Chapter 111: The situation in Riverlands
A/N: Hey guys,
Here's today's first chapter.
For every two new pàtreons, I will upload one more chapter the next day.
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Enjoy.
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The following day, they followed Edward's plan, and Robert announced his claim to the throne. The old fox, Hoster Tully, wanted to stop Jon and Lysa's marriage and wed his daughter to Robert. He saw it as a great chance. If this rebellion succeeded, Robert would be the king of the six kingdoms, and he would be Robert's father by law. But after remembering Edward's letter, he dismissed this plan. He could not afford to anger Edward and Jon for this plan.
Edward's movements down in the south had reached him. He knew what Edward did to the houses that rebelled against him, and every time he remembered it, he would shudder from fear. He did not know why Edward had such a negative opinion about his house. The most thing that made him afraid at the moment was Edward's threat. He feared that if he did not take the chance and wed his daughters to Ned and Jon, Edward would really move north and took Riverlands by killing him.
Not only Hoster Tully heard about this news, but Jon and Ned also did. Ned found it hard to accept what Edward did as killing women and children in such a way was against his principles. He was an honorable man and would never do the same thing that Edward did. As for Jon, he also did not expect Edward to pull something like that. Jon remembered Edward's warning before Edward left Gulltown and could only sigh. It was Edward's kingdom, so he could do whatever he wanted. He was also shocked by the amount of land that Edward managed to take from the Reach and Crownlands and found it hard to think of an explanation to House Tyrell. But they moved against them, and this should be their punishment.
Before the wedding ceremonies could begin in Riverrun, the group heard about what had happened to The Crown's army that moved south to take Storm's End. They also heard about the new army that The Crown prepared to attack them, so they started to prepare to intercept Jon's army and decided to delay the wedding ceremonies till they defeated Jon and his army.
Back to Edward, who finally reached Tubleton, he was having a meeting with his men. When he arrived, he was greeted by Stannis and all the other groups. Edward could see that everyone was here except Clinn. Clinn should arrive the next day.
"What is our situation, Flip?" Asked Edward as he looked at Flip. Flip was the last one to take the town Edward entrusted him to take. Well, Goldengrove was under the control of House Rowan, the fourth-strongest house in The Reach. If Flip did not play it well and persuaded Lord Rowan to Join them, Edward did not see how Flip would take down the castle in a year.
"After Lord Rowan joined us, he sent three thousand men to help us. With three thousand men from the four other groups, we would have twelve thousand. I left four thousand to help Lord Rowan if the Lannister attacked. So with your men and Clinn's, we would have nearly thirty-four thousand men. The rest is protecting the castle we took and besieging Highgarden." Said Flip, giving Edward a detailed explanation about the available men and the location of the others. He went through the losses as well. Flip knew Edward's personality the most and knew what Edward wanted to hear, so he started recounting the situation.
"Good." Nodded Edward after hearing Flip's words.
"We would have our meeting after Clinn arrives with the rest of the men tomorrow, so take a rest, everyone. We would march north soon. Stannis, stay. I want to talk to you." Said Edward as he looked at everyone before shifting his gaze to Stannis.
Everyone nodded their heads and bowed a little before taking their leave. Only Stannis and Edward stayed in the tent. Stannis could only look at Edward's back to see what he wanted to talk about as he was curious.
"Take your seat, Stannis." Said Edward to Stannis, who stood to bid farewell to the rest earlier.
After Stannis took his seat, Edward took to cups and poured some wine in the cups. He knew that Stannis did not drink, but he was a little happy to achieve some of his plans and could not help but want to celebrate with Stannis. Stannis tried to refuse, but Edward insisted.
"I will probably march north tomorrow, but you will stay here." Said Edward as he drank some wine from the cup while looking at Stannis.
After hearing his brother's words, Stannis's expression changed. Of course, he wanted to participate in the battles as he saw that it was the only way to gain some achievements for himself. He was about to retort Edward when Edward caught him to it.
"Don't give that face. I have another mission for you. I want you to defend Stormsland and the new lands that we took. The old fox, Tywin Lannister, did not make a move till now, and I am afraid if we took everyone north, he would attack. Plus, I have a mission for you in Dorne. If they decided to side with the crown, I want you to let their armies pass without attacking them. After that, I will leave nine thousand men with you her, take them and take Kingsgrave and Skyreach." Said Edward as he looked at Stannis with determination. Till this moment, Edward did not know the real intentions of Tywin Lannister. He knew that Tywin was waiting for his chance to attack King's Landing without losing any soldiers. He wanted to let the others fight while he reaped the benefits. But could Edward role out the possibility that Tywin might make his move against him? The man was an old fox who was preparing for this war since Edward told him the news. Edward knew that Tywin had increased the whole army of Westerland to nearly seventy-five thousand. Tywin's army outnumbered Edward's and was a well-trained army as well, not like the Reach's. Plus, Edward lost about four thousand men in this war till this moment.
After hearing what his brother said, Stannis knew that what his brother said made sense. His brother would think of every possible scenario that might affect his plan. But Stannis was still a little reluctant. He did not know why Edward did not ask this request to one of his men and asked him instead.
"Why did not you ask one of your men or the other lords to do so?" Asked Stannis as he did not want to be left behind. He looked at his brother for an explanation.