WILOW-Ch.431: Incompetent Tyrells
Imperial Army Camp, Crownlands
POV of Domeric Bolton
3 weeks later.
Late in the evening, Domeric was practicing his swordplay with Varko. He would rather not fight the White Walkers one-on-one, if possible, but there was nothing wrong with preparing.
He had also become rather good at it compared to the first time he fought a White Walker.
The spar ended with him biting the dust once again.
But he got up once again, dusted himself off, and gestured for Varko to continue with the spar when one of the skinchangers whom he had put in scouting duty walked up to him and stood a few feet away from him.
He gestured for Varko to stop and looked at the skinchanger.
"What is it, Borroq?" he asked as he put down his extra-heavy wooden sword and wiped the sweat on his forehead with a towel.
Borroq frowned and walked up to him. "It's… strange, your majesty."
"What is strange?" he asked.
"The situation in King's Landing." Borroq said, "Since we're only one day away from the city, I decided to send my birds in and check on the situation there, but… You said that the army surrounding the city was your allies, right?"
"They are." He nodded.
Borroq frowned. "Then why are they sending food to the city?"
He closed his eyes and sighed.
Lyra told him about the surprise night assault at the Tyrell Camp. And how Margaery, who had come to meet Loras at that time, was also captured by Stannis.
He had not given this news to the commanders of the other armies because that would generate anger, frustration, and needless friction between their army and the Tyrell army, who had not only failed in their task to put a siege on King's Landing but were now also aiding the enemy.
That was not even mentioning the fact that if Stannis killed Margaery or had her married off to one of his Lords or knights, then Jon would not be able to marry her either.
The whole situation was a bit complicated, and he hadn't wanted to face it at the time. But now that they were only one day away from King's Landing, he might as well give this news to others.
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"I knew that the Tyrells were not very competent at warfare." Yohn Royce said with a frown, "But to think that they've been played by King Stannis so easily. This is… disgraceful."
"Foolish and Idiotic. That's what it is." Blackfish grunted, "If those pompous fools from Highgarden gave the command to someone with actual experience like Randyll Tarly, then he might have already taken King's Landing for us and ended this whole war."
He decided not to comment on that.
He knew for a fact that Garlan was not a fool. He was pretty smart, in fact. But the fact remained that he was inexperienced in the matters of war, which was why he drew the siege lines so close to the city walls and got fucked as a result.
"This will make taking over King's Landing harder." Prince Robb Stark said, "The most important fact is that King Stannis not only has Ser Loras Tyrell but also Lady Margaery Tyrell, who is the betrothed of my brother. If we're too aggressive, then he could always threaten to kill Margaery Tyrell. This war cannot continue unless we rescue the Tyrell siblings."
As soon as Robb said that, everyone turned their heads to look at him.
He raised his brow but didn't acknowledge the unsaid words.
Domeric's legendary successes, achieved one after another, brought him prestige but also their share of drawbacks.
Chief among these was that other army commanders, instead of brainstorming solutions to the major problems they faced, expected Domeric to solve them.
But there was nothing Domeric could do about it. At least for now.
He could be stricter once the Empire was firmly established and everything was in order, but for now, he needed to keep contributing to maintaining people's faith in him.
And on the other hand, rescuing Loras and Margaery wasn't a simple task and, under normal circumstances, could drag the war on for a long time.
Domeric didn't want that to happen, so he had to take matters into his own hands. But he wasn't about to jump in right away.
If others wanted something from him, they needed to voice it, not just stare.
Silence ensued in the tent as everyone continued to look at him, and he continued to ignore everyone else.
In the end, it was Blackfish who spoke, "Well… your majesty. Is there any possibility you can do something about this?"
He nodded, "I will try. But I don't want the news to travel outside this tent."
"You think there are spies in our camp, your majesty?" Yohn Royce asked.
"It is possible. Unlikely but possible." He nodded, "But even if King Stannis doesn't have any spies in our camp, he definitely has them in the Tyrell camp."
"Why would you say that, your majesty?" King Aegon asked.
"Because King Stannis' good-uncle Lord Florent is in the Tyrell camp. And he has more than a few allies himself. In fact, I would not be surprised to find that Lord Florent and his allies secretly helped King Stannis in capturing the Tyrell siblings. They might even have a big hand in the fact that Margaery Tyrell was with Loras at the time of that surprise attack."
"And the Tyrells tolerate such allies?" Yohn Royce bit out, looking disgusted at the mere prospect of having such allies.
"They do." He nodded, "The Reach is the Kingdom with the largest population in Westeros. Easily more than the population of any other two kingdoms combined. That means more noble Houses. More Houses mean more politics. Plus, the fact remains that when the Targaryens entered the board, took over Westeros with their dragons and made House Tyrell the Overlord of the other houses in the Reach at that time, the Tyrells were mere Stewards of House Gardener and the only reason they gained that title was because when the Targaryens came to High Garden, they opened the gates and bend their knee to them."
He paused for a moment, caught his breath, and then added. "Because of that, unlike the Lord Paramounts of the other kingdoms, House Tyrell never truly had a very strong grip over their Kingdom and had to tolerate other houses that don't respect them that much and still see them as the Steward House they originated from."
"That is good and all, but it still doesn't solve our current dilemma." Blackfish said, "How do you plan to rescue the Tyrell siblings, your majesty?"
He smiled, "You can leave that to me. Just make sure to blame the Tyrells for being incompetent so that they won't have a good position at the negotiating table later on." He said, then got up from his chair. "This is all for now."
Then he turned and left.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.432: The Gathering of All Armies
Ch.433: Siege Discussion
Ch.434: Infiltrating the Red Keep