After the victory feast ended, the guests gradually dispersed, and Dragonwing Castle grew quiet.
Viserys returned to his study to deal with routine affairs of state while pondering the increasingly chaotic situation in Westeros.
According to the latest news brought by raven, the Westerlands had utterly defeated House Tully of the Riverlands and now surrounded Riverrun.
The Young Wolf of the North, Robb Stark, had also officially led his army past Moat Cailin and into the Riverlands. The northern army was advancing toward Riverrun, intending to lift the siege of House Tully.
Yet under Lord Tywin's command, the Lannister army continued to operate in orderly fashion.
One force, led by Jaime, continued to besiege Riverrun, while another contingent of elite troops, led by Tywin himself, had camped on the Green Fork, holding the key approaches and waiting, fresh and ready, for the young direwolf of the North.
The Green Fork was the battlefield and grave he had prepared for the northerners, and they had no choice but to meet him there.
Meanwhile, the combined armies of the Stormlands and the Reach that Renly Baratheon had gathered at Bitterbridge had not marched straight on King's Landing as many had expected. Instead, he had become locked in a standoff with his elder brother, Stannis.
Stannis had now stationed his fleet in the waters off Storm's End, proclaiming himself the rightful heir to the Iron Throne and demanding Renly's submission.
His subordinates had finally talked him out of his original plan, making him understand that the Dragonstone Fleet alone could never take King's Landing.
That was why he wanted to bring Renly's forces under his command first, then advance step by step. But with Robert's will, superior numbers, and the support of the Stormlands' nobles behind him, Renly refused to yield.
War between