[Chapter Size: 2600 Words.]
Third Person POV.
North.
...
...
The journey to Winterfell took no more than just 2 hours, when he descended and had already encountered Lord Glover's entourage in his region as soon as he left the mountains, while they headed south towards Winterfell.
And upon arriving in the Starks' lands, as he had requested, a large group of about 5,000 free folk was advancing north. He had given orders to take the 2,000 Bolton men directly to the Wall.
He continued on until he entered the Winterfell area, lowering the dragon as she flew over the camps outside the castle, before circling Winterfell itself and landing near the entrance, where an area had been prepared for Winter to descend. This had been done in the days when he was taking care of things in the castle.
His men soon greeted him, as he let the dragon return to her nest, and then he proceeded to the gate.
"Hello everyone, I hope you haven't had any problems while I was away." Daemon spoke calmly.
"Leader, there was no problem, except for a man who came to meet you. He says he is a knight from the south." One of the first men to approach commented.
"A knight from the south? That's a little hard to imagine." He murmured, since when he began to conquer the North, it had only been a little over a month since he attacked the Wall... Daemon was a little confused, thinking that perhaps it could be someone coming from White Harbor with his uncle then. After all, his conquest of the North was very recent, there was no way southerners could already be arriving at Winterfell.
"He said his name is... what was his name again?" The man looked a little confused, asking his companion beside him.
"Something Selmy." The companion replied.
"Selmy? Barristan Selmy?" Daemon raised an eyebrow, as the men nodded.
"Yes, that's right, that's the name he said he was." Said the cheerful free folk man that Daemon knew.
Daemon was certainly still confused after that. The man should have been following Cersei's son with Jaime, since the bastard was king, and when he encountered him in King's Landing, the knight seemed quite firm in defending him when Daemon attacked.
And Daemon's words to Selmy could not possibly justify his presence either. Barristan would have no love for Daemon in any way, since Daemon himself had mocked the number of kings he had served throughout his life, as when Robert won the throne, Selmy immediately served him. He should have anger towards Daemon, since Jon had disdain for the man, even though he was Rhaegar's son and heir to the throne.
"All right... let me first organize things and learn everything that happened while I was away. After that, bring the knight to an audience with me when I request it." Daemon said, advancing through the gates.
There, he found the Old Nan along with other servants waiting for him in the middle of the courtyard as the Stark family would for the king or other noble guests.
"Hello, my lady." Daemon did not mind calling her that. "I hope everything went smoothly while I was away." He repeated the same words he had spoken to the free folk man, to her.
The woman looked at him and nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty, we had no problems."
Daemon inclined his head in approval, as he looked at the other servants who bowed before his gaze. His eyes wandered to the corner, where he saw Barristan Selmy himself watching him with a clear intent to step forward and speak directly to him. But Daemon ignored him for a moment and turned to the one he most wanted to speak with.
"Hello, Maester Wolkan. Have we received any letters from the North? I am interested in knowing what the lords have sent to us." Daemon said.
"We received more than a dozen letters in the last few days, Your Majesty. I kept them all so that you could open them. They are still sealed." Wolkan said.
"Very well, I hope they are in my solar. If they are not, I want you to deliver them to me immediately. I am going there right now." Daemon said.
"Yes, my lord. They are already on your desk, and no one has touched them, since the door of the solar has been guarded at all times by your men." The maester informed.
Daemon nodded in satisfaction and entered the castle.
He went straight to the solar and the first thing he did was open his letters, one by one. There were letters from Lady Cerwyn asking about her son. Letters from Lord Howland Reed informing that they had entered Moat Cailin and rescued the women that Daemon had left there with supplies.
There was also information from the men about how they were tending to House Dustin's stronghold, Barrow Hall in Barrowton, since Daemon had asked to be updated occasionally before deciding what to do with that fortress, as the last member of House Dustin was coming to Winterfell to live in the dungeons until trial.
There was still a report from Lord Tallhart's uncle, Leobald Tallhart, who gave some updates on how they were launching attacks against the ironborn in the West together with Tormund and 5,000 free folk, while he was managing Torrhen's Square. The losses were much greater now that Daemon was leading the advance, but there was nothing to be done: men died in war all the time, and Daemon could not be everywhere.
Lord Glover sent a letter thanking him for having helped rid his lands of the ironborn, which was a bit contradictory to how he had dealt with Daemon when he was there, but after seeing the havoc of a dragon against each of the ironborn camps, it was an easy way to change one's mind. He and his men were coming to Winterfell, as Daemon had already seen.
Just like Lady Alys Karstark, who had sent the letter before meeting Daemon on the road after Skagos, and Ned Umber, who was also on his way with his northern men heading south. However, they did not join the tens of thousands of free folk, as their own companions did not feel comfortable with it. They were coming right behind Daemon's army, which was why he had not found them in the camp when he stopped at the entourage.
There was also news of Stannis Baratheon, who had advanced to White Harbor and besieged the city, preventing anyone from leaving to the north, or rather, to Winterfell.
Lord Manderly was trapped, as well as Lord Stark and the men of the Vale in White Harbor, for there were more than 20,000 men at the city gates. They must have been quite desperate after their ships had been destroyed.
Daemon at least expected a member of House Manderly to join Winterfell to decide what to do with the North with all the lords together. But it seemed that Stannis still wanted somehow to keep a few cards up his sleeve against Daemon, since he no longer had much left to bargain with now. As the Manderlys had refused to join Stannis, he had simply surrounded the city and was holding them hostage, even though they could have fled by sea.
The ironborn were practically no longer a problem for the North, but pacifying it was still a challenge. With fewer enemies, Daemon now had to deal with Stannis, his last real challenge in the North, while also figuring out what he should do with the Starks, at the same time he needed some time to gather all the troops of the North, if he wanted to have a united kingdom once and for all behind him.
In any case, things were going quite well. Daemon wrote some replies encouraging his men, such as in the case of Lord Tallhart's uncle, asking him to remain in Torrhen's Square, while his nephew, Benfred, and heir, would represent their house in Winterfell.
Of course, all the houses he had conquered along the way, from the North to the south of the realm, were practically under Daemon's control. The Mormonts were the first, then came the Umbers, the Karstarks, the Boltons didn't count, since they were practically an extinct house. Lord Bolton had fled south and would soon be destroyed, no matter how many children he might father along the way until his ruin — the Boltons would never again exist in the North.
The Cerwyns and the Tallharts were also with him, while the Hornwoods and the Dustins were practically extinct as well, needing someone else to be put in their place.
He only needed to secure the loyalty of the other lords who were not yet fully at his side. The Manderlys were something he could not have now, but the Glovers, the mountain clans, and the Reeds were already inclined to support him.
Daemon also wanted high morale throughout the entire army. After all, the North was weary and had lost much with Robb. Certainly, many were not happy and had their complaints about going south once more, even more so when Daemon had brought 180,000 people from beyond the Wall. Many were quietly hiding their resentment at having so many 'wildlings' in the North. And he knew they should not forget the hatred they held for the free folk — but Daemon wished to unite them through war, with one fighting behind the other.
He needed a battle that would bring everyone together as quickly as possible, and the best option would be facing Stannis.
Stannis, in turn, listened a great deal to that woman who always gave him illusions that he would come out victorious, becoming king in the end, while he was defeated time after time. Perhaps she could deceive him with a war against Daemon, even though the latter now had much larger numbers.
There were still more houses in the North, like the Flints of the east, while House Locke must have been greatly harmed by Stannis, as well as the Ryswells. The Flints of the west must have been harmed too much by the ironborn, since they were in the west, while there were two more regions without a lord on the western coast, such as Sea Dragon Point and the Stony Shore lands.
Daemon finished writing his last letter after thinking a little about how he should proceed with the North. He hated that his uncle did not have a model of the realm to build a strategy upon. The Kings of Winter did not seem to consider that useful in their reigns, but he would change that tradition. He would summon some craftsmen to create something suitable for his war council.
And he knew very well where he would do this. As he left, he called the maester through the guards, who followed right behind him as he continued through the last floors of the castle.
"My lord, why have you called me here, so far away?" Wolkan murmured, since they were in the most distant part, far even from the quarters the servants usually used. It seemed the lowest position of Winterfell if he counted the distance between those last rooms and the hot springs that kept the castle warm.
"I want you to help me with this. I want to transform this room here" — Daemon pointed to the last room, none other than his old chamber — "together with the one next to it, I want the wall broken and the two turned into one."
The neighboring room was unoccupied, since the servant who had lived there had died when Winterfell was invaded.
"Wolkan, I also want you to isolate this part of the castle. Do not let anyone else live or wander near here." Daemon said, since this place was practically the safest, the farthest from the main areas, and where no one could overhear. It was the worst place in the castle, but it would be perfect for planning strategies and creating a war council while Daemon was in the North.
"Your Majesty, why do you want to do this?" Asked the maester, surprised. Daemon did not have a castellan at the moment, though he had asked Lord Benfred to send one from Tallhart's Square to help him in the castle.
"I am going to create the war council chamber in this place. That is why it needs to be isolated. Anyway, I need to know if you know anything about Dragonstone." Daemon asked, as the man raised an eyebrow.
"Dragonstone, Your Majesty? I have never been there, if that is what you are asking, but I know a little from what I have read about the place." Replied the maester, somewhat confused.
"Do you know the chamber where Aegon built a model to begin his conquest of all Westeros?" Daemon asked calmly, opening the door and looking into the old room again.
The maester nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty. It is famous, it is in several books, even recorded in drawings about it." Wolkan said.
Daemon nodded in satisfaction upon hearing that. "I need you to help me build a similar chamber. I need a large model, one of the entire North, one of the Wall and its surrounding region, and also another of Westeros. I need the three to be separate, do you understand?"
The man was surprised. "I need the models to be perfect." Daemon added.
"Of the North and the Wall it is possible, Your Majesty. There are many people who know details of the realm, and we can summon some craftsmen. But of Westeros... it is a bit difficult." Said the maester.
"I do not think so, maester. Any perfect map can be turned into a model just by copying it, as long as the craftsman is good enough to detail everything on the map." Daemon spoke with a hint of dissatisfaction.
The man widened his eyes. "Yes, my lord, that is quite reasonable. I apologize for my lack of reasoning." He said, while Daemon merely nodded.
"Well, I will leave the rest to you. I am going to the throne room now. Call me if you need anything." Daemon said calmly, leaving the man behind and beginning to descend the floors of the castle until he reached the throne room, where some men guarded the entrance and greeted him when they saw him.
Daemon replied with a nod and proceeded to the Throne of Winter. But instead of sitting, he merely examined the throne in the hall.
"Perhaps this is not the ideal one for me..." Daemon remarked, before making the throne vanish before all the men, accompanied by a tremendous cracking sound in the ground.
In the next moment, the throne disappeared with a rumble loud enough to draw attention. Guards rushed in, thinking something was happening, while those who were already in the hall, beside the throne that vanished, stared in astonishment at Daemon once again with his strange magical abilities.
Right after, Daemon pointed to the hole left in the ground. From within his dimensional space, another object began to emerge. The metallic sound echoed through the hall as the Iron Throne itself rose, crashing against the ground with force. Although it did not fit perfectly into the hole, it was still there.
Daemon simply ignored all the stares and sat down calmly, turning his attention forward.
He was the king. And he had the Iron Throne. Why would he not sit on it, no matter where he was? After all, the very idea of it already demonstrated his position in the war and also increased the determination of his allies.
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