Carliene Stark

II Chapter 4

Tyrion

I straightened in my chair, in order to get a better look at everyone present at the council

An unlikely conglomerate of people. Foreigners and locals alike. From the very north and the very south, from an old matriarch of one of the riches houses to a eunuch soldier with not a coin to his name, all in agreement of one thing: the hatred for my sister. It was a feeble reason for allegiance and my only hope at having Daenerys Targaryen succeed was convincing the lot of them that there was far more at stake than simple vengeance.   

I glanced at my queen who gave me a nod to proceed. 

Clearing my throat I held my head as proudly as I could. "My Lords, my Ladies" I greeted them, making sure to look each one of them in the eyes shortly before commencing. "This table..." I placed a hand on the carved wood that depicted the Bay of Seals where I sat. "... was commissioned by Aegon the Conqueror more than three hundred years ago. He looked upon it and planned the takeover of the seven kingdoms, just as we are now" I let my gaze drift again. "Only that we are not planning a conquest, we are planning a liberation"

I felt it necessary that our new allies knew our intensions of winning the iron throne with as little bloodshed as possible, because I was certain that most of them wished for our queen to bring what her house promised: fire and blood. 

"Now, I feel we should tart to gather our resources and recount what everyone has to bring to the table" I decided, glancing at the many wooden figures that depicted the different armies and strongholds along the map. "As of this moment the Targaryen host has eight thousand unsullied soldiers and about five thousand mounted dothrakis" I gathered before turning to the master of ships. "Captain Natashi has about five hundred ships in his fleet"

The man nodded to confirm my claim, his colourfully braided beard dangling at his chest. 

"Together with the Geryjoy force that makes a fleet of about eight hundred ships"

"The iron fleet is said to hold a thousand ships, longships and dromonds alike, though I cannot say for certain if these claims are correct" Varys stated. "A fleet of three hundred has been confirmed at King's Landing, were Euron Greyjoy has pledged his allegiance to Cersei. And offered his hand apparently" he added the last bit with a slightly worried expression, his brow raising.

My gaze travelled to where the capital was on the map that the table provided. It was rested in an alcove of the carved wood between the priest Moqorro and Captain Natashi.

"If we pull our entire fleet we could beat him" the Greyjoy girl offered excitedly. "We could cut them off in Blackwater Bay and run them ashore"

I had to think back to the black water as it burned with green flame. "It is too risky" I disagreed. Cersei was many things but she was not stupid, if anything she would have learned from my approach at the war of Blackwater Bay. "As Lord Varys has mentioned we have no idea of Euron's true numbers. They could cut us off in turn and trap us between their fronts" I explained. "And without our fleet we will have no hope in getting our army onto westerosi shore"

"We have three dragons" the girl insisted. "You could ride them to Kings Landing" she leaned over the table. "The city would fall in a day"

Yara Greyjoy was out for blood, this was not what we needed. Not what the queen needed to hear. 

"If we attack King's Landing directly, thousands of people will die" I stated in a warning tone, hoping this would discourage her from arguing further. 

"This is war" the sandsnake butt in from across the table. "If you don't have the stomach for it maybe you shouldn't be overseeing a war council" she snapped.