[Chapter Size: 2600 Words.]
Third Person POV.
Crownlands.
...
...
At dawn, the entire camp — the free folk, the North, and the soldiers of the Stormlands — was more agitated than ever. While they prepared weapons and armor, shouting at one another.
The camp itself would not be dismantled now. They only had to conquer the city and then return, with the city unable to have an addition of more than 140 thousand soldiers, perhaps move the camp later, but that would happen after some rest.
Now, all they had in mind was conquering King's Landing.
Daemon was discussing the next actions with his men. Now, with the main gate of King's Landing, the northern one, destroyed, nothing would stop the march of the soldiers. He only wanted to avoid unnecessary casualties; the Lannisters would not yield knowing they would probably die.
However, he already knew that rebellions were beginning to happen inside the city, even among the Lannister soldiers along with the common people. Many wanted to drive the Lannisters out or hand them over for surrender, just so they could survive the enormous army now only a few steps away from them. Not even a wall would keep them from entering the city.
"Your Majesty." Someone entered the tent at that moment.
Jon looked at the man. It was not a meeting important enough for him to block interruptions. He wanted to know how the army was aligning in real time, including keeping his commanders informed, which was why interruptions were allowed if something unusual happened in the camp.
"Proceed," Jon asked, remaining at the center of the table.
"A man here... Ser Gregor Clegane says that you, Your Majesty, gave authorization to meet you as soon as he arrived at the camp. He said he came from the north after you had met him," he said, while the other men could not stop looking, surprised, at Daemon.
After all, he was a Clegane — the brother of the man who smashed the king's younger brother against the wall and raped Elia Martell, killing her shortly after.
No one knew of the secret meeting that Daemon had further north, meeting Sandor in an inn, where he was as a hedge knight in search of coins.
Daemon had given his warnings to him in King's Landing and even in Winterfell when he still protected the little shit of a prince, but he saw no reason to kill him. That man was not his brother and, in a way, reminded him very much of some friends Jon had had in Skyrim.
Daemon nodded after hearing about Sandor. "Tell him to come to the center of the camp and wait outside. I will speak with him later."
The man nodded and returned to the others. As soon as he left, Daemon looked at the commander of the Velaryon men, in the name of Monterys Velaryon. The boy had 7 namedays at this moment, therefore his men were led by someone trusted from Driftmark.
Ser Maelor Tidebor (OC) had appeared on the same day Daemon executed Jaime Lannister, joining the camp with men under the Velaryon banner. Daemon asked Stannis for his opinion on this, who had already taken care of the Velaryons and the former lord of Driftmark himself, dying in the Battle of the Blackwater.
Daemon then knew that all that remained of House Velaryon was the young Lord, who was still described as quiet, shy, and sickly, since he lived coughing all the time.
There was another, Aurane Waters, who was even considered to become Master of Ships in King's Landing, but he had escaped and turned into a pirate in the Stepstones. They said he wanted to seize power from his legitimate nephew, believing Monterys would be weak as Lord of Driftmark.
It was obvious the Velaryons wanted to cling to support, with the 3 thousand men they had sent, having only that left after the events of the Blackwater. Even Skagos sent more men to follow Daemon.
However, Daemon found nothing unusual in this. It was perfectly normal for them to act that way, they had not even continued following Stannis to the north anymore.
Daemon told Stannis to take care of them and set the condition that they must prepare like all the others, for the next day they would attack.
Other houses of the Crownlands had also begun presenting themselves while Daemon was away. All who had until then supported the Lannisters, whether out of fear or even greed, began sending representatives since the army entered the crownlands.
The Buckwell, Staunton, Celtigar, Rosby, Stokeworth and others including the Velaryons, sent men and the lords themselves went to kneel before King Daemon, even with rumors about someone called Aegon in the south. The houses were exploring their options, some did not do so, because although they did not like the Lannisters, some distrusted Daemon for what he had already done with magic and they seemed to believe in the supposed Aegon Targaryen.
Some houses that wanted to support were southeast of King's Landing, therefore they did not send men.
"Well, let's begin. I intend to use Winter to distract them at the gates, but I will not unleash more frozen flames. We already have enough ice to allow you to advance quickly through the entrance without harming you with the freezing air. This also applies to the Lannisters who could not reach the entrance. So there is nothing left to stop the army or hinder them to the point of preventing our advance. Understood?"
Daemon said this, and they all agreed. He continued giving orders, indicating where he wanted each group in parts of the city to control the crowd.
"Shall we battle, Your Grace? They are outnumbered, cornered. They will surrender immediately," replied Lord Blackwood.
"So I hope. We will take the city and place the Bolton men on the wall. The surviving Lannisters will be summoned to fight against the dead in the North, though we do not need to punish them all. Only those who took part in the crimes in the riverlands," he informed.
They all nodded while discussing a few more details. Finally, Daemon placed his hand on the table.
"Now let us begin preparing. Everyone be ready in 1 hour. I will be with my horse at the vanguard." They all nodded and dispersed from the tent.
Daemon left and found Sandor waiting for him.
"You will only follow me, and wear this." Daemon merely said that and threw a full suit of armor to him. "Be ready in one hour. You will fight at my side." With that, he simply left, with a somewhat stunned and grumbling Sandor behind him.
Daemon went to his royal tent. He found Val preparing herself; she had not attended the meeting this time. She wore armor and kept Nightfall fastened at her waist.
Daemon opened a smile and approached, placing his hand over her metal-clad waist. "Have I told you that you look quite sexy wearing armor?"
"Your words may even be charming, Daemon, but it is a little heavy. I prefer leather, but since you insist on wearing this," she murmured, letting out a small sigh as he went to a corner and began summoning his own armor from a dimensional space.
"Let me help you," she said, as Daemon felt her hands adjusting the pieces on him.
"You are ruining my squire's work," Daemon teased.
"Is the boy going to take part in the battle?" she asked suddenly.
Daemon nodded. "Yes. I told him to put on armor. He will be with me," said Jon.
"Just like me," she replied. It was not a question.
"Just like you," Daemon repeated, as he put on the helm he himself had forged while he was in Winterfell, tending to the castle. He had also spent time at the forge, practicing his skills as a blacksmith.
The armor had touches of valyrian steel that he had gathered from various places. Although it was not yet a full set, the breastplate was of valyrian steel, with the Targaryen symbol engraved upon it, along with the pauldrons and greaves. The arms and legs were of common alloy, but nothing that a Dragon Skin spell could not further strengthen to the point that nothing else could harm him.
Daemon left with Val a moment later, as they stepped into the restless camp. Sandor Clegane stood outside his tent, already wearing the armor Daemon had given him.
"Good, I see you are ready," Daemon said, satisfied, while the Clegane merely nodded in silence. He was not very communicative.
"I just hope you are not upset about helping me attack a city you once helped defend," Daemon remarked.
Sandor only grunted.
In any case, Daemon moved on and found Lafy also waiting for him, hastily wearing armor, but he too was ready.
"Remember, do not leave my side, understand?" Daemon spoke seriously to the boy.
The boy nodded, a little nervous. Perhaps that conflict would finally be a real battle. Most of the journey until then had required only intimidation by the size of the army, and at times Daemon himself acting on his own.
Daemon went to where Winter was prepared to take flight. He returned a moment later with his horse and asked someone to bring a horse for Sandor Clegane so that he would remain at his side.
Then he moved to the vanguard, where Mance, Lord Stark, Lord Tully and Lord Baratheon were already organizing the troops.
The dragon flew above them, and Daemon let his eyes turn white for a few seconds. He entered Winter's mind, giving her orders, while the majestic 25-meter dragon circled through the skies.
When he blinked again, he was ready. He waited for all the soldiers to line up in the open field.
He knew the city had already become chaos at that moment. The Lannisters were in a critical situation that no longer depended only on him; their own men were beginning to revolt against them. They did not want to be crushed by that army.
When everyone was finally aligned, Daemon withdrew Dark Sister from his dimensional space. He turned to his now 140 thousand men, while they still had 30 thousand coming from the west, though they would not take part in the battle.
"Today I have the pleasure of saying that we will conquer our objective, an objective you have had since we began marching from the North," Daemon began. His voice easily reached the ears of all, echoing like thunder itself, as if he were using the Thu'um.
"Some of you chose to follow me here with the promise of a better future, to face the dead and end them, or out of pure vengeance and justice, or even seeking your place in the world.
I can only say that you are right. Once we conquer this city, we will be one step closer to that. And as for the other enemy in the south, we will crush him at another time as well.
But you can be certain of one thing: by conquering this city, we will have already dealt with half of our problems. I want you to know that today you are conquerors.
Soon, House Lannister will no longer live. Just as we defeated the Boltons and the ironborn, just as we defeated the Freys and removed their dominion from the riverlands, and even conquered the West, this victory will not be mine alone, but yours as well.
I want you all to follow me. I will be the first to enter through that hole in the wall, the first to kill. But I do not want to do it alone, for it is with each of you that we will make history.
Today we will conquer King's Landing.
Today we will end the Lannisters, end that arrogant family who thought they could bring the realm to its knees.
We will show the lions, who always claimed not to listen to sheep, that they should never have underestimated the people of Westeros, for that is the arrogance that precedes the fall.
They may have had their empire of gold for a time, but it falls today, with my sword and with yours.
Are you with me?"
Daemon asked, as the army responded by raising their weapons with a collective shout. More than one hundred and forty thousand people roared in euphoria.
"Now all of you prepare yourselves. First the cavalry, then the army will enter. Once we take the city, anyone who raises a sword wearing Lannister or City Watch colors has permission to kill. As for the crowd, we will not act like Tywin Lannister did almost twenty years ago, when he sacked the city. I do not want to see that before my eyes. I do not want to see women raped or the people looted. We are not beasts. If I see anyone acting like that, I will punish them, as I did in the North." Daemon made that quite clear.
Wars always turned men into monsters, but he would not leave any crime unpunished, which usually meant death for the men who fought for his house. He himself had executed several free folk during the campaign in the North. They knew this, and his reputation preceded him.
"Now, prepare yourselves. All with me. Army, begin the march!" Daemon ordered quickly.
Everyone began to advance. The people on the walls were in panic, running from one side to the other in search of information. The army marched from the camp to the outskirts of King's Landing, where the area was devastated by the wildfire that had exploded the previous night.
Fortunately, the wildfire explosions themselves had melted the ice at the entrance, and the air was no longer so threatening for the men to advance through there.
As the camp was quite far away, it was not worth sending the cavalry into a charge yet. He would wait until they were very close to the battle to finally order the attack, with his men coming right behind.
Daemon, using his Warg abilities even while riding, observing inside the city with his birds, could see the enemy army's commanders in panic. They did not know what to do, whether they should surrender.
Kevan Lannister tried to maintain formation, while Tywin was inside the Red Keep with his family. They were not living their best moment, searching for a way to escape now. Some men were already searching within the secret passages for a route of escape, and there was even a plan to use a boat below the Red Keep to flee.
When the army finally stood only a few hundred meters from the wall, there was nothing left to stop them. There were not even men atop the wall, for the dragon had simply begun to fly low, roaring and terrifying anyone there. After what they had seen the previous night, no man wanted to face a dragon.
Daemon simply raised his sword.
"With me!"
He lowered the blade before striking the horse's flank, making it trot swiftly forward. He was followed by Sandor Clegane, Val, Lafy, and soon after the entire cavalry advanced alongside Daemon. Men of the North, mixed with those of the Stormlands, the Crownlands, and the Riverlands, followed right behind. The free folk had no cavalry, so they were together with the infantry.
Daemon crossed the destroyed gates quickly, casting a Fus Ro Dah to clear the path so the horses would not be hindered by so many stones, as they were sent flying away and the way was made clear.
Daemon advanced into the city. His men came right after, with commanders shouting orders as they also pushed forward.
And so, King's Landing began to be invaded by one hundred and thirty thousand men marching against the city.
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