Chapter 6 (PJO/GOT CO)

298 AL. Riverlands.
Apollos was currently leading his portion of the army to invade the Riverlands and nearing Riverrun, he had already cut
down hundreds who opposed him and had sped up their advance greatly. Percival was moving on Oldstones and Fairmarket
and everything between them and the Westerlands. While Alexander was moving to take the entire southern side of the
Riverlands. All their individual projects would take time, but Apollos was supremely confident that they would succeed.
They did have godlike physical abilities like their father after all. Hopefully Hadrian would successfully acquire the Tyrell's
consent to either withold food from the Riverlands and Vale or to sale it to the Westerlands at 5% above it's value.
"My Lord, we are nearing Riverrun. Percival has his forces positioned nearby to prevent their escape that way and they
would have to flee into Alexander's path." Apollos' chief advisor informed me.
"Good. When we arrive, I'll send assassins inside to take out threats," Apollos said, to his advisors disapproval. "When
we seize it in such a decisive way, we can exaggerate our victory and instill fear in our enemies. Seizing Riverrun would
also be a huge victory and give us a staging ground and place of retreat. I would also rather save lives on my side for
holding it, instead of taking it."
Minutes later...
Apollos' army had just arrived at Riverrun. Apollos climbed off his horse, already in his full Valyrian steel battle armor and
with his swords within reach.
"Assassins, prepare for teleportation into the castle." Apollos said, to the thirty two men who he personally trained for
that very purpose. "Give Robin Ryger a chance to defect to our side, his family were Targaryen loyalists and he might
just love the chance to betray the Tully's." The assassins nodded and Apollos teleported himself and all of them inside.
When Apollos was inside, he quickly and silently killed the nearest guards, before continuing through the castle in search
of more targets.
Minutes later, he had the good fortune of finding Robin Ryger. He placed him in a full nelson, while placing a cone of
silence around them. "Hello, Robin Ryger of House Ryger. I am Lord Apollos Lannister and I have a proposition for you...
Swear fealty to House Lannister, live, and be rewarded with land and titles." Apollos offered, knowing that Robin was
more than capable of shouldering such responsibilities.
"Never!" Robin yelled with a triumphant look on his face. Apollos drained copies of his knowledge of Tully secrets, broke
his neck, and then laid his body on the floor. Apollos went on to kill Edmure Tully next, taking more knowledge of Tully
secrets and then went to kill his father Hoster, whom he killed very quickly as an act of mercy.
A telepathic scan revealed that all threats were now eliminated... Taking Riverrun only took ten minutes. Apollos used his
telepathy to command his assassins to regroup in the Great Hall.
"Unless you all need a break, then you will immediately let my army inside so that we can occupy Riverrun." Apollos
said, noticing their tiredness, but eager to finally hold this castle.
"It will be done, Lord Lannister," The Lord Commander of the Blackcloaks said respectfully. He quickly led all thirty two
men to lower the gate, leaving Apollos alone.
Apollos quickly extended his telepathy over the Riverlands... Percival had taken everything up to Oldstones and Fairmarket,
had wiped out several noble houses, and had personally slain hundreds in battle and had only suffered minimal casualties.
Alexander had seized up to Pinkmaiden and had wiped out House Piper. House Goodbrook had already secretly pledged
their support to Alexander, and Alexander was planning to request permission to increase their holdings with his conquests.
Noticing that Alexander was alone and resting, Apollos opted for telepathic communication to speed that up.
"Hello, son,"
"Father! You scared me!"
"Sorry, but I wanted to tell you that you can give Acorn Hall and High Heart to House Goodbrook; unless those two
houses bend the knee and aid us, then you can reward them with other land."
"I will do that, father. Were you doing your scan to assess progress?"
"Yes, and I need to continue that, but, be careful, son." Apollos said, before ending the communication.
Apollos continued his inspection of his campaign... William was sieging Seagard, where he took it by surprise with some
spells placed on his ships and had captured House Mallisters small fleet. The Vale fleet of Gulltown was already captured
and was being returned to Lannisport while the Lannister fleet blockaded the Vale. Houses Mooton and Darry had already
pledged their support and would soon receive reinforcements already being sent there by ship. Barring being driven from
our footholds, the Lannister armies should soon be seeing even more victories.
Apollos extended his telepathic reach to find Hadrian in the Reach. He had arrived in Highgarden a day ago and had made
the families tentative offer to buy all the food they export to the Riverlands and Vale at 5% above there value, to starve out
our enemies. Apollos was hoping to also bind House Tyrell to House Lannister with marriage and to possibly absorb it and
expand his houses power further than ever, or to atleast keep peace with them. Ladies Olenna Tyrell and Margaery were
already aware of that, but Apollos didn't exactly keep it secret. Apollos basically advertised that by sending Hadrian, a
young man around Margaery's age, to negotiate that agreement and have him dressed nice. They would make an interesting
match and Apollos was hoping they might actually fall for one another; genuine affection from Margaery would lessen or
outright remove House Tyrell as a threat.
Apollos ceased his assessment of his campaign and returned his focus to the Great Hall of Riverrun.
His uncle Kevan was just led into the Great Hall.
"Welcome, Uncle Kevan," Apollos said, rising from the former seat of House Tully.
"Thank you, Lord Lannister," Kevan returned.
"You have served House Lannister faithfully, since before even I was born, never wavering or failing. Should you wish it, I
will make you Lord of Riverrun and the newest and Chief of my Bannermen for this region." Apollos said, to his Uncle's
surprise. "You have more than earned it."
"I accept." Kevan replied, gratefully.
"Very well, Ser Kevan Lannister," Apollos began, before continuing." You are now Lord Kevan Lannister of Riverrun, Chief
Bannerman of the Riverlands, and Lord of House Lannister of Riverrun. You will oversee and manage the Riverlands, call
the appointed Bannermen at my beckoning, and still answer to the one true Lord Lannister." Apollos said, to which Kevan
nodded. "I do wish to further fortify this location with my sorcerers and build nearby cities, eventually, to act as another
layer of protection and more population to be recruited for our armies."
Kevan nodded in agreement, continuing his tradition of obedience, but this time to Apollos, and it was a wise plan.
"I'll leave you to get settled in." Apollos said, before leaving to manage his army. He needed the pre-prepared garrison in
place so that he could continue his advance. He would also have the Tully's properly put to rest, and would be contacting
Ned for advice in that regard.
Line break-remove text and replace.
Two weeks later...
Hadrian was getting impatient! How long did it take to decide how badly the Lannisters were ripping themselves off? 5%
above value was still more than our rivals paid and their products value increased because of it! Margaery was pleasant
to be around at least, and Hadrian was very glad that he was on his best behavior. Hadrian didn't love her, but could get
along with her, if his suspicions about his secondary reason for being here were confirmed.
"There you both are," Lord Mace Tyrell said, surprising us during a lull in our conversation.
"Lord Tyrell," Hadrian said respectfully.
"We have agreed to sale our crops that we would have sold the Riverlands and Vale to your family for 5% above there
value, as requested. Though, it's honestly not that much sold to them. Please inform your father, however, that we aren't
interested in betrothing Margaery to a Lannister." Lord Tyrell said. Hadrian feigned relief before quickly concealing it. It
was seen just long enough to offend the Tyrells. And it worked! Hadrian offended Mace, Margaery, and the old bag that
he called mother.
"I will inform him of that, Lord Tyrell," Hadrian said politely, with a little relief slipping through, and having won the contest
of insults and did so far more discreetly. Hadrian was quickly, almost rudely, escorted outside where his guards were
waiting on horseback.
"Where are my siblings currently?" Hadrian asked, once he was closer.
"Lord Lannister and Alexander have seized the entire southern side of the Red Fork and have sent a smaller force to take
over a few smaller holdings. Your brothers Percival and William are near the Twins, with Seagard having surrendered after
being bombarded for hours, and both will soon seize The Twins and exile the Freys due to their untrustworthiness. Your
father wishes for you to get phase three to Harrenhal and wait until their combined armies are ready for the attack."
"Phase three?" Hadrian asked excitedly.
"Er, yes," He replied confusedly, not knowing what phase three is.
"That will be so much fun!" Hadrian said, before quickly getting on his horse and riding off, closely followed by his guards.
Hadrian's retinue were all unaware that they spied upon and that spy had quickly went inform the Tyrell's.
Line break-remove text and replace.
One week later...
Apollos was winding down from a near constant amount of combat... He had fortified his new holdings against invasion
from the Crownlands, the North, and the Reach by abusing his advantage of manipulating molecules and creating massive
walls and having them all well manned. Hoster and Edmure Tully were given a proper funeral as per their traditions, Catelyn
outright hated Apollos now, but he merely told her that both were guilty of being involved in Tywin's murder and that he gave
them a chance to surrender Riverrun and the entire Riverlands. It was a lie, but one that no one could prove.
The Riverlands were conquered, and very easily at that. Apollos and his sons were literally worth hundreds of men in battle
and had all easily killed that many in each battle they participated in. The Riverlands now belonged to House Lannister
and the Targaryen loyalists were greatly rewarded for betraying the supporters of the Usurper, Robert Baratheon. The Twin's
were taken days ago and given to Aunt Genna's brood. They were having the place repaired, but the captured wealth would
help with that and she could hopefully manage the holding well.
A lot of wealth had been sent back to the Westerlands, ten times what the campaign had cost. Five thousand men chose to
take the black, which would contain the Night King until Apollos could deal with him. A lot of men had also died, by design.
Apollos was going to have loyalty bred into the next generation and needed to create a demand for men, which his people
would fill; Apollos knew it would happen, he had the power of Love and Lust dieties. The Westerlands now also had a larger
source of food to draw upon to cope with the current massive population growth and the planned one.
Apollos had already restored Harrenhal with his powers and also removed the curse which surprisingly actually existed.
He just had to wait for Hadrian to arrive with phase three, which would give his forces the advantage they needed to enter
the Vale with minimal casualties. Which left Apollos to wait in his full jet black Valyrian steel battle armor and his swords of
the same metal on his hips... He could finally reveal more secrets without being questioned by those with power over him.
Because no one really did anymore, the Westerlands were now the most powerful militarily, economically, politically and
had the second most territory, after the North.
Finally, Apollos saw them. Ten Airships or Zeppelins designed for bombing and troop transport. Apollos had been working
on that secret project since his sixteenth year, but they were complete, if primitive Airships, and they would still be highly
effective in their chosen role. Sadly, only one could be produced a month, but Apollos intended to keep that fact secret.
He teleported onto the Airship.
"Father! Where's the army?" Hadrian questioned in concern. Apollos silently ordered the Captain to continue onto the
Bloody Gate.
"They are waiting at the Bloody Gate and our navy is preparing to deploy soldiers against the coastal targets. The purpose
of this marvel of engineering is to force a surrender of the Bloody Gate and to bypass it. Our army will clear the rabble
while I kill Lysa Arryn in punishment for her actions against House Lannister." Apollos informed his son.
"And afterward?"
"I will descend from the heavens above King's Landing and deliver Robin Arryn to Ned Stark, as promised. He won't ever
inherit the Vale, he's far to weak and sickly and will likely die before even becoming a man. Hopefully, Ned can help the
boy die happy and loved though." Apollos replied. "I heard the Tyrell's weren't interested in pairing Margaery with you..."
"Yeah, I feigned relief to offend them." Hadrian replied with a smirk, causing Apollos to chuckle.
"Good, they need to learn some humility. They had every opportunity to gain power, but they waited and House Lannister
took advantage. They passed and now they are angry and prideful." Apollos said.
Apollos and Hadrian opted for more casual conversation while they travelled.
Line break-remove text and replace.
They had finally arrived near the Bloody Gate and saw the men stationed their looking confused and terrified.
"Surrender the gate or die!" Apollos yelled, while ensuring everyone there heard him. He was promptly refused, of course,
but he atleast asked before killing them all. He teleported onto the wall and did exactly that, moving just under the speed
of sound to quickly kill them all. Apollos gestured to his army to occupy the Gate and returned to the Airship.
"To the Eyrie!" Apollos ordered, to a shocked crew.
"What about William and Percival?" Hadrian asked.
"They are both on a secondary mission: retrieving the Valyrian steel blade of House Corbray, an easy but greatly important task."
Apollos replied. "They will also take part in conquering parts of the Vale, of course, but our actions should reduce the
fighting time greatly. We are already nearing the Eyrie." Indeed, they stopped over it moments later. "People of the Vale,
your Lady Lysa Arryn murdered her husband with poison and has committed adultery with Petyr Baelish. She tried framing
House Lannister for Lord Jon Arryn's murder. Surrender her and the Vale to me and be shown mercy!" Apollos said, while
ensuring that everyone near the Eyrie heard him. Apollos teleported his small force transported in two Airships into the
Eyrie's garden, Apollos with his swords already drawn.
"Well? Surrender!" Apollos said, to the knights of the vale. Naturally, none of them did. Apollos sighed as they quickly
approached with their swords drawn, and burst into action, beheading four knights and cutting off the arms and hands of
ten more all in less than a second. None of them ever stood a chance against Apollos.
He proved that by personally killing over fifty more of them.
"Casualties?" Apollos asked.
"None, Lord Lannister," A Captain informed me. "No injuries either, your son and yourself killed the vast majority of them."
"Well, let's continue that proud tradition," Apollos said, before continuing into the Eyrie.
Over the next half-hour Apollos and his strikeforce killed hundreds of knights and all those who prevented Lysa Arryn's
death, but eventually they arrived in the High Hall where they found her breastfeeding her son.
"Well, that's f**king messed up," Apollos said, using a rare bit of profanity and offending Lysa Arryn. "I had heard that
you were an unstable and delusional b***h, but wow!" Apollos telepathically forced her to remove the boy from her tit
and then telekinetically pulled him to his group, handing him to a guard. "Half of you take the former Lord of the Vale
outside while I tend to his mother." His guards quickly obeyed.
"Did you honestly see this ending in any other way?" Apollos asked as he walked to where she sat upon the throne. "You
slandered House Lannister, killed my father, and you sent those insects to their death. I enjoyed watching Petyr die by
the way, it was fun to watch him beg for mercy like a dog..." Apollos lied, enraging Lysa. "When I'm done killing you, I'm
going to behead your worthless son in front of the entire Vale and parade his head all over the Seven Kingdom's."
Apollos beheaded her, preserving her expression of horror and fear.
"What now, father?" Hadrian asked.
"Now... We kill every soldier that doesn't bend the knee and swear fealty to House Lannister, and terminate any noble
house that won't betray their former liege lords. There will be massive casualties son, but bombing enemy armies will
inflict more on the enemy and save the lives of our men. I wish Alistair was older, we would have him here killing Valemen
by the hundred with us, but it will still be a massacre." Apollos said in reassurance. "Let's kill these idiots and take their
land!" Apollos said, causing Hadrian to smile while looking somewhat unnerved.
Line break-remove text and replace.
Three weeks later...
The invasion of the Vale was a bloodbath. Even Apollos was secretly unnerved by their dedication and willingness to fight
to the death. Over fifteen thousand dead, on the enemies side, and all were true House Arryn supporters. All were stripped
of their assets, armor, weapons, currency, and their bodies burned in massive numbers. Four thousand men opted to join
the Night's Watch. The rest? They bent the knee and swore fealty to House Lannister. Most noble houses were eradicated
when they refused to bend the knee, but their territories were given to Lannister loyalists who had proven themselves.
Apollos still knew that he had much more killing and destroying to do, and he was actually looking forward to it. He loved
destroying enemies and evil people, even if he was no saint himself.
Apollos had begun creating opportunities to get the population of his new holdings fully under control. It was mind control,
but it would create stability and he had created plenty of excuses to prevent people from looking closer, and it helped that
they were controlled by poor leaders and idiots. More wealth was sent back to the Westerlands, recovering total war costs
five times over. That didn't account for the fact that he had already recovered twice the cost from the Riverlands, but now
House Lannister's wealth was now truly incalcuable, and it would only grow under Apollos' guidance. Estimated wealth?
Thirty million gold dragons and that was just an estimate.
But now, Apollos had to deliver the Arryn brat.
Apollos' personal Airship was currently descending from the heavens above the Red Keep, causing everyone to look at it
in shock, terror, and confusion. To be fair, the unknown could be quite scary, Apollos admitted. Apollos did have the House
Lannister banner clearly placed on his Airship though, perhaps they merely feared his new resources and advantage. The
Airship, as of yet unnamed, safely landed near the Lionguard arranged to protect it and most of Small Council, Robert and
Tommen.
"Hello, everyone!" Apollos greeted them, causing Tyrion to smirk in amusement. "Just thought I would drop in and deliver
the Arryn boy." Apollos said, being handed said whiny and sickly brat by a very annoyed Lionguard knight. Why did he
burden the knight with the responsibility? Because he was a father himself and could make sure the kid got better.
Apollos exited the Airship and handed the brat over to a servant. "Yeah, his mother was also breastfeeding him until recently,
so he might need a maester to look at him." That got looks of disgust from literally everyone.
"So... How has everything in the capital been?" Apollos asked.
"We'll brief you," Ned said, looking to Tyrion who looked somewhat nervous. Apollos quickly scanned Ned's mind with
telepathy.
"I think that would be a good idea." Apollos said, having discovered that Ned learned his nephew and nieces true parentage.
Apollos was just glad that Varys and Tyrion bullied him into secrecy. Apollos used his telepathy to ensure that the others
didn't get involved in this conversation. "Your tower, Lord Stark?" Apollos asked.
"Yes," Ned agreed, before leading Apollos, Tyrion, and Varys to the tower.
Minutes later...
They had just entered Ned's solar and Apollos wasted no time. "So you discovered my niece and nephews true parentage?"
"Yes and your brother and Varys threatened me into silence!" Ned said angrily. "They threatened Jon and my entire family,
and wouldn't let me inform Stannis and Robert!"
"Why inform them? Neither will do anything and Renly and Stannis will certainly never rule. Tommen doesn't want to rule
and I never had any intention of forcing him to, the plan was always for a stable Targaryen to retake the throne. Renly likes
men, so his bloodline would end quick, and the various religions would seek his death and would destabilize the Seven
Kingdoms. Stannis worships R'hllor and fire; keep in mind that this is among the most intolerant of religions, and they
commit mass murder by burning people alive, sacrilege by burning Godswoods and relics of other faiths, they justify that
nothing done in the service of their deity can be a sin; including the previous acts, adultery, oathbreaking, kinslaying and
most likely incest. It is my belief that they are in fact demon worshippers decieving others, and Stannis associates with
the most extreme of their Priestesses." Apollos said, disgusting Ned. "These are your candidates for king, Ned."
And only the Old Gods were real in the first place...
"There are plans in place by Queen Rhaella and I to ensure stability in her bloodline, I fathered two sons with her as part
of that. The plan is for one of my sons to marry Rhaenys and for Aegon to marry Daenerys, while the others marry those
with far more distant and impure dragonlord blood. It will cleanse House Targaryen of it's madness."
"Daemon impregnated Daenerys," Tyrion informed me. "And the council voted to kill the three."
"It's still a salvageable plan. That's why I implemented it, it's easily adaptable and all it has to do is preserve the ability to
perform magic and control dragons." Apollos replied, while making a note to punish Daemon. "Ned, I have only known
about Jaime and Cersei since I caught them together at Winterfell, and Cersei tried having me killed for punishing Jaime."
"What exactly is your plan?" Ned asked. "Because you can't beat Stannis and the Stormlands."
"I can do so very easily, Ned. Who would you choose? Jon's side or the Baratheon's side?" Apollos asked. "Keep in mind
that Lyanna would been humiliated by Robert's behavior and infidelities too, he was whoring around during his betrothal
to your sister and we both know it."
"I would support Jon." Ned replied without hesitation.
"My niece and nephew are innocent, but I have kept this secret for a short time and Jaime for far longer." Apollos began.
"But the secrets reveal is unavoidable and action must me taken. When the time comes, I will ask you to inform Stannis
by letter of it, and claim that Sansa and Arya are both hostages to ensure your compliance. I will hold the city and kingdom,
until the Targaryen's are ready. When they are, Tommen will surrender it to them, and be given the Lannister name and
taken to the Westerlands, where I will try to give him a good holding."
"Try to?" Ned asked in confusion.
"I need to make sure the few who worked harder than he are properly rewarded. For example, my Uncle Kevan is now Lord
Lannister of House Lannister of Riverrun, and Chief Bannerman of the Riverlands. He's answerable only to me. Castamere
and Tarbeck Hall are being rebuilt, but one will likely go to Tyrion and the other to one of my sons." Apollos explained, to
Ned's understanding.
"Before we pursue that plan, I need to create another kingdom so that there will be seven again. I was thinking of taking
the Stepstones and Tyrosh, and then sacking Lys. I would be eradicating pirates and two major slavery supporters." The
others found Apollos' reasons idiotic and made that clear with the looks they gave him. "Oh well. I need to go punish
Daemon for his stupidity then. When I return, I'll get back to work, I guess."
"We will go with you," Ned said and neither Varys or Tyrion disagreed.
Apollos teleported the four of them to the Olympus refuge and quickly led them inside, Tyrion breaking away to visit Tysha
as always.
"Daemon," Apollos said when he saw his son. "Marry Daenerys or be disinherited, if the rumors of her pregnancy are true."
"They are true, Lord Lannister." Varys confirmed. "Jorah Mormont informed me when he couldn't contact you, I had to give
them useless information, which it is, since they are isolated here." Apollos nodded.
"It was an accident! We only had sex once!" Daemon argued. Apollos raised an eyebrow. "I'm not marrying her! You can't
make me!" He said petulantly. I noticed the Targaryens looked disapproving and so did almost everyone else.
"He's a real testament to my bloodline," Apollos said sarcastically to Varys and Ned, who both smiled. "Daenerys, how
would you like to marry me? I'm older, more experienced, and since I fathered Daemon, I don't have an issue with raising
my grandchild. He obviously won't do right by you."
"He is an amazing lover, Dany," Rhaella said, encouraging her. "I would even be willing to let you share him with me."
She added teasingly, causing Daenerys to blush a little.
"I'll marry you Lord Lannister," Daenerys said with a smile.
"Am I still disinherited?" Daemon asked.
"Yes," Apollos said, pulling the sword once known as Lamentation from him. "I was even going to give you the Vale or the
Riverlands, but you're too lazy and entitled anyway. You don't even attend training or use your talents anymore, when you
do that again, then, and only then will I consider changing my mind."
Daemon just left the room, silently and angrily.