WILOW-Ch.392: News from Beyond the Narrow Sea
Free City of Myr, Essos
POV of Kevan Lannister
Talking with greedy Magisters was exhausting.
As if they were leeches trying to suck the very life out of him, even as they smiled and called him a 'dear friend'.
Kevan would have ignored them if not for the fact that he and his forces were far too weak to go against Lord Bolton.
Even if by some miracle his forces did succeed in taking over the Regalis Port, which he really doubted they could, they would still not get anywhere near Lundenhold.
Which was why he needed the help of Magisters of Myr and Archons of Tyrosh.
He had already convinced the Archons from Tyrosh to help him. And it took him one and a half months to get those greedy bastards to agree.
They were already gathering sellsails and sellswords for the war against House Bolton.
Now he only needed to get the Magisters from Myr to agree to his plans.
It would probably take him one more month to gather enough support, and then one or two more months to gather all the men and unsullied, and then they would be off to war.
His brother had already started the war by destroying the Riverlander forces. At the same time, his own was in turn destroyed by Lord Bolton.
He wanted to be there and relieve some of the burden from his brother's shoulders, but he had his own mission to complete.
He did wonder how the war was going now.
The only ways to know about the war in this foreign land were to ask the merchants and buy the Bolton newspaper. And merchants hardly ever had the proper information.
Frankly, he could learn more about the war from Lord Bolton's newspaper, which is even sold here.
But the information published in the newspaper was generally unrelated to recent events.
Kevan thought this was because Lord Bolton didn't want his enemies to learn about his current situation and plans.
After all, newspapers reached everyone, friend or foe, and having current news in the paper meant his enemies would also have access to up-to-date information.
He didn't think Lord Bolton would make such a simple mistake.
When he came back to the mansion he'd been living in, his first goal was to go to the pool and get himself cleaned.
That goal went out the window when the servants told him that he had a visitor. Someone sent by his brother.
He went to the guest room and found a man from House Payne sitting in front of him.
The man got up and gave him a bow. "Lord Kevan. I'm Ser Cedric Payne."
He nodded, "I was told you have a message for me."
The man nodded quickly, "Yes, yes… A message from Lord Tywin himself. He told me to give it to you and no one else. Not for others' eyes you see." The man said, then fumbled in his pockets before finally taking out an envelope and handing it to him.
"Lord Tywin also asked me to pass these newspapers on to you," said Ser Cedric, and he placed the bundle of newspapers, tied together with a rope, on the table.
He tore the envelope with the Lannister seal first and took out the letter inside. Newspapers could wait for now.
The first few lines in the letter almost gave him a heart attack.
{Kevan, Casterly Rock has fallen to the Bolton boy. I underestimated him and his resourcefulness. If I'm correct, he's probably taken all the gold from Casterly Rock.
Return to the Westerlands immediately. I'll try to get back what's been taken from us, but if I fail, then I leave the future of my house in your hands.}
Below, his brother explained what happened and how Casterly Rock fell without anyone knowing any better.
He also found that the Knights of the Vale had joined the Northern Army.
If that was true, then his brother's remaining forces must be in dire circumstances.
He went through the letter a few more times before he put the letter down on the table and told the knight to give him some time.
Once the knight had left the room, he closed the doors and took out a wine bottle.
It had been years since he last drank something, but the fact that Casterly Rock had fallen and the fact that his wife and kids were either dead or in chains didn't help.
He opened the bottle and poured some wine into the cup.
And then, untying the rope of the bundle of newspapers, he began to read them from the earliest date.
And the first newspaper he picked up made him realize something was wrong.
He knew he'd gotten this newspaper from here and read it. But the content of the newspaper he was holding was different from the one he'd received from Myr.
Especially the information about the war in Westeros.
Then Kevan understood what was happening. Lord Bolton not only prevented his enemies from learning the truth by not reporting the latest developments in his newspaper, but he also published newspapers with different content in different places.
And like everyone in Essos, Kevan hadn't noticed anything about it. Frankly, he didn't think he would ever have noticed if Tywin hadn't sent him these newspapers from Westeros.
Clearly, Lord Bolton's level of control over information and manipulation would make it very difficult for others to stand up to him. He understood this now.
And as he read the newspapers, he realized that Lord Bolton's ambition was far from small.
He claimed that the person everyone thought was Lord Stark's bastard was Aegon Targaryen, the legitimate son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen.
In his newspaper, he even presented evidence, a Diary of High Septon Maynard, as realistic paintings, which he called photographs.
And going even further, after having Lord Stark declare himself King of the North, he had declared himself Emperor of Westeros.
Kevan was no stranger to the concepts of Empire and Emperor from the Golden Empire of Yi Ti's system of government. He also knew that many people in Westeros were unfamiliar with these concepts and with Yi Ti's history. After all, there was almost no contact between Yi Ti and Westeros.
But the imperial order Lord Bolton wanted to create was very different from Yi Ti.
Yi Ti was called an empire because of its vast territories. And although their rulers were called Emperors, they were still Dynastic administrations that had occasionally passed into the hands of others.
Essentially, it was a Dynastic regime, just like the Targaryen Dynasty.
But Lord Bolton was proposing a new system in which local kingdoms would exist, with extensive powers, provided they remained under the rule of the Empire.
And frankly, Kevan knew that many houses would accept this system without question, especially Dorne if they were offered a separate Kingdom.
If Lord Bolton won this war and managed to place Aegon Targaryen on the Iron Throne, then with the support of the Iron Throne, the Northern Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Dorne, he could truly become Emperor.
By the time he was done with the wine and newspapers, he had decided to leave all his hard work in the free cities behind and return to Westerlands.
Attacking House Bolton would be cathartic, but he needed to think about his family and his house this time.
And his family and house needed him back in Westeros.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.393: The Approaching Lannister Army
Ch.394: A Clumsy Attempt and A Bizarre Request
Ch.395: A Risky Gamble