The cart with Arya and The Hound easily made it across the city in about an hour. The man had enjoyed sitting with the half-decently pretty young woman and none of the patrols had stopped them for more than a moment to comment on them being careful in their deliveries. He stopped about five streets away from the Red Keep, since the streets were much too crowded to get any closer than that without arousing suspicion.
“This is as far as I go.” The driver said as he pulled into a secluded alley and hopped off of the cart. “I can't be seen too close to the Keep.” He offered a hand to Arya to help her down and she took it like a lady and stepped down to the ground.
“Stop bitching about it, you cunt.” The Hound said and tossed the bundles of wheat that had been hiding him onto the ground and slid out of the cart.
“Thank you for the ride.” Arya said and the two of them walked down the alley, looked out for a moment, then disappeared as they went around the corner.
“All right, they're gone.” The man said and knocked on the false bottom of the cart, then quickly finished taking out enough to let Jaime Lannister out. “We're five streets away and the Red Keep is right there.” He pointed. “Good luck and I hope I never see you again.”
Jaime nodded and went down to the same end of the alley, looked out into the street, then disappeared as he went around the corner.
*
To almost everyone's surprise, except for Tyrion, his plan to split their army worked like a charm. Since there was almost no trace of the living on the path to the Eyrie, only a few handfuls of the dead came that way at random. They were easily dispatched and the rest of the army of the dead passed by. The scout they had positioned and concealed ran to the first castle in the row and let Tyrion know.
“Excellent.” Tyrion said and turned to the current Lord of the Eyrie. “Would you care to earn several titles and quite a lot of reward money?”
The young man gave the imp a goofy smile. “Can I wear my father's armor?”
“I believe that would be a good idea.” Tyrion said, to humour the boy.
“Then the Vale's forces are yours to command!” The young boy saluted.
Tyrion almost laughed. “Thank you, My Lord.” He said and bowed instead, then turned to the people with him. “Prepare to leave as soon as possible.”
“Is that a good idea?” Jon asked. “The army of the dead just passed by.”
“We have three days to get to that point, then we have to chase them.” Tyrion said. “We need to catch them at the same time our Queen arrives at King's Landing. If she takes my advice and splits just before there and lets the Golden Army take on the majority of the dead, our well armed forces will decimate them from both sides.”
“Are we giving dragon glass weapons to them?” Varys asked, and then smiled. “Do we give them dragon glass weapons?”
Tyrion let out a chuckle. “That's my ruthless friend for you.” He said. “We will wait until the dead take about a quarter or even a third of the Golden Army, then provide them with the weapons to defend themselves.”
“Won't that be too late?” Jon asked.
“Not for us, since we might have to fight them right after fighting the dead.” Tyrion said. “At the moment, the Golden Army soldiers are rested and prepared for battle, while our army has been fighting for weeks and travelling for months. We need every advantage we can get.”
“I don't think letting them be decimated and possibly raised as the dead will be an advantage for us.”
“I've given instructions to the Unsullied. They know how to handle the situation when it happens.” Tyrion said. “Decapitation and fire will prevail the day we clash, just like it did at Winterfell.”
“Also, a little bird told me that they are preparing similar defenses as well.” Varys said, in reference to one of his child informants. “They will be completed well before our forces reach them.”
“Which means they will have the same ease of battle as we did at Winterfell.” Tyrion said.
“We lost at Winterfell.” Jon said.
“Only because we had underestimated the capacity of the field traps. If we had more time and land...”
Jon had to agree. If they had taken more time and had commandeered more of the surrounding lands, they might have won.
“As it is now, we have to depend on the skills of people desperate to protect themselves from an invading army.” Tyrion said. “It doesn't matter if the army is dead or not.”
Everyone agreed and prepared to leave. Soon after, the splinter of Daenerys' army led by Jon and Tyrion, along with 10,000 troops and 10,000 horsemen from The Vale led by the young Lord of the Vale, marched out towards a battle that had the potential to end all battles.
The living versus the dead.
*
Daenerys led the bulk of her army towards King's Landing and her scouts and people warned all the citizens about the army of the dead coming for them. They discovered that it was still pointless, since almost no one listened or believed them.
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Daenerys felt some despair as she realized once again that the people of Westeros were too afraid to listen to outsiders, even though they desperately needed the help. She surmised that the leadership of the nation had fallen even farther than she had suspected it had.
In comparison to the people living in the arid lands of Essos, the people of Westeros should have been happy to live in such a prosperous land, and yet... the common people were all downtrodden and barely living within their means.
Her army marched on towards King's Landing, their ultimate destination, and her determination to free the people from their oppressive ruler settled into her heart.
I will free them. Daenerys thought. Even if they don't want me to.
*
Two days later, Cersei Lannister, Queen of the Seven Realms, sat at a large table and looked at her plans for the dispersion of wildfire, the alchemists' prized possession, in key places around the underside of the city. She did not miss the irony of this, since it had been the Mad King's plan to blow up King's Landing with wildfire to cleanse it. She would be doing almost the same thing, except for different reasons and only if certain conditions were met.
The alchemists should have enough built up of it now for the plan to work. Cersei thought as she rolled up the plans and sealed them in wax, applied the royal seal, and sent a handmaid off with it to give to the Hand of the Queen to implement immediately. She sat back in her chair and looked out at the view of the bay. She didn't have to stand to know that a good portion of the Iron Fleet was moored in the harbour.
Such a disgusting man. Cersei thought in revulsion as the image of Euron Greyjoy appeared in her head. The way he leers at me turns my stomach.
“Excuse me, our highness.” A young woman said and bowed deeply. “The guards have informed us that a man was captured trying to enter one of the blocked secret passages into the Red Keep.”
Cersei wondered who would be idiotic enough to attempt to enter the Red Keep through an old passage. “Ser Gregor, please retrieve the culprit and bring him here.” She ordered. “You don't have to be gentle about it.”
Ser Gregor nodded and left her side to do her bidding. He returned twenty minutes later and dragged a dishevelled figure into the room and dropped him in front of the queen.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” Cersei asked, almost rhetorically.
“I'm sorry.” Jaime said as he lifted his head to look at her.
Cersei regretted her offhand comment about not being gentle. “Jaime.” She said and almost leapt from her chair to hug her brother, then her face went hard and she glared at him instead. “You have some nerve coming back here.”
“I know.” Jaime said and sat up.
“Ser Gregor.” Cersei said and a sword was unsheathed and pressed against Jaime's throat. “Tell me why I shouldn't have you killed right now.”
“Appealing to family ties won't help this time, will it?” Jaime asked and she shook her head. “I was wrong to leave.” He said. “I went to help the Northmen defend their lands, just so you would have kept your word to send someone.”
“Don't you dare tell me that you did it for me.” Cersei said angrily.
“It's the truth.” Jaime said. “You were being stubborn, and pig-headed, and you weren't considering what it meant if the Northmen lost the battle.”
“They did lose the battle.” Cersei said.
“Yes, and the army of the dead that was almost wiped out, has travelled all the way across Westeros.” Jaime said. “Just think of all the people that must have died as they did and added to their numbers.” He fell silent for a moment, then spoke. “I daresay the army is just as big, if not bigger, and it's not even here yet. By the time it reaches the gates of King's Landing...”
“What are you saying?” Cersei asked. “That we are going to lose? Absurd!” She scoffed. “The Lannister Army and the Golden Company will handle these dead creatures easily.”
“You can't, unless you have dragon glass, or lots and lots of fire.” Jaime said.
Cersei squinted her eyes at him. “I will not open the city or the keep to welcome that silver-haired whore and her castrated army.”
“She still has two dragons...” Jaime started to say.
“She lost one?” Cersei's eyes flashed in pleasure.
“The white walkers killed one during the battle.” Jaime said.
Cersei waved at Ser Gregor and he removed the blade from Jaime's throat. “I will spare your life for now.” She said, then glared at him as he stood. “I will never forgive you for leaving me like that.”
“Neither will I.” Jaime said and touched his neck where the blade had touched. No blood came off on his fingers and he relaxed.
Cersei waved at the chair across the table. “Tell me everything that happened.” She said and nodded to Ser Gregor, who walked over to stand behind Jaime. “I already know a lot of what happened, so if you lie to me, your head will be on the floor a moment later.”
Jaime lifted his left hand in a clear sign of surrender. “I can only tell you what I saw for myself, so whatever you have heard, it could be different or not have the same details.”
Cersei glared at him for a moment, then nodded to Ser Gregor, who stepped back around to beside her.
“This is what I know.” Jaime said and started to speak.
*
It took another week for Daenerys' army to arrive on the outskirts of King's Landing and the scouts sent messages to her about what lay ahead of them. Thousands of field traps were scattered over several miles of countryside. Everything they had at Winterfell was there, only in a much bigger scale. Hundreds of trenches, fire pits, pit traps, spiked barriers, and earthen berms eight feet high to direct and break up the army of the dead. It would have been an impressive sight... if they had the weapons to deal with the dead.
“I suppose we must go with Tyrion's idea.” Jorah Mormont said from beside her.
Daenerys nodded at him and he waved his hand to give several commands. They had thousands of extra dragon glass weapons that they had gathered from the fallen troops. Without these weapons, no army would survive their first encounter with the dead, so she wanted to at lest give the defenders a chance.
In a bit of inspiration, she asked someone to send a message to whoever was in charge of the defenses. She didn't want her gesture of help to be seen as an attack, which was what she had to assume they must think of her encroaching army. The messenger returned with a message from the commander, and that commander told them to 'go fuck themselves'.
Daenerys shook her head at the unnecessary vulgarity. “Very well. Split us up and get everyone as hidden as possible and as far off to the sides as we can for a follow-up attack. We will continue to listen to The Hand's advice and let the idiots here die in droves before we step in to save their worthless lives.”
“My Queen, we will have the fire arrows readied as well to light their trenches for them when they fall.” Jorah said. “Unless you want to take on the task with Drogon.”
Daenerys smiled. “Shouldn't you be advising me to restrain myself and to stay back to let the others fight in my stead?”
“My Queen, I would rather support you than admonish you.” Jorah said.
“It has been a while since we've flown together.” Daenerys mused.
“Just be careful. The scouts report large carts hidden in various spots.” Jorah reminded her.
Daenerys nodded. She remembered the ambush that had been prepared for her when she attacked the Lannister caravan.
“I believe a bit of friendly fire might be in order.” Jorah said with a smile. “If you happen to pass them by, My Queen.”
“I may do just that.” Daenerys said with a matching smile.
Her army evenly split and moved off a fair distance to the sides and then started to work on concealing themselves from both the dead and the defending army. It wouldn't do to have any of them know what was in store for them.