Chapter 12
The northern army left for Casterly rock as soon as they could happy to leave the bridge behind. The army had been marching for a week and were now camped on the river tumblestone, Eshan was walking through the camp when he spotted an angry looking Arya being escorted by two men, "where are you taking the princess?" Eshan asked the two
"she was caught trying to sneak in to the prisoner pens, Lady Stark asked us to escort her to her tent"
"I'll take her from here you two are dismissed" Eshan told them and the soldiers left them, "you were trying to see the hound?"
"I was trying to set him free" Arya admitted
"your brother will free him in time you just need to be patient"
"why can't he just release him?" Arya asked as Eshan stopped by the river
"your brother has a war to fight, he doesn't have time to think he only has time to act"
"why did this have to happen?" Arya asked no one really as she sat on the bank
"ambition" Eshan answered simply
"what?"
"this war was caused by ambition, by people who want to reach higher and as consequence all around them suffer"
"so are the gods punishing us?" Arya asked looking up at the Volantene
"I don't believe in gods but if they do exist they would punish those who want to climb higher"
"Robb is trying to become a king shouldn't the gods punish him?"
"they tried and I stopped them, that's the one thing about gods they don't seem to be able to stop us from trying to climb and are powerless if we have an unbreakable will" the two looked out over the river for a bit before Eshan picked her up, "I have a war council to get to so you need to get to your tent"
"wait can't I sit in on the council?" Arya asked
"I don't think that is a good idea princess"
"well as your princess I command you to let me in to the war council"
"then as you command princess follow me"
Arya followed Eshan to the tent and walked in behind him, she felt unconfutable when all the lords looked at her with odd looks as she brought up a chair and sat next to Eshan, "what is my sister doing here?" Robb asked breaking the silence
"the princess commanded me to bring her so I did" Eshan explained
"so do you take orders from a little girl now" Lord Umber said causing the room to erupt in laughter
"that aside this is no place for a woman send her back to her tent" Lord Karstark said
"I will not go" Arya said
"unless you're afraid of little girls Lord Karstark we have more pressing matters to discuss" Eshan said
"fine Arya you can stay just try to keep quiet" Robb relented then turned his attention to the map sitting on the table, "what about out attack on Casterly rock"
"the mountain only has a few hundred men left, he would have to surrender or be slaughtered" Lord Umber said
"he would probably chose slaughter but I have sent a messenger to demand his surrender" Eshan told Robb
"do you think we can take the castle before Tywin reaches us?" Robb asked staring at the map
"we have the men but I still think it is a bad idea to march with the Frey and Bolton men they tried to kill you at my own wedding" Edmure spoke up
"I know but we need the men and we have the Freys lord and the Boltons are split amongst you all they can't coordinate an attack" Robb reassured his bannermen
"that aside we need to discuss our move Casterly rock" Eshan told the king
"what do you think it should be?" Robb asked the foreigner
"there is still a large Tyrell force in the Reach if Tywins forces meet up with them then we will be in trouble"
"so you think we need to invade the reach and deal with the Tyrell force?" Lord Karstark asked
"we should take the searoad south to old oak the forces from Highgarden should come to try and destroy us before we reach Highgarden"
"for our intelligence the force at Highgarden is only 30,000 men and they probably don't know our numbers" Lord Umber said
"that is a sounds good but what if they just hide in Highgarden then we would have to push further in to the Reach and could be cut off from the north by Tywin" Robb pointed out
"Randyll Tarly leads the forces from what I hear he is a brilliant battlefield commander but he is a bit too eager in battle" Eshan replied, "he would want to impress the Tyrells and Tywin by defeating the rebellious northerners by himself and I don't doubt he could defeat our men with his 30,000"
"then why would we face him in battle?" the blackfish asked
"because he could defeat us but the chances of that are slim but enough to get him to try"
"fine then we will be arriving at Casterly rock in just over a week once we burn their precious home to the ground we will cut the head off every damn Lannister we find" Robb declared as his bannermen cheered
A week later Eshan sat next to the king as the two watched from horse back as the gates of Casterly rock fell, "KING IN THE NORTH" Robb shouted as he drew his sword and charged towards the gate
"KING IN THE NORTH" Eshan screamed riding after him hoping to not get hit by an arrow
The Volantene was soon through the gate and in the thick of it stabbing down on the Lannister men, as he was making his way through the crowd a sword came out of it just missing him but hitting his horse, throwing him off, Eshan hit the ground but was soon on his feet and blocking a sword destined for his throat.
Eshan pushed his way through with about 10 men and managed to make it in to the keep, "we need to find the mountain I didn't see him by the gate" he told them before he went further in with them in tow
They walked to the end of the corridor when a blade appeared around a corner barley giving Eshan enough time to block, the soldier jumped out and attempted to run Eshan through before he could recover but one of the northmen parried giving Eshan the opening to run him through. The group continued through the castle, searching everywhere, but they couldn't find a trace of the mountain as they made it to the great hall the king called out to Eshan
"I didn't see you in the battle" Robb said as he sat down to rest in the lords chair
"I was looking for the mountain he didn't seem to be on the battle field" Eshan told him as he walked to the kings side
"did you find him?" Robb asked
"no what about you?" Eshan asked back
"no he must of escaped and made his way back to Tywin" Robb sighed before he stood, "take anything of value and then burn this place to the ground"
"yes your grace" Eshan immediately walked over to one of the many lion banners hanging in the hall and tore it down
The northern army spent hours taking anything of any value or use in war and completely destroying the castle. Eshan walked out of the gate and up to the king carrying more gold than he could carry, "what you looking at?" Eshan asked looking up at the gate to see three male lions and a female dripping with blood and hanging from the gate, "where did you find those?"
"they were in cages below Casterly rock and I thought this would be the perfect message to send Tywin" Robb told him
"what happened to that one?" Eshan asked pointing out that one of the males had its right paw missing
"it lashed out so we had to cut it off"
"well we should go your grace there is nothing left here" Eshan said turning to walk back to camp struggling to keep the gold form spilling
End of chapter 12
