WILOW-Ch.378: Hostages
Casterly Rock, Westerlands
POV of Domeric Bolton
"This is… underwhelming…" Ygritte said as she gazed at the large number of gold coins, gold bars, and other gold in the huge room. "Your room is larger. Much larger. And it also has more gold. Much more."
Domeric nodded.
After doing some magical calculations, he had found that his own treasury had over 450 million gold coins from Valyria. And that was not even mentioning all the dragon eggs, jewelry, Valyrian steel weapons, and other things that were more valuable than gold.
This treasury didn't have even 1/10th of that.
"Perhaps." He replied as he picked up one of the newly minted gold coins, "But they have gold dragon coins which we can use in Westeros without any complications."
"Just take it, Domeric." Ygritte said, "You've already taken everything of value from the Castle." Then she snickered. Probably remembering how he took Lord Tywin's golden statue and put it inside his expended trunk as well.
He nodded, "Very well then." He took out the trunk that he had used to gather all the loot from the various battles he'd participated in so far.
He opened the trunk lid and went behind it.
He took out his Valyrian staff and pointed it at all the gold in front of him.
"Accio gold." He said from behind the trunk, and soon enough, all the gold in the room came toward him and entered the trunk.
An hour later, they were once again at the courtyard of Casterly Rock.
"Did you find the treasury, my lord?" Varko asked, and he nodded.
"Burn it." He said, and Varko nodded at the men who put the torch to the piles of Lannister trinkets and other things that they couldn't or wouldn't take.
He had already ordered his men to collect all the paintings, tapestries, and usable furniture from the castle and pack them into a separate trunk.
He didn't need them, but he'd made a promise to Tyrion, and for him, it made no difference between having a few and having them all.
After Tyrion saw them all, he could take what he wanted and burn what he wanted.
Anyway, he did not doubt that after taking all the Lannister gold, he would become their eternal enemy. So, he might as well take everything from them and leave them even poorer than before.
Once the Lannisters eventually return to Casterly Rock, buying the furniture, tapestries, etc, would cost them even more, and the more time they spend getting back to their earlier status, the more time he would not have to worry about them as his enemies.
The piles started burning, and he saw a few more things that could be salvaged and given to Tyrion.
He wondered if he should take them also.
But then he decided against it and watched everything burn. He had already collected more than enough for Tyrion. There was no need to dwell on a few minor things.
After a few moments, he turned and left.
Varko followed behind him, and Domeric said, "Tell the men to take the food supplies and start packing. We're done here."
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Domeric looked at the women and girls inside the prison cell and scratched his cheeks.
The gods had really bestowed good genes on the Lannisters.
Most of the young women looked like they had jumped off a magazine cover. Even the fear and weariness didn't take away from their beauty.
"What are we going to do with them, my lord?" Varko asked.
"We should leave them." Ygritte said, "They're of no use to us."
Bronn scoffed, "That's because you're a woman. "I know there would be a lot of people who would want a piece of that arse."
He glared at Bronn, who didn't look guilty at the least.
"What? Are you gonna tell me you don't want to bend them over and fuck their pretty little cunts?" Bronn said with a raised eyebrow.
He rolled his eyes in exasperation. The girls looked terrified now.
Why the hell were they even having this talk here? That was rather insensitive of him.
"I promised Tyrion that I won't harm his family members." He said, "And I keep my promises. And even if I didn't promise anything to Tyrion, I'm not in the business of hurting the innocents."
"Just in case you might have missed it. Those people you killed did have families of their own. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, or children." Bronn said, "You really can't miss hurting the innocents even if you want to in a war."
He nodded, "Be that as it may, I'm still not allowing you to hurt the prisoners." He said, "They're under my protection and they… hmm… I've decided to take them North."
"Not enough girls in your brothels?" Bronn asked, and he glared at the man once again, "We don't talk about such things out in the open, Bronn."
Bronn shrugged carelessly, but when he kept glaring at the men, Bronn finally nodded his head.
"Why're you taking them to the North then if not to warm your beds?" Bronn asked.
"Ever heard of the term hostage?" he asked with much-needed sarcasm.
"You gonna take all of them hostage?" Bronn asked, looking at the cell once again. "Like… how many chicks are there?"
"83." He replied and walked away from the cell. Mostly because he didn't like the fearful expression on their faces, "the wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters of the Lannisters, their branch houses, and the knights and lords working under them."
"You want to ransom them?" Varko asked, and he nodded.
"Don't think the Lannisters will have much left to give you after what you did to their pretty little castle," Bronn said
"I doubt it." He replied, "The Lannisters might be poor after this, but they're still the Lord Paramount of the Westerlands, which means that they get taxes from every other house in the Westerlands. They might be poor now, but they'll recover sooner or later. And I would rather they recover later than sooner."
His companions nodded, and he looked at Bronn. "Tell the men to keep well away from the hostages. I don't want any accidents. We are also taking the other male members of the Lannister family with us. Get them ready for the journey as well."
Bronn nodded, and Domeric wondered if he would have to create a whole new mansion to act as a prison for these Lannister hostages. He didn't want to mistreat them, and he frankly doubted that they would survive in a normal prison.
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Ch.379: Lannister Army
Ch.380: The Joy of the Northern Lords
Ch.381: News Reaches Everywhere