With a click of my tongue, Roach slowed down to a calm trot. He'd grown smart enough to understand I could grant and retract my blessings at will after seeing Addam.
"Good boy," I chuckled gazing past the thin line of trees growing on either side of the kingsroad.
All things considered, Harrenhal wasn't all that far from King's Landing and it was plausible that Tywin thought the North was preparing to attack when the three Northern kingdoms started massing there.
But, he had broken the treaty.
And I had waged war back.
"I just realised," Arya spoke up, following my eyes to gaze at the vast empty plains on either side of us, with distant castles that were little more than dots on the horizon.
The little gremlin wanted to come along on my visit to King's Landing, and I saw no point in denying her. Especially since she could just ride Roach with me.
"Hm?"
"You killed everyone, didn't you?" She looked up at my chin.
"Yep. I reckon your father's avenged."
"Not until Joffrey dies squealing like a pig."
This child was quite the strange one with dimly she could talk about such things. But I supposed that meant the Stark lineage flowed true through her veins.
"But forget that. You killing them all means most of the lords of the Westerlands and the Reach are just gone. So, Stannis is going to have to name new ones for most of the lands." Arya cocked her head, brows furrowed in thought, "Wouldn't that mean bending the knee would be more... umm..."
"Smarter? Better? Agreeable?"
"I know words. Don't treat me like a child."
"Yeah, you just paused mid-sentence cause the empty plains of grass were more interesting, right?" I waved a hand to our side, "or was it the cows that enthralled you so?"
"It doesn't matter!" She shouted with tinted cheeks, embarrassed as easily as children often were. She huffed and crossed her arms.
I couldn't help but smile at that.
"Well, you are right though. There's two whole kingdoms that are practically lordless. With the war practically over, currying favour with Stannis is going to be all anyone really wants to do."
There was no real incentive to continue the war anymore. By Marika, I was willing to bet all the coin I had that the lords left would surrender unilaterally, even if they weren't given the complete details regarding the fate of the combined Reach-Westerlands host.
Now, House Florent was poised to take the lordship of the Reach, and the spoils would be shared among those Reach Lords who followed Stannis after Renly. As for the Westerlands, well... No lord of theirs had declared for Stannis so theirs was going to be a curious fate.
"Hm," Arya nodded. "You think he'll let me cut Joffrey?"
"Damn, girl. Relax a bit. Why are you so obsessed with doing the deed yourself?" I chuckled before clicking my tongue again as we skirted a small hill.
Suddenly, my ears caught the distant sound of ballistae being nocked and men marching about in their steel boots and their chestplates. As we neared, I heard shouts, and pained moans. The musky scent of blood and sweat assaulted my nose, but it was one I was used to.
Arya looked up again, curious about the small grin that crept onto my face. After a moment of silence, she said. "Wouldn't Dorne also do that?"
Instead of giving her a verbal answer, I clapped my hands together and pointed ahead, to the capital of the Seven Kingdoms. Then, I slowly moved my finger to point at the forces encircling it. I doubted Arya could see them from the distance, but I could.
Knights in lamellar armor rode about atop slim and bright colored steeds with flowing manes, their pointed helms topped by colorful plumes from birds of prey. Most of them however, were on foot. Carrying large round shields emblazoned with a crimson sun pierced by a yellow lance, and long steel-tipped spears. Their armor was bare bones, with wide baggy trousers and brigandines over loose tunics.
A people clearly not suited for the chill air and clouded sky on that particular day. There had to be some twenty thousand or so of them, a little less or a little more maybe. King's Landing lay surrounded, all the way from the Blackwater Bay to the East and the mouth of the Blackwater Rush to the South.
The Martells of Dorne.
"Pick up the pace, Roach. Let's go see what this is about."
I put an arm around Arya as the 'horse' suddenly bolted, leaving a trail of crimson sparks and burnt earth as it covered the distance in but a few moments. There was little doubt in my mind he would be even faster if Arya weren't here seeing as human flesh wasn't really... ideal... for handling extreme momentum.
The men standing guard outside the encampment froze in their steps. I took that time to dismount Roach and then help Arya off him. Once I was done, I slapped him on the hind to send him away before finally turning around to face them.
"Oh yeah, I forgot how people react to seeing him."
Humans were as adaptable a species as they came, and most people I'd been in the company of had gotten used to seeing Roach. But, if these men with dark hair and sunkissed features were Dornish, it stood to reason that most of them only had the barest of rumours to go by, if they did any at all.
"Hail," I said aloud, waving my hand at them as I nudged Arya with my hand. "I am Karl."
"I'm Arya Stark."
That seemed to spur them into action, but not in the way I'd thought. Instead of approaching us, they stabbed their spears into the ground and bowed their heads, hands over hearts.
Was the medieval rumour machine better than I gave it credit for?
"Please ser, wait a moment," The one on the right spoke without raising his head. A tall, broad-chested bald man with dark eyes and a smooth voice. "Are you truly Karl?"
I cocked my head curiously, "I doubt you'd find someone that looks like me around here."
"Indeed, my lord. If you would, please follow me."
"Sure."
He bowed again and nodded at his fellow guard before turning on his heel to lead us away.
I followed with a shrug, receiving confused stares all the way down the main road, past men preparing for battle, until he suddenly entered a smaller, fenced compound with a good number of pavilions bunched up together.
"What do you think they want with you?" Arya asked as the guard pulled aside a thin curtain to let us in the central pavilion.
"Well, they seem to know who I am. I'd guess they wanna explain why they're besieging the city."
"That's... boring."
"Indeed," I agreed, and stepped into the pavilion.
Once inside, we were met with a dark-haired man sitting at the head of a small round table, eating roasted steak as another young man fixed a pauldron on his copper lamellar plate. He eyed me with a raised brow, a strange glint in his obsidian eyes.
Some steps behind him, a strange woman smiled amusedly as she covered her naked form with a thin sheet of cloth. Her moist brown hair was dishevelled, and there was sweat on her bare shoulders.
The funny thing was, all three of the people in the room smelled like each other.
"You seem to enjoy sword fighting a bit too much," I chuckled.
He grinned back, "A man must feast, yes? I say fuck well and eat good before battle, it could be the last one."
"Fair," I conceded, eying the youth fastening his armor. "But your taste's a bit too exotic for me. Karl."
"Then it is truly you. Oberyn Martell."
Oberyn rose to his feet and sauntered over, a hand on his chin as he circled me. I didn't enjoy the way his gaze seemed to last on certain parts of my body. His eyes then wandered to Arya.
"Your tastes are odd as well."
"Ew, no," I shuddered at the thought. "I like them legal, no thanks."
"Legal? A strange word. But no matter. Before we begin the useless and boring talk of kings and their wants, allow me to thank you. My brother regrets that he could not be here to greet you. All of Dorne is in your debt for avenging Elia Martell and her children."
Elia Mart-... ah. The Dornish princess that had been raped and killed by the Mountain during the sack of King's Landing by the Lannisters during King Robert's rebellion. She was this man's sister and none could blame him for wanting to see her killer dead.
"For this great thing you have done for me and my people. Dorne will let go of the bad blood with the House Baratheon and stand behind Stannis. So long as we are promised the head of Tywin Lannister... and a part of the Reach of course."
I couldn't help but chuckle at that, "You say that like you had any other choice after what's been going on."
The woman behind him opened her mouth to speak but Oberyn held up his hand before she could.
"Fair. We will settle with leniency in the division of land. After we give him King's Landing, of course."
Arya smiled proudly, probably because she had accurately guessed what everyone would want now that the Lannisters and the Tyrells were gone. Of course, I just laughed in the dornishman's face for 'his' requests.
"Bold. I like it," I nodded, shaking his hand, "but those aren't your words, are they, Oberyn Martell?"
I could see it written all across his face and all over the way he spoke.
He laughed faintly and raised his hands in surrender, "You have the truth of it. I can't help but wish to see what it is that brought down the mountain."
A sudden silence fell on the pavilion. One that was broken when Arya Stark suddenly snickered at him.
"You should go take a look at Harrenhal."
The little brat was feeling pride for my actions. Was it because I had taken to giving her a few tips about her swordsmanship?
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