บท 15: Rebellion part 4
Three days after receiving the letter about Robert's situation the rebel forces started readying themselves to depart, they had to wait weeks for Ned to arrive, gather his troops and get ready to march, in total they were bringing fifteen thousand knights, five from the Vale, another five from the north and the two thousand Max brought plus the three thousand archers, he managed to get three thousand horses from the rebel forces for them to use, they were reticent in the beginning but after a short demonstration of what the archers could do they accepted to lend the horses.
Cassius was the commander of the ground army and after a couple of weeks of march they were finally reaching Robert's hideout, it turned out after being defeated in Ashford Robert lost half his troops it seemed that just the vanguard of the Reach forces was in the ambush, and even then they lost the same amount of troops, it could be barely be called a victory since by the time their main force arrived Robert's forces were already on retreat and instead of chasing which would be detrimental since most of their forces were footmen and they would slow the rest of the army, so instead they attacked the stormlands and laid siege to their fortresses. Robert's forces took refuge in the Stoney sept but had in their tails a force sent by the crownlands, from the reports he could get they were twenty thousand strong, a mix between knights and sellswords since there were still soldiers defending kingslanding.
Sometime after the battle of Ashford, in the camp of the army of the Reach.
"Haha, that will teach that Baratheon kid to think twice next time he tries to invade our lands". Said Mace proposing a toast, which all the lords present followed, the atmosphere of the camp was cheerful, most of the lords were drinking like there was no tomorrow and singing praises about how smart and wise Mace was for attaining this victory, except for a few that were thinking about the next step to take in this war, one of those was Lord Randyll Tarly, the true mind behind this victory, but his head wasn't getting bigger thanks to this, he was an experienced man and knew that even with this the war would continue and if certainly this would help the position of the Reach in all this struggle involving further would be the same as truly supporting the loyalist after all right now they could blame their attack on Robert since his host were marching on Ashford but doing anything more than this would be troublesome, even if it seemed that with the help of the Reach the loyalist would win there're still unknown factors, one of them and the most troublesome the Westerlands, everyone knows how much the mad king humiliated Tywin and if there's something that prevents him from moving is waiting for the right time to attack, so attacking the Stomrlands was the safest move for the Reach right now, but this victory didn't come for free, they took four thousand of Robert's men but lost three thousand in exchange, the reachmen had the numbers but the rebels had the experience, it seemed the only reason they retreated was because their leader got severely hurt in the battle, now he has to send the severed head of one of the rebel leaders to the king to "prove their loyalty", and the worst of this is that Mace got bold after the victory and is now surer than ever about sending half of the redwyne fleet to hunt down the fleet of the imperials, nothing of what he said seemed to be able to make him change his mind, now he can only hope for the best.
Back at the rebel side.
After the explorers came and told them that the loyalist was already in the city searching for Robert and their forces they knew they needed to move fast, it wouldn't take much time before they realize reinforcements came and if that was the case they might not have enough time to safe Robert, so they made a simple plan, their knights were going to storm the town while the archers Max brought would try to take the roof of the buildings and take down the archers that would surely be there. Max troops were going to take the lead, once inside they would divide themselves into two groups and clean the streets while the rest of the forces enter the town and the fighting starts then the archers would dismount and take the high ground.
"You will take the roof too, Nona will go with you but you will take the lead when they fight their way to the roofs". Said Cassius to Max, since it would be his first real fight he can't be thrown into the streets, it would be too chaotic.
"It's fine, I'm better with my bow in any case" replied Max, clad in his white and golden armor.
They then took their horses and took positions, Cassius in the middle of the vanguard and Max at the front of the archers.
The earth rumbled wherever their mighty steeds galloped, the air itself felt heavier and you could smell blood in the air even before the battle started, the highest lords where impressed seeing this, these men were the best-trained troops they had seen and their equipment and steeds were equally impressive, their horses where clearly faster and stronger than the ones they were using, and from the aura they were giving you could imagine the amount of blood they had shed.
"You see that? It seems our friends are giving us a welcome party". Yelled Cassius to his troops and hearing him some of them started laughing.
They had the town right in front, it seemed they had to take the town by force since the gates were down and there were even people hanging from crow cages.
The knights at the front lifted their shields to stop the arrows coming at them, there were some archers on top of the walls but it seemed the attack took them by surprise and they couldn't prepare enough men besides they had more to worry about than just them, there were still Robert's forces hiding inside the town, thanks to the ineptitude of the loyalists they were now effectively surrounded, and it was now the time to close the maws of the beast upon them.
The knights prepared their lances and charged directly at the lines of footmen trying to stop them, their projectiles did barely anything, they could only take a couple off of knights and as it was proven later any resistance the foot soldiers tried to muster was completely useless, their bodies crumbled beneath the hoofs of their steeds, their chests trampled and their heads smashed, their blood flowing in the streets, meanwhile the bells were ringing giving the scene a grim symphony, the rest of the royalist continued trying to block the advance of the knights in the streets but it was futile, even when they brought a few of them down the rest just march over them and crush the royalists, but once the initial shock was over the same could be said about the advantage the rebels had, their advance became increasingly more difficult and proving that they weren't a heard of headless chickens the loyalist used blockades to trap the knights and then the archers that were on top of the roofs would unleash a flurry of arrows upon them, the knights, of course, would try to block them but then their enemies will come from the alleys and attack them while they were distracted.
After entering the city Max went with Nona and a squad of archers, their mission? to take the archers on top of the buildings, first, they were going to start with the ones on the walls, once they take control of the walls the can start focusing their troops in cleaning the streets.
Thanks to the vanguard the archers were busy and didn't pay too much attention to max and his group, there were some that saw them trying to get on top of the walls and started shooting, Max escort took the arrows with their shields before him and the rest started shooting back and proving his accomplishment with the bow he put an arrow between the man's eyebrows.
Once on top of the wall the soldiers started scattering, most of them were sellswords, once they saw their troops trapped there was no reason to continue fighting, it doesn't matter how much money they offer if you can't expend it, most of them, at least of those who could retreat did it, but there were still a lot of them fighting.
In front of max were the myrmidons forming a shield wall and holding the sellswords that were running in his direction amidst the sound of swords and shields colliding you could hear the sound of the lives that were being taken, the myrmidons stood strong, receiving the attacks without retaliation and when they felt it was the moment they push them back, throwing them to the ground and then finishing them with their spears, when they couldn't muster any defense for themselves.
One myrmidon blocked an arrow coming from his right which left him exposed for an attack, the others saw that but they were engaging in their own fights so they could do nothing except hope that he could survive, but before the sellsword's sword could reach him an arrow pierced his neck, the myrmidon looked back and he could see Max already changing targets, holding the arrow in the string with three fingers in a graceful stance, his face showing how concentrated he is, his eyes focused on the target following him every time he moves unblinking, this time his next victim was going to be the archer who shot at the myrmidon, the arrow hit the man in the middle of the chest, making him lose balance and fall from the building, if he didn't die thanks to the arrow the fall certainly did the job.
They resumed the job of cleaning the walls It didn't take long, it was clear the enemy just left them here to gain some time for them to find Robert and finish the job, they clearly didn't have any hopes of winning this fight, but they were trying to at least make this, not a complete failure. After ending his job in the walls Max and his entourage went searching for a high point from where support the units that were fighting in the town square.
In the middle of the town square in front of a brothel a huge fight was going on, a few thousand men were fighting, this was the biggest fight in the town right now, a man wearing the sigil of house Arryn was protecting a knight wearing the sigil of house Tully, the knight of house Tully seemed injured and before he could be finished by a man wearing a sigil of two griffins facing each other the knight of house Arryn intervened but was losing the fight after a short few minutes, the griffin knight stroke the shield of the falcon knight time and time again and after every strike the falcon knight only could back a few steps due to the power of his blows, the falcon knight parried a heavy strike directed to his head but his shield broke from the impact and he ended in the floor, defenseless against a better skilled knight, in that moment the young man knew everything was lost, he could only hope that his wife and his child would be safe and good after his departure, he started closing his eyes seeing the sword that was coming closer to his chest, his head felt dizzy and his blood seemed to be frozen but instead of the cold and sharp kiss of the sword the only thing he perceived was a grunt coming from the knight that was about to end his life, then he opened his eyes again and saw an arrow embedded in the man's shoulder making him drop his weapon, then another whistling sound came and this time the arrow took the man's knees making him fall on them, and another sound came presaging the arrival of another deadly arrow but this time the knight companions arrived in time and block the arrow with their shields, in that moment another sound came, the men behind him were cheering and chanting, his head felt light so he couldn't make sense of anything they were saying right now but he could see the knight that almost took his life trying to free himself from his companions but they were adamant in taking him out of there and retreat, seeing the threat abandoning the field he could finally breathe a sigh of relief, and then he looked to the place from where the arrows were coming, there was standing on top of a roof a group of knights wearing black armor, some were using their bows and taking down men in the streets, but one of them was looking directly at his position, the knight had a white and golden armor, it was clear he was the leader of that group of men and it seemed he was now the man that saved his life.
A few moments before Max was going through the town with his group, the streets were full of soldiers fighting so instead they were jumping from roof to roof, searching for a good location, most of the soldiers didn't even saw them, but nobody could complain, they were busy fighting for their lives, they shot down every archer they saw, but sadly since their route required more agility they left the soldiers that carried shields behind and instead their group was formed fully with archers, leaving them without protection and thanks to this a few of their archers were killed already, but not as much as the number of enemies that fell to their arrows. Later max arrived on top of a building, it seemed it was some kind of brothel or so it seemed, in front of it was the greatest fight in the town, Max started doing his job, he readied his stance, hold the arrow on the string with three fingers in a graceful way, aiming at the idiots that were beneath him putting a useless fight, and then he found an opening in one of the soldiers, the man used his shield to bash a stark bannermen, throwing the later on his back, but before he could finish the man an arrow pierced his unprotected neck making him drown in his own blood, then he looked at the middle of the plaza, there the soldiers seemed to be leaving some sort of space to the knights that were fighting in the middle, a man with the sigil of house Tully was fighting a knight with a sigil of griffins, the weird thing for Max was that lord Hoster didn't bring any of his forces so he didn't know were that Tully knight came from, but seeing that he didn't had any opportunity to attack he searched for a more suitable target, and he found them, half a dozen men fell to his arrows, when he looked at the Tully knight again the man was in the floor with a wound in his torso, a man with the sigil of house Arryn was now engaging the griffin knight, he was clearly stronger and overpowered the Arryn knight in short time leaving him on the floor and without any defense, the enemy was clearly overconfident thanks to his victories, and left an opening but Max only had two arrows now and there's a difference between shooting a man wearing leather or even ring armor and one wearing full plate armor, if the arrow didn't hit one of the weak spots of the armor the arrow would do nothing, it will be a test to all he have learned till now, so he first started stabilizing his breath, put the arrow in the string and then took aim, he waited for an opportunity, there's always one, when the man started swinging his sword to deliver the final blow an opening was revealed in his shoulder, when his arms were raised they left an unprotected spot, most armors have them, otherwise it would hinder the movements of the wearer, and even when it sounds simple just an expert archer could make that shot, and sadly for the griffin knight Max is one of them, when the arrow left the string everything seemed to be slowing down, if the arrow don't hit the spot two of his allies would lose their life, and while he certainly has seen many men die in this war now he could save two of them and he certainly won't fail, just after the first arrow hit the exposed shoulder of the griffin knight Max prepared a second one, the last one, this time his arrow won't be able to hit the shoulder since the enemy already dropped his arms after getting hit but with the strength of the arrow the man took a step back, leaving an opening in the internal part of his thigh just were his arrow would hit later, dropping the man to his knees, seeing where he was shooting at, Nona shoot at the man but before her arrow could reach the gap of his helmet another knight came and took the arrow with his shield, she was preparing another arrow but in that moment something else happened, a man with an antler helmet and the sigil of house Baratheon came from the brothel, hammer in hand and started hitting men left and right, raising the morale of the troops and seeing him and that their commander was injured the loyalist troops started fleeing while the rebels were cheering and regrouping around Robert.
Max went down, trying to reach the town square but before his group reached it they were attacked by a group of fleeing soldiers, you could see the desperation in their faces, the fear but they knew they were trapped so they took their weapons and attacked, Max took his sword from his sheath and prepared himself to fight, while he wasn't the most prodigious swordsman he could still fight back, the first man approached him and slashed directly at his face but Max blocked the hit with his sword, it was Max turn to attack, he stabbed at the man's abdomen but he parried the blow, and while Max was fighting the others already finished with their targets, now the sellswords were nothing but a bunch of corpses in the street with a single wound in their vital points and a face full of grievances, since they already finished their fight some took defensive positions covering the others while the rest were just seeing Max fight, and while he certainly wasn't a master with a sword his techniques were polished and he was patient, those were his advantages but the sellsword was a good fighter and he was clearly more experienced and was desperate to survive, it was the most difficult fight Max fought at the moment, he wasn't one of his soldiers that would just injure him, this man would use every mean necessary to kill him, but after seeing that he was completely surrounded and all his allies were dead the man tried to surrender but Nona stopped him, "If you drop your weapon your life will come to an end, your only chance of survival is killing the man in front of you, it's your life or his". Hearing that the man's hands started trembling but after some time he calmed down and tighten the grip on his sword, charged directly at Max and slashed at his arm, Max parried the blow to the side but the tip of the man's sword left a faint trace of blood but Max just ignored it, then taking advantage from his position he used the pommel of his sword to strike at the man's nose leaving him with a bloody face, after recovering from the blow the man once again tried to slash at his head, Max already knew the move so he easily blocked the hit, what he did not expect though was the dagger that was coming at his chest, it was too close and too fast for him to dodge, the dagger struck at one of the sides of the armor, the parts that were less protected in the cuirass, seeing the bloody wound on Max side some of his guards tried to reach him but Nona raised her hand to stop them, it was his fight and even if he was at death's door they would bring him back, he needed this experience as well as any scar that comes with it. Max felt his side burning and at the same time the cold metal inside him, how could he be so stupid as to fall for it, he was facing a man that kills for money how could that man survive for so long if he just used the same attack always, how could a man like that be honorable and restrict himself when his life is on the line, he felt his blood boil, the rage, how dare that man wound him, he will rip him apart.
The guards around him saw how Max's eyes became completely black and the blood that was coming from his arm and his side attract and mix itself with the blood of all the soldiers killed and condense itself in the form of a spear, with a black shaft and a bloody red tip, it design wasn't anything they had seen before but it was after all a sword made from blood it can't get weirder at this point.
"Demon, Demon, Demon, Dem…" it was all the sellsword could say, before falling to his knees, his face devoid of color, just now they realized that even his blood was being taken by the spear and once it was completed and took all the blood it could absorb Max behead him and crushed his skull, and then he turned around and fell unconscious.
"I will take him to a healer, one of you go and inform our allies". Said Nona before taking Max on his shoulders after bandaging him and reaching to take the spear, even before taking it she could feel an eerie feeling coming from it and when her hand reached it she could feel her strength leaving her body and she dropped the spear on the floor, then took a piece of cloth from one of the mummified bodies in the flood and wrapped the spear around it and took Max with her in route to the camp so a healer could treat his wound.
In the camp they made near Stoney sept in a tent being used by Aurelius, Max was being attended by a healer, but seeing his condition all the people there were marveled since the wound was already closed and healed, meanwhile, Aurelius examined the spear and hearing the tale from Nona of how it was made.
"So he took the blood of all those that were injured in the fight and make himself a spear from it". Said Aurelius while more of a question it was to reassure himself of it, he knew better than anyone the prowess of Max magic, and while it was very advanced for his age there's no way he could do something like that, even Aurelius himself can't, it was something completely different from their magic and from his teachings, he would need to consult the library of the high temple to know more about it, but it surely was a blessing given by the mother of the armies.
After the battle the rebels took their forces back to Riverrun to regroup and prepare the assault on kingslanding, that same night a letter came to Aurelius, their fleet that was patrolling the waters of the vale engaged in conflict with the redwyne fleet.
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ormtr
ormtr Hope you got a great day guys. So I was thinking would you guys find useful an auxiliary chapter with some links so you could see close representations of how I see some of the things here or would you rather leave it to your own imagination?
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