Northern Riverlands, along the Kingsroad.
Lord Eddard Stark, Lord Paramount of the North marched at the head of a Northern Army 30,000 strong, they were marching down the kingsroad to meet up with the forces of his now former foster father which where about the same size as his own, across the Greenfork and blue fork he knew a army of Westermen and Rivermen where gathering to meet them, it would have been some 70,000 men strong but they had smashed a smaller host of Mallister and Frey men, about 6,000 strong. It had not been much of a challenge but Eddard was happy the battle happened, not only did it limit the amount of men the Lannisters could use but it also bloodied his men, something that was invaluable to them.
Eddard knew he was not a warrior of legend, more than competent with a blade, sure, a good commander of men, of course, but a natural at either he was not, everything he had he worked for but that did not mean he needed to use it. The north had some of the best commanders in the continent, people like Great Jon Umber, Rickard Karstark, Roose Bolton, Jeor Mormont, Galbert Glover and his brother, Rodrik Forrester and William Dustin and some of the Mountain clan leaders all more than competent commanders with the Great Jon and William Dustin being standouts amongst them. Lord Umber led the van about half a day ahead of them, and as such he was somewhat surprised when a horseman in Umber colours appeared in the distance, Eddard rode out to meet him halfway with Martyn Cassel.
"M'Lord, Lord Jon told me to say that we have come across a small host led by two of the Riverlords, Lord Blackwood and Lord Piper, they claim to have joined the rebellion against their lord calling him a power hungry fool." The man said after bowing to Ned.
"I see, thank you, you may fall in line, you look knackered. I will send another man to return a reply." Eddard said to the man who nodded thankfully at him before falling in line.
"Martyn, get your son here, he can carry the message." Ned said and Martyn nodded and went to get his son while Ned wrote his orders to the Great Jon, Jory rode up and bowed to Ned.
"Jory, I need you to ride hard to Lord Umber in the van, deliver this to him." Ned said and Jory nodded and rode off. The letter just told Lord Umber to halt his march and set up camp while Ned caught up so he could meet the Riverlords and see why they had rebelled and if they could be trusted, Lord Tytos Blackwood could be he knew, Tytos was a good friend of his from the tourneys he went to as Jons foster son and he knew how much the Blackwood disposed the Tullys for there pious seven worshiping ways and favouritism they gave to the Brackens, while Lord Clemence Piper was more of a mystery to him he knew the Piper Lord to be proud and had a deep seated hatred for the Lannisters who had apparently killed his father by accidental archer fire on the step stones and so Ned knew he wouldn't fight with them. He knew they had most likely kept the majority of there forces in their keeps to protect their lands while they were away which would have left them vulnerable had they not, some might say it would be hard for them to cross all three of the Tridents to get to his forces but to a Riverlord these lands where familiar and it was likely they knew of some hidden crossing to get across.
A few hours later they arrived at a clearing where the van had set up camp. A council tent had already been set up and he led his commanders into it greeting Lords Umber, Blackwood and Piper along the way.
"Any news?" Ned asked the trio who were more likely to know something he didn't.
"Aye my Lord, the Tullys have joined their host with the Lannister one and will probably begin their march on us within a week. Rhaegar has raised the crown lands to his cause and has gathered them near Duskendale." Lord Blackwood told him.
"I see and what of Lord Arryn and Baratheon?" He asked.
"Lord Arryn is not two days' march from us my Lord, but Lord Baratheon has led his host west, I believe he means to fight the crown Prince." Lord Umber told him. Eddard sighed but nodded, he would rather Robert join his host with his own right away but he knew Robert would swing at the first chance to get a hand on the Prince. He knew the 30.000 Stormlanders would crush the crown lands force. That was if Robert didn't try too hard and risk fighting the king's guard to get to the crown Prince. He didn't doubt his brother's ability but Arthur Dayne, his supposed good brother, could not be matched by any except his brother and Ser Baristen, and even if Robert could beat him then the Prince was no slouch either nor was the remaking king's guard.
"Send a message to Lord Arryn, I ask that he finds suitable ground to camp and holds there, we will march and join him there, that means we're south enough to cut off an attempt by the Lion and Fish to join the Prince but north enough to respond to any move they make." Ned said, his Lords nodding in agreement.
"And what of the Reach and the southern kingdoms?" Ned asked them.
"Lord Tyrell has left Ashford and is marching south to meet the Dayne and Martel host that's camped in a place just south of Highgarden. I believe that our Allies will win that battle but it will most likely cripple their war effort and knock them out of the war excluding their navy." Lord Piper said and Ned nodded in agreement, that would be a huge battle and casualties would be massive he thought grimly, all because the Prince took a fancy to a 15 year old girl.
Brindlewood, the Crownlands.
Robert Baratheon felt a bloodthirsty grin come to his face at the sight of the smaller Crownlands host across from him, the entire crownlands had obviously declared for the Dragons and Lord Mooton of the Riverlands had most likely joined them being closer to Kingslanding then Riverrun which meant his 30,000 Stormlanders would be fighting a force only a little over half its size, originally he had planned to march towards Duskendale where he had learned the prince was camped and smash him with his hammer, probably ending the war right there but apparently the Arrogant prince had either not known he was there and had marched onto the Kingsroad to make his way west to join forces with the bastard Lannisters and Tullys who had sold of their daughters like fish to marry the incest riddled dargons. Ha! The fishmonger Hoster Tully! Fitting, he thought with a grin as he spotted the black and ruby armour that he knew to be the prince, soon his hammer would pierce his chest and cave it into a bloody haze.
His Stormlanders fell upon the lines of the soft merchant sons of the Crownlands, and slowly began carving through them, it was too slow, Robert thought and he led his horse towards the center lines of the battle, he dismounted and made his way to the center surrounded by his guard who could barely keep up as he carved his way through the lines of crownlanders with a huge grin on his face, he felt like the laughing storm born again! His men poured into the dent he was making in the battle lines and cut through the Crownlanders with sheer force of numbers and fury. Eventually he once again spotted the Prince in his dragon armour and with renewed force began to carve through the back lines of dragon men until he reached the prince surrounded by only two Kingsgaurd who he couldn't discern in their helmets.
The trio drew their swords and Robert realised that he was on his own, only the ever loyal Cortnay Penrsoe keeping up with him, Courtnay took on the Kingsguard closest to him and Robert began to fight the Prince with all the fury he could muster, the Kingsguard died first after barely two minutes, likely Ser Jonothor Darry a brilliant swordamn sure but old and not as talented as his brothers. Then he turned to the prince and he grinned, the prince was apparently a great swordsman yet from what Robert saw he was only a little better than the average lord, The prince did not last five minutes, the spike of Roberts war hammer piercing his gut and sending him to the floor in a shriek of pain, grinning Robert was fully intent on making the man who stole away his dear Lyanna from his suffer and stomped on the Dragons prince hand causing another shout of pain, grinning Robert tore the helmet of the princes face completely expecting to see the agonised face he had so often dreamed off when he sleep at night, instead all that met him was the agonised face of Ser Richard Lonmouth, former squire of Rhaegar, Robert flew into a rage and smashed his hammer down onto the knight's ,who he had beaten in a drinking contest at Harrenhalls, face leaving it nothing more that a sickening mush.
Stone Hedge, The Riverlands.
Rhaegar had fled two days before the battle with 3,000 of his Calvary, mostly Knights and the two Kingsguard who had been assigned to him, leaving his two old squires to command the men who he had sent to their deaths to cover his escape, mayhaps it was not the most honorable thing and he knew Ser Barristen had not been happy with it but the old knight had not said a word as they rode hard towards Stone Hedge where the Loyalist Army had moved to five them better positioning against any move made by the Starks and Arryns to the North and the Daynes, Martells and Baratheons. He knew there was no chance of him winning against his cousin and so he had led his men onto the kingsroad and had begun to march north, when it became clear he would not get away from the Stormlords he had decided to abandon ship and save what men he could. His forces were met at the gates of Stone Hedge by a squire who rushed him towards a war council meeting that was currently in session.
He heard arguing voices from outside the door and opened them to see the Lords of the West on one side with Tywin Lannister sitting in the middle of them glaring across the table at the Riverlords who were opposite them.
"What's going on here?" He said breaking through the arguing voices and all eyes turned to him, many of them got up and bowed, those who didn't inclined their heads to him as they noticed him.
"Your grace, Lord Vance, was just explaining how he managed to let both the Blackwood and Piper cross through his lands to unite with the now completely united forces of the Vale and North." Tywin said, staring at the red faced lord Vance.
"I'm sure Lord Vance knew his efforts would only result in his demise as do all of you so I suggest you stop trying to cause arguments to distract yourself from the war." Rhaegar said, taking off his riding gloves as he moved to the large chair in the center of the room that had been left out for him, Ser Barristen and Ser Jon taking guard either side of him. "Now I regret to tell you that Lord Baratheon managed to crush the host of the Crownlands, I knew the situation was hopeless and left command in charge of Lord hand Jon Connington and my former squires Ser Richard Lonmouth and Ser Myels Mooton with orders to bleed the Stormlanders as much as possible while I moved with 3,000 calvary to join you here. I'm afraid that was my only option." Rhaegar said sadly, playing the rule of the charming prince with well practised ease though he knew it wouldn't fool people like the Tully Brothers or Tywin Lannister it did enough to not make the lords call him a coward, to his face at least.
"Now we have maybe a moon to reach the Stark and Arryn force before Robert gets there and joins his forces with them which would make them unstoppable." Rhaegar said.
"Provided Eddard Stark and Jon Arryn don't just march south and meet Rober halfway." Stated Brynded Tully and Rhaegar nearly grimaced, not having thought of that and one the Blackfish was purposely making him look a fool, it was a open secret that Brynden Tully did not agree with this war nor his sister's marriage to the Lannister heir.
"Aye, which would leave us fucked, and exposed to the Daynes and Martells to the south after they no doubt beat the Tyrells." Lord Bracken agreed with his liege lord's brother.
"The Reach will bleed the Daynes, we do not need to worry about them, we should force march our men as fast as possible and smash either Robert Baratheon or the Starks and Arryns before they can join together." Tywin said and Rhaegar was inclined to agree.
"Too risky, even if we did manage it then our men would be exhausted and wouldn't be able to fight to their fullest potential." The ever cautious Hoster Tully said.
"Then what exactly do we do, my Lord?" asked Lyle Crakehall of the Lord of the Trident mockingly.
"Take our time, there is no point in rushing all the way only to be crushed because our men are too tired to fight." Hoster Tully and Rhaegar reluctantly agreed with his point.
"Lord Tully has the right of it, we shall march out at dawn tomorrow and fight them at the crossing just north of Lord Harroways town (where the actual battle of the Trident was fought in cannon, too good to pass up), make them cross the river to fight us." Rhaegar said and the Lords eventually agreed to the plan.
The Battle of the Roses, Suns and Stars. Dustonbury, The Reach.
"Phalanx!" Called Ayden and the Dornish spears formed a perfectly drilled Phalanx, the moon it had taken for the Reach to get to the battlefield had been well spent. "Lower Pole arms!" He called and the Halberd and Pole axe wielding Dayne men who were on the flanks of the main spear line lowered there pole arms forming a deadly line of metal that only a madman would want to charge, behind them as a secondary line Ayden had the men at arms and professional soldiers of the his and the Dornish lords forming a more elite reserved that he could use to cause serious damage. His Cavalry were in reserve, just behind the small forest that was just behind his reserve line. His archers were distributed across the lines, with a lot more on the flanks to counter the obvious weakness of the polearm wielding Dayne Infantry, being their lack of shields and therefore vulnerability to archers and misiles.
"Archers Knock arrows!" He called and the Order was repeated, opposite him were the knights of the Reach, Ayden had nearly smiled when he saw Mace Tyrell's, or rather whoever commanded the Reach forces, intentions, the man meant to try and make him commit his Cataphracts to counter his own Calvary to counter the Knights of the Reach which would under most circumstances smashes straight through his lines of Infantry. This however was not normal circumstances and as the knights of the Reach began their charge there was no cavalry in response to them.
"Loose!" He called and thousands of arrows fell upon the knights of the Reach, a large portion of the arrows just bounced of the armour of the knights but the ones that didn't killed mounts or men, and falling in full plate armour was sure to break bones and make them next to useless, these where summer knights and there charge gradually became a disorganised rush as the youthful and green knights of the Reach panicked as they saw wave after wave of arrows fall on them and knights that fell off there horses where promptly ran over by panicked comrades, this hugle slowed the charge of the reach but it did not stop it and the knights grew closer. He handed command of the archers over to Oberyn who had joined them after returning from exile with orders to hit the cavalry. Ammo was not a problem, he had camp followers and cooks refilling quivers from the large stockpile Ayden had made in preparation for this battle.
Ayden mounted his horse and rode down to the spear wall in the center just as the Knights of the Reach closed in.
"Lower Pikes! Raise Stakes!" He commanded and at once the front line that had once had spears poking through the gaps in the shield now had much longer pikes and the back lines pulled on ropes and sharp wooden stakes appeared from beneath the fairly long grass of the Battlefield, a creation of his own design. The trap worked perfectly, The knights of the Reach where to committed to stop and if one was to be a bird watching from above it would have been as though the calvary broke like water against rock, the front lines practically disintegrating as they were skewered by stakes, pikes and Halberds, designed with the main focus of killing heavy cavalry. The lines further back halted, and the points of the southern weapons appeared to form an invisible barrier where no reachman dared to venture, and as such the back lines of the charge crashed into the men in front of them at the sudden stop creating a huge mosh pit of panicked men and horses, a fact only enhanced by the renewed volleys of the Dayne and Martell archers, it was like shooting fish in a barrel, every shot found something, man, horse, shield, it was impossible to miss and the men who fell from horse where soon crushed by their comrades, a grim fate thought Ayden with no emotion.
After a nearly thirty minutes of this with a few attempts by brave reachmen to try and break the proud wall of the two southern kingdoms which had only cost more lives, the Knights of the Reach were called back by the sound of trumpets, unfortunately for them that meant exposing their less armoured backs to the archers and many more horseman and mounts died. Ayden looked over the battlefield, already after only a few minutes of fighting there must have been nearly seven thousand men and horses dead, nearly all on the side of Reach. This battle had started well.
He watched as the remaining 4,000 or so Knights of the Reach fell back to the reserve. Ayden smiled, his own cavalry could not be seen by the Tyrells and after the Battle of Honey Lake he knew they would be scared of a flanking maneuver, that was the reason his cavalry was hidden, knowing the Tyrells would have to commit more forces to their reserve. After an hour of so when he rode up and down the lines to talk with the men, further boosting their morale and restocking the archers he saw the infantry and archers of the Reach begin their advance.
"Pole arms fall back, men at arms replace them!" He called and his command was signaled via war horn. His Pole arms on the flanks were replaced by heavily armed professional soldiers. "Lord Yronwood, take the left with Lord Klyde, Lewyn take the center with Lord Bulware" The Bullwares had been a house sworn to the grey kings but had knelt to his name and had been loyal since. "Lord Lott take the right with Lord Blackmont, the rest of you go to your men, I will go where needed with my men." Ayden said to the Lords who had all gathered for a hasty conference. "Oberyn you take the archers, focus on the infantry, the archers will struggle to find targets in the infantry line and will likely focus on you instead so have the men in loose formation, make them hard to hit." Ayden said and his good brother nodded, Ayden knew he wanted to join his uncle with the spears of Dorne but knew Ayden needed him with the archers. The lords all rode off to do as bid, many of them dismounting to join their men on foot, something which made the men only more eager to fight.
The Reach was advancing slowly and noticeably more organised, through the myrish looking glass Ayden saw a young man wearing Beesbury colours riding up and down the line, obviously in command. The famed Ser Lyndon Beesbury, his father, a pleasant man who Ayden got along well with after letting the Beesbury family return to their keep, without their soldiers of course, had sung his praises and Ayden was inclined to believe him seeing the impressive command on display.
When the archers got in range of each other Ayden saw Oberyn release one volley in normal line formation before having his men sprint to get into a much more loose and spread out one, arrows rained down on the area the archers had just been in and Ayden was turn between wanting the slap Oberyn for the risk and chuckling at the sheer audacity of the move. Nevertheless he could see his archers were winning, in superior numbers, position, skill and having targets who were not in a shield wall his archers where dealing serious damage to the forces of the Reach, that was not to say he was not taking losses, he saw more than one of his men falling to arrows though the loose spacing of his archers and the tight shield wall of the infantry lessened his losses along with being situated on a slight hill. Eventually the infantry got close enough and the clash began.
Ayden was like a blur as he led the Star Isle stack to reinforce anywhere he thought might need it or to create weakness in the enemy lines, the battle went on for hours and after about the fourth hour when the sun was about to begin to set Ayden found himself once again in the front lines. He had killed some notable people so far, purposely targeting Lords and heirs to weaken the morale of the Reach, of course he was not stupid, he did not kill them unless needed instead he disamred them and had them brought to the back lines. There was no point killing them, it would only strengthen the hatred between the kingdoms and he had plans for the Reach anyway. However this time he came across a Tyrell. Garth Tyrell, Maces Uncle.
"Dayne, time to die." The renownedly disgusting man said. Ayden said nothing from behind his masked helmet, his face nearly an exact copy of the face craften on the mask, a frown of slight annoyance and disappointment. Instead he attacked the Tyrell, he had long since abandoned his shield, which was too battered to be of any use and was now using his longsword in both hands, a method he was better with anyway. The Tyrell used a greatsword, much better for attacking than defending but the Tyrell did not have the opportunity instead being forced back by the blur of Aydens longsword as the man tried desperately to start an attack, Ayden ducked under a rushed attempt at cleaving him in two and with both hands thrust his sword through the armpit of the Tyrell killing him instantly. He turned around just in time to block a swing of another man in Tyrell colours, he didn't even think before swinging downwards and bringing his sword down on the man's shoulder and then stabbed him through the heart. He looked down and saw the inverted colours of house Tyrell and realised that was Ser Quentin Tyrell, cousin to Mace. Dismissing the thought of having killed two Tyrells he continued fighting and it was not long after that that a retreat was once more called by the Tyrells and Ayden smiled as his exhausted men cheered and the archers once more focused on the infantry having switched targets to the archers instead of risking friendly fire to their own men.
As he rode back along the battle lines as night fell he saw many dead, they had counted the numbers, 7,000 dead Tyrell Knights, 23,000 dead infantry and maybe 3,000 dead archers though they couldn't be sure as they were too far away to count. In total 33,000 of the 60,000 men. More than half the Tyrell host, some lords, heirs and cousins of noble houses were dead, notably two men of house Tyrell. His own casualties were bad, though not horrible. 19,000 dead or dying, mostly infantry and spears. About 7,000 Torrentine and 12,000 Dornish, the spears of Dorne taking a serious beating though not nearly enough to make him worry. In terms of nobles the losses were notable. Both Lords Clyde and Lott were dead along with Lord Blackmont and Lord Qorgyles brother, a cousin of house Bulware and a third son of house Faughan. He knew he would win this battle if it kept as it was but Ayden knew the battle might carry on for another few days and he would lose many more men. But he knew one big strike would crush the Tyrells and send them packing.
With that thought he entered the war tent, took his seat at the raised seat alongside Lewyn and Oberyn and looked over his lords. He looked each one in the eye, the sad yet determined eyes of the men who lost loved ones, the expectant eyes of Yuri and the questioning eyes of others.
"Have the cavalry and archers ready, we shall fall on them as they sleep, Yuri have men in place to kill all the sentrys and then we shall loose arrows on them before our cavalry charge through them as they leave their tents closely followed by the Infantry. Have the men rest for five hours because tonight we shall fight once more." Ayden said and he saw bloodthirsty grins fill the hall.
AN- So, what did you think? I'm quite happy with it anyway, I think this one of my better battle scenes, I suppose that's pretty much all I write at this stage but practise makes perfect. Keep the reviews coming, I appreciate everyone no matter the message, they all help and encourage me.
Reviews.
Echan-kun chapter 9
Thanks for the chapter..
Just play at your strenghts cause this fanfic is just fine no need to drasticly change your style of story telling
Appreciate it, I don't really know my strengths but I have been trying some new things.
Emsee chapter 9
Not going to copy this one because it's a long one (Not a complaint). First of all I want to thank you for reminding me of the Tullys and their vassals not agreeing, I had completely let that out, oops. Also as for numbers you will probably notice some discrepancy in numbers, usually higher than in cannon, I don't really know why I do it but it's purposeful, I think it gives me more to work with in battle scenes. And as it says in this chapter, or at least I hope it gives this message, Ned is a competent commander but his Lords are more so and he uses them smartly and knows every lord's strengths and weaknesses and how he can use them. And yes they are indeed in the Riverlands now, good guess. As for what I'm going to do with the Riverlands I'm not entirely sure but I know it won't be the crownlands or Tully's that rule it…
Malefic Heir chapter 9
Very cool concept. With the Freys taken out of the war and the Mallisters badly mangled, it will be interesting to see whether Ned stays west of the Green Fork to destroy the Riverland's forces or if he marches east to meet up with the Vale's and Stormland's forces somewhere between the Bloody Gate and Saltpans. Both plans have their merits, but I'm looking forward to see what you do with this.
Thank you. I'm also proud of the concept, and you have had your answer of what Neds decided, I think it works, knowing Ned would be more cautious etc, also They met or more north then you thought, mostly because it gave them the opportunity to respond to anything the Lannisters and Tullys did. And once again thank you.
ATP chapter 9 .
are not needed now,and Catelyn could die instead of Ellia.
If Tullys still support Targs,Catelyn would be hostage of Mad King,and die in Kingslanding.
Lannisters could not get power now - and Ironborn could legally sack them.
Catelyn could die instead of Eilia sure but why? She's still at Riverrun, there's no reason for her to march across a war torn Riverlands, marching straight east where tow Rebel armies are by the way, and even if Aerys demanded it he would not get his way, neither Hoster, Rhaegar or Tywin would allow it for different reasons. And no the Lannisters will not be gaining power from this if the Rebels win.
QCoffee chapter 9 .
Aside from the occasional typos, nice chapter, short but a good pace of updates.
I appreciate the continued support means a lot, and I hope this one makes up for the shorter chapters!
Anthony fallen one chapter 9
Is the Dorne and Torrentine fighting to put Elia children on the throne. Will North support them.
Your question will be answered in the next chapter.