Chapter 1

“Are you mad, ser Imp? This plan is absolutely insane! No offense meant, ser, but this ... just won’t do. I know that you want to believe that your sister is still good somehow, but Seven Hells, man! She’s blown up the bleedin’ Sept of Baelor, killed hundreds of folks, just to sit on that damn throne of hers!” Ser Davos Seaworth dared to voice his rather blunt opinion of the notion of bringing a wight back to show Cersei.

“You know a better plan?” Tyrion asked, “I suppose that I do want to believe the best about Cersei, want to believe that she’ll step down or at least help us in the face of a greater threat to us all. Then again, my counsel has perhaps been skewed by that of late. I’m ... off my game. It’s not like me. Maybe drinking and whoring helps me think better. Well, there are no whores on Dragonstone, but plenty of wine.”

“At this point, what could that hurt? Might make you bolder, less hesitant about attacking your sister at least. I mean, after how she’s wronged you. I know that you love your brother, but your sister has endangered your life at every turn, tried to have you killed whenever she could. With all due respect, Tyrion ... we’re close friends. I remember saving you from the cells and learning that you took time to kill your father and that w ... woman that you loved so much. Shae, wasn’t it?

“Remember, as Master of Whispers, I knew about her, too. Yes, I lied about you and I regret that, but I also rescued you from your father’s plans for you ... and you were still angry enough to put a crossbow bolt in him. If you could kill your own father, why spare a thought for your sister? For Jamie’s sake? Did Jamie save you from Tywin Lannister? No, I did! Jamie didn’t save you. Bronn didn’t save you. I saved you from your sister, your father, and all of your enemies. After you saved King’s Landing. A thankless job.

“Is that what’s holding you back? I don’t want to see smallfolk killed, either, so let’s find a way to bring your sister down and not slaughter the citizens of King’s Landing ... and not get the King in the North get killed into the bargain. If we can smuggle people into the city, why not use that to end Cersei’s reign for good? You know a way into King’s Landing, right? Why not use that to get Unsullied into the capital? If we can also get Northmen in there, we can take King’s Landing with relative ease. The alternative is ... well, there’s fire and fire, and you know very well that Cersei might try to fight fire with fire,” Lord Varys spoke up at last.

“What does he mean, this Spider of yours?” Daenerys Targaryen demanded to know now.

“He means wildfire, Your Grace, one of the reasons that I’ve been loathe to take the path of direct assault upon the capital. Forgive me, I should have been more frank with you about it, but I didn’t wish to ... bring up something painful for you unless it was absolutely unavoidable. Your father, as I told you before myself, kept deposits of wildfire beneath various buildings and streets in King’s Landing. That’s why my brother killed him, to keep him from using it.

“Later, as Ser Davos here can attest, I used wildfire to help keep Stannis Baratheon out of King’s Landing, burning many of his ships and men. Then Cersei used it to blow up the Sept of Baelor during her trial, killing the High Sparrow, the other Sparrows, the Tyrells, and more. My nephew Tommen died shortly afterward. Knowing him, it was probably a suicide. His Queen was dead, her family dead, so many of his subjects, as he saw them, dead. Thanks to his own mother, no less. He had to have known that it was her, too.

“So ... yes, let’s do that. If the King in the North can help us out, at least lend us some troops, just as we have let him use some dragonglass, if Davos and myself can help guide us into King’s Landing, some of the Unsullied can follow them, along with some Northmen. We can take the Red Keep. If we take that, King’s Landing falls without too much further ado. We also recover the rest of the loot from Highgarden, which I regrettably cost you with my first plan.

“In return, perhaps at least for now, we can table the issue about when and where the King in the North bends the knee to Your Grace and rush North to help battle the Night King. The Wall has held for thousands of years. What are the odds that it will fall due to direct assault by wights yet? Eastwatch and the rest of the Wall itself might yet hold against the attack. You do that, and it’s quite possible that all of us can find common ground in the middle of this Great War with the Night King and his host,” Tyrion proposed.

“Should I not reinforce my men in Eastwatch?” Jon Snow wanted to be clear about what Tyrion had in mind.

“Oh, we can still do that ... hold Eastwatch and the rest of the Wall. Certainly send a rescue party to help them hold it. The Wall would at least buy us some time, I think. If you send the message now, it could reach them before you get to King’s Landing. Eastwatch is not yet doomed, nor any other part of the Wall, I would think. Trust in the Wall to hold, for now at least,” Tyrion urged Jon.

Jon mused and brooded about that for a moment, before nodding, “I don’t like it, but I’m afraid that you’re right. You know your sister better than most. Varys knows her very well indeed. If he doesn’t think that she’ll be persuaded this, I’d rather not waste any lives trying to retrieve it. But I want my men secure in their defenses against the White Walkers. Including Tormund Giantsbane and the others at Eastwatch. I promised them safety.

“I would like to send a party of volunteers only among my company for both missions. Both are very dangerous. If caught by Cersei, we could get tortured and then killed. If caught by the Night King, it would be worse than that. I won’t order anyone to do either job. They have to be willing to do it. Pick your danger, just bear in mind that you’ll have to risk your lives either way, either in the Eastwatch party or in the King’s Landing one. That’s two parts of my group, the rest to stay here and mine the dragonglass as still needed.”

“One part of your present group in each, but with your arms back, I suppose. The rest unarmed to mine the dragonglass. Sounds good. Who do you have in mind to head the Northern party?” Dany asked Jon.

“Theon. He wants to prove himself, he can do that by reinforcing the Wildlings and the rest of the Night’s Watch at Eastwatch. It’s the least that he can do. I have to do the King’s Landing job myself. As you said, the Wall can hold until someone is able to find an unnatural way to breach it. I’ve been told that it has some kind of magical spells on it, something that is intended to hold back the Long Night, at least delaying it, if not stopping it entirely. I can only hope that whoever told me this was right.

“Worst case scenario, we lose Theon and the Wildlings, but I’d rather not betray them by failing to make the attempt. I owe them the effort to save them, at least. We have a common enemy in both the North and the South, and Sansa has tried to warn me about Cersei for some time now. Perhaps it’s time that I listened to her and ended that threat for good. I’ve been on Dragonstone long enough. If I’m to ask others, like Davos here, to risk their lives to stop Cersei, I have to be ready to do the same,” Jon answered Dany, shifting a bit uncomfortably due to the way that she stared at him.

“I have to go, too. That’s a lot of us going, mind you, for a very risky mission,” Tyrion concurred, hoping that this plan of his and Varys went better than the others.

“Two very risky missions, and you’re not going into King’s Landing without me. Who else can smuggle you into it past Euron Greyjoy and the Iron Fleet?” Davos insisted now.

“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it. King’s Landing is your hometown, after all. Flea Bottom and all that business. We could also use some Dothraki, but not too large of a party. We don’t want them ... raping and burning half the city. So, the initial party is me, Davos, Jon, Varys... , “ Tyrion thought aloud.

“And me. You’re not going without me,” Ser Jorah Mormont demanded for his part, “the honor of House Mormont demands that I avenge the Red Wedding. Bear Island is in the North, after all. My sister died in the Red Wedding. My niece was left an orphan due to it. My father is dead. My sister is dead. All that remains of House Mormont is my niece Lyanna and myself. I wasn’t a great admirer of Ned Stark, not after he punished me, but I was a criminal, a slaver, and I deserved some kind of punishment. I didn’t realize that until later.”

“I’m still not thrilled about Ned Stark, but he was Jon’s father, so I won’t berate him now. And you’re right about the slaver penalty. I’m just glad that you’re a better man now,” Dany admitted.

“Actually, Ned Stark didn’t approve of the plan to kill you, Your Grace. I know it. I was there. He briefly stepped down as Hand in protest. He even tried to stop the mission after it had already been ordered, which was when I had to inform him that it was too late to prevent it. At the time, you were still very young and he thought it wrong to harm a young pregnant girl that way. That was the kind of man Ned Stark was, which explains a lot about Jon Snow here,” Lord Varys explained to Dany, causing her to blush just a little in embarrassment.

“I had no idea that he resented this plan, this conspiracy to kill me. I like him better for it, I must admit that, just as I like Jon Snow better after knowing him, even if he does want half of my Kingdom for himself. Perhaps we should devise a better plan for how to resolve that and soon,” Dany wondered aloud now.

“Well, there was a reason that I advised you to keep Daario back in Meereen, Your Grace. A royal marriage is one such way. Just a possibility. North with South, keeps the Kingdoms whole, unified under a couple of rulers. Just a thought,” Tyrion suggested.

“I won’t rule that out, but perhaps we can table that proposition for after we have removed Cersei from the Red Keep. That was still good counsel, but with me barren, maybe it won’t help beyond a generation. Then again, if I’m the last Targaryen, who cares who succeeds me? Still, it was always a notion that held merit. It would need to work better than the union with my last husband back in Meereen,” Dany agreed, though wary of the marriage notion.

“If you mean a union between us, I have to consider that for the good of my people, but I understand your reluctance, Your Grace. It’s not that you aren’t beautiful, capable, intelligent, and such. It’s just that I’ve only been with one woman, a Wildling one at that, and I’m a bit ... cautious with women out of habit. I was part of a celibate order called the Night’s Watch at one point, after all, even becoming its Lord Commander once,” Jon Snow observed.

“How did that end, then? Leaving as Lord Commander is a bit conspicuous for a deserter, and then becoming King in the North, by acclamation of the bannermen no less, that’s some achievement. Most deserters get their heads chopped off, you know,” Tyrion countered.

“Yes, that is odd. Care to elaborate about that?” Dany cornered Jon for a moment.

“I think that’s neither here nor there, at the risk of speaking out of turn and with all due respect, Your Grace. If we can win this war in the South quickly, we can marshal the whole of the Seven Kingdoms against the menace from the Night King and have a much better chance of winning it. I know a boy living in Flea Bottom, perhaps working on the Street of Steel even now. A boy named Gendry. He might well be our key to taking the Red Keep,” Davos interjected now.

“Gendry? That name sounds familiar. Wasn’t there a Gendry who was a bastard son of Robert Baratheon? That Gendry? I was told that he was dead,” Varys spoke up now.

“Well, he could be dead, but he could also be very much alive, though near as I can tell, with no ambition at all beyond being a blacksmith and a damn good one at that. At last sight, he was rowing away from Dragonstone and that was all that I knew. I helped him escape his uncle Stannis and Melisandre, the Red Woman. They wanted him for his royal blood. If he’s still alive, he’s no threat to the King in the North and the Mother of Dragons, I dare say. Only a bastard with little learning,” Davos encouraged the idea of finding Gendry and using him to help with the assault.

“So, why was he in danger from the Red Woman and Stannis, then, if he posed no threat?” Tyrion had to ask, of course.

“Because she wanted his blood for blood magic. Stannis and she used leeches to cast a curse upon Robb Stark, Balon Greyjoy, and Joffrey Baratheon. Perhaps it’s a coincidence that all three died shortly afterward, but perhaps not. She was ... is a very powerful witch, as Jon himself can attest,” Davos clarified, realizing too late that he said too much.

“What does that mean?” Dany now asked Davos directly, having met Melisandre herself recently.

“Well... , “ Davos struggled to say.

“Davos, don’t... , “ Jon ordered him to be quiet.

“No, please, Jon ... I need to hear why and how you can attest to the power of Melisandre. Let’s have it out. What did she do with or you?” Dany demanded to know.

“Well, you asked earlier about me and the Night’s Watch. The truth is that my Watch ended after I was murdered, though I had one last mission when I returned. To execute my assassins,” Jon blurted out at last, making Varys in particular look pale.

“Returned? Murdered? This makes even less sense than a Night King and an army of undead snowmen. What does this mean?” Dany confronted Jon.

“I think that I understand. Melisandre uses ... dark magic at times. Blood magic, even. Something that I have feared and resented for years, as it was why I was cut. My genitals were sacrificed in a dark ritual to such powers, often colloquially known as the Lord of Light or the Red God. Just as Gendry’s blood was sacrificed to it as well and Gendry himself presumably would have been sacrificed had Ser Davos not rescued him. I’ve heard reports of Thoros of Myr and other strange folk. Priests of the Lord of Light. It seems clear to me that Jon Snow died and was resurrected by Melisandre, using the power of her god or gods,” Varys at last cleared something up that had confused Dany for some time now.

“Is this true? Did you return from the dead? You were a dead man and you were brought back to life by Melisandre?” Dany asked Jon bluntly.

“It is true. I was dead. I’m alive again. And my watch ended with my death,” Jon told her, “I made Dolorous Edd my successor, at least temporarily, not there is much of a Night’s Watch left now. Which reminds me that he, too, must be rescued from the White Walker army.”

“I ... I can’t ... I don’t believe it!” Dany declared, just before Jon removed his shirt to reveal his scar, right above his heart on his chest.

“Seven Hells, you’re full of secrets, bastard! But then so am I,” Tyrion reacted to this news with disbelief.

“It’s quite within the realm of the possible for these priests of the Red God. Tell me, though, what did you experience after death?” Varys asked Jon now, not nearly stunned by this fact as others.

“Nothing. Nothing at all. Just ... nothing,” Jon spilled the beans, unable to bring himself to lie.

“It’s true, though. See the proof? This is what I meant when I said that Jon Snow died for the people of Westeros. He did. He made the ultimate sacrifice. Then I had him brought back by Melisandre,” Davos told them, “now, can we get back to the business of planning this raid into King’s Landing? It’s a pity that Greyworm isn’t back from Casterly Rock yet, but might I suggest a diversion of sorts? The Unsullied with him could launch an attack on either the Riverlands or even the Reach, or perhaps even the Iron Islands with most of the Iron Fleet distracted and no longer blocking them.”

“Or the Stormlands. Their people have no great love for the Lannisters, not after what many suspect that Cersei did to Robert Baratheon. An overland march into the Stormlands would completely catch the Lannister forces off-guard, recapture Storm’s End with relative ease, and bring Greyworm and the Unsullied that much closer to the Crownlands and King’s Landing,” Jorah pointed out now.

“The Stormlands work well, yes. I imagine that with Walder Frey dead, as is rumored, the Tullys are probably in revolt and taking back the Riverlands, anyway. They’re my stepmother’s family. Catelyn Stark was born Catelyn Tully, after all. Your Grace’s assault upon the loot train certainly weakened the Lannister forces in the Reach, so they’ll be hard-pressed to keep a tight grip on those lands, Oldtown and Highgarden without the Tarlys to organize them.

“I can’t say that I approve of burning the Tarlys, but with them and Olenna Tyrell dead, the Reach is no longer a military factor in this war. Only its grain matter and most of that is gone for this year. It will be very hard on the peasants of the Reach, less so for the lords, ladies, and bannermen there,” Jon Snow agreed on that point.

“The Stormlands then. I’ll order my Dothraki and the Unsullied to break into the Stormlands with a fury, slicing into Cersei’s weakened hold on her stolen Kingdoms in Westeros. Overland is the best route, and the combination of Unsullied and Dothraki should be more than enough to force the surrender of any Lannister forces who stand in their way. Once they’re done taking the Stormlands, they move directly south for King’s Landing, just in case. If nothing else, that will keep the Lannister host busy guarding the external threat, not seeing the other one that faces them closer to home.