Chapter 86

"Let's start this off simple, that not so little friend of yours was indeed friendly, yes?"

"..."

"Hmm, that's good, I just wanted to make sure, too much of what had happened doesn't make sense to me, so I couldn't be sure if my common sense had stopped working along the way."

"But given your word and the fact that we're still alive I can somewhat accept that the titan was friendly, but if he really was, why didn't you just leave the destruction of the Camp to him, um, was taking them out more important than our mission?"

"..."

"Well, if destroying the camp wasn't more important, why did we waste all that time on this if your big friend could have dealt with them?"

"..."

You genuinely wanted to know since you expended way too much for it to be completely pointless, but it seemed like your companion couldn't provide you with the answer you had sought so easily, probably meaning that it was just a little too elaborate to let you guess. If your companion had been willing to simply write a few words down on the ground, the issue could have been solved quite easily, but for some reason he never did. Perhaps it's a spirit thing, though you had the impression that your companion wasn't quite done this time around as he took off one of his armoured gloves.

"Well, my good Sir Knight, since you helped me out I will ask nicely, what's this all about, showing some skin is hardly the end of the world, and it's not like I tried anything funny till now, now did I?"

"There's no reason to be so reserved around me, especially if whatever you're considering might help us with our mission."

"..."

"Hmm, so you're made up of stone, I honestly can't see it, how's that going to help us with bringing me up to date on what happened?"

"..."

"Come now, don't look at me like that, we both saw that giant titan of stone that can just stomp whole castles flat, why would you expect me to be surprised that the inhumanly powerful spirit I call my companion is made of stone, that just doesn't really compare, now does it?"

"Yes, I can see why you wouldn't be surprised, my good Ayna, it's a pleasure to finally write to you, my apologies for the inconvenience."

"The pleasure is of course all mine, or it most certainly would be, if I actually knew whose words I have the pleasure of reading."

"Writing on someone else's body like this from who knows where is not exactly comparable to the proven and trustworthy norm our feathered friends provide, so I genuinely need to insist upon receiving something more than just a small number of pleasant words, if at all possible."

"All in due time, that much I can promise, though that being said, I seem to remember you still had some questions your companion failed to answer, so I believe they should still be taken care of as soon as possible."

"Well, if you're genuinely offering, you unnamed friend of mine, I'm sure we will manage to get along just fine if you could truly answer my questions, so now, what had doomed the camp of the Mountain Clans, and why was this companion of mine needed to take care of it."

"I do quite love your directness, I agree, let's begin, the reason for why the traitors had to be taken care of was quite simple despite the fact that different reasons joined it along the way, and that main reason as mentioned before being simple and despicable treachery."

"House Lannister has offered them everything, from gold and silver, to food and technologies, and not to forget a decent fortune's worth of serviceable arms and equipment without a need for repayment as we would have been content if they had managed to replace the Arryns and the Knights of the Vale as they had planned."

"But despite the great start, things had soon changed for the worse as the fanatics of the old gods had swiftly managed to convince more and more tribes to cease cooperation as their victories mounted, till we realised that even the greatest of the Mountain Clans that had accepted our gift had fully turned on us."

"Thus, things needed to be rectified as our plans for the Vale just didn't contain any mention of armed religious fanatics hostile to us, and while we could have wiped them from the face of existence as you had witnessed, the fools still used our gifts, so we knew exactly where they had deployed their best to protect both their spoils and chiefs."

"Great, so I understand why you made sure their elites would be wiped out as publicly as possible, but where does my companion fit into all of this if you had that titan so close nearby to wipe them out?"

"Simple, the titan wasn't nearby, I created it under this knight of ours as he drew in their reinforcements, I expected that their gods would give them some kind of warning which would make sure they over committed no matter how vague the warning ended up being since their false knights and commanders were their only hope of fighting the Knights of the Vale in the open battle when the time came."

"Are you seriously claiming that you created that monster in less than a day?!"

"Naturally, I could hardly hide something that powerful from them as they had the help of their gods, and since your companion was my only stable creation in the Vale that I could take over to create my newest little brother, he obviously needed to be there as our gods were rather stingy with how much of my plans for the Vale they promised to hide from the old gods."

"Sigh, I really need to know who you really are and some proof to believe any of that stuff, and while I appreciate your willingness to part with this much information, your claims are just too unbelievable you still unnamed friend of mine."

"But our common friend will need a new set of both armour and gambeson either way if the mission is still involving him, that is if presumably you, still wish me to deal with Lord Arryn, I will expect some proof whenever the new Armour is ready to be picked up."

"That seems reasonable enough, and I admit I far prefer the extra step over learning that my new assassin is actually just a gullible fool, not that I will respond kindly to this mistrust once you have your proof, my good Ayna."