. "Listen, Ulmer. Robb commands at least five thousand horse. We have no more than five thousand foot, half of them green boys who have only just seen blood.
My foster brother wishes me to leave these walls and fight, so that he can reclaim Riverrun! I will never give him that chance. I will not see you risk your life for nothing. Go back to your post and stay there."
Goldhand pursed his lips but said nothing more. At last, he turned away in silence.
Watching him leave, Theon sighed. Goldhand's reliability and sense of honor made him invaluable. But that same devotion to glory made him reckless, too eager to fight to the death, without thought for the consequences.
A fine general perhaps, but no commander.
Then Theon looked down again at Robb, who still raged below, calling him villain and traitor. Theon wondered whether he could wield the same tricks he had once used to defend his family in Pyke, whether he might provoke Robb into a fatal mistake at Riverrun's gates.
Robb's skill in battle could not be denied. Even armed with every stratagem of the Thirty-Six, Theon knew he could not match Robb in open combat. After all, Theon also understood the folly of "war upon parchment."
Taking up a brass war-horn, Theon shouted down to him: "Brother Robb! I have already sent ravens to Lord Tywin with word of your whereabouts. If you do not return at once, Roose Bolton will be destroyed!"
It was true that Theon had sent a message to Tywin by raven, though no reply had come. Still, the threat alone might unsettle Robb.
And unsettle him it did, Robb's face darkened. Though he had received a letter from Roose only yesterday claiming that Tywin's host had made no unusual movement, Robb dared not take the risk.
His forces were stretched thin, and one ill-timed upheaval might ruin him.
—————————
Author's Note:
If you're enjoying the story and wish to support me, you can visit my P-@-t-r-3-0-n, where you can read 50+ extra chapters ahead!
Thank you so much for your support. It means the world! 💙😊
P-@-T -r-3-0-n [.] com / DylanBriak