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Rating:
Teen And Up Audiences
Archive Warnings:
Graphic Depictions Of ViolenceMajor Character Death
Categories:
F/FF/MM/MMulti
Fandoms:
A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. MartinA Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms
Relationships:
Rhaenyra Targaryen/Laenor VelaryonJoffrey Lonmouth/Laenor VelaryonCorlys Velaryon/Rhaenys TargaryenDaemon Targaryen/Laena VelaryonRhaenyra Targaryen/Laena Velaryon
Characters:
Rhaenyra TargaryenLaenor VelaryonLaena VelaryonHelaena TargaryenAlicent HightowerAegon II TargaryenAemond TargaryenRhaenys Targaryen (Daughter of Aemon)Corlys VelaryonJoffrey Lonmouth
Additional Tags:
Self-Insertdance of dragonsAlternate UniverseTechnologySelf-Indulgent
Language:
English
Series:
Part 1 of The Blacks, the Greens and the Reds Next Work →
Stats:
Published:2019-09-19Updated:2026-06-17Words:1,084,451Chapters:467/?Comments:4,066Kudos:6,016Bookmarks:1,174Hits:557,693
The Blacks, The Greens and The Reds
Loke_Lyon
Chapter 14: Rebellion - Chapter 12
Chapter Text
If I'd been under any illusions about how fast Jeyne's makeshift army was going to travel now that we had a firm goal in mind they were shattered within the first week. First we had to wait for the 'hunting' parties to return. Laenor came back with them unharmed and had apparently impressed a fair few of the knights that had accompanied him. A knight of house Hardyng named Jon had especially taken a shine to him and I suspected Laenor might have an admirer. Although given the looks Laenor was shooting right back the feeling was very much mutual.
Once Jeyne had made sure the land surrounding the Eyrie was devoid of any lurking armies to put it under siege again she moved on to scouring her garrison for any hint of treachery. The woman was relentless and she ended up dismissing a fair few knights and servants when the answers they gave regarding where their allegiances lay weren't satisfactory.
I did manage to secure an hour or two for her, Laenor, Jessamyn and I to sit down and discuss the future of the Vale and the Black faction at court. Which was no easy feat given her dedication to ensuring Ser Arnold could never, ever subvert her people again. I was beginning to suspect a few of neuroses there, she had definiteky not taken the threat on her home well.
"You believe Alicent will escalate then?" asked my cousin, studying me with a curious intensity. "I had thought her goal to be forcing your father to disavow you as his heir via political pressure from his Lords."
"It will not work. Father is probably the most stubborn man in all of the Seven Kingdoms. I do not know why he refused to acknowledge Aegon as his heir after he was born but now it is too late for either of us to back down. When Father dies I will make my claim because to do otherwise is death and Alicent will make her claim because otherwise the Hightowers will lose a vast amount of resources and prestige." I replied. Jeyne nodded thoughtfully.
"You have our complete support, Cousin, but we are not exactly the Reach when it comes to what we can provide." Meaning her pockets weren't endless or deep and she had a serious manpower problem. Luckily, Laenor and I could help with that.
I glanced at Laenor, who nodded and leant forward. I had been quite surprised to learn that during his time with the Vale Knights he'd been paying attention to just what they were saying regarding the problems the Vale had. He'd returned with several ideas on how our technology could be used to strengthen and develop our allies beyond the obvious in the farming technology.
The fact that I had convinced Jeyne to seize Gulltown for House Arryn, albeit a distant branch of it, had thrilled him. Apparently gaining a greater control of the port was something he'd been intending to advise Jeyne to do.
"Rhaenyra and I have begun working on developing 'technologies' from an ancient book," he began.
"What does that actually mean?" asked Jessamyn, derailing his spiel. He paused, trying to explain and I took pity.
"Processes, devices, new ways of doing things. The 'book' is a copy of a copy and so on. It will require intense study but already we have a wealth of new ideas to work with," I told her. Laenor nodded along.
"You would strengthen the Vale in return for me aiding you against Alicent and her Greens," stated Jeyne.
"Wisdom Jerrett estimates that if we manage to reproduce even half of the technology mentioned we could increase crop yields by nine times and that's a conservative estimate. That is just what the book says regarding agriculture," Laenor pointed out.
"There's more than just agriculture?" asked Jeyne. When Laenor nodded Jessamyn let out an impressed whistle and turned to Jeyne with wide eyes.
"You know that I would support you regardless of whether you gave me this information, Rhaenyra, but I will not lie and say that I do not want access to what you develop from this book," Jeyne said after a moment's pause.
"As Laenor said, we want to help develop the Vale. Yet we should also look to see how we can develop it in other ways, the research on the book has only just started, after all. Do you know whether the Vale can support mines?" I asked. Jessamyn giggle-snorted in a weird cross between amusement and frustration. Jeyne shot her a dry look.
"The Vale does support mines currently. Mostly in Royce lands in the form of copper and tin, which shouldn't be surprising. I mine most of the marble and I believe the Belmore's have a small iron mine," she said after Jessamyn had calmed down.
"Oh, I see. It's the mountain clans, isn't it?" said Laenor before I could ask her to clarify why there was so little mining when you would assume the mountains would hold a wealth of resources.
"Correct. The mountains are rich with silver, iron and even some deposits of gold. Oh don't get me wrong it's nothing compared to Casterly Rock but it's still a good amount. The problem is where it's located, any permanent presence is either overrun before we can pull anything significant out of it or requires so much men to guard it that the mines simply aren't economical. Honestly, most houses of the Vale have given up ever mining the resources of the mountains," Jeyne told him.
Ouch. The lords of the Vale were a proud lot but poor. To know there was a king's ransom sitting in the mountains they were so proud of and also know it's completely untouchable must rankle.
"Then if we intend to help we have to start with the Mountain clans," I said. This time both Jeyne and Jessamyn laughed but it was bitter.
"You think we have not tried? They know the mountains better than we do. Thousands of men can completely vanish and any attempt to chase them, even with vast armies or mounted knights, are doomed to failure," said Jeyne finally. "We must settle for hunting them every autumn and depriving them of resources that way."
I gritted my teeth. Perhaps I could kill two birds with one stone here. My new pike and shot model army was dead in the water but I didn't have to give up on the idea of a professional army loyal to the crown. My entire knowledge of warfare came from playing copious amounts of Total War games but even I knew that relying on vassals for the majority of your muscle was a very bad idea.
The mountain clans had to be dealt with if the Vale was going to be strong enough to help win me the Dance. They were a nuisance that in the right circumstances could turn themselves into a disaster but they also presented an opportunity. During canon the mountain clans had served Tyrion. They'd hunted Stannis' scouts with a ruthless efficiency, blinding him to Tywin and the Reach's approach until it was too late.
The mountain clans would not work for me, I was under no illusions about that. I could, however, train my own versions with better equipment and supplies and use the Mountains of the Moon as their crucible. If it succeeded, I would have a reliable force that could blind my enemies to my movements and raid their supply lines and if it didn't, I had still sent aid to Jeyne and would won some good will from her.
"You've had a thought," said Laenor, looking at me. "I recognise that smirk."
Was I smirking? Yes. I explained the idea to the three of them without the bit about Tyrion.
"The clans know the mountains better than any men you can send and they move about them with little to no effort. You will be sending them to their deaths. Even if you managed to find clan territory, they'd simply pick up and move."
"I'm not suggesting we throw them into a search and destroy action straight away. I'd suggest they arrive, set up some sort of fort and slowly explore first, learnt he mountains. Then we use them in addition to whatever men your lords can raise to put the mountain clans to flight in a true campaign,"
"Jeyne, it's worth a try. Even if it only succeeds for a season or two, it's enough to create and reinforce some mines. You said yourself that something needed to change in the Vale," said Jessamyn, softly. Jeyne sighed, melting in the face of her lover's pleading look.
"Rhaenyra, you seem to have kicked over an anthill. Very well, if the business with Gulltown doesn't explode in our faces, I will put it to my Lords for their opinions, Seven knows it will at least give them something to do."
It was still another week until we left the Eyrie. An undercurrent of unease and excitement seemed to be boiling under the skin of every man and woman making the journey. Things were changing in the Vale. Word had gotten out the Graftons had earned Lady Arryn's ire to the point that she was willing to seek Lady Royce's aid which did not point to good things in Lord Humfrey Grafton's future.
Going to war, even a minor one like this, was not as glamorous or fun as I'd hoped. Progress was achingly slow and a trip that Syrax could have made in less than half a day and one man on a horse could make in two days took us four whole days. Admittedly, the road was poor and the terrain hard to pass. Jeyne promised that we would make better time on the road from Iron Oaks to Runestone as it was on flatter land. Road being a generous term for the glorified dirt track that occasionally lead into steep rises over rock.
We stayed a few days in Ironoaks as more men joined us from houses sworn to Lord Denys and Lord Gerold before setting off for Runestone proper, a trip that promised to cost us another week in time. I was told Jeyne had sent word to Lady Rhea informing her of our coming but there had been no reply waiting at Ironoaks for us. Jeyne sulked about the whole matter the entire way and refused even Jessamyn's cajoling to cheer up.
Happily, Falena Waynwood appeared to be made of sterner stuff than most. We'd picked her up during our brief stay at Ironoaks and she seemed completely unfazed by Syrax, the marching or the fact that Laenor was being as unsubtle as a brick to the face when it came to Ser Jon. I still wasn't ready to trust her completely but it seemed she knew how to keep her mouth shut so far.
It was getting towards evening when we finally caught sight of Runestone. A respectable stone keep that towered over a cliff, looking out over the sea. Probably had some really nice views but I'm also will to bet no one ever told them about erosion. Actually, maybe I was wrong about that. Part of the cliff had fallen away due to time and the sea but the land that supported the castle seemed untouched.
A mystery for another day, I suppose.
Lady Rhea and her household were waiting to greet us. My Lady Aunt was a tall woman with dark hair and hazel eyes. Her thin lips were being forced to form a polite smile but I could tell she was completely unimpressed with our arrival. We left the army setting up camp outside Runestone proper alongside Syrax and Seasmoke and accompanied the more distinguished members of our party to meet with Lady Royce.
It was awkward and the whole business did not get any less awkward as we preceded inside and were invited to share a small meal. Jeyne barely managed to stay on the right side of polite, a fact I attritbute entirely to Jessamyn's hasty diplomacy. For her own part, Lady Rhea ignored Jeyne's comments and muttering, instead focusing on her meal like she was trying to ignore our presence.
Lord Denys and Lord Gerold were not willing to let her forget though and had already started putting pressure on Rhea to help us against the Graftons heedless of the tense mood. Rhea was as non-committal as possible but did agree to arrange a proper discussion regarding the matter. Honestly, to say the Royce's supposedly had a blood feud going on with the Graftons, she was surprisingly ambivalent about the prospect of finally getting rid of them.
I probably should have taken that as a warning that she was preoccupied by something else completely. Me, namely. I'd barely gotten to the rooms assigned to me when one of her servants materialised and asked me if I'd like to join Lady Rhea in her solar for some wine.
"Princess Rhaenyra, I did not expect to see you riding to my liege lady's aid. I must offer you my thanks for defending the Vale from such treachery." For all that her words were praise, her tone was ice cold.
I offered her a warm smile and frantically tried to think of whatever I did that would have pissed her off this badly. I'd last seen her in person twelve years ago and even then it'd been a quick meet and greet. I'd gotten Daemon banished but again, that was hardly something she would be upset about given the way he'd treated her over the years.
"Thank you, Lady Rhea. My cousin is dear to me, I would not see her harmed," I replied. That should be safe enough. Rhea regarded me with a cool look before waving a servant forth to pour wine. I wondered briefly if it could be poisoned before dismissing the thought. Rhea wasn't nearly stupid enough to poison the heir to the Iron Throne in her own keep whilst an army and two dragons were camped outside.
"Dear to you? Or dear to the Blacks?" Rhea asked after she'd taken a sip. Okay, maybe she just doesn't like me bringing my little private war to the Vale and especially to her doorstep?
"To be truthful, both but she is my cousin first. Besides, we women need to stick together," I replied before taking a drink. Honesty seemed to be the best policy with Rhea.
"Oh? Were we 'sticking together' when you fucked my husband?"
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