3rd Month of 283 A.C. King's Landing
Lord Rickard Stark
King's Landing was a mess, Tywin Lannister and his westermen had come to the city before they had, and had somehow managed to convince Aerys Targaryen to allow them into the city. As a result, King's Landing had been sacked people's homes looted, women and children being slain without a thought, and some even being raped. Yes this was the sort of work Tywin Lannister was capable of, and as such Rickard considered it to be somewhat of a tragedy, but something of a necessity as it often was in war. They had ridden through the city avoiding what dangers they could, though some of it had come to blows, but they had managed to make it through to the Red Keep somewhat unimpeded. And now this was where things had become interesting, entering the throne room they had expected to find Aerys Targaryen alive and well, Rickard had wanted him to be alive and well, so he could run the bastard through with his own sword. But instead they had arrived to find a knight of the Kingsguard, sat on the throne and Aerys Targaryen lying dead at the foot of the throne.
"Ser Jaime Lannister I presume?" Rickard says still mounted on his horse.
The man nods and says. "Yes, and I presume that by the wolf on your banners and your own wolf's head helm, you are Lord Rickard Stark of Winterfell?"
Rickard nods and then points his sword at Aerys and asks. "Might I ask what happened to the king here? The man seems to have died a most tragic death and whilst I do not mourn the man's passing, I would like to know who it was who did the deed."
The knight, looks at him for a long moment and then says. "I did. I was the one who killed the king."
Silence and then Rickard hears Ned go. "Kingslayer." Rickard looks at his son as if to silence him. And his son says. "So you broke your oath to protect the king and instead killed him? Why? To further your own cause, or because you could not stand to allow your father die?"
Rickard wants to bark at his son to be quiet but Jaime Lannister responds. "I did what needed to be done. Whilst it is true that I did break my oath to protect the king, I also had my knightly vows to consider. After all King Aerys was a mad man I am sure we can all agree on that, and he was plotting to have the whole of King's Landing destroyed costing you and your men as well as my father and his own men's lives. That was something I could not abide by, I have stood by whilst Aerys had Lord Brandon burnt alive, I stood by whilst the king committed so many crimes that they would make any man want to gore his own eyes out. I could not stand by and allow it to continue. If you wish to chastise me for doing that then go ahead, but do not question why I did it."
His son protests once more. "And how do we know that you are not merely fulfilling a role that your father has given you? How do we know that any of this is true?"
Jaime Lannister is silent for a long time and Rickard wonders what is coming next. And then the man speaks and his voice is soft, so soft in fact that they have to strain to hear him. "You cannot believe me if you want. But if you truly want to see for yourself, go to the dragonpit and the service vaults and you will find large stashes of wildfire underneath their floors. There are pyromancers around the city waiting for an order that will never come to light the fires. Find them and they will speak of the truth of it all."
Rickard, considers the boy for a moment and then looks to Martyn Cassel and says. "Martyn, go with ten of your best men and find these men question them and search the places named by Jaime Lannister here. And once you have found the stashes tell the pyromancers to remove them. Now Ser Jaime what can you tell me about what your father plans on doing?"
Jaime is silent a moment and then responds. "I do not know my lord. All I know, that he has wanted to get back at King Aerys for a long time and now seems to be his perfect opportunity."
Rickard nods taking this in and then asks. "And where are the rest of the royal family and who is protecting them?"
The knight is silent a long time as if considering something and then says. "Princess Elia and her children are in the nursery, with four gold cloaks protecting them. As for Queen Rhaella and Prince Viserys, they should be at Dragonstone by this point under heavy guard. Why ever do you ask?"
Rickard looks at the knight for a long moment and then says. "Well considering that Rhaegar Targaryen is dead, there are only three people standing in the way of him completely achieving his goal. And they are the ones at risk, Tywin would not send anyone else but his most trusted men to get rid of those he perceived a threat to getting in with the new establishment. Now who would he send?"
The knight seems to have a dawning realisation judging by the look on his face, and it is with some horror in his voice that he says. "Clegane and Lorch. By the gods he would send the beasts at his command to do such a job. I should never have told Westerling and Crakehall what I did." The man stands up then and looks at him for a moment before running down the steps and past the body of the king and out the doors of the throne room.
The next few hours pass by in a bit of blur then, making sure that the city is secure, ending the hostilities that might arise. Martyn and his men do find the Pyromancers and the caches of wildfire, and somehow by the grace of the gods get them out without setting them off. The wildfire is placed in containers and kept under watch, and as such there much and more gets done during the course of this one day. Those loyalists who continue fighting for the Targaryens are killed and executed, those who surrender are given two choices bend the knee or join the night's watch, most join the watch though some such as one Ser Allister Thorne who put up a great fight before eventually bending the knee remains part of the defenders in King's Landing.
Eventually news comes through of what has happened to Princess Elia and her children, killed by the hands of Gregor Clegane and Armory Lorch, on the orders of Tywin Lannister of that Rickard has no doubt, the man is ruthless and would do what he could to secure himself in Robert's good books. Ned, of course the honourable son that he is protests vigorously, even more so when Rickard announces that he is going to meet with the man. Rickard tells his son to keep quiet and that something good could come of this, after all Tywin will want his daughter as queen, and Rickard must act to prevent that. And so it is late at night, the castle and the city is still moving through the sack of the at morning and afternoon, that he meets Tywin Lannister for the first time in many years in would have once been Maegor Targaryen's room. They are both tired but still there is a sense of urgency in their dealings. "So, you finally decided to show up did you Tywin? Tell me, what made you decide to come out from underneath your rock and into the light. What made you decide to fight for Robert?"
The man never smiles and even if he did so he imagined it would be a terrifying sight. The man is calm when he responds. "With Rhaegar's death at the God's Eye, the tide had changed. There was no reason to keep fighting for a dead man's because, after all we had both forsaken Aerys before this all happened. Aerys was never going to succeed once Rhaegar fell on the God's Eye, there was nothing more for me to gain by supporting some boyhood friend who had not been a friend in some fifteen years. No, Robert Baratheon is the future, and I wished to prove that the lions could never again be discounted."
Rickard nods understanding the man's line of reasoning and then asks. "And what of Princess Elia and her children? Do not try to deny it Tywin, we both know that the work of Clegane and Lorch was on your orders. Whilst I can see the sense of removing Aegon from the path, there is still one male left on Dragonstone, and Rhaenys and Elia could have been kept alive and used as a way to smooth over things with the loyalists."
The man grimaces somewhat and says. "Aegon and Rhaenys were a direct threat to Robert's hold on the throne. As Rhaegar's children, they would have been greater rallying points than Viserys, as no one would want the son of the mad king on the throne, but the children of the silver prince? Someone definitely would've wanted them on the throne. As for Elia, that was unfortunate, and as such I have spoken to the one involved."
Rickard takes this all in and then says. "It would seem to me that you have created a lot of trouble for yourself my lord. Considering King Robert is set on marrying my own daughter and not yours, therefore one must wonder what you hope to gain by doing what you have done?"
The Lord of Casterly Rock is silent a long time and then says. "Well one does not know what the fates might bring. But then again this king is not that king, and my son has done the realm a service. King Robert is known to be charitable to his allies, and there is something of an issue with my succession that I wish to clear up before I leave here."
Rickard considers this and then says. "Indeed my lord this is very true. One never knows what fate might conspire to bring, Robert Baratheon was raised by Jon Arryn whose own words are as High as Honour. And as such he might well consider the service your son has done and weigh it against his vows as a man of the Kingsguard. But then, he could find the man has done a service as he very well has done. And as such I will make sure the king looks favourably upon your son when the time comes."
Both men look at one another for a long time after that, weighing one another up and considering whether or not the other can be trusted. Eventually it is Tywin who breaks the silence. "Very well then my lord. It is late and we both have much to do on the morrow. Let us work together to ensure our common goals and we can meet and discuss this all later on, before the king arrives." With that they both depart from the room, Rickard back to the rooms he has taken and Tywin to the rooms he has undoubtedly taken.
As expected when Rickard returns to his room he sees his son sat there a dark look on his face. Sighing he asks. "What is it now Eddard? What new problems have you come to present to me?"
Eddard looks slighter older and tired than he did when the war began he has a beard now as well as being a father, his voice sounds tired when he speaks. "What did you speak of to Tywin Lannister father?"
Rickard looks at his son then and considers how much he should tell him, before deciding that he will one day be Lord of Winterfell and as such must know the hard truths. "I talked to him about why he did as he did with regards to Princess Elia and her children and what he plans on doing now that he is here."
"And what justification did he have for committing the atrocious crimes that he did?" his son asks.
Rickard takes a long sip of water and then says. "He said that it was necessary to remove Aegon and Rhaenys as they were direct threats to Robert's hold on the throne. Something that I agree with him on, they were children and their murder was brutal and disgusting but it was something that needed to be done to ensure that there was no trouble for Robert in the future."
His son as he expected voices his protests. "They were children, father. No matter what their names were they were innocent children, who suffered only because of their name and their father and grandfather's actions. There were other courses of action that could have been taken, keeping them alive is more sensible and honourable than killing them now."
Rickard sighs once more and then says. "You should know by now that there is no place for honour in war. Aegon and Rhaenys would most definitely have caused trouble for Robert and his heirs in the future, if not right now as children then most definitely when they grew older and were able to form thoughts of their own and would be less willing to go with what their elders tell them to do."
"And what of Princess Elia then?" his son asks. "Did she deserve to die as well?"
Rickard takes another sip of water once more and then says. "No she did not deserve to die and that was an accident that she did. Tywin and his men will answer for that crime when the king arrives, but until then there are other things that we must need to discuss."
His son looks as if he is about to protest and then sighing asks. "Is this about the issue of Lyanna?"
Rickard nods. "Aye, we know from questioning Lord Arel Dayne that Lyanna is in Dorne, in some blasted tower, we must begin making plans for how to deal with the situation that we might find. After all having three Kingsguard there, it is not going to be easy to get to Lyanna. News will reach them of the sack of King's Landing and this will make them much more determined to prevent us from getting to Lyanna."
His son considers and then asks. "What would you consider doing?"
"We must make a plan of how we are going to go about getting Lyanna back. There are two choices we have, we can either fight them or we can try for the peaceful negotiation. Peaceful negotiation is the better option as far as I am concerned, it means that less bloodshed will be needed. It also means that we can finally learn the truth of what happened between Lyanna and Prince Rhaegar." Rickard responds.
"And would you tell Robert about this?" Eddard asks.
Rickard considers this and then says. "The less the king knows the better."