From Westeros to Essos : The Crusader King

Darkness and death, these were the first things that greeted Andar as he slowly woke up before he felt a sharp pain in his chest as he opened his eyes. That only made him gasp for air, but to his horror he choked on the blood that filled his mouth. Ignoring the pain, Andar tried to move, but his body was numb and heavy, that's when it came to him that he jumped from the top of the wall. Looking around him, Andar found himself lying on the blood-soaked sands beneath the walls of Gulltown, where the Ironborn had launched their assault. At least the fight was close an end as there were only some distant clashes happening, besides his last and desperate attempt should have destroyed the morale of the Ironborn and whoever was left alive would soon meet their god.

Grunting and in pain, Andar turn his head only to freeze for a second as he saw him. Denys Drumm, the heir of Old Wyk, the lord of the Iron Fleet, and the reason Gulltown had been besieged. Though, the reaver was not looking so menacing nowadays as he was lying beneath Andar with his eyes wide open and his mouth agape while on his neck... the nasty wounded Andar inflicted made the young heir of Runestone wonder if the fall killed him or if the bite did.

To Andar's surprise, the Valyrian sword was still in Denys grip, though it was useless to a dead man. Looking at the sword, Andar couldn't help himself from painfully chuckle as he just realized that Red Rain was now belonging to house Royce. Oh, the look on Lord Tywin's face would be priceless when he hears that yet another "lesser" house gained a Valyrian steel sword while House Lannister was still poor in that regard.

Using his still working arm, the young heir forced himself to sit while leaning on the wall before grabbing and holding the sword in his hand, just in case someone lucky Ironborn stumbles across him. Even now, he couldn't believe what he had done and yet there's no regret, only relief. Strange as it might be, Andar found his feelings… conflicted as he should have been regretting even thinking about killing himself with an enemy.

Forget about his life, forget about his family, but if he were to die, his nephew would have been left alone to rule the Vale amongst opportunistic fools and a crazy step-mother, something that as his uncle, Andar swore to never let happen.

Struggling to sigh, Andar look to his right only to blink in surprise when he saw the familiar sails of the Volantene fleet making their way to dock near the shore. If the fleet is going to dock, that means the Ironborn fleet has been destroyed and with it the whole attacking force…

'Seven hells it hurts." Andar thought as he watched hundreds of men and women of the tiger cloaks and the brothers of the cross disembarking from their ships and rushing towards the walls ready to cut down any surviving reavers. Gods be good, war is a bitch.

As the pain became insupportable, Andar was starting to have trouble breathing. Maybe it was the fall or maybe it was because of all the wounds Denys inflicted on him, but he felt a cold sweat on his forehead and a faint ringing in his ears forcing him to cough up. Thankfully he was not coughing out blood, otherwise only the Stranger might have the power to save him. As the seconds passed and turned into a minute, Andar slowly lost focus in his eyes though he forced himself to hold his gaze on the men of his nephew as they were making their way towards the small hill made of dead bodies a few meters to his left.

Slowly his eyes were closing and when Andar thought that the Stranger would take him, he saw one of the knights of his nephew kneeling beside him.

"You two help me! We have a survivor down here!"

Only a fool would rebel against five or six if you count Dorne, kingdoms led by a man known to love war. Balon Greyjoy might have had done some damage to Westeros, but by God will the retaliation cripple The Iron Islands for a decade at least.

Yet, neither the rebellion or the fate of the man who started meant anything to Konrad. Despite being the future heir of the Vale, his current focus was solely on Volantis and making sure that slavery will never return in this city. Truth be told, while he was the one in charge of his people, Konrad knew that without the people who had converted to Christianity, this task would have been impossible.

However, what surprise the young falcon, was the Temple of R'hllor. Their leader, a woman that call herself high priestess made sure that none of her people would bother him or his people as long as Konrad swore an oath to always take care of the smallfolk of Volantis as well as to never forcefully convert people, something that she too swore as a way of showing her sincerity to the young lord.

Trying not to think too much about the strange priestess, Konrad turned his attention back to the book her was reading. 'An extensive guide to siegecraft' by a certain Maester Dorby, a book that Konrad had found interesting to read and learn from. While he would never claim to be a maester, the amount of books read by him in all of those years had already reach the mid fifties with most of them being related to warfare and politics.

Just as he was reading about mobile bridges, a sudden knock on the door, forced Konrad to stop reading and instead turn his attention to the door. Before he could even say anything, the door opened and Tyrek walked in carrying a small letter in his hand.

"My lord."

"Uncle Tyrek. Have your men caught another little bird?"

"Aye, lad. Another one of the spider's little birds made its way near the mansion before leaving a letter to one of the guards."

Now this was not the first time Lord Varys had contacted them in such a way, but most of the times, the "little bird" would remain at the entrance for a while awaiting a response, but today, it seems that Varys was being careful. And Konrad didn't like this unknown variable.

"Did something happen back home?"

"One of the Ironborn fleets attacked Gulltown."

Konrad couldn't believe what he just heard. House Grafton, despite not being overly loyal to house Arryn were still part of the Vale. If the Ironborn attacked them…

"My uncle and grandfather…"

"Ser Andar, alongside a third of House Royce troops had ridden to aid House Grafton. As result of the welcomed reinforcements, alongside our Volantene fleet, the reaver fleet belonging to Denys Drumm had been decimated and all the ships that hadn't been slinked had been giving to House Grafton."

"That's not all, isn't it, uncle?"

"I fear not. Ser Andar fought Denys Drumm and lost the first duel, only for the Ironborn to grew arrogant which in turn doomed him. The spider says that Andar killed the Ironborn lord by jumping out of the walls with him to their deaths, or better said to the Ironborn death. "

Konrad quickly got on his feet, fearing that his uncle might have perished. Just thinking about that made the young lord angry at how stupid his uncle could be. How could Andar do such a thing? How could he risk his life for a madman's pride?"

"Uncle Tyrek, tell me it's not true. Tell me Andar is alive." Konrad pleaded, his voice trembling as tears threaten to fall down on his cheeks.

Tyrek put a hand on Konrad's shoulder and looked him in the eye. He could see the pain and fear in the young lord's face, and he felt a pang of sympathy. He knew how much Andar meant to Konrad, how much he had taught him, how much he had loved him.

"Konrad, calm down, lad. Andar is alive. Injured, but alive." Tyrek said, trying to reassure his lord.

"Alive? How did he survive the fall?"

For a second Tyrek stood silent almost as if he was trying to find the right words.

"The spider says that your uncle landed on top of Denys Drumm, breaking his fall. The Ironborn died while holding onto his dear Valyrian sword, a sword that now belong to House Royce by the right of conquest. As for Andar, the fool thought it wiser to jump with an Ironborn as I said and while he did get injured both in the fight against Drumm and when he fell, he is expected to recover, though it will take some time."

"My God… he could… been killed …"

"No offense, lad, but that trait seems to run in the family. Just like Andar you too choose to use yourself to save someone if I remember correctly and because of that Prince Oberyn's paramour made sure her lover and his siblings know that she sees you as someone dear to her. A feat that I dare to say is close to impossible to achieve, especially with the Red Viper nearby."

Taking a minute to calm himself down, Konrad choose to look outside at the now better-looking city, breathing in and out at a steady pace. He was stubborn something that if his memory serves him right, was a trait both he and his older self-had in common in both worlds, but Tyrek was right, he was trying to hard to become a hero despite being only a child.

"Tell me uncle, what's going to happen next?"

"Robert Baratheon would attack the Iron Islands and put down the rebellion. As for us… we still have to deal with what remains of the slavers and their sellswords friends hiding somewhere in the city or close to it, then we will have to deal with the younger brother of your betrothed. His father, you goodfather, wants the boy to become a knight and that means he will have squire under someone."

Letting out a sigh, Konrad nodded before return to his chair and picking back his book. Too many things happened and it would do no one any good if he were to stress himself out for something that's out of his control right now.

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