The Flaming String
History does not remember whether or not the Blackwoods’ claim that Raventree's great weirwood was poisoned by the Brackens are true, but with members like the late Lord Jonos the False Knight it becomes much easier to believe.Lord Jonos’s reign might have started with good intentions, but it ended in the flames of retribution. For his cruelty against his subjects and many heinous crimes against the womenfolk, he was finally arrested, tried in the Great Sept of Baelor and executed in the plaza before it.
Lord Jonos had five daughters by three different wives, and two bastard sons, although his rival, Lord Tytos Blackwood, staunchly maintained his belief that the older, Harry, was not fathered by Jonos.
Lord Jonos’ oldest daughter, Lady Barba, was married to Lord Paramount Edmure the Confessor of the Riverlands. Their marriage is covered in one of the recent chapters.
The second daughter, Lady Jayne, was married to the careless Lord Tristifer Mallery of Blackwater Rush. She bore him a son and two daughters and died in great shame and sorrow that her husband’s lust brought her. Lord Tristifer remarried to a poor dwarfish woman much younger than him, Lady Jeyne (probably so he would not have to remember a new name) of House Buckwell, gave her the same disease that brought so much grief to his previous wife, had another daughter and finally died at the age of six-and-sixty. Miserable Lady Jeyne remarried to her distant kinsman namer Ser Rhaegar (no doubt an another attempt to win favours with the ruling family), but died from the disease her previous husband gifted her with.
Lord Jonos’ third daughter, Lady Catelyn, was married to Lord Marq Piper of Acorn’s Ridge until his tragic and nonsensical death in a trial by combat at the age of just six-and-twenty. He left behind two young children with their uncle as a regent. Said uncle, Lord Marq’s brother Ser Lewys, then proposed to his brother’s widow. They had another two children together before Ser Lewys’ own death at the age of eight-and-thirty. Lady Catelyn mourned her two husbands for the rest of her life.
The fourth daughter of Lord Jonos, Lady Bess, was married to Lord Lucas, son of Lord Tytos the Protector of Blackwood. Their marriage is covered in the previous chapter.
The youngest daughter, Lady Alysanne, was married to Lord Karyl Vance of Wayfarer’s Rest until his death at the age of seven-and-fifty. She managed to have a bastard daughter with her husband’s brother in between her legitimate children, but the sickly girl did not survive infancy.
Lord Jonos always had a problem with male children. His borderline obsessive desire for a male heir resulted in two bastard-born sons.
The life of Colmar Rivers, the younger of the two, was already covered in the previous chapter.
The older one, Ser Harry, was eventually legitimised as Lord Jonos’ heir but died before his father. He was married to Lady Lorra, another bastard-born daughter of the famous Brandon Stark. After her death Ser Harry was devastated. His father hastily pressed him into another marriage but Ser Harry followed his true love just three years after. His second wife, already a widow once herself, returned home with no hard feelings.
Ser Harry and his Lady Lorra had six children, five survived to adulthood.
Their oldest daughter, Lady Crynna, is an odd case that will be covered in the future chapter.
Their middle daughter, Lady Kyra, is married to a westerman Lord Ilyn Ferren of Thurrock. They have a son and two daughters (all married and with issue).
Ser Harry’s youngest daughter, Lady Alicent, is married to Ser Steffon of House Massey. The pair does not have children and if the rumours about Ser Steffon’s state of mind are true, it is probably for the best.
Ser Harry also left two sons, this time not marred with any paternity disputes.
The younger, Ser Aegon (just for the beauty of the name, of course), is married to Lady Bella of House Staunton. It is interesting to note that Ser Aegon has a peculiar interest in the ancient faith of his namesakes.
Ser Aegon’s daughter, Lady Syrella, is married to Ser Gerold of House Grafton as his second wife. They do not have any children together yet.
After Ser Harry’s death his older son, Lord Robb the Rash, became the heir apparent. He became the Lord of Southstone after the infamous trial and execution of his grandfather, the False Knight. A shrewd and honest man and a formidable fighter, Lord Robb could have restored the good names of House Bracken if it was not for his cowardice and lust that he must have inherited from his notorious grandfather.
Lord Robb and his wife, Lady Mariya of House Staunton, had four children, although only four are still living.
Their oldest daughter, Lady Rhialta, was found abed with one of the household guards when she was just six-and-ten. When it became apparent that she was with child, Guy, the father, swore an oath of loyalty to the Brackens and begged for her hand. Lady Rhialta threatened to run away with her lover, so her soft-spined father gave in and blessed the marriage. The pregnancy resulted in a stillbirth though, much to the sorrow of the mother. She became obsessed with bearing another, living child. She did that a few years later but died shortly after herself. Now already a knight and an acknowledged master of command, Ser Guy still serves his briefly father-in-law as Master-at-Arms. His son, Harys, is a squire full of hopes of knighthood “like his dad”.
Lord Robb’s other daughters, Ladies Tyressa and Merianne, both married a westerman and moved away from home. Both have children of their own.
Lord Robb’s only son and heir, Ser Elmo, is a boy of six-and-ten (another knight that does not know which point to stick with, what happened to the knighthood?). He is yet unmarried, but there are talks of a possible watch with a girl from House Bullhart.
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