There will be a lot of changes of perspective in this chapter, especially in the second half, these will be outlined by XXX. Also, this is a very, very long chapter with copious amounts of gore and other descriptions of bloodshed.
The Chronicles of Valyria,
Book 1 Resurrection
Chapter 26
The first rays of dawn were still hours away from peeking over the horizon as Dagmer stood on the prow of the Kraken's Vengeance, leaning against the centre beam of one of the two newly constructed catapults that occupied part of the deck of the large galley. As he was watching the large full moon that shone above them, he was thinking about the speech Aurora had given to all the captains and officers of their fleet and army the day before.
XXX
Aurora and Gabrielle were standing on a rise before the gates of Bloodstone, and looked contently at the sea of faces that were all staring up at them. Over a thousand were standing there, all waiting for one of them to speak. "Tomorrow will be the day we have been working towards these last few months. Tonight, we set sail for Tyrosh, meaning we'll arrive at the city about an hour before sunrise.
You all know the plan, and you all know your place. If we all do what we agreed upon, victory will be ours." A loud roar and banging on shields rose from the crowd, causing her to pause until it quieted down again.
"Tell your warriors to rest and to make sure their equipment is in order. Each of you has been given a list, I want you to take that list passed each and every member of your units, have them fill it in or help them to do so. On that list, they are to put their name, where they were born, and who their next of kin are and where to find them. Once those lists have been filled in, you will hand them to one of these men." She pointed to the members of their military council who were standing before the rise.
"Neither during, nor after the battle will there be any individual plundering, when the city is taken, all the spoils will be put together and every man or woman will have their fair share. In case of their demise, their shares will be given to their next of kin, hence the list I want them to fill in.
The Forlorn", she pointed at the silent soldiers who stood on either side of the field in orderly ranks, "Will be spread out throughout the army once we have taken the wall and they will serve as our," she indicated Gabrielle and herself, "eyes and ears in the city. I hope I do not have to remind any of you of what happened when the Lannisters sacked King's Landing."
A soft murmur went through the crowd and more than one eye turned scowling towards a large cluster of tents that had been placed a fair distance away from the others. It was the camp were all the 'volunteers' from the Westerlands were camped. Many of them had been given the choice between The Wall and Essos, and these had all chosen Essos.
They would be directly behind the vanguard when they assaulted Tyrosh, and their morale was understandably not as spirited as that of the rest of the army. Casualties amongst them were expected to be very high, as they would be directly behind the Forlorn and mostly lacking their heavy armor, they would be an easy target for the archers on the walls and towers.
Aurora waited until the noise had died down again before she continued. "That will not be happening here. We are not a horde of beasts that rape and plunder as they go, we represent the Crown and Westeros, and we shall behave accordingly. Inform your soldiers of the following rules, as no transgressions will be tolerated.
There will be no plundering; anyone who is found taking anything before the fighting is done, will be forfeiting his rightful share of the spoils after the battle is over.
There will be no cruelty or mistreatment of civilians, whether they are free men or slaves. Those that do not follow this rule will, depending on the severity of their transgression, lose their share of the spoils or lose a hand.
There will be no rape and no murder. Anyone that does so anyway will be hanged as a criminal.
Anyone who surrenders, whether they be sellswords or citizen soldiers, will be shown mercy, be disarmed, and taken into custody until the fighting is done.
Under no circumstance should anyone deliberately approach the dragons, if you see them land or head for a location where opposition is tough, stay away from that place, as should they attack, their fire will kill indiscriminately. Should you be within 100 yards of such a location, try to find shelter or if you can't, lay flat on the ground and make yourself as flat as possible, if you see them approach.
Should you need to relay information to either my wife or myself, dispatch a runner to any of these six men, they can contact us when needed."
Having finished with what she wanted to tell them Aurora took a few swigs from a wineskin Gabrielle handed to her before she turned back to the gathered crowd. "Are there any questions, or other matters that need to be discussed?"
One of the captains put his hand up and asked, "Who are those women that came back with you and where are they now?"
"They are a group of warrior-maidens formerly from the fortress city of Kayakayanaya, their army was ambushed by the Jogos Nhai and they are the only survivors. A Dothraki horde destroyed the Jogos Nhai and they sold them to the slaver we bought them from. They are now inside the fortress, recovering from their ordeal and what will happen with them, we will see after we have taken Tyrosh."
XXX
Dagmer was taken from his musings as he felt a callused yet soft hand, caress his face. "What is bothering you my love?"
Dagmer looked up at Alys' words and replied, "Just thinking about what has happened the last few months. I can't help but think that there is something the Ladies aren't telling us. I wasn't present at King's Landing, but Greatjon has told me the stories of what they found outside the walls. Acres upon acres of burned corpses, and inside the city, thousands more lay dead.
When they crushed Quellon's rebellion, they took on the entire keep on their own. Two against nearly five hundred, and they came out without a scratch. They aren't human Alys, I don't know what they are, but I know they aren't like you or I. And then their army, those Forlorn are unlike anything I have ever seen before. Never, on all of my travels have I met the likes of them. Their behavior reminds me of the Unsullied, but none of them are eunuchs, and why don't they ever show their faces?"
"Worry not about such things my love," Alys said softly as she leaned against his chest. "All that you have to ask yourself is this; are you bothered with it if they aren't human? They fight for us, so do not fret about it."
Dagmer kissed her on the side of her neck and said, "I love you Alys, I don't know what I have done to earn your love, but I thank the Drowned God everyday for it."
"You can show me in our cabin my love, let's get back to bed, we still have a few hours before we reach the city." She gently took his hand and pulled him back towards their bed.
XXX
A few hours later they stood back on the deck, but now they weren't alone. More than fifty Ironborn were milling around on the deck, either preparing the catapults, preparing grappling hooks, laying out weapons or readying their equipment. They were only miles away from the harbor of Tyrosh and all around them the rest of the first fleet was similarly occupied.
Dagmer had been given command of the first wave and his orders were simple. Strike fast and strike hard, force their fleet to pursue and stay out of range of the artillery on the walls. Draw their fleet out of the harbor so they can be surrounded and neutralized.
The ships he had been given command of were all galleys and they had lowered the masts and stored the sails away, trusting on rowing alone to propel them. This also had the added benefit of allowing the catapults on the aft decks to fire simultaneously with those on the fore decks, without running the risk of hitting their own sails.
Ten minutes later they could see the immense black walls rising in the distance and Dagmer gave the order. "CATAPULTS PREPARE TO FIRE." The order was followed by two heavy beats on a massive drum standing on the place of where the mast would normally be.
On each of the 150 ships, the catapults were loaded with small wooden barrels with a fuse on one end. The barrels had been an idea of Aurora, who called them, 'cluster bombs'. Every barrel was filled with 15 clay pots, further stuffed with a weak explosive mixture. Each of the clay pots was filled with a volatile mixture of oil, whiskey and pieces of cloth tied around pebbles.
The fuses would burn for precisely 30 seconds, after which the barrels were launched and would explode in the air, spreading the clay pots around. Each of the clay pots would then reach a target of its own and explode upon contact.
As soon as Dagmer saw the first enemy ships come into sight he shouted, "LIGHT TORCHES." All around the fleet, torches were lit and men prepared to light the fuses. Using the instrument Gabrielle had given him, Dagmer calculated the distance to the enemy ships and as soon as they came into reach, he gave the long-anticipated order.
"LIGHT AND FIRE." This time a trio of drumbeats echoed over the water and nearly 300 barrels were launched into the air and headed to the enemy fleet with an ominous sound in the early dawn. Dagmer watched the cloud of coming destruction descent and roughly 60 feet above the water, the barrels exploded. Hundreds upon hundreds of small clay pots were launched and found their targets. More than half of them landed in water and exploded harmlessly, but the others landed on the ships.
Despite his many years of experience with raiding and naval warfare, Dagmer felt a cold shiver run down his spine as he watched dozens upon dozens of ships catch fire as the thousands of burning pebbles caught the sails or the rigging and ignited them. The cries and screams of wounded and burning men echoed over the water towards them.
Following his orders, Dagmer yelled, "FIRE WHEN READY." This time they were loaded with boulders coated with pitch which were ignited before launch. They had only enough of the barrels for a single volley, as their production was a very time consuming process. 500 men had been working for a week to create just 350 of the barrels, as every part had to be made by hand, the barrels, the pots, the pebbles had to be found, wrapped and stuffed into the pots.
The second volley was far less effective than the first, but still a few dozen scored hits, further damaging the enemy vessels. They could fire three more volleys before the enemy ships had restored order and begun to fire back with their own artillery, though with far less of an effect due to the smoke clouds from the burning ships obstructing their view.
What followed was an hour of volleys going back and forth destroying ships on both sides until Dagmer was thrown from his place on the aft castle, by the crash of a boulder slamming its way into the deck mere feet from where he stood.
"That was just a bit too close," he muttered, before turning to Alys who had come running as she felt the boulder hit and saw her husband laying on the deck. "Sound the retreat; this should be enough to convince them to pursue us."
Alys nodded curtly and grabbed a horn from her belt. She gave a series of blasts and the entire fleet started to row in reverse, retreating from the battle under cover of their artillery. It had the desired effect, a few minutes later the first ships broke through the cloud of smoke and started their pursuit. One after the other the enemy ships broke through the smoke and soon the chase was on.
Several of Dagmer's ships had suffered damage and a few were taking on water, causing them to lag behind a bit. Dagmer ordered lines to be put between those ships and others, determined not to lose anymore than he already had, and pull them along with them.
He estimated that they had destroyed at least a hundred and a half ships and lost maybe a dozen themselves, but the sea ahead of them was covered by ships. It looked like there were at least eight- or nine hundred left, though most showed varying degrees of damage, mostly caused by the cluster bombs.
The chase lasted for maybe half an hour, as they had to be far enough away from the harbor to deny them a chance of retreating when the trap was sprung.
In the distance a roar-like horn blast was sounded and all around them, the ships came to a halt. On the horizons to the left and right of them, mass banks of ships appeared, closing the enemy fleet in between them.
As soon as the enemy saw the incoming ships, they tried to retreat but the way back was cut off. Two massive dragons had descended from the sky and hung between them and the relative safety of the harbor of Tyrosh.
Dagmer ordered the Kraken's Vengeance to be rowed forward under a white flag and from between the mass of enemy ships, their flagship emerged. A gigantic three decked galleass with a hundred oars on each side and the bleeding tower of Tyrosh depicted on its sails.
The two ships came alongside each other and to his satisfaction Dagmer could see that the ship had not come out of their attack unscathed. One of its sails was missing and the side of the ship showed several holes where it had been struck by boulders.
A gangplank was put between the two ships and Dagmer and a boarding party of a dozen Ironborn traversed it onto the enemy flagship.
Once onboard, Dagmer was met by a man wearing a highly-decorated velvet robe of a deep azure color. He had bright blue hair and his short-trimmed beard was dyed a fiery orange.
Using his somewhat reasonable understanding of bastard Valyrian, Dagmer said, "You sailed right into our trap and you are surrounded, surrender now and your lives will be spared. Continue to fight, and you shall all burn. You have half an hour to comply before the dragons attack." Turning around, he left the ship again and went back onboard the Kraken's Vengeance. The gangplank was removed and both ships returned to their previous positions.
Dagmer was not really surprised when fifteen minutes later, boulders and burning clay pots filled with pitch came flying towards them from the enemy fleet. He calmly gave the order to put out what fires had sprung up and went to lean on the railing to watch the show.
XXX
As soon as they saw the first boulder being launched, Aurora and Gabrielle dove towards the enemy fleet. Using blasts of fire, and sweeps of their massive spike-riddled tails, they destroyed every ship that was firing while leaving the others unharmed. It took 278 ships before they stopped firing all together and white flags were hoisted on what remained of the badly damaged fleet.
From all directions flotillas came rowing in and boarded each of the enemy ships. The crews were disarmed, and all the rowing slaves released. They escorted the ships towards the nearest island where they were all beached and the crews were put in pre-built prison camps while the released slaves were brought to another part of the island where they received food and water and medical care if they needed it.
They left a garrison of 5,000 men, most of which were armed sailors and not actual soldiers, and turned the fleet back in the direction of Tyrosh, the first battle had been won, but a far larger one still remained to be fought, and it would cost them a whole lot more than the two dozen ships and 400 lives they had lost so far.
Around noon they once again approached the harbor of Tyrosh and by that time the ships they had destroyed had nearly all sunk to the bottom or burned away entirely, leaving the way clear for their invasion force to make landfall.
They used the natural surroundings of the island to their advantage and unloaded their army and their equipment far out of the reach of the artillery on the towers.
XXX
They took the rest of the afternoon to unload everything and make camp, before they marshaled their entire army and marched it to just out of range from the enemy artillery. Carrying a white flag, Aurora and Gabrielle walked further, accompanied only by the Immortals.
A single catapult launched a burning clay pot at them but with a wave of her hand, Aurora stopped it in mid-air and sent it straight back to where it came from, taking out the catapult, the crew that manned it and everyone else that stood on that particular tower.
The defenders on the walls, who had been jeering and spewing insults up to this point, suddenly fell still at this obvious display of magic. The army behind them had likewise fallen silent; none of them had known that they were able to do this, except for Syrio and Orus, who hadn't been able to tell anyone because of their oath.
"SEND YOUR ENVOYS, WE WANT TO TALK!" Aurora's roared words echoed against the walls and after about ten minutes, the massive city gates opened a bit and a large delegation left the city.
In the front was a triple line of soldiers, each line 30 strong, and they were followed by half a dozen city officials and 23 men who were armed and armored like sellswords, amongst their number were Myles Toyne and Harry Strickland.
As soon as they were close enough, both Aurora and Gabrielle could see several of the sellswords looking curiously at them, and then look quickly at Myles and Harry before turning back to them as one of the city officials began to speak.
"What business do you have at our walls, I demand that you leave here this instant. And what have you done to our fleets?"
The only reply they received from Aurora was a soft growl, only made more menacing by the metallic echo of her helmet. Gabrielle did reply with words however, but what she said caused the officials to back away in disgust and even a hint of fear.
"We did not come here to answer for our actions, we are here to give you a choice. Surrender your city unconditionally, free every man, woman and child suffering under the bonds of slavery and abolish the slave trade. If you agree, we'll only plunder the city and let you live. If you refuse, we will assault your walls, destroy your army, and kill every free man capable of bearing arms in the entire city, starting with the nobility."
She next turned to the sellsword captains and added, "I urge you all to consider what you will do when we attack, if you surrender to us, your lives and those of your men will be spared and you shall be free to go, after the city is stable. If you fight us, you will all die to the last man. However, if you choose to join us and help in conquering the city, you shall be rewarded."
Now Aurora took over and speaking to everyone she said, "You have till noon tomorrow to surrender, half an hour after noon, we attack."
They continued to stand there with their arms crossed until the officials and soldiers turned around, seething with rage and marched back to the city. The sellswords hesitated for a moment, obviously no longer certain that they were on the winning side in this conflict before they to, one by one, turned around and returned to the city.
The last to leave were Myles and Harry, with the later looking intently at Aurora and Gabrielle motioning with his eyes towards his hands, from where he threw a small tied scroll towards them. When it landed before the feet of Gabrielle, he turned around as last and joined Myles as they walked back to the city.
Gabrielle knelt and picked up the scroll, holding it in her hand while they too turned around before returning to their own army.
XXX
Upon reaching their own lines, Aurora ordered to the officers, "Fall back to camp. Rest for tonight and post a strong guard, they have till noon to surrender, if they don't, we attack half an hour later."
The officers all saluted and returned to their respective units, repeating her commands when they did. Aurora and Gabrielle marched straight back to their own tent, whereupon reaching it, they removed their helmets and sat down while Gabrielle opened the scroll Harry Strickland had given them.
'To the Dragonriders,
We accept your proposal but want to talk before the battle. Be at the eastern gate at midnight. I'll meet you there.
Harry Strickland, second-in-command of the Golden Company.'
"Well that's good," Aurora remarked, "or it could be a trap."
"Nah I don't think so," Gabrielle mused. "Neither he nor Myles struck me as the kind of person to mislead us like that. Certainly, they might try something, but it will be to test us, not to sell us out. If they wanted to do that, they would have done so when we were in the city."
"True, but they didn't know who we were then, so it might have appeared useless to them back then. But I agree, we go and see what they want. However, we won't be going alone, if they want us to meet them at one of the gates, then that means they are going to have to open it. If we can smuggle some of our men into the city they might be able to take the gates for us and open them when we storm the city."
"Good Idea, we'll take two companies of Forlorn and have them hide just out of sight of the gate. If needs be, the two of us can hold the gates open long enough for them to reach us."
They spent the rest of the afternoon resting before they had dinner with the military council and discussed their plan of attack. After they informed them of the note they had received Aurora added, "How we shall proceed, will depend on what they say.
Personally, I am pretty sure they won't surrender, as we gave them terms the Archon could not agree to, so I say we attack at first light if the Golden Company is with us. If they are not, we strike an hour before dawn and try to gain one of the gates to allow our army in. For now I say, take your rest and tell your men to turn in early, they have to wake up well before dawn. We'll send for each of you once we have spoken with Myles Toyne and Harry Strickland, and see how we go on from there."
The others all agreed and after dinner they each went to their own tent after informing their sub-commanders about the preliminary plans that had been made.
XXX
That night, at half an hour before midnight, a host consisting of all twelve Immortals and five-hundred Forlorn followed Aurora and Gabrielle as they left the camp and made a large detour to approach the Eastern gate from the direct east, instead of the south, so they would stay out of sight of the walls. Upon the walls, they could see many men patrolling with torches and large braziers were lit at frequent intervals to be used by archers should it be necessary.
They took nearly twenty-five minutes to get to the gates and once they did, the Forlorn hid in the tree line that begun a thousand feet from the walls. Aurora and Gabrielle carefully continued onwards to the gates, followed by the Immortals who were just as quiet as they themselves were.
Once they had made it to the gates, they only had to wait a few minutes before a side door opened which had been hidden in the solid stone walls next to the gate. Out of the door stepped Harry Strickland who silently motioned for them to enter, which they promptly did. They were followed by half the Immortals, while the other half stayed in the shadows under the gates, out of sight of the patrolling guards on the walls.
Harry led them through the wall and then into the shadows behind it towards one of the houses that was located near the gates. Harry knocked a short series of different knocks and the door was opened from within. Harry led them inside and towards a large room that was located up a flight of stairs.
Inside the room stood a large table with eight men already seated and three empty chairs. One of the men they immediately recognized as Myles Toyne and the others had also been amongst the sellswords they had seen that afternoon. Once they were inside the room, the Immortals took up positions on either side of the door while Aurora, Gabrielle and Harry Strickland took the remaining chairs.
When they were all seated, Gabrielle was the first to speak; neither she nor Aurora had removed their helmets so her voice had the same metallic echo the men had already heard earlier. "So, tell me gentlemen, why did you ask us to come here?"
Myles was the one to answer and he said, "Well, first of all I would like to introduce myself and our companions. My name is Myles Toyne, the Captain-general of the Golden Company, and the one who brought you here is Harry Strickland, my second-in-command. The others are all captains of other sellsword companies that would like to discuss their 'terms of surrender' with you."
Both Aurora and Gabrielle nodded their heads and Aurora said, "So I take it that all of you have decided to take us up on our offer of surrender?"
Myles nodded and replied, "Yes, my Lord. Once we received word from your messengers, we have covertly approached our fellow captains and carefully informed ourselves of their position. These men are the ones that were open to negotiating their position, and your speech this afternoon has only reinforced that."
"So, who and how many do these men represent, and what are your terms?" Aurora's question was answered by a round of introductions and it appeared that two men had come each from; the Second Sons, the Windblown and the Company of the cat, the Stormcrows had send one representative. Together they represented 6,000 men, and in addition to the Golden Company, that would mean that they had a full three-fourths of the sellswords hanging in the balance around this table.
Once the introductions were done Myles Toyne took the lead again. "Our terms are fairly simple. All of us here are willing to join your side and help you in taking this city. In return we ask this, each company will receive the full pay we were promised by the Triarchy, and that of the others who were not willing to talk will be divided equally amongst us. Furthermore, we want 10% of the spoils after our pay has been withdrawn from the total. The golden company will accept your proposal of earning the Royal Pardon from King Rhaegar, and the others will go their own way after our business here is complete."
Aurora and Gabrielle were silent for a few minutes while they thought about what Myles had said. Their terms were not unreasonable, they were actually quite fair, there was however one problem. They did not want the sellswords to go their own way after the battle, as it would undoubtedly lead to them crossing paths again. Finally, Aurora was the one to reply.
"We agree to give you your full pay and the 10% of the spoils; however, we are not comfortable with the companies going their own way after the battle. We have quite a lengthy campaign ahead of us and we are in need of experienced soldiers. So, we can make you a counter offer. We will give you your full pay, and 15% of the spoils, if you enlist your men in our army and disband your companies."
There was a murmur of protest around the table at the mention of them disbanding their companies so to prevent them from walking out, Gabrielle explained their offer. "Each of your men will be given fair wages and a steady job for at least the next 15 to 20 years. Each of them will receive proper armor and weapons from us before they are sent off to fight, in addition to lodgings, food and other necessities for their families, if they have them. In return we demand an oath of fealty or that they sign a contract. We will re-train them in our way of waging war, which, I can guarantee you, is a whole lot more efficient than what you are used to."
This shut up their protests for the moment, as the promise of steady work for the next 20 years was very tempting. One of them, a man who had introduced himself as, 'The Tattered Prince', spoke up. "We will have to discuss this with our men after the battle is done. I suggest we leave that part until afterwards."
The other six men all agreed and Myles Toyne took the word again. "So, what are we going to do now? I think you already know that your terms are going to be rejected by the Archon, so when are you going to attack?"
Both Aurora and Gabrielle chuckled softly before Aurora replied, "Indeed, we know they will be rejected, which is why we will attack at dawn."
There were no surprised exclamations at those words, as they had already expected something like that. "I would suggest that you all order your men to stay clear from the walls and the towers, starting half an hour before dawn. There will be some rather nasty surprises there, and we don't want them to be caught in the crossfire."
The captains all nodded and Gabrielle spoke next. "To identify your men, have them all wear a strip of black or other dark fabric around their chests, so our men know that they are on our side. And one last thing," she removed several scrolls of paper from her poach, "These scrolls contain a list of rules that will be obeyed during the battle. Any transgressions will not be tolerated and the indicated punishments will be administered without exceptions."
While the men read through the scrolls, she and Aurora sat quietly and paid close attention to their faces. They didn't seem to be to upset by the limitations, but Harry Strickland did ask, "I don't really understand. You threatened to kill every free man in the city, but here you tell us not to harm any of them, what's up with that?"
"We wanted to frighten them," was Aurora's reply. "And besides," she added with a growl, "after it is over, we'll sort out every single one who was even remotely involved with the slave trade and they will not escape their fate…"
The tone on which she said that, in addition to the metallic echo, caused a shiver to run over the backs of the men around the table.
After the last had finished reading the scroll, they were placed back on the table and Gabrielle said, "If you all agree with this, I want you to sign them and then inform your men about it."
Each of the men did as she asked and when it was done with, they both stood up and Gabrielle said, "That was all for tonight gentlemen, the next time we meet shall be in the heat of battle. Let your men sleep for now and inform them of what happened here when they wake up. Our first units will charge the walls just before dawn, and remember, keep your men away from the walls; dragonfire makes no distinction between friend and foe."
The men all nodded and Aurora and Gabrielle followed Harry Strickland back to the gates. On the way Aurora asked, "Harry, do you think there is a way for you to hide 500 of our men in the city until an hour before dawn? Preferably somewhere around the Southern walls."
Harry thought about it until he said hesitantly, "Should be doable, but it will be difficult. We could spread them out around the city and only have them move to the walls just before you attack, that way we can hide them all."
"You do that, they are waiting for us just beyond the tree line, they already have their instructions, so all you have to do is show them where to stay. If you follow me I'll introduce you and you can bring them in any way you want." Harry nodded and quietly followed them out of the city. To prevent himself from being spotted, he had put a dark cloak around his gilded armor and his helmet he had left behind at his quarters.
Upon reaching the tree line, Harry immediately came face-to-face with half a dozen swords aimed straight at his face. Aurora snapped her fingers, followed by moving her hand stretched out from left to right, and immediately the swords were put away again.
Turning to the ten nearest men, each of whom was an officer in charge of 50 Forlorn and distinguishable by a simple black dragon painted on their chest plates, she said softly, "You all have your orders; this man will show you where to hide until the time comes to strike. Until the battle begins, you follow his orders within the set parameters." All ten men saluted her and spread out to repeat her orders to each of their 5 sub commanders.
As they turned back to Harry, Gabrielle said, "Until the battle begins, they will answer to you, and only to you, make sure not to abuse that command, as they will kill you if you do."
Harry swallowed, looking upon the full-face helmets, having no doubt that they would carry out that threat, and nodded. "I understand. And I'll ensure they are given maps of the city, so they can study the outlay and pick their way towards the gates."
"Good, then we shall leave them in your hands." Offering him her hand Aurora added, "Good luck, Harry, and we'll see you during the battle."
"Good luck to you as well my Lords, and I look forward to seeing you in action."
Both grinned softly beneath their helmets, thinking about the look on his face when they would reveal who they were, before nodding to him and sneaking off into the dark of night.
Harry turned around only to come once again face-to-face to the ten officers who had reappeared silently. "Seven Hells," He exclaimed, only barely able to keep his voice down. "You scared me half to death. Just clear your throat or so next time."
As one the men saluted and said hushed, "Ser, yes Ser."
Deciding to just 'shake it off', Harry shook his head and said, "Please divide your men in groups of ten and send them towards the gate, five after each other and with 5 minutes in between. Start sending them in when you see a lantern being placed underneath the gatehouse."
The officers nodded silently and went off again to execute his orders, while Harry returned to the city to quickly wake a few of his own men who could help him to bring those soldiers to their temporary hiding holes.
On the other side of the city Aurora and Gabrielle had, upon reaching the camp, immediately gathered their Military Council. Once all five men were gathered, Aurora immediately fired away.
"We have some good news, as it now stands, we have 16,000 of the sellswords on our side. The Golden Company, the Second Sons, the Windblown, the Stormcrows and the Company of the Cat have all chosen to join us, so here is how this is going to be done…"
XXX
The first preludes to combat begun just after one hour before dawn. All across the southern wall, from the western to the eastern gates, small groups of heavily armored soldiers started to creep up as silently as possible to the entrances of each of the 44 towers that dotted the walls.
The Southern gate in turn was carefully encircled from within by sixty of the same soldiers. Keeping to the shadows, they used their dark cloaks to evade notice by the guards that were patrolling the city streets in increasing numbers as they came closer to the walls.
For nearly ten minutes, the soldiers waited in their chosen locations until they heard what they were waiting for. At exactly half an hour before dawn, a mighty, terrifying roar echoed all across the island and the still dark sky was lit up by massive blasts of sapphire and ruby fire.
Each of the groups sprung into action as soon as they heard the roar. Storming to their target, they cut a vicious path through a few dozen lightly armored guard patrols that blocked their way. Not even blinking about the losses they took themselves, they stormed into the towers and the gate house and fought their way up, as all around and behind them, the city was called to arms and the soldiers were rushing to the wall.
On three of the towers the soldiers were stopped and killed before they could reach their objectives but everywhere else they succeeded in reaching them, the ammunition storage rooms that were located directly beneath each of the artillery pieces. Following their orders to the letter and with unflinching determination, they found the X-marked barrels. As their remaining comrades in arms stopped any reinforcements from interrupting them, one of each group opened a thick sailcloth bag and removed a small storm lantern from within.
They all used the butt of a dagger to break open the lanterns and upon a second roar coming from above the city, they used the burning candles from the lanterns to light the extremely short fuses on each of the barrels.
XXX
Oberyn, Dagmer, the Greatjon, Orus, Syrio and 'Bronze' Yohn Royce, each stood at the head of their respective parts of the army. It had been separated in 6 divisions of 10,000 men each, with the one directly in front of the gates consisting of the remaining 6,500 Forlorn, the Unsullied, the convicted 'volunteers' and the four steel clad giants under the command of the Greatjon.
They were all waiting for the surprise Aurora and Gabrielle had promised them but so far, nothing was happening. Suddenly a mighty roar broke through the dark and the night sky was lit by massive bursts of fire.
Not even a minute later, the alarm bells were rung in the city as it was called to arms. Not seeing the use of announcing their assault, some of the newer arrivals that had come with Yohn Royce started to murmur and were out loud questioning the wisdom of having two women lead their army as such rookie mistakes had to be avoided in war.
Their complaints however were silenced as, about five minutes after the first, a second roar echoed through the night, this one followed by a most devastating effect. All along the southern wall, massive explosions suddenly lit up the night sky as the Forlorn lit the fuses on the remainder of the cluster bombs the Ladies had hidden in the arsenals in the towers. The artillery towers exploded violently as the cluster bombs ignited the stored ammunition for the catapults, destroying the artillery pieces and tearing apart everyone standing inside and on top of the towers and walls in between them.
The gatehouse was similarly struck as the massive wooden gates were blown out of their frames, pieces of burning wood crashing into the first few ranks of Westerlands 'volunteers', mowing down dozens upon impact and leaving them dead or dying, as the first casualties on the soon-to-be blood drenched fields outside the city.
Behind their lines, the trebuchets, catapults and ballistae they had brought opened fire, sending their burning projectiles arching over their heads, scaling the walls and crashing down into the area's just beyond the wall, which according to their scouting and the sellswords' information, was used for housing troops, while the previous inhabitants had been evicted and were sent nearer the heart of the city. Judging by the illumination behind the walls, the projectiles hit true and fires were spreading as their artillery kept firing volley after volley as a third roar echoed through the night.
This was their signal and with a massive roar, the 60,000-strong army started their assault on the looming Black Walls before them. The first to charge was the division right in front of the gates. Raising their shields above their heads to protect them from the projectiles that would soon be raining down upon them, they rushed towards the ruined wooden gates.
To their dismay they found that, while the gates had been utterly destroyed, the massive steel portcullis was lowered and had withstood the blast that broke the doors. Having foreseen this possibility, it was the reason Aurora had wanted to armor the giants.
The four colossal beings now carried a pair of tree trunks between them, each a foot-and-a-half wide and nine feet tall. Upon their approach, the giants were beset with everything the recovering defenders could throw at them. Stones, arrows, javelins, and pretty much just everything else they could throw out was sent towards them but the inch-thick steel withstood it all, allowing the giants to do their job.
Upon reaching the portcullis, the trunks were dropped while the giants grasped the portcullis and started too slowly but surely, raise the five tons of steel.
The defenders on the other side tried to rush in and obstruct their work but they were delayed by a single file line of badly battered down Forlorn whose wall of tower shields was slowly being pushed back, underneath the walls and towards the gates. The Westerlanders on the front line, who stood directly behind the giants to rush under the portcullis, watched on in silent, growing respect as the thirty or so Forlorn refused to break their shield wall as their comrades died left and right around them.
Each time one of the Forlorn fell, the line shifted a little, closing up the gap in an attempt to win as much time as possible before the defenders could reach the gates, which would only be a matter of minutes.
Minutes they might be, but for the attackers, every second counted as each second was a fraction of an inch of more space between the ground and the slowly raising portcullis. When it was a foot high, the first men crawled beneath it to reinforce the men in the shield wall, but they came too late. The last ones were overwhelmed as the gaps between them became too large to cover and the defenders were able to surround them and cut them down.
As the last ones fell, the defenders rushed forward and quickly started to hack into the half-dozen men that had managed to crawl underneath the portcullis killing them as well. They then turned to the giants, using spears to attack them, but just as with the projectiles, their armor was strong enough to withstand it as the attackers used their own spears to push the defenders away, resulting in an ever-shifting tide of pushing spears, stabbing swords, and dying men.
This stalemate lasted nearly five minutes, killing dozens on both sides of the portcullis and hundreds outside of the walls as the defenders had rallied by now and were throwing everything they had at them.
XXX
Aurora and Gabrielle meanwhile were not idle though. They each had nearly a mile of wall to keep clear of enemies as the rest of their army was preparing for the assault on the walls. Using their fire and spiked tails, they rewarded any hint of resistance from the defenders with a quick and a very violent ending. The gruesome truth of this was made evident in the light of the now early dawn. The visible remains of men that were impaled on the tails and flung either into the city or out to the army beneath the walls.
XXX
As Oberyn was directing his men towards the walls he quietly inspected the equipment they had brought. His men were carrying massive ladders, each just long enough to reach the top of the hundred feet tall walls. Not relying on simple muscle to raise the ladders and keep them in place, they used another of the siege engines the ladies had told them to create.
Small carts, each pushed by four men were rushed to 120 feet from the walls where they were anchored by hammering four large metal pins into the ground, one on each corner. Upon the carts were smaller versions of the large ballistae behind them that were still firing their projectiles into the city.
The smaller ballistae would fire large grappling hooks with chains attached to them up and over the walls. The idea was that the grappling hooks would take hold on the black parapets and the strain on them would make it unable to pry them loose, while the chains made it impossible to cut them off.
The chains would then be attached to the ladders, which would be carried to the edge of the walls, and then they would be used to pull the ladders up against the walls and keep them in place while the men climbed them to reach the tops of the walls, "That is, if there will be something left to climb towards." Oberyn softly muttered to himself as he saw a body fall from the sky and land not ten yards away from him.
Deciding to inspect the body a bit closer, he soon regretted his decision. Even with his past experiences, he had to swallow a gag reflex as he saw the heavily mutilated corpse. Despite the thick leather armor the man had worn, the chest cavity was basically just gone. It had clearly been one of the bodies stuck on Gabrielle's massive tail-spikes, as a massive gaping hole stretched out between the man's left shoulder, his spine and his now disemboweled belly. The ground around the body was covered with what had previously been inside his body as he knelt to close the eyes of the man, or boy as more than 18 name days he could not have been, the ground made splotching sound under his knee.
XXX
The Greatjon had been taking cover under two large tower shields, which were held up by two of his own house guards, as he had rushed his way towards the gates. He had arrived just in time to see the giants grab a hold of the gates. Along with the rest of his own men, he looked on in awe at the two struggles before them. The giants with the portcullis, and the Forlorn holding the entrance to the gate-tunnel against the defenders.
He cursed loudly as he saw the shield wall finally collapse. Not out of anger that the Forlorn had failed, no, just like many of the others who had seen it, he had just gained a lot of respect for those unknown men who had stood their ground till the very end and only went down after taking out a multitude of their enemies.
No, he cursed because it meant that the defenders were now once again in control of the other side, forcing him to send his men in to try and keep the giants clear of attacks and to allow them to do their jobs.
Snarling once, as he knew this was going to cost them later on, he pulled the small black horn from his belt and gave a single short blast. The reply was instant. On the south-western wall, Aurora made a single pass, bathing the battlements in ruby fire, before diving behind the wall and bathing the mass of soldiers before the gates in the same flames.
Quickly unfolding her wings, she rose up again to see that her fire had done what the defenders had failed to do. The heat of her flames had melted some of the grappling hooks and two of the ladders that were used by them came crashing back to the earth, each burying more than a dozen men beneath them.
Cursing inwardly, she quickly doused the flames to prevent more accidents while she looked towards the gates.
XXX
As he lowered the horn, Jon already heard the fire rushing the walls high above them and soon after a massive blast came down behind the walls, instantly killing all of the defenders that came within its reach.
This locked the few that were still alive into the tunnel between the fire and the portcullis that was still creeping higher, and was now nearly two feet from the ground. Looking around him, Jon saw nearly a dozen of his own guards nearby and he said, "GUARDS, WITH ME."
The eleven men immediately followed their liege lord and on a signal from him, the rest of the men pushed their spears through the holes in the portcullis, forcing the men on the other side to withdraw out of their reach. At the same moment, Jon dropped to the ground and quickly rolled under the massive steel object, followed quickly by his men.
While still on the ground, Jon swung his sword at the ankles of the nearest men, cutting down three with the greatsword while the rest jumped backwards as he got to his feet. Now with his men besides him, Jon charged at the few scared defenders, cutting them down to the last man.
Now, with the fire blocking anymore defenders from entering the tunnel, the giants were finally able to finish their work and as they raised the portcullis all the way up, teams of men picked up the logs and placed them upright beneath the steel fall gate before it was softly lowered on the logs.
As soon as it was done, Jon pulled the black horn back from his belt and gave three long bursts, the signal that the gates had been secured.
Immediately the two divisions on their right and the one on their left dropped all of their siege engines and formed up in shield covered formations, preparing to storm into the city as soon as the first division was passed the gates.
In the meantime, Jon could not completely suppress his curiosity so, accompanied by two of his men, he braved the heat to inspect the body of the nearest Forlorn he could find. What he saw shocked him.
The body was a mess, the steel plate was riddled with holes, most were smaller from shallow injuries, and one bigger, the one that had pierced his heart and finally killed him, but the man must have suffered dozens of injuries before it happened. "The amount of pain he must have been in is unbelievable." He thought to himself.
When he knelt down to remove the man's helmet, he was suddenly aware of a spear poking him in the back of his neck. "I would ask you not to do that my Lord. Respect the dead and let them have their privacy."
The voice that had spoken to him spoke in an even and emotionless tone, the one he remembered being used by every member of the Forlorn. He quickly raised his hands in the air and the spear tip was removed. Standing up slowly, he turned around to come face to face with a line of forlorn, each of which held a weapon to his men.
The one who had spoken to him before spoke again and said, "Our identity is for only us to know, please respect that." Jon nodded and the Forlorn all removed their weapons before marching on, straight towards the fire.
Just before they reached it, the flames died out and the men in the tunnel where able to look into the city. The square before the gate was a blackened field of ashes and beyond they saw the defenders, who now came screaming towards them.
As one, the Forlorn marched on until they reached the square where they fanned out in four groups. Three of them blocked each of the three streets leading onto the square, while the fourth moved into the gatehouse to clear it of any remaining enemies.
Sounds of clashing steel and dying men were soon heard again from within the gates house and the streets as the Forlorn clashed with the enemy. Unlike before, the forlorn where now able to hold their lines as they had a greater number to keep them intact. Three rows deep the forlorn stood, and if one on the first line fell, his place was immediately taken over by the one behind him and so on.
Suddenly a great noise could be heard coming from the right and over the heads of the fighting, Jon could see a company of heavy horses riding into the street and halting upon seeing the battle before them. He could just see the leader draw his sword and upon unsheathing it, the men behind him yelling, "BENEATH THE GOLD, THE BITTER STEEL."
Immediately the company kicked their horses on and they charged down the street, straight into the back of the unsuspecting enemy.
XXX
Harry Strickland was leading 150 knights of the Golden Company towards the gates and as they turned into the street leading to their target, they saw that the gates had already fallen. There was fighting in the streets as their former employers tried to regain control of the gates and without hesitating he drew his sword.
Each of the men behind him lowered their lances and they cried their battle cry, "BENEATH THE GOLD, THE BITTER STEEL." Before he kicked his horse and drove it on. He himself and each of his men had tied a black piece of linen around their chests, as the Dragonriders had told them to do.
Gaining momentum in the wide street, the line of knights charged at the back of the defending army, who did not realize the attack was coming until it was too late. The heavy lances smashed into the enemy, some even skewering two or three of the enemy as the leather armor they wore offered little protection to such a charge.
Releasing the hold on their lances, each of the knights drew their swords and started hacking the enemy left and right as their Coursers plowed over the enemies before them. Within minutes the street had been cleared and they halted just before the line of soldiers that had stood against the fallen. Harry immediately recognized the armor and the dragonheads upon them and he lowered his head in greeting.
"Where are your leaders?" he questioned and without a word, the soldiers stepped aside one step to open a path and a large man, probably a Northerner, stepped towards them. The man carried a bloodied greatsword over his right shoulder and stopped before his horse.
"Who are you then?" the man questioned.
"My name is Harry Strickland, sub-commander of the Golden Company, we're on the same side."
"That's good to know," the man replied. "I'm Jon Umber, commander of the first division. Where are the rest of your men?"
"All around the city," Harry replied. "We're trying to keep the pressure of off the walls, to allow you to take them more easily and…" He was interrupted by a heavily armored figure falling from the sky and landing with a crash next to his horse, spooking the animal and several others.
When he had regained control of his mount, Harry looked towards the body that had fallen and saw to his surprise that it was one of the Dragonriders. "My Lord," he said respectfully while bowing on his horse."
To his utter shock, Jon grinned and said, "You okay My Lady?"
XXX
Aurora had seen the charge of Harry Strickland and his men and since the walls had been taken and their men were on, or over them on all sides, it was safe for her and Gabrielle to join the fighting in the city proper. "I'll join the Greatjon and Harry Strickland in taking the Archon's Palace. Will you help Dagmer and his men clear the last of the enemies off the southeastern wall."
"I will love, be careful okay?"
"Of course, Gabby you know me right?"
"That's why I'm saying it smart-ass."
"You know you love my ass."
"Yes, I do, but get going all ready."
Aurora chuckled softly to herself before diving down towards the gates. She utilized the thick smoke clouds hanging over the city to change in mid-air above one of the buildings next to the knights of the Golden Company. She landed softly on the roof and from there jumped down and landed next to Harry Strickland.
When he had regained control of his horse he bowed and said, "My Lord."
On the other side of her she saw the Greatjon grin and asking, "You okay My Lady?"
Deciding it had been enough fun, Aurora removed her helmet, allowing her long red and black hair to flow down her back. Looking up with a grin she said, "Never better Jon." Turning to a flabbergasted Harry Strickland and his men she added, "Nice to see you again Harry."
"You… you… you're a woman?"
"Yea," she replied nonchalantly, "always have been."
"That, that merchant, that was a ruse?"
"Yea sorry about that but we didn't know what you would do so we had to take precautions. But save your questions for later, as right now we have a city to take."
Harry nodded slowly while she turned back to the matter at hand. "We should try to take the Archon's palace, from the looks I got in the sky, the city commanders and the Triarchy have barricaded themselves in there."
Harry nodded and she turned to the Greatjon. "How many have you lost so far?"
Jon scowled a bit before he replied. "Taking the gates was costly as you predicted. I think we lost about a thousand men on the approach alone, and even more while we had to wait for the portcullis to be raised. The gatehouse was fully manned and your Forlorn were unable to take it from inside the walls, though they did manage to hold the reinforcements back for a considerable amount of time seeing their numbers where so few."
"I know." Was all she replied before turning to the nearest Forlorn officer. "Captain, casualty report."
The man saluted and said emotionless. "As expected no survivors from the 500 in the city. Our assault force has lost 2,659 up to this point, of which 1.168 were Forlorn."
"That's acceptable, gather your men and follow me to the palace, the others can handle affairs here."
The man saluted again and began yelling orders. Barely five minutes later, a force of 2,000 Forlorn and 500 Unsullied marched away from the gates, following Aurora, who had re-donned her helmet, and the men from the Golden Company. The rest of the Forlorn would spread out around the other units moving through the city, to make sure none of them broke the rules they had set.
XXX
Oberyn was the first of his unit to get to the ladders as they were nearing the top of the walls. As soon as they touched, he started climbing while above him Gabrielle made a last pass over the walls to make sure none of the defenders, who were probably all scared shitless, got the idea to get out on the wall itself. As soon as the gigantic silver dragon was passed, Oberyn quickly climbed the last few feet and hopped over the parapets, coming face to face with some unknown sellsword.
Seeing as the man didn't carry a black band, Oberyn didn't hesitate as he pulled his spear from his back and thrust it into the man's throat. As he withdrew his weapon, blood spurted out of the wound and the man fell over, dead before he hit the ground.
He hurried towards the remains of the nearest tower where men were starting to pour onto the wall as they saw the attackers climb over the parapets. Oberyn engaged the first man he saw with his spear, stabbing it at the man's hand that held a mace. The man quickly moved his hand out of the way and struck towards Oberyn's head with his weapon, which Oberyn ducked in turn.
They traded blows for a short while until Oberyn struck the back end of his spear against his opponent's left knee. The man flinched in pain, which Oberyn utilized to stab his spear right into the man's stomach, before moving onto the next while all around him his men were engaged with their own opponents.
XXX
On the other side of the city, Dagmer was leading his men up the ladders as he saw the massive silver dragon head their way to ensure the walls were clear when they reached the top. To his surprise, the dragon made only a single pass before disappearing and once he reached the top, he was even more surprised to see Gabrielle hacking away at the enemy soldiers that were streaming onto the walls.
He quickly joined her in the melee, not that she even remotely needed it, but still it's the idea that counts. Gabrielle didn't even have to aim her massive axe; she just swung it before her and threw the enemy from the walls with shear impact force alone.
Deciding to rather stay clear than risk being hit by the fearsome axe, the rest of the Ironborn that climbed the ladders stayed back and instead headed in the opposite direction, towards another tower. They engaged the enemies that had been gathered there, noticing that they were little more than armed citizens, no doubt pressed into service out of necessity. Blessing their luck, they only had to kill a few before the rest of them surrendered. They were quickly disarmed and bound, before being left under a small guard while the rest moved further into the city.
XXX
Harry Strickland and the rest of his men fell from one amazement into the next as they followed Aurora into the city. It was as if she could smell the ambushes before they sprung and every hostile force they came across was quickly neutralized with brutal efficiency, either by her own massive axe or by the weapons of the Forlorn.
Just two blocks away from the Archon's palace, Aurora raised her balled right hand in the air and the entire army instantly came to a halt. She spread her hand, made a fist and spread it again, before pointing to a house on the end of the block on their right. Immediately 25 Forlorn split off and ran softly around the block. About two minutes later there came the sounds of clashing steel from around the house and Aurora quickly moved in followed by a second unit of Forlorn.
Shortly after, the sounds stopped and the army moved on, rejoined by most of the Forlorn who had split off. When they passed the house, Harry looked aside and had to suppress a shiver. About half a hundred sellswords, by the looks of them they were former members of the Brave Companions, lay butchered on the street and against the houses. A few armored corpses of the Forlorn lay between them but most were sellswords. Each of them had been meticulously killed by a cut throat, disembowelment or some other kind of instantly fatal injury.
Only the men of the Golden Company paid any heed to the dead, as the rest just marched on without looking left or right. A few minutes later they reached the large square before the Archon's Palace and upon seeing what awaited them there, the Forlorn wordlessly formed organized ranks with the Unsullied on the left flank and the Golden Company men stayed behind while they waited for orders from Harry Strickland.
Before the Palace the elite of the defenders were making their last stand. 1,000 Unsullied, 2,000 of what looked to be professional city guards and 500 freeriders. Aurora turned to Harry and said with a tone that allowed for no backtalk, "Get your men behind our lines and stay out of this. I'll handle it."
Turning to the Forlorn she yelled, "FORM SHIELDWALL. HOLD POSITIONS." Shields were raised and locked together with spears poking out through the holes as the Forlorn formed a Phalanx. The Freeriders were the first to move as they made to charge at their right flank.
What happened next was both surprising and unsettling to the Golden Company men. Aurora jumped into the sky and from beneath her cloak, two large scaly wings sprouted forth and with a few powerful thrusts she soared over the ranks of the Forlorn and landed right in the path of the charging horsemen.
As she landed she slammed both her fists into the ground on either side of her and sends a stream of ruby fire in either direction, blocking the horses' path to their lines and shocking the animals. More than a few of the riders were thrown from their mounts and those that did managed to stay in the saddle found Aurora waiting for them with both her hand-and-a-half swords stretched out on either side.
"Let's dance motherfuckers," she growled her and Gabrielle's personal battle cry as the first horses came storming towards her, with lances stretched out. The spear tips were less than a foot away, when she jumped up and landed on the lances, breaking them off and throwing their wielders off balance. Using the momentum of her jump, she stabbed both swords into the chests of the horses before her.
The animals crashed whining to the ground, throwing their riders off their backs who were subsequently decapitated with a single blow. What followed was a flurry of slashing swords and dying men as Aurora cut down one rider after the other, as their blades and spears broke upon her armor or where splintered by the impact of her swords. The screams of dying men and horses echoed over the square, putting a chill in the city guardsmen and dropping their morale quite significantly
However, even her nearly god-like strength was not enough to stop a full-on charge of 500 riders. After two dozen had been slain, three of the riders managed to land a blow simultaneously on her chest plate. Between them, the three lances managed to do what one alone could not, to bring her off balance and injure her.
One hit her on her shoulder plate, one in the middle of the chest and one on her abdomen. Whereas the first two shattered on impact, the later glanced downwards until it went between her chest and upper leg plate and penetrated the mail beneath, lodging itself deeply into her thigh. These combined blows were enough to throw her to the ground and the lance in her thigh broke off, pushing the barbed tip deeper into her flesh.
XXX
A sudden roar echoed throughout the city as Gabrielle felt the pain inflicted on her partner and in shared pain, she shocked everyone around her by jumping off the walls, into the smoke that lay across the city. Mere seconds later the gigantic silver blue dragon arose from the smoke and quickly winged her way towards the Archon's palace.
Before the riders could completely overwhelm Aurora's downed form, they were suddenly countercharged on their flanks. Two companies of the Forlorn had seen Aurora fall and without hesitating, acting purely on instinct, they charged forward, straight through the line of dragon fire.
With burning shields and blackened armor they emerged from the flames and fell on the freeriders from both sides, bringing them in disarray and breaking their charge, while four of them carefully retrieved their fallen leader and brought her to safety behind a double line of spear-wielding Forlorn.
Now that she had a lull in the battle, Aurora pushed herself upright and attempted to pull the lance out of her thigh, but she hissed as the barbed tip tore in her flesh and she settled for breaking off the tip instead.
As the Forlorn were massacring the freeriders, she felt Gabrielle's reaction to their shared pain and said, quickly "Do not worry my love, it is not a serious wound, it just hurts like hell."
"Thank the Old Gods, but I'm still coming. The walls have fallen on all sides and what remains of the defenders is caught between our men who come from the walls, and the sellswords who are advancing from the city center. Maybe my presence can ensure that the Triarchs surrender without further battle."
"That is a good idea, I'll just go and scare them a bit more before you get here." She got an affirmative reply from her wife as she was soaring across the city while heading towards them.
Scanning her surroundings, she picked up a few of the intact spears that lay around her and judging the weight, she turned to the stairs that led to the entrance of the palace. There, feeling safe behind their men, were the Triarchs and their generals.
Taking the first spear in her hand, she aimed it over the heads of the Forlorn, who were in the middle of finishing off what remained of the Freeriders. In quick succession, she threw all four of them nearly 100 yards away, hitting each of the four generals on the stairs straight in the chest.
Before any of the city guards or the Unsullied could respond, Gabrielle's gigantic form burst forth from the smoke clouds that hung overhead. With a terrifying and ear-shattering roar Gabrielle landed in the courtyard, right before half a dozen freeriders that had managed to escape the massacre. A single swipe of her massive paw was enough to throw them across the square, horses included, and they smashed against a wall of the palace, leaving a few bloody smears behind as they fell to the ground.
Rising to her full height, Aurora walked slowly but determinedly, and with a small limp, towards the steps of the palace, past the last handful of struggling Freeriders that still remained alive. As she passed Gabrielle, her wife laid her head on the ground and Aurora pressed her helmet against her snout and rejoiced in the close contact, wishing that it could be without her helmet.
She turned back to the stairs and started limping towards it. She was dripping with crimson lifeblood and she used her swords as a kind of walking sticks on account of her injury. The image she projected, the massive dragon that followed her with her head, and the 300 or so remaining Forlorn that followed her, caused the men of the city guard to part before her with a mixture of fear and awe.
She walked unhindered between their ranks and headed straight for the trio that was still standing on the stairs. Once she stood before the trio she growled, "Which one of you is in charge?"
All three were cowering beneath her stare and obviously were trying not to look too much in charge. Finally, two of them shoved the third one ahead, who fell on his knees and looked begging in her eyes while the other two said at once, "He is in charge, he is the Archon of Tyrosh."
"Good," Aurora said sweetly while stabbing her swords into the marble stairs, breaking the steps apart. "That means I won't be needing you two anymore." Both her empty hands shot forward and grabbed the two men by the throat. She snapped their necks as if they were twigs and carelessly threw their bodies down the stairs.
Turning to the quivering man at her feet she studied him for a moment and was rather disappointed. He was a man in his late forties with a bright blue beard and a bald head. He wore a richly decorated robe of purple silk and his hands could not be closed because of the many rings he wore.
"Now, here is the current state of affairs. Your Sellswords have abandoned you, more than half your army is dead, your walls have been taken, and your city has fallen. However, many lives can still be saved if you surrender now."
"YES. YES. I surrender."
"Good, now order your army to drop their weapons and hand your Unsullied over to me. My army will stop their assault and you have 30 minutes to make sure every soldier has laid down his arms."
The man quickly nodded and ran off to the nearest group of officers and sends them on their way to spread the word of their surrender. Meanwhile Aurora plucked a black horn from her belt and blew a single low-pitched tone that echoed throughout the city.
A loud cheer arose from the men of the Golden Company and along the walls and throughout the city their army celebrated when they heard the horn blast. They had all been given a list of what the different signals meant and this was the one they had longed to hear since the fighting had begun. It was the signal for victory.
The city had been taken.
The battle was over.
They had won.
Author's note: Phew, that was along one. Twice the size of a normal chapter and by far the longest I have ever written. I know I have been looking forward to this chapter and judging from the reactions so have you. I hope I have delivered on your expectations.
