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CHAPTER 239
296 AC
POV THIRD PERSON
Aermir turned into an eagle and flew to the city; he landed on top of a tower and used the Lion's Roar spell to induce fear.
"People of Stonehold! I can continue cutting into you day by day; I could continue to rain down fire and ice upon you. I will give you one more chance; if you surrender now, no one else needs to die, House Pryor doesn't need to end today, but if I take this castle by force, I will end all the houses on this island. The choice is yours. I give you until the end of this day and will come back with the night; if I don't get a satisfying answer, House Pryor will not see the next sun."
He turned into an eagle and flew back to his army.
...
The war room of Stonehold echoed with the fervent voices of Vale lords.
Ser Reynard Stonegate, his face twisted in defiance, stood at the forefront of the resistance against surrender. "To yield to these Northern invaders is to forsake our honor! We shall fight until our last breath for the Seven and for the Vale!"
Opposing him, Lord Cedric Pryor, a distant cousin of the late Lord Pryor, argued for a more pragmatic approach. "Ser Reynard, we cannot ignore the reality before us. Our families and our homes hang in the balance. To fight blindly is to lead our people to ruin."
The room teetered on the edge of chaos as voices rose, each lord and knight expressing their unwavering convictions. Ser Reynard, unwilling to brook dissent, pointed at Jasper and Cedric,
"Traitors! You Cedric, if your late cousin could see you now, he would spit on your face. He would never abandon the Seven's light to save his skin!"
Then he seized Lord Jasper Redstone, a vocal proponent of surrender, by the collar.
"... and you. You would sell the honor of the Vale for your family's safety?!"
Lord Jasper, struggling to maintain composure, replied, "Our duty is to protect our kin, not sacrifice them needlessly. The Druid's powers are beyond our understanding. We must choose survival over senseless valor."
The tension escalated, culminating in Ser Reynard's violent outburst. He struck Lord Jasper with a fist, proclaiming, "I would rather die defending the honor of the Seven than submit to a Northerner heathen!"
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However, within the ranks of the Vale forces, dissent simmered. Sir Gerrick Pryor, a knight of House Pryor, stepped forward, his eyes ablaze with determination. "Ser Reynard, your zeal blinds you to the reality we face. Our families look to us for protection, not for a senseless death. I will not let you lead us to ruin."
With a hate-filled face, Reynard said,
"Do you see me ask for your opinion, you spineless tiny island nobles! I will give every one of your lives to its last drop if it defends the honor of Vale and the Seven!"
As Ser Gerrick finished speaking, his brother, Sir Alden Pryor, unsheathed his blade and drove it into Ser Reynard's chest. The room fell into stunned silence as the defiant champion of the Seven crumpled to the floor.
"Then you can go on your way to the Seven; we will not be joining. I would rather my family name live under Northern boot than it getting destroyed under my watch."
With Ser Reynard's final breath, a blooded fight started: on the one side was duty and loyalty to Arryn and the Seven, and on the other side, duty and loyalty to the house and family.
Lord Jasper Redstone, who had advocated for surrender, parried blows from an enraged Ser Arlic Lynderly, a knight who served under Ser Reynard. Then he tried to reason with him.
"Our survival should be our priority! We cannot face the Northern forces with a divided front."
Sir Alden Pryor, the one who had struck down Ser Reynard, engaged in combat with a fiercely loyal Ser Petyr Coldwater. He grabbed Ser Coldwater's blade with his gauntlet and headbutted him, then stabbed him in his throat.
Amidst the chaos, Lord Cedric Pryor attempted to intervene, shouting, "Hold! This infighting weakens us. We must find a common ground, or we will all perish."
But his words fell on deaf ears as the room became a battlefield. The clash intensified, with both sides unwilling to yield. The air was thick with tension, and the echo of clashing steel reverberated through the war room.
In the end, the Pebble faction emerged victorious; every lord and knight faithful to Arryn and wanted to fight to the death received what they wanted; they had died to the last men.
...
As always, Aermir sent all the noblemen to the wall and executed those who didn't want it, and he married the female members to his men. When everything was over, he allowed news to travel to the Vale army on the shores of the Bite.
...
After another failed attempt to kill the orcas, the Vale lords were in a discussion on how to reach the Littlesister to clash with Aermir's army. As their discussion continued, one of the messages Aermir let through reached Jon Arryn's hand. He got up with urgency and shouted,
"Ready 7 thousand men and send them to Paps right away! Right away!"
Jon Arryn just froze after he gave that order, and Lord Redfort called out with a concerned face,
"My lord?"
Jon shook his head in denial,
"He...He... While we talk here, he invaded the Pepple!"
He slammed his wrinkled hand on the table and said,
"While we do nothing here, he wasn't resting on the Littlesister like we were informed. Why? Why didn't we get any news that he embarked from the island?"
He threw his goblet at his spymaster and hit the pitiful man on his head. How could they know Aermir had almost two hundred birds under his control and was not letting any raven pass without his men inspecting the messages? So, his army of ravens was still a mystery to the Vale lords.
With the knuckles of his hands, Jon softly tapped the table continuously,
"We have to cut him off. Where did we last see his orcas, and when?"
One of his advisors said,
"Just a few hours ago, they were at Littlesister."
"Okay then, we need so many men in Paps that he wouldn't even attempt invading it. I changed my mind; sent 10,000 men right away. He will most likely embark in a few days; since this was sent yesterday, we still have time; we have to reach Pebble before his orcas do."
As they were having this heated argument, a brown mouse was looking at them from the corner of the tent. Seeing this, Aermir was so happy; Jon Arryn was dancing at the palm of his hand and didn't even know it. Jon believed they were going for the Paps, and he was going to send all these forces to defend that island. Aermir would love to sink those 10,000 men, but Jon wouldn't even attempt that number if Aermir didn't make it obvious his orcas were nowhere close to them. Repun was not fast enough to reach from Littlesister to Paps in time. So he had other plans for them.