Winter's Fire → Game of Thrones

lxi. Celebrating Success

"Long live Lord Baratheon!"

There was a small smirk on Daemon's face as he stepped forward. I noticed that he must have injured his side from the way that he was moving. It worried me, but if it was serious then surely Daemon would let us know.

"I know a lot of you are loyal to my uncle," Daemon said, not bothering to raise his voice so that everyone had to listen closely. "As a show of good faith, I will let those of you who wish to stay loyal to him leave. The rest of you are welcome to stay and pledge yourselves to me."

It was an odd move by Daemon. He had been so angry when Ser Lomas refused to turn over the castle, yet he was letting the men who would have tried to kill us leave. I was not expecting that kind of reaction, but there must be a reason for it.

Personally, I would have put them all to death. Daemon is meant to be acting on behalf of King Tommen and putting these men to death for treason would be favourable. That, and there is always the possibility that they betray Daemon in an attempt to win the favour of Stannis Baratheon.

We watched as a lot of the men left. Aside from the twenty seven that we brought with ourselves, only about fifty of Stannis' men remained to pledge themselves to Daemon. They were the same men who had already kneeled before him. Yet they fell to their knees again and promised to defend Daemon.

Lucien put his hand on my waist and smiled at me. We did not say anything to each other, as now was not the time. We could talk about today when we were in private.

After a while, all of the men had pledged themselves to Daemon. They were all standing in the courtyard, awaiting his next orders. Even Lucien and I were waiting to hear what he was going to say next.

"Tonight we will celebrate," Daemon told them. "We will celebrate once more when I call all the lords of the Stormlands to pledge themselves to me as their Lord Paramount. For now, get the men who came with me settled into the barracks and continue to defend the castle."

The remaining men nodded and then hurried to do as they were instructed. The remaining archers took their positions atop the gate, a few of the men stood to either side of it down below, and the others led our men away. It was not long before they left Daemon, Lucien and I with Maester Jurene and Lord Meadows.

It was clear now that Daemon's injury to his side and to his arm were beginning to annoy him. He placed a hand on Lucien's shoulder, playing it off as a friendly gesture, but really he was leaning on him. Knowing Daemon though, he may not say anything about his injuries and hope they get better.

"Maester, you serve this castle, not me, correct?" Daemon asked, to which the Maester just nodded. "Do not tend to my injuries. I want you to tend to the wounded from our fight and to check on all of our men."

Only once Daemon said those words did I realise that the men who had fought Daemon were not dead. He had injured their arms and legs and weakened them enough that they could not fight, but they were alive. He had been so angry, so why show such restraint? Especially when those men were aware that they could die?

"My Lord, who will tend to your wounds?" Maester Jurene asked. "They could become infected, and the one on your side will need to be properly assessed."

"Lady Stark knows the basics of treating injuries," Daemon explained. "She will heal me. I do not need the expertise that some of these men will need."

Maester Jurene looked shocked, but he just nodded and left. I assumed he was going to get bandages and whatever else Maester's used to help the injured. He would undoubtedly have things I would not even think of using to heal people.

That left us with Lord Meadows. Daemon came to me to lean on now and I felt as if he was leaning on me a lot heavier than he was on Lucien. I did not mind though and just held his arm to help him a little bit more upright.