Chapter 365: Return of the King
Petyr Baelish had never dreamed that he would one day reunite with an "old friend" in this manner.
Months ago in Slaver's Bay, the Queen had ignored advice and insisted on using her dragons to deal with the Volantene fleet blocking the bay. Braving a sky filled with arrows and stone projectiles, the process had been filled with twists and turns, but fortunately, the outcome was safe: the enemy had prepared some countermeasures against dragons, but they had never expected Daenerys to suddenly return as a true Dragonrider—initiating an attack the very day of her return without any rest. Under the invisible pressure of three massive flying creatures and the aid of dragonfire, Meereen's remaining navy and the Unsullied poured out simultaneously by land and sea, crushing the second wave of the Great Masters' besieging army in one fell swoop.
Half of the massive fleet the Volantenes took such pride in was sunk by the dragons and Ironborn longships via fire and rams; the other half was captured almost intact by the Meereenese navy, with only a small portion escaping in the chaos. These nearly two hundred ocean-going vessels of various tonnages, along with their captured sailors, solved the problem Daenerys Targaryen had been facing: combined with the small Ironborn fleet, Meereen now had enough ships to load her entire army and bring them back to Westeros.
After liberating the slave sailors on the Volantene ships and pressing them into service, Daenerys pressed her advantage. The victorious New Meereen used armed deterrence to force neighboring New Ghis and Qarth to pay war reparations and sign a truce... Relying on a massive influx of spoils to purchase vast quantities of grain and military supplies, she rode her dragon to scare off several khalasars who had arrived hoping for a piece of the action, and spent her final days stabilizing the internal situation. With both military and political preparations complete, she finally led her Unsullied and the newly trained Freedmen Legions onto the path of counter-attacking Westeros—a path that should have begun long ago.
The Dragonstone fleet, though well-trained, was small in number. Under the assault of the overwhelming Meereenese warships and the three dragons, they were swiftly routed and annihilated. After wandering in exile for over a decade, Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen had finally returned to her place of birth, her original starting point.
But appearing before them even faster than the enemy's counterattacks or the swarming supporters was a character who surprised everyone: Petyr's former colleague from King Robert's Small Council, the Spymaster who had served two dynasties but vanished for over a year after Stannis ascended the Iron Throne—the famous Spider, Varys.
It was hard to sincerely welcome this powdered and perfumed eunuch. However, after presenting evidence of his long-term secret protection and support for the Targaryen siblings, and generously offering a Deployment Map of the Crownlands' Military Strength as a heavy opening gift, Varys—who had hopped onto the wagon mid-journey—was allowed to stay at Dragonstone. When the Unsullied Legion landing on Crackclaw Point secured easy successive victories thanks to his accurate intelligence, and when scouts confirmed reports that King's Landing had been equipped with numerous anti-dragon scorpions... this latecomer gradually gained trust and worked his way into the Queen's Small Council.
This, naturally, left Petyr both itching with resentment and completely helpless.
Today, another military meeting for the reconquest of Westeros was being held in the spacious, somewhat eerie Great Chamber of Dragonstone.
With her small Iron Fleet and half of the Volantene navy, supplemented by three dragons, Daenerys held absolute command of the Blackwater Bay, firmly bottling up the other half of Stannis's Royal Fleet inside the port of King's Landing—cowering under the protection of shore-based catapults, arrows, and ballistae. On land, after the total capture of Crackclaw Point, the vanguard of the land army composed of Unsullied and Freedmen Legions was already pointed at the major Crownlands town of Duskendale.
There was essentially no disagreement among the Queen's council members that the land army, with the Unsullied as its core, would find few equals on the battlefields of the Crownlands. Regarding the direction of the war, everyone had reached a basic consensus: capture Duskendale, then attack Rosby, then advance downstream along the Blackwater River, and finally rendezvous with the navy beneath the walls of the capital to besiege King's Landing.
However, regarding the details thereafter, Petyr and Varys offered diametrically opposite opinions.
"King's Landing, including the walls of the Red Keep, is bristling with long-range anti-dragon weaponry. If Your Majesty's three dragons cannot freely join the fray, relying solely on the flesh and blood of the Unsullied, the Freedmen Legions, and the navy to launch a forced assault against a defense designed by a commander as renowned as Stannis will inevitably incur a tragic cost." Varys tried his best to persuade Daenerys to abandon a direct assault on the city. "Your Majesty's goal, after all, is not just to reclaim the Iron Throne. We must face the Riverlands, the Vale, and the North in the future. If your elite core is recklessly squandered on the first battlefield, the road to unifying the Seven Kingdoms will be long indeed."
"Utterly absurd! Should we then let the army sit and stare at the walls of King's Landing, allowing the Seven Kingdoms to leisurely prepare for the Queen's return?"
Littlefinger voiced his opposition without hesitation. Back on King Robert's council, he had been the Master of Coin; not only did he lack Varys's seniority, but his official duties were simple—in Robert's words—counting coppers. Thus, he had rarely voiced opinions publicly. But now, he was Daenerys's Hand of the Queen, a founding veteran who had assisted her through every difficulty since the taking of Meereen. If he allowed Varys, who had popped up less than a month ago, to sway the Queen's thoughts at will, would he not be handing over his influence and voice on a silver platter?
He wasn't particularly skilled in military matters, but even if he hadn't eaten pork, he'd seen a pig run. Even if only to oppose Varys, he had to propose a different view: "Even if taking King's Landing didn't cost a single soldier, do we really plan to unify Westeros with only these twenty thousand men brought from Meereen? Your Majesty, this is no longer the era of your ancestors' conquest. A swift and decisive victory, seizing the political and economic center of the Seven Kingdoms and sitting upon the Iron Throne, will show you that supporters and loyalists will pop up one by one like loaches in the sand—far more than you imagine!"
"Your Majesty, Lord Petyr is right—this is no longer the era of your ancestors' conquest. House Targaryen ruled for over two hundred years relying on dragons; everyone accepts that 'Dragon is Legitimacy,' yet everyone also knows how to deal with them. In this situation, the symbolic significance of dragons far outweighs their practical value. 'Riding a dragon to the battlefield' should always be the last resort." Varys spoke softly but with firm resolve. "The army, of course, cannot just stare at the city. We can encircle King's Landing and continuously strike the various rebel factions coming to 'rescue the King.' Stannis is prepared for dragons in the city, but his bannermen are not! Rebel armies arriving in haste will have no scorpions, and open field battles are where the Unsullied excel. As long as we fight outside the range of the city's giant crossbows, we can secure victory after victory without effort. During this time, the army can leisurely prepare siege engines outside the city. I will secure the support of the Reach and Dorne for Your Majesty; even your nephew, Aegon Targaryen, will surely take this opportunity to arrive with the Golden Company. When the great host is gathered, we shall besiege and take King's Landing with overwhelming majesty, and then decree the submission of the Westerlands and the three Northern lands. Refusal will be treason—is that not more perfect?"
Dammit. Petyr was temporarily speechless. If Varys said he could persuade the Reach and Dorne to support them, he likely actually could. As for making dragons the last choice, that was a stance he himself had proposed back in Meereen. How could he oppose a viewpoint he also agreed with?
The eunuch held a handful of chips and was full of ambition; Littlefinger, feeling his status threatened, looked grim as he wracked his brain for a rebuttal. Missandei, who had been listening from the side for a while, roughly understood the point of disagreement between the two heavyweights—one believed they should prepare leisurely and seek a final battle after merging with potential allies, while the other believed they should storm King's Landing immediately to attract supporters by occupying the capital.
Having been afraid to interrupt before, Missandei finally found a chance to speak up weakly: "Your Majesty, both of their ideas have their merits, but why must we follow normal channels of war? If you pick a moonless, windy night and fly over to burn the Red Keep directly, eliminating the pretender Stannis, wouldn't that end the war at its source?"
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