The Kingswood

[Deleted]

Aranya and Selwyn made a wide circle around Ronald Tyrell's party, so as not to be seen. A trail seemed to lead on from Ser Ronald's party, many hundreds of hoofprints. They seemed fresher than most others, although snow was falling and they were beginning to be slowly covered. Aranya and Selwyn spurred their horses after the trail of this army.

[Teirney Lannister]

Aerie sat excitedly in her saddle, tossing impatient glances behind her to the rumbling wagon every few minutes. It felt good to be back on a horse again. There had been a fallen log by the road near Wendwater a few miles ago, and she had insisted on jumping over it several times to get it out of her system, much to the exasperation of everyone else. They just don’t know how to have fun. There will be plenty of time to be morbid later, so why not enjoy right now? Despite what she kept telling herself, she knew the true reason for her unnecessary cordiality: She was trying to avoid thinking about what she would actually do when they found Callen Baratheon and who she would pledge herself to. She would not tie herself to the man her house had risen against so many years ago, it would be folly as well as betrayal. Callen would no doubt raise House Tully—or what remained of it—to paramount of the Riverlands and bury Raventree in poverty, or else strip the Blackwoods of their lands and titles like Aegon had done to House Tully so long ago. But if I am not going to support Callen, why am I riding to him? He will take me hostage if I do not bend knee, and may even be able to use me against Warren and Father. What am I doing here? Am I really so stupid?

Discomfited, she trotted Anarchy over to a silently brooding Ser Vikter and fell into conversation with him.

[Lord Rhodri Arryn]

OOC: Watch it, he'll chop off your hand.

[Teirney Lannister]

ooc: Even a girl's? Now that is just bad manners

[Teirney Lannister]

As they rode, a fetid odor rose thickly in the air, congealing around the riders in an inexorable curtain. Aerie choked on the sooty stench and began to cough, pressing her face into Anarchy’s black mane to escape the squalor. “What is that?” she managed, a hand held up to her face as she turned to address her companions. “It smells like…” She drifted off in horror.

“Burning flesh,” Ser Vikter finished for her grimly. “We are nearing King’s Landing.”

Aerie felt like the bottom of her stomach had dropped into a cavernous pit of roiling acid. “But Warren and Father are in there,” she cried, her voice on the brink of hysteria, “and all our Riverland men. They are dying in there! I never thought it would get this bad…Aedon is worse than mad; he must be burning everything. If he and Father loose, Dondarrion will not spare either.” The thought of world lacking Warren would have brought her to her knees it she had not been astride a horse.

I must be brave. This is war, I cannot cry at every atrocity and casualty. I must be strong. I will not let them see me cowed. She straightened her back and griped her sword with all the power her hand could muster in this moment of weakness. If anybody dares touch my family, they will pay the price. The thought surprised even her, considering how often she had told herself her family’s fate was of no consequence to her. I was a fool, a fool who could not be more wrong.

[Teirney Lannister]

The burning wreckage of King’s Landing loomed before them, and Aerie could almost feel every man and woman’s breath catching in their throat as they looked upon the carnage with awe. Everything seemed to be dissolved into chaos. Aerie urged her courser into a gallop to tear away from the sight before she became resolved to march in and see to the fate of her kin. Deadeadeadeadeadead. The word paraded within her skull with animal ferocity, refusing to let her find some solace among more pleasant thoughts, such as being eaten alive by dragons and being skinned slowly by Callen. When she felt she had put enough distance between herself and the burning place, she sunk he weight into her seat bones and gently reined Anarchy to a walk, letting the horse snort to catch his breath.

She looked back and could see the rest of her party making their way towards her at a more reasonable pace, so she hopped off of her mount’s back and began to dig something out of her saddlebag. They were almost on the Roseroad, and Callen could be just around the bend. Perhaps I will not join him. It is King’s Landing, not his pompous, royal ass that concerns me now. She drew out a splendid cloak and unfurled it, admiring its length as she shook out its creases. It was pitch black on the up side and scarlet on the opposite, but the truly lovely thing was what adorned its center. From the dark cloth rose a brilliant bird of fire, plumes of flame reaching from its head and tongues of fire fanning out from its tail across the bottom of the fabric. A bird wreathed in flame splashed across the colors of her house. It meant many things, but mostly that she was a Blackwood with her own ideas who believed a Targaryen was the rightful heir to the throne.

She fastened the cloak with a pin also wrought into a bird of fire. Aerie admired herself for a moment, appreciating the effect. Her dress was scarlet, with ravens fluttering along the hem and the skirts slashed with inserts of black. I am a Blackwood. Fuck Callen Baratheon.

[Teirney Lannister]

They see Callen's force enter KL, and follow. Mostly because I'm too lazy to have them meet up right now.

[Deleted]

OOC: Here you go, Aerie my dear.

[Teirney Lannister]

ooc: Thanks Aranya