DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING

A/N: As always, thanks to Ramzes!

DUNK

Fire had consumed much of the city by the time they arrived at Lannisport. Never in his life had Dunk ever seen such a display, with the glowing orange flames weaving over the dark blue waters of the sea just as the sun was setting, if he hadn't known that thousands were dying he would have almost thought it beautiful. A shiver ran down his spine our men are sailing towards that….

Runceford Redwyne the Master of Ships had been given the task to lead the royal fleet into battle , though since the crown had been caught so off guard by the sudden and furious nature of the assault the Royal fleet had been haphazardly cobbled together from what few ships they had at King's Landing and Dragonstone when Tytos Lannister called for aid.

Prince Duncan was travelling with his father west with some three thousand men while Dunk went ahead with a small coalition of light infantry to try and help reinforce what few Lannister men that were protecting the city from the raiding pirates and judging by the state of confusion and mass hysteria that wasn't going to be an easy thing.

Dunk pulled out a myrish glass to get a better look at what he and his men were going into; from what he could tell the city guard had managed to keep the pirates contained on the docks but it seemed that their outer defences wouldn't hold for much longer. He looked back at the thirteen hundred men he had with him; they were a motley crew of Kingsguard, hedge knights and peasant militia. Not much, but I of all men should know the worth of those born bellow station…

"Men! We're to make our way into the centre of the city and converge with the red cloaks and then hold the city until King Aegon can arrive." He took a deep breath and looked at the hundreds of faces looking back at him, something which oddly comforted him. "Murders, rapists, criminals; these are the men we face, these are the men that seek to butcher the Westermen and their children. I am no holy man…but the Septon's say that the Seven are but different aspects of the same god! Well I say it is the same with our kingdoms, we are seven, we are one…those people being raped and burnt they are YOUR people! They are OUR people! Tonight let's show these bastards how Westeros defends its own!"

A cheer went up amongst the men and with that Dunk turned his horse and unsheathed his sword and rode onwards followed by his soldiers as they went head first into the screaming hellfire before them. The further they rode the more smoke began to billow forward, stinging their eyes and filling their lungs, yet Dunk did not let that deter him as he pushed forward and forward through the abandoned streets until finally they were relieved for a moment as they entered the city centre where the inhabitants had been crowded.

The people looked up and began murmuring amongst each other as they saw the men ride in led by a white, or rather grey now that he had ridden through the soot, knight. He saw several of the city guard building up blockades along the streets using whatever they could find in preparation for the coming assault and rode over to them. "Who is in charge here?"

A young man with Golden hair came forwards, his arm in a sling. "I am Ser, Tion Lannister of Lannisport…or whatever is left of it."

Dunk glanced down at the man's injured arm. "How bad?"

"Broken, though mercifully it wasn't my sword arm, I got off easy compared to many of the people here." he replied, looking around at the terrified civilians. "They've breached our defences; bastards are entering the inner city."

The big knight cursed under his breath. "Is there any way to keep evacuating the people?"

Tion Lannister shook his golden head. "No time; too many people and the fires will only slow their movement, and the pirates would cut them down."

He looked around briefly as he tried to think of a possible solution, any alternative to leading his men against the horde yet none could be found, at least none that could keep the people safe from the reavers. "Take me to the defences." He said after dismounting.

The Lannister man nodded and led Dunk and a few of his men down one of the deserted streets, the sound of drums slowly growing more and more intense until they came to a tall and heavily fortified gate that was surrounded by many tired looking red cloaks and the occasional peasant militia. Each man seemed as if he had seen a lifetime of war and Dunk wished that he had brought more men to help relieve them.

He looked up and saw that a dead body hung from one of the buildings; his red cloak matching the red ruin of his head. As Dunk turned his gaze he could see more bodies hanging from the rafters, each in various states of dismemberment as they coloured the bricks of the homes and battlements that displayed them. The drums continued to beat.

"What in the name of the gods happened here?" asked Ser Harlan in disgust.

"They've been flinging our dead back at us, among other things. We managed to clear the streets as best we can so that disease won't spread but at this point I think they just want to frighten us." Tion looked back at the old knight with blazing green eyes. "The lion fears nothing."

Dunk nodded absently and began to inspect the large wooden gate that separated the pirate horde from everyone else in the city. The gate certainly looked sturdy enough, though nothing was unbreakable in his experience, with enough force the gates would give way like any other and judging by the sound of the drums growing closer and closer the Blackfyre pirates sought to test that theory soon. "Is this the only way in and out of the centre of the city?"

Tion shook his head. "There's another gate to the southwest, though we've stationed a portion of men there too. This is the most direct route in and out of my father's keep where the people crowd before….if they seek to sack us then they shall come through here."

The big knight turned to his aged sworn brother. "Ser Harlan, take half of our men and reinforce the south western gate, I shall stay here with the remainder and try and keep the scum out."

"As you say lord commander, none shall get passed as long as I draw breath." replied the elderly knight with a resolute expression before leaving to get his men.

Dunk looked back at the street from one side to the other; it wasn't a particularly wide space perhaps only big enough to fit eight men standing hand in hand. With that realization the cogs of his mind slowly began turning as he looked around. A bottleneck, the damned street is a bottleneck. The Blackfyres likely had more men but such numbers would count for nothing in a confined space. This could work…

He turned to one of the Knights standing at his side and sent him off to bring the remainder of his forces waiting with the civilians to come to their location and told the man to make haste as he heard the drums slowly creeping ever closer.

"Ser Tion gather your men, we're going to make a stand."

The golden haired man stared at Dunk in shock. "They outnumber us two to one my lord; we'll be slaughtered!"

"Their numbers mean nothing in this tight path; it'll give us time enough to hold them off until the king's forces arrive with support."

But before the Lannister could argue a huge thud hit the gate, shaking it to its foundations and making the red cloaks jump to attention. Tion barked orders at the men to stand in formation while Dunk's men came hurrying up the rear to join their ranks. Dunk knew that soon the enemy would be upon them and said a silent prayer to the Warrior for strength and to the Mother for mercy for what was to come.

Suddenly the drums grew ferocious in their intensity and the gate was struck once again with a huge thud that almost shook the large wooden structure from its hinges. It won't be much longer now. Dunk took a breath and unsheathed his sword which his men took as a sign to do the same and stood with baited breath as they kept their gaze ahead.

The gate began to crack under the assault and Dunk turned to his men and shouted at them to get ready. Within seconds the gates were burst open and in ran a swarm of grungy looking foreigners screaming at them is some alien tongue. Dunk's men held steady until the pirates were well within the tight confines of the street before finally rushing to meet pirate steel with some of their own.

Dunk struggled to move his way through the multitudes of bodies that were squirming and battling each other and after some effort finally got towards the centre of the battle were the fighting was thickest and began to hack his way through his enemies. The pirates were wearing much cheaper armour than his own and he was able to cleave several men apart while only receiving bruises and dents as their blades bounced off his white plate.

He felt a mailed fist strike him so hard that it nearly scrambled what few brains he had and Dunk thanked the Seven that he was smart enough to wear his helm. He turned and swung his sword about with one hand while he casually threw a punch with his other, knocking more than one foreigner senseless. Despite all his training with sword and lance Dunk never could shake his brawler roots and found that more often than not his best weapons were his two fists.

The fighting was intense and Dunk could slowly feel the his movements growing sluggish by the instant and cursed himself for trying to pretend he was still a young man, but luckily enough his men had managed to hold the pirates from progressing much further down the street. If his luck could hold out then they could keep Blackfyre's men from reaching the citizens hiding out in the Centre Keep long enough for Egg and his men to arrive.

"HOLD STEADY LADS!" shouted Dunk as he and his men locked themselves in place firmly and held the pirates back with their shields, drawing a roar of frustration from the raiders who had undoubtedly not expected such resistance from simple city guard.

Dunk continued to hold the line with his fellow knights, pressing all of his large body weight forward into his sword and he could tell that his opponents were growing tired but suddenly they pulled away, leaving Dunk to almost tumble forward under his own momentum but he was able to quickly find his footing again and looked up to see why his opponents had stepped aside; splitting through the ranks was a goliath of a man wielding some odd curved sword and growling insults at him in some unknown language.

In an instant the giant man was upon Dunk swinging his unique weapon about in a flurry of attacks that Dunk could barely fend off and it seemed as if the battle had frozen around them as they exchanged blow after blow. Dunk had never considered himself a violent man and while he took life if he had to, it was always in the pursuit of saving lives and protecting the innocent and it was that thought, the image of those innocent people that these savages sought to brutalize that made him fight with an almost animalistic enthusiasm.

"You are a good fighter, but I've beaten much better men than you." Said Dunk through gritted teeth before punching the goliath in his dark face repeatedly with a mailed fist until the man's teeth were all shattered and his face a bloody mess.

Just as the big man dropped his guard to clutch his face Dunk brought his sword upwards through the tall pirate's leather armour and spilling his guts out with a sickening display of gore and crimson splashing all over Dunk's white armour.

Without having a moment to recover he was set upon by yet another wave of pirates and rogues looking to make a name for themselves. With a weary sigh he continued to fight on despite the agony each breath took and how his joints screamed for him to lie down and rest.

He suddenly felt a sharp pain in the side of his leg and he glanced down to see an arrow lodged between an opening in the plates near his knee and he stumbled over, struggling to remain on his feet as three more men rushed him. Dunk could hardly stand let alone dodge their strikes and had to resort to weakly batting them away with his sword. Is this how it ends? Dying on my knees in a burning city?

One of them managed to evade his sword a cut him in the side with a short sword right near the limbs, causing Dunk to let out a howl of pain. Before his opponent could strike the killing blow someone leapt forward and cleaved the pirate's head from his shoulders, it was Tion Lannister looking to be in almost as sorry a state as Dunk was. The golden haired man stood before the downed kingsgaurd and slew any of the pirates foolish enough to get close then slowly helped Dunk to his feet.

"Ready for another bout?" asked the Lannister as they saw several more men swarm in from the gate.

Dunk smiled weakly. "I'm game if you are."

Yet before the two men could even raise their swords a great horn blew from behind them and the raiders quickly turned tail and ran as several men on horseback rode forward cutting them down bearing the banner of House Targaryen. The King, thought Dunk The King has returned!