Chapter 43: Chapter 39
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Damian Blackheart.
Our first battle in our new company happened rather quickly.
Right when we landed at Maiden Pond. I had twelve thousand men on the ships at the time. Instead of the planned fifteen thousand, I took only ten thousand with me at first, and sent those five thousand to Darkwoods to land on the western coast of the Riverlands and move up the coast into the Western Lands. I put Theo Frey in charge of them. And when I visited Sisterton and Gull City, I was joined there by a small militia and the fleets of the Lords of the Vale for two thousand, the rest were still calving and not yet ready for the campaign.
As it happened, I decided to send forward a third of my men to Darry to land there without delaying the unloading of troops and putting a jam on the water. I put Marik in charge of them, because he has brains and combat experience. Though he had only commanded a thousand men at most on the battlefield or fortresses before. He sent a third of his men to Maiden Pond under Baelon Swann. I sailed behind with the last third, enjoying the company of Vel and Mia, drinking good Arbor wine and eating fine food.
Nothing seemed to portend trouble....
But when I was approaching Maiden Pond, I saw an unpleasant picture, which was supplemented by the stories of my fighters from the "second wave", which actually got shot.
As soon as they approached the shore and harbour of Maiden Pond, then from the side of the forest and houses, arrows were fired at them. And massively, there were many archers and crossbowmen, but that was not the bad thing. It was that after that my troops were pelted with wild fire, which they quickly ran out of, but still because of that they went to the bottom, having burnt down about a third of the ships that were there with people and weapons on them. There were also casualties from the usual fire of arrows and bolts, but my boys were able to land and fight, judging by the description of the banner the enemies were Daven Lannister's men, who, though he had no more men than landed, had organised a competent ambush in which many of my men were killed. Among them the last Swann named Baelon.
The situation was saved by a surprise for the enemy in the form of three furious giants that in the armour they had been welded in Winterfell, went into a quick attack on the Lannister men, who were stunned by such a turn. Some of the men even ran away. But others were brought to their senses by the commander's voice and the order to fight. But those were simply not ready for this and having lost many men in the fight with the giants, they lost precious time during which my survivors grouped together and went on the attack. Daven was no fool and realised that he had lost the effect of surprise and all other advantages, but on the contrary he had gained a herd of sheep, who were unable to fight not only with an ordinary enemy, but also with the real giants, so he gave the order to retreat and they retreated to the direction of the Twilight Dome.
Although my guys "won", but this victory was given by the number of three thousand people, two mammoths and one dead giant. And a quarter of the Blackheart's Flame stockpile I don't even remember yet. That can still be recovered, though.
In the end, after regrouping my forces of only five thousand men, and receiving news from Darri that the part of my forces that was headed to that town was intact, I breathed more peacefully than I had while listening to the stories of my soldiers.
A small escort had arrived from Riverrun, led by Dave Red. He was one of Rex's "KGB generals," if my brother himself was considered a "minister." Dave had been with us since my days of wandering around the Expanse in punitive actions against the rampant local banditry. He has grown in fighting ability and even spiritually under our influence, for he has come to believe in the Lion of Night, and I have seen those eyes when he speaks of Him; he may even be called somewhat of a fanatic for that belief, but he has brains, and he does not give himself the right not to think straight when necessary. So Rex and I left him with Varick in the Riverlands. He's been in charge of all the intelligence and special forces here ever since.
We nicknamed him Red because of his unusual colouring for where he's from. It was like an American Indian, though maybe it was a slight skin disease and no more, because he didn't drink and even insisted on the "dry law" in our squad for some time, for which Varik himself had cleaned his face three times for such ideas. In the end, not finding support in us, he simply promoted this policy among the youth and some of them follow it, although Dave himself is only a year older than me.
Along with him came a rather motley bunch of faces: Gerda Barley, Lesho Dardio, Martin Rivers, Tom of the Creeks, who had been with us in the North three months before, and then acted as messenger and travelled to my father with a secret package. Lord Jonos Bracken himself was there with his bastard son Harry and nephew Hendry, Lord Arwood Harlton, Lord Raymen Darry, and each of the above lords had brought his daughter with him "to make them safer". I believed it right away.....
But perhaps what surprised me most was that Merret Frey, Walder's ninth son and my half-brother, 16 years older than me, showed up with two dozen soldiers, servants, and footmen, as well as his daughter Amarea Frey, who turned out to be the widow of a knight who had served, I think, the Vances. He was killed during Robb Stark's campaign to Lefford's abode, and after his death she returned to the Twins to her kin, much to the delight of all the stableboys and pageboys of the Twins. She even became famous before her marriage as "Ami Open the Gate" because of her loveliness. A few weeks before her wedding, it seems her father caught her in the company of three stableboys at once. The scandal was hushed up, but she was promptly married off. I didn't think my kin would want to put my own "niece" under me....
I'm already married, for fuck's sake. Maybe they just want me to find her a fiancé.
But anyway, first of all, I asked how my people were doing. After all, I hadn't seen them for a long time.
Gerda has not changed at all in appearance, only her hair has grown a little, but she wears it in a tightly tied ponytail at the back of her head. She's already in charge of two thousand soldiers, including the two hundred militia my father sent to help us before I left for Stannis, supplemented by militia from the late Lady Went's lands, a few dozen knights of the border and their squires, and a couple of hundred Northerners who joined them after Robb's defeat and the punitive actions of the Lannisters and Roose Bolton. They did not wish to return to the North, but tried their luck here. She also had several hundred mercenaries she and Hawke had recruited after I became Hand, as well as several hundred former Tully soldiers. In the end, she led her men through discipline, training, and good leadership to form an effective army, though not as large in numbers as mine.
After Mormont and Karstark left Sigard with the last of the Stark loyalists, she took Sigard after them and has been there for the last two months. So I decided to encourage her in some way by making her a Lady of Sigard by decree, with the right to inherit and retain her title and family name for her children.
Now she'll probably have to fend off a lot of suitors. She loves children, though, and for the sake of one or two of her own she might tolerate someone in her bed. Hmm, maybe she should offer her own candidacy?
Martin has become her right-hand man and is directly in charge of all her cavalry. On her recommendation, I'm going to give him some sort of castle and title. The lad deserves it.
Tom from Seven Brooks hasn't had to fight as much as the others, he's been acting more as the chief ambassador negotiator here, and for the last month and a half he's been acting as castellan of his hometown of Seven Brooks. It's quite possible, if he survives, that he'll be left there as castellan. I'll help in any case, if he lacks land and money.
Lesho lost an eye, but he didn't worry much, he married Lord Mouton's daughter Eleanor and after his father-in-law's death he will be master of Maiden Pond. And from my father, with whom he surprisingly found a lot in common, including a sweet tooth, he got a couple of villages that were formerly in the possession of the Tullys as "Ser Lesho" and a loyal vassal of the Freys. So his future is secure. Still, those around me have learnt much from me.....
After a heartfelt conversation about everything and nothing over a mug of ale, they moved on to more serious matters and reported to me about the situation in the Riverlands, where the problems were and the balance of forces.
For active actions we actually have my nine thousand men, three thousand that my father allocated to us, two more from Bracken, Darry managed to gather together with other former knight houses and sword knights up to one and a half thousand, Lords Vance, Harlton, Piper also allocated a thousand, and they are now all flocking to Harrenhall. Gerda will also lead one hundred and fifty thousand of her men there, and leave five hundred at Seagard. That makes a total of twenty thousand men. Plus ten thousand more in the Golden Tooth waiting for my orders, led by Varick Hawke. True, he had heavy losses in the last assault on the Golden Tooth, and about a quarter of them are militia, which are now being trained. Plus we'll need to leave the same number of normal fighters to reserve and hold the Golden Tooth. Cumnegonka and the coast are being held separately and we won't touch those forces just yet.
Theo Frey will soon arrive with five thousand to Seagard from the Dark Forest and in the end, we will have thirty thousand men for the offensive.
Lord Bracken suggested splitting the army in two and sending one south to the King's Lands and the other west to fight with the ironborn and northern forces against the Lannisters, capture key Lannister castles and deprive them of support, and then take King's Landing when Jaheiris arrives.
It wasn't a bad idea. And that's not even taking into account the dragon, which could stupidly burn down the average castle.
But I discarded that suggestion and decided to use an old tactic from my last world, "Deep Operation".
To simplify things, it was introduced in the Soviet Union in the mid-thirties after a technological leap. And specifically in 1935, even held a large exercise Kiev against Kharkov military districts. Where all military innovations were used, all kinds of troops, except for naval forces and new tactics, there were even observers from several foreign countries. However, this theory for the Soviet Union in the first days of the Great Patriotic War did not justify itself - "Only attack!", that was one of the main mistakes of those days. Competent prioritisation, well-coordinated work of people and, if necessary, organised retreat have never hindered anyone.
But can the army of a country that is "ahead of the planet" retreat?!
Eh, it is not the time to remember the Second World War, but if we do not make those mistakes that the Soviet command made, then everything can go quite well.
The essence of this theory is to strike at the entire depth of the enemy's defence, breaking it in several key places and introducing highly mobile units into the breakthrough to develop the tactical breakthrough into an operational success of the operation.
In accordance with the concept of "deep offensive operation", the role of the striking force was assigned to mechanised corps, but we do not have such, and will not be for a long time. So they'll be replaced by cavalry and groups of our special forces with crossbows and Blackheart's Flame, trained by Rex, although there aren't many of them here. This could also include giants with mammoths, these are even full-fledged "tanks", hehe.
The basic idea of the theory was to strike at the entire depth of the enemy defence using artillery, aviation, armoured troops and airborne assaults to defeat the entire enemy operational grouping. A deep operation would achieve two objectives - to break through the enemy defence front with a simultaneous strike to its full tactical depth and to immediately insert a grouping of mobile troops to develop the tactical breakthrough into an operational success.
For artillery we have catapults, scorpions, trebuchets, Blackheart's Flame, and the first three were heavily modified by Quibern to be collapsible and lighter, not to mention improved accuracy and damage thanks to my knowledge of ballistics. We don't have any aircraft other than Jaeheiris and his Jaeheirion, which should be available in a few days according to my calculations, but one dragon won't cover all the holes, though it's not necessary. We don't need to take all the castles, the tactic calls for pinpoint strikes, not every castle or enemy camp. We don't need armoured troops, although we have the aforementioned giants with mammoths again. These will crush any formation and order... We can forget about the landing force.
After my explanation of the nuances of this tactic, the warriors of the strike group were supposed to be used in several stages and directions:
The 1st stage consists of the most difficult part, probably, of preparing the ground for a large-scale attack. Including synchronised sabotage of all our agents and spies, as well as those groups of saboteurs that we will send after the meeting. They will have to not just transmit data to us at the right moment, but simply destroy important key bridges and crossings on the rivers Chernovodnaya, Kamnegorka, Serebryannaya, Klyuchi, Zolotoy, as well as poison or cut as many enemy horses as possible. The last two points are the most important. After all, when destroying the necessary crossings and bridges, the enemy will either have to build new ones, which is impossible under the circumstances, or more likely to follow another way, which is favourable to us. We're not going to destroy all the crossings and bridges we have access to. And when the Lannisters lose their knights' cavalry or mobile scouts, who have the fastest horses, their communication and transmission of orders will be even worse.
Phase 2 is an offensive on key points, namely Ashmark, Sarsfield, Casterly Rock, the Keys, Hammerhall and Deep Burrow. Silver Hill and Clegane Castle we will not touch, once the above castles are captured it simply won't be necessary. The Lannisters will simply lose control of the West, and the late Lord Serett's bastard and Sandor will definitely defect to us. Then all we have to do is clean up the region and take the capital. Besides, as Alexander the Great's father Philip said, "A donkey loaded with gold will take any fortress." It was true, many families and houses had become impoverished or bankrupt, some had lost their seats, for example, even some lords and ladies from the Commonlands themselves had fled to Riverrun because their distant relatives or foes had taken advantage of the turmoil to seize their lands. And Dave had checked them out, they weren't just desperate. In the West, if you want, you can find them and work with them. Lord Crakehall, for example, seems to be very ambitious and wants to become Guardian of the West. This ambition of his can be fulfilled. Dave has even reported that he received him once four months ago in secret negotiations, but although they did not reach an agreement, he let him go in peace. That's a good sign.
The 3rd stage is the joining of the separate parts of the army and marching on the capital and taking it under siege before the arrival of Jeyheiris with his dragon and my participation.
There is one more stage, which is already the action of the fleets of Sallador Saan, Victarion Greyjoy and the hostilities in the Stormlands over the Gendry inheritance. These three will have to take the attention of the coalition of Prostor, Dorne, and the Golden Swords away for a while so they don't get in our way of dealing with the Lannisters. It doesn't even matter if they can capture or recapture anything, the main thing is to stop them from moving troops or interfering with us. That's all...
Jaehaerys' arrival had to wait a full ten days after Daven's raid and my arrival at Maiden Pond.
I was with the Riverlands lords and commanders who would be taking part in the Harrenhal campaign. Most of the army was already there, except for Theo Frey's men, who were in Sigard waiting for their commander to arrive for the campaign from the coast. Also absent were Varick's troops, they were in their place in the Golden Tooth.
The arrival of Jeyheiris caused a furore amongst the local population. As I learnt from Jaehaerys himself, he flew high enough over Casterly Rock, Lannisport, Ashmark Sarsfield, the Golden Tooth and across the Riverlands to Harrenhal so that everyone could see Jaehaerys but could not hit him with arrows or scorpions.
After seeing the living dragon, the River Lords became quieter than water, lower than grass, and whiter than chalk. If there had been some who had wanted to lead a campaign against the Lannisters before our king's arrival, they did not risk opening their mouths after what they had seen, for Jehaerys was in good spirits and said he was glad I was leading the troops and not someone else. He also praised me for all the good things I had done. I didn't even understand why he was doing that at first, but when we were alone, he said he noticed my frowning face and knew what was wrong. Our "Snowball" has always been smart and observant and I've always understood that, and after my influence on him, he'll be able to figure out any intrigue that's going on around him. It's for the best. I won't plot against him. We know each other well, and I have no reason to hide or manipulate him. I've almost got what I need, and all I have to do is get good land, a castle, and defeat the icicles that dwell beyond the Wall. It's not to my advantage to make Jaehaerys a dummy who can be twisted any way I want. That way, he'll be twisted by friends and foes alike. And I don't want that.
Anyway, his arrival was a furore, and the lords were more enthusiastic, with fiery speeches about the imminent defeat of their enemies and the new lands they would get to the south of the Eye of God.
Speaking of which. I, and Jaehaerys when he was still Jon Snow's bastard, had thought of visiting the Isle of Leeks, but never had the chance. I wondered if there was someone or something there. So he and I decided to test our hunch.
At first we flew a couple of times over the island itself, but not feeling or seeing anything, we decided to go down.
We went round and round the island and found no traces of the Children of the Forest or anything else. Just a lot of chartreuse trees, that's all. The island was beautiful and mysterious, but to our surprise and even disappointment we found nothing. We even decided to spend the night on it just in case someone would come to us in the morning or at night, and again we were disappointed....
It was quiet and no one disturbed us. Jaegerion, who has heat vision, super strong hearing and sense of smell, didn't smell anyone either. So it's 99 per cent certain that there's no one here.
So we left the island and headed back to Harrenhal.
On the first day of the year 300 of Aegon's Conquest, we moved west. Most of us. Only eight thousand men under Lord Bracken travelled south to the Falling Falls, crossed the Blackwater and went to the Keys.
I went across the Golden Tooth to Ashmark, which Varick had already besieged at the head of five thousand of his men.
But on the way from the Golden Tooth to Ashmark, five thousand men separated from my army and marched to Sarsfield to lay siege to it. And the other seven came to Hawke.
Lord Damon Marbrand is the head of the house and already the only member of the house, as his sister Darlessa and his only son Adam were killed when Jon stormed their castle. He has decided to fight to the end as Tywin's loyal vassal. His right.
But Jaheiris and I decided not to be petty, and after the failed negotiations to surrender the castle, we just burned it to the ground. Or rather, our king did it on his dragon. Of course, he let a couple of dozen men escape from the castle to spread the news of what had happened.
We took a brief respite for a couple of days and moved on as planned.
We divided the army again, but now into two parts. Six thousand each for Varick and me. I went to the Rock Castle of the Westerlings, and Varick to Sarsfield to command the capture of that castle, after which he would have Oxcross in his way, and then he would have to besiege Casterly Utes while the ironborn under Asha stormed Lannisport.
A messenger arrived from Theo Frey, reporting that the House of Estherne had ceased to exist, and that they had taken Windhall Fortress and were marching on the Fortress of Perdition. And when we came to the Rock, we saw not the banner of the Westerlings over the castle gate, but two other Bainforts and the banner of the Targaryens. And the gates were opened, and through them very soon rode more than two dozen horsemen with various banners, among them the banners of the Cleganes and Sarretts, as well as those of the knightly houses of Rattiger, Vicari, Yew, Clifton, and Heatherspoon.
I, Asgen Barry, Daren One-Eyed, Gerda, and Mendon Moore rode up on horseback to them, and behind us landed Jayheiris on his dragon.
They immediately got off their horses and knelt down.
Lord Quentin Bainforth spoke:
- Your Majesty! We are very pleased to welcome you to the Western Lands. The Rock - as we are - is at your service.
Jayheiris pathosously and slowly climbed off the dragon and approached them.
- Have you decided to kneel before me? Why? It seems all Tywin Lannister's vassals are loyal to him. - and let them stand.
- We serve law and justice. - Bainforth shrugged. - The Lannisters have been stripped of their lordship and all right to rule these lands by your wise decree. But even without that, everyone here has realised that the Lannisters are no good to us. They're narcissistic, prideful and treat their vassals like mere servants. Ser Heatherspoon, Vicary and Clegane, for example, were like dogs to Tywin. And the Vicars should have inherited the lands of the Reyns, as they are their closest relatives. Ser Heatherspoon and his young son were stripped of his lands because he lost a battle to Robb Stark and given to one of the Lannister bastards from Lannisport. My house, though not badly damaged by the Lannisters, I could not tolerate Cersei and Jaime's bastard on a throne that should belong to the rightful king of the Seven Kingdoms.
- Your Grace. - Vicari addressed Jaheiris. - My name is Leymond Vicari, and I have long wanted to get even with the Lannisters for what they did to my distant kin, whom I loved with all my heart. I don't care who those lands go to, but my heart is torn with pain and anger at their demise. Please give me the chance to stand beside you and fight against the usurpers who want to kill you and fight on the side of injustice.
Jayheiris smiled at these words:
- I am glad that the West has not forgotten about justice and law. And I am very glad that you have knelt, my loyal vassals. Arise my lords and I accept your swords and words of loyalty and hope you will prove them in deed.
- I will, Your Grace. - Bainforth, already visibly cheerful, assured her. - Please. We took this fortress only yesterday, and we will be happy to receive and honour you there.
- I would be happy to do so. - Jaehaerys nodded.
That evening at the feast table we learnt more about how many swords Tywin's former vassals have and where they are. Turns out they only have three thousand ready to march with us. A thousand and a half in the Rock, another half a thousand at the Fortress of Doom ready to go wherever they're told. And the remaining thousand are distributed between the castle of Sandor Clegane and the former bastard Sarrett, who has already become the legalised heir. And all the other knightly houses received their lordships. The Vicars, for example, got the lands of the Rhines and their family name and titles. Martin Rivers, my half-brother, got the hand of Lord Bainforth's daughter and the Tarbeck lands. At the same time Bainforth himself received for his youngest son, who married Jane Westerling the Castle of Scala.
Three days later we marched southwards in a combined force. Theo Frey had no time to besiege the Fortress of Perdition, but received my message that the house was already with us, and taking five hundred of Bainforth's men under his wing, he followed us.
Jaehaerys left us and flew to Lord Bracken's aid.
The same day he left, we received a message from Varick that he had taken Sarsfield with difficulty and would soon march on Oxcross. I sent him a counter message afterwards that a force of the new lords of the Westlands would be coming to help him, led by Lord Bainforth and two thousand of our men in addition. And then Theo and his men would join them.
I went straight to Crakehall. I've decided to deal with this house at once. If they kneel, they'll be Guardians of the West, and if they don't, they'll be Guardians of the West.
I've given Clegane and Sarrett the command to take Greenfield Castle and patrol their section of the Golden Road just in case. We've left the Swifts alone for now, they don't even have the strength to send help to their suzerain, let alone something big. They're a trifle.
When my men and I were halfway to the Crakehall family castle, we met their army. Though I mispronounced it, we met not only the Crakehalls, but also the banners of the Lords of Prostor and Dorne. Or rather, one of our scouting parties did, and reported in time.
About twenty minutes after the first report, I sent scouts out again to estimate the size of the enemy's army and to find out what kinds of troops and in what numbers they had present.
I had nine thousand men in my army, of which three thousand were my personal infantrymen, who are trained to my standards and in whom I have confidence. Another one and a half thousand archers, crossbowmen, slingers, another one and a half thousand wildlings, well equipped as they should be in my army, another one thousand Riverlands lords with their men and knights of the border, the other two thousand were my light and heavy cavalry, and that included the giants on mammoths.
Running away from a really huge army would be out of my hands, unless I abandon part of it and hide with the fastest, but then it's a blow to my reputation and a serious defeat. Besides, I don't know how many men this hodgepodge of Southern lords has. It might make sense to take the fight.
The second wave of scouts had not yet returned when several scouts came running towards me, accompanied by Gerda and a couple of her men.
- My lord!" said one of them, panting. - To the north of us ten miles away is a large mounted band of Dornish, several thousand to be exact.
- From the east and north-east, there are also several thousand foot soldiers marching in our direction. The one from the northeast is under the banners of several Storm Lords, and the one from the east under the banner of the Fassoways.
I was seething with rage and resentment. My praised intercepted intelligence had screwed up big time, missed the enemy. I'll tell Rex he's a moron and his protégés are morons too.
- Gerda! Why the fuck is Intelligence kicking dicks? Why the fuck did the rearguard miss those fucking Dornish, pardon me Larry?!
- I wouldn't know, she was also on edge. - I don't do the scouting. Let Rex and Dave's cretins answer to you. I'm just here to find out what happened.
- You found out, you can take off your trousers and sing about losing your virgin arse and whatever else you've got virgin to men. Because we're surrounded.
- But we have no one to the west, my lord. - one of the scouts blurted out.
- I don't give a fuck about your west. The sea is thirty miles away, and I can't go by sea without a ship, and there's no use in entrenching there. We'll only waste our strength on the crossing. - I think I growled, which made the scouts back away from me. - Well, fuck it. - Gerda!
- Yes!
- Tell everyone to set up right on the road, put a ring of carts around us as an obstacle and defence. By the way, put shields on the carts and wagons that will serve as our wall, cover them with them. By the way, did you have time to coat the shields with that fire retardant Quibern varnish? - she nodded. - Good. Check on our provisions after that, report back to me. Dismissed for now.
I was still waiting for word from those scouts who'd gone south. They came back with news I was not happy about.
The army that moved from the south numbered almost five tens of thousands of men. Besides the Crakehalls, there were the banners of their few still loyal vassals, then there were the Dornish banners, among which stood out: the Martells, the Ironwoods, the Daines, the Allarions, the Veiths, the Daltas, the Tolands, the Jordaines, and among the Spacers there were: Tyrells, Hightowers, Tarlys, Qs, Osgreys, Costains, Bulwers, Mallendors, Blackbars, Florents, Peakes, Ockharts, Cranes, Graysfords, and dozens of other houses.
The realisation of the situation in which we find ourselves makes me twisted. It's a very bad situation. No, I realise that swapping in people when we have two or three or four times less is still a bit of a stretch. But even if we round our nine to ten, there are still probably six tens of thousands of warriors against us. And that's bad. But why round it up?
First we'll be nine, and then the number of fighters under my control will decrease. After all, we have just over three thousand mounted men. It will be difficult for them to wait and sit in camp. Therefore, the only logical and correct decision is to send these three thousand mounted men to the north to fight or to pass by the Dornish as far as possible and to report about what we have seen. The information about where we are will reach Jaehaerys and he will fly in on his cute pet and burn those who will make a big fuss.
Yes! It's the most logical and least bloody option for us. With 6,000 men, we can fend off any attack as long as we have food. The Wagenburgs aren't known here yet, but I think I'm going to introduce them today.
After a while Gerda reported to me that there would be enough supplies for a fortnight for all nine thousand men. But since there will be six of us left, even three. And if we economise, for longer. But we won't have to economise. Help will come sooner.
I've put Gerda at the head of those 3,000 mounted men. She's a skilful lady and will do the job. And I had no fear that information about our situation would not fall into the hands of our men and Jaehaerys in particular.
They left to the north, and then we saw the army of the southerners, who lined up first from the south, and realising that we were not going to get out of our "nest" surrounded us.
Then, after about half an hour, we were joined by two other troops from the east of the Fassoways, and the north-east of the Lords of the Stormlands, who had sworn oaths to Aegon.
We were surrounded. Though I didn't worry about much at that moment, some of my troops were nervous. They knew, of course, that I had never lost a battle, but we were in a bad position. But I gathered my men and explained the "party policy" to them.
As soon as they had satisfied their curiosity and were cheered up by the prospect of seeing their enemies burned alive, and they just had to stay in the tabor to win, I wanted to hit those satisfied faces with a brick.
Soon a messenger arrived from Mace Tyrell, who "commanded" the army. He wished to negotiate a surrender. The pompous turkey thinks we will surrender at the sight of his army.
I agreed to negotiate. They will be of no use, but at least I will see who really commands the army, and I will see interesting people.
I went to the negotiations in the company of Asgen Barry, who was the captain of my guard, and Daren One-Eyed, who had been my bodyguard for a long time, even though I hadn't officially given him the task. We also had Vel, Tormund, and Mia, who was my squire. There were five men, one with my banner, one with the king's, and the other three behind me, who were among the Tennes who had come with me. There were another hundred Tennes in the Tabor, but the main force went with Lord Bracken, or rather I sent them there.
On the Southern side were "Old Rozan" Mace Tyrell and a couple of squires, the stern and combative Randyll Tarly, and I think his youngest son, who had grown older and more mature since we'd last met. Another dozen or two lords with their squires or bodyguards, then Lord Crakehall with a couple of squires, his son Adam and a couple of other knights as bodyguards, then came the Dornish. Well, those were a little smaller in terms of numbers. Only Oberyn was with his squire Damon Sand, his daughter Nymeria, as well as Lord Ironwood with his squire and Herold Dane with his. But still, from the outside, it looked like a full-fledged fighting knight squad had come upon us.
On the one hand it was tense, but on the other it was fun, and as soon as we were close enough, I decided to mock them a little:
- "My lords, it is good to see you in good health. - I said to them with a smile and a welcome.
- Lord Blackheart. - Mace said it with a bit of bitterness. - I think we'd both love to talk to you about general topics, but the situation is urgent. We need to settle the question of surrender now, and after that I suggest we have a general feast for the fallen valiant warriors against the Lannisters, for we serve the same dynasty, albeit to different claimants.
- I partially agree, and besides, there's no point in us fighting each other if the Night King and his army of dead men are coming. Let's discuss your surrender, my lords.
- What?!" Mace and most of his vassals exclaimed in chorus.
Even the Dornish, led by Oberyn, were surprised, but were less talkative and just looked among themselves.
- What does that mean our surrender? - Mace was indignant. - You are surrounded! You're outnumbered and have no chance of winning!
- Well, that's what I'm trying to tell you. You're trapped. Even the honourable Randyll Tarly can attest to that! - I turned the tables.
Randyll held his face, but I could tell from his eyes that he didn't understand what I was saying, and what did he have to do with it?
- Lord Randyll? - Rozan looked at him questioningly.
- Surrounded, Lord Blackheart. - Tarly snorted, saying it as a matter of course.
- As you can see, Lord Tarly has confirmed to you that YOU are surrounded, not us. - Tyrell Sr. boomed.
- It seems your intelligence has failed you, Lord Tyrell. But let me make it clear, encirclement is a military technique that involves isolating certain enemy forces from the rest of the enemy and their allies in order to destroy or capture them. That is, there must be enemy forces around the person being encircled - ENCIRCED! Which is exactly what happened. We are only one part of His Grace King Jaehaerys' army. The others are all around you. - At this, Mace turned back in surprise, along with most of the Lords of Spacious Crakehole and the squires. Only Tarly and the Dornish realised what was going on, or rather not all the Dornish, but only Herold Dane and Oberyn. They knew me well. - To the north of us is the River Lords' army, some of mine, the Northmen, the Wildlings, and the Lords of the West who have sworn allegiance to the rightful king. To the east of here in the Stormlands is a powerful army led by Berric Dondarrion and the High Lord of the Stormlands, Gendry Baratheon. To the west of us the sea is swarming with our ships, and to the south the ironborn led by Victarion Greyjoy are already ruling in Stromest and the Arbor Islands. Though you'll soon get that information from a messenger who'll be arriving at your camp any hour now. And if you put it all together, you'll have an encirclement, YOUR encirclement, from which you should lay down your arms.
- Are you kidding me?! - wailed Old Rozan. - What do you think you're doing? You are the ones surrounded, and the distance between us and those troops you listed is enormous!
- Lord Tarly, is the distance between the encircled and surrounding troops specified anywhere? There doesn't seem to be an exact measure anywhere. - I shrugged my shoulders and glanced again at the slightly grinning Tarly, but he quickly suppressed the semblance of a smile and resumed his stony face.
- No, it doesn't say that anywhere. - He answered in a neutral tone.
Tyrell seemed to have fallen into a trance-like state from his vassal's words, with certain questions: "What's going on? Where am I? Who am I? Why is this happening to me?".
Oberyn can barely restrain himself from bursting into laughter, though Nymeria is still, albeit skilfully hiding her laughter under a cough, still a little more scorching than her father. Herold just smirked and ran his eyes over us in turn.
At one point Tyrell came to life and put on his 'pompous peacock' look again.
- We could crush you at any moment.
- Well, if you can, why don't you? I, for example, if I can do something, I'm not afraid to demonstrate it. - I shrugged.
- Then I think we can end this negotiation, even if it didn't lead to anything. It's a shame, I had hoped to do with less bloodshed for both of us.
- It's a reasonable and noble intention, but unfortunately not feasible. - I "regretted" it. - It seems we must fight for our kings.
- And how will you fight, surrounded by so many warriors from Spaceland, Dorne, and the Western Lands? - Crakehole asked.
- As we wish! We have plenty of choice, and there is an enemy for every one of our soldiers. We can even choose our attack targets at random, because there are plenty of enemy soldiers around and we can attack in any direction.
- Good answer. - Oberyn nodded. - It's a pity your life will end here, Damian, I would have liked to have you as my son-in-law. - he admitted regretfully.
- I am already married. And my wife's name is Sansa Stark. Alas, perhaps if this war had not happened, it would have been Obara I would have married.
- Perhaps you would. But you can't undo what you've done.
That was the end of our conversation. Each of us left to his own devices. My companions, after we had travelled a hundred yards, roared like horses, and I with them. Still, it was hard to keep the laughter in. Tormund is a mouthy bastard, he will tell the whole army, and it will lift their spirits.
To my surprise, neither on the day of the negotiations, nor the next day, there was no storming of our tabor. There were no night raids, not even arrow fire or anything else. Nor was it on the third, fourth, and even fifth days....
And it surprised and stressed me and all my men. Randil Tarly couldn't just stand there and wait for us to run out of supplies or let us be the first to make our move. I've even come up with a couple of tricks to win in the current situation. It takes a little preparation and a little more Blackheart's Flame, but it can be done.
On the morning of the sixteenth day, there was no assault or arrival of Jaeheiris, which worried me, but I held on unlike my charges. It was about ten o'clock when Daren lifted me out of my bunk, where I lay cuddled with Vel and Mia.
- My lord, we have messengers from King Aegon.
- False Aegon. - I corrected him and immediately began to dress. Daren was silent, but in his one eye I saw sadness.
- Who's leading the procession?
- You'll see for yourself. - He answered glumly and walked out.
At this point I began to get a gut feeling that something was wrong. But I couldn't figure out what it was.
But as soon as I stepped out of my tent, I saw nine figures I knew very well: Mendon Moore, Loras Tyrell, Thoros of Myr, Sandor Clegane, Lord Bracken, Martin Rivers, Varick Hawke, Jon Royce, and Berrick Dondarrion.
For a few seconds my brain switched off, for I understood absolutely nothing. How did they get here?
- You?! - I couldn't contain my surprise and came closer. - I'm glad to see you safe and sound, but what the fuck are you doing here? And how did you get through the encirclement?
- They let us through. - came an unfamiliar voice from the side.
Three new figures emerged from the crowd of smaller knights and lords: Oberyn Martell, that bitch Mellisandra, and the third was a man twice my age, wearing an expensive but comfortable robe with the House of Connington crest, a chain, and the badge of the Hand.
- Lord Hand John Connington. - I said it more as a formality than a question. And then I tensed. - I didn't expect to see you here.
- I was looking forward to meeting you. - he admitted with a smile. - You're quite an interesting figure, Lord Blackheart.
- Well, then, I think we have time to talk.
- There is time, even if the conditions are not right. - John grimaced.
- Well, whatever they are. - I shrugged.
- I'm afraid you misunderstand me. - That strange tone and look again. - This is not the right environment for you. Please surrender your sword.
- Ha-ha-ha-ha. - I like him. He's good at jokes. - And I like you, you have a good sense of humour. The fact that you have an army outside the wagon territory is of little consequence. You're among my men now and not being disarmed is a tribute to your character. - Though we'll have to ask our sentries and my deputies why the fuck they didn't.
- Damian. - Mendon Moore suddenly came to me. - Damian, surrender your sword to me.
I turned round to the nine who were standing nearby with grim faces and a certain guilt in their gaze.
- I didn't get the humour. - Steel and anger erupted in my voice at the same time.
At the same moment I realised that none of 'my' soldiers and officers were going to interfere with what was going on. Moreover in the front ranks that surrounded us I saw shame, awkwardness and coldness.
- We are also King Aegon's messengers. - Loras answered for him. - We have sworn loyalty to him, and now I, Ser Thoros, Ser Mendon, Ser Robar, and Ser Emmon have entered his service as his Kingsguard. The Lord Commander Ser Barristan would have come with us, but he is now in the captured King's Landing keeping watch over the King along with Ser Emmon, Ser Robar and Ser Jorah Mormont, who has also become our cloak brother.
- What the fuck? Mendon! Thoros! Tyrell, he's got the Tyrells in his family and he couldn't go against them, I get that, but you--
- Jaheiris is dead! - I lost my voice after I said that. - When we left, we received a message from your wife and the Council of the Lords of the North, messages from the Vale that they had agreed to kneel before Aegon. Your father and all the Riverlands have already knelt. The West will do the same soon. You're the last. Now it's your turn to swear fealty to Aegon. Because Jaheiris is dead and will not return from the other side. I saw Jaheiris' body ignite and turn to ash after the rite Thoros tried to perform. He is gone!
- I am sorry to bring you such news, Damian, but it is the truth. - confirmed Berrick. - Gendry has been recognised by Aegon as a Baratheon and the rightful heir to his region. I knelt. Like all the other Storm Lords, like all the wildlings, yes all kneeled already. Victarion had also received a message from Aegon, Asha and her men had captured Lannisport, but she was mortally wounded and after three days of agony in fever she died. Soon the Iron Islands would kneel as well. There's literally nothing left but the coronation ceremony. You're actually the last ones who haven't knelt yet.
- Jhaerys Targaryen is dead! - Thoros confirmed it to me again. - I couldn't help him, so the Lord of Light took him to his chambers. And his dragon has flown somewhere to the east.....
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