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The Crippled Wolf-Stark SI: Ch.68
🕑 Added 2025-07-09 17:23:52 +0000 UTCChapter 68 TYRION LANNISTER Few men in the realm could fathom what went on in the mind of their King, and fewer cared as long as their lives
Chapter 68 TYRION LANNISTER Few men in the realm could fathom what went on in the mind of their King, and fewer cared as long as their lives
Chapter 68 TYRION LANNISTER Few men in the realm could fathom what went on in the mind of their King, and fewer cared as long as their lives
Chapter 68
TYRION LANNISTER
Few men in the realm could fathom what went on in the mind of their King, and fewer cared as long as their lives continued to improve as they had been for half a decade now because of the guiding hand of their young but prodigious King.
But Tyrion considered the ‘why’ to be just as important as ‘what’ and ‘how,’ and he was not the only one. And the past five years of Cregan’s rule had been the most transformative five years in the history of the Seven Kingdoms, which had become six actually, after the Greyjoy massacre.
The Iron Islands, once a Kingdom of their own, were now a land owned by the Crown, which held the power to appoint a governor over the said lands —a non-inheritable title that put these islands directly under the Crown’s control.
Currently, Lord Harlaw serves as the governor. The man was an Iron Islander but was one with a saner mind and believed more in trading rather than raiding and pillaging the fellow kingdoms to feed his people. The King had outlawed these practices in and of themselves, and any man or woman found guilty of them was given a swift death.
The Iron Islanders, people who had prided themselves in their chant of ‘we do not sow,’ now found themselves toiling day and night just to remain alive as the King brought down the hammer on them.
Another Kingdom, which found itself under much scrutiny, was Dorne. The desert Kingdom’s treachery was known to few, and though the King had kept it a secret, it did not mean that he had forgiven them for it.
Hostages were taken, promises made, and so for five years Dorne remained quiet as the King expanded his influence and solidified his hold over the continent.
Tyrion had watched him work meticulously over the years, as the Crippled Wolf finally bore his fangs as he realised that despite being one of the few people in the realm who knew about the crippled boy’s intellect, he had only ever scratched the surface of what lay hidden in the mind of Cregan Stark.
“Five years,” the Red Viper of Dorne whispered as he sat opposite to him, and with the King busy hunting with his wife and sister, it fell to Tyrion to handle the disgruntled and cumbersome Prince of Dorne, whose plans the King had foiled five years ago.
Both Robert and Aerys would have begun a war as soon as they had heard of Dorne’s treachery, and embroiled the Kingdoms in another devastating war. Still, Cregan had shown himself different by taking a different route, as he chose to accept the desert kingdoms' anguish over the fate of their sister and offered them a chance at justice.
“The King has held my daughters and my niece for five years,” the man whispered, his pain obvious, for with the infamous Sand Snakes and the Dornish Princess in their hands, the entire Kingdom of Dorne had no choice but to fall in line lest they incur his wrath.
“And he did so for good reason,” Tyrion answered, and his office of five years held a dozen tomes and even more stacks of missives and letters from lords and ladies all over the realm, as they sought the King’s justice.
“You collaborated with a traitor and betrayed your own King,” Tyrion answered as he lay back in his seat and watched the Rep Viper snarl opposite to him, and it felt good to have power over the fates of men.
For many years, Tyrion had felt himself a tool in the grand schemes of his father and family, but the truth five years ago had liberated him from his duties to the Lannister legacy as he sought to build a name and legacy for himself and his kin.
A legacy perhaps not as grand or long-lasting as the Lannister name, but one he could be proud of.
After learning the truth about Jamie, he had accepted Cregan’s offer and had become his Master of Laws. He had no delusions about the nature of their relationship, or the cruelty of Cregan’s actions, but in the end, Tyrion had chosen to side with the person who had considered him worthy of the truth, and now, after serving him for five years he could say with certainity that he had made the right choice.
“We did not betray this King,” Oberyn Martell answered, but this was a weak defence.
“You betrayed this King’s predecessor,” he answered as the man ground his teeth, knowing well that he held little power here.
“But the King is generous,” Tyrion answered, as Oberyn Martell scoffed, for Cregan may not be fond of killing and murder, but he was not so generous. The Tyrells could attest to that much.
“And he believes that Dorne and its loyalty deserve a reward,” for there were reports that the Golden Company had finally managed to procure nearly a hundred ships, which meant that the Seven Kingdoms could be on the precipice of war soon.
The King had fortified all the ports and bays, making landing such an army on these shores an impossibility, but the shores of Dorne remained open. Though a dozen ships of the Royal Navy regularly circled Planky Town and its port, Cregan believed in making allies rather than enemies.
“Reward?” Oberyn Martell asked, and Tyrion nodded, and it was a reward they had sought for decades, and one that Cregan had secured years ago as he negotiated for Jamie’s life with his father.
“We are not dogs,” the Martell Prince raged, and Tyrion had a quip at his tongue, though he stopped himself not to antagonise the Prince anymore than he already had.
‘Dogs are more loyal,’ he wanted to say, but the words that came out of his mouth were different for he did not wish to start a war.
“But it is a dog you seek to hunt,” he countered sharply, as he voiced out the Red Viper’s desire.
“A dog and a manticore,” he quipped, and finally, he had the man’s attention as Oberyn Martell found himself offered the prize he had always sought.
“Does your King offer me that?” he asked his voice cold, and he could see those black orbs of his burn with desire, and in them, Tyrion saw a reflection of himself, as he nodded.
“Yes,” and that was both generous and calculating of Cregan, a gamble which Tyrion though too risky but in the end, he was but a counsellor.
“As long as you agree to do something for the King and the realm in return,” and this was the grand ask, and the Martell Prince was quick to answer.
“What does he desire?” and Cregan was one of the more well-informed Kings that had ever sat the Iron Throne. The boy King could know of the most minute and obscure plots and plans being hatched all over the lands.
Much of this information came from his disgraced Maester, Qyburn, the Master of Whisperers. But Tyrion had a suspicion that he was not the only one bringing information to the King.
“The King wants to send you as an envoy to Essos,” and the Martell Prince’s eyes widened at those words, for he clearly had not expected that.
“You wish to send me into the enemy’s arms,” he asked, and Tyrion raised a brow.
“Are you afraid?” and the Red Viper raged at the insult.
“No! Never!” the man was quick to shake his head.
“The only thing that I fear is to die before avenging Elia’s death,” and a flicker of envy stirred within him, as he saw the love the man held for his sister, as he remembered the betrayal of his own siblings.
And he wondered which was worse, the unambiguous open hatred of Cersei or the hidden biases and lies of Jamie.
“Well, you need not fear for that,” Tyrion assured him, for the King held little love for Tywin’s two mad dogs, and had long wanted to put them down, for they had done to a Princess, even if it was a war.
“You could carry their skulls with you on the ship if you so desire,” and he could see the man’s hunger, as he realised that the revenge he had always sought was in his hands.
“He offers me a reward even before I complete his task,” and Tyrion shrugged as he took a sip of his watered-down Arbor.
“As I said, the King is a generous man,” and the Red Viper took a few seconds as he sipped his own wine, before he asked a question of his own.
“But what does the King need from Essos?” and he had asked that as well, and the answer was simple enough for it was what Cregan sought for all of the realm even as he prepared for the contrary.
“Peace,” he answered, using the exact same words Cregan had repeated, and the Red Viper’s reaction mimicked his own.
“Peace,” he wondered.
“With the pretenders?” and Tyrion shook his head, for even Cregan was not generous.
“The Pretender is no longer alone. The Spider has brought him together with the Princess and plans to wed them to give legitimacy to the Blackfyre bastard,” and the life of the Targaryen Princess was such a tragedy that even as an enemy, he felt pity for her.
And he was not the only one as those black eyes stirred at the mention of the girl.
“You speak of Daenerys, the Mad King’s daughter,” and Tyrion nodded.
“Yes. The girl has been used and abused by Spider and his thugs for years. They have poisoned her mind and now want to use her body just to give legitimacy to their bastard boy,” and he could see the Red Viper’s mind whirling as he tried to predict the King’s move.
“And what am I to do in this regard? Am I to kill her?” and that was the more straightforward solution, but Cregan did not wish to walk down such a path, at least not so quickly.
“No,” even though that was the easier thing to do.
“You are to save her,” and with that, he picked up a missive, one written by Cregan himself and carrying his own seal, and offered it to the Dornish Prince.
“You are the only one who can confirm the truth about the Blackfyre boy,” and there was one other person besides the boy, yet his eyes were blind to the truth.
“The former Lord of Griffin Roost sees only the shadow of his long-lost love in that boy,” and many had thought him dead, but according to the King, Jon Connnington lived still and accompanied this pretender whom he believed to be of Rhaegar’s ilk.
A lie spun by the Spider to secure the loyalty of a rather influential knight who had been a constant companion of the late Prince Rhaegar, though if rumors were to be believe, they were much more than that, or at least the Lord of Griffin Roost hoped to be much more than that.
“He is blind to the lie of the Spider just because he wishes to cling to the hope that a vestige of his lost love may still linger in this world,” and it was the Martells who had confirmed Connington’s survival.
“That missive is the King’s offer for the Princess. Enemies they may be, the King is not blind to her plights and things her to be a victim of Blackfyre plots and so he offers to honor the pact made between her House and the House of Stark years ago,” and it was a big gamble, one which could reshape the Seven Kingdoms for centuries.
“The Pact of Ice and Fire,” and he was a well learned man. It was a pact drawn during the Dance of the Dragon where a Princess was to wed the Lord of Winterfell, yet in the two hundred years since then, it had never been completed.
“He offers her a chance to wed his own brother Robb Stark and become the Lady of the North and live her life in honor,” but since the Princess had already been widowed once, it was not the only choice he offered.
“If not, he offers her Summer Hall,” and the castle had been rebuilt, and had always been a place of respite for the Targaryen family.
And the Dornish Prince was surprised by the offer as he read the missive for himself, and silence hung in the air before the man put down the missive and began to rub his chin.
“This is incredibly generous for a King who has been preparing for war for half a decade,” and that was where he was wrong. Where all of them were wrong, for Cregan had not been preparing for a war in the last five years, no.
No.
He had been preparing for one ever since he was a child.
“How will I approach the Princess?” Oberyn asked, and Tyrion smiled.
“One of the King’s men will assist you in that, but do understand this, Prince Oberyn,” and it was his duty to warn the man, so that he may not underestimate the King.
“The King has been overtly generous to you and your kin because he shares your sorrow about the fate of your late sister,” and that was Cregan’s good nature.
“But make no mistake, if you or your kingdom betray him once more, he will learn of it and then you all shall see his wrath, and while the Targaryen offered Fire and Blood, remember that our King is of the North and the cold can kill as easily as any fire in this world....”
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Comments
Jordan Belmont
I hate the Targaryens as a family but I do hope for Danny to have some happiness in her life.
Tank45
Caught up on the past few chapters, first off, there’s no way he actually expects a match between Robb and Dany right? I’m assuming this has to be a ploy and he wouldn’t want to sentence Robb to a life with Dany. Second, how the heck is Robb not married yet? He’s legit the most eligible bachelor in Westeros right now. Finally the time skip, I’m glad ya went with the five year time skip but while it’s been short, we haven’t really seen any flashbacks. We’ve been told he has a strong friendship with Willas, that the match between Willas and Sansa is looking like it will be good for both of them, that Sansa has learned the game presumably from Cregan, and that Cregan and Myrcella have a kid yet. The other thing is apparently Myrcella and Sansa went hunting with Cregan? Feels like you could add some character pov chapters of the time skip to elaborate on how things have changed. Would be nice to see how characters like Myrcella, Tyrion, Robb, Benjen, Sansa, and Willas have grown in the five years as it gives much needed clarity on how the time skip developed. Almost feels like the post time-skip should be a book 2 while book 1 has an extended epilogue exploring the skip so we can actually connect and care for these characters.
