Kapitel 24: 24. Passage of Time
Prince Duncan had a crossbow bolt embedded in his right breastplate. His mount had been empaled and he had only narrowly escaped by jumping free, he looked worse for wear, I thought as I let loose another arrow. However, he stood his ground as several men armed with pikes surrounded him.
I launched another arrow at one of the archers that had been firing at Lord Commander Duncan. It didn't take long for the last of the archers and crossbowmen to take a permanent nap in the dirt, courtesy of me and the 3 knights that came with me. Lord Commander Duncan and his men finally made it to the row of spikes on the perimeter.
It was now time to refocus inwards towards Prince Duncan's situation. I had already thinned out the number of the raiders on the perimeter of the camp, however the majority of fighting was concentrated on the entrance side. As Lord Commander Duncan and the men made their way up, he was at the front ordering them over the fence and to engage the raiders.
The prince was in a bad position as he was at the front of the formation and wounded. His men were being met with stiff resistance as they funnelled into the camp and the raiders were now acting like a grinder and slowly shredding their formation. I noticed that Gerald had also pushed his way through and was now at his side.
Gerald also looked like he had taken quite a few hits but was standing strong as he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the prince. On the other side they were maintaining good order. They were clearly being led by an experienced commander.
"Robar, take the others and get the Lord Commander's attention, hit them from the back, they don't know that their camp had been breached from the rear." I said to Robar as I had grabbed him by the shoulder to get his attention. He nodded at me and moved off quickly, Robar knew well enough not to question me in a situation like this.
As he carried out his orders, I used 'Observation' to scan the raiders and at last I found him. A tall man covered in far, better armour, platecovered arms and shoulders over chainmail. Also, he wore a sallet, which was what finally gave it away. He was continuously shifting just behind the front row and as I paid closer attention I finally could focus on his voice as I began to hear the orders he was giving.
This was indeed an experienced commander, the entire time he was continuously shifting and reorganising to get closer to the prince while keeping his men together. He was aware that he was about to be surrounded and that the rear had been compromised, however he was gambling to capture the prince.
As the Lord Commander's men finally began to form up, the raider's rear line had begun to flip to face them. They weren't able to catch them by surprise but instead were now slowly encircling them. Even though they were only around 70 or so raiders, their cohesion was good, in all we had around 100 men in the camp as the rest were either dead, wounded or unable to make their way in.
This was still far too much of a disadvantageous situation for the enemy. If they we able to maintain their formation, they would eventually grind us down and if Prince Duncan or the Lord Commander was captured or killed, that would be the worst-case scenario. Something drastic needed to be done to salvage this mess.
'I need to get a better angle.' With that I took inspiration from the raiders. I took off running and leapt over several corpses, some bearing my arrows and made my way onto a cart that was in the camp. From here I had a greater elevation to the battle in front of me.
'Observation, Controlled Breathing and Archery' had been working overtime and I felt as if these skills were being held back, like trying to remember something and having it on the tip your tongue but can't quite get it out.
It was at that moment I noticed a pike coming over the top aimed directly at Gerald's head, it was moving too fast and had enough force to do damage to him. I instinctively began to push my sight to its limit while closing in all my other senses to only me and my bow.
That was when it began to happen as I had reached my maximum lung capacity and my bowstring had been fully pulled. It was as if time had stopped or at least was slowing down. I was now witnessing the pike coming towards Gerald in slow motion, Gerald was also aware however the enemy in front had grabbed his shield and tried to pull it forward. He was at the complete mercy of the enemy.
I didn't hesitate at this point and let the arrow loose, the arrow glided away from me and as my eyelids closed in an involuntary blink, I could feel the sensation slipping away. What happened next was that the arrow struck the gauntlet of the man holding the pike. I heard him scream as the arrow pierced through the armour and through his hand and embedded itself in the weapon.
To my surprise the person holding the pike was the enemy commander. I followed up with another arrow as he had involuntarily remained standing straight as he tried to pull the arrow out. Again, the same feeling overtook me and I could feel like the world was slowing down, however I was also moving slowly.
I didn't take too long to figure out what was happening, I was perceiving time at a slower rate. It was definitely a new skill, but one that affected my perception and not my body. This was still more that was a big boost to my capabilities. As I took aim, I let the 2nd arrow lose as soon as I felt like I had it on target and with ease I watched as the arrow sailed through the air.
It struck the enemy commander in the forearm completely disabling his right arm as it pierced through his armour and embedded in the flesh. It was this time that he realized that he was open and he quickly ducked back into the formation and used his men who had shields to cover up.
As he did, I had already let loose a 3rd arrow but this one found the open space of the neck of the raider who had been pulling on Gerald's shield. I could see Gerald's eyes open wide as he looked over to see where the arrow came from. Our eyes met for a split second but it was enough for him to register where the arrows had come from.
With this new skill, I was able to better find gaps in the chaos and without hitting our men I rained death upon them, each shot either hitting or killing an enemy. It continued like this for the next couple of minutes as I didn't stop letting loose arrows. Not even when a one-handed axe came sailing at me from the mass of human flesh that was clashing against itself. I only had to adjust my head by a few inches to didge and then returned fire.
It was at that moment everything seemed to 'click'. I felt as if my mind had been freed and everything that I had learned about archery had fallen into place. I felt as if my lungs were now limitless and my mind was clear.
It was like having that first gulp of strong coffee after a long night and barely any sleep, I was now awake and feeling charged. My skills had levelled up and I could already guess which ones. It was time to truly make these assholes pay for what they had done and by the most fitting means.
Garrand was one of the finest knights and one of the first friends I had made since my awakening as Tywin Lannister. He was a fine archer as well, and now using this bow and with this feeling of omnipotence, I will decimate them.
Arrow after arrow came and men just kept screaming out until finally the tide changed and the enemy's resistance faltered until at last their formation collapsed on itself, shouts of 'we surrender, began to cry out and then I heard the Lord Commander's stern voice calling for the men to 'Hold'.
Just like that, that battle came to an end. We had more than 3 times their men while they only had a little more than 20 still able to stand. The rest were either dying or dead on the ground.
"My Prince, are you okay?" Gerald asked Prince Duncan as he raised his visor and gave him a shoulder to lean on. Prince Duncan chuckled at this. "I'm fine enough that I don't need you to gush over me like a maiden." Prince Duncan said with a grin but didn't refuse Gerald's aid. Gerald also allowed a deep sigh to escape him.
Lord Commander after a moment began to issue orders. "All of the men in The Prince's Group, secure our wounded. Those wounded who can walk, make your way to by the entrance. All of the men of my group and Tywin's group. Secure the prisoners and their weapons, I only want them with enough clothes to keep warm, make sure that they have nothing else on them. Anything of importance, bring it to me.
Anyone found stealing any loot will be severely punished, you will be rewarded accordingly when we return to King's Landing. The remainder of Gerald's group, check for any survivors amongst the enemies and bring them back with the rest of the prisoners. Tywin, pick out about 10 men who aren't wounded and send them to round up the horses."
"Will do, should we not send word to Ser Donald as to what happened. We could use some reinforcements as well as he needs to try and locate those boats." I put forward.
"Good point, do that and I will let you send the orders at your discretion." I quickly responded "Yes Lord Commander." And then picked out some men who weren't injured and also a few who I knew were good scouts and trackers.
I sent 3 men to locate Ser Donald who had set out towards Maidenpool. The instructions were simple, report what had happened here. Of his 100 men, send back 60 men, keep the scouts and the remainder and begin moving up the coast and try to locate any ships that may belong to the raiders.
On my way back to the Lord Commander I looked around at the now bloody aftermath of the battle. We had lost a lot of men because of this trap. Had we had more scouts or a Warg or Green Seer, this would have never happened. Also, there were several carts around the camp, how many merchants and innocents had they robbed, then something caught my eye and something came to my mind that made my heart sink as I thought about it.
At the same time, I noticed one of the raiders was stumbling and walking as the men pushed him back towards the rest of the now prisoners. His face was covered in blood and mud, his clothes were dishevelled. It was just then one of the men was about to reach out and grab him to pull him towards the other that I noticed the glint from under his torn clothing.
Before the Targaryen Cavalryman knew what was happening, I had already slammed the man pushing him to the ground. I ruthlessly began to kick him in the arm and he screamed. As he tried to cover up, I mercilessly continued to stomp him.
Robar who hadn't been far away suddenly grabbed me as I realized that I hadn't heard the Lord Commander yell for me to stop. Robar had pulled me back off of the man.
"What has gotten into you?" The Lord Commander demanded as he looked down into my face. The man was truly a giant amongst men, even at his age and having just fought a hard fight. He still commanded my attention and brought me back into focus.
I looked him dead in the eye. "It's him, the commander. He has a hidden blade in his clothes, also check his arm, on the right will be arrow wounds, one in the hand and one in the forearm. He was going to try to make a run for it if he got a chance." I said now a little calmer. 'Dam him for trying to escape. After all that he had done."
"Lord Commander, with your permission, allow me to question the prisoners, there are some things I need to find out for myself, but also there are some suspicions I have that I need to confirm." I said not so much asking but demanding as I looked straight at the man curled on the floor and then at the rest of the prisoners.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein