The penitence of the wolf - The bane of the grey rats (Patreon)

Aerys Targaryen, The throne room

"Answer Ser Davos' question," Aerys ordered firmly as he looked at Lord Redwyne coldly

The Southern man was everything Aerys hated about the Andals, arrogant and self-righteous, since his arrival, his only strategy had been to highlight the importance of the Redwynes and their long history as navigators

And although it was true that, for centuries, the lords of the arbor had perfected the art of navigation for centuries

However, there were two small problems

Paxter Redwyne was a skilled commander, but a poorly skilled sailor

So, Davos was eating the imbecile Lord alive

Figuratively speaking, of course

"The route you mention is just a myth, we have navigated the waters in question for decades and we have never witnessed what you say," Paxter replied with determination, sure of his answer

However, to the Southerner's confusion, Davos nodded and replied

"That's because you only sail during the day my lord, however, in the dark of night and under the influence of the moon, the current appears every night at the hour of the wolf, for exactly two hours, for years, smugglers, pirates and iron born have used the dormant current to evade the fleets of the arbor and Starfall for centuries."

At the words of Davos, everyone present began to murmur, it was a private session, only the royal family and the members of the council were in the room

As the king had ordered, Lord "experts" in navigation had arrived in the capital, all presenting their plans for the renewal of the royal fleet

And unfortunately, the results had been disappointing

the problem? Although they all came from renowned marine houses and were competent administrators in theory

None had any real sailing experience, none had led a ship in a storm on the ocean, none had fought pirates or evaded fleets in the dead of night

And most important, no one was intelligent enough to learn, less from a commoner like Davos

The Lords knew about taxes, treaties and trade prices, Davos knew how to sail

So, they were just like the fucking beginning

Darren Lannister had proposed building larger, heavier ships that would withstand the attacks of the Iron Born

Davos' response? fireships, small, fast vessels that were sacrificed to burn enemy ships, relatively cheap to create

Therefore, the idea was discarded

Lord Tarth had suggested otherwise, smaller and faster ships to hunt down both pirate and Iron born ships

And Davos responded with a single sentence

Ship’s Rams, and the idea was rejected

The Velaryon, the Graftons, and the Manderly offered interesting trading strategies, escorted caravans to trade with Braavos, Pentos, and Norvos, even toying with the idea of repeating the voyages of Corlys Velaryon and sending another expedition to Yi-Ti

However, they still had the same problem

The Iron Born

And when Aerys began to lose patience

Ulric Dayne, a member of his own council, appeared before him

Aerys looked at him curiously and spoke

"Do you wish to present your plan, my lord?" asked the king

Lord Dayne simply shook his head and replied

"Not exactly, your grace, however, I wish to advocate for someone in my family, who wishes to present a proposal to you."

Curiously, Aerys nodded slowly, curious about the words of Lord Dayne, who, having the king's consent, beckoned to one of his soldiers

There was silence for a moment, until the doors of the throne room opened and the speaker shouted

“Introducing Lady Ashara of the noble House Dayne, children of the Torrentine and masters of Starfall”

While Lyserra, Rhaella, and Olenna looked at the young lady with curiosity and approval, the rest of the Lords simply shook their heads and muttered under their breath, too cowardly to express it openly to the dragon king

Who, for his part, simply struck the iron throne with his sword, generating a loud and powerful sound through the entire room, silencing all the Lords without saying a single word, at the same time that Rhaegal roared with as much ferocity as that of a small cat meanwhile Lorcan and Arwen, perched on top of the throne, watched everything with great interest

Reaching the foot of the imposing seat, Lady Ashara curtsied and exclaimed

"Your grace, thank you for receiving me and giving me the opportunity to present a proposal" in a tone of gratitude

Aerys nodded softly, and as he looked at the beautiful lady, he could understand why the southern trout was tormented by the mere memory of her

"My judgment will be based on the viability of your proposal, my lady, your father has pleaded for you, what do you have to show me?" asked the king

The beautiful Ashara smiled with a sweet smile that deceived everyone except Aerys, behind that beautiful and angelic face, those purple eyes shone with great intellect

Then, Lady Ashara cracked her fingers and a pair of Dayne servants approached with a box full of scrolls, much to the intrigue of those present and the king's approval

After all, Ashara had been the first to bother to put her plans in writing, a point in her favor he thought

"I have helped my father and brother in the management of Starfall, and one of my responsibilities was the administrative management of the merchant ships and I have learned a couple of things during these years talking with the captains" at that moment, Lady Dayne raised her hand to the throne, offering a peculiar scroll to the king

Aerys rose from the throne and walked towards the beautiful young woman, who could not help but avert her gaze, feeling the king's dominating gaze on her

Aerys thanked her politely, took the parchment and resumed his seat, at the same time beckoning Davos to begin questioning the promising Lady

While Davos questioned Lady Ashara, who surprisingly responded in an assertive and sensible way, although with some innocence, typical of someone young

At the same time, Aerys reviewed the detailed parchment, where, to his surprise and satisfaction, detailed and planned actions were described in great detail

And then, Davos asked what absolutely everyone failed to do

“Finally, how would you improve the royal fleet?”

And Lady Ashara replied

“A proper management of the resources of the crown, as well as the diversification of our war vessels, the longships of the Iron Born are their best asset, so we must focus on countering such ships, the royal fleet must be divided into small divisions that function independently, with a large capital ship slow and with a lot of fire power, escorted by packs of small and fast ships, in such a way as to allow the crown to project its power constantly throughout the continent”

Aerys nodded pleased and relieved

"I don’t need to hear anything else, it is my great pleasure to appoint you, Lady Ashara Dayne, as minister of the fleet, you will be in charge, together with Almirant Davos of the renewal and complete restructuring of the royal fleet" and then the king made a sign with his hand to Ser Gerold, who nodded and offered the young and overwhelmed Lady a small box with a golden pin with the head of a dragon and a ship in it

Rhaella looked at him with a beaming smile, while the approving faces of Lady Olenna Tyrell and Princess Marla Martell were more than evident

Another woman in such an important position, it was something never seen before since dance; however, Jon had ruled for decades beyond the Wall, and knew perfectly well that it mattered little to have a cock or not between the legs to be able to think with intelligence

"Minister Ashara, tonight will be the first meeting for the renewal of the fleet, Davos will give you a brief summary about our plans, I also need you to talk to all the Lords who have presented themselves today, many had interesting ideas, and welcome to King’s Landing" exclaimed the king as he stood up and, looking at all the members of the council continued

“That would be all for today, next week the tournament will be held to evaluate the candidates to replace Ser Gwayne, any other matter you want to address?” 

At those words, everyone fell silent, so Aerys simply nodded and proceeded to leave the place, being escorted by Ser Gerold and Ser Barristan

He had a pending meeting, after all

Leyton Hightower, the Red Keep, that night

"It's just incredible, never seen before," Marwin murmured staring at the little dragon, which was now the size of a dog, at the same time that a couple of crows stared at them, watching them

Spying on them for their master, Leyton thought

"It is, just beautiful, it's growing really fast, it tripled in size in a couple of months" Leyton replied looking with an analytical eye at "Rhaegal" who looked at them with complete indifference

"I'm sorry for the delay, I had a small inconvenience" the king's voice was heard, as he entered the office

Marwin and Leyton stood up and bowed to the monarch, who simply made a gesture of indifference

"You both requested a meeting, my lords, I am all ears"

Leyton and Marwin looked at each other, preparing to talk to the king about the problem with the gray rats

"Your grace, Lord Leyton and I wanted to inform you about a betrayal, on the part of... The Order of Masters”

Leyton and Marwin expected disbelief, denial and fury, however, the king looked at them coldly and simply replied

"Oh?" as he focused all his attention on both men

Marwin simply continued

"A select and small group of arrogant men inside the citadel plan and conspire against the crown and the rest of the houses of Westeros, they call themselves..." however, the king interrupted the old man and spoke

"The order of the guiding hand, led by the most prominent, ancient and arrogant members of the putrid order, who, for centuries, have conspired to eliminate all traces of magic from the continent, including the house of the dragon," the king replied calmly

Too much for his liking, Leyton thought with some suspicion

Marwin simply looked at the king with understanding, opening his eyes and whispering

“You know it? Are you aware of the conspiracy? So why...” at this point, Marwin was speechless

"Why haven't I summoned the banners and reduced the citadel to mere rubble?"  asked the king with amusement

Both Marwin and Leyton nodded softly

The king, laughing softly, simply replied

"A wise ruler understands that some battles are not won with swords, blood and destruction, if I destroy the rat's nest, those that are not present will be responsible for forming smaller nests, even more difficult to find," he replied

Aerys then looked at Leyton and continued

“I must say that your election as Grand Master was quite revealing and to be honest, save your family from total extermination, what made you choose someone competent like Marwin?” asked the monarch curiously

Leyton inhaled strongly and answered sincerely

"For years, I've searched for answers about my daughter's condition, decades of failure, my daughter was getting more and more lost in madness, even my own servants talked about her, the mad maiden, or just Malora the mad one." The fury at those words was more than evident in the old Lord

"However, one day, when a bleeding star lit up the heavens, my daughter, for the first time in years, regained her sanity, at least for an instant, my beloved daughter's eyes regained their lucidity and she murmured a phrase that would burn my mind "the dragon of dragons will know what to do"

To Aerys, that reaction was suspiciously similar to the story told to him by Meera, apparently, the abomination was capable of destroying people's minds, even in the past

He had made it with Hodor at Winterfell, after all

However, he was unaware that Lord Hightower's daughter suffered from a similar condition, which gave him an opportunity, to recruit House Hightower in his campaign against the grey rats

A simple decision in his opinion, to help an innocent woman and in return, to recruit one of the most important houses on the continent to his cause

And speaking of cause...

"Your grace, the rest of the guests have arrived," Ser Gerold reported

Aerys looked at Leyton and said quickly

"We will talk more about this issue another time, there is a way to help Malora, but it is not the time or the place, I will send you a message to talk about another time," the monarch reported, causing the eyes of both men to open wide and they nodded quickly, understanding the situation

A second later, the rest of Aerys' inner circle appeared, led by the prince and queen, who upon seeing Lord Leyton and Maester Marwin, were shocked

The king smiled at the queen and pointed with his hand to the chair to her right

"Take a seat, we're all here," the king informed as he stood up and made a sign to Dalla

"My dear, bring the surprise I told you about, the time has come to present the future of the kingdom," exclaimed the king in a dramatic way

Dalla tilted her head and hurried out of the room, at the same time as Aeranax and Sky Strider began to fly around the room, following Rhaegal, who, it seemed, simply wanted to rest and was trying to escape from his brothers

And then, the king stood up and began to speak

"My Lords and ladies, as you have all been able to witness, we have had too many changes in a short time, our glorious city, little by little, is transforming into what it should always be, a firm demonstration of our power and superiority as Westerosi"

As he spoke, the king dominated the entire room with his presence, the queen looked at him with eyes of admiration and desire, while the prince watched him with pride, Lord Davos nodded determinedly, while Lady Ashara nodded at the king's words, completely concentrated, on the other hand, both Lady Lyserra and Lady Cersei looked with absolute devotion at the monarch

"However, it is not enough, as we talked, those useless old men, who cling to their dwindling power, threaten to destroy everything we are building, the order of the maesters is antiquated and useless," roared the king, at the same time that Dalla returned accompanied by two of the king's most loyal knights, accompanied, surprisingly, by Lord Whent

"That is why, following the incredible ideas of Prince Rhaegar, it is my greatest pleasure to present this project to you" and immediately afterwards, the king removed the fabric of the curious object, revealing for everyone a beautiful and detailed model of a castle

It was simply beautiful, with an obvious Valyrian influence, and apparently really big, similar to...

Leyton opened his eyes and looked at the king in utter surprise

"The royal academy of Westeros, the future educational institution per excellence of the kingdom, the cradle of progress and a place for young minds to develop properly, a place that will forge the future princes and noble heirs of the kingdom and the most ambitious project of my reign so far," exclaimed the king passionately, before the astonished faces of those present

Observing that he had all my attention on him, the monarch continued

"It will be built in an important place, steeped in history for our glorious continent, the place where, according to legends, the first men made a pact with the children of the forest, the same place where the legend of House Targaryen began, almost three hundred years ago, where once was destruction, it will be a new place of progress and hope" and then the king placed a dragon's head made of ebony wood on a map

Directly on Harrenhall

And Leyton, in his mind, simply couldn't help but applaud

How to eliminate an enemy without attacking them?

Simple, simply by eliminating what gives them an advantage, in this case

Knowledge

An academy that all nobles, whether princes or the humblest son of a knight, could attend and gain knowledge would eliminate the monopoly and need for maesters

After all, if everyone has access to knowledge... Why would you want a maester in your castle? When your cousin of your little brother could keep that place

Not counting the political advantages of coexistence, the academy would function as a massive fostering, where Lords from all over the kingdom would learn and form bonds with the rest of the heirs, creating bonds for life

A magnificent, simple idea and a ruthless tactic against the grey rats

“The nobles will be instructed in what we have called common trunk, knowledge that we wish all future Lords of my kingdom to possess, with options for specialized careers, such as war commanders, studying about ancient battles and the correct management of different type of troops, naval admirals, with practical combat exercises in the god’s eye, healers and architects  or even administrators,  focusing on the management of the kingdom's gold and trade," said Prince Rhaegar, really excited at the idea of an educational center of such magnitude, after all, it was well known that the prince was a scholar

Everyone began to murmur with excitement, including Marwin who began to give ideas for the institution, livestock management and reproductive fishing cycles, as well as politics, for future ambassadors to Essos and other parts of the world

And Leyton looked at the king with different eyes, after all... The movements seemed erratic, but his old age had given him perspective

The fortification of the crown lands, the renewal of the fleet, and the dragon's fist, and now, the king was focusing on forging officers for his troops...

Aerys Targaryen was preparing for a war, a distant one apparently, but the pieces were there

And the old man of the Hightower looked at the monarch with new eyes, and wondered

If these wonders are what he shares with us, what is he hiding?

Leyton shuddered, after all, he didn't know the answer

He was only sure of one thing

The days of the grey rats were numbered, and the Hightower house would emerge victorious, at the feet of the dragon

As they did two hundred years ago during dance

After all, they light the way