CHAPTER 7 - ROADS, RIVERS AND THE ROCK
Disclaimer:
I don’t own the characters or the world appearing in this story, they are creations and property of the fantastic George R. R. Martin. I’m not sure if I can claim my OCs as my own, so I’ll play it safe and dedicate them to GRRM.
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Author’s Note:
Hello! I’m back with the seventh chapter!
This chapter took me some time to write. I kept focusing on Riverrun but I couldn’t bring up anything substantial to write about. I had to go read some more fanfiction to get inspiration. But finally, it’s done. And I think it came out well, here’s hoping you think the same.
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[Year - 293 AC]
Harry’s party stayed at Greywater Watch for one more day before starting their journey again.
However, after the conversation with Jojen, Harry hadn’t interacted with him again. He knew Jojen had a lot to think about but Harry was confident that he’d go along with the suggestion.
Harry had an idea of what Jojen was going through. Since he couldn’t dream of Harry, Jojen would be more cautious than usual. Harry would probably have been similarly cautious if he’d met a person whose mind he couldn’t read.
Leaving Greywater Watch, the group travelled along the Kingsroad to their next destination, Riverrun. Unfortunately, the three rivers, Red Fork, Blue Fork and Green Fork blocked their direct route to Riverrun, thus they had to follow the Kingroad all the way to the Crossroads Inn before turning back and travelling the River Road to reach Riverrun.
Alternatively, they could have crossed at The Twins and braved the open lands to Riverrun; which would have saved them some time. However, that would have resulted in an early encounter with the lord of the twins and Harry wanted to push it back as far as possible. It was already bad enough that he would be meeting the lord of Casterly Rock on the trip.
It took them nearly a month to reach the Crossroads Inn, and the entire party just wanted to rest when they finally reached the place. However, all Harry had wanted to do was to take a detour and lay eyes on Harrenhal. It was so close. And that’s where everything had begun, after all.
Even so, he dropped his curiosity in favour of reaching his destination as soon as possible. Harry really wanted to get to Oldtown as soon as possible.
The stay at the inn had been a particularly pleasant experience. The innkeeper had witnessed quite a lot over the years, and she was only too willing to tell him stories when he’d asked for them. In fact, both his parents had visited the inn at some point, albeit, not at the same time or together. To Harry, it gave him some enjoyment in finding such vague connections to his parents and the past. Masha Heddle, the innkeeper, was a portly woman and smothered him with honey cakes. His retinue had taken a lot of enjoyment in seeing his treatment.
From the Crossroads Inn, it was a straight journey up the River Road to Riverrun. Altogether, It took them thirty-four days to reach the Tully castle from Greywater Watch.
Riverrun was located right at the point of confluence of the rivers Red Fork and the Tumblestone. The castle wall ran alongside the river water making it impossible to attack from all sides but one. It was a large castle, worthy of housing a king, but to Harry, it was the sun that appealed the most. Harry loved the North, but the feeling of sun on his skin, without the frigid air, was truly special.
Harry was enjoying the atmosphere and the chatter of people as their group made its way to the castle proper and that’s when he laid eyes on Hoster Tully for the second time in his life. The man who had called him a bastard.
Lord Hoster Tully was a portly man with a proud temperament. In his old age, his brown hair had grey streaks running through.
Meeting him hadn’t been an enjoyable affair. And he hadn’t expected it to be.
Lord Tully had agreed to host them for two days. But as an insult to Harry, he did not invite them to dine with him.
Soldiers from three houses of the North had been ready to attack Riverrun that day, even if it could cost them their life. Ser Wendel had even called Hoster Tully a ‘Trout Fucker’.
Harry honestly found it hilarious that a lord of a Great House would be so petty. He knew it was expected of him to retaliate, especially when he was so young. But he couldn’t bring himself to do so, especially when he knew the man already had one foot in death’s door. Also, he didn’t want to give Hoster Tully the satisfaction of having gotten to him.
So he just left it to be.
It had been particularly funny seeing the normally quiet Howland shaking with fury in his chair. Still, he’d kept quiet.
Ser Wendel, however, hadn’t been able to keep quiet. “You are the heir to the North, my lord. This is blatant disrespect, we can’t let this slide.”
Harry had only chuckled in response.
“What will you have me do, Ser Wendel? Heir or not, I have no power other than the sword I wield. Would you have me put my sword through him? He is old, and bitter on top. And he is family too,” Harry had told him.
So, they’d spent two days in Riverrun to rest their horses and left immediately after.
The journey to Casterly Rock was the most comfortable journey they’d had till that point. There were keeps at a regular distance along the road, and in the twenty-three days it took them to reach the castle, they got to eat proper meals whenever they were near a keep or a village. Harry really hated having to eat food cooked on campfire. Especially when he had fresh castle prepared food in his inventory. So he was very happy with the frequency of villages and Keeps in the Westerlands.
Harry was positively amazed at his first sight of the Rock.
Caterly Rock was magnificent. Carved out of rock, it stood overlooking the entirety of Lannisport and the small folk populace. It projected a sense of inferiority to anyone who gazed upon it.
Harry had read of Casterly Rock of course. He’d read of its wealth, its magnificence and grandeur and he’d believed it too. But the books also said of Queen Visenya’s gratitude to King Loren Lannister for having surrendered. It was said the castle could have withstood dragonfire. He’d passed it off as an exaggeration, as something a Lannister lord had paid for a maester to write.
Except, he believed it now. The castle stood strong, unbelievably so. If the Rock was this majestic, Harry wondered how beautiful the Red Keep was.
At present, however, Harry and his group were heading to the Rock at a pleasant pace, since word had already been sent ahead. A few soldiers at the checkpost had broken away to show them to the castle and Harry was keeping amused seeing them try to keep away from Moony.
Tywin Lannister stood straight and tall at his age. He had a shaved head and he kept no moustache or beard. But he did have impressive side whiskers. His green eyes were flecked golden just like Harry’s grey eye.
The Lord of Casterly Rock was waiting for them, shadowed on both sides by his guards. He was unsmiling and along with the stern gaze in his eye, he cut an impressive figure. Harry had to give him credit for not showing more than a twitch at seeing the direwolf. The soldiers must have informed him.
Harry quickly dismounted and turned to Tywin. “It’s an honour to meet you, Lord Tywin. I’ve read so much of your exploits, it’s nice to finally put a face to the image.”
“A pleasure for me as well, Lord Stark. It’s been a long time since a Stark set foot in Casterly Rock,” Tywin said, although his expression didn’t let slip any emotion of pleasure. How he expected Harry to feel this ‘pleasure’, was a complete mystery.
“Then let me be the first to change that, such a beautiful castle has to be immortalised in memory,” Harry motioned to the castle behind them.
“Yes,” Tywin said, turning back and motioning them to follow. “While we can all agree on the majesty of the castle, I am not yet aware of the reason for your presence here. Can you fill me in?”
Harry turned to look at him, but Tywin looked straight ahead, not sparing him a glance. So Harry did the same. “I’m on the way to the Citadel, Lord Tywin. I’m hoping to learn, attend lectures and earn links as lords before me have done, before taking my position at Winterfell.”
Tywin raised an eye. “Seconds sons maybe. It’s unheard of for an heir.”
“You’ll find that I have a close relationship with the written word,” Harry replied simply, ‘Quite Literally’ Harry thought to himself.
They reached the main hall a moment after. They’d arrived in the morning and in the time it took them to reach the castle, the midday meal had been prepared and was ready to be served. The Rock was just that huge.
Tywin gazed at the serving girls milling about and turned to meet his eye. “Join me for the meal, Lord Stark. You can tell me more as we eat.”
They sat down for the meal and waited for the food to be brought out. That gave them the opportunity to introduce their retinue to each other. Tywin had his brother Kevan with him from the beginning, while his sister Genna joined in for the meal.
As he cut into his food Tywin glanced at him questioningly. “Why come through the Westerlands, wouldn’t passing through King’s Landing have taken you to your destination at a quicker pace?”
“That was me indulging a bit I suppose,” Harry replied, “I wanted to visit Riverrun and Casterly Rock.”
Tywin looked at him with an unbelieving expression. “And not King’s Landing?”
“It has been a dream of mine to gaze upon the might of the Red Keep, Lord Tywin. But it didn’t end well for my father the last time he visited. I’m sure I’ll get the opportunity later,” Harry said, with an even gaze. Tywin noticeably stopped for a second but resumed eating without a word.
“Stop pestering the boy, Tywin,” Lady Genna chimed in seeing the lull in the conversation.
Harry turned to her with a smile. “I don’t mind, my lady.”
“I’m sure you didn’t, Lord Stark,” She said.
Still looking at her Harry waited for a moment to catch her eye. “I see that we’re missing your husband. Is he being kept busy?”
“I wouldn’t pretend to know what he’s up to, as long as he keeps out of trouble I suppose,” Lady Genna said with some superiority.
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Harry continued on as if she hadn’t just dismissed her husband. “That’s a pity. I had the opportunity to take the route through The Twins, I could have met with your goodfather if I did. However, I was advised by Lord Howland and Ser Wendel to take the Kingsroad for safety.”
Howland and Ser Wendel jerked in their seats, because this definitely was news to them. They had done no such thing.
Lady Genna tried to contain a snort. “Then you were lucky, my boy.”
“I’ll take it as such then,” Harry said returning to his meal.
The meal went on with some small talk and a whole lot of probing, but Harry being who he was, avoided answering most of it, except the ones he wanted to.
“I had a favour to ask Lord Tywin. We wanted to top off our supplies before–” Harry started when suddenly they heard some commotion outside the hall.
The meal interrupted, everyone turned towards the door. The commotion continued for a moment but then everything turned quiet once again. Seeing nothing happen, Tywin motioned for a guard to go check. The guard soon returned and whispered something to Lord Tywin, who grimaced but didn’t say anything.
Sensing nothing forthcoming from Tywin, Harry spoke out. “Nothing grave has happened, I hope?”
“Nothing of that sort, just a minor inconvenience, It’s already been sorted,” Tywin replied, resuming his meal.
“I’m glad,” Harry said. Intrigued, he took a quick look into Tywin’s mind. It had been the imp.
Harry turned back to the conversation that had been interrupted. “As I was saying, we were hoping to top off our supplies before continuing on our way. Can I get some help, Lord Tywin?”
Tywin glanced at him before replying dismissively. “I’ll send someone to your room–a room will be prepared for you at the castle.”
Harry smiled at him. “You have my gratitude, Lord Tywin.”
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All niceties done with, Harry had gone to the room arranged for him. Seeing Ser Wendel try to follow him, he tried to send him off to rest. After some struggle, he had to promise to meet him at supper to get him to leave.
The past few days of the journey had been very pleasant and Harry was left feeling very energetic. He wanted to spar and let out some steam. So Harry had asked Ser Kevan Lannister for the training grounds.
He left his belongings in the room and quickly pulled on a pair of breeches and a shirt suitable for moving around before leaving. However, Tyrion Lannister was waiting for him just outside the door.
The man seemed to have been waiting for something but as soon as the door opened his gaze latched on to Harry. “So you’re the young lord they were talking about.”
“I’m not sure about that but, it's truly a pleasure, Lord Tyrion. You were missed at the meal,” Harry said.
Tyrion’s expression became a little cross at that. “Yes, that’s why they didn’t let me in.”
“Pardon?” Harry’s face took on a confused expression though he knew exactly what he meant.
“It's nothing, young Stark,” Tyrion said, turning back to him.
Tyrion was an ugly man, there was no two ways about it. He had the blond hair of the Lannisters but there were hints of black as well. His face was broad and his forehead jutted out and even at ten name days, Harry stood above him.
Tyrion met his eyes for a second and his gaze softened. No doubt thinking of his own mismatched eyes of green and black.
“You were leaving, Lord Stark?”
Harry produced an energetic smile on his face. “Yes, I’d asked your uncle for the training grounds. I’m feeling quite energetic and fancied a spar with the men.”
“Come, I’ll walk you,” Tyrion turned towards the hallway and started to walk.
Harry smiled again. “That would be quite helpful, Thank you,” He joined Tyrion, matching the pace.
Tyrion turned to look up at him as they walked. “Why are you here Lord Stark?”
“I’m on the way to the Citadel, Lord Tyrion. I’m planning on earning links,” Harry replied.
“A young lord on the way to the Citadel to learn? Willingly at that. How very odd,” Tyrion met his eyes with an inquisitive look.
“I like learning. Knowledge is power after all,” Harry said meeting Tyrion’s eyes. “But who said anything of going willingly?”
He stopped walking as his green and black eyes went wide. “You’re being forced?”
Harry laughed. “No Lord Tyrion, but I could’ve been. I was merely jesting,” Harry said.
Tyrion was shocked for a moment, but it slowly morphed into a smile. “A Stark who jests, It’s been an odd day.”
“And a Lannister who smiles, what an odd day indeed!” Harry said with mock surprise.
They walked the rest of the way chatting idly and before long they’d reached the grounds. Ser Kevan who’d been lurking around at the other side of the ground, started towards them, having seen him enter.
“It’s been pleasant walking with you,” Tyrion glanced up at the sky which was yet to darken, but the gesture was only meant to be symbolic. “But the night approaches and I find myself with no whores to accompany. I’m afraid it’s time for me to leave.”
Kevan caught up to them as Tyrion was taking his leave. “I see you’ve become acquainted with my nephew,” He seemed a little bemused at the notion.
Harry who was taking a look at the practice swords turned towards Kevan. “He’s been good company, Ser Kevan. He showed me to the grounds,” Harry looked at Tyrion, “Although he was just about to leave for his nightly patrols of Lannisport.”
Tyrion’s smile became strained at having to choke a chuckle, while Ser Kevan took a moment to understand. “I’m sure he was,” He then turned to Tyrion. “Aren’t you leaving?”
Before Tyrion could answer, however, Harry picked out a sword from the practice rack. “Care for a spar, Ser Kevan?” he asked.
“I have enough time to see this spar before duty calls, I suppose,” Tyrion said.
“Are you sure, Lord Stark?” Ser Kevan said with an incredulous look. Harry didn’t answer, Instead, he picked out a sword and threw it at the knight, who caught it.
Turning away from the knight, he walked to the ground.
Kevan looked at him for just a moment before making up his mind. He stood opposite to him and took position.
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Tyrion’s day had become noticeably better through the second half of it. Although he had been drunk the previous night and slept the morning away. When he’d woken up and come down for a meal, the guards had stopped him, saying his father was hosting guests. He’d been intrigued, but they hadn’t allowed him in.
He could have pushed forward if he wanted to of course. Imp or not, he was a Lannister all the same. But Ser Addam Marbrand himself had advised him not to, and that meant the guest had to be an important one.
‘Who is it?’ Tyrion had thought to himself, on the way to the kitchens.
He needn’t have worried it, however, since the maids were talking about the adorable Lord Stark when he entered. The boy had apparently complimented the serving girl and told her to pass on his greetings to the cook. Tyrion had been amused by that, so as soon as he’d finished the meal, he set about asking for the boy’s room.
He’d found it fairly quickly. He knew the castle very well after all. But he found himself short of any reason to knock on the door. Though the boy had saved him from having to. The door opened without his assistance, while he’d been waiting to come up with a reason.
The boy was indeed quite adorable. Tyrion could already see him growing into a handsome knight rivalling his brother. It had put him off, but then he’d seen his eyes. Mismatched just like his own. He felt the eyes looked quite good on the boy, but it still gave him something in common with him. Mismatched eyes were looked upon as a deformity after all. The lack of pity or disgust in the boy’s eyes helped as well.
Aside from all that, the boy had proven to be quite good company as well. He was very well-spoken and confident, He doubted even his brother Jaime had been this outspoken at ten. More importantly, the boy had held his own against his father, not even men grown can boast of that. He’d seen vassal lords wither at his father’s gaze.
He could see that the boy was quite intelligent as well. He complimented the castle nicely but not just about the obvious things such as the beauty and grandeur but also its strength and defensive capability. He’d wondered why a boy so young would go to the citadel which led him to think if it was a strategic move from Eddard Stark. This had confused him since whatever small amount of information he had of the man pointed at him being honourable to a fault. Then he’d seen how intelligent the boy was and that cleared up everything.
Now however he was confused again.
The spar had begun some time ago and the boy was literally running circles around his uncle.
Admittedly, his uncle was not in his prime anymore. In his fifties, he’d become quite a portly man. But that only affected his speed, His strength should still be quite enough to take out a boy of ten.
The boy, no, Harry however was using his advantage in speed to the maximum. The boy was very flexible too. He ducked and sidestepped everything. He used his speed to run around and situate himself at a blind spot at every turn. But what had shocked him the most was the strength behind Harry’s strikes. Speed and flexibility, his uncle had lost with time. Except Harry’s strikes were visible shaking his uncle’s sword hand.
Seeing his uncle sweating and stumbling about, Tyrion was starting to feel bad for the man.
Harry, probably sharing his thoughts, put an end to the spar himself “That was quite the exercise, Ser Kevan. Thank you for indulging me,” he walked to the rack to place the practice sword.
“That was very impressive, Lord Stark,” Tyrion said, walking up to Harry.
“Impressive? I haven’t been pushed that much since I fought my last war,” His Uncle said, walking back to them, having returned his sword to the rack as well.
Harry had a very charming smile on his face. “That’s high praise coming from you Ser Kevan. I’ve heard you fought in the War of the Ninepenny Kings.”
Again, Tyrion was surprised at the extent of Harry’s knowledge. He doubted any of the lordlings in Westerlands knew of the knights who fought in wars other than the truly famous ones. To see the boy talk of his uncle, who’s been mostly overshadowed in his life by his father, it was very surprising. Not many people took interest in a lord’s brother after all.
His uncle also seemed to have realised that since he was smiling at being acknowledged.
“I’m off to my room then, I’d like to wash before supper,” Harry pointed to his clothes which had become quite dusty. “Also, when is supper, Ser Kevan? I think I’ll be very hungry after my bath. I’d rather not miss it.”
“I’ll send someone to your room when it’s time” His uncle supplied.
Harry then turned towards him with a smile. “I won’t get to see you at supper, will I Lord Tyrion? I think you will be quite busy at the patrol.”
Tyrion didn’t know what to respond with. “I suppose I will be busy,” He supplied rather lamely.
With a final smile and a bid, Harry ran off. Leaving behind two very dazed men.
“I didn’t know the North produced heirs like that,” Tyrion said, trying to break the silence.
Kevan turned to him still deep in thought. “They certainly didn’t before. This boy… he’s… he’s something else,” said his uncle, not able to find a word to describe Harry.
“What does this mean for us?” Tyrion asked without directly saying it out loud.
Kevan’s face turned serious. “He’s just a boy, Tyrion. And the North is too far away to be anything. The queen is a Lannister. The next king has Lannister blood in him. Nothing that far away means anything to us.”
Tyrion couldn’t help but feel bad for the boy, his home so far away from everything. He would simply while away his life in that cold.
The boy glowed so bright, only for it to not amount to anything. He wondered what the boy’s life might have been like if he’d been a Lannister. He shuddered at the thought. He would not wish his father upon his worst enemy, much less this sweet boy. Harry deserved much better.
Yet he couldn’t help but wonder…
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Author’s Note:
Thank you for reading the chapter. As I said at the beginning, this chapter was a bit hard to write, so definitely leave your reviews.
I have all the big plot points decided and in my mind, it’s only the road to getting there which is throwing me for a loop. I needed some much-needed inspiration to get this chapter out. The next chapter is safe, I already know what I’m going to do with it. Though I might need inspiration for some of the future chapters.
Lately, I haven’t had luck finding good fanfiction, the only one I enjoyed recently is the rewrite of ‘The Dragon of Duskendale’ by Kerjack. If you guys think I might like a story, drop a comment. With school work increasing, I hardly have the time to scour the website. It doesn’t matter which fandom the story is from, but it’s better if it’s from one of the ones you normally see in my favourites. Which is pretty basic if I’m being honest. Yes sue me, I’m a basic bitch.
I had fun writing Tyrion in this chapter. Tyrion and Jaime are much harsher in the books than in the shows and Cersei is also more of a bitch (I thought it couldn’t be done, but GRRM has), so I’ve tried writing Tyrion as a more sensitive Tywin, let’s hope it works. My view of him is entirely biased due to Peter Dinklage.
On an entirely different note, I really loved the recent show, House of the Dragon. Though it’s not so recent now, I suppose, although I only watched it recently. I kind of fell in love with Milly Alcock after, which ended in heartbreak, cause what was I thinking? Anyways, What I wanted to convey with all of this is how I really hate that they have pretty people play all the roles. It’s said that though Rhaenyra was pretty and comely at her young age, she never lost the weight she gained during her pregnancies. She is supposed to have quite a bit of weight in her twenties. And they have her played by Emma D’Arcy. At the end of the day, it’s a nitpick, sure, but It’s just something I’ve felt. The same with Tyrion too. Everywhere in the book, it says he’s deformed but he’s played by Dinklage, who’s quite handsome, to say the least.
Not to take away from their performances, however, since both Emma D’Arcy and Peter Dinklage gave a nice interpretation of their characters, and that ought to be praised.
I think there’s a show being written for ‘Aegon the Conqueror’. If true, then I’ll be very excited. I hope they get a good actor to capture his essence.
I see that I’ve rambled on, so I’ll end it here. Leave reviews and be sure to drop your recommendations. Bye!
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