Winter is Coming (asoiaf)

Uncle Benjen returned from South along with our bannermen while father and aunt Lyanna went to Riverrun. Father to talk what to do with betrothal as Hoster Tully is dragging his feet when dealing with it, neither annulling it, nor agreeing to marry Catelyn to Father as his second wife or to Uncle Ned as his wife. So, father have to personally go there to deal with him and Aunt Lyanna agreed to accompany him. All was well but as I knew would happen, news came from Riverrun that Aunt Lyanna was abducted when she went out for a ride by the crown prince, Rhaegar Targaryen.

Father went to King's Landing with many of his friends and Knights of Riverlands but in his rage said "Rhaegar, come out and die for your crime." outside the gates of Red Keep, which made the already mad and paranoid king, Aerys believe that Brandon and by extension Starks are traitors. He had every member of the party arrested and grandfather summoned to his court. My Grandfather went there thinking the Mad King will not harm a Lord Paramount but thankfully he didn't take our Valyrian Steel sword or armor with him as he didn't know whether Aerys will take it away or not.

Grandfather went to the court in full armor and demanded a trial by combat for my father with himself as the champion. Aerys accepted and declared that fire is his champion and had my grandfather suspended from the rafters, and wildfire was lit beneath him by the pyromancers. Rickard was slowly cooked to death in his armor, while his son Brandon, with a Tyroshi noose around his neck and a sword just out of his reach, was made to watch his father roast. Trying to reach the sword to save his dying father, Brandon strangled himself. Ser Gerold Hightower and Ser Jaime Lannister of the Kingsguard were among those present for Rickard's and Brandon's execution. The other nobles and their sons were also executed by Aerys, with the exception of Ethan Glover.

A raven was sent to the Eyrie to Jon Arryn demanding the heads of Ned Stark and his friend Robert Baratheon (why him, no one knows). Jon Arryn refused to kill his wards and sully his honor and called the banners. But not all of his bannerman answered as some were loyal to the crown before their liege. One of them was Lord Marq Grafton, lord of Gulltown, who rose against his liege and asked help from other loyalists to aid him in barring the rebels from entering the port of Gulltown. Fighting began in the Vale of Arryn. With the port blocked, Eddard Stark decided to make his own way back to the north by crossing the Mountains of the Moon to the Fingers, where he would need to find a fisherman to carry him across the Bite. While the Mountains of the Moons are dangerous due to the clans that duel there but Starks have maintained good relations with them, so they allowed him to leave unharmed and also showed a shorter path to reach the Fingers. From there he took a fishing boat to the 3 Sisters.

Gulltown's defenses eventually fell after an unknown amount of time, with Robert Baratheon slaying Marq Grafton in the taking of Gulltown. Robert Baratheon sailed to Storm's End to call his own banners as well.

This news reached North along with Mad Kings order for me to come to King's Landing to swear my vows to the King. Maester Luwin, as I had pushed Walys from stairs when no one was there and he died from breaking his neck, was the one to read the message first and showed it to my mother, grandmother, Benjen Stark and Rodrik Stark along with Roderick and Martyn Cassel. They also called me to the Lord's Solar to discuss this.

"Symeon, the King had murdered your father and grandfather in King's Landing." My mother, Barbrey said while crying. I acted while showing proper shock and grief and then my face turned into the cold and blank face that the Starks are famous for.

"Milady, forgive me but what are we to do with the summon for Lord Symeon to go to King's Landing to swear his loyalty to the King." Maester Luwin said.

"What are we to do, Symeon is going nowhere near that Mad King." Uncle Benjen shouted.

"So, the King has summoned me south." I asked.

"Don't worry Symeon, you are going nowhere, and you will be safe in the North." Uncle Benjen replied.

"When a King summons his bannerman, they should answer his call." I said.

"Symeon, you are going nowhere near that place alone." Barbrey said.

"Who said anything about alone. I will be answering his summon, but I will be going with 30,000 bloodthirsty northman at my back. Call the banners." I said in a voice cold enough that everyone in the hall could feel it.

"Tell the Southern Bannerman to converge at Moat Cailin while Northern ones converge here from which we will march to Moat Cailin and join forces with them." Uncle Rodrik said while looking at me.

"What news do we have about Uncle Ned. He was fostering in the Vale, is he safe." I asked showing faux concern.

"We received a raven a few hours before from Eyrie that Jon Arryn refused to hand over his wards when the King asked for Lord Eddard and Lord Baratheon's head and has called his banners while Lord Eddard will take a fishing boat to 3 Sisters and will take a ship from there." Maester Luwin told me.

"Why did that murderer demand the head of Lord Baratheon. What has he done to him." I asked a question that plagued my mind for so long.

"That only the King knows, and we can only speculate that he may have already thought that Lord Baratheon will support his friend." Maester Luwin replied.

So, everything is going as I expected. Lord Arryn has called Vale to arms while Robert Baratheon will do the same when he reaches Stormlands. Westerlands is going to stay neutral at the very least despite Jaime as a hostage because we are related to Genna. Leaving only Reach, Dorne and Crownlands in the loyalist forces along with half of Riverrun.

Just as not all the lords in the Vale had sided with Jon Arryn, not all the lords in the stormlands sided with Robert Baratheon. The first major battle in the stormlands took place at Summerhall. They were three battles, in truth, all fought in one day. Lords Grandison, Cafferen, and Fell had gathered their hosts and planned to join forces at Summerhall. From there, they would march on Storm's End. However, thanks to an informer, Robert learned of their plans and rode with his knights and squires to Summerhall, where he attacked each host in turn. Robert killed Lord Fell in battle.

Lord Cafferen and Grandison, as well as Lord Fell's son, Silveraxe, were taken captive and brought to Storm's End when Robert's returned there after the battles, for unknown reasons. There, Robert turned his enemies into friends, as both Lords Grandison and Cafferen, as well as Silveraxe would later be loyal to Robert. Following his victory at Summerhall, Robert was now free to march north, to join up with Jon Arryn and the northmen.

Robert marched out again, leaving his younger brother Stannis Baratheon in charge of Storm's End. Knowing that Reach has declared for the Crown, he decided to sack as many castles on his way as he could to stop Reach from gathering. He went to sack Ashford as he saw taking Ashford as a way to inspire Reachmen lords to rise up against the crown with him At Ashford, Lord Randyll Tarly fell upon Robert's forces. Lord Randyll was the first of the loyalists to arrive, and with his van defeated Robert's forces before Lord Mace Tyrell could arrive with the main force from the Reach. Despite the fact that it had been Randyll's victory, Mace Tyrell has taken the credit for the victory. The battle is considered to have been indecisive.

During the battle, Lord Cafferen was cut down by Randyll Tarly, who sent his head to King Aerys II. Robert managed to escape capture with the bulk of his forces close to some 16,000 men, to join his strength with North and Vale. Following the battle, Mace Tyrell marched on Storm's End and laid siege to the castle. This siege would last till the end of the rebellion.

King Aerys, due to the events in the stormlands, came to believe that his Hand of the King, Lord Owen Merryweather, was ineffectual. The king was even considering that Merryweather might have been so ineffectual as to possibly aid the rebellion. In result, Owen was stripped of his lands and titles, and exiled. Lord Jon Connington, a friend of Rhaegar's with a reputation of a warrior, was named as Hand in Owen's stead.