Aemon sat at the head of the painted table with his hands folded with Ghost at his feet. Around the table sat the lords of the Narrow Sea Lord Monford Velaryon, Aurane Waters, Lord Adrian Celtigar, Guncer Sunglass, Lord Massey, Lord Bar Emmon, Shiera Seastar, Jojen Reed and Maester Cressen.
Aemon's red eyes rose to Jojen Reed. "Before we begin," he asked in his usual soft voice, "do you have anything to tell us that might influence our planning for the upcoming war?"
Jojen's nodded with small shake of his head. "Oberyn Martell made a move in King's Landing," he said. "He turned the locks of the Black Cells and freed Lord Eddard Stark and Sansa Stark. They both ride a dornish ship toward White Harbor. While Oberyn together with his paramour and daughters have been taken in turn as prisoners."
Silence folded the chamber. Aemon felt the weight of actions taken by Oberyn whilst living in lions den. He had not expected the Dornish prince's blade to run so true nor so recklessly. He himself had been pondering ways to reach the Stark prisoners silently without crossing blades but now another had moved first, with a brazenness that carried both advantage and price.
Adrian Celtigar was the first to break the pause. "Your Grace, I have met Oberyn Martell," he said, his voice threaded with a sour certainty. "He does not do anything without purpose or for a good of heart. He's called Red Viper for a reason, this is not mere charity. He presses a piece on the board and expects others to follow."
Monford added what he had feared and hoped both. "He must be prying the Vale loose from their neutrality. A freed Stark, who had been fostered with the Eyrie's houses and has two unmarried daughters will make sure that Vale does not remain idle. That must have been his intent." His eyes flicked to Aemon. "If Lord Stark's claim to Cersei's bastard are strong enough, the Vale may hear him."
Aemon sat very still, listening to the their words and underhand meaning of Oberyn's action. His blow had now certainly forced the matter into the open.
"Tell me, then," Aemon said at last, looking from face to face, "of the houses we might call upon. If our first strikes must be inland, who in the Riverlands, the Vale, and the Crownlands will answer quickest and truest?"
Monford started, with experience of last war in his words. "In the Riverlands, Lord Darry stands as most loyal and true. He can muster small strength, perhaps five thousand men at most but he is the most worth the loyalty. By themselves they are not many, but together with other small houses they bind strength. Lord Mooton of Maidenpool… has always been timid. I would give him little weight until proven. Goodbrook, Lychester, Ryger these minor houses could when combined, can equal Darry's men. They are not grand, but they will increase our numbers."
Sunglass, who had kept his thoughts mostly to himself, spoke next of the mountains. "The Vale will be them most difficult one, Your Grace. Only House Grafton of Gulltown showed favor to the crown during the rebellion, and this House paid dearly for it. The Eyrie and Houses of Vale are prideful and thinks themselves too powerful, and its lords answer call of their own. However as Lord Monford said, if Ned Stark plays the wedding of his one of his daughters with Lord Arryn's son, the Vale may side by him. However the same could be said for the Lannister again as they too have Princess Myrcella. If Lysa Arryn is given a choice, then Vale may tilt to any side and we on the opposite of both sides will definitely face heavy casualties against fearsome cavalry of Knights of Vale."
Adrian Celtigar's continued. "The Crownlands bend where power sits, Your Grace. After the sack of King's Landing, many there bent knee to stag and lion both in fear. Yet in Crackclaw Point, with houses of House Brune, House Crabb and many around the peninsula have kept their loyalty to the dragon despite everything. They are descendants of First Men, fierce and old families who follow the Old Gods still. They will not change their collars for a purse." He paced his hand over the carved coast on the table as if feeling for wood beneath the paint.
Jojen, who had been still as a reed, spoke up in his small, soft manner. "Lord Celtigar is right, Your Grace. Lord Beric and Thoros of Myr as my sight showed me are in Crackclaw Point now, speaking to those lords. They ride among them, asking that they bend their knee to the true king. They bear word your word of Mountain's fall and of the justice made in name of lives lost."
Aemon took it all in. The thought of Beric and Thoros still travelling, circulating whispers of him, the unseen work that may turn popular anger among men into purpose. They were his first and quickest reach into the Riverlands and Crownlands. He nodded at Jojen, appreciating the boy's talent though it must certainly costs him in some way.
He then turns to old Maester Cressen. "Maester prepare ravens to Lord Rykker and to the lords of Cracklaw Point. Tell them their rightful King calls them to Dragonstone. Also send a message to Beric and Thoros through it and ask them come here without delay."
Cressen's quill scratched, slowly but he noted everything down. He did not ask what the call might cost to Seven Kingsdoms the chain he wore at his neck gave him his answer. Loyalty to a castle, he had said now the said loyalty rested upon new shoulders.
Shiera spoke for first time in the meeting, her voice soft as silk. "Your Grace, if you press inland from any Kingdom, the Vale will be the focal point. If the Eyrie holds hands of Lannisters, their cavalry can choke our lines anytime in crownlands. And if they tilt northward with Starks then we will be decimated thoroughly."
Aemon met her gaze. He knew of Knights of Vale from Battle of the Bastards and how a single order from their lord could bring avalanches of men.
"I understand. We will begin with the Vale," Aemon said. The words were simple yet the actions against the Vale had greater meaning. "As she said, if the Eyrie falls into Starks hands or if Vale joins the Lannister, they form a certain north-south line that can weaken our army movements. However if we hold the Vale first, we cut the heart from any coalition that they might try to form." He tapped the Painted Table where the Vale rose like a wedge between his coasts and the Trident.
"Prepare the men," he said, with finality. "After the arrival of Ser Barristan and every Lord to whom the letter will be sent today. We will move towards Gulltown, which will serve as our entry to Westeros."