Chapter 51: The Bonds We Forge 2

Morning had come and Cregan finally awoke from his sleep. He expected to be in pain, like every morning, but instead of pain Cregan felt a form of relief, perhaps even glee. No blood from his nose, no pale skin, no feeling of nausea or sickness, nothing. The sun rised from his window as Cregan got up from his bed, from what he could tell Cregan had been sleeping for quite some time, more than he usually would. To be fair Cregan's usual sleep time was mainly around 2 or 3 hours a night with his nightmares only shortening that sleep time, but today was not like that.

As the sun continued to only rise further and further and the sky started to gain it's blue color all Cregan could hear from outside were the sound of birds singing and the conversations, laughs and footsteps of his men from below Cregan's tower. It was strange, for all of their time spent in Harrenhall Cregan could never recall a time that his men were this happy, in all honesty though, they had very good reasons to be in high spirits. Despite him knowing that this sort of high morale would not last long, Cregan took solace in knowing that his men were not as miserable as they were just a few days ago.

Today was their last day in Harrenhall and, of course, all of the men were completely filled with both joy and relief when they received the news. Cregan got up from his bed and put on his clothes as well as his armor and weapons. First his boots, pants and tunic and after that came his boiled leather armor and his two swords that Cregan strapped to his sides, Frostbite strapped to his right and Demonsteel strapped to his left. Before leaving his room that was almost filled to the brim with destroyed furniture due to Cregan's little 'rage trip' he took one last look throughout his window that gave a good view of one side of Harrenhall.

Cregan's view showed a part of the destroyed fortress of Harrenhall. The entire part from where Cregan was looking at was completely deserted apart from the inner circles where his own men where still busy getting ready for their march forward into The Crownlands but more importantly, towards King's Landing and The Lannister family. From down below Rodrik was leading what remained of his Forrester troops and half of the remaining Bolton men while Dacey was keeping to her own men. It wasn't strange for people to be weary of The Boltons, even when their lord was already dead. With Dacey not leading the remainder of The Bolton force Cregan had to take them. In the end his force was split to Cregan's, Rodrik's and Dacey's men. Cregan's force consisted of 8,000 men, 3,000 Stark men and 5,000 Bolton men, Rodrik's force had around 4,000 men, half Forrester and half Bolton, and Dacey's force consisted of all Mormont and Stark men at around 5,000.

As he inspected his men from above Cregan could also hear the laughs of many soldiers, Stark, Mormont, Bolton and Forrester alike. Once again the news of their departure from Harrenhall proved to be a morale boost to Cregan's men. For the first time in what seemed like weeks now the sun shined on this fortress, giving a sort of strange beauty. Deep down, Cregan was happy to know that even a place as desolate, ruined and wretched like this could still have it's beauty.

After a few more moments of staring at the horizon and admiring the view, Cregan was finally satisfied as he started to walk away from the window and towards the exit of his room. As Cregan started going towards the exit he walked past many a ruined furniture piece. Scraps from broken tables and chairs were littered around the floor, holes spread across the walls and many more broken pieces were scattered through Cregan's entire room. Cregan never mind sleeping in the dirt, he spent many nights out hunting which would usually result in him having to make his own bed, meaning he was going to sleep in a hole in the dirt. Despite that though, Cregan couldn't help but admit he was glad to never be sleeping in this room anymore.

Cregan turned his head one last time towards his room before exiting through the door and going down towards the courtyard where all of his men were getting ready to march out. Climbing down the stone steps Cregan walked past many other soldiers that were still preparing, all of them stopping to bow and greet their commander. 'General' was what most of them reffered to Cregan as while Stark soldiers usually spoke to him with 'My Lord'. All the way down the steps was where both Dacey and Rodrik were waiting for Cregan, seemingly having heard all the rumaging through his room which would have meant that Cregan was finally awake.

"General..." both Rodrik and Dacey greeted him. Cregan spoke no words, he merely nodded towards both of them, acknowledging their presence as he passed Rodrik and Dacey. With Cregan both of them followed. All three were already in their armor, Cregan and Rodrik in their suit of plate and boiled leather, Dacey in her armor of leather and chainmail.

"Are all the men ready to march?" Cregan asked in his usual monotone voice.
"Around half of the men are fully ready, the other half are still getting prepared." Rodrik reported, pointing towards all the parties that are already prepared for the march.
"How long will it take for everyone to be prepared?" Cregan asked again, not changing a single thing with his voice and expression.
"At the pace we're going at now... an hour, at best." Dacey joined in the conversation, her words as practical and simple as she could put it.
"Good..." Cregan said as the three all continued to walk throughout the busy courtyard full of soldiers, all getting ready to leave this wretched fortress.

Walking through the courtyard further Cregan saw Vesemir saddling his horse with Tarkus, Rodrick, Edwyn and Lily by his side, also saddling their own horses. Unlike the rest of Cregan's men, the five weren't in any sort of northern suits which made them stick out quite glaringly. Vesemir and his companions had already packed their weapons and what seemed like a weeks worth of supplies, even though they probably weren't going to be necessary. Now that he knew where they were Cregan turned to his other two companions.

"Rodrik, Dacey, ready your men, we march at noon." Cregan said as the two nodded in unison and left to their respective group of men.

After having dealt with that, Cregan started to walk toward Vesemir and his companions. When Cregan was at hearing distance with the little group Vesemir was in the middle of a conversation with Rodrick about something when they noticed Cregan walking towards them. Rodrick went back to saddling his horse while Vesemir stayed where he was, already knowing that Cregan was coming to talk to him.

"Well Stark, fancy meeting you here." Vesemir said with a smirk, keeping to his unserious attitude.
"Could you stop it with the sarcasm for just one second?" Cregan said in a emotionless tone.
"You know I can't..." Vesemir's smile now grew only wider with his sentence.
"I hate you so much." Cregan said with a sigh, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them again.

"So..." Vesemir's tone and expression went slightly serious for a moment, "... I guess this is where we part ways".
"Aye, guess it is." Cregan said as he reached his arm out towards Vesemir, "I'm counting on you Vesemir".
"Dont worry Stark, if there's one thing I'm not good at, it's disappointing people." Vesemir said confidently as he grabbed Cregan's hand.
"For once I hope your right." Cregan didn't seem encouraged by Vesemir's confident words but still, he kept a constant neutral face.

The two then took a couple steps back as Vesemir turned around and mounted his horse. Strapping FlameSinger to his side Vesemir turned his head one last time to Cregan. "Try not to die Stark, I would hate to have to explain myself to your family afterwards." Vesemir said in a much happier tone than just a few moment ago. Cregan didn't say a word, he only nodded in response and for a moment Vesemir's eyes widened as the smallest hint of a smile started to form on Cregan's face. Seeing that made the old man snicker and smirk once more, even if it did seem strange to Cregan.

"The next time we see each other Stark, drinks are gonna be on me." Vesemir said before finally pulling the reins of his horse and breaking it into a gallop as he and his companions rode out through one of Harrenhalls many gates and exits. Once the dust had settled and the five had left, Cregan was standing alone while at the same time surrounded by his men who were running all through the courtyard to gather their equipment, ready their supplies as well as readying their horses for the march.

Harrenhall, Inner Courtyard, Two Hours Later...

As the day was slowly passing by all Cregan did was stand at sides and watch his men putting on their armor and strapping on their swords, axes and maces. It was not the most exhilirating thing to watch but apart from that, nothing in this damn fortress showed even a sign of life. While watching his men Cregan could see some of them occasionaly taking out their mugs, pouring a cup of ale and toasting to their final comrades as one last sign of respect for the ones who had fallen in this wretched place. It was not the most humble sign of respect but Cregan took solace in knowing that not just he remembers the people who were lost in defending Harrenhall.

Cregan continued to stand at the sides, leaning on the wall of the inner courtyard, when he felt a sudden tug on his cloak. He turned his head down to see a familiar face, Sif, looking up at Cregan with his one remaining good eye. Seeing his direwolf made Cregan's day immediately. "Hey boy, where've you been?" Cregan asked as he knelt down and scratched Sif's ear making the direwolf nuzzle his head on Cregan's hand. As he continued to scratch the direwolf's head Cregan could see a person in a full black robe slowly walking towards both him and Sif.

"General..." an soft, elderly voice came from behind Sif. Cregan looked past Sif to see Qyburn being the one behind his direwolf. "It is good to see your wounds have fully healed General." Qyburn said as he bowed respectfully towards Cregan even if the bow was not handled with much grace due to the ex-maesters old age. The moment Cregan realised it was Qyburn who was behind his wolf he stood back on his feet.

"Maester Qyburn..." Cregan spoke to him, reffering to the old man as a maester despite him knowing that was not the truth. Everyone in Harrenhall knew of how Qyburn was banished from The Citadel after apparently being caught doing rather 'inhumane' experiments. The two have already had a conversation about this certain topic and Qyburn had always justified it with doing it all in the search for 'greater wisdom'. While all the reports were not completely clear on what Qyburn was doing Cregan did have a strange respect for the old man's pursuit of knowledge.

"I am suprised you haven't left already." Cregan said, his tone for once showing suprise.
"Well, I had thought about it." the ex-maester said in his usual soft and elderly tone.
"But?" Cregan already knew that Qyburn seemed to have other motives in mind.
"But, after giving some thought into it, I wanted to offer you my services." Qyburn said, slightly bowing his head.

In truth Cregan was suprised by the offer, he had not expected it, not at all. Having a maester in his force would be more than beneficial but having not expected this Cregan didn't have time to truly think about what would be better for his army. A maester with medical experience would give Cregan and his men a better advantage after every battle. Without Qyburn there would have surely been dozens more casualties after the defense of Harrenhall. If Qyburn was to go with Cregan's force then they would have a maester ready to patch up the wounds of their injured, if Cregan was to decline Qyburn's service then, in truth, he didn't know what would happen.

"Very well Maester, I accept your offer." Cregan finally answered with Sif coming to his side as he said it.

When he heard that, the maesters elderly face slightly lit up as he bowed once again towards Cregan. "Thank you General, I had already packed everything, I promise you that I will not get in your way." Qyburn said with his words, for once, being much faster spoken while still retaining their old and elderly tone that came out from Qyburn's voice.

Just then, a Stark soldier came running towards Cregan. "General!" he shouted out at Cregan, making him turn around sharply towards him. Only when he looked at the soldier did Cregan realise it was still a young lad, around twenty, maybe even younger. While analyzing the soldiers movements Cregan could tell that he was both panicking and also in a hurry, for what, Cregan didn't know. The boy wasn't wearing a helmet so Cregan could see his face full of sweat, a sign of how fast the boy had actually been running.

"What is it? Are we under attack?" Cregan asked, his tone being the complete opposite to the soldiers, calm and collected.
"I don't know General..." the soldier replied through his heavy breathing, another sign of his tiredness.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Cregan once again asked, narrowing his eyes towards the boy.
"There are soldiers in front of our gates, wanting to speak with you." the soldier explained.
"Speak with me... why? Are they Northerners or Riverlanders?" Cregan continued his little investigation.
"They are none of our men General, they seem to be Southern from the looks of them." the soldier said, finally catching his breath.

"Very well then... let us speak." Cregan said as the soldier started to lead him back to where this mysterious army appeared from. All the way there Cregan saw his men readying their weapons, chaos quickly ensued from how the sudden news of an army at their doorstep came to them. The further they walked and the closer they came to the gates Cregan could see more and more troops getting ready for combat. On the way Cregan saw the older captain with the scars that led his men during the defense of Harrenhall.

"General, what are we going to do?" the captain asked as he started to follow behind Cregan.

"I want archers up the wall and infantry ready at the gates." Cregan ordered before continuing, "Have crossbows at the sides of the wall and bowmen straight above from the gate. Make the spearmen form a blockade straight in front of the gates and any man with a sword, axe or hammer behind them." with all those orders the captain followed instantly, ordering all the current men at the gate to Cregan's own orders. When they finally made it in front of the gate half of their archers had already been positioned at the walls. Cregan turned towards the captain as he stood right in front of the gates, "When I got open these gates and go through you will close them immediately, understood?", to that order both the captain's and the soldiers eyes widened extremely.

"B-But General you will be right in front of our enemy..." the captain tried to disencourage Cregan, but to no avail.
"Exactly, that's my plan." Cregan stated as bluntly as possible.
"General, what if they attack you? We won't be able to open the gates for you in time." the captain once again argued.

As he said that, Cregan took a step closer to the captain and was now right in front of him. "You will close the gates behind me the moment I go through, when I am outside you will keep those gates closed until I say you open them again. I can take care of the soldiers if they attack me, but if they get through the gate then you are all dead. Am, I, Understood?" Cregan said, his voice low, his face expresionless yet his presence as menacing as it could be. The captain could say nothing at the sight in front of him, he only nodded in response and finally agreed with Cregan's orders.

Before he went through the gates Cregan looked down to see Sif still following beside him. Sif was looking at him with the same stare he had just a few minutes ago when they reunited. "You stay here Sif..." Cregan said, ordering his direwolf to stay behind. He worried what would happen to him if he was in the chaos as well, losing Sif was something Cregan couldn't handle. To his order Sif whimpered for a moment before being shut down immediately by Cregan's stare, making him become silent.

And so Cregan opened the gates and went through them, as soon as his back was turned to them the gates were closed shut. Cregan spent two seconds checking if Frostbite and Demonsteel were still beside him, which they were. While he was glad to see his swords were still at his side the only thing Cregan could focus on now was the massive host of soldiers in front of Cregan. Just from what he could see there were already around 10,000 soldiers, all cavalry, in front of him. Cregan could handle a few horsemen, he had done it before, even on foot, but an army of 10,000 cavalry was something even he couldn't handle.

When he entered through the gates Cregan expected an army of Lannister men in front of him, instead he saw not the Red and Gold of House Lannister but knights of almost a rainbow of colors. Blue, Green, Yellow, all kinds of colors filled Cregan's eyes as the knights all formed up in front of him. While the whole thing was a spectacle, the only thing Cregan focused on was the knight that was leading them. A man in full steel plate armor and a milk white stallion. To his side a man carrying a banner whose coat of arms Cregan could instantly recognise.

It was the Golden Rose on a field of green, the coat of arms of House Tyrell.

Note:

Alright people, Chapter 51.

So this chapter had both a separation and a reunion. You guys might already know where I plan on taking Vesemir but if you don't know then you don't have to worry, it won't be a mystery for very long. I'm also happy to finally have Cregan leave Harrenhall and now have him be attacking The Crownlands as I haven't really writen any full on battle scenes in the open. Usually I just write a one on one battle, a small group battle, a sparring match or a siege but with Cregan going towards the capital now you all can rest assured that there are going to be a LOT more full scale battles (Very fitting seeing as what happened on this weeks episode of GoT).

Also, I wanted to ask you all. Do you guys prefer longer chapters with larger gaps in update times or shorter chapters with much quicker updates? I am genuinely curious because I don't know how long I should make these chapters. Some could be around 3,000 words, some could be 7,000 words. Tell me what you guys think.

P. S. I can finally say this with pride knowing what happened on this weeks episode 9 of GoT... ahem...

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As always I hope you enjoyed the chapter, please do post your reviews and tell me your thoughts on the story so far, your advice etc. Thank you for all the reviews, favorites and follows and I will see you all next time.