Bab 49: Bolton-Dustin Rebellion
A loud cheer rang through the air as his men flooded into the ruined stronghold of Moat Cailin. The siege had been long and difficult, but finally they had taken the Keep and now secured the entrance into the North.
'However, it seems to have come too late.' Lord Mallister thought as he slowly urged his horse on into the stronghold.
A few days ago, news had reached him of the Bolton's betrayal and Lady Catelyn being forcibly married to the bastard, Ramsay Snow. He was using hers and the Stark Princes as hostages and had tried to force the rest of the Northern lords to swear to him.
No one had it seemed, except for Lady Dustin. The woman having evacuated her people the moment the Ironborn started raiding and fleeing west. It seemed they had since joined with House Bolton and their army of five thousand was marching to join with the Bolton's at Winterfell. They in turn forcing the Smallfolk of House Cerwyn and House Stark lands to bend the knee.
When Lady Dustin arrived, they would have an army numbering seven thousand in total. Possibly more if other lords joined the Bolton's, though that was looking unlikely. Many of the lords in the south eastern part of the North had already sent riders or ravens to inform them that they would not answer Ramsay's call and would remain loyal to House Stark.
He had also been informed by a raven from Jon that those in the north eastern part had told him the same.
With this in mind, Lord Mallister had already sent out instructions. In total, there was around ten thousand men in the eastern half of the North. Lord Mallister intended to gather at least half of those men and add them to his own host raising it to over ten thousand. Similar instructions had been sent to the Houses further north to do the same with Jon at Deepwood Motte.
Now, ideally Lord Mallister would then march north, Jon marching south, and they'd crush the Bolton-Dustin rebellion before going on to beat back the Ironborn in one fell swoop. However, the capture of Catelyn Stark, Bran and Rickon brought a halt to those plans.
They couldn't march on Winterfell with them as hostages, that was true. But in turn Ramsay couldn't kill them because if he did then he'd have nothing left to bargain with.
It was a risky gamble, Lord Mallister knew that much.
But if it paid off, the Bolton-Dustin rebellion would be crushed before it truly began.
The one positive to this whole event was that the war in the North seemed to have ground to a half on all fronts. Jon had of course suffered high casualties and was now hunkering down at Deepwood Motte.
The Ironborn themselves were suffering from various problems. Those stationed at Ironrath despite having won the Battle of the Wolfswood and then taken Ironrath, had done so facing heavy casualties. The force of over two thousand men, had since been reduced to near a thousand.
As for Aeron and his army which had been struck hardest by Jon's numerous successful ambushes in the Wolfswood? Well, they were now simply sat on the Stony Shores with a mere few hundred men and wouldn't be moving anywhere or doing anything of note for a long while.
The biggest threat of them all was Victarion Greyjoy. Despite his forces being the largest, he had suffered major casualties in the beginning. Moat Cailin had fallen relatively quickly due to his superior numbers. In then he had lost only a few hundred men, leaving six thousand to defend it before then sailed to take Flint's Finger with a host of ten thousand.
Casualties there had been small, the seat of House Flint falling after a single day of sieging. Victarion had then taken his fleet north and began laying siege to Goldgrass while they easily took the nearly abandoned seat of House Dustin, Barrowtown.
The biggest loses the man had suffered was against Rodrik at Torrhen's Square, five thousand men killed. It was a testament to Rodrik's determination to not surrender that despite facing nearly ten thousand men with only a thousand that he managed to inflict such damage upon Victarion.
Since then, the Greyjoy commander had remained at Torrhen's Square, seemingly content to continue ravaging the surrounding lands and watching as northern civil war took place.
Lord Mallister intended to use this momentary bit of peace to increase the size of his own army and wait for that singular moment. Ramsay or the Ironborn would make a mistake eventually and when they did, he would be there to take advantage of it.
It was only a matter of time until something happened.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone