Chapter 8: Chapter 7
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Damian Rivers.
We arrived back in good old Old Town.
On our way to the Homeland, we had almost no incidents. Although a few times there were some very interesting ships on the horizon that our captain couldn't recognise, they sailed on by. Their sense of smell served them well on the way to and from Braavos, so they never attacked us. We did get caught in one storm, though. But without much loss of life, only one sailor was thrown overboard and that was all, mine were all safe and alive.
In Staromest we stayed in one big cheap hotel for three days, so that I could find us a new job, and to tell the truth I didn't expect to be so lucky, but I found us a job quickly.
In a large and quite decent tavern called the Rose of the South, I met Ser Emmon Q. again. He was on an errand for his father. Not so much an errand as a call for help.
I had forgotten that I was living in medieval times, albeit in a different world with magic, but it was not much different from my past. So all the feudal problems were still there.
We ordered some wine and roast meat and sat down to discuss the matter. Emmon was as sad as a kitten caught in the rain.
- My family is in trouble, Damian. - We've gone "you" without titles. - My ancestral castle and the town we've owned for centuries, Sunny House, is under siege by our not quite conscientious neighbour. Tommen Constain, who is Lord of the Three Towers has raised his sword knights and mercenaries under his banners and has decided by some ancient treaty to "reclaim" the Sun House. The city can withstand the siege for several years, but the crops have not yet been brought to the city, so soon there will be famine. And my father needs men to take the offensive. But he has only 300 men on hand, and most of them are on foot. Lord Constable has exactly five hundred men, with fifty knights and half of them trained pikemen.
- How many men do you have on hand? - I asked him.
- Me, two of my squires, two dozen of our house's foot soldiers, and five other knights with their squires. Four dozen in all. I asked the Hightowers for help, but our suzerains can't help us. - He spat angrily. - My uncle won't be back with his men for some time. He's gone to the World on his own business, taking a hundred men and a few ships with him. My younger brother, who has a few men, fifty or so, is in the Marks and probably doesn't know what fate has befallen our house. But together, we could have lifted the siege of Sunberth.
- And you can now. - I assured him, considering my options.
- What do you mean?
- Tell me, is there any family left in his castle?
- Well, yes, he has a young son, two daughters and a bastard, and his wife is dead, I think. But why-- Hmm, I see. It's not exactly fair to blackmail him like that. But on the other hand, under the circumstances, it's an appropriate response. We'll be understood. But the castle is well guarded. I don't doubt they're not expecting an attack, but there should be enough men there. How many men do you have?
- I have eighty-two, including twenty cavalrymen, seventeen archers, and the rest foot soldiers.
- Not bad. - He nodded approvingly. - But not enough for something like taking an entire city.
Hm. You're the one who doesn't know Theon Greyjoy's history or his future betrayal. It hasn't happened yet, though, and no one's ever set eyes on Winterfell. Emmons is right, though, and we won't be able to take the city not even because of the "small number" of people, but because no one there considers us their own, and there are probably no small-minded people there. So we'll have to put this idea on hold.
- Then send a message to all your friends asking for help. And I'll let my people know that we seem to have a new contract in the works and that they should prepare themselves for trouble.
- Glad you agree Damian. - smiled for the first time all day, Q. - 'I won't forget that. We do not forget the good and you as well as your men will be richly rewarded after the siege of the Sun House is lifted.
- I will keep that in mind. - I answered him and we went on to draw up a very favourable contract.
A day later we rode into Sunnyside House to the aid of Lord Branston Kew, Emmon's father. The total strength of our common detachment reached one hundred and eighty men. I left the whole "wagon" in the form of Marquette women and young men who had not yet become full-fledged warriors in the tavern under the supervision of two of our good fighters, so that only eighty of our "green cloaks" went purely from our "green cloaks". The rest were a sudden influx of a dozen men from an old acquaintance of Emmon's to help us. Another fifty are mercenaries, former guards and soldiers from other cities and lords who were forced to become mercenaries. Emmons has a contract with them just for this little campaign. So I'm thinking, if they perform well and stay alive, I'll lure them to join my squad. But first we need to lift the siege on Emmon's fiefdom.
Less than three hundred miles to Sunnyside House was quicker than the journey to Highgarden from Staromest. Whereas we had travelled by road then, there was no direct route, only winding roads, both stone and dirt. But we were "light". We did not have a load as such, we had a couple of horses loaded with food, plus we hunted in the forest, fished, so we were not in danger of starvation. On top of that, even though most of us were used to fighting on foot, we all had horses. We only bought horses for ourselves and those mercenaries who didn't have them. Emmon thought for the rest of the mercenaries, though. So we all became "mounted" and travelled faster.
And the distance was much shorter, plus we did not turn off the path, stopping only twice a day to rest and eat, and at night to sleep.
On the morning of the sixth day we arrived at the Kew family's property.
The scouts reported that the city was still under siege, but that they were preparing to storm it. Two siege towers and ladders were ready. Marik, who went to scout with our "hunters", estimated that there were about five hundred warriors under the walls. I went to reconnoitre, along with Ser Emmon and a couple of other of our men, and personally looked and came up with a plan of further action. I also saw about five hundred men. A hundred of them are cavalry, and I counted seven dozen archers and crossbowmen. The rest were infantry. Half of them were trained infantrymen, and the rest appeared to be militia. Simply put, they're extras who've been hastily trained for this company. That's better.
- Emmon, do you have any way of secretly contacting the besieged city?
- Yes, I do. But I can't take you or anyone else through a secret dungeon. - he frowned. - It's a secret we've been keeping for centuries.
- If it's a secret, why are you telling me about it?
- Basically, the whole of Spaceland knows that we have underground passages and labyrinths, just as we do in King's Landing, but only members of the Q family and the most loyal servants know them. So I can get through, but there's no-one to guide me.
- That's not really necessary. - I assured him. - The important thing is that we can get a link to your house. Can they make a raid when the time comes?
- An attack from both sides? - He understood me.
- Yes. But we'll ambush the enemy's cavalry before we move in from both sides. This will force your "enemy" to disperse his forces and there is a good chance that we will not only defeat this "army", but also capture Lord Constain. But that's assuming we coordinate with your father.
- I'll take care of it.
- Then I'll prepare my men and fill you in on my plan later. I'm sure it will be successful.
- I believe you Damian. - he smiled. - You seem like a man who keeps his word and is quite clever.
Emmon, after we returned to the squadron, disappeared with his squire in an unknown direction. It would have been good to send Rex after them and find out where that secret passage was. But I didn't find Rex around then, he appeared only after I had finished explaining to my officers and knights, and to Emmon's commanders, what was required of them. I was in fact our deputy commander-in-chief, as we had agreed back in Staromest, and so there was no objection.
The men were prepared and knew what needed to be done. About a couple of hours after he left, Emmon returned and said that at the agreed signal his father and all those with weapons would move out to counterattack. So we went ahead with the plan.
Emmons and three dozen other riders rode out in a conspicuous position so that Lord Costain could see them. And then as soon as a large troop advanced towards them, they turned into the forest, galloping as hard as they could along the narrow forest road. This detachment numbered seven dozen horsemen. After about a mile, deep in the forest, Ser Emmon halted with his troop as if preparing for battle. The enemy did not slow down and prepared to engage them in battle. But it was not to be. Two huge trees fell down in front of them, which frightened the horses and they stood on their haunches. Several of the knights were immediately thrown to the ground, and about fifty metres from the tail of the "chase" several trees also fell, and both those in front and those behind were watered with wine from the Stormlands, which was slightly inferior to vodka. The trees were then held up only by ropes, which were also soaked with wine, and these we set on fire, and the fire spread to the logs. The Costains had no way of retreat. Moreover, almost immediately we began firing crossbows and bows at the horsemen. They were not all wearing lats, about a third of them were light cavalry, even without helmets. So the archers concentrated on that part of the cavalry, while the crossbowmen concentrated on the armoured cavalry, aiming at the articulations or the less protected areas.
The cavalry commander was obviously not a fool, so he ordered everyone to dismount and fight on foot. But this I had foreseen, and my men prepared traps, not many, but to slow their advance into the woods and add to the enemy's fear. Meanwhile the shelling continued.
- Infantry! Engage! - I gave the command and led one of the attacks with a dozen guys, including Rex, Barry Asgen, Ben, Marik, Larry Short-handed and Gerda on the other side of the road Varik led the attack. On either side of Varik's group there were another dozen of our fighters that went into the attack, on my right side there was only one dozen. But that was enough. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Emmon and his men dismount and march towards us in full armour.
The fight was relatively short, but it was bloody, and even in our squad we had lost seven of our hardy, experienced fighters killed and six wounded. Emmon had a squire and a trio of knights with one mercenary knight killed.
Fortunately no one was able to escape, though some almost succeeded. Only three survived by surrendering to us as prisoners. I was once attacked by four knights, and it seems they were quite skilful, and I would have been dead if Rex hadn't been near me, he's a very skilful knife thrower. He was running around the battlefield without a shield.
After the first battle of the day was over, I ordered to clean up the wounded to be bandaged and put back in the ranks, and those who could not be sent to guard the corpses and describe the property of the dead. They'll be in charge of guarding the "hard-won". Varick went off to signal the besieged to make a sortie. We moved to the position from which we were to attack.
Emmon Kew and all the cavalry hid in the woods, and I, with infantry and support from archers and crossbowmen, went to the light of day not far from the hill that served as the enemy's "stakes" and where some of his forces were. Half of Costain's men had already tried to storm the walls of the city, but they had to abandon their siege towers and ladders, for Lord Branston's men were coming out to meet them. The forces of our enemy stretched into two "fronts", one was near the walls of the city, and the other was us.
A hundred and fifty infantry, and, I think, a few dozen cavalry, quickly advanced on us. Among them I saw a knight with the coat of arms of the House of Constain and in very good equipment. The "general" himself seems to have come to see me. This is even better than I thought.
The infantry have formed a pig formation. A good formation that is quite common in the Riverlands, the North and, I think, the Stormlands. I could be wrong about the latter, of course. But the Master of the Twin Weapons has seen many lands of Westeros and has told me much in his time.
They approached us slowly, and the riders followed them, not eager to fight, expecting us to come at them, and we did.
Varick did not eat his bread in vain and commanded the archers well, they were raised a little above the ranks and sprinkled the enemy with bolts or arrows. Though there were archers in the enemy camp. But luckily for us, most of them were in Lord Branston's front.
When they came within twenty metres of us, I signalled to Emmon Q, with a flaming arrow in the sky, to attack the enemy, and six dozen men came out of the forest, saddled their valiant horses, and galloped towards the enemy. Lord Constain saw this and turned his cavalry towards them. But as he rode a little further away from us, I gave the following command:
- Throwers! Fire!
A dozen specially selected long-armed lads each lit a pot of "cocktail" and threw it at the enemy. Some, unfortunately, missed, and the pots either missed or flew over the "pig". But the ones that did hit the target did well for the effort and time expended on them. The enemy warriors stood quite close in this formation, and the fire seized many and spilled over to their other comrades. The formation was quickly broken, for no one wanted to be burned alive. Their immediate commander ordered them to quickly close in and engage us. They immediately overcame the panic of that order and pounced on us. There were over a hundred of them as well as us, and there were a hundred of us along with the archers.
- Back line! Flanks! In two directions!
After my command, the rear line split into two lines and one went to the right flank and the other to the left. They were in line with the first line. But not in one solid and straight line, but one that resembled the letter "P". They would have surrounded them if possible, but so we barely had time to react to the danger of outflanking our formation. Alas, I miscalculated a bit with the rest of the cavalry, I thought the lord himself and his retinue would not go into battle with us, and pounce on his main opponent, against whom he actually from the very beginning and opposed. I'll keep that in mind next time.
Rex and I were in the rear and were the only ones on horseback, we started firing at the enemy with hand crossbows, which could be loaded, and knocked out either the most active and aggressive officers or the healthiest. A couple of times, the formation was almost broken, but our few archers, who did not abandon their main weapon and did not move into close combat, and Rex and I saved the situation. It was enough for Emmon to come to the rear of the enemy and tip the scales to our side. The Constain warriors were not suicidal and quickly surrendered to us.
As it turned out, those three dozen horsemen of the enemy lost only a dozen killed, the rest were wounded, but surrendered to the mercy of the victor, one of those captured knights with Emmon's permission rode to inform the other part of the army that their lord was captured, and there was no point in continuing the fight. And as it turned out, Lord Branston was a good soldier, and under his leadership Q's men had beaten many enemies. Even some of the mercenary squad, when they smelled a roast, were driven off the battlefield. And the rest decided that there was no point in continuing the fight after their lord was captured, so they laid down their weapons.
And if anyone says this battle was easy for us, I'll knock their teeth out!
We lost as many as thirty men killed, plus there were several seriously wounded who died because they were not treated in time or their wounds were very severe. Two I killed personally because they begged me to. One lost both eyes and his right arm and leg, and the other lost both lower limbs. True, these two are new, who were under-equipped, hence the losses. Plus, in addition to those killed, a dozen and a half men are out for a while because of wounds. They'll recover, but it'll take a month at least.
Things were bad. The joy of victory and the winnings overshadowed the anger at the weakening of my squad.
Emmon, who, though he understood me in part, tried to turn the subject to the sharing of spoils. It was a bit of a distraction.
I'm not a good man, and I'm not a humanist, either. I realise that I could probably die in the same way, but it was probably more a sense of possessiveness than anything else, with nearly half my squad dead and a small number wounded.
I was distracted from these unhappy thoughts as I shared the spoils with Emmon and received from Lord Branston Kew the due reward that Emmon had promised me in the form of 100 gold dragons, which was very good money. The Q family was very generous
And the epic confrontation between the two houses subsided pretty quickly. We were even going to rest a little at first to wait for the younger brother Emmon and waited for him with not fifty warriors, but eight dozen, as well as reinforcements from other distant relatives and friends of Lord Q about a hundred and three people exactly. And we had received word from Uncle Emmon that he was already in Sunspear and would recruit mercenaries for the feudal mess there.
A march on the Three Towers was in the works. But it all got sorted out pretty quickly because of a messenger from the Hightowers. Olenna Tyrell had tipped off her son, and he had already tipped off his relatives through his wife, so that they could put their vassals in order. That and taking advantage of the "royal peace" dragged the heads of both houses to Old Town, where they agreed on peace, and their suzerain redistributed the land, gave a wink to Constain, and as a result, the Qs remained in favour, having received a couple of additional villages, pastures and forest. The best part was that the Q's had lost several knightly families and the lands were empty, so Emmon consulted with his father and offered me to be their vassal. I'd get those newfound lands, plus a couple of villages on top and the wife of Lord Branston's bastard daughter.
In principle, for Damian Rivers' past, it was a wonderful offer. But to accept it and stay here in the Common to serve not the king, but a vassal of the Hightowers, not even the Tyrrells... And to miss the opportunity to befriend "Ned Stark's bastard", to lure him into his troop, and in due time to make him king, marry him to Margaery or Arianna and become his Hand, is stupid. Of course the proverb "better a bird in the hand than a crane in the sky" is wise, but who says I'm a very wise man?
So I declined in a very mild manner, reasoning that I didn't deserve the honour, and I love travelling the world. Emmon was upset but understood me, Branston was not offended and quickly forgot about me.
But I got what I deserved. Many trophies and money were collected from the slain, we were paid for our brief but substantial service, and we got the missing men into our squad.
As it turned out, the Q's had exacted a huge retribution from their enemies, and they simply didn't have enough money to pay the wages of some of their mercenaries. These were mostly sword knights. Nine of them were held captive by my squad and were not paid for their service, and given that they were brazenly abandoned, no one was going to pay ransom for them. They couldn't just leave us like that, and they couldn't buy back their armour, weapons and horse either, so in the end we came to an agreement, which they offered to me. They would join my troop and serve under me for at least three years, and after that they were free to stay or leave. I had no fear that they would run away as soon as they got their freedom. These knights of the sword are not of noble birth and are poor, and in any case they need money. And as they realised we're a more or less fortunate squad and we have money. Plus they had a few squires with them a little older than Ben. And following them were those mercenaries who had run out of contract with both Q brothers and were looking for somewhere to go. They were four dozen men, most of them ex-hunters, the rest Dornish, light cavalry. There were a couple of Dothraki, though.
Eventually, after all this and the recovery of our boys, we were on our way to Staromestes with a full hundred men to pick up the rest of our men and move on to a new place in search of new adventures on our arses.
It's been a long time since I've been to the Riverlands, hasn't it? I'd like to visit them, and I'm interested in the Western Lands, where there should be some tournaments to make a little money.
I'm going north!
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