Runestone lay beneath grim clouds of war.
Beyond its walls, densely packed tents stretched as far as the eye could see.
Not long before, Jaime had entered the Vale at the head of five thousand Lannister soldiers and ten thousand dispossessed peasants hastily mustered from the Crownlands.
In his capacity as Warden of the Vale, Littlefinger had ordered the houses of the Vale to send troops to besiege Runestone and force the Lords Declarant to surrender Mya Stone.
In the open country outside Runestone, House Lannister's crimson banners bearing golden lions and the banners of the Vale's nobles flew above tens of thousands of tents, blocking every road connecting Runestone to the outside world.
At the edges of the camps, soldiers were also assembling rows of siege engines in preparation for an assault.
Inside the castle, the atmosphere in the Main Keep's hall was icy.
Lord Yohn Royce sat in the seat of honor, his face full of anger and exhaustion.
His eyes burned with fury as he stared fixedly at the man being roughly restrained by two Royce soldiers in the center of the hall: Eson Arryn.
The moment Lord Yohn returned, he had seized him from Arryn Castle in Gulltown.
The head of House Arryn of Gulltown had long since lost the splendor he had enjoyed when proclaiming a monarch.
His face bore several bruises, and his eyes were full of fear. He could barely stand.
"Eson Arryn!"
Lord Yohn roared, "You profit-blinded swine! You rebel who blasphemed against the Seven and sullied the Vale's honor! Who gave you the nerve to proclaim a bastard girl queen of the Seven Kingdoms?! You're declaring war on all of Westeros! You're dragging Runestone, the Lords Declarant, and the entire Vale of Arryn into an abyss of eternal ruin!"
Eson Arryn