บท 250: CHAPTER 250
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CHAPTER 250
296 AC
POV THIRD PERSON
Aermir emerged from the forest with his infantry and cavalry, and he was able to charge into the flank of the unsuspecting ranks of the Ruthermont men. His 500 infantry were coming a few minutes behind them. The cavalry charged in from the flanks without getting bogged down and started to rotate in a grand circular motion like a grinding wheel.
This way, they were able to continuously charge in and get out without getting caught in a melee. Of course, their actions were not like a well-oiled machine since this was their first time doing a cavalry charge, and with every charge, some of the men fell off their horses, and most of the time, their charges were clumsy. Aermir was the complete opposite of his cavalry. With his two great axes, he was mowing down men left and right. He was like a giant beast. His infantry had reached up to him and started cutting into the enemy ranks. With every swing, he was reaping many lives.
"Monster!"
"For the Seven's sake, Stranger came to take us!"
"Father, please protect us!"
Many cries started to rise from the soldiers. He was unnatural; they were hitting him with everything they had, but every time, he was able to push back. His armor was full of holes, but he was not bleeding. To the soldiers, it was a terrorizing sight; every moment they faced him, their fear was rising.
Aermir was not in a perfect condition either. His superhuman physic helped against the blunt force he was taking, but even droplets could break a boulder. He was starting to get tired and was hurting all over his body. He had to continue pushing so they would lose as few men as possible.
As he was fighting, he threw one of his axes, and the giant axe created a line of devastation in front of it. One of the Knights of the House Ruthermont charged and hit Aermir's shoulder with his sword; it didn't even push him back. Aermir turned to the knight and punched him so hard his head flew off his body.
All the soldiers froze upon seeing this, but Aermir didn't end it with that. He punched another knight in his chest. The man's plate armor caved in, and you could hear his ribs breaking. Like an arrow released from the bow, he flew back, knocking down many men; this was the last drop that broke the Vale men.
House Ruthermont's men were surrounded from 3 sides. They had already charged into the main Mountain army, then Aermir flaked them with his infantry, and lastly, his remaining cavalry was cycle charging them from the rear.
Their only way of retreat was towards the east to the clearing, but Aermir and the cavalry were not letting them retreat without killing as many of them as possible.
...
Every house inside the Vale of Arryn had lost a major part of their army; they were thoroughly beaten. Aermir didn't allow the razing of the villages other than the crops since he needed the moral high ground when he joined them as the Druid.
The mountain clans had taken all the harvested crops they could carry and burned the rest. Aermir's familiars were preventing the news from getting out of the Vale of Arryn, so they didn't even need to hurry. Some of the houses burned their fields rather than letting the mountain men take their crops.
To Aermir, it didn't really matter if it was burned or taken by the mountain men as long as it didn't end up in the hands of Vale. He wanted them to use their reserves. he had already put a lot of Ravenguard agents in the Vale as traveling merchants and minstrels.
When the time came he was ready to start rumors nobles were gorging themselves on food while letting the small folks starve. In a week, when everything was done, Aermir lifted the blockade, and the news of what happened in the Vale was raveling between the Vale houses like wildfire.
...
Jon Arryn was having a bad feeling about this; he was thoroughly beaten by the Druid. Aermir Drasil had sent a raven stating all the land he conquered was his for the audacious invasion caused by the Sistermen Houses and House Pyron. He had no intention of returning that land. Jon crumbled the piece of paper in rage.
"That brat! He acts like he won the war! The Druid basically gift-wrapped the islands for him. What I can't understand is why are they keeping our forces imprisoned in Paps if they don't intend to fight. I have a bad feeling about this."
Lord Grafton's eldest son, Eric, had taken his spot in his absence. He said,
"Could it be they are going to attack the Vale? I cannot think of any other reason for this."
Jon shook his head,
"No, even the Druid wouldn't be that arrogant? Our people would never bow down to him if he invades the Vale, and we have ten times his army. We might have lost contact with the 10 thousand in Paps, but we can still raise 30 or mayhaps some more."
Jon might have said that, but he started to have some doubts. He turned to his advisor and asked,
"With our estimated harvest and reserves, how many more soldiers can we muster?"
The man opened the big book in front of him and started going through the numbers. After some time, he said,
"We can raise 40 thousand more, but only for two months. Then, we need to buy grain from other places."
It was not a problem to find soldiers. Vale and North had around 4 million population, but there was a reason that the greatest army the Vale had ever mustered was 55 thousand. Money and food were the reasons; to have a big army, you needed enough grain to feed them and enough gold to pay them.
They might not be as rich as Lannisters and Tyrells, but thanks to the Vale of Arryn, they never needed to depend on outside sources for food. After hearing those numbers, that bad feeling inside Jon started to settle down. Lord Bellmore said,
"Then we don't have to fear the Druid and Drasil's army if the North doesn't provide support for them."
Eric Grafton cut him off,
"Don't be arrogant! That monster conquered a castle by himself. I still don't believe he showed us what he can really do."
Jon Arryn asked with a curious tone,
"Why do you think so?"
"Because we hadn't cornered him yet, nobody had. Until then, we cannot know what his upper limits are. Of course, I don't believe him to be one of the Old Gods like the surviving soldiers claim him to be, but I don't also believe him to be just a human. I believe he can be killed, but I am not going to underestimate a being that can rain down fire and ice."
He looked into Jon's eyes with a serious expression,
"And, My Lord, you shouldn't either."
Lord Royce Coldwater slammed his fist to the table and shouted at Eric Grafton angrily,
"What are you saying? Are you recommending we roll over and give everything up in front of this Drasil kid and the Druid?"
Lord Coldwater wagged his finger accusingly in front of Eric Grafton and continued,
"Where is your honor as a defender of the faith and as a knight of the Vale? Aren't you ashamed of yourself by saying this?"
Eric was the Lord Grafton in his father's absence. So he got angry and slammed his hand onto the table, too,
"When did not underestimating your enemy become something to be ashamed of? You can go and live in your fantasy land where you can beat the Druid and take the island back when you can't even land a fishing boat to the island without getting sunk."
He turned his attention to Jon Arryn and said,
"My Lord, we shouldn't waste our time and soldiers in a meaningless struggle for the islands. There is no way in seven hells we can take those islands from the Druid while he has those accursed orcas. We should pick our battles and look into the future. Please do not be distracted by the flowery words of some nobles."
Eric might be younger than them but he was 35 this year and he was not going to take disrespect from those old delusional idiots who call themselves defender of the Vale. He looked into Jon's eyes with a determined face and continued,
"Even if we have the Seven behind us, it is a fact that thing has something beyond our understanding behind him, too."
Lord Coldwater got angrier and shouted while spewing spits; he was fuming,
"Are you talking about me? And did you just accept the existence of Old Gods? BLASPHEMY!"
This time, Eric got furious and threw his goblet to the ground,
"Is it BLASPHEMY to think Old Gods are real? Of course, they are not real gods like the Seven, but they are definitely something beyond human. Devil or god, they have the power to gift that Druid with many abilities. We cannot fight him openly; it will ruin our kingdom."
He turned his attention to the other lords and said,
"I do not believe even for a second that one magician will beat us, but at what cost are we going to win this war? Pyrrhic victory is not a victory; he can burn our fields and assassinate us in our own castles. Does anyone of you have a way to catch him when he turns into a bird? As far as I have heard, the wind protects him, and he cannot be hit with an arrow."
Everyone was listening to Eric with full attention,
"Yes, we can definitely beat his army and his attack dog, Drasil, but he can come and go as he pleases, and he can definitely assassinate us as he pleases."
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