GoT: LB Chapter 10 (Patreon)

Stannis’ point of view

Ever since we’ve been locked in this castle while it was under siege, our food supply has gone down faster and faster. The first few months were easy enough, but with each subsequent month, we had less and less food. We had already eaten all the stored meat, and many of the children were getting sick from the lack of protein as we struggled with the decision to keep the chickens alive to give eggs or kill them to eat.

We were all waiting, hoping the war would end before we couldn’t take it anymore. This strategy of starving out a castle until we would give up was terrifying. The only good point of this method was that we were holding down a much larger force here, so they couldn’t be elsewhere fighting. But even with these troops guarding us, the rebellion was still going to be an uphill battle for our side to win.

It was the start of the end, though. It didn’t take a genius to see the writing on the wall. Even if the rebellion failed, the King had to die, Rhaegar would have to kill his father, which would cause even more dissent, and without dragons, the chances were that the kingdom was going to rip itself apart with other Houses declaring their independence.

Even if they crushed us, the Stormlands, Reach, and North might never be loyal again. With our rebellion, I had little doubt the Iron Islands would declare their independence shortly after, and the Westerlands would strike the moment the Lannisters saw the chance to get some benefit out of breaking free from the kingdoms. The Reach might still be loyal, but with Rhaegar ignoring Elia Martell, they might even lose Dorne. 

Either way, whoever won, it would be an uphill battle to keep the kingdom together. Sure, it might be fine for a short time, but whoever is chosen would need to work hard to secure their kingdom from collapsing later on. That was why I joined the side of my brother; it made far more sense to stay loyal… If I didn’t see the kingdom ripping itself apart in the next ten years, if the mad King won.

It was the safest bet; I bet the King would be more angry at Eddard Stark and Robert than the loyal brother, and even if he did lose, Rhaegar might view my loyalty in a positive light. I looked at the window as a bird had landed on the stool. We briefly made eye contact as it dropped a note from its mouth and flew away. If it had stayed a few more moments, I might have made for my crossbow and tried to take a shot.

My eyebrows furrowed as I read the note. This most likely wasn’t a trap… But it very well could be… But if it was real, I needed to make sure this wasn’t a trick. I took some of my most loyal men with me to where the note told me to go and peered over the side of the castle walls. I couldn’t believe it as I looked down and could spot the few heads hundreds of feet down peering back up at us.

A small group had made their way to a rocky outcrop at the bottom of the castle just above the sea. Far too high and dangerous to climb, but flat enough to perhaps deliver supplies unseen from the army above. One of their own on their side had betrayed them, which wasn’t all that surprising, but it was still a welcome surprise. 

I dropped down the longest rope we could get as they tied it around the metal barrel, and we pulled it up. Sure, it could have been a trap, this could be poisoned, but I wouldn’t be the first to eat this food just in case. Any food, even if it was poisoned, many would take the risk with how little we had to go around. It took a few minutes to finally pull it up, cracking open the barrel to make sure it wasn’t a trap or someone inside. My eyebrows rose in disbelief at what I saw.

The entire barrel was completely full of meat, something that would go for a gold dragon or two when we weren’t at war, and they were giving it to their ‘enemy’. It didn’t make sense to me until I saw the note tucked safely inside and read it as well.

“There is no reason for children to starve to death because of the King’s madness. Not everyone fighting against you is an enemy. I hope you’ll remember the help we gave you after your brother won this war. Signed Alexander Dayne and Gerold Dayne.” The message left me more confused than anything. Who were the two people this message spoke about? It couldn’t possibly be the two squires serving under the Kingsguard, could it?

After the first barrel, we lowered the rope for another, as it wasn’t the only barrel they had with them.

…

I honestly could have spared myself the difficulty and just stayed around waiting, but I needed to help one or both sides during the war, and participating on one side while supplying the other secured that objective, just in case fighting wasn’t enough. 

Helping serves several reasons. Stannis would be indebted to me. As the brother of the King, he would become more powerful than he ever was as the heir apparent of Storm’s End. He would become the Master of Ships, and this tiny bit of help might get me a favor later on. I wanted him to tell his brother Robert. 

Robert was the person I wanted to impress with this stunt. If he looked at me and my cousin more favorably, I would be able to do more things I wanted with the King’s permission, and he might be willing to listen to me just from the positive view of my helping his brother during the war.

I would leak this story to others as well, which would make others view me in a positive light. The end goal here was to become King and defeat the Night King after all, so I had to be viewed by the commonfolk as an honorable man before I do dishonorable things later on. I looked at my cousin as he was still shaky about coming to this outcropping of rocks.

“You really should have told me you couldn’t swim before we loaded the boat up with so many supplies.” He gave another shake before saying. “Who has the time to waste learning to swim? If I knew we were going to risk our lives helping the enemy, I’d have stayed at camp.” 

I sighed as I had to explain to him again. “We’re hedging our bets in case the rebellion succeeds with just a tiny bit of food. Stannis isn’t really our enemy. This entire war came about from how mad the King has become. If the King’s side wins, we’ll have participated in a battle, but if the rebellion wins, we’ll have secretly helped them, so no matter who wins, we win along with them.”

I looked at my most loyal man, Giles, who kept the boat from drifting away as I waved everyone else back onto it. “We’ve done what we needed to do. Let’s go back, we have a few more things to prepare for before this war ends.”