Chapter 4
The sun had just risen and the northern king was woken by the sound of heavy breathing, clanking steel and shouting, the king pulled himself out of bed and got dressed continually whispering to himself, "it better not be him"
The king walked out of his tent and found a hundred men in full battel gear running round the camp in formation, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Robb shouted at them making the leader call for them to halt
"good morning your grace" the leader removed his helmet to reveal the Volantene
"why do you do this every morning?" Robb asked as he looked at the men who could barely keep themselves up
"to keep my men fit and disciplined, I did say I would make the greatest fighting unit in your army"
"but every morning these men look like they are about to collapse" Robb pointed out
"good when we started half of them never made it this far see the improvement"
"if you keep doing this then when the real fight comes it won't matter how fit they are they will all be dead from exhaustion"
"don't worry about that they will be ready when the time comes, now forward man" Eshan ran off and the men followed, reluctantly, behind
The king got a few more hours of sleep before he went and got breakfast pending that time talking to his troops, after breakfast he went and observed Eshan's training but it only really consisted of practising all the different formations but he did notice something they moved fluidly and instantly to Eshan's commands and he was only calling out numbers and vague orders. After the training was done the king walked up to Eshan, "how did you do that?" he asked
"do what?" the Volantene asked back
"you barely said 2 words and they knew what to do"
"that's why I only asked for a hundred men so I can get to know each and every one of them, I also split them in to groups of ten and let them elect their own leader that way they can act independently and change tactic instantly" Eshan shared, "you should write these down"
The two soon had to go to a war council that was convening, "we are about 2 days from engaging with the small force in the Westerlands" Lord Glover spoke to the table full of lords
"we shall attack at night when their defences are weakest" Robb said as he looked at the war map
"do you have any complaints foreigner" Lord Karstark asked Eshan
"none our force outnumbers them 5 to 1 and from the scouts reports it is a training camp, none of them have seen battle and a surprise attack at night will mean they won't be able to mount any meaningful defence"
The council soon ended and everyone filed out except for Lord Karstark, "how can I help you Lord Karstark?" Robb asked when he noticed the bannerman wasn't leaving
"I don't like that you let that foreigner in to our war council he could still be a spy"
"he brought me the Vale a spy wouldn't do that"
"a good spy would and he seems like a really good spy"
"if he was an assassin I would be dead and if he was a spy then we would see a surprise attack"
"I still don't like it"
"he has valuable insight and as long as he is useful he shall stay on the council and that is final"
"yes your grace" Lord Karstark reluctantly bowed and left the tent
It was the day before the battle and Robb was not woken by men being forced to run and this worried him, the king got up and left his tent heading for where Eshan camped with his men to find them relaxing in their camp, "where is Eshan?" Robb asked a man who seemed to be carving a wooden block
"he's in his tent your grace" Robb marched in to his tent to find the Volantene still in bed fast asleep
"wake up" he ordered as he kicked the man out of bed
"wha hapenig" he mumbled as he woke up
"why are you not torturing your men this morning?" he asked
"it's a technique used by many armies in Essos you train everyday but the day before a battle you rest and relax" he told the king, "you wouldn't want to spend your last day on earth training"
"you foreigners puzzle me" Robb commented as he walked away to spend the rest of the day preparing himself for battle and looking over the plan again and again
It was dark and the rain came down on Robb and his men, he sat on his horse as he listened for the sound of horses and men screaming as they're attacked by a wolf once he heard it the king called for the attack and shouted their war cry of "THE KING IN THE NORTH".
It was now morning and Robb walked the battlefield as Lord Bolton told him of their minimal casualties and tried to get him to kill the prisoners, as they walked they came across a Lannister soldier fighting nurses trying to amputate his foot, Robb marched over and held him down and the woman sawed off his foot, once it was done and he was loaded on a cart the woman started to pack her things, "what's your name" the king asked
"Talisa" she answered showing no interest
"your last name?"
"you want to know what side my family fights for?"
"you know my family name you have me at a disadvantage"
"that boy lost his foot on your orders" she said ignoring his question
"they killed my father" he told her
"that boy did"
"that family he fights for"
"do you think he's friends with king Joffrey?" she asked sarcastically
"he's a fisherman's son who grew up near Lannisport he probably never even held a spear before the shoved one in his hands a few months ago" she finshed packing and stood up to leave
"I have no hatred for the lad"
"that should help his foot grow back" she commented before turning and leaving
The king stood silent for a moment before he chased after her, "you would have us surrender, end all this bloodshed I understand then the country would be at peace and life would be just under the righteous hand of good King Joffrey"
"you going to kill Joffrey?" she asked as she washed her hands
"if the gods give me strength" he replied
"and then what?" she asked looking at him
"I don't know, we'll go back to Winterfell I have no desire to sit on the iron throne"
"so who will?"
"I don't know"
"you're fighting to over throw a king and have no plan for what comes after"
"first we have to win the war"
She said nothing as she got on to the back of a cart and it started leaving, "you never told me where you're from" Robb said as she left
"Volantis" she replied
"Volantis your far from home" he commented before shouting, "the boy was lucky you were here"
"he was unlucky that you were" she got the last word in before she disappeared from earshot
As the king watched her leave Eshan walked by counting the gold he had looted, "who will sit on the iron throne when this is over" the king wondered outload
"Stannis or Renly" Eshan answered before going back to counting his gold
"what?" Robb asked turning to the man
"Stannis or Renly will sit on the iron throne"
"will he be ok with us taking half his kingdom?" Robb asked becoming worried about another war
"Stannis will attack Kings landing and if he is successful, Joffrey will die and he will have the throne but we can ally ourselves with Renly on the condition of our independence and then over throw Stannis and give Renly the crown but if Stannis loses then if Renly takes Kings landing we can negotiate with him and get rid of Stannis but if we take Kings landing then we will be in the perfect position to negotiate with both of them"
"do you have a plan to take Kings landing?" Robb asked jokingly
"give me a map an 10 minutes" Eshan said as he walked away counting his gold
"I'm starting to think everyone from Volantis is like this" Robb muttered before heading off to help clean up the battlefield.
End of chapter 3
Yes that was exactly the conversation Robb and Talisa had in the show word for word.