Hugh Hammer (ASOIF/SI)

 He entered the Small Council room, immediately noticing the tension

 in the room. He made his bows to the Queen and the Lord Protector

 of the realm and noticed that Lord Corlys was present along with his

 bastard who was pretending to be his grandson. It was dark outside,

 night having fallen, and Ulf had been about to depart for his nightly

 carousing when he had been intercepted by guardsmen wearing the

 colors of House Arryn and a Kingsguard, who he had not bothered to

 learn the name of, some Knight with a poleaxe stuck up his arse, like

 all of them. They had escorted him to the Small Council room and Ulf

 had been terrified that his treachery had been uncovered, in fact he

 was still terrified, and he was doing his utmost to conceal his fears.

 The Queen looked like she was barely standing, her face alternating

 with flashes of rage and sorrow, it was obvious to Ulf that she had

 been crying, and his curiosity was piqued. Obviously, something

 dramatic had happened, and Ulf wondered what his new, though

 secret masters had done now.

 No Hugh he noticed, until his favorite person in the world entered at

 a rush, making his apologies for being late, bringing a little smile to

 Ulf's face, which he quashed as quickly as he could, but not before

 he noticed that the Lord Protector had seen his grin.

 "We have received a raven from Dragonstone" the Lord Protector

 announced, indicating with a hand to a small scroll of paper on the

 table "Vhagar and Tessarion attacked the island this afternoon, they

 felled Sheepstealer and, and Moodancer. Also felled was Vermax,

 Prince Jacaerys having taken off to visit his betrothed. The bodies of

 the riders of the dragons have not been recovered, but Maester

 Gendrys observed the battle and assures us that none of the riders

 would have survived the deaths of their dragons. The corpse of

 Sheepstealer has washed ashore and Vermax's was recovered by

fishermen from Dragonstone, there has been no sign of the remains

 of Moondancer."

 The Queen was openly crying, tears streaming down her face, but

 she was not sniffling or wailing like women were wont to do at times

 like this, she was holding herself upright and still with an impressive

 feat of willpower.

 "Dragonstone itself?" asked Addam, horror and shock plastered

 across the lad's face.

 Well, well now, was that not a turn up, eh? And did not just further

 reinforce his decision? He twisted his face to stillness to stifle the

 smile that threatened to break out across his visage. He would get

 one over on all of these high and mighty fuck's, every last one of

 them. And he had made it clear that Hugh was his and his alone, that

 cunt was not to be eliminated or killed, for he wanted to feed that

 prick to Silverwing. That would be a fitting revenge would it not?

 Hugh looked like he was about to get sick, his face pale and drawn,

 his eyes wild and terror filled, well was that not just dandy!

 "Secure, the dragons made no attempt to attack the castle or the

 town. Maester Gerardys has reported that the Dragons flew off

 southwards after the attack was over, they did not linger over the

 island."

 "Counterforce" he heard Hugh say softly "always the right move…."

 His visage still that of a man verging on descending into gibbering

 terror.

 "What is that you mumbled Ser Hugh?" came the sharp question

 from the Lord Protector of the Realm.

 "This strike makes sense, they ignored the castle and the town, it

 was aimed at removing two dragons, they got….lucky and took out a

 third. If we send more dragons to defend Dragonstone we weaken

our dragon forces on the mainland." Hugh looked to be about to say

 something else, but he shut up at the last second.

 "Your grasp of the blindingly obvious is unsurpassed Ser Hugh!"

 hissed Prince Daemon in response "and I need not remind this body

 that it was your idea to defend Dragonstone with Dragons in the first

 place!"

 "If we had not, we might have faced a conventional invasion of the

 island, we could not afford to have Kings Landing blockaded from

 the sea, especially now with winter here and the Greens advancing

 again in the Reach!"

 this outburst from Hugh surprising Ulf, and apparently everyone else

 in the room, if their faces were anything to go by.

 "Enough!" the Queen croaked out, her voice hoarse and strained

 sounding, "the matter of our hostages must be decided!"

 "No." came the low reply from Prince Daemon, and Ulf's head

 whipped around to stare at the Lord Protector of the Realm in

 amazement.

 "No? What do you mean 'no', husband mine?" came the Queens

 reply, trying to keep her voice stable but failing as it cracked at the

 end, her rage getting the better of her.

 "Se Hugh? If you please?" Daemon responded in a silky, sly tone of

 voice. Hugh going even more pale and drawn if such a thing was

 possible.

 "The, the presence of the Royal family here in Maegors Holdfast,

 and not elsewhere, or even in the Black Cells.."

 "Where they BELONG!" screeched the Queen, when she looked like

 she would not screech any more Hugh continued "the incarceration

 of previous Royal family within Maegor's Holdfast ensures that

 Vhagar does not burn the Red Keep to slag, the Green's whole

reason for the war is embodied in the persons of King Aegon, his

 wife and their children. Were they to kill them in an attack by Vhagar

 the stain of kinslaying would be upon them."

 "And also, the possibility of Kingslaying" added Prince Daemon,

 grinning at the thought.

 "The Greens have two other Princes to choose from!" hissed the

 Queen, clearly not convinced one whit by Hugh's arguments.

 "They do, but there is also the presence of Lord Otto Hightower and

 Queen Alicent to consider, both of their lives are valuable to House

 Hightower, and they are unlikely to want to risk them unnecessarily."

 The Queen looked like she was winding up for another rant, but

 Prince Daemon stepped in and interrupted her "thank you Ser Hugh.

 The lives of our hostages are not to be squandered on some foolish

 gesture in response to the regrettable deaths on Dragonstone" the

 Queen turning near purple with rage at the Prince's words "our

 hostages lives are forfeit, of that let there be absolutely no doubt, but

 as Ser Hugh reminded us, their lives are necessary for our very

 survival."

 "I want her dead! I want that cunt's head and that of her father at

 once!" shrieked the Queen, apparently having not listened a word to

 what Prince Daemon had said.

 "My Queen I am afraid not, it would not be wise at this juncture to

 carry out such a rash act" came the smooth reply from Prince

 Daemon, he was truly fascinated by all of this, why this was better

 than any murmurers farce he had ever seen in his life!

 "Not be wise? I am the QUEEN! And I DEMAND the heads of Alicent

 and her father! NOW!"

 "You are distraught by the death of your eldest son my love, and no

 doubt not thinking straight, you seem to have forgotten the legal

 proviso's of my status as Lord Protector of the Realm, for all capital

sentences must be approved by me, the Hand and your good self.

 Lord Corlys, would you approve of the execution of Queen Alicent

 and Lord Otto Hightower as a response for the deaths in combat of

 Prince Jacaerys? And of my daughter Baela, your granddaughter

 Lord Corlys."

 After a tense few seconds were Ulf thought he would scream so

 fraught was the atmosphere Lord Corlys sighed "No, no I would not."

 "I lost blood here my Queen, one of my daughters fell defending

 Dragonstone, and you don't see me screaming for bloody murder

 and pointless vengeance….."came the low and menacing words of

 Prince Daemon.

 Another silence accompanied this announcement by the Rogue

 Prince, the Queen gazing hard at her Hand and her Lord Protector

 before she finally let of a defeated sigh and said, "very well, we will

 put aside the matter of our hostages for now, the armies of my

 enemies are on the march, we have just gotten word of their attacks

 on Bitterbridge, which they appear to have been taken easily. Their

 objective of Tumbleton and the upper reaches of the Mander are

 obvious. We must meet this threat at once, our dragons must be

 brought to bear to crush the armies of the Pretender!"

 He noticed that Hugh was studying the map before them intently, his

 lips moving, whispering something to himself, before he said,

 seemingly to himself "no, this does not make sense, no, we are

 missing something here…."

 "Ser Hugh?" asked Lord Corlys "what are we missing?"

 "Yes, it makes sense to take out our dragons on Dragonstone, but

 the timing….it's all wrong….all wrong."

 "Why?" asked the Queen harshly "why is it 'wrong' Ser Hugh? My

 enemies have killed three of my dragons and their riders, two of

 Royal blood, one the Heir to the Iron Throne, the other his betrothed.

 It seems a well enough laid trap to me!" answered the Queen, the

last words barley squeezed out her throat, sorrow almost

 overcoming her.

 "That's exactly it! There is no way that the Greens could have known

 in time that Prince Jacaerys was on his way to Dragonstone….and it

 still leaves us with the issue of the questionable timing of the

 attack…."

 "You are speaking in circles Ser Hugh!" cautioned Prince Daemon,

 and Ulf stood up straighter, he would have to make sure he listened

 closely to what was being said, if only to be able to pour scorn on

 anything that Hugh might say. No sense in not sowing dissention

 among the ranks of these cunts who were now his enemies, and

 especially with blood and humors so agitated by what was being

 discussed.

 "The Greens have just launched their much-anticipated action to

 seal off the upper Mander from Kings Landing, putting any end to

 food exports to Kings Landing from the Reach. With winter upon us

 Kings Landing will slowly starve without those supplies, not right now

 but in a few moons time the effects will start to be felt. And why divert

 a critical strategic asset like their dragons, both of them, on a

 diversionary attack on Dragonstone now?"

 "But you said earlier on it made sense, the attack upon our dragons,

 did you not?" retorted Prince Daemon, obviously losing patience with

 Hugh's ramblings, so he wound up for a witty quip, but Hugh beat

 him too it.

 "The attack on Dragonstone was a strike at our dragons but it was

 also a strike aimed at diverting our attention away from something

 else, something that the Greens believe is more important…"

 "Yes, the attack on the last of our loyal houses in the Reach!" replied

 the Queen, who seemed to be growing equally tired as the Lord

 Protector of Hugh's continuing drivel, and he opened his mouth to

 speak.

"The Eyrie" Corlys Velaryon announced "their target is the Eyrie!"

 Consternation greeted this outburst from the Lord of the Tides.

 "Think about it! Think about it for a minute! who are your greatest

 supporters my Queen, both in general and here in Kings Landing?

 The Vale! And what if Aemond was able to threaten the Eyrie with

 dragonfire? That castle relies totally on its position for defense, it's a

 toy castle in reality, Vhagar could burn it to slag in mere minutes, and

 Tyraxes could never defend the Eyrie from the likes of Vhagar!" Lord

 Corlys shouted, his voice rising in panic, oh that was right, he had a

 grandson and a granddaughter in the Eyrie did he not? And the

 prettiest of the Princesses if Ulf remembered correctly, with the most

 lustrous sliver gold hair he had ever seen, and the face of the

 Maiden herself.

 "Joffery! My son!" screeched the Queen, finally succumbing to her

 weaker female nature and collapsing to the floor.

 Prince Daemon was first to the Queen, gently cradling her while

 shouting "Get a Maester and be quick about it!"

 While they waited for a Maester to arrive they stood around, none

 daring to say anything, the low words of soothing nothings that

 Prince Daemon was whispering into the Queens ear the only sounds

 to be heard.

 Once the Maester and some Acolytes arrived they quickly revived

 the Queen but over her feeble protests she was bundled out of the

 room and off to enforced bed rest.

 "It seems we have something of a dilemma here, does it not?" asked

 the Rogue Prince when the Queen had been safely removed from

 the room, coming to stand right at the table that held a huge map of

 Westeros upon its surface.

 "How so?" demanded Lord Velaryon "our actions are clear; we must

 defend the Eyrie!" emphasizing his point by pounding a fist on the

table.

 Prince Daemon let an eyebrow rise at this, but he said nothing, just

 holding the furious gaze of the Sea Snake, before finally continuing

 "Hugh, I believe you now have your wits fully about you, would you

 care to explain to Lord Velaryon what we face?"

 Ulf wondered for a moment if Hugh and Prince Daemon had

 somehow rehearsed this before, if this was all for show, a pageant of

 mummery for the benefits of others? And if so, that meant that Hugh

 was even more dangerous to him, as he was obviously trusted by

 Prince Daemon explicitly, well, this only hardened his heart further to

 see Hugh brought down.

 "We, we face a, we face a three-body problem here my Lords, a

 system which has no solvable solution…"

 "What, what riddles are these!" quaffed Ulf, finally able to interject

 some of the scorn and ridicule he had been saving up for the last

 nigh on half an hour.

 "We have three options before us, of which we can only really solve

 two, but we do not know which two we can solve, and which one

 must remain unsolved" replied Hugh, his answer being no answer at

 all to his mind.

 "He speaks like some Maesters acolyte, has Hugh decided to finally

 try out for his Chain?" Ulf laughed but noticed that no one else was

 joining in with his attempt at levity, what with the hard stares that he

 was receiving from Lord Corlys, his bastard and most importantly

 from the Prince.

 "We can defend Kings Landing, attack the Greens in the Reach or

 defend the Eyrie - pick two of those options and discard the third.

 Say we leave Kings Landing denuded of dragons, the Stormlands

 forces are what, a week at most away."

"Sooner in fact" intoned Daemon, "I had just received reports before

 I summoned this meeting that the forces of the Stromlands have

 pushed through into the Crownlands, but they are staying under the

 cover of the Kingswood. They are not venturing out into the open

 beyond the northern boundaries of the Kingswood…."

 "Hiding from dragon attack under the canopy of the trees" remarked

 Addam Velaryon.

 "Like 'nam" Ulf heard Hugh whisper "will I hear '

 fortunate son' start to

 play?"

 Before Ulf could comment on this strange utterance from Hugh the

 ex-Blacksmith blinked, stood up straighter and continued "so we

 have to keep sufficient dragons in Kings Landing to defend it, that

 leaves the Eyrie or the last access to supplies from the Reach, which

 one to we abandon?"

 "You see, we are dealing with a true master, whoever planned this I

 want to meet, and I will congratulate them on their cunning, while I

 geld them!" hissed Prince Daemon and for a moment Ulf regretted

 turning his cloak, but he fought down the fear that threatened to

 climb up his throat, choking him.

 "The Eyrie my Lord! My grandchildren are there, you must!" pleaded

 Lord Corlys, all pretence of a great Lord gone, just the shell of a

 desperate man remaining.

 "Hugh?" the Lord Protector asked, Ulf immediately noticing the

 tension that surged through Hugh at Daemon's words, Ulf thought

 that the man would break and shatter, so tightly he seemed to be

 holding himself.

 "The only chance we have…..is…..the winter weather might play in

 our favour…"

 "Explain!" gasped Lord Corlys, sounding like a drowning man to Ulf's

 ears.

"Winter has come, there are storms in the Bay of Crabs, the

 Maesters collect information on weather and post it in the Red Keep,

 I, I read it daily" Hugh shook his head and continued "There is also

 heavy cloud cover over the southern Vale, shrouding the mountains.

 This, this might make it impossible for Vhagar and Tessarion to fly

 directly to the Eyrie, they, they might have to detour around and

 come up the Vale of Arryn. That's our only hope, if this is the case,

 we, might, could beat them there."

 "How, surely this, this inclement weather would affect our dragons as

 much as theirs?" asked Addam, voicing a question that Ulf had just

 realized he wanted to pose.

 "Not, not necessarily so, the last report from the Bloody Gate

 indicated that it and its approaches were free of cloud…." Said

 Hugh, the usual confidence in the man's voice missing.

 "Lord Protector, please?" asked Lord Velaryon, but Ulf noticed that

 Hugh and Prince Daemon were engaged in some sort of staring

 match, like two male dogs about to tear into each other in a fighting

 pit. Oh, how delightful, time to pour some oil on these fires, as he

 opened his mouth to speak.

 "Very well Hugh, you and Addam will leave within the hour, Ulf and I

 will remain in Kings Landing for the time being, but if the situation in

 the Reach becomes critical, we will have to intervene, both of us"

 declared the Lord Protector.

 "Oh, and Hugh?"

 "Yes, Lord Protector?"

 "I will need a word with you before you leave."

 "Of course, your Grace."