[Chapter Size: 2700 Words.]
Third Person POV.
King's Landing.
...
...
The dragon descended over King's Landing with a loud roar, alerting the entire city. It was night when Jon arrived once again at the capital. He had not even taken a full day.
He had arrived at the beginning of the night, while the howls continued spreading through the air like thunderous echoes.
Jon carefully guided Winter back to the pit as she slowly landed. For him, the journey had been pleasant, already accustomed to riding on the back of the ice dragon, but for his three captives it had been nothing but discomfort and muscular strain.
However, the state of comfort of his captives did not matter to Daemon.
The men quickly entered the pit to receive him.
"Your Majesty," said Maege Mormont, approaching carefully, observing the dragon and also noticing the three men tied beside him, with a questioning look.
Lady Mormont had not had much prominence in the military company's activities, but she had certainly been under Lord Stark's command the entire time, along with her daughter, Dacey. Since Daemon had not yet chosen someone to command the new city patrol, the lords of the three allied kingdoms took turns.
"Lady Mormont." Daemon greeted her before beginning to remove the ropes and making the three men float in the air. Their bodies were filled with pain from having remained bound in that position for hours.
Daemon approached the men waiting for him, moving away from the dragon after exchanging a few words with the female dragon.
"I need a wagon to take them. Also get a horse for me."
With those words, they quickly got what he asked for. Daemon advanced toward the castle, receiving a large reception at the entrance. The look of relief on everyone's faces already said a lot.
Obviously, they had been quite worried about the possibility of something happening to Daemon simply leaving on the eve of a battle against the enemy from the south. Anything could have happened, and they could have been left at the mercy of Blackfyre's forces and their dragons.
But soon the look of relief on everyone's faces turned into astonishment as soon as they saw the people in that mysterious wagon being placed, untied, in front of everyone.
"As you can see, my lords, we have Willas Tyrell, Doran Martell along with his son Tristan. They are now hostages of the crown. Take them to the black cells."
With those words, his men took a few seconds to react, but soon moved and they were taken away.
The members of the free folk did not care much, but the lords simply watched, looking stunned by it.
"Your Majesty... this was unexpected," one of the River lords exclaimed, breaking the silence.
"You went to Sunspear and to Highgarden?" Lord Stark asked, seeming unable to believe it, even if Daemon said yes.
"I said I needed to take care of a few things..." Daemon shrugged.
Even so, everyone there was still quite disturbed by the idea that Daemon had truly, in less than a day, invaded two of the most powerful castles in Westeros and simply captured their lords as if it were nothing.
"...I brought you these hostages, but leave that for tomorrow. We'll talk about it later. I know it hasn't even been a day since I left, so I just want to have dinner and rest, since I flew the entire day..." Daemon said.
Everyone nodded and no one said anything else.
He found Val, and she accompanied him to the king's private chamber. She had already eaten something, since Daemon had said he might only return the next day.
"You arrived early, earlier than you said," she murmured as she walked beside him while servants hurried to bring food for the king to eat.
Daemon gave a small smile. "That's true. Actually, I was planning to look for the Greyjoy along the coasts on the western side of the continent, but I realized that would perhaps be a waste of time..." he said. He had truly thought about circling around before going to King's Landing.
"King, King!" A voice called for Daemon.
He lifted his gaze and saw a raven landing on one of the chairs near them, after having entered through the open window.
The servants immediately moved to chase the raven away, but Daemon raised his hand for them to stop while he looked at the raven with narrowed eyes.
"What is this?" he asked.
"The raven arrived while you were away. It's from Bran Stark..." Val explained beside him.
"And it can imitate human speech..." Daemon said, curious.
"Yes... Bran... Bran..." the raven began to say, drawing the attention of more servants who were tending to the room.
"Interesting. This makes communication easier," Daemon said with satisfaction. Bran had managed to get a raven that could at least produce human words. That would greatly facilitate communication between them.
"Do you know anything about Euron Greyjoy?" he asked, ignoring the strange looks from the servants as they watched him simply talking to a raven.
"Greyjoy... no..." said the raven, shaking its head.
"I see. Keep looking," Daemon replied, returning to his meal. The raven left after that, through the same place it had entered.
After that, he spent the night with Val.
In the middle of the next morning, an army began appearing on the horizon of King's Landing.
The banners of the North fluttered together with the dragon banner.
There were more than thirty-four thousand people in that army.
With that, Daemon's army now had more than one hundred and sixty thousand men, while Blackfyre's enemy army had around one hundred and fifty thousand, in addition to two dragons.
Daemon, together with Mance, Brynden, Eddard, and Stannis, went to receive them, while Tormund, Lord Tallhart, Lord Glover, and other leaders, along with Ygritte, approached.
Jon wore Targaryen clothing with armor large enough to appear imposing, while on his chest shone the symbol of the three-headed red dragon on a black background.
"You finally arrived," Daemon opened a smile, speaking easily so that his voice reached the ears of the leaders and soldiers.
He could see Ygritte's gaze practically devouring him alive. It had been a long time, and he knew that, at the first opportunity, she would take him to bed.
"It looks like you finished all the fun," Tormund roared, speaking loudly, not caring about etiquette.
"It's true, but that doesn't mean the war is over. In just a few days our armies will meet the enemy," Daemon said with a smile, pointing toward the enormous camp of men working outside the walls, preparing for a possible battle while they paused to watch the newcomers.
"I hope so, Daemon. You promised me battles, and the giant inside me demands it," said Tormund.
Daemon rolled his eyes before turning to Lord Tallhart.
"You did well, my lord."
"Nothing more than I should have done, Your Majesty. But I also had help from Lord Glover and the others."
"Excellent. Look, my lords," Daemon turned to the men who had come with him from King's Landing. "These men took part in the Battle of Pyke and also in the conquest of the Westerlands. They may not have fought here in King's Landing, but they had their part and their merits in our campaign to conquer the Seven Kingdoms. They also deserve our respect."
Daemon spoke while receiving a round of applause from the group accompanying him, providing security.
He then saw someone approaching, ignoring the shouts and nicknames they gave to the company from the western campaign. It was Ygritte, who looked at him more closely than the others. Val was also approaching Daemon from the side.
"I was already tired of traveling," Ygritte murmured.
"You could have come on the dragon," Daemon replied.
"You know I had no way of accepting that," she grumbled.
Daemon merely sighed. "Anyway, you're here now, aren't you? Come, accompany me. Let's return to the castle," he said before turning again to the men.
"Lord Tallhart, Lord Glover, Tormund. I want you to organize the troops so they can join the camp. I want you to accompany me to the castle. We'll have much to talk about, far more than just the few letters we exchanged over the last weeks."
With those words, he gestured to the soldiers coming behind them. Daemon made a point of receiving them personally instead of waiting for them at the castle, precisely to raise the army's morale, both among the common folk and the northerners who were there. In Skyrim, he had led his own forces against the enemy in the middle of the civil conflict, so he knew how a low-ranked man would feel happy to see his general or king give him even a small measure of respect.
And so they headed toward the city's gate, still under reconstruction.
"What a horrible smell!" Ygritte cursed shortly afterward, beside Daemon, immediately covering her nose.
She looked at the people of the city, who watched and shouted for the king. Although fear still remained, Daemon had greatly increased his reputation in King's Landing. After all, he had not sacrificed anyone so far through blood magic, to the disappointment of some, and food was being widely distributed. New shipments from Braavos would also arrive in King's Landing after Daemon sent a message to the Iron Bank.
The North was also being resupplied with ship after ship. The Iron Bank was fulfilling its agreement, even though Daemon was about to face an army so numerous against him, in addition to more dragons.
Perhaps the impression of Daemon making the Iron Throne appear before the bankers and sitting on it while releasing a magical aura had made them bet more on him than on anyone else, even though it seemed he was at a disadvantage.
Only fools who had never met him before seemed to think he could be defeated after everything he had already shown himself capable of doing.
His men also believed in him.
Daemon was not nervous in the slightest. No matter how rich or powerful the enemy force seemed when he spoke openly about Blackfyre, his voice and his face never showed nervousness. He showed as if he had total control over the situation.
That reassured everyone who followed him.
He was, at the base of morale, the strength for the coming war. If he faltered, his army would falter as well. Even though he stood at the top of the pyramid, he was also the foundation that supported it so it would not collapse to either side.
Daemon turned his gaze to Ygritte, who kept cursing while covering her nose. "What a shitty smell this city has."
"Get used to it," Val said beside him. She certainly also hated the smell of the city, but her reaction was not as exaggerated as Ygritte's.
"You have to be joking!" Ygritte snarled, looking at Daemon with a questioning tone.
"I'll try to improve that in the future, but for now, get used to it," Daemon merely shrugged.
She continued cursing under her breath and they followed toward the castle.
Another person who did not spare insults was Tormund, along with other wildlings, who began complaining about the bad smell. Even so, they were all ignored.
When they arrived at the castle, they dismounted from their horses. Daemon then called one of the men who were with him: Brynden Blackwood, the heir of Lord Tytos Blackwood and lord of Raventree Hall, whom Daemon had given some work over the past few days to spread information throughout the city, distribute rumors and even songs for the common people, trying to calm King's Landing since its conquest.
"I want you to talk about the army that arrived today and about its victories, both in Pyke and in the Westerlands. Say that I only left that army to join the main army at Harrenhal on my dragon, but that I also participated in the battles leading my men, all of this before we came to conquer King's Landing," Daemon said.
The man nodded and left the place to begin his work, along with others he had recruited to spread this information throughout the city.
Jon then met with dozens of lords while they talked about the western campaign, with Lord Tallhart being the one who delivered the reports to him.
"Excellent. I will need your men to receive instructions from those who are already here. We are preparing some formations."
"Will we face them in open field, my lord?" Lord Tallhart asked.
"Yes... but it is not that simple. I have prepared a strategy that I have not yet discussed with any of you," Daemon said calmly.
Everyone looked at him, somewhat surprised, but Daemon did not give any further details.
He had a good stock of wildfire after taking so much that Cersei had managed to gather, and he had been preparing the terrain for some time. He himself had frozen certain areas using Winter through warging around King's Landing in the last few days, so that the enemy army would advance exactly where he wanted — a ground the enemy could use and where he had prepared a trap beneath the earth.
But he would only talk about that on the day of the battle. He knew that Varys still had spies he had not been able to fully capture. The problem was not speaking about it in that room, but when his men started whispering outside the castle; those whispers could reach the enemy's ears.
In any case, the meeting did not last long.
Daemon ended up taking Ygritte somewhere with the excuse that he would show the castle to his "other lover", and they ended up on a bed that he had placed inside the secret passages through his storage powers.
During the afternoon, Daemon sat on the throne.
"Bring them."
He gave the order, and several lords of the Westerlands were brought to their knees before the Iron Throne, while the temporary counselors remained at the sides.
"My lords, we have about twenty-two thousand men from the West imprisoned in our camp. The Lannisters no longer exist. You no longer have a sovereign. There is not even any Lannister left in the capital. Tyrion and the others have already been taken by a ship, sent far away, to the Wall."
The Lannister family had ended at that moment.
"My lord, please, have mercy on us. We only followed orders," said Ser Addam Marbrand.
He was a Lannister cavalry commander and a trusted captain of Tywin.
"I can spare you. I can spare all the soldiers from the West who fought against my army, but all of you will have to kneel. You will swear oaths and also join the army that will fight against Blackfyre in the south. I would grant you command of the Westerlands again, as long as you are willing to serve me and make the Westerlands bow to the new Targaryen regime," Daemon said.
The battle in the city may have been intense, but the allied Targaryen army had not lost many men, and the same could be said for the Lannisters, who surrendered very quickly and lost only eight thousand people.
"We will do so, King Daemon Targaryen." Not only Ser Addam Marbrand, but many others quickly knelt properly, bowing even lower.
"Swear it," Daemon said.
"We swear loyalty to Daemon Targaryen and to Queen Daenerys Targaryen. We swear to serve you, as do all our houses in the name of the Westerlands. You will have my sword and the swords of the men of the West to die fighting for the crown," the lords said openly.
In fact, Daemon had already gone to the black cells and made the proposal, because when they were to make the oath, they had to use the exact words they had agreed upon.
"Excellent."
Daemon nodded as he listened, and he also noticed his counselors looking satisfied with it. Twenty-two thousand swords would be joining the army.
Now they had more than one hundred and eighty thousand men to fight for them.
An army that Westeros had never seen before.
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