EVENTS OF A CROWN FOR A KING

PLOT INTRODUCTION

A Crown for a King is set in the Seven Kingdoms of Cephri, a land reminiscent of Medieval Europe. In Cephri the seasons last for years, sometimes decades, at a time.

Five years prior to the novel, the Seven Kingdoms were torn apart by a civil war often known as "The Youth Rebellion" and "The Crazed Collapse".There were whispers of a super alliance between several kingdoms to dispose of the King, Orson Casterly, and replace him with his son with Lord Tywon Casterly being named regent. The king known as "King Crazed Casterly' was a paranoid man and believed he was a Blackfyre king reborn so dyed his hair pale white to resemble the former kings, it was thought he took sips of Red Fìros from time to time(drinking too much would be poisonous to any living being). When a letter, which contents were treasonous, was intercepted by the Master of Whispers, Taena Skies, the King would execute Lord Devlin Young and his son, who sent the message, under grounds of treason however many people felt it was unjust.

The last remaining son, now Lord Ulthor Young wanted to avenge his father but he was never a brave one. Instead he begged his friends Samuel Royce and Aeyron Archer to convince their lords to call the banners in support of him. Aeyron successfully convinced his brother Lord Trystane Archer, Lord of the Dawnlands, to call the banners and Samuel got the backing of his father.

However it would not be enough to topple the throne and Lord Archer brought the support of the Waterlands in by promising his youngest sister, Larra Archer to Lord Strong's youngest son, Aaden. But House Storm,ruler of the Bronze Isles and the powerful House Nik, ruler of The Hunter's Gift continued to support the King, and House Forrester, ruler of the North stalled due to insults against their houses by the crazed king.

The civil war climaxed with the Battle of the Bask when all loyalist leaders were killed including all the members of the kingsguard who were present. The rebel army now under control by Aeyron Archer, after his brother was wounded in the battle, regrouped at GoldGift however Lord Tywon Casterly, former hand of the king to King Orson who had mysteriously not picked any sides was making his way to King's Landing with 11,000 strong troops ready to defend the city. Lord Ulthor Young disobeyed Aeyron's orders to regroup at GoldGift and rode to King's Landing in secret with his men.

When he reached the city it was being sacked and looted. The work of Tywon Casterly. Who had betrayed his Grand-Nephew The Crazed King. Jaime Casterly,son of Lord Tywon and of the Kingsguard betrayed and murdered King Orson and when Lord Ulthor arrived at the city he had done nothing to stop it and contributed towards the sack. The remaining royalists surrendered and Aeyron Archer was declared King of the Seven Kingdoms after a great council meeting of all the great lords. Aeyron and Ulthor's relationship soured after he learnt that Ulthor's men had killed the beloved queen Syrell Hightower and her young children one an infant and one a child had been killed by "knights" (Ser Hoare Lorch and Ser Gregor Hull) under his command. Their relationship only repaired when they both shared the same feelings towards Lord Forrester's eldest daughter Joanna who had been sent to King's Landing to show the North's support to the new king.

PLOT SUMMARY

IN THE SEVEN KINGDOMS

Hand of the King Ignis Swyft watches on as the King, Aeyron Archer and one of his Kingsguard knights-Ser Edmund Moore battle on in the old training yard of the Red Keep, Lord Ulthor Young and King Aeyron butt heads over Lady Joanna Forrester who both adore. In a private meeting Ulthor passively threatens the king over Joanna. After a confrontation with Ser Jaime Casterly Ulthor meets Ser Jon Darklyn, a knight of the Kingsguard and asks him to join him should anything happen to Aeyron. Angrily Jon denies him. Joanna and Aeyron meet in the Royal Gardens and discuss with themselves, there she tells him that she'll leave King's Landing in an attempt to stop the ongoing tensions as she knows she is the main reason, her desire is to return North to her home at WinterFort.

In a council meeting with members of the Small Council Taena Skies(the Master of Whispers) reveals that many lords have been seen entering and exiting Ulthor's chamber, those on the council deduce he may be beginning a war effort. After the meeting ends Ser Samuel Royce rushes to Ulthor's chamber without thought confronting Ulthor Young to where Nestor Nik, Lord of Hunter's Hill, arrives with a armoured men. Samuel fights the men and begins duel with Nestor up to the point of wounding Nestor to where the KingsPeace come and halt the fight.

In the aftermath Aeyron confines Samuel, Nestor and Ulthor to their chambers with Nestor and Ulthor together in one chamber, he gives 3 days of peace then he would decide what to do. However on the 3rd day Ulthor and Nestor have escaped their confines to a means not known by anyone. An emergency council meeting is called by Grand Maester Varlyn where he gives a scroll to Aeyron containing a message from Ulthor declaring war.

In the Bronze Isles Nestor and Ulthor's ally Lord Javon Storm declares the Bronze Isles for the rebels. Lord Trystane Archer, Aeyron's older brother declares The Dawnlands for the loyalists. Ser Jon Darklyn takes control of 15,000 loyalist men to meet with Lord Ben Royce at GoldGift. Ser Jon isn't the only knight of the Kingsguard to be sent as Ser Edmund Moore goes to Sun's Champion to meet with Trystane where we find out Ulthor has made the first move in the war invading the Dawnlands from the border it shares with the Proudlands.

Aeyron searches around for any whereabouts of Joanna who has gone missing, his search is interrupted as Taena Skies brings forth a Nightwitch to read to him a prophecy predicting deception, blood and rubble. During their journey to GoldGift along the Proudroad Ser Jon's army is ambushed by Nestor's far bigger army, battle ensues as Jon and 5,000 men hold the line as 10,000 escape. However Nestor's cavalry outflank them and stop a further 3,000 from escaping. The battle results in a loyalist loss and Ser Jon is presumed dead. After this the king feels a sense of duty to lead the armies and leaves King's Landing towards Trident's Trial, on the day he leaves a riot occurs due to famine ongoing in King's Landing as a result of the food embargo Nestor has put in place

Elsewhere the war continues with Jax Storm, youngest of Javon Storm's sons, lead an attack company attacking Dawnish castles along the shore. Due to the amounting pressure on the Dawnlands as it is the only place with warfare Trystane is willing to negotiate a ceasefire with Ulthor. Trystane goes to Ulthor's camp just outside Saltwood Keep to negotiate peace along with him are his son Daeron, his wife Hailee Archer, Ser Edmund, Lord Flaerion, Lord Cole and his son and Lord Jericho and his son. During negotiations Ulthor betrays Trystane stabbing him in the heart while his friend Ser Arlon Blacktown murdered Hailee Archer and then attempted to assassinate Daeron however Edmund saves the boy but is unable to save the rest as they all die, Daeron and Edmund miraculously escape the camp.

Ser Samuel goes on a quest in search of a person on grounds of Taena Skies, on his way out of King's Landing he stumbles upon a bard named Sugar. While at camp at Trident's Trial Aeyron learns that the Bronzemen have attacked the east coast of the Waterlands with mercenary groups, frantically he sends Lord Strong with 30,000 watermen to destroy their forces along there the king commanded he meet with Lord Rivers who cowardly pledged for Aeyron but did not give them troops.

Nestor Nik's army who were busy laying out insurrection groups in the Hunter's Gift turned their attention towards King's Landing and marched in full force with the attention to win the war by taking control of the capital. Lord Strong finally arrived at the Crossroads Castle where he found the bitter old Lord Willas Rivers who invited Lord Strong along with his vassals to speak with him at the hall of the castle, strangely all members of the Rivers family were present. Unknown to them Lord Rivers who despised Lord Strong made a pact with the Bronzemen and Ulthor, all members of the Rivers family shot their crossbows at the loyalist men killing them all except for Lord Strong's son who defiantly raced to kill Lord Rivers but he was ended when a bolt found its way through his skull.

Jon Darklyn who was presumed dead was infact alive but a captive of Nestor, he had been subjected to torture of the highest kind, in a storm night along came a female medic to treat his wounds but in actuality she was Soniya Cross sent to rescue Jon, her female appearance had rendered her as non threatening but her skills helped rescue Jon by the border of the Crownlands.

From 3 River Stronghold Aeyron received a letter from Lord Strong's daughter, Alice who begged him to save her and her family as they were besieged in their castle but the loyalist army was in a race with the rebels to get to King's Landing first, therefore he gave no response to her.

Ignis improves the defences of King's Landing knowing that Nestor was continuing to King's Landing there he finds out about Red Fìros, a powerful substance that burns almost endlessly, he figures that may be the only way to save the city against the odds. He receives a letter from Edmund Moore who was rescued by the fleeing Dawnish army, while Trystane negotiated with Ulthor it was a trick to delay him and allow the Dawnish army to escape on ships to King's Landing, the news Edmund brought described that the Bronze fleet was ahead of them and closer to King's Landing than they were.

Jon and Soniya travel alone and discover the aftermath of the rebels such as the looting of Redwater Keep, they find that outlaws have moved into the castle together they eliminate the outlaws with Jon acquiring ill fitting armour from the Red Baron, the outlaws' leader.

Samuel after finding out the whereabouts of the mage from a nearby village goes to capture it however the mage is more than he thought-finding out it was The Ghost of Blackfyre, a 600 year old figure in Cephrian history. The mage traps Sugar and Samuel fights against the mage's minions. In a tiresome battle Samuel defeats the mage and captures it who fears his Celtigan Steel sword.

The day of the battle came and neither Aeyron or Edmund had showed up. The battle first begins at sea with the Bronze fleet emerging with mighty sails far outnumbering the weak leftover ships of the Royal Fleet. The Royal Fleet charged the Bronze fleet head on and in the night the Bronzemen could not see what the ships were spilling, tonnes of Red Fìros was being dumped into the sea by the royal ships, unknown to the Bronzemen they continued to charge the ship. Across the city at the Highgate Ser Steffon and his men launched their fiery arrows and boulders towards the liquid Fìros and rapidly the sea erupted in a triumphant blaze virtually destroying the majority of Bronzemen ships.

Meanwhile Nestor's men attacked the other side of the city that was not defending the sea, seeing the eruption of the Red Fìros Nestor's men attacked and quickly overwhelmed the Rosegate, even still across the city Bronzemen ships still emerged from the mask of the fire. The Bronzemen landed their troops at the Mudgate, Highgate and Lowgate-and Ignis's trick could not stop the Bronzemen for long.

At the Highgate along with the Rosegate the rebels overpowered the loyalists continuing them backwards to the inner city, at the Mudgate the fighting emerges in the streets and at the Smith's lot is where most the fighting occurred. Ignis comes face to face with Jax Storm who cuts Ignis's ear off and is nearly killed until the horns of the Dawnish ships call, distracting Jax and allowing Ignis to kill him.

Even with the Dawnish reinforcements Nestor's men at the Rosegate are too many deriving the loyalists back to Blackfyre Square (the middle of the city), they are being pushed back to the Red Keep in what would be their final stand. In the battle Thoron Hull, protector of Larra Archer, goes up against his brother The Mountain, Gregor Hull, their fight continues until Aeyron Archer arrives with the combined force of Watermen, Northmen and Crownlanders. Aeyron's force eliminates the rebels from King's Landing though many escape, around 60,000 or so. The Mountain is killed by Ser Lewyn Flowers, one of Aeyron's Kingsguard who interrupted in the battle between the brothers plunging his lance through Gregor's head when Thoron smashed it off.

The day after the battle lead to a celebratory feast, Thoron Hull confronts Lewyn about stealing his desire to kill his brother but Aeyron leads Thoron out who vows he won't forget what [Lewyn] did. At the feast Jon Darklyn returns to the king with Soniya. Samuel arrives a few days later and is unaware whether Aeyron or Nestor won the battle, he soon finds out the loyalists won and gives the Ghost of Blackfyre to Taena with contempt.

The Ghost of Blackfyre seeks Aeyron out with help from Taena Skies she speaks a prophecy about the coming future that none understand. With the rebel command fleeing Aeyron decides to seek them out in the open and destroy them for once and for all. The Northerners at the Proudlands, commanded by Lord Cregan Forrester, also reported the Ulthor abandoned trying to stop their advance into the Proudlands and instead sought west to meet with Nestor.

All the loyalist armies group at GoldGift knowing that Nestor is sitting at Hunter's Hill, Soniya Cross, Jon Darklyn, Domeric Forrester and Lewyn Flowers engage in friendly combat. The loyalist army begin to move to the River Reach knowing the rebels would make their way there. From across the river the loyalists hear the roar of the rebels who have come for one last battle, their men are split between fighting down by the river or fighting on the bridge held by the Ignis Swyft and Northmen.

In the battle Aeyron and the Kingsguard are overrun by rebel horses until Samuel, who wargs into the horse, take control of one of the horses by transferring his consciousness, causes distress between the horses making them flee in panic however in the panic Aeyron and the Kingsguard are separated. During the battle Domeric Forrester gives his life to save his fathers, he dies by the blade of Ser Glenn Corbray but not before Domeric finishes Corbray off.

Lord Cross and Ser Samuel find Nestor's horse, who sees them are charges straight to them however Lord Cross with his greatsword gave a deep cut the horse's front legs forcing Nestor off the horse and onto the river floor to where Samuel killed him by decapitating him.

Elsewhere in the battle Edmund comes face to face with Ser Arlon who nearly drowns him but Edmund barely survives and kills Arlon, Aeyron who had gone missing had climbed onto a horse and charged towards the rebel's archers knowing Ulthor was somewhere there. The archers take out his horse but soon Aeyron and Ulthor find themselves staring straight at eachother, they engage in a bloody battle with Aeyron overpowering Ulthor multiple times but his rage imbalanced him. Eventually Aeyron tackled Ulthor to the ground and pummelled his face with repeated strikes until Ulthor died with the rebel reacting the words "the tower......the tower."

With the deaths of both command the rebels ran back into the woods they came from and the loyalists had won. Aeyron however set on finding Joanna goes alone with Lord Cregan Forrester and Ser Steffon Bracken, one of his Kingsguard, to Widow's Wail. The rest of the army go back to King's Landing.

At Widow's Wail he finds Lord Tywon Casterly controlling a siege of the castle with Ser Jamie Casterly, Ser Jamie clashes with Aeyron and Ser Steffon. The King orders them to leave and take Knife's Edge(the home of the now dead Ulthor Young).

After the Casterly's leave the trio venture to the inside of Widow's Wail where the guards turn on Ulthor's man Lord Slynt. They find Joanna in the Queen's tower dying. There Joanna reveals that Ulthor and her were in love. The two of them got married without any of his men knowing and not only had they been married but Joanna had recently given birth to twins, one boy and one girl named Cyrus and Leia. She was dying of an implication after birth, Joanna's final promise for Aeyron was to take care of her children and to tell them who their father was when the time was right.

Aeyron and Ser Steffon left Joanna in her final moments so she could be with her father but he was crushed now. Lord Cregan and Aeyron decide to let Cregan take Leia up north and Cyrus would stay with Aeyron down south. At King's Landing a funeral was held for Joanna, her body was taken with the Northerners who went back up to the North by ship.

Aeyron breaks down on the throne crying deciding that the victory of the war was not worth it.

UP NORTH

Gerold Forrester has a dream involving a talking crow where he flies through Cephri and to the far East and to the far North, he sees visions that he does not comprehend. Since the war began his father and his brother went down south with the army he was left as ruling leader of WinterFort during a meeting about the upcoming harvests with the northern lords, Lord Robert Vance who was part of the Great Ranging group who went missing beyond the waste rushed into the hall deranged and mad, shivering and screaming he claimed he saw the Others.

In another dream he sees WinterFort overrun with redmen and the ocean waves, he had wrote to the king about Lord Vance's claims and got a letter but it was not from the king it was from Lord Bolton who said he was returning back North to protect the North from the Bronzemen.

In another dream he gets visions of the present, later his men have captured a wildling. Gerold interrogates her finding out her name was Samalah and she was scouting the numbers of WinterFort's defences. The two of them garner a connection and Gerold even allows Samalah to go free on the condition she goes to the wildling king and to tell him the Northerners would crush any attack they try.

WinterFort was the subject of an attack at the peak of night, quickly they gathered the small forces they had and defiantly held the castle against the "Bronzemen". However when the gate of the castle breaks open he finds out the truth and see's the Bolton sigil. Lord Bolton had collaborated with the Bronzemen to take WinterFort. With them losing the castle Gerold and the inhabitants had nothing else to do but run through one of the castle's escape systems they emerge at a hill far from the castle watching as it was set on fire.