I'm Theon Greyjoy

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***

Robb Stark joyfully embraced his brother, not in blood but in spirit. Theon dispensed with a brief smile and sat down in a chair with leather inserts. Robb followed him. Grey Wind took a seat next to him.

Their meeting took place at Robb's camp, where Theon had arrived as an envoy from the Ironborn. The Northerners stood not far from Casterly Rock, surrounding it. Now the Lannister fiefdom was under siege, but Robb did not harbour any hope of taking this stronghold. It was too impregnable. But surely the very fact of the siege was already damaging House Lannister's prestige.....

- You've changed,' Theon said. - That scar on your cheek - where did you get it?

- When I defeated the second Lannister army near Ashward. - Stark replied, pouring himself a mug of wine. Greyjoy followed him. - But my plan to lure Kiwan Lannister out failed.

Theon looked at him questioningly. They were alone in Robb's royal tent. The King of the North had expressed a desire to speak to the envoy alone.

- As my scouts had reported, the younger brother of the late Lord Tywin had indeed travelled towards the West, but... turned sharply back towards the capital.

- Stannis Baratheon has taken Storm's End,' Theon realised the reason for the lions' abrupt change of direction. - So perhaps it was now that the stag and the lion had clashed on the Blackwater.

- I don't know that yet,' the King of the North shook his head. - But it is likely. I hope that Stannis and the Lannisters have a good scratch on each other....

- What do you think of Casterly Rock? - his friend asked.

- We can't take that castle. It's impregnable and any assault would be futile. We'll just lose men.

- I agree with you. But my father, Lord Baelon, thinks otherwise. - a weary sigh.

Stark had certainly heard of the mad ambitions of Lord Baelon, Theon's father. It is worth at least remembering why the younger Greyjoy ended up in Winterfell as his father's ward. The old Kraken thought he could stand up to the whole of Westeros, but he miscalculated his strength... in the end, the Iron Islands lost miserably. Does he really want to take Casterly Rock? Madness.

- So you're going to storm Casterly Rock?

-No, Robb. That's madness. My Uncle Victarion wants to lay siege to the Lannister fiefdom and starve them to death,' Theon didn't sound like a believer in that possibility, 'but it would take a couple of years of siege to starve Casterly Rock... there's probably enough food in the castle to garrison it. And the Lannisters aren't going to let it go - if they win the battle for King's Landing, they'll invariably look here,' Theon said, sipping from his mug of wine.

-That's it. I think I should talk it over with your uncle. The Northerners will stay here for now, but I'm afraid I'll have to leave the West soon. Even if Stannis wins, I'm still his enemy. The Stag will not tolerate the Kingdom of the North and Trident independent of him.

'But if the war in the Riverlands is lost, you can always retreat to the North. The Cailin Moat hasn't been taken yet. Cruel to the Riverlands and my mother's house, but the North is more important than Trident.'

Robb's army marched through all the lands of the West close to the Golden Tract. Often his army was sent to take other strongholds far from the road. That place was Crag, the ancestral castle of the Westerlings.

The King of the North decided to personally take part in the storming of the castle, despite the high risk. It had been too long since he had been in battle in person, increasingly favouring command from afar. The battle of Ashford, for example.

'It would be unfortunate if my army spoke of my cowardice. A coward king won't last long in war. I am not Tywin Lannister to be feared by my vassals and have them accept my decisions without question.'

Despite his already formidable reputation as a skilful commander and strong warrior, Robb was not unconcerned. This war had shown him much. Each setback could seriously undermine Robb's authority among the Northmen.

During the storming of the castle, Stark was wounded after all. Not dangerous, but the King of the North had to stay in the captured castle. He took Lord Westerling's private quarters, and one of his daughters volunteered to look after him. Robb, unsuspecting, agreed. His mistake that nearly caused disaster.

Stark almost clenched his hands into fists with anger as he recalled the events of a month ago.

A few weeks of wooing and the girl had inexplicably ended up in the Grim Wolf's bed. Robb suspected he'd been drugged and had drunkenly taken her.

Anger, rage, and more swelled in the King of the North's soul as he realised what had happened. He had cheated on his wife, and foolishly at that... his late father would not have been happy with Robb's behaviour.

'My father was in the same situation. There was a war on, and my mother was far away in Riverrun. That's how my brother Jon came to be... there were even rumours going around Winterfell that he was Ashara Dane's son,' Robb suddenly realised and calmed down. His father would understand him. But that didn't diminish his foolishness and treason.

The mother of a defamed daughter demanded he take responsibility. Stark had nearly hacked her to death with his sword when she dared to voice her demands. The Grey Wind roared threateningly and the old purse was frightened into silence. But Robb still decided to honour the demand. In his own way.

Jane Westerling had been given in marriage to one of his landowners. One of those who was near Winterfell and had a small estate. An appropriate husband for the granddaughter of a merchant and a witch.

Robb grinned cruelly. Another lesson for him. Always be careful, even if things don't look dangerous to you.

- I think we should discuss the details of this siege, Theon. - Robb continued.

- I agree. Let's start with Lannisport. The city now belongs to the Iron Islands as the personal domain of House Greyjoy.....

'''''''''''''''''''''''''"'

- Are you sure you don't want to sell me one of your rooks? - Theon asked Dagmer. The man shook his head in the negative.

- The whole crew may be dead, but the rook is still there! I can always get a team on the Iron Islands,' Dagmer explained, scratching Cicero's head. He rumbled contentedly, tucking his head in close. Greyjoy could only wonder why his vicious pet was so good to Scabbard.

'There would have been a team to recruit from... plenty of men left on the march to the West.'

It had been five days since the sacking of Lannisport. Theon had been a messenger to the Northmen, bought a couple of free drakkars, and even recruited a crew of fifty men who were without captains.

Most of them were from those who had been in the service of the free captains who had joined House Greyjoy on their campaign. There were always not many of those. It was easier to be under the patronage of some powerful house of the Iron Islands than to be a free captain.

Theon was able to loot a great deal. Lannisport is considered the centre of trade in the West and one of the most important trading points on the west coast of Westeros for a reason.

If Greyjoy had wanted to, he could have lived in the Free Cities for decades without denying himself anything. Even become a Magister because of his wealth. But those were pipe dreams, no one would let outsiders near their trough.

The captain of the Son of Thunder looked towards Casterly Cliff. A castle built on a mountain with gold stored beneath it.

'Most likely the mines of Casterly Rock should have long since dried up in a few millennia of use.'

This object of engineering madness and genius wants to take his father, Lord Baelon... a dubious wish, Theon has not believed in the possibility of taking the Cliff from the beginning. Not after storming Lannisport and many castles on the coast of the West.

'I wonder how Asha is doing? She didn't join the assault, only the Goodbrasers came. That's very strange. Perhaps Asha is wounded or she lost too many people in the assault on Cayce.'

Somewhere in the distance, near Casterly Rock, Cicero was flying. Greyjoy often sent him there, with a desire to scout the area near the castle. The defenders always shot back with scorpions or arrows as soon as any of the Ironborn or Northmen came close to the impregnable stronghold.

He didn't expect anything serious. More like overreaction and false hope.

Greyjoy left Scabbard's company, bidding him farewell. He walked through the ironborn camp, back to his tent. He wanted to sit for a while, to think. A lot of things to think about.

'Soon the Northerners, having looted all the local villages and towns, will head back, and the Ironborn will be left here alone. The Westerners may gather all their forces into a fist and try to tip us into the sea. That's a shitty prospect. Attempting a land grab on the continent is nonsense in itself, given the human resources of the Westlands and the Iron Islands.'

Theon, walking through the Ironborn camp, shifted his gaze to Erich. His squire was walking beside him, in his usual marching clothes.

-Are you still sulking? - he asked his apprentice.

- No, Prince,' Erich lied.

Greyjoy stopped, and with him, so did young Harlow.

- Do you really want to die so badly? Look around you. What do you see?

Erich looked round perplexed and said at once.

-A military camp.

-Right,' Theon nodded. - What else did you see?

The boy wrinkled his forehead, thinking. A moment passed, and he answered with a kind of shyness, as if he were reporting to his father:

-There are fewer people?

-True! - Theon smiled, realising that his squire wasn't exactly a slow-witted and smooth-talking man. But he wiped the smile away, thinking it inappropriate. - We lost nearly half our warriors storming Lannisport. Do you think you could have survived that mess?

Harlow answered nothing. He looked gloomily at the prince, unwilling to admit that he was right.

-'Oh, you!' Theon waved his hand. - You're too eager to fight. There are many things in the world more interesting than swinging a sword.

- Like what? - Erich blurted out.

-Such as thinking with your head.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''"'

Kiwan Lannister looked at the distant walls of King's Landing. They were too late. Stannis had taken the capital and the fate of his nephews was unknown to him. Seven grant that all was well with Lancel ...

He had to change his route abruptly when the news of Storm's End's surrender to Stannis arrived. No doubt where Baratheon would move next, so Lannister led his troops to Joffrey's aid, despite the grumblings of his vassals.

'Tywin is dead, but the vassals obey me. They fear even a shadow of the Old Lion like me. What a bad time you died brother... or were you killed?'

He had managed to link up with the Prostorian army under Mace Tyrell's command. Looking at the plump Lord Highgarden, the late Tywin's younger brother could only shake his head. Everyone was very lucky that the mighty Prostor had such a stupid High Lord. What can't be said for his mother, the Queen of Spikes.

They were a few days late, but in that time Stannis's men were able to rebuild the gates, fortify themselves, and stock up on supplies. But the combined Lannister and Tyrell army had no time to wait.

Kiwan feared the Northmen and Ironborn would get too carried away and strike Lannisport, and the Tyrells feared for their shores. Strangely, the Old Kraken had not declared himself king.

They're in for an assault. As fortified as Stannis is, he lost a lot of men in taking the Harbour. The capital isn't Storm's End, he can't hold off the onslaught of the West and the Commonwealth.

Kivan was able to convince both the Westerners and the Commoners that Tommen was alive - he sent a couple of hundred foot soldiers to visit Rosby. Tommen will be safer in an army loyal to him.

Whether Joffrey, Cersei and Tyrion were alive, Kiwan doubted. Perhaps after the taking of Harbour things would finally become clearer, but the banner of the West now was Tommen.

'And yet Myrcella is in Dorne... what was Tyrion thinking sending the girl to a land where the Lannisters are hated? The Martells never forget a grudge, and they could kill the girl at any moment.'

How old he is... All the burdens have fallen on him. Can he lead his house to victory or at least ensure the Lannisters' survival in this chaos? He no longer believed the Seven Kingdoms would be the same after this war. The independence of the North would surely have to be resigned - no one had yet been able to conquer those snowy expanses.

Kivan pushed those thoughts away. Tywin is dead, but his idea is alive. The Lannisters must become great. A dynasty that will rule for thousands of years.....

And he'll die trying to do it.

Hear us roar!