Chapter 25: The song of birds
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180 power stones for the extra chapter
additional to the power stones, 15 comments or reviews and I will upload an extra chapter, I will offer this in all the chapters of the week (not cumulative, more than one comment from the same person will only count as one.) it is possible that you can have three chapters a day during this week, it is up to you
guys the chapters for friday and saturday I'm not sure if I can upload them, I have to go out to visit relatives(forced).
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POV of Varys
In one of the many rooms of the red keep at King's Landing was Varys, the spider, making his inquiries and seeking information searching for enemies within the walls of the city with impeccable skill.
since the news reached his ears that the king's former hand, Jon Connington, had died fighting the rebel forces and worse, the entire army gathered by the Targaryen and their direct banner men in the crown lands had been massacred, chaos temporarily reigned in the city.
The situation in the capital was not good at all, as with that news many people began to question whether their loyalty to King Aerys was necessary seeing that the rebels were winning for the moment.
This situation forced the spymaster to investigate many important members of the capital, because their treason could cause many problems for the Targaryen reign.
'So again the tyrell refused the call to arms and preferred to stay besieging the Baratheon stronghold, this is already too suspicious, we have to do something, but for the moment our hands are tied, the last thing we want is for the tyrell to join the rebellion.'
I started to check many of my little birds to know what was happening in each territory of the kingdom.
'In the north the Starks are recruiting men for the next battle and are increasing production of military equipment, nothing new was to be expected, the Bolton's showed interest in the proposal to switch sides'
'The Arryn's are only recruiting their knights and nobles, peasant recruitment is rare, it seems they do not wish to involve their small folks in large numbers, apparently no one is willing to betray Jon Arryn'
'In the river lands, the lords who support us are making it difficult to recruit soldiers for the Tully's and are attacking supplies coming in from the valley and the north, no one is considering switching sides'
'The lion is still calm although he has mobilized almost fourteen thousand men ready to act at any moment, he is waiting for the moment to attack if we prove too weak the Lannister will support the rebels, as expected, Tywin Lannister has all his banner men backing him, they all await their lord's decision'
'The Greyjoys are not choosing sides yet, as they wish to join the opposing side the Lannister will join to plunder their lands'
'The Martell are recruiting men to be sent to the capital to support the new army that is being created to end this rebellion and bring peace to a kingdom that has bled too much for one woman'.
'The reach again with no information, this is already the third time my little birds have not sent me the information I need, we don't know what the tyrells are planning if they change sides the capital will not be safe the tyrell army at storm's end is only a fifteen-day march away they could hit the capital before any army arrives to help us'.
When the Prussian forces arrived the reach not only changed the administration but also the security, which was run by the Finns who by protocols established by Aleksanteri in pattern detection had exponentially increased the discovery of spies.
The spider's spy network in the seven kingdoms extended like the roots of a tree, from king's landing to every corner of the kingdom, but with the arrival of the Prussians these roots were cut at once destroying any spy network in the conquered territories
Since in the search to maintain the quarantine of information the Prussians through the Finns killed everything that they suspected was a spy in a clandestine way making that almost all the little birds of the spider in the reach died in a few days without being able to send the information about what had happened.
But the system was not perfect, since the number of men was limited, they could not find all of them.
I was about to finish my notes and go to the small council to inform Rhaegar of the changes that had taken place after the death of the king's hand.
When a bird returned to its nest
'Oh, one of my little birds in the reach, at last, I thought something bad had happened to my little birds'.
'Taking the scroll from the bird I began to read the information'.
'No.... it can't be... the tyrell's were destroyed.... we have an army in the south... i have to report this danger as soon as possible'
I stopped everything I was doing this information was vital that it was known to prince Rhaegar and the councils of the small council, how was it possible that no one realized that a huge army was conquering the reach and no one reported it.
I ran through the halls of the keep, searching for the prince's room.
Furthermore, I knocked on the doors of his personal study many times almost in desperation.
The Targaryen prince opened the door with a confused look on his face.
What's wrong Varys?, you look frightened, something bad has happened'' asked the prince.
''I'm afraid it's terrible news, my prince'' I said worriedly, making sure no one could hear us.
The prince upon hearing my voice began to look at curious ears as well.
''Come in, I don't want anyone to spread the information, it could disturb the court if it is widely known'' said the prince, letting me enter his study.
Closing the door behind me, I looked back at the prince, who sat in his chair.
''So?, speak up, what is the terrible news we have'' said the prince trying to predict what I was going to say
''There is an army in the south, mercenaries hired by house Arryn, my little birds have not been able to confirm their number, but they say it is huge, their camp extends for kilometers, they have taken possessions in some important tyrell castles, but the most serious is that they defeated the tyrell army near ashford, we have lost the tyrell army, only the martells are left'' I said with a worried tone.
The prince remained thoughtful
''do you know what they plan to do?, attack the capital, continue capturing territories in the reach or will they attack Dorne?'', asked the prince.
''I am afraid not, this information came from only one of my little birds, I am afraid I can no longer hear the beautiful songs of the others, so for the moment this is all the information I can present to you my prince'' I said with a soft tone.
''This leaves us in a terrible position, we only have fifteen thousand soldiers in the capital, Doran said he would send ten thousand spears and five thousand horsemen... we have little time to warn Pycelle to send an urgent letter to Dorne to send more men than he promised''said the prince
''I have to talk to my father to organize a massive recruitment in the capital and in the lands that are still loyal to us, we must take the initiative, if those two armies unite in one we will be under siege very soon, we must go out to find a decisive battle against Robert and end the rebellion in one battle''the prince continued speaking.
''But my prince.... the mercenaries what will we do with them, even if you manage to defeat Robert in battle, the mercenaries are still too great a threat to ignore'' I told Rhaegar
''They are mercenaries we can offer them a better deal than the Arryns to get them out of our lands, the moment they see they are losing the war they will go back where they came from or change sides to our side and we will use their men to storm the castles of the traitors, ending this conflict once and for all'' said the prince.
''A good plan my prince, I will do my best to rebuild our information network in those territories, so we can know what those mercenaries are planning to be one step ahead of them so they don't surprise us again'' I said to Rhaegar.
''Right, how is it possible that such a large army did not raise even the slightest suspicion from anyone?'', asked the prince.
''I think it is the same reason why my little birds have stopped singing back, they have some way to find our informants quite easily'' I answered with my serene tone.
''Let's hope it doesn't happen again, go to Pycelle, father will not be happy with this news'' said Rhaegar rubbing his eyelids.
I said goodbye to the monarch and went to warn Grand Maester Pycelle about the message he had to send urgently to Dorne to let Doran Martell know the great danger in which the royal family was in.
After that, I returned to my chambers.
'I must find more small birds and train them, I must rebuild the spy network as soon as possible and see how many coins the mercenaries would be willing to change sides for, having them in the south could prevent the Martells from sending their reinforcements to the capital'.
Over the next few days Varys worked tirelessly to train his little spies and rebuild his espionage networks in the reach.
During that same time tranquility had returned to the city because the panic caused by Jon Connington's death had passed.
While the Royal Army grew every day through Prince Targaryen's tireless attempts to recruit every man fit for the final fight against the rebellion.
In time Varys again received information from the Reach, the approximate numbers of the mercenary army.
I don't understand how the Arryns could afford such a sizeable mercenary force.
But Varys' calmness had returned and he had returned to his usual serenity because now he knew that the mercenaries in the south had not the slightest interest in moving from their position, they were waiting for the movements of the rebels and the royalists.
'Well we have time, if we manage to deal a mortal blow to the rebels in the fight against Robert it should be possible to win and if I manage to place spies inside the rebel and mercenary camps nothing should happen without me knowing about it'.
'many good people will die, but it is necessary for the good of the kingdom'.
While watching the sunset from the chair in my room I tried to take my glass of wine, but being so concentrated thinking about the internal problems I threw the contents of the glass away
Luckily, one of the new servants is cleaning up around here.
''Asten, I'm sorry, could you clean this up'' I said pointing to the spilled wine.
''AYE, M'lord, I'll wipe it up, don't bother'' said the servant showing his pearly white teeth.