Reyne's Retribution - Game of Thrones Chapter One

STORY TITLE: Reyne's Retribution

PART: 01 of ?? Prologue – The End of the Rebellion

AUTHOR: Red Jacobson (red.jacobson@gmail.com)

DISTRIBUTION:  My Yahoo Group, FF.Net, Questionable Questing, Hentai-Foundry, Archive of Our Own

DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, they all belong to George R.R. Martin and HBO 

SUMMARY:  The Lannisters believed they had destroyed the last of the Reyne family during their rebellion.  They were wrong, and in the aftermath of Prince Rheagar's defeat of Robert Baratheon at the Trident, the last Reyne makes his plans to return.

FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster

CATEGORY:  Harem

RELATIONSHIPS:  Rheagar/Lyanna, Rheagar/Elia Martel, OC/Multiple Women

RATING: NC-17

WORD COUNT: <5,018>

SPOILERS:    None, goes AU prior to Season One of Game of Thrones

WARNINGS: If You've ever read any of my stories, you know what to expect, Oral, anal, Femme-slash, dom/sub, multiple partners, and Femme-cest.  

AUTHORS NOTES:  Since I haven't been able to find the distances between the Trident and the Tower of Joy, or other locations, consider the whole thing a Meereenese Knot and don't worry too much about it.  

Above The Trident River

Rheagar was sick, and angry at himself for his foolishness.  If he'd only been able to restrain himself from approaching her, none of this would be necessary, and many good men would be alive that had died.   But what is done, is done, and regrets would get him killed.  All he could do was attempt to salvage this situation so they could heal the Seven Kingdoms and he could return to Lyanna and their baby.

He stood under his pavilion on the banks above the Trident River, under a flag of parlay as he waited for Robert, Lord Baratheon, Commander of the rebel forces to arrive with his second, Lord Eddard Stark.   He really needed this to go well, because he would need their arms behind him to remove his father from the throne.  The man's madness had gone too far to be allowed.

His own second, Ser Barristan Selmy stood beside him, his face impassive as they waited.  Rheagar could feel the man's disapproval, but he had to at least make an attempt to resolve this bloody war peacefully.

At last the two men reached them, and Rheagar walked forward calmly, his blade sheathed and his hands open.

“Lord Robert, Lord Eddard, thank you for agreeing to speak with me.  This rebellion should never have happened, and I bear a great deal of the blame, but you know that Lyanna went with me willingly, we sent ravens to the north explaining what happened to Lord Arryn as well as Lord Rickard and your brother Brandon.  Did they think Lyanna lied to them?”

Eddard frowned in confusion, but before the man could speak, Robert's face flushed with fury and he spat on the ground between them.   “You lie, you Targaryen bastard!  There were no ravens, because you kidnapped and raped my betrothed!  Why would she go with you, she knew she was to be mine!”

Rheagar looked at the man calmly, although his blood was screaming to take his blade to the man for the insult direct he had been given.  But no, he was trying to avoid a battle.  “Why?  Because we fell in love, we fell in love, damn our foolishness, and it's brought us to this point.   I am willing to prove what I say is true, I have letters from Lyanna to each of you if you would like to see them.”

He could see that Lord Stark was listening, but unfortunately Robert had given into his temper and was on the verge of attacking.    Rheagar knew it was useless, but he made one more attempt.

“I understand your anger at the loss of your betrothed, Lord Robert, but Lyanna and I are married, the letter explains that, again, would you like to read it?”

“I don't need to read whatever honeyed words you had somebody write!  There is no way that my Lyanna would ever betray me like this!”  Turning away, he said to Eddard, “Come on Ned, this foolishness is over!”

Rheagar could see that Eddard was torn, but the man followed his commander back toward his own lines.

Turning to his second, he sighed, “I was hoping that he would be willing to listen.  Ready the men, this ends tonight!”

RR & RR & RR

Twilight

They had been fighting for longer than he could remember, all the sounds and smells of battle had faded away, all he could focus on was that giant war hammer that Robert wielded.  Although he could see that the man was tiring, his blocks were getting slower, and.. there! His foot slipped in the mud, and Rheagar lunged forward, his blade catching the shaft of the hammer and sending it flying over the water!

Robert stumbled, trying to regain his balance, but it was too late, and he landed on his back in the mud and the muck.  Standing over him, Rheagar's blade at his throat.  “Yield Robert, Yield and I will spare you and your men.”

The fury was still in the man's eyes, and his voice was nearly a growl, “Never!”

With a sigh, his blade opened the man's throat, and Rheagar stood watching as the light left the man's eyes.  Looking up, he saw Lord Stark staring at him, his bloodied blade in his hand.  “Lord Stark, Ned, will you give me your parole?  There is no more need to fight, I will take you to Lyanna and you can see that I spoke the truth.”

“Will you spare our men?  They followed our lead as honor demanded, I don't want them slaughtered like brigands and thieves.” 

“I give my word.” Rheagar raised his voice, “Men of the rebellion, lay down your arms, your commander has fallen.  You will be spared if you lay down your arms!”

Eddard gave the order to his commanders, and there was some grumbling, but all of them obeyed, and Rheagar's men moved among them, taking their weapons and seeing to their wounds.

Once they were taken care of, he turned to Eddard and said, “Come with me, we have a long ride ahead of us to see your sister.”

The two of them mounted, and Rheagar pointed his mount toward the Red Mountains.

As they rode through the night Rheagar told Eddard what had transpired between he and Lyanna, and also his regret for what his father Aerys had done to Rickard and Brandon.   The other man kept his silence for the most part, seemingly lost in his own thoughts, although he did tell Rheagar to call him Ned, which was a positive sign.

The Tower of Joy

Red Mountains

Dorne

Three Days Later

The sun was high in the sky when they arrived at the Tower, and Rheagar was pleased to see that the members of the Kingsguard that he had left to guard his wife were still there.  Dismounting, he approached Ser Gerold, the Lord Commander, who knelt before him.  Bidding the man rise, he said, “How is my lady wife? Has our child arrived?”

The older man smiled slightly, “She is much improved since the raven arrived telling of your victory, Your Grace.  And your child seemed to want to wait until you were there, he or she is expected today.”

Ser Gerold looked at Ned curiously, obviously recognizing him, but Rheagar didn't have time to explain, saying “Come on, Ned, let's go see your sister!”

Ned grinned, he had relaxed a great deal during the ride, and the two of them entered the tower and hurried up the stairs.  The two of them had just reached the door to Lyanna's room when they heard a loud cry, and then a baby crying.  

Pushing open the door, the two of them froze at the scene, as the sister finished cleaning the baby, a boy, and handed him to Lyanna.  His wife looked up at the two of them with a tired grin, and, as she held her baby, said, “Hello husband, nice of you to show up, finally, after the hard work is done.  And you brought a guest?  Hello Ned, good to see you, but why didn't you answer our ravens?”

Rheagar shook his head in amusement, that was typical of his wife, but it did raise a worrying question, since Ned told him that he never received any ravens from them.

“It seems that no ravens were received, Lyanna, and that is something that we will be finding an answer for when we return to Kings Landing.  But that can wait, I would hold our son.”

“His name is Aemon, husband, as we agreed.” Lyanna said, as he took his son into his arms.  He smiled down at the boy, but his eyes were still closed.  Turning to Ned, he handed the man his nephew, and the big man held the baby surprisingly gently.

They were interrupted by the nurse who needed to finish her work, and the two men were gently, but firmly escorted from the room.

When the two of them reached the bottom of the steps, Ned turned to him and removed his sword and scabbard, holding them in his hands as he lowered himself to one knee and placed the sword at Rheagar's feet.

Rheagar nodded, glad that his decision to bring Ned to see his sister had been the correct one.  He said, “Take up your blade and rise, Lord Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell, and Warden of the North!”

When Ned was standing again, Rheagar led the man over to a table that had been filled with food and drink, and gestured for the man to join him.

After they had eaten, he said, “I'm glad you chose to bend the knee, Ned, because I will need your assistance, and that of your Banner-men.  My father's madness has gone too far, your father and brother are not the only ones he burned.   Even worse, word has reached me that he has secreted barrels of wildfire all through Kings Landing, planning to turn the city into his funeral pyre so he can be reborn as a dragon!  It's madness beyond anything I've ever heard, and he needs to be removed from the throne as quickly as possible.”

Ned stared in shock, whispering “by the Seven! Wildfire?”  When Rheagar nodded, he said, “I will follow you, of course, and my men.  But they will not bend the knee to a King Slayer, even if he's mad.”

Rheagar shook his head, “I'm planning to exile him to Dragonstone, and have members of the Kingsguard who are loyal to me guarding him to keep him safe.  I won't kill him if I can avoid it.”

He yawned then, and said, “I think we need to get some rest, we've got some more hard riding ahead of us to get back to your men.”

When he got to the room set aside for him, Rheagar was pleased to find a bath had already been prepared and after stripping out of his armor he relaxed, washing the dirt and strain of the last several days away.   When he was feeling clean again, he dried off and made his way to the bed, falling asleep almost instantly.    He enjoyed the dreams of he, Lyanna and Elia watching their family grow, as both of his wives had swollen bellies, although the cries of the dragons in flight was a bit distracting...

When he woke, there was a raven sitting on the window sill, a letter tied to it's leg.  He frowned, there was a white dot above one of the bird's eyes, and he muttered, “What does the spider have now?”

Taking the letter, he scanned it quickly, his anger growing as he read of Tywin Lannister's planned treachery!  The 'Lord' of Casterly Rock would pay for this!  But that could wait until he had the throne, if his father discovered what Tywin was plotting, the man would be burned, and Rheagar didn't want the man dead, just broken.

Dressing in clean clothing from his pack, he went back down and found that Ned was also looking clean and rested, chewing on a hunk of dark bread that was on the table.    He was writing a letter of some sort, but since the man didn't appear nervous at his appearance, Rheagar didn't worry that the man was about anything underhanded.

Sitting down, he grabbed some bread and a mug of ale to break his fast, waiting quietly for Ned to finish writing.

When Ned finished, he looked up with a slight grin, “Just letting Catelyn know that I'm still alive, and that it will be some time before I can return to the North.”  He sighed, “She won't be happy, but she understands. I just wish that things had worked out differently, she is expecting our first child at any time.”

Rheagar nodded in understanding, “Hopefully I can get through to my father and make him see what he's become.  Then you can be back in your lady's arms before too much longer.”

Ned finished swallowing a piece of the bread and, after washing it down with ale, he said, “Not to raise a rude question, Your Grace, but you said that Lyanna was your wife, what about Elia?”

Rheagar chuckled, he knew that the question would arise, “She's still my wife, Ned, and Aegon is my heir.  I know it's not exactly common in the North, but my family has a history of second wives, even if they weren't called that publicly. Elia understood that from the very beginning, and encouraged me, although she is currently rather unhappy.   She had made it clear that she was to be consulted before I made my approach to the woman I was attracted to.”  He snorted, “Unfortunately, when I saw your sister at the tourney, all my sense left me.   It's going to take all my diplomatic skills to get the two of them to get along when I bring Lyanna and Aemon back to Kings Landing.”

Ned shook his head with a slight smile, “I don't envy you, Your Grace, Catelyn may be an understanding woman about any of my 'indiscretions' but she would not be happy if I brought another child into things.”

“Well, what's done is done.   I'm going up to see Lyanna, will you go see to our mounts?  You can say goodbye to your sister when you finish.”

Ned nodded, and Rheagar walked back upstairs, a good bit more decorously this time, and knocked gently on the door to his wife's room.

King's Landing

Outside the Walls

A Week Later

Rheagar looked around the table at his impromptu small council, Ned was seated at his right side, with Ser Jon Arryn representing the former rebellious houses.  He smothered a snort, they were all technically rebellious houses, even though nobody knew it yet, they would soon.     

Ser Barristan Selmy sat to his left, and various other commanders were seated around the table.  Rheagar spoke quietly, but his voice carried, “We know what needs to be done, keep the deaths of the townspeople to a minimum, we are not here to sack the city.   The less disruption there is, the easier the people and the other Houses will find it to accept the change.”

After giving each of his commanders a chance to ask questions, there were none, he rose and walked to his mount.  Looking over the armies, he nodded, the only banners visible were of the Royalist Houses, which would make getting through the gates much easier. The former rebel army was mingled with the loyalist troops, to avoid suspicions at the gates and in the city proper.   He had sent a portion of his forces to delay House Lannister if Tywin decided that he would go ahead with his plans.  

Giving the signal, his banner-men started to march behind him along the Kings Road toward the city.   He had received word from the King's Hand, Lord Jon, and the King was aware of their approach.  Fortunately his father seemed to be in a more rational state of mind recently, because he did not wish to have to put him to the blade, but he would if necessary.   The Seven Kingdom's needed and deserved a rational King.  Sadly, his brother Viserys was already showing signs of the madness, and would not be a suitable King, or Rheagar would be willing to abdicate in his favor if it became necessary to kill his father.

Approaching the gates of the city, he spurred his mount and, when he was in sight of the guard tower, he called for the gate to be opened.  There was a cheer on the walls when they recognized him, and the gates soon swung open, allow him and his army to enter.  

Inside King's Landing

Leaving his commanders to keep control of their army, he rode through the city, Ned and Ser Barristan at his flanks, until he reached the Red Keep.    Dismounting, the three men entered the Keep, the guards bowing respectfully as he passed.  He acknowledged them with a brief nod, but his thoughts were on what he would find when he reached the Throne Room.

Removing his helm, he opened the door, only to stop in surprise, the room was empty, save for his father and Lord Jon, the King's Hand!  Where was everyone else, the Kingsguard, or the rest of the King's council that normally would be in attendance?    

Walking forward, his feeling of concern grew, because his father looked different, far from the powerful man he had last seen when he left to raise the army.  The man looked smaller, hunched down on the Iron Throne, and when he looked up, Rheagar could see the signs of anguish in his eyes.

Stopping several paces from the throne, he and the others took a knee, and Rheagar waited for the King to acknowledge him.  It wasn't long coming, but what was said shocked him.  The King pushed himself up out of the throne and approached him, saying, “Rise, Your Grace, and take your throne.” The old man's hands were trembling as he reached up and removed the crown from his head, and placed it on Rheagar's.

“Father?” Rheagar knew his voice was trembling, but he couldn't help it, this was completely unexpected.

Aerys put his hand out, and Rheagar took it, rising to his feet, and followed his father to the council table, where they sat, joined by the Hand and, at the King's signal, by Ned and Ser Barristan.  When they were seated, the King started speaking, his voice calm, but there was a river of pain running through it.

“Several days ago, after we received word of your victory at the Trident, a strange woman appeared before me, a woman dressed all in red, who did not give her name, she just claimed that she was a priest of the Lord of Light.  Naturally I demanded to know what she was doing here, but she refused to answer, all she did was reach out and, before any of the guards could stop her, she touched my forehead before disappearing in a flash of fire!” 

The King seemed to ignore the reactions of he and the others, as tears welled in the man's eyes and he continued, “It was as if her touch washed away the madness that had consumed me, and I saw the evil that I'd done while lost in the fog.  I knew then that I could no longer be King, and have just been waiting for your return to give you your crown.   I can feel the madness still, at the edges of my mind, and know that it will return, but I don't know when.”

The King's strength seemed to return as he spoke, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and he said, “I will be departing for Dragonstone, and taking Viserys with me, because the red priest touched him as well, pushing back the madness.   Take care of the Kingdoms my son, I will not be returning.”

With that, Aerys stood and walked away from the table, leaving Rheagar and the others speechless.  Once the door closed behind him, the King's Hand spoke, “The word has already gone out into the city that the King was stepping down, there will be no controversy about you taking the throne, Your Grace.”

Rheagar nodded, thinking furiously.  “Very well, we will hold the formal coronation ceremony in thirty days time, that will give time for the word to go out to the Houses throughout the kingdoms.   Ser Jon, I would ask you to remain as the King's Hand, I'm well aware that it was your influence that kept things under my father from being even worse.”

Turning to Barristan, he smiled, “You have been guarding my back since I first picked up a wooden sword, will you take command of the Kingsguard?  I will be offering Ser Gerald the role of Master of Battle, in recognition of his years of loyal service.”

The older man seemed stunned, but managed to say, “Of course, Your Grace, it would be my honor!”

“Good,” turning to Ned, he said, “I know you are anxious to return to your Catelyn and the North, so I will confirm your posts as Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North.  I am going to ask that you remain here until after the coronation, so your wife will have to be patient a bit longer.”  He gave the other man a grin, which was returned at the final comment.

Standing, he turned to Ser Jon, “After breakfast tomorrow I will want to see the Master of Coin, and then the Whisperer.  I will call for a small council meeting within the next few days.  But now, I'm going to see my wife and children, it's been far too long.    I'll see you at dinner.”

The other three men rose and bowed, and Rheagar left the throne room, his heart much lighter than he expected it to be.   He would still need to find out just how much the kingdom owed to Tywin Lannister, and what it would take to settle those debts.   He would be damned if he would allow that snake in a lion's skin to have any hold over the throne!

RR & RR & RR

The Free City of Braavos

Six Months Later

The man known as Ragnor smiled as his wife came hurrying through the market, a look of naked excitement on her face.   When she arrived at their stall, he embraced her and said, “What's gotten you so worked up, Jessa?”

She smiled, a look of savage satisfaction, “There is news from King's Landing that I knew you would want to hear.   After the rebellion was crushed and Rheagar became King, he broke that motherless scum Lannister!   He was stripped of all his titles for plotting treason and was given a choice, poison, or permanent exile!   The coward took exile, he could murder hundreds, but couldn't face his own death like a man.”  

Ragnor's smile was as feral as his wife's, the two of them had more reason than most to hate Tywin Lannister, he had destroyed their entire families during their gods be damned rebellion.  It was only thanks to their fathers wisdom that the two of them, as well as some trusted retainers, had escaped from Castamere and Tarbeck Hall before their destruction.   They took with them records of all the debts that the Great and Lesser Houses owed to House Reyne, and one day soon those debts would be called in.

Looking over at their son Randal, who was practicing his sword work, learning to handle the blade before beginning the Water Dance, Ragnor smiled.  Their son would have their vengeance, and House Reyne and House Tarbeck would take their proper place among the Great Houses once again.

It would take several years until Randal was ready to take up his duties, he was still only six years old, after all.   

RR & RR & RR

King's Landing

296 AC

The Tournament Grounds were packed with people from all over the Seven Kingdoms, coming to the Tournament to Celebrate the Fifteenth Anniversary of King Rheagar taking the throne, as well as the end of Robert's Rebellion.   The anniversary of the end of the rebellion wasn't mentioned as an official reason, of course, but Rheagar and his wives still celebrated it privately.   He didn't consider the death of Robert Baratheon a reason to celebrate, but the fact that it allowed him to bring his Lyanna and Aemon to live openly with he and Elia and their children was something he was pleased to commemorate.  

It was Aemon that was on his mind at the moment, as he waited for the arrival of his Warden of the North.   His second son had spent the last year living with Ned and Catelyn in Winterfell, and from what the boy had written in his (rare) letters, he was loving the North!   Of course, from what Ned had written, a large part of that could be laid at the feet of young Arya, Ned's youngest daughter.   It wasn't clear if it was just friendship or something more, but it was worth watching.   

It didn't bother Rheagar in the least that the two were cousins, and the two seemed to have more in common than Aemon had with Daenerys, and his younger sister was far too closely related to Aemon to be allowed to continue her attempts at flirtation.   The Princess had been annoyed when Aemon had been sent to spend time in the North, but hopefully the separation would have cooled her interest.   If nothing else, several of the families were bringing their younger sons with them to the tournament, possibly one of them would take her interest?

At last!  The banner of the Starks was approaching down the King's Road, the Dire Wolf clearly visible even at this distance, and he felt Lyanna sit up straighter beside him.  Even Elia was doing her best to hide her excitement at Aemon's return, although she had taken to the boy from the moment that he and his mother had arrived in King's Landing.   And she had, praise the Seven, also taken to Lyanna as well, in fact, she and Lyanna had taken to each other so well that there were times he'd find the two of them in bed and enjoying themselves even before he arrived!   Ah well, it kept things peaceful, and he certainly wasn't going to complain.

Rheagar raised as eyebrow as the Starks got closer, because there were several dire wolves loping alongside their horses.   His eye was caught by the snow white wolf near the front of the group, and he realized that the tall young man riding beside the wolf was his son!  Aemon had changed a great deal over the last year, looking far more muscular than the slender youth who had ridden off after his last name day.  The young woman riding next to him, laughing, must be Arya, and even at a distance it was clear the affection between the two of them.

Turning his head slightly toward Lyanna, he saw that she noticed the same thing, and he grinned, “It seems that another Targaryen has discovered the charms of a Stark woman.  I wonder if I should warn him what he's getting into?”

His Lady Consort gave him a glare, before snorting, “Try it, and I'd expect that Arya would use that blade to cut your balls off, My King!  My brother has said that Arya is the equal of her brothers' with her sword, unlike Sansa, who seems to take after the Tully side of the family.”

He laughed, nodding, “He wrote me the same thing, and I quite like my balls where they are, so I'll let our son discover the joys and terrors of the Stark women on his own.” Growing serious, he tapped on Elia's arm to bring her into the conversation, and when he had both women's attention, he said, “I'm going to speak to Ned about an arrangement between Aemon and Arya, and I'd like the two of you to get to know the girl.  It's possible she may be interested in seeing the South, and she would probably appreciate a guide in the way things are done here.”   

Looking at his eldest daughter, who seemed to be focused on the young man riding beside Ned, his eldest son, Robb he would assume, and hid a grimace.  Rhaenys was already planning her latest conquest it seems.  She was already demonstrating the hedonist leanings that so many of the family was prey to, and even her arrangement with Jamie Lannister hadn't curtailed them.  

It was unfortunate that he'd had to dismiss the man from the Kingsguard after Tywin's exile, because Ser Jamie hadn't had any knowledge of his father's plotting, but he just couldn't take the risk.   At least the youngest son, the dwarf Tyrion was managing Casterly Rock quite well, and seemed to delight in proving wrong the skeptics who saw only his misshapen form, and not the keen mind and insight that were hidden by the form.

Of course, his sister would have argued that point if she hadn't been sent to the Silent Sisters.  She was deep in Tywin's confidence and would have continued to plot if she joined him in exile.  He'd actually been tempted to send her to work at one of Littlefinger's houses, since she had no problem using her body to get whatever she wanted, but Cersei would be far too dangerous if left to influence the men who bought her.  The Sisters, with their vows of silence and chastity was a far more appropriate punishment for the woman.

Seeing that Ned and his family had arrived in the courtyard, Rheagar stood, and with a wide smile stepped down to greet him.

End Chapter One