24th Day of the 8th Moon, 269 B.C.
The Hour of High Sun (11 P.M.)
Ser Alaric Mormont, outskirts of Lannisport
Kevan, mimicking his older brother, possessed the sa sour face and eyes that carried a deep fury. Tygett, the youngest, stood frozen with his mouth open as he shifted his gaze between Tywin, Aerys, and . Joanna, who was holding the confused twins, rely sighed with a disappointed air.
Rhaella observed the three of them calmly, but it was noticeable by the movent of her jaw that she was uncomfortable. Rhaegar, who stared at his father, waiting for his reply, was the only one who possessed a genuine calmness.
Inhaling deeply while giving a profound look, Aerys finally gave his answer.
"You may inform your people that Blacktyde and Orkmont are already yours," he announces. "But the eastern lands of Great Wyk are still to be decided. We shall see how you perform in the rest of the tournant."
"Your grace—"
No way.
"We will continue to win, Your grace," I interrupt Tywin. "So you can spend the rest of the ti deciding how the other pieces of land will be divided," I state with confidence.
***
The Hour of the Throne (12 P.M.)
Lord Steffon Baratheon, Lord of Storm's End and Lord Paramount of the Stormlands.
Ser Gwayne Gaunt, mber of the Kingsguard, the group where only the best swordsn of the Seven Kingdoms are accepted.
Ser Brynden 'Blackfish' Tully, a knight famous for his deeds in the War of the Ninepenny Kings.
Ser Kermit Frey, a young but genuine knight capable of using magic. Already famous for traveling alongside Septon Mycah, the blessed saint who has direct contact with the Seven Who Are One.
Ser Edmund Bushy, one of the seven n who joined the fight against the Drowned God himself.
Ser Casso Grafton, a skilled knight of the Vale, veteran of the War of the Ninepenny Kings, and experienced in keeping pirates away from the Stepstones and the Narrow Sea near Gulltown, the ancestral seat of his house.
Ser Morgan Fossoway, a knight, veteran of the War of the Ninepenny Kings, and a common competitor and winner of the various tournants held in the Reach.
Luton Norrey, mber of the mountain branch of House Norrey, which claims to be the first.
Quarterfinals of the Duel. The first fight, between Brynden Tully and Steffon Baratheon, has just ended, with the victory of the Blackfish. Remaining now are: two from the Reach, two from the Riverlands, one from the Vale, one from the Crownlands, and one from the North. None from the Westerlands or Dorne.
Dorne is understandable. Most of the Dornishn left after the end of the war, not wanting to stay to watch the tournant. The death of the Prince Consort, along with the absence of the Princess, ant that many of them did not stay, and those who did chose not to participate.
The Blackmont was the only Dornishman I saw participate so far, and from what he just told , he was also going to compete in the lee and Jousting, but ended up selling his spot.
"Those Lannisters are truly swimming in gold," he continues his explanation of how it was to sell his spot in both events. "They initially offered three hundred gold dragons for both slots, but after I explained how the Tyrells were offering four hundred for each, they raised it to six hundred each. Now I am twelve hundred gold dragons richer than when I arrived. I will probably put half into the developnt of my new lands."
He smiles with his eyes closed while stretching his legs and arms, as much as the tight space of the stands allowed.
"Life is good."
He is bold, but he is not an idiot. He is not oblivious to the strange looks that the Northerners around us are giving him.
When I returned from the booth, ready to report that we had already secured two islands, I ca across the scene of Andrey Blackmont sitting in our section of the stands.
When I asked what he was doing here, he told that since he didn't know anyone in the Dornish section besides his own brother, he ca here to keep company and kill the wasted ti; it wouldn't be much different from staying there.
Since his presence prevented from saying what I wanted to say to Rickard and the others, I had to convey the success with Blacktyde and Orkmont by saying 'done' quietly and nodding my head.
This was already during Andrey's rambling, and he hasn't stopped since then.
"Why the long face? Did you want to have bought the spot yourself?" he asks upon seeing my reaction to his chatter.
"We don't need to do that," Maege comnts. "We will win everything just as we entered."
He turns to her, wearing a smile that indicates he knew sothing more.
"You might even win this one, but I doubt you will win the rest."
I wasn't the only one to catch his smile and suspicious tone. Sensing a threat to his plans, Rickard questions him.
"What do you an by that?"
Andrey directs his smile toward him. "With the domination of the North, all the other kingdoms will focus on you."
"That is obvious," Jorah points out, looking at him as if he were an idiot.
We already knew that, and Rickard himself had already resolved the problem by talking to Hoster and Jon Arryn, proposing a non-aggression pact with neither of them until there was no other option during the Mock Battle and lee.
Despite the words being spoken to question his intelligence, Andrey only smiled even more, saying to him:
"Yes, but along with the buying and selling of spots, all three remaining events have beco team competitions. The next one, the lee, will not be any different from the Mock Battle. Maybe even worse, with teams reaching up to ten. And the joust? Whenever people from the sa kingdom face each other, it is likely that one side will forfeit so that the other can conserve energy for the next round. By the ti the final arrives, it is likely that your man will be dying of pain and exhaustion, while the other is only minimally panting."
He turns to Maege before continuing.
"You didn't buy spots, right? So, how many Northerners do you have in the lee?"
"... Three."
The delay made her understanding of the situation clear, just as the expressions of Jorah, Jeor, Harren, and Rickard made their understanding clear, but Andrey didn't stop.
"Shesh. That is few. You have found the end of the line. You Northerners might not know it, but the lee is never the target of attention for the great nobles, so those who end up competing are the minor ones who don't stand a chance in the joust. So of them aren't even knights, but rather squires. But now that the Iron Islands are on the line? All those competitors, who had nothing to lose, sold their spots, willingly or not, to the great lords, sotis not even from their own kingdom, who ford large groups. The Lannisters and Tyrells, at least I know they did this."
Shit. We didn't think about the possibility of the other lords buying spots from people outside their own kingdom. From what Hoster and Arryn told us, they only paid to swap the spots of n already competing for more skilled people.
But it makes sense. Landless knights have no loyalty to the great house of their native kingdom, so it would be normal to sell to the highest bidder.
This is a big problem. Although the lee is a mandatory free-for-all, there is a loophole of working as a team through non-aggression until there is no other choice, which is what was agreed upon between the Vale, the Riverlands, and us.
"You at least have the seven that everyone will have during the Mock Battle, but only three in the lee? That will be difficult."
"Do you know how many people the Lannisters and Tyrells managed to gather?" I ask.
Andrey narrows his eyes, trying to rember.
"I rember seeing Lannister and Tyrell n having several discreet conversations with the competitors, but I don't know how many they managed to convince. But since they threatened , saying that I didn't stand any chance in the lee, since they already had six inside, you can count that their minimum is seven. The Tyrells are a mystery to ."
Seven against three, in the best-case scenario.
I don't doubt that Tywin sent his n to attack ours as soon as the battle started.
Enhance Ability is powerful, but it is not capable of working miracles.
"I need to speak with Lord Tully and Lord Arryn," Rickard says as he stands up.
He likely intends to ask for help, perhaps even propose that they join forces against Tywin.
"Wait." I extend my hand to stop him.
I don't imagine Jon and Hoster to be naive. They will realize that the ones who have the most to gain from this alliance against the Lannisters are us—those already ahead and outnumbered. Any agreent ford will be at our expense.
"What?"
I don't answer right away, which makes Rickard raise his left eyebrow. With Andrey beside , I cannot speak what I'm thinking out loud.
'I already know what to do,' I speak telepathically. 'I just need to ask the Hightowers to act sooner.'
This ti, both of his eyebrows go up.
ssage delivered, now I just need to keep up appearances.
"Maege is right," I finally say. "We don't need any of that to win."
Maege opens her eyes in surprise, not understanding that I am saying this so Andrey won't suspect Rickard is obeying .
"The other two besides Luton must be very strong for you to have that much confidence," Andrey teases, the smile still on his face.
"We are. Now watch the fight. It's about to begin."
It was. The second fight of the Duel: Luton Norrey vs. Ser Casso Grafton.
I pay no attention to the fight. I know which kingdom will be knocked out of the event by the end of the duel. Instead, I turn toward the Reach section of the stands, where Malora sat between her father and the Archmaester of the higher mysteries, who wore a grim expression.
'I will need you to use magic today, during the lee, on the Lannister n, in case they head toward the Northerners.' I send the ssage, only to imdiately turn my head away and stop staring at her.
Seven seconds pass before she replies to .
'As you ask.'
Perfect. With that, I have nothing left to worry about.
With our non-aggression pact with the Vale and the Riverlands...
Luton wins his fight, as expected, putting him in the semifinals after a battle that lasted less than two minutes.
Next was Gwayne Gaunt vs. Edmund Bushy, ending in a victory for the Kingsguard knight after four minutes of intense combat.
Finally, it was Kermit Frey vs. Morgan Fossoway to conclude the quarterfinals. It was just as close as the previous one, but the Frey ended up getting the upper hand without using any magic.
Seeing the clean victory, Andrey couldn't help but comnt on it, just as he had been comnting on all the others.
"It seems it was bad luck for that one to go up against Ser Harlan Grandison in the round of sixteen and be forced to use magic."
An analysis that seed to be correct. The boy was good.
"If he were a bit older, more grown, he could have won without getting hurt."
He is referring to the left arm, which had seed sowhat useless ever since he blocked an attack from Fossoway's mace with his shield.
When he retired from the field to the applause of the crowd and headed to the waiting booth, he t with Septon Mycah, who made him drop his shield to the ground to look at his arm.
"That septon better have so healing magic, as the rumors say. I doubt he wins with that arm, even if he uses the sa magic from yesterday."
Whether he does or not, we will find out in the next few minutes, because one minute after his fight, the first semifinal begins: Brynden Tully vs. Luton Norrey.
Brynden is skilled, very skilled. And at twenty-six years old, he is at his physical peak, being fast and agile while also being strong.
He is exactly the type of man we feared Luton would face. Soone who can not only dig his heels in and resist physically, but can also compensate for the physical difference with skill.
Fortunately, we counted on him winning his fight against Steffon the day before, so we had Luton lower his axe and train with the mace.
Since all the edges of the blades are blunted, using edged weapons is purely out of habit rather than practicality.
In these events, blunt-force weapons hold a complete advantage, and since Luton would be fighting people of superior skill, using his axe wouldn't take advantage of his biggest positive trait: strength, which is the most valuable stat for a mace.
By using the mace, he could offset the skill disadvantage with a weapon advantage. While his opponent's attacks would rely scratch his armor, his would dent it and break bones just like in a normal battle.
Following this logic, we convinced him for the rest of the day, all for today.
It worked. He destroyed Brynden. Guided by Maege and his almost abnormal strength, he quickly learned the basics of how to handle a mace and is destroying Brynden.
Each attack sends the Blackfish's arms flying back; that is when he decided to try to block or parry. Most of the ti, he just retreated.
Brynden has good footwork, so he managed to hold his ground for a while. But that only saved him for a few minutes.
In the end, I think his survival only served to show everyone how abnormal Luton was. No one that big should move as fast and as well as he did.
I am certain that the mont Brynden hit the ground, everyone already had him in their minds as the winner.
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