Chapter 136 - Artican Trade in Westeros 63 (Return to Artica 04).
[Chapter Size: 3200 Words.]
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Thrid Person POV
Westeros, 295 AC.
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The ships had left, fleeing with their unconscious king on one of the ships while some of the ships returned to check on the king's situation, heading defeated to Dragonstone.
Jaime was arriving at the ship at this moment in the city with his own father, who made it a point to come here to resolve the mess the Articans are causing chaos in Westeros.
The fleet's ships were already arriving at the port with the owner returning from the fight, while the city was all agitated, after all the news of the terrible defeat at sea spread quickly through the city, with the king falling in battle.
"It seems that the efforts have only left Westeros even weaker..." Tywin said with a dissatisfied tone as he walked through the streets of Kingsland with his guards as they approached Redkeep.
The city seemed to have a somber climate, but without problems until they reached the fortress, while they were greeted by Lannister men, the city was full of them, since Tywin and Cersei were wanting to place more power of their house there.
"It seems that there is no one to receive us..." Tywin said with a dissatisfied tone, as a royal guard approached him at the entrance.
"Lord Tywin, Ser Jaime... It's good to see that you are well." The man said with a respectful tone to Tywin, despite not having the same with Jaime, after all, he was the kingslayer, a reputation not very favorable even among the royal guard.
"Where is the hand of the king or my daughter?" Tywin could understand that Robert would not be there after the destruction he caused, but he expected some of them.
"As the king has just arrived, a council meeting was held at this moment while we are trying to control all our losses." The man said.
"So Robert ended up losing..." Jaime was quite surprised by the news that Robert was in the attack, it would be funny to see a man so fat trying to go into combat, he might be the king, but Jaime despised him inside after all these years of humiliation that he and even Cersei suffer from the Baratheon.
"Watch your words, Ser. He is still your king and is alive." The royal guard said with a severe tone.
"Can we go to the council?" Tywin didn't want this to extend despite not liking these words to his son.
The royal guard nodded and began to enter the castle to ask for permission to enter the meeting while the Lannister guards who accompanied the two, stayed outside.
"My king..." One of the royal guards entered the door.
"What now?!" Robert growled at the man, his state was deplorable as he was sitting in a chair with Pycelle tending to his injuries, he had lost some teeth while his two eyes were swollen, one of them not having his vision at the moment.
"Tywin Lannister is here. He wants permission to enter." The guard spoke.
"That old lion is here?! Send him away while we are dealing with more important things!" Robert growled with his usual disdain for the lions.
"Wait, Your Majesty." Jon Arryn said. "Lord Tywin fought the Articans and had some losses, we should let him add his opinions in this meeting." He suggested.
"What did he lose? Saw his lion cub captured and lost some ships, we are talking about the destruction of hundreds of ships! Westeros has just lost all its naval strength to the Articans!" He growled enraged, being more frustrated than rational, but then sighed a little before continuing. "Let it be... Let him in." He said at the end while the royal guard returned.
Tywin entered alone a moment later, with a serious and calculating look, looking at the only ones there, Robert, Pycelle, Jon Arryn, Varys, Stannis, and Barristan, the latter two also being injured, but the king was the worst.
"Lord Tywin;" The hand greeted him... while the others did the same with the exception of the king, Tywin approached and bowed to Robert with the respect deserved by someone of his status.
"Come on old lion, we are in a complicated situation, could you tell me how your ships were destroyed and how your hound turned into an animal without a penis and tongue." Robert mocked frustrated at Tywin, who despite his dangerous glare, stayed silent with the king's insults.
"We are trying to see how we will deal with this threat," Jon Arryn commented.
"I see that the Master of Coin is not present," Tywin observed, and before he could continue, Robert exclaimed,
"That coward ran away after receiving a threat from Ned's son. I swear I'll beat him when I see him!" Robert growled.
"..." Tywin waited for Robert to finish before continuing. "From what I understand... we are in a complicated situation, 400 ships of Westeros were destroyed, striking hard at our forces... but have you come to a conclusion?" he asked.
"We are working on it, Lord Tywin... but as you can see... our forces don't know how to deal with a fleet that can launch wildfire with the strength of 4-meter men... I don't think there is any force in the world that can stop them on water," Varys replied.
"Then don't fight on water... in fact, don't fight at all," Tywin spoke while everyone looked at him curiously, after all, everyone had to admit that he was an excellent commander.
"What do you mean by that?" Stannis spoke, his arm bandaged after being broken with a hammer bigger than his brother uses.
"You know we cannot stay silent after this," Tywin began. "We can send a small force beyond the Wall for them to find Artica," he said.
"But that's madness! Fighting beyond the Wall will be a great loss for Westeros..." Jon Arryn said, fearing more loss of Westeros men like that, fighting beyond the Wall is very bad.
"We should draw him to the south again," Stannis said.
"You're right, but you see, our chances are small like this and I'm sure your majesty would not be happy to use Lord Stark to attract his son, would you?" Tywin said calmly while the others thought, but Robert quickly raised his voice.
"Of course not!" he growled.
"Fighting against the Artican kingdom seems very bad... we can send a small force so we do not leave this atrocity unanswered, but we can also make a deal in the end. I heard about the canceled marriage proposal of Arya Stark with my grandson... preferring Sansa Stark, which I think is foolish. But I have another proposal... Reach an agreement where Jon Artica reimburses everything he destroyed from Westeros and propose my granddaughter, Myrcella for a marriage," Tywin spoke.
"Do you wish to make Myrcella a concubine, my lord?!" Pycelle seemed offended by that while Jon Arryn looked strangely.
"I spoke with Jon Artica personally, despite being surprised by his cruelty, he still keeps a good head on his shoulders. I'd rather have my granddaughter being a third wife of a king thus gaining the title of queen of Artica than marrying any house in Westeros... You've seen their military power, their riches, and a boy who became the greatest blade of Westeros so young and knows how to command a kingdom," Tywin said looking at Barristan who also fell to Jon Artica and it should have been easy.
"..." While Jon Arryn and Pycelle did not seem in favor of this, but Robert seemed thoughtful, the suggestion from Tywin was not repulsive. "It can be done..." he said in the end, after all, it was a chance for both parties to reach an agreement in the end and he would have the union of a Stark and a Baratheon too, even more so when his grandchildren could be as powerful as their father, as he personally felt being carried by that inhuman strength.
"My king... you cannot be serious..." Jon Arryn was against the idea of marriage with more than one wife, especially putting his daughter as the third wife of a kingdom that destroyed them and that had a different religion from his.
"Jon, prepare to send letters, a letter to Ned, the Wall, and to all the great houses, I want a small army invading the wild lands, then we'll talk about the marriage." Even Robert understood the importance of sending an army as a response to the north of the Wall, after all, everyone on this continent could think he was afraid of the Articans after what they did, sacrificing a small number of men and then creating a peace agreement between the kingdoms giving his daughter as a bride, was something that could work out very well.
As the meeting continued in detail, Jaime went to his sister's room, only to find that Cersei had not attended the meeting because she was trapped in her room. He approached the place, noticing a royal guard at the door, but he soon spotted something odd—the door was scratched with some type of blade.
Jaime greeted the royal guard and entered, seeing his sister startled by his entrance before closing the door. "Jaime!!!" she screamed, nodding with relief that it wasn't an assassin, as she had been very afraid after all these days.
"It's so good to see you here, Jaime!! You have no idea what I've been through!! There's an assassin after me ever since that savage threatened me!!!" Cersei exclaimed angrily, tears streaming from her eyes, her fear outweighing her anger now.
"Cersei, what happened?" Jaime swallowed hard, remembering Jon Artica's words about wanting to kill his sister.
"I don't know... every time I leave my room the door seems more and more scratched! Sometimes I can hear it being scratched at night... when the guards are changing shifts... I'm scared, Jaime... he's a demon who wants to kill me... I even see birds following me, as if they're watching me... he's spying on me... he also knows about our children!" Each time Cersei exclaimed, she became more horrified, and Jaime frowned, though this last part was not a secret, seeing Cersei in this state made him angry, but what more could he do...
"I know, Cersei... He told me..." Jaime admitted, though he remembered some unpleasant things like Cersei having more lovers, but he chose not to believe it.
"We must kill him!! We can't let him live!! We're in danger!!" She seemed to become hysterical. "Father is here, we must tell him about a faceless assassin immediately!!" She exclaimed rapidly.
"I don't know if that would be possible... you saw how they can destroy any enemy... Westeros cannot fight against them, let alone a faceless assassin..." Jaime didn't believe in victory against Artica after what he had seen, what else might they be hiding beyond the Wall, and from what he had heard in the men's conversations, there were at least several times the number of soldiers than ships.
"Jon Artica said that you tried to capture his wife..." Jaime asked cautiously, wanting to know the truth because the Artican wanted to kill her with so much effort.
"I..." Cersei was a bit cornered by his question. "I did what was necessary," she said, and Jaime for a moment wanted to hit her for this madness, as it triggered her situation.
Jaime was about to speak, but the door opened at that moment with Tywin Lannister entering. "Father!!" Cersei quickly cried out as he approached, crying.
"Stop it, you fool. I already know about your situation... sending a fleet to kill a foreign queen?! I expected more from you, Cersei." Tywin had enough spies to know the whole truth.
"But I did what I had to do!! With her, we would have had the Artican king in our hands!!" She argued.
"You always thought you were smarter than you are... Now let's clean up this mess." Tywin said, going to a glass of wine and drinking it, then turning to his two children afterward.
"If we can't beat him in battle, we can join them... The king and I believe that having Myrcella marry him would be smarter for an alliance," he said.
"NO!!!!" Cersei screamed immediately, while Jaime was surprised.
"It's already decided," Tywin told his daughter.
"Father, you can't be serious about sending Myrcella north of the Wall to marry a savage!!" She exclaimed, while Tywin wanted to slap his daughter.
"That savage is richer than most houses in Westeros and has just brought Westeros to its knees by destroying the largest fleet we had at sea, you fool. It's decided." He spoke, leaving no room for complaint, while Cersei couldn't even leave the room due to her condition.
Elsewhere, Cersei was not the only one afraid of assassins; Baelish was hidden away in a place resembling a bunker or an isolated room in the castle. He had left the city and gone to one of his friends in the crown lands, where he negotiated to stay hidden.
He only received food at the location, while he remained isolated until the assassin would leave, because he had been receiving assassination attempts from a bird that had nearly caught him several times on his way. He was afraid of losing his life, so he simply disappeared to stay here until Jon Artica left, as he knew it was him in that animal.
'Why do you Starks always stand in my way!' Baelish growled with all his might, as a piece of wood in the ceiling opened with a beak appearing and a bird with an iron claw entered the place, eyeing its prey there before swooping down on him.
The Artican fleet continued heading north, passing by White Harbor, ships fleeing from them all the time and some had the Manderly symbol on their sails, but they seemed too afraid to approach them.
"Arya..." Jon called the girl's attention at his side... "You will have to return to Winterfell afterward and then to Essos," Jon said, after all, his sister needed to see her family.
"Yes..." Arya nodded, Jon had wanted her to go see them and stay in Winterfell during this trip some time ago, but Arya did not want to miss going and promised that she would do it after the journey.
With that, they continued cutting through the North Sea, arriving at Skagos weeks after the battle in front of the Sea of Dragonstone. Making the same route they took from Artica, Jon looked at the mountains with interest, feeling if he could sense that dragon he had encountered before.
'I can still feel it there... but it's rejecting my presence... and it's better I do not insist...' Jon thought, after all, he could not fight an enraged dragon with the fleet and without Eragon at his side, wanting to do that later.
"They did not have the courage to come close to the fleet..." Ned Stark was reading a letter from the Manderlys who approached the fleet to request a talk, wanting Jon to come to Winterfell, but the men did not have the courage, not that he could blame them after what happened in the south.
"This is bad, then they are returning beyond the wall and no one can do anything..." Luwin commented beside him, while his lord asked him to come advise him, his wife no longer seemed the right woman to be at his side when it comes to Jon and Arya.
"Jon kidnapped Tywin's son in addition to assaulting two royal guards, killed a bunch of septons and a maester... Plundered Oldtown, destroyed the largest fleet of the Reach, defeated the royal fleet, and defeated Robert in battle..." Ned could not be surprised by all this.
"Things were going so well... I believed everything was going so well..." Luwin commented, he could not have imagined such a scenario with that boy who was usually depressed in Winterfell until his 8 namedays.
"I don't know what to think... This isn't what I taught Jon... but I wanted to talk to him personally... to see what happened from his version." Ned was a man who valued honor above all, but he also cared deeply for his family.
He wanted to know what motivated Jon to commit such crimes... he was still a bit angry, especially taking Arya along with him, now the king wants a meeting with him, and is also asking for a group of soldiers from the great houses to launch an attack beyond the Wall with the Night's Watch as a response of retaliation.
"I'm sure you will find out soon enough, my lord," Luwin commented, offering some support to his lord while Ned nodded.
In the end, Ned stood up and headed to the great hall, where his family awaited his entrance. He looked at Robb, who was holding his 16 namedays, already a man and in a few more years, he would assume Winterfell in his place. Sansa, almost 14 with 13 namedays, was becoming a beautiful woman, and Robert had stated that he wanted her as a bride for his son after canceling the marriage with Arya. Bran, with 11 namedays, was growing up, though he seemed very lonely, and Rickon was quite restless with his nearly 8 namedays. His family was almost complete, except for Jon and Arya.
"Father!! Any news of Jon!!" Bran immediately exclaimed as everyone looked at him curiously. What Jon had done was already public in Winterfell with most looking at him somberly and even fearfully, but Bran seemed to adore what he heard, despite Ned always saying that what Jon was doing was a dishonorable crime. Yet, he still shared some news of Jon and Arya.
Even Robb and Theon no longer insulted Jon after what they heard, seeming to start fearing him. Ned sighed and began to relay some things he had heard, while his wife looked at him like a hawk killing its prey.
Meanwhile, the Artican fleet finally passed the line of the Wall, and Jon felt losing all his connections south of it, as if it were a great barrier stopping his Warg magic, no longer able to see what was happening in Kingsland or any other place in the kingdom.
Once again, the group from Hardhome seemed more than just half a year since they had departed and after following for a few more days, they finally found the channel that would take them back to Artica.
"Finally, we are back!!" Arya exclaimed joyfully.
"Yes... I'll drink to celebrate after getting so sick of so many southerners!!" Tormund exclaimed excitedly.
"We've arrived..." Seryna murmured next to Jon while touching her large belly, as she was a moon away from giving birth to their son.
"Yes... we are finally home..." Jon said in the end, and the ships continued moving, approaching closer to the statue of Jon marking the entrance of Artica, with the year finally turning to 296 AC.
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