บท 19: Entry Fifteen
Date: 299 After Landing, Spring
Well that certainly didn't take long.
First, the good news is that the fleet of PB's and signal towers worked like a charm. Less than a week after Stannis sent out the ultimatum for fealty a force of 7,000 under the command of Lord Footly of Tumbleton tried to cross the God's Eye river. They tried three times to force a crossing, but each time the constant assault of archers caused the enemy force to turn back. Signal towers sent word back up the river, and additional boats converged on the enemy to deny them access.
Unable to force a crossing, as planned they had little choice but to attempt taking Harrenhal.
Footly wasn't as foolish as I would have hoped however. Instead, he took his army and camped just to the northeast and sent heralds to the castle to negotiate our surrender. About half of our forces had been either deployed to the PB's or to Riverrun to collect the next group of boats. Leaving a little over 2,000 defenders. Unfortunately, after a few hours of me saying, "No, I will not yield," Lord Footly decided to attack. He had apparently spent the time building siege catapults, which he aimed at the main gates. The walls are thick, so this made a lot of sense. He could fire on the massive walls for a year and not get anywhere, but the door is a different matter. Our own weapons took out their catapults, even set them on fire, but not before the doors had been broken.
Once the doors were down Footly sent the bulk of his men running in into our courtyard, while a smaller reserve force headed around the castle to attack the harbor behind. Once inside the gates Footly led the charge, but he wasn't counting on the discipline of my people. Arrows rained down with enfilading fire on either side of the gate like a relentless, deadly hail storm. While my infantry used what I could remember of Roman military tactics and used oversized shields to build a living wall for the attackers to break themselves on. Meanwhile a squad led by Dacey Mormont and Watt headed off the reserve force.
I expected the fighting in our courtyard to come to a full stop when I calmly threw my shield at Footly and hit him in the arm and leg, disarming him and causing him to drop to the ground. But instead his men ignored his cries and continued to throw themselves at the unyielding wall. Maybe it was because we did little to fight back? They didn't see us pushing them back, didn't see the endless arrows punching through leather and mail at point-blank, didn't see the ballista ripping through them ten at a time. They only saw their friends and allies running forward and followed them in. It was senseless.
More than half their number were dead before they realized there was no point in continuing, and by then it was too late as Dacey and Watt had made quick work of the reserve force and came back around to the main gate. Their way out was gone, they were falling by the dozens each second, and I offered them a chance to surrender. They quickly accepted. Of the 7,000 that marched on us, we took 3,192 alive. Our losses were limited to a half dozen, one of which was friendly fire. I had to remind people to carry the injured enemy forces back to the medical stations rather than just kill them, and once they understood I wasn't outright killing them the enemy stopped fighting back. Good thing I had been stockpiling medical supplies. Reminds me I need to set up a still and make rubbing alcohol. The closest we might come could be moonshine, but it would still be better than boiled wine.
After consulting with King Eddard, he agreed to my idea how to handle so many prisoners. First Lord Footly would be taken as a hostage and treated well, as he may be useful later. Highborns and knights would be given the offer of execution or be sent to the Wall, they could use the extra couple hundred men. All other prisoners would be relocated to the North as Prisoners of War, settled on a plot of land and given tools needed to work for their food. The idea is to boost the North's numbers, as well as show Stannis that we are both more honorable and civilized then he and his Kingdom. Our prisoners will not be tortured, and after the war is over they may be returned if they so wish.
Anyway, the attack proved the effectiveness of my PBs and the army I raised, so King Eddard is giving me full authority over the Armies of the North and a yearly budget to train more soldiers and build better weapons. Frankly, I think if I just doubled the size of this army we won't have to worry about anything from the South. A paid, volunteer army is a new idea here, but the benefits have already proven to be worth it.
Now, if only the Vale and Lady Lysa would make their allegiance clear. While not part of the North, they aren't part of the South either.
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