The Witch-King of the Vale [GoT x LotR]

The Vale. The Eyrie. 299 AC.

Lord Axel Arryn.

My gaze settled on the only woman in the room. Slightly sunken cheeks, glassy eyes, a body held rigid with tension, dark circles under her eyes, a slump in her shoulders, and a visible sluggishness in everything she did. It seemed Elena had not heeded my advice after all and had looked in on the results of her noble kinsmen's campaign. A ravaged city was not something a sixteen-year-old girl should see, least of all one who had believed in the decency of the people she loved. The outcome was plain: Snow was in the grip of a depression.

I chose not to reprimand her and simply nodded. Morgan read the situation correctly and moved the figure on the map without a word. No one said anything, no one so much as raised an eyebrow. My standing in this room was more than sufficient to forgive almost any irregularity, however strange it might seem.

"Whatever one might say about the elder Baratheon's more questionable choices, he ran a brilliant campaign in the West. The lions won't be recovering from that anytime soon," Jasper concluded.

"I wouldn't go that far," Desmond said. "Yes, every key position has been taken or stripped bare, but Stannis made an enormous miscalculation that has pushed his victory further away."

"The faith of R'hllor," Robar said, grasping it at once. "His army contains four different religious traditions. That alone would not be a fatal problem, but when the king himself converts to the Red God's faith, it becomes one. Now the septons will die before they let Baratheon sit the throne."

"There are rumors that a shadow killed Ser Stafford on the eve of the assault," Morgan said uneasily.

"An ordinary saboteur," someone dismissed, with the confidence of a man who had never encountered magic. "What concerns me more are the pirates running wild in the Narrow Sea. Laplashe, chairman of the merchants' guild, is asking us to deal with the menace."

"My sailors are already working beyond their limits. They cannot give more."

"The improvement of the High Road has been completed. The captured mountain clansmen have made our work considerably easier."

"Don't spare the bastards, there'll be more where they came from. Have them start laying the road: the Eyrie to the Runestone, Runestone to Redfort, Redfort to Gulltown."

The council ran for nearly two hours. Important matters and lesser ones were raised in turn. An immense volume of work, yet when competent people with a shared purpose are brought together, most questions resolve themselves quickly. The fleet, provisions, supply lines, reserves, the army, construction, the mountain clans, preparation for winter and the war to follow. I barely needed to run the meeting at all, only to offer an opinion here, adjust a proposal there, and give final approval to plans. My thoughts kept drifting, however, my eyes returning again and again to the map, while something in my instincts whispered persistently that something was wrong.

"Pentos, after Khal Drogo's raids ended, has been driving up its tariffs. Before long it simply won't be worth our while to trad..." Desmond had grown comfortable in his role as lord of one of the largest port cities in the world.

"Forgive the interruption," I said, having finally shaped the thought into words. "Morgan, where and when were the lion forces last observed?"

"The last report placed Ser Kevan with fifteen thousand men crossing the Blackwater. As for timing, roughly fifteen to twenty days ago." A quick calculation and the puzzle fell into place.

"The lions are heading back to the West." Before Elena's correction we had assumed Kevan was marching into the Riverlands, bypassing Harrenhal, but with the Tarly forces withdrawing from Deep Den everything snapped into alignment. "Tarly pulled back and opened the road for the lions to return home quickly and strike Baratheon's army from behind."

"But won't Stannis have something close to fifteen thousand swords? Surely he can hold them off," Templeton offered, reasoning it through. He was an able administrator and not much of a soldier.

"Considerably fewer, given what the Rock and Lannisport cost him. And Ser Kevan will be able to reinforce his force from the interior territories," Robar pointed out.

"So Renly has allied with the Lannisters to destroy his own brother?" Jasper said with undisguised disgust.

"I doubt it. This looks like Lord Tarly's private initiative to me." I could not believe Renly would stoop to that, but Tarly would take quiet satisfaction in watching enemies bleed each other dry.

"It doesn't serve us for Stannis to fall this soon."

"To hell with Stannis. He's not what we should be thinking about right now."

"It seems the time has come for us to enter the war..."

"But on whose side?"

"Princess Rhaenys..."

"That woman can't take a single castle..."

"...King Renly is not a bad option..."

"Quiet!" I could not abide a working council collapsing into noise. "My lords, let us take a rest and return to these questions with fresh minds. I am calling a recess of half an hour."

No one argued. They broke into small groups and filed out, though not without a final curious glance at the two people who remained in their seats. I had indicated wordlessly that Morgan and Elena should stay. What needed to be discussed with them was not for anyone else's ears.

"Lady Snow." No response. "SNOW!"

"Yes, my lord," the girl surfaced from her trance.

"Take whatever creature of yours is with the northerners and warn them of the danger."

"I don't know what you mean," Snow attempted, trying to play ignorant.

"Don't pretend to be slow, it doesn't suit you. You clearly have an animal near Ned. Use it to warn him." I did not like the way her eyes were moving. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"After Lannisport I sent the bird away from the slaughter," she said. Damn it all. Because of the girl's sensitivity I could not even warn my friend that he was walking into a trap. "The nearest one is in Highgarden."

It must be said that the fault here belongs to all of us equally. A warg's abilities are not without limits. Snow could only bond with an animal after extended contact, but once that bond was formed she could reach it from almost anywhere in the world. One might think that given a few months we could have eyes on everything happening across the continent, but we had focused Elena's abilities entirely on tracking the mountain clansmen. Morgan had been building the external intelligence network and had made considerable progress, though not enough, having had only three years to work with. And I had somewhat neglected the mainland war, preferring to occupy myself with the Vale.

"Send it anyway."

"But it has no message to carry," she said. She did not usually think this slowly.

"Scratch a warning with its beak, or knock over an inkwell and write something, use it to write the message." Seeing understanding finally dawn, I pushed her along. "Quickly now. There is little time."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!