WILOW-Ch.432: The Gathering of All Armies
King's Landing, Crownlands
POV of Domeric Bolton
A day later.
"How does it feel to come back here?" Domeric asked as he rode his horse and looked at the large city in the distance.
"I can't say it's good. Fucking city filled with pits and vipers," Hound grunted and took a swig from the wineskin. "When your allies take the city, their men will pillage the city, kill the smallfolk, and rape their women."
He frowned. "Is there no way to avoid it?" he asked.
After all, they were going to liberate the city from King Stannis. If they loot and pillage the city, then they wouldn't be much of a 'liberator', would they?
And he didn't want King Aegon's reign to start with a gruesome event.
"No." Hound said in his usual gruff manner, "The Tyrell men. They've been waiting outside the city for more than a month. A siege is a tense place to be, and tensions rise over time. So, when they eventually enter the city, they'll want to lose all their tension. And what better way to do so than kill a defenseless man and rape his wife and daughter?"
He closed his eyes at that description.
He had not wanted to hear this, even though he knew that it was very likely that this would happen.
He knew his history and also knew that every time a city with a large population falls, the invaders go on to rape, loot, and pillage the people inside the city.
The only way to avoid this was for Stannis to surrender to them, or for him to die and his men surrender.
He wondered if he should break his unwritten rules and kill Stannis in his sleep.
After some deep thinking, he decided not to do that. He wasn't going to kill Stannis.
Doing so might save the population inside King's Landing, but that would make people suspicious and afraid of him.
If he could sneak inside Red Keep and assassinate the King, then were the other people really safe from him?
Such a thought would breed fear, and that fear would turn to resentment and anger.
He would not let his family be the source of resentment and anger.
And as heartless as it might be of him to say this, saving the populace of King's Landing would not gain him anything but make him and his future family lose a great deal.
But perhaps there was a way to protect the small folk without killing Stannis. After all, life wasn't just about making one or the other choice.
"Do you think issuing a decree prohibiting the looting of the city and the harming of the smallfolk would stop these men?" he asked Hound.
"No, maybe a few might be a little more hesitant, but the vast majority will ignore it. After all, in that chaos, it's impossible to know who did what. And those hesitant ones who see them will follow in their footsteps." Hound said.
"I see. But what if I knew who did what?" he asked.
Hound stared at him strangely for a few seconds, but then said, "It wouldn't change anything. After all, the men wouldn't believe it and would still do what they wanted. And even if you catch them later, what do you plan to do? I don't know much about politics, but punishing them all wouldn't be well-received by your allies, would it?" Hound said and took another swig from his wineskin.
And Domeric couldn't help but agree with the Hound.
The main reason he was having this conversation with him was that he was the only one among those close to him who had participated in real city sieges and faced their realities.
Domeric might have captured Golden Tooth and Casterly Rock, but he had done so with the help of his own special army and magical methods.
But the siege of King's Landing was different. Five different alliance armies were involved: the Reach, the Vale, the Riverlands, the North, and his own.
And although this alliance army was generally called the Imperial Army, Domeric knew that many generals didn't respect him as Emperor, especially the Tyrells.
They might have shown him respect because of his successes in the civil war, but they hadn't yet fully accepted him as their Emperor.
After all, Domeric hadn't yet been crowned Emperor, and the other kings hadn't knelt before him to pledge their allegiance in front of his throne.
Currently, his claim to the Empire was merely a pretext for forming this alliance, and if they saw Domeric's weakness or Domeric gave some reason, the swords that supported him today could turn against him tomorrow.
Therefore, Domeric knew the Hound was right. Even if he forbade his men from plundering the city, they would disobey his order.
And if Domeric rounded them all up and punished them, it would alienate his allies. His relationship with the Tyrells could even be completely severed as a result.
It seemed that if Domeric wanted to help the small folk in King's Landing, he needed to resort to his magical powers.
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"Ser Garlan." King Aegon nodded as their two contingents met.
The other nobility of the Reach followed Ser Garlan, while King Aegon was followed by King Stark, Prince Robb Stark, the Lords of the North, the Lords of the Vale, the Lords of the Riverlands, and the Blackfish.
Domeric was riding alongside Jon, with the Dark Knights right behind him.
He had specifically requested that Jon represent their side. After all, he was to become king of these lands and needed to establish his influence gradually.
"Your majesty." Ser Garlan greeted him first, and Domeric responded with a nod of his head.
"Your grace." Then Ser Garlan gave a short bow to his King and future good-brother.
He wondered what kind of moniker would have been given to Jon Snow by the people of his world.
King-they-didn't-know. King-who-hid. Or some other bullshit like that.
No one spoke after the initial greetings, and a tense silence fell over the field.
That tense silence was broken when a red-haired woman came out from behind the Tyrell contingent.
Clip clop. Clip clop. Clip clop.
Catelyn Stark finally reached their group and, as she did, threw herself into King Stark's arms and embraced him.
Although King Stark hugged her back, Domeric could see that the hug wasn't very sincere. Probably King Stark tried to act normally to avoid any gossip.
After a while, Robb joined them in the hug.
Robb didn't yet know about his mother's betrayal of his father, and he'll probably be devastated when he finds out.
But there was nothing Domeric could do about it.
Catelyn Stark should be halfway through her pregnancy and would give birth to a child that wasn't her husband's in about four months.
Even though Catelyn Stark was hugging her husband while carrying another man's child in her belly, this fact was known only to a select few.
Therefore, for everyone else, this scene was a touching moment of reunion. And that reduced the tense atmosphere a bit before "Queen" Catelyn spoke. Although Domeric disliked it, Catelyn Stark was currently the queen of one of his kingdoms.
"Ser Garlan. I'm sure these men have travelled a good deal to be here. How about we continue these talks during the feast?"
Ser Garlan nodded. "That is acceptable, Queen Catelyn."
And that was that. The rest of the talks were thus postponed.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.433: Siege Discussion
Ch.434: Infiltrating the Red Keep
Ch.435: Change of Plans