Three days later, a proclamation bearing House Baratheon's crowned stag seal arrived throughout the Vale.
The proclamation opened with Tommen's full titles, in the name of Tommen I of House Baratheon, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, Ruler of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm...
It called upon all the lords of the Vale to come to the Eyrie for an assembly to unite against the Targaryens.
After reading the letter, some nobles of the Vale sneered, some pondered, and some turned the parchment over and read it several times.
Everyone could see that Tywin Lannister stood behind this letter. Tommen was only a child; he might not even understand what it said.
But they dared not stay away.
For the rule of House Baratheon could be said to have begun in the Vale.
Eighteen years earlier, Jon Arryn had raised the banner of rebellion at the Eyrie. The knights and lords of the Vale had followed him south, won the war, and put Robert Baratheon on the Iron Throne.
Now Tommen Baratheon sat in that chair. Whatever blood flowed in his veins, his name was Baratheon, and he had inherited his throne from Robert.
If the people of the Vale refused their king's summons, they would be repudiating the war they had fought and the dynasty they had established with their own hands.
Moreover, the Targaryens' New Reforms introduced the Abolition of Feudalism and stripped nobles of their Right to Recruit, their right to levy taxes, and their right to administer justice, threatening the interests of every noble.
The people of the Vale were no exception.
And so the nobles of the Vale began packing.
Earls boarded carriages, knights mounted warhorses, and, taking their guards with them, they converged along the mountain roads