A\N: the reason the first Chapters were such a mismatch of timelines was because I combined the chapters of two separate stories I had already written, the first was "Benjin the black", Severus Snape is reincarnated into Benjin, the second was "The beast from the east" Sauron is reincarnated into a poor village boy in Essos. The reason I didn't publish either was because I realized that there are so few Eddard fics where he comes out on top. So I Frankensteined them together to make this story.
Technically Robert being in the Neck is the 'B plot' and is instead a 'flash forward', I've been using it as an intermission between paragraphs of the main story, which I have dubbed "Eddard in Essos", also fathering a bastard at twelve is completely possible. I have a nephew who's two years older than me, because of that very reason.
The reason why there are so many spelling and grammatical errors is due to a combination of auto correct and my dyslexia, the latter of which is the reason I started writing fanfiction. For more evidence of this read my other story Black Speech.
The reason I made the huge text block was to simulate people trying to scream over each other at the same time, but after Reading some of your comments I should give the rest some space.
I genuinely believed that Lyanna was the second child and Eddard's older sister, in the show when Bran saw Winterfell in the past, the girl they used to play young Lyanna looked older than the boy they used for Eddard, so I thought she was older. Seriously watch that episode she looks older than Eddard!
The reason why Willis uses boxing and not his axe when they were about to be thrown out of Iggar's tent is because I couldn't find the Japanese name for the 'helm splitter' technique (which was the special exercise mentioned in the second chapter), so I substituted it with the boxing thing.
Roose was never supposed to be in this story at all, Howland was the one who was supposed to be abducted and his boat commandeered which would then be the reason why he would be antagonistic towards Eddard and Willis, but after realizing that it was too out of character for Howland I swapped him with Roose, I also needed someone one who could be Eddard's right hand man and Roose fit the bill semi-perfectly. This was also the original reason why Howland is angry at the beginning when Robert first arrives at Greenguard.
Jero was 97 when he died, being a teen during world war two and knowing what game of thrones is.
Lastly I have no idea how to give someone access to my stories for proofreading. Someone please, write how I'd be able to do that in the comments.
Dothraki war camp, 278 AC.
the Khals from all over the Dothraki sea would gather to Vaes Dothrak to rest, restock and boast about their exploits across Essos, they would pile their horde as high as possible to gain the most respect from the other Khals, this would in turn attract other Dothraki from other Khalasars to join and increase his numbers which would then allow him to demand even more treasure from the cities he would visit, so he could come to Vaes Dothraki and do the same thing all over again, in this way a Khal could amass a massive army and command the most respect from all Dothraki.
But during the past winter, one Khal who was known to regularly return for that very reason, did not do so, Khal Goron. though this was by no means irregular as a few Khals would choose to ride further south to continue raiding or warring with surrounding cities, but as the winter gripped Vaes Dothrak a rumor spread throughout the city, Goron and all his riders now feed the earth.
When a Khal died his bloodriders would avenge him and then bring his Khaleesi to Vaes Dothrak and finally the Bloodrider were to join their Khal in the Night lands, at least that was expected when Khal Goron was rumored to have been killed, but throughout the last winter when Most of the Khals were in Vaes Dothrak none had seen Goron's Khaleesi or his Bloodriders, leading them to only speculate as to what had happened, not that they weren't any survivors to tell the tale, they just didn't want to admit it. it was not a good possession to be in when you are a survivor of a defeated Khalasar, because then the question would asked 'why did you live when the rest had died', you might have lost your nerve and ran or hid like a coward, and if so you're someone to be shunned and shamed or in most cases killed, so more often than not, men like that either never spoke of it or fled to another part of Esso never to face the shame of out living his Khal.
For this reason Khal Mualik decided to lead his Khalasar west, to the route that Khal Goron took and find if any of the rumors were true. If he wasn't dead then he would be seen as a concerned friend and more than likely gain some favor with Goron and the other Khals, if Goron was truly dead then he would kill his killers and return to Vaes Dothrak a hero for avenging Goron, either way Maulik would win.
The Dothraki had an unwritten rule about how to conduct themselves when it came to other Khalasars. If you wanted to be left alone you had to stick to the edge of the Dothraki sea's border so as to raid the villages there and stay a respectable distance away from other Khalasars. Young or new Khals did this and was generally seen as unprepared, so attacking them was seen as cowardly as they would not put up a descent fight, Khal Mualik however was not traveling along the border for this reason, he was a seasoned Khal and warlord with a thirty thousand man army, he was doing this to convince any leaderless Dothraki to join him and swell his ranks, the prospect of being part of a larger Khalasar and being able to conquer entire cities was irresistible to any warrior rapist, and if he were to encounter the newer Khals, he would not attack them, but any smaller khals would not be able to stop his men from leaving them, oddly enough, this benefited the newer Khals as they would be left with the most loyal of their riders and from them he would chose his bloodrider, for only a Dothraki who did not abandon his Khal at his lowest would be worthy of such honor.
But before they had even reached the western border the Khal's son Boulin had disappeared while on a scouting trip to give him some experience, along with the first Bloodrider and ten other men. And every scouting party form then on. All that could be found were their mutilated remains piled up with several torsos impaled upright, all dead and rotting in the heat. That was how they found them, at first.
The Khal commanded them to continue west despite the mounting losses, the further west they went, the more grotesque the displays became. Soon the scouts were being found alive, the scouts were flayed and tied to a strange wooden construct, it consisted of three sharpened wooden stakes joined at the middle, the scout's hand were tied tightly to two of the tips while the his feet tied to the bottom two, their heads were forced down by the third stake, they would speak nonsense or beg for death, some even tried to warn them from going any further but the Khal would not listen and order them all to be given quick deaths. Boulin was of no consequence, Maulik could simple mount another girl and proclaim her to be his new Khaleesi, but if he did so it would be seen as disloyalty and give Boulin if he lives legitimate reason to usurp him. so he gave precedence over his rescue, but that only added strain to his Khalasar
Worse still the villages they were to raid were all ruined already, fields were now smoldering patches of black earth, houses and huts were now mounds of ash and dust, what little livestock that could be found were dead, nothing was left for the Dopthraki to take for themselves not even water. The wells and pools were filled with putrid stench of excrement and bloated animal carcasses, but strangely there were no pots, pans, clothes, or tools within the villages and not a single human body was found among it all, meaning that the people had fled with them, perhaps in fear of the the Dothraki's approach.
Having nothing to add to his food stock, Khal Mualik sent men into the forest to forage for game or fruits, anything to stall starvation and dipping into their supplies too early, but as with the scouts before them, the foragers never returned whole, it was only after a massive search party was launched that the men were found, strung up and flayed down to there tendons, the few that were alive enough to speak had no tongues to speak with, not that any of them lived long enough to be useful if they did. The forest itself was no safe haven either, it was littered with snares, pitfalls, deadfalls and more excrement laced spikes, as several of his men who went in first discovered.
Soon after these events a rumor had spread around the Khalasar, that they were being hunted by the same sellsword company that killed Khal Goron and his Khalasar near the western border, many in his Khalasar began voicing their desire to head south directly and avoid the 'cursed' trail completely, while others wished to simply head back to Vaes Dothrak leave their wounded and gather more men to fight. Those were good reasons to turn back, however, only the Khal commands the Khalasar, not the other way around, if Khal Mualik were to do as his riders said he would risk losing their respect. For a Khal that does not ride is no Khal and a Khal that is commanded by his Khalasar is even less.
So Mualik acted as Khals did, he killed the men that dared command him and claimed their property as his own, he then called for those who were a part of Khal Goron's Khalasar to come forth and speak clearly of his fate.
Several hours later…
[you are one of Goron's riders?] Khal Mualik asked a bloody and beaten man tied to one of the support beams in his tent, it had not been easy to root him out since there were so many in his Khalasar and not all were accounted for, but luckily the man beaten and tied in front of the Khal had a big mouth when he was deep enough in his drink, he had denied it at first but after the blood riders asked if anyone had seen him before the winter, it was all but assured, [answer me!]
The beaten man whimpered as a bloodrider drove his fist into the man's ribs, the man managed to nod his head at the question through the pain.
[good, now tell me, are any of these men part of the Goron's Khalasar?] Maulik gestured to the three other men who kneeled beside him, after the first was captured others were found through similar means, as such the three were also newcomers and were promptly dragged before the Khal.
The bound man nodded again, and the Khal gesture for the men to have their gags removed, [what happened to Khal Goron?] he asked all three men who were silent and only exchanged looks with each other, annoyed the Khal gestured for his bloodrider to strike one of them, which he did so with a boot to the head, [first the scouts started disappearing just like here, but after we sent men to find them again...] one man said after seeing his companion curled on the ground and grunting in pain while his started to bleed, [our Khal sent his three bloodriders to the nearby villages to see if they were any hiding there, but only two returned with the third having been burned to death in the villages he was raiding, so the khal went to where the third bloodrider went] the man paused to catch his breath [but it was a trap and they butchered the remaining Khalasar, only a few of us escaped because they were too busy killing the others to come after us]
[how did they trap you?] Khal Maulik asked in disbelief.
the man swallowed and continued [they had piled the bodies of the fallen along the road that lead to the village, to stop us from being able to ride and spread out, then they set fire to the rear guard somehow and trapped us even more, like we were fish in a net, we couldn't move and we couldn't fight back] the man raised his head to the Khal and said [I think, they are doing the same here]
[who?] Maulik asked realizing the man had never mentioned Goron's killers [who are they]
[I don't know their names, they only spoke the common tongue, but they had a flag with them] he took another long deep breath [it was a flower, a blue flower]
The Khal was quiet for a moment, the tent was filled with Dothraki with long braids and numerous scars, each of them commanded some measure of respect and would be the next Khal should Maulik die, and they all looked at him, waiting for his decision, soon he gave it. [I will not have cowards in my Khalasar, kill them!] the screams were loud and long, all four men were dragged outside and had their throats opened in front of the Khalasar, much to the Dothraki's amusement, while Maulik sat and thought of what this could mean for his venture, if these 'flower' men were capable of killing Goron, a tried and tested Khal and all his tried and tested men, then he would expect great loses wither he won or lost, so great that another Khal could kill him and claim his loot and men for himself, but what would those men think of him now that word would undoubtedly spread through the camp that they were the ones being hunted, that a Khalasar of this size was being challenged by an army of cowards who use traps and trickery to when fights.
But if Khal Maulik ignored this new information and continued on the path he would strain and starve his men and essentially lead them to slaughter, so he asked himself "what could I do to keep them strong enough to fight, when we reach the enemy's stone house?"
Somewhere in the Dothraki sea, 278 AC.
Howland was useless with a bow, he was too young and short to draw one much less use a full longbow, not that he was the only one to have such a problem, it took immense strength to pull back the string and keep yourself from shaking to aim well enough to make it count, men needed to be trained at a very young age to be strong and skilled enough to be an archer of any value, the next best thing would be a crossbow, little needed little training to use but required a long time to reload another bolt, another drawback was due to its short bolts it could only pierce armor at a short distance, any further than a few yards would drain the bolts momentum, an alternative to either was the blow dart but even that needed the capacity of a fully grown man to be of any use as every animal in the Neck had keen senses.
However, Eddard had designed a way to bypass these shortcomings by way of a new, larger crossbow, it was six feet long and a foot wide and weighted as much as man, it had three sets of five foot long 'spring steel' bows, two in front and one at the back connected by a single bow string, a gear mechanism he calls a "differential gear box" allowed the string to be drawn slowly as the 'reloader' frantically but easily turns a detachable wheel, after the string is set an arrow is automatically loaded from a 'magazine' at the bottom which itself is being pushed upward by a 'leaf spring', the 'shooter' then picks a target and pulls the trigger sending a two meter shaft into whatever was standing in its way, Eddard called it the 'triple wing mosquito', the men however shortened it to just 'Mosquito'. For this mission Eddard had given Roose five mosquitos and men to man them.
That was how they were able to kill the Dothraki scouts so easily, Dothraki ride in the open plains without fear of an ambush because there was nowhere to hide and wait, the open plains also allowed them to ride circles around anyone using a bow or a spear, for centuries the only way to defeat a Khalasar in the open was another Khalasar, but that was no longer the case.
The sun had risen again and its light filtered through the leave of the canopy, it astounded Howland as he stood at the edge of the forest, if he were to look behind him, he would see ancient trees that grow higher than the any tree that stood in the Neck, their leaves are so thick that hardly any light reaches the the ground which stunted the growth of any grass or bush, the ground or what little can be seen of it was carpeted by a thick layer of dead leaves and broken branches, the air is so thick that sometime it feels like you're in a rainstorm, and yet, if Howland were to take four steps south he would be greeted by the vast empty flat grassy plain that is the Dothraki sea.
This is where he and Roose were laying in wait for their next victims to arrive, a week ago, after capturing Boulin, Eddard gave him new orders, to search for a place along the Northern border that was at the top of an incline plain and was big enough to accommodate a thousand men, Eddard explained that he would lure the Dothraki into the forest where they would use the trees to set up pitfalls, choke points and fire traps as to whittle there numbers, it would have been slow and dangerous, but if he wasn't able to convince the rest of the villagers to stay and fight, then they would have to make do with what remained of the Rose company, to that end, Crass a veteran, commander and the most skilled member of the company was given command of one hundred of the original Sellswords of the Rose company, the best fighters and the best riders, the cream of the crop. Plus Howland.
They'd found a place that met all of Eddard's requirements and had sent a raven to inform Eddard that they were ready for him, for three days they began preparing the spot for the rest of the company to arrive, but they never came, they were however joined by Roose and fifty more of the original Sellswords with another hundred of the most promising recruits.
Roose being Eddard's second in command took control of their little army and informed them that they had a new orders, 'wound and weaken the Khalasar as much as possible', so for the remaining time they had until the Khalasar reach the fortress they would make the Dothraki pay for every step they took, Roose commanded them to stayed within the wilderness and ahead of the Khalasar, never attacking them directly or getting too close to be attacked themselves, he sent the best archers to kill as much game in the forest as they could find so the Dothraki would not have them, whatever they could not eat or make use of were left to rot in the forest to attract predators, promote and proliferate disease, animal carcasses and feces were left in bodies of water to poison them.
If they encountered any villages they would pay the inhabitants to leave with enough provisions and send them to the fortress after which they would then burn their houses, crops and put feces in the wells, leftover food and the bowels of the farm animals would be pierced to insure the meat could not be eaten if the Dothraki were close enough to arrive in time. if any Dothraki were to ride ahead of the Khalasar they would be either killed outright or captured to be tortured by Roose for any information regarding the Khalasar's movements, Roose himself was eager to let out some of his frustration on any unfortunate Dothraki, he had come back from Braavos in a failed attempt to acquire more Northern Sillswords by way of The wolf Pack only to be rejected because of his age and disbelief in his claim of Eddard's accomplishments, which greatly enraged Roose.
After Roose had thoroughly extracted any information from the Dothraki, they would be cut up and displayed in a 'pile' or if they were killed outright, impaled on stakes then left for the rest of the Khalasar to find as both an insult and as a warning, when they had finished a particular area, they would leave traps and snares to further impede their progress.
Currently Roose and Howland were waiting in their latest possession, it was at the edge of the forest and it's shade hid all of them well, then out of the corner of his eye one of the newer soldiers approaches them.
"Lord Bolton, Lord Reed" the soldier said then bowed, he was a short dark skinned man barely out of his twenties, they all were as per Eddard's requirements for entering the army, years of working in a field had granted them superd speed, stamina and strength which only synergies with Eddard's training regiment, now the once farmer is a thickly muscled machine of war clad in segmented armor and armed with a better steel than most knights, "Commander Crass and his men have returned from their scouting"
"Very good, soldier" Roose responded with a bow of his own, the soldier flashed a grin that he quickly covered with a bow and went on his way, Roose stood up from where he sat and dusted himself off.
"I can't believe he can still smile as if nothing happened, even after Ned had them kill their own village elders" Howland said, it was mind boggling to think about, when Howland had first left the Fortress it was at the brink of revolt and yet, a week later he gets word that Eddard had all the village elders slaughtered for trying to usurp his authority, and the villagers and new recruits loved him for it.
"Keep up, idiot" Roose said with very little malice in his voice.
"You know" Howland stood up and dusted himself off "it's no fun if you don't mean it" he says at Rooses, but he does not respond which annoys Howland, it was amusing somehow, being able to get a raise out of the stoic heir of Bolton. Having failed in his attempt to goad Roose, Howland quickly caught up to him
Moments later…
Roose and Howland approach what they assumed was Crass and his men being surrounded by other soldiers, when they the two of them the soldiers all strengthen their backs and bowed while stepping aside to make way for them, the Northerners are greeted with the site of three men bound and gagged at Crass' feet.
"We found thousands of slaves butchered and bleeding out there" Crass said, his voice was clearly distressed and he seemed to be hiding his true emotions, Crass was no stranger to cruelty, but even he was not made of stone "we found these two and many others searching the bodies and finishing off anyone who was still alive"
"How many did you say?" Howland replaced his childish tone with a serious one, though his voice broke like all of them did, he was still able to mimic a child's voice if he tried. Add that to his short stature and young face, it allowed him to appear as a helpless child and get close enough to use his so-called "Gaisamir" technique.
"Countless, the sands have turned red with their blood" Crass answered, his tone still had a hint of hate in it "when we saw them we rushed in to look for any survivors, then we saw these cunts!" Crass kicks one of the bound men in the stomach which caused the man to grown in agony, "we could not save any of them, we don't have the means"
"I'll take care of these two, Commander" Roose said with a glint in his eyes that none of the new soldiers caught but all veterans around him understood, Crass himself nodded in agreement and back away from the two men "take them to the rack" the men bowed and grabbed the two men as they disparately thrashed about attempting to escape, knowing what awaited them.
Rose Fortress.
"They'll be soon here" Edmyne said, as he peered through the modified Myrish far eye, it was late in the day but the sun still hours away from dipping into the west, he lowered the far eye and turned to the man he had served all his life. They were on the top of the fortress wall looking over the horizon.
"So they will" Iggar answered, he did not meet Edmyne's eyes for fear he would see the discomfort in his face, Iggar was too old for summer songs, he knew the world was cruel and uncaring, he knew it when his friend and good brother Hollus Reed had returned to him, bloody and broken, he knew it when his son followed his namesake to the grave, he knew it when he found what was left of his wife after she had been left by the Dothraki when they were done with her, he knew it well.
"Do you truly wish to go through with this, make the Stark boy the new leader" Edmyne asked turning to face Iggar, Iggar did not answer or faced his friend, the sound of men grunting rhythmically to keep their movements in perfect harmony with each other could be heard from below, "another of Eddard's genius at work" Edmyne thought as a silence stretched between him and his surrogate father, he could not remember when it started but he knew it was there, Iggar had always meant for Edmyne to replace him when he died, but as of late he saw that possession be given to Eddard, Edmyne did not argue with Iggar nor was he angry, he was always the better of the two at seeing reason, it still hurt him to know that he wasn't good enough anymore.
"When you were a boy" Iggar finally said "you asked me once, why I no longer pray to the old gods, even though many of our men still do despite being so far from the North" he faced Edmyne and realized that it was the first time they had faced each other so closely in a long time, Edmyne looked younger somehow. "Do you remember?"
Edmyne shook his head, trying and failing to find the memory.
"I said that one day I'd tell you the reason" Iggar turned again this time to look upon the fortress itself, groups of fully armored soldiers hurry about carrying away and dropping off bales of hay around the fortress, women wearing blue tunics could be seen hammering wooden spikes into the bales and sharpening the ends while other women were pouring pitch over bales that already had spikes jotting out of them, other women positioned arrow shafts and spears near the walls, "do you still want to hear it"
"Yes," Edmyne Nodded and Iggar tapped his knuckles on the space on the bench next to him, Edmyne understood and sat there.
"Back when I was your age" Iggar began looking out into the men working bellow "your father, Hollus and I were in this company, lowly sell swords trying to earn a living just like any other man" Iggar rubbed his hands together and felt all the calluses on his palms and knuckles that he had accumulated over the years, "we were stationed in village near Pentosh, pay was good and the only thing to fight was boredom, that's actually where you were born, Ed" Edmyne nodded, "we were there for about a year and three months, our captain at the time never said anything other than 'we were there to keep the piece and keep the bandits out', that was easy because we were about fifteen thousand strong, some the boys started to complain that they'd be too soft or too fat if they kept it like that" Iggar chuckled at that for a moment, then he stopped to look at his hands, he stayed silent for a moment and started back again "then we got word that a Dothraki khalasar was heading our way with the same number of men, so the boys got ready for a fight in the city"
Iggar drew a long and deep breath and slowly exhaled as if relieve from some great pain "the city locked it's doors to us, and said to fight off the Dothraki and earn the money they had spent on us, but when they arrived they were at least twice our numbers and all were on horseback while we only had a two thousand riders"
"when the Dothraki raided the camp, when I found my wife..." Edmyne flinched at the memory, he wasn't there nor was he old enough to remember if he was, but after he became a man he had drunkenly asked one of their men why Iggar never takes any whores, after hearing the answer he never asked that question again "that day, I prayed to the Gods one last time" when Edmyne looked at Iggar he noticed that his eyes were fixed upon something, Edmyne follows his line of site and sees a towering figure wearing a blue cape like all the others "that boy might just outgrow that set as well" Edmyne thought with a smile, Willis of Winterfell seemed to be talking to someone and after nodding vigorously he walks away followed by other soldiers, Edmyne's smile deflated when he saw who Willis was talking to, Eddard stark, he was surrounded by veterans judging by the feather on right side on their helmets. Iggar stood up pulling Edmyne from his train of thought and saw that Iggar was looking at him with sad eyes and said "I prayed for them to send a Monster"
Edmyne looked at his captain's receding back with worry, he rarely spoke about his past and never out in the open where anyone could hear, but that was not the only worrisome thing Edmyne had on his mind.
The sun had yet to crawl over the bone mountains but skies were already golden, most of the Dothraki were still shaking off their morning haze and washing away the sleep from their eyes. they were unaware of the men hiding just behind the tree line to the north of the Fortress.
"Are you sure?" Eddard asked while still looking through a far eye at the gathered Dothraki, they stood on a forty foot man made hill deep within the forest and behind heavily fortified lines, four rows of hedgehogs twenty feet apart from each other and trenches lined with spikes in between them. it stretched a mile from the river that runs beside the fortress to a deep ditch that was carved out by a flood years ago, after the incident with elders Eddard commissioned the building of the make-shift fort in the forest, due to their new found faith in Eddard, the villagers all helped and built the fort long before the Dotharki were visible in the horizon.
That was where Eddard stood, beside him stood Roose, Howland and the commanders who led their own contingent of soldiers, Roose's men had met up with Eddard early that morning and brought with them disturbing news.
"Are you asking me because you think I'm Wrong?" Roose countered, he traveled to Braavos a month before to recruit The 'Wolf Pack' but was snubbed and shunned by them due to his age, he wasn't angry at that, he was angry at being unable to convince them just as Eddard did with the Rose company. He had vented his frustration on the captured Dothraki by torturing them longer than necessary, which in turn caused one of them to spill out a secret to Roose.
"I want you to be" Eddard finally said, he lifted his eyes from the far eye and leveled it at Roose.
Roose clenched his jaw in frustration and with a sigh he says "Khal Maulik believes that we were the army that killed Khal Goron" though they had more soldiers now and had better arms and armor, the soldiers under Eddard's command were still out matched and out numbered, "one of the Dothraki I flayed said that a few of their new members had been part of Goron's Khalasar, and they told Khal Maulik"
"Then he butchered all their slaves and left them all to rot in the sun, all to conserve food for his men for this fight" Howland continued from beside Roose who glared at him for his interruption, Eddard did not like the situation he had found himself in, the farms that surrounded the fortress had two foot deep canals dug between the crops for the water to pool into, it was not only for conveniences but it also provided a channel for the water to spread evenly throughout the farms, it also had a third function, if any cavalry were to run across the farms the horses would fall into the gaps in the earth and halt to charge, and with enough agitation the flooded farms would turn into mud pits further slowing the enemy, but now with the Dothraki well fed and rested they would simply wait for the mud to dry in the blazing Essosi heat and then continue the attack, Eddard's plans was to provoke an all out attack from the Dothraki and then incur such a high death toll that they would abandon the fight and flee to a slow death in the Dothraki sea, "I assume that spoils your plan, Ned?"
"It does, Howl" Eddard answers, tapping his finger on the table "I assume the Khal will send his men by waves to disable and deplete our defenses and after the dust settles, run over their bodies to reach us and finish the job"
"What now Ned?" Willis asked sensing that Roose and Howland had finished their report.
"Roose, I assume the men you brought are still able to fight?" Eddard asked, the original plan was for Roose to continuously harass the Dothraki during the fight so as to reorient and prevent them from entering the forest to hide and regroup.
"Yes" Roose answered confidently.
"Good, tell them to rest their horses and go to the engineers, stock up on arrows for the Mosquitoes and have them repair any that may be damaged, I want every single horse rested and ready for tomorrow"
"Commander Flynt, Commander Stone, Commander Qorgyle, Commander Stone, Commander Snow" Eddard addressed the Veterans of the Company, "each of you will all have the command of your respective cohort, after the Dothraki set camp and it gets dark march them all directly behin them and force them all towards the fortress, when you hear the horn use the testudo formation to stay safe" the commander nod and Eddard continues "Commander Crass, Commander Cerwyn, you well have the Command of your respective cavalry" Eddard dresses the other veterans in the room, then points down to a spot on the map. "both of you will possession to the south"
"Aye, My King" they answered, it had started after the incident with the elders, the villagers-made-soldiers all started calling him 'King' or your 'Grace', the veterans followed after hearing what Eddard did to bring the entire Fortress back from mutiny, it was odd at first but after enough times it became mundane.
"Will, you and other heavy infantry shall protect the archers and the mosquitoes stationed to the north" Willis nods in acknowledgement
"And me?" Howland raised his hand to garner attention.
"Howl, your going to be our Linchpin" Eddard placed a hand on Howland's shoulder ignoring his raised eyebrow "Go to the Engineers with Roose and ask for the Heron" the veterans around Howland chuckled as if knowing something, Howland nods trusting Eddard's intentions.
"MEN!" Eddard pulls everyone's attention to him again "TO YOUR DUTIES!"
"YES, SER!" his three friends and all the veterans shouted in unison
Outside Rose fortress,
The fortress was larger than what he had first imagined, its wooden walls were round and tall with eight towers standing along its rim and encircled by water, Khal Maulik had finally arrived at the fortress after three weeks of hell, his men had sworn and cursed him for killing so many of their slaves, slave were like gold, they were a status symbols, the more you had the more respect you get, so having so many killed had raised quite the uproar, some even challenged him for it but Maulik did not become Khal by being weak, he personally killed any who stepped out of line and displayed their heads on pike outside his tent for all to see, he killed his own slaves to prove to them he wasn't holding out, of course they had to keep strongest of the slaves alive, someone had to carry their supplies, they left the bodies of the weakest and oldest for the crows and vultures to feast on, none looked back. They continued their journey west as any more delay would incur a heavy toll on the now weakened Khalasar, Maulik no longer sent scout out or hunter and foragers, they all traveled in one large group, though they still encountered polluted bodies of water and rotting game strewn about on the road, the Khalasar suffered no more losses to the enemy,
They arrived near sundown so the Khalasar had a feast to regain strength and moral, Maulik had declared that the flower men had no army to defend themselves with, the Dothraki that had come from Goron's Khalasar had said that they used tricks and traps because they were so few in number, Maulik had dealt with Sellswords before and knew for a fact that they didn't recruit masses of men to their ranks for fear of a mutiny or lose of coordination and command, it had only been a year since summer began, not enough time to rebuild an army, even if they had Goron's loot with them, speaking of loot, Goron's Khalasar was small but only if you counted the Dothraki, in truth there are more slaves in a Khalasar than there are Dothraki as most riders had either one or more slaves to carry his supplies for him, judging by how the Flower men were so fiercely defended their territory, they still had it.
That night they drank and sang to their gods and their fathers, Maulik had allowed them to drink and eat to their heart's content, and told them that they would have fresh slaves and more loot, so the Khalasar eagerly awaited morning to take revenge against the flower men for their suffering.
Several hours later…
[Start rousing the men, Krahl!] Khal Mualik ordered his new first bloodrider, he didn't like choosing someone else to replace his friend, but if Mualik didn't pick a new Bloodrider the other riders would start acting up thinking that none of them were worthy.
The rider nodes and walks out of the tent, after seeing the flaps close again Maulik goes to his chest and takes out his weapons, usually a slave would dress him, as he straps the daggers to his belt he hears a scream from the outside, usually Mualik would not bother, there was always someone screaming in a Dothraki camp, but now that there were no more slaves, Maulik found it odd.
He steps outside to see his entire camp in disarray, riders were scrambling to their horses and weapons some were still shaking the drunken haze of last night's feast, others were more alert than other and were shouting orders and directing men to their places to form ranks, from out of the chaos the Khal's new Bloodrider emerges, [my Khal!, an army is marching to us]
[where?] Maulik asked disbelief at the back of his mind, Karhl points to the tree line to the north and he behold a thirty rows of armored men with blue capes and carrying a rectangular shields, they were marching at a slow but steady pace but they were only a hundred yards away, not enough time to prepare for a plan. they needed to act now
[get my horse and tell the men to prepare to charge] Maulik shouted, Karhl nodded and went on his way, moments later he was on horseback and running up and down his Khalasar's army lines shouting and screaming so that they would all remember who they obeyed. With on last shout he and his Khalasar thundered down the plane directly at the soldiers
Just then…
Commander Flynt sees the Dothraki speeding towards them like a wave, he hears the men behind him shaking in their armor and breathing in their helmets, he then puts a whistle in his mouth and blows as hard as he can, pulling everyone from their thoughts, then he shouts.
"MEN!, PREPARE FOR COMBAT!" his command is echoed by other Commanders throughout the other Cohorts, the soldiers began to move in close be side the other until they were a single unified wall of men and metal, all moving as one singular organism.
Flynt Whistle again and shout "SHIELDS UP!" Again it is echoed by the commanders, all the blocks tighten their formation and lock their shield, the ones at the center raise their shields overhead and cap off the block. They waited, and waited, as the ground beneath them started to rumble, and the deafening sound of the Dothraki yelping and shouting fill the air, some of the men started to shake even more while others started to cry. closer now the sound of arrows bouncing off shields reverberated everywhere was becoming louder, they could now taste the dust that was being kicked up by the horses, suddenly, a crash.
The Dothraki funnel into the few spaces between the shields and attempt to slash away at them, but they are met by thick shields that seemed to enter lock with the other, their Arahks bang and bash uselessly at the the singular mass of men, the Dotharki started to laugh at such cowardice, some tried to pry open the shields, only for a short sword to snake between shields to stab the foolish Dothraki, then they started to leap over the formation but the soldiers would slash at the horse' legs, which would make it stumble and fall, but some parts were starting to be brake open and the soldiers within hacked to pieces by the Dotharki, panic was now building within the army of fresh soldiers as the their memory of past raids by the Dothraki came welling up from their subconscious, one by one the blocks began to falter and fail.
BBWWOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!
a single deafening horn cuts through the chaos, Khal Maulik turns and twists his head trying to find the location of the sound, but the nearby mountains echo the sound and drowning out the source, just then he sees his riders start to fall of their horses, the sound of rain comes to his ears, then he feels a pain in his shoulder when he looks at he sees an arrow lodge deep into his arm and the pain seemed to explode at the realization [AAARRCHEE-!] he scream is cut short by the iron shaft punching a whole through his head.
The Dothraki surrounding the Khal stare in disbelief at the site of the hole in Khal Maulik's head, blood jetting out from it and his body limply falling to the ground. soon after another man with long breads falls off his horse after having his face replaced with a hole, panic spread quickly after that. as more of their leaders were being picked off one by one the Khlasar became disorganized.
arrows flooded the front line, the archer shot five arrows in raped succession and when he tired another would replace him, they concentrated all their fury at the very front of the soldiers, so the dothraki would either back away or drown in arrows, the soldiers themselves would not be harmed as they were protected by the shields above their heads, little by little the Khalasar was driven forward, closer to the fortress, after Maulik's death the command structure had all but disintegrated, in mere moments the thirty thousand manned serpent, had no head
Amidst Chaos the soldiers heard a loud whistle, and a voice that seemed drowned out all other noises, "REFORM" suddenly two years of constant drilling kicked in and the once scared and shaking boys begun to move in unison, pushing with all their strength to move together and push back the enemy, what fear that dwelled in the back of their mind were replaced by the calm and clear voice of their commanders, they had been here before, they had trained for the for this, they had been here before. so they pushed, and pushed, and pushed, until an inch became a foot, and foot became a yard.
The cavalry had the best horses the company had and the best soldiers fighting on them, their only job was to cut down any stragglers that managed to get past the shield wall and headed for the archers, which were some distance away from the Dothraki's archers, the space between the archers and infantry was enough for them to catch up the the stragglers and mow them down.
the heavy infantry was there to trick any Dothraki into attacking them, as they weren't on horse back and had no support from archers. but they were however, supported by the Mosquitoes, unlike a bow it could not be aimed upward fly over a shield wall, it could only go streaght like between over the heads of short heavily armored men, Eddard had chosen the strongest of the recruits and trained them to be able to fight for extended periods of time while wearing heavy armor, lead by Willis and several other veterans, it was made up of fighters who could souk up a lot of damage and dish out even more. a perfect unit if you were fighting in forested and uneven terrain. although it was at an open field they were still useful at baiting Dothraki who were empaled by the Mosquitoes.
at the Fortress...
"Captain" Eddard says as he sees the Dothraki cross into the farms.
"LOOOOOSE!" Iggar shouted from where he stood on the fortress wall, three burning bales with wooden spikes fly into the air leaving a trail of smoke and embers before landing in the middle of the khalasar, in their panic none of them noticed that a fourth projectile was launched, it was a bound and screaming son of the Khal, who was the first person of this world to fly without wings, or limbs. then moments later another four sale through the air and crash near the first four. the smoke rises from the burning bales and is dispersed by the Dothraki on horse back running about the battlefield, shocking and blinding them, soon they rode directly into the farm lands and instantly turned it into a mud pit.
the might of Khal Maulik's Khalasar had been reduced to writhing mass of blood, mud and madness, as more and more bales land, more and more arrows fall, most die under weight of their comrades, a few of them took matters into their hands, others continued to struggle succeeding only in draining their strength and sealing their fate. this time, none of them would escape the massacre.
Westeros, Kingslanding, 279 AC.
"Are there any other matters to be discussed?" The lord commander of the Kingsgaurd asked. He was greeted with silence and shaking heads from the occupants. except for one
"There is some interesting news from Essos, It seems a new Kingdom was established just after summer came" inside the red keep, behind closed doors and away from unwelcome ears, the small council was having their regular meeting, Tywin of house Lannister the Hand of the king had organized this meeting so that he could know the goings on of the seven Kingdoms, the various masters of the small council gave their reports to the hand of the king and he decides what to do next based on the information at hand, "a small cotangent of sellswords have built their own fortress near the northern edge of Essos"
"Kingdoms have risen and fallen in Essos since there were men in Essos" the Grand Maester spoke up to rebuke the eunuch, he did not like that a Lysene, a foreigner, was here and spoke so closely to the King and the Hand, he also hated that his word was being sought out more than that of the Grand Maester himself "our concern is this realm and no other, perhaps you shouldn't focus your efforts elsewhere, Lord Varys" the title was more curse than courtesy as the eunuch ruled over no land and no keep.
"their king is a Westerosi and only speaks in the common tongue" Varys said sweetly as he played the part of kindly sage, he was himself surprised at the odd message sent to him from Essos, what was even more surprising was that a westerosi who only spoke the common tongue meant that he was raised in Westeros, "he gathered the surrounding villages and defeated two Dothraki Khalasars to establish his kingdom"
"That is impressive, Lord Varys, but why are you telling us this at all?" Ser Barrestan spoke from his place in the council, he unlike most men saw the need to listen to the master of whispers, for it was Varys who told him of the secret entrance that allowed him access to Duskendale and save the King "does he have some merit that we should know of?"
"My birds tell me he is a brilliant mind, brilliant enough to massacre two Khalasars with so few men" Varys answered, he had to space his responses to make it seem he had more to say, which he unfortunately did not as this news did not come from his birds but by his friend in Pentosh who heard from his merchants that had dealing with the new kingdom in Essos and mentioned it in his correspondence to Varys, which explained why no Dothraki Khals had come to the free city in so long. "someone like that has some merit"
"Does he or this Kingdom have a name?" Tywin asked impatiently, there were times when he had to step in and move a conversation along as Varys had a tendency to pad his stories like a storyteller would to build suspense and Pycelle had a tendency to pad his with incoherent babbling to make himself seem old and decrepit, but all it did was waste everyone's time and time was one of the few luxuries he couldn't afford.
"It is called the Kingdom of the Rose, my lord hand, as for the name of their king, he is known as King Eddard, the Doom of Dothraki"
"Preposterous" Pycelle adds his opinion.
"I've heard that Lord Rikard's second son had run away to Essos last summer and has yet to be seen" Tywin said, the Northern Lord's plight had reached him some years ago, usually this type of gossip seldom remained in one's memory especially to a southerner, the North despite being the largest of the Kingdoms had little bearing in the affairs of the rest of Westeros and was content in ignoring and being ignored by the south, the reason the news had stuck with Tywin was that Lord Rickard's predicament mirrored that of Tywin as both their sons were unruly and disobedient, but at least his son had not run away in a fit of rebellious adolescence, though Eddard was not the heir apparent. "He is also named Eddard, Could they be one and the same?" he doubted it, even if the boy showed promise at such a young age (if the rumors were true) he was still a boy, a green boy.
"I don't know, my Lord Hand" Varys answered nervously but he hid it well, his position was in the hands of Tywin and was only here by his good graces, even if the king himself appointed him, the real ruler was the man sitting at the head table. "I have never seen the boy or Lord Rickard, so I don't know if he is or he isn't"
"It does not matter, our concern is the this realm and no other" Tywin stands from his seat and the rest follow him, before Tywin left the table he said one last thing "lord Varys" that caught the eunuch by surprised, the hand only ever referred to him as a 'Lord' when he wanted to remind Varys of his tenuous position within the court, "you're here to give facts, not rumors" the eunuch bowed deeply in submission while Pycelle smirked at him. With that the meeting ended.
A\N: If you're all wondering why it took me longer to post this, it's because I have been in quarantine for nearly two months and just wanted to stop working and just do nothing for a little bit. Just turn off and not be confronted by anything familiar.
