Chapter 145: 145- Lion's Den.
~~~Third Person, Tenth Moon, 277 AC~~~
~~~Casterly Rock, Westerland~~~
Half an hour after the attack on Lannisport.
Casterly rock, the Lannister stronghold, had suddenly been left alone, its labyrinthine corridors desolate, with only guards patrolling from time to time, and the high wind rushing in from the windows.
Images like that were seen in various parts of the Rock, after the wedding of the century took place, and the guests were leaving the Rock to undertake a long journey to their corresponding lands, while the bastion that served as a place of lodging for the great lords was empty.
So the place needed thousands of servants to clean the rooms, wash sheets, grooms to leave the stables in optimal conditions, and so on, so seeing servants and servants walking in a hurry through the corridors or courtyards carrying buckets of water, carrying dirty clothes or wheelbarrows full of straw or manure, was normal.
In the midst of all this, Janna was in the manor that belonged to Tywin, the great hall spread out in a strong rustic and aristocratic splendor, something very ingrained in how Tywin showed himself, "knock, knock," the door to the manor opened after soft knocks were heard from the other side, and Jaime entered the manor with a confident smile.
"Lady Janna, I have my belongings ready. My guards are waiting for me downstairs," Jaime greeted his stepmother the moment he entered the solar. While he was not comfortable seeing Janna in his father's solar without him present, he was smart enough not to voice that out loud.
"Oh, excellent Jaime, Lord Crakehall is already aware of your arrival, glorious days await you there, you might even become a knight," Janna told him jovially, though her mood did not reach her eyes.
"Yes, I most of all want that," Jaime answered her, though he didn't look too sure about it.
"TIN, TAN, TIN, TAN!"
Their brief conversation was forcibly halted when the bells started ringing, which took both of them by surprise. "What's going on?" Jaime asked in confusion, Janna, on the other hand, got up from her chair and walked over to a wall where several weapons were displayed.
"Jaime," Janna called out to him, making him look at her, then offering her one of the swords. The Rock is under attack; use it to defend yourself," she explained, as she took a sword of her own for herself. As the door to the solar opened and one of Janna's guards entered, "My lady, I must keep you safe; the place has been breached".
Janna did not protest, instead, her countenance changed and became serious at the expected situation, "lead the way, where are the others? " Janna turned to her guard, as he began to leave the solar.
Outside were three more guards, all with one sword drawn and the other still in its sheath; "The others are at the gate of the fortress, they went there to wait for the king." The guard told him, giving some clarity on the matter.
At that moment, a great fire broke out on one of the battlements of the wall that covered the great outer courtyard, the one that connected to the Lion's Mouth, in the courtyard, a group of more than three dozen Ironborn, was facing the Lannister guards, who, armed with axes and stolen swords, and dressed in armor worn by the sun and salt, were fighting with a fierce uncontrolled.
While the Lannister guards were decisive in slowing down the attack and killing the Ironborn who came out of the sewers like rats, it soon became apparent that the effort was beginning to backfire, the unbridled, unpredictable, and somewhat mad style of the Ironborn made them difficult to stop, especially when for every one Ironborn killed, three more coming out of the sewers replaced it.
Arriving in the hall that overlooked the grand staircase that connected the Rock to the outer courtyard, Janna could see the situation clearly, and the result did not please her, the Lannister guards, while most were made up of knights or squires, it was clear that they had never, or rarely been in a life and death situation, and by far, would have attended tournaments.
And if that continued, it was clear that the Rock would fall, so yes or yes, he would have to take control of the situation before it was too late.
"Maximo, Clideo, go with the others at the gate and do not let the Ironborn open the gate, if so, they will allow more Ironborn to enter the Rock unless it is the king, that gate must be closed," Janna told two of her guards, who put up no problem and started down the stairs in the direction of the great courtyard, ready to carry her orders to the grave if necessary.
Amid all this altercation, a group of fifteen Ironborn broke away from the fray, instead, they approached the Lion's Mouth, intending to open the forces and let all the forces that accompanied them, could enter the fortress.
But as they arrived, they observed six large men standing in front of the great gates, unlike the Lannisters, these wore gray, opaque armor, and did not have the Lannister symbol, but a dragon pierced with a sword adorned on their breastplates.
This made them look at each other, all knowing what it meant, and that is before the banner of a dragon was reserved for the Targaryens, that was until the Xandarian banners rose in the world, and now, almost everyone knew who they were.
Hence, the reluctance to face them, not out of fear of those men, but because they knew all too well the power behind that banner. But even so, they were not going to back down, "What the fuck are they waiting for? Kill those sons of bitches," one of the Ironborn shouted, and without waiting for the others, he launched himself against Janna's closest guard.
The Ironborn rushed with a double-edged axe, and with screams similar to those of a pig that was about to be killed, instead, the guard simply turned his neck and watched the Ironborn approach with boredom captured in his brown eyes.
Only when the Ironborn was a few meters away from him did the guard act, and in unparalleled synchrony, he drew both swords from his hips. The sword in his right hand, he took as if it were a hunting knife, with the blade outward, gripping it with strength and control.
The other sword he took it in the 'normal' manner, which caused him to have one sword pointing forward, and the other backward. Seeing the guard draw two swords, the Ironborn was startled, but seeing how he held both swords, he thought he didn't even know how to use them, so instead of stopping and acting cautiously, he hurried his pace.
And this was his mistake, the Ironborn hit with his axe with force, in a vertical feint downwards, but the guard was already prepared, he, instead, moved his right arm and parried the axe blow with the blade of his sword, which hooked to the axe thanks to the slot in the axe blade, causing the Ironborn could not move his weapon.
Being just a scant three feet away from the Ironborn, the guard used his other sword, which he held in his left hand, and stabbed the Ironborn's stomach, which remained held upright for about two seconds, until the guard brought his right sword down and kicked the Ironborn, with his body falling like a sack of potatoes to the ground.
The other Ironborn saw this and became angry, especially when they saw how the guard sheathed his two swords again as if having killed one of their own presented no problem, and being surrounded by enemies did not affect him. But just as the group was about to attack the guards as a group, and thus overwhelm them, a roar made itself known.
"ROOOAAR!"
The guttural roar of the beast that caused it made the Ironborn's hearts shrink, as their bones trembled within their flesh, they may have never seen a dragon, but even if they didn't know one in person, some many stories and tales spoke of the roars a dragon could cause, and they immediately looked up into the sky.
There, they could see a black silhouette approaching from the sky, getting closer and closer to the Rock, and men shouting the word dragon soon became famous.
The dragon approached the Rock, and when it was barely twenty yards away, it spread its huge leathery wings and slowed its fall, hovering in the air over the great courtyard outside.
Endoxes arrived, and with him, his rider.