On the fourth day of the march, a rider arrived with another letter from King Jacaerys, Duskendale had fallen. It had been a short-lived rebellion, but it gave the Storm King leverage. Surely he would have lost men in the capture of Duskendale, and surely not all the Dusklands had yielded overnight. There would be fighting, and both kingdoms would be weak and subject to seizure by the Stormlands and its allies. Celtigar knew that, Durran knew it.

As dusk fell across the camp, the Storm King summoned his Tully squire with quill and parchment. When on the march he forwent the pavilion tent in favor of an A-frame tent. A writing desk would take up room on the wagons that may better be served holding food or ale, and so he sufficed for a plank of wood placed across a tree stump.

He had letters to write, after all. After ordering his servants to feed the Celtigar rider, he set to work.