Scions of the Cruel King

Edmund Tully

"The Lannisters have been sighted near the Tumblestones my lord." Edmund heard one of his scouts say.

"How many men? And any dragons?" Edmund asked, the dragons were what he really needed to know about, not the men.

"Roughly 10,000 men at last count my lord. No dragons." The scout replied.

"Thank you, you may go." Edmund told the scout. Once the man had gone, Edmund turned to face his uncle Ser Robin. "This must be a distraction uncle; surely the usurper would not be so foolish as to send a force up the Tumblestone."

"Aye lad, it must be. It is likely that the usurper is marching from Wayfarer's as we speak, with that blasted dragon of his. Has your cousin or the king written to you?" Ser Robin said.

Edmund sighed. "No, but I know help will be on the way. It has to be, Jaehaerys would not let us burn, nor would Vaegyl truly let us rot. It's his kingdom on the line."

Edmund saw his uncle nod, and then his uncle asked him the question that he had been dreading for some time. "What do you plan on doing? You cannot stay at Riverrun, but nor can you leave it undefended especially if the blasted Warrior Sons come marching from Stone Hedge."

Edmund sighed once more. Truly he did not know what he wished to do, he knew he couldn't leave his bannermen to fend for them, but neither did he truly know how to deal with dragons. Aloud he said. "I will do what I must uncle, whatever it may be, I will do my duty to my people."

"Spoken like your father's son lad. Aye do what you must. I will hold Riverrun for you from these blasted Lannisters." Ser Robin replied.

Edmund nodded his thanks to his uncle and then said. "Very well then, I shall march at first light tomorrow. We must deal with the pretender and his men, and quickly."

With that his uncle nodded and left the solar, leaving Edmund to his thoughts. They were dark, these thoughts of his. Aegon Targaryen, had fled west after King Vaegyl had returned from Dorne, in the letter Jaehaerys had written, it was believed to be because the man had held Queen Visenya in the black cells to drive the king away from King's Landing so that the man could plot his treason. Edmund had never truly spent all that much time at court, but from what he had seen of the king and his siblings, he could guess that it was most likely true what his cousin Jaehaerys wrote, and more than likely it was the work of the Westerlings and the Lannisters. If anything these attacks on his lands and people proved it, and Edmund felt a deep sense of hatred and loathing for the Lannisters and for this would be usurper, bringing death and destruction to his lands.

The reports had first come from Pinkmaiden and High Heart, reports of great winged beasts burning through the crops of the land, and killing indiscriminately. There was only one family synonymous with dragons that Edmund knew of, and he knew that the king would never use his dragons for anything other than riding unless forced to, for whatever the king may be, he was not a fool. No that work had reeked of Aegon and the Lannisters, people so proud and foolish in their pride, Edmund still remembered the warnings his father had given him when he had been young . "Never trust a lion," Lord Hoster had told Edmund one day long ago when summer still reigned in Westeros, "A lion will make promises, but we have been at war with the lions for as long as the Andals have ruled here in the south. Lions are treasonous beings, truly treasonous."

It seemed that his father's warnings had been proven true; the lions had showed their true colours. Lord Tybolt desperate to have a grandson on the throne, something he would never get with Vaegyl, had wed his eldest daughter to Aegon, and now war was being waged in Edmund's home. This would have to stop, and Edmund would stop it or he would die trying.

He walked to his chambers, where his wife- Genna- sat with their newborn babe, a son after so long, two stillbirths and a miscarriage, Edmund had begun to doubt whether or not he would ever have children, but he was so relieved when little Edwyn had been born, had been so relieved when Genna had survived. He could not bear to be separated from them, even for a moment even though he now knew it would be necessary. From the look in his wife's eyes when she saw him, he knew that she knew what he had come to say.

"My love," he began, but Genna held up a hand to silence him.

"I know what you must do, my love, and I do not want you to go. But I know you will." She said, her voice laced with fear.

"I do not want to go my love, but I have to, it is my duty." He acknowledged.

"Where are the Lannisters now then?" Genna asked.

Edmund sighed once more- sometimes he truly wished that the Targaryens could simply abide by the laws all else had to follow, but then they would not be who they were- "There is a host coming up the Tumblestones, some 10,000 men strong. Who they are led by I do not know. But that is not my main concern."

"The force led by the usurper is. Where is he?" Genna asked, her voice becoming smaller, due to fear.

"Burning his way up the Trident. Our lands are burning Genna, he is the threat I must deal with, him and those blasted dragons of his." Edmund replied.

Genna put Edwyn in his crib then, and walked up to him and embraced him fiercely, her arms wrapping around his chest then, her head fitted under his neck, just like it always had, and he heard her whisper. "Be safe my love, Edwyn needs you, I need you. I do not think I could forgive you if you do not come back to us."

Edmund laughed, but there was no joy in it. "I will try my love, I will try."

The next day Edmund Tully rode out with 10,000 men to meet Aegon Targaryen and his host, leaving his uncle Ser Robin to hold Riverrun with a garrison of some 1,000 men.

The sounds of the men marching helped ease his nerves somewhat. He had only fought in one battle before, a fight with the Warrior Sons when he had been but a lad of seventeen, so long ago that had been, his faith had been brought into question on that day, as had his loyalty. What gods would allow good innocent men to die for the ravings of a mad Septon, a mad man who would see Westeros burn simply because of what he believed, it made no sense to Edmund, it had never made sense to him.

Then he had earnt glory for himself, had distinguished himself in the fighting, young and careless he would have called his younger self now, he had a family to return to, a wife and son who needed him. There would be no mad dashes for honour or glory, no now he would play the cautious and tempt the usurper into making a mistake, the usurper was young, more likely to make mistakes.

"My Lord, Targaryen banners have been sighted on the horizon." Edmund hear his squire Derryck Frey say.

"Thank you Derryck if you could summon Lords Frey, Blackwood, Mallister and Piper that would be most helpful." Edmund replied,

Whilst Derryck went off to do as he had been bid, Edmund walked into his tent and looked at the map spread out on the table. They were on the west bank of the Trident, had marched past the death and destruction that the usurper had wrought, High Heart had been burnt to smithereens, according to Lord Piper Pinkmaiden was but a shell of what it had once been.

As Lords Frey, Blackwood, Mallister and Piper were announced and entered his tent Edmund bid them sit, and then began with what he truly wanted to speak of. "My lords what do our scouts report of the usurper's movements?"

Lord Blackwood was the first to speak. "Well of course they have been sighted on the east bank of the Trident. Some 15,000 men they have, along with that traitor Bracken leading the van."

"Has there been any sighting of the usurper himself?" Edmund asked, that was important.

Lord Frey replied to that. "No my lord, though my scouts have reported seeing Laecareys Targaryen amongst the usurper's men. It seems that he will be commanding them in this battle."

Edmund felt something inside of him drop at that, if the usurper was not here, where could he be? His dragon would not be here, could that mean he was heading for Riverrun?

"Laecareys Targaryen is commanding this host, but that does not mean that the usurper is not here somewhere, lurking in the shadows like the coward that he is." Lord Mallister said.

"It is not Laecareys or even the usurper that we should be worrying about. It is the fool's brother Daemon. That man is too clever by half, for all we know this battle could be a ruse he has designed." Lord Piper said.

Edmund looked at Lord Piper, the man was old that was for sure, had been Lord of Pinkmaiden even when Edmund's own father had been but a young lad, there was something that Piper was not telling them, but what it was and why he would not tell them, Edmund knew not, and besides it was too late to try and pry and more information from the man, it would only cause the others to be suspicious of him.

Edmund was about to speak when Derryck entered the tent looking very sheepish. "I am very sorry my lords, but a letter has just been given to me, by one of Lord Tully's men, from the usurper it appears." Derryck handed the letter to Edmund, and he noticed that it did indeed bear the three headed sigil of the usurper along with the lion of Lannister and the white shells of the boy's mother's house.

Curious Edmund opened the letter and read it. As he read it he felt something inside of him begin to break, something had gone very, very wrong.

"My lord?" he heard Lord Frey ask.

"What is in the letter my lord?" Lord Mallister asked.

Edmund looked up from the letter and felt his voice shake as he spoke, the words that he had been dreading speaking since they had arrived at the Trident. "Aegon Targaryen writes that he will offer us pardons and sanctuary and the chance to retain our titles, if we bend the knee to him. He says that if we do not then the Riverlands will continue to burn, and our wives and children shall be burned with them. He holds Riverrun."

The terms had been rejected; a ruse was what his lords had called it. Nothing more than a desperate ploy by a desperate man, and yet Edmund could not help but feel something break inside of him as he put on his armour, he sincerely hoped that it was a ruse, that the usurper did not hold Riverrun, for if he did then Genna and Edwyn were all but goners.

He mounted his horse, and led his men into battle, in silence. Swinging his sword, hacking and slashing his way through Lannister, Westerling, Marbrand, Crakehall men it made no matter who they were, if they came in the way of his sword they died. He hacked and slashed until his sword was covered in blood and the ground was strewn with bodies, bodies he had helped put there.

He continued hacking a bloody path through the Westerlands soldiers, hacking off an arm here, slashing through a man there, jabbing left, dodging to the right, slashing and hacking, slashing and hacking. On and on it went, a never ending cycle, until his sword had lost its silvery glow and was completely red, and still something inside of him felt like there was something amiss, something that could go terribly wrong, something did not feel right.

There was no sign of Aegon Targaryen, no sign of Daemon Targaryen, hell there was even no sign of Laecareys Targaryen and the boy was meant to be leading the attack. Something felt terribly off, and yet Edmund could not truly place his finger on what it could be. He continued hacking and slashing his way through the enemy soldiers nonetheless trying to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity, and when he came face to face with old Lord Gerold Westerling, he felt an old fury build up in him at the man who had insulted his mother and then his wife.

Edmund attacked Westerling with such a fury, hacking and slashing at the man and giving him no chance to defend himself. He kept hacking at the man until he had to draw back to catch his breath and found that Westerling's armour was dented in several places, he was bleeding from several cuts strewn across his body. Edmund then pulled his horse forward and began his assault once more, hacking and slashing his way through Gerold Westerling like a man possessed.

Eventually Westerling slumped in his horse, dead from nigh on a thousand cuts and dents that were bleeding all over. Edmund's sword already covered in blood became drenched in it. That was when he heard the cries and screams of the men that was when he saw the fire, the unearthly fire that could only come from dragons. It was a trap.

There high in the sky burning men without a second though was the dragons Urrax and Firefree, on sat atop them were Aegon Targaryen and Daemon Targaryen, burning a path through the men. Edmund could feel the heat radiating of the flames, and tried to spur his horse on to move away before the dragons could come any closer, but his horse seemed to have lost its will to move. The heat was getting closer, he heard someone shout something, and suddenly Urrax the great big terrifying white dragon screeched and was moving towards him.,

Edmund's horse finally remembered how to use its legs and bolted as soon as it heard the dragon screech a second time, though by this point Urrax was getting closer and closer. Just as Edmund thought he was about to be killed by dragonfire, a great big black shadow appeared, and a steam of black fire flew past him.