Chapter 40: A doomed Kingdom
The Golden Tooth, The Westerlands
Jaime Lannister was tired of waiting at the Golden Tooth, thirty five thousand soldiers, nearly half of the Lannister's army at his back. He was sitting in Lord Lefford's solar and was reading the missive about the Riverlords army under the Blackfish's command who is thirty thousand strong but the Frey's, Blackwood's and Mallister's banners were absent. The first one was not a surprise but the two others clearly were.
But Jaime was worried, he heard that another seven thousand men arrived at Maidenpool and will soon start marching towards King's Landing. Jaime was worried for Cersei, Tyrion and the children. The Crownlanders have no love for the Lions of the West and will allow the Riverlords force to march towards King's Landing.
And with news of the Neck erupting with banners of white and grey, House Lannister needed to take control of the Riverlands before Aryan Stark came.
He came out of his thoughts when it was announced that his father was arriving with another host of thirty thousand men.
In Lord Lefford's solar, a war meeting was taking place with Tywin, Kevan, Jaime Lannister, Addam Marbrand, Harys Swift, Lyle Crakehall, Andros Brax and Leo Lefford.
Kevan opened a map and Tywin started to talk "We couldn't take the Riverlands by surprise, the Blackfish reinforced there defense and had their banners ready. A sennight ago, I received an information that nearly forty thousand valemen were marching with the self-proclaimed King of Mountain and Vale here but when they received news of the blockade from the Riverlands they decided to go to King's Landing..."
His words made the room panic but none more than Jaime, he was about to say something when Tywin continued "So we have no choice, Jaime you and your host will engage Brynden Tully, I will give you the Mountain to wreck havoc. I will go to the Crownlands to gain their allegiance and defend against the Vale. And it seems we have a new King, Renly Baratheon wed Margeary Tyrell and has more than a hundred thousand and twenty thousand with him at Bitterbridge." The expression around the room were grim.
"What about Dorne and the Starks, brother?" Kevan asked.
"Dorne hasn't made any move except sealing Prince's Pass and the Starks... well, in a moon's time, he struck blows against us, the Tullys and the Arryns. He is as unpredictable as his father was."
"What did he do?" Asked Ser Addam.
"Well, our only allies in the Riverlands were the Freys, but he sacked the Twins and butchered the Freys. He took everything north of Fairmarket from the Tullys, the Mallisters and Blackwood swore allegiance in front of the Heart Tree of Raventree Hall and according to my sources the tree was magically revitalized, Tytos Blackwood took it as a sign of the Old Gods, nonsense. He started building defenses and making Raventree Hall and Fairmarket into forteresses, Seagard too he started to evolve the dock and started to build ship. Then, just this sennight, he took the Three Sisters again and started building a fleet and defenses too. Lord Redfort's second son, Creighton, was allowed to return to the Vale. I don't know why and that bothers me, he may be as unpredictable as his father but he is as smart as his mother."
"We can think about the North later, we have to deal with the Tullys and Arryns now. I will start commanding marching to Pinkmaiden." Jamie stood up and started to get ready.
~
Harrenhal, the Riverlands
Tywin was marching fast towards Maidenpool to block the Valemen from marching to King's Landing when scouts arrived and told him an unsettling news "Lord Tywin, Maidenpool is in the hands of the seven thousand rivermen, twenty five thousand valemen are going to block our paths to Rosby."
"Twenty five thousand? Where are the other fifteen thousand ?" Asked Lewis Lydden.
Tywin suddenly stopped his horse and his eyes widened in horror. "Jaime..." he whispered.
Angry and with a cold look, he commanded Polliver to burn, rape and kill everything from here go Harrenhall where they will take residence.
~
Pinkmaiden, The Riverlands
The battle was brutal and the Tully forces were having a slight advantage as they were defending against the repeated assault from the Lannister forces. Thousands from both sides were already dead.
The battle was reaching a stalemate when Edmure Tully, seeing the Mountain and his men, numbering fifteen hundred attempting. Whether it was for glory or to prove himself to his father but Edmure who was charged with commanding the rear of the Tully forces, decided to send the full force of the rear, all four thousand men to take down the Mountain.
Unfortunately for him, it was a trap and when Edmure's forces charged the Mountain's, hundreds of arrows fell upon his men and he was attack by in two fronts, by the Mountain and the Strongboar. Disorganized due to the arrow attack, his forces were getting massacred. He knew that he made a horrible mistake and that with his mistake, the Lannisters could attack the rear of the army and encircled the Tully forces and butchering them.
But before they could finish him and his forces, everyone on the battlefield heard a loud horn followed by the thundering hooves of more than ten thousand horses. Dozens of banners were flying through the air but the more prominent, the falcon of House Arryn.
Lyonel Corbray smashed the combined forces that was threatening the Tully heir. While Andal Royce led the vanguard cavalry to destroy the Lannister forces through their left.
Jaime Lannister was bathing in rivermen blood. He killed dozens of them before the valemen arrived and destroyed his left army. He knew that he needed to do something bold to reverse the situation they were in and he saw an opportunity. A young man with sandy blonde hair and a crown. He took his men and decided to go cut the falcon's head. He killed several valemen before two men stopped him from threatening the King. These two men, Jaime knew, they were the two greatest warrior of the Vale, Yohn Royce and his bronze armor with runes and Lyn Corbray with Lady Forlorn.
They started to dance and attack each other and the more the combat was taking place the more Jaime grew worried. He watched his men get all killed while he was battling the two Lords of the Vale. He knew that the Bronze Yohn was strong but not this strong, every hit he took made all his bones tremble. He also knew that Lyn Corbray was skilled, when he was still a young man he cut Lewyn Martell in half at the battle of the Trident, but he didn't think that he was this skilled. But even with the two strongest warrior of the Vale on him, Jaime was having the advantage but Lyn Corbray's valyrian steel sword finally cut through Jaime's sword. The newly named Lord Commander of the Kingsguard was still shocked and didn't even react when Yohn Royce knocked him out with a left hook.
~
Fairmarket, The Northern Realms
Jon Stark and Aryan Stark were in the solar of the castle. Jon Stark was walking around seemingly nervous "Harrold Hardyng wasn't suppose to declare himself King, it wasn't the plan." He continued pacing around.
Aryan snorted in disdain "See, that's your problem. You think the world is a cyvasse board and that people are pawns, so when something goes wrong, you panic as if the Wall has fallen, that's disgraceful. I told you hundreds of times that each people is different, each man has a different motivation, a different bottom line and a different goal. Your sight is too narrow. You need to have a dozen back-up plans so that in the worst case situation you still gain a bittersweet victory and not a complete defeat. Nevermind, you will learn and as for that Arryn brat, his kingdom is doomed. He is a fool."
"Why do you think his kingdom is doomed? You also wish to secede."
"There is a lot of reasons. Firstly, he is an idiot, breaking away because there was no royal marriages when they had two places in the small council of Robert's is foolish. Secondly, there is a few Targaryen loyalist that still haven't forgiven the Arryn's for the rebellion. Thirdly, Baelish owns nearly half his bannermen, Yohn Royce is a fool if he thinks Baelish won't have any influence since Lysa's death. And fourthly and the most important, the Vale is not prepared neither politically, economically or military. That you compare my kingdom to his is an insult, his Declaration of independence was rushed, lazy, without foundation and quite frankly idiotic. The North is more unified than ever, even more than during the Andal Invasion. It took me more than ten years to mend the relationships between all the Houses of the North as well as bringing everyone behind Winterfell after our grandfather nearly destroyed our House and the North with his stupid decisions. I brought the First Men under one kingdom, one ruler and one religion. Every thing I did since my first day at Winterfell was for the Kingdom of Winter, we will flourish even more in independence because I prepared for nearly two decades. And the timing of my breaking away must be important, it must be because of the Iron Throne's fault not because of my ambition. I am glad that Robert Baratheon and Jon Arryn decided to spare Balon and the ironborn, it will show again that the pleas of the northeners is not important for the Andals of the South. When I sat on the Throne of Winter with Torrhen Stark's crown it will be because the small settlements will demand it to the big settlements who will demand it to their respective Lords who will demand it to their liege Lords and those Overlord of the North will crown me. I will accept the crown because my people want it, because they need it, not because of my greed to restore our family's kingship, even if it's the truth."
"One religion? Did you have anything to do with what happened to father in King's Landing?" Jon asked with narrowed eyes.
Aryan snorted "You see? Your sight is too narrow so you must think this was my plan because I gained from it. I just used that situation to completely purge the plague that was the Faith of the Seven in our lands. Just like I will use the situation that we have with the Septon of the Sept of the Sevenstreams who is a child molester and is raping the women who follow the Old Gods. Because I am always prepared for any eventuality to aid our House and our Kingdom."
"Father will say that it isn't honorable."
"There is a difference between being honorable and being foolish. Let's take the Battle of the Bells for exemple during the rebellion, Uncle Ned arrived at the Stoney Sept and started destroying Connington's host. The latter started to flee with the few thousands that were alive. The Northern and the Vale's cavalry were waiting outside but uncle Ned didn't allow them to run down those who fled. Was it honorable or foolish?"
Aryan didn't let Jon finish "It was foolish, Jon, foolish. This was war, not a tourney when someone flees, he gets eliminated. Those thousands of men that were allowed to retreat, do you think they went back to their home and lay down their swords? No, they came back at the Trident and northern casualties were higher because of it. Nevermind, let us come back to the Kingdom of the Vale, everything is good now, they killed fifteen thousand Lannister's forces and capturing the Kingslayer but at the first sign of trouble, everything will start to crumble. And the first problème rose, Lyonel Corbray was killed by the Mountain when the Lannister army fled to Harrenhal. Lyn Corbray is the heir and he is Baelish's man."
"Why don't you just kill Baelish?"
"And why should I do that? Now that Lysa and her whelp are both dead, he needs to create even more chaos in the realm. That means more southerners killing each other. He is a valuable asset."
Before Jon could answer, someone knocked on the door, he told them to enter, he saw the head of his spy ring in the northern Riverlands who came and decided to announce some news.
"I have two news, my Lord. First, Balon Greyjoy named himself King of the Iron Islands and demanded revenge against you. He sent his daughter Asha and brother Victarion with more than ten thousand men to attack our western shore. They seek to attack Moat Cailin, Torrhen's Square, Wolf's Bay, Deepwood Motte and Sea Dragon Point. We are ready for them. Do you have any instructions?"
Aryan smiled "Slaughter more than half of them. Put their head on spikes along the western shore and burn their bodies. Allow Victarion and Asha to escape with Theon, he will convince his sister and uncle to only return to Pyke after laying waste to Lannisport."
"The second information is after starting to look more into the new leader of the Golden Company we still haven't find anything, that means that someone is covering is tracks, someone very good. But we found out he had a meeting with a sellsword company who operate near Yi-Ti called the Red Claws, they are ten thousand strong but the more interesting part is who the leaders were, my Lord."
Aryan raised an eyebrow "Well, don't keep us waited."
"The two are named Alyn Tarbeck and Reynard Reyne."
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