Coming of the Red anchor

Give Me Ten Good Men

Coast of the Westerlands

Warrington

It was night as the fleet began to blockade the bay in which Lannisport sat. The galleys gently dipping their oars into the sea to move them silently into the bay during the late hours of the night. A few fires could be seen around the town which was well made and organised, mostly stone and brick built homes and shopping areas with a dozen warehouses. According to records over two hundred thousand lived there and the town watch numbered two thousand strong. With a large force attacking they will have to call for help from the Casterly Rock garrison which supposedly numbered over five thousand. The plan was simple but also potentially dangerous and costly. It had therefore been decided that while the bulk of the four thousand marines would attack the port, they would also use everything at their disposal. The gloves were off.

On the dark cloudy night the fleet moved in the galleys now well into the port carrying the troops while ten carracks took positions surrounding them ready to fire. Then, in sync, they fired their cannons. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM echoed around the port with fifty explosions rocking the port and waking the residents. Bells began to ring in alarm but it was too late for the City Watch as well over three thousand soldiers from House Britanican stormed the docks, beaches and port carrying rifles and swords. This was the true marine corps that had been maintained, expanded and kept fully equipped since arrival, ready for the day a land invasion akin to Normandy was needed. A day most of the original marines and sailors had expected earlier in this primitive world.

xxxxx

Arnold Snow charge forward from the landing zone with his fellow marines. This was his first campaign and first fight. He joined the soldier force, marines as they were called, a few years ago and as the bastard son on some backwater vassal lord who was pledge to the Glovers he had nothing better to do unless he joined The Night's Watch. Now he was a two and twenty namedays man who protected and served the North at sea with a band of soldiers who were well trained and equipped. He himself didn't use those rifle things, he wasn't the best shot with a bow or a gun as they called them though he'd heard from some that it didn't matter due to the number of...bullets was it? Yes bullets that those weapons could fire meant that if a few missed so what. Still, he was good with a sword and so that was what he trained in. As he walked slowly through the streets he wore mostly leathers and a gambeson with mail on top with a few steel plates attached. It was light but still capable of protecting from bladed weapons. He carried a short sword made of high quality steel from the armoury oh Stoneyport and an ironwood shield. He was lucky to have a shield like that as most had just simple wooden ones with a metal boss in the centre, thankfully he came from a house of the Wolfswood which had many ironwood shields.

He followed a group of ten men and two women through the Lannister port city towards one of the gates as they had been ordered to close it so as to stop reinforcements. So far the City Watch had been mostly caught off guard by the surprise night-time attack and had been overwhelmed by the numbers deployed against them and the weapons being used. He'd seen three men in his group fire their rifles at a group of twenty guards and after a short rattling and buzzing noise that lasted for a few seconds the Lannisters soldiers had collapsed with cries and groans along with a few sparks from where the bullets caught on the red steel plate armour which most of the Lannister force used. When he and the group had walked past the fallen men he'd seen half a dozen small holes in the red chest plates the watchmen had worn, blood pooling under their backs or sides depending on how they'd fallen.

Suddenly a Lannister guard charged out from a side street and Arnold barely had time to raise his shield. The enemy sword landed with a loud THUD, shaking his arm and knocking him back with the force of the blow. His fellow soldiers turned around to assist with one raising a rifle and a short buzz caused the Lannister to jerk back, dropping his sword and crying out while clutching his side. Arnold saw more sparks appear on the man's chest as another series of shots were fired before he fell backwards with a gurgle. Arnold nodded his thanks to the Lieutenant, 'strange rank' he thought to himself, with the gun and began walking more cautiously through the city towards the walls.

xxxxx

More booming sounds echoed around the bay as further cannon shots knocked down buildings or exploded within them sending stone and masonry down onto the streets. Men, women and children screamed and scattered like birds startled by a cat. Dust and smoke began covering the city from the bombardment and fires as marines stormed down the streets shooting any Lannister guards they saw or exchanging a few blows with a sword. The populace retreated back to their homes where they cowered in hope that they wouldn't be raped, killed or anything else by whoever the attackers were. The City Watch tried to rally a number of times but were outnumbered and quite literally outgunned, their attempts to fight back quashed and broken up, thereby routing the Watchmen and driving them deeper into the city and into smaller groups to be rounded up.

Warrington watched from the deck of the Silence as the fleet began to dispatch some troops to board nearby Lannister vessels which had been left intact by the initial strike into the harbour by the war galleys. One of the handful left included the impressive newly built two hundred oar war galley which was the flagship called Tywin's Might. Warrington watched as he saw the muzzle flashes of the rifles as they shot and killed the handful of sailors and troops stationed aboard and the glint of steel as others used swords to cut down any stragglers. "Admiral, have the captured ships readied for departure, we will take them with us as we leave" Warrington commanded to one of two men standing by him on the main deck.

"Aye sir, they could prove useful as we scrap our older ships in favour of the new ship of the line vessels being built back home."

"Indeed, my sentiments exactly. The port secured General?" Warrington asked, turning to the second man.

"Yes Lord Warrington. Also the drone above us is reporting that there is a large movement of troops at Casterly Rock. Looks like nearly the whole garrison is gonna come charging down the hill."

"Excellent, have the troops man the walls and fire arrows and that down upon the relief force outside. Bar the gates and then form defensive lines in the streets. Blockade them and form choke points and then we'll do a fighting retreat. Use what troops you need but I want some of the gold, gems and steel taken. Might as well make them pay" he added with a chuckle.

"Aye sir although the City Watch did put up a good fight. One or two of the gates have been forced open or broken to prevent us from closing them to the castle garrison."

"Then use the gates as choke points and man what walls we can. Remember, a fighting retreat, I want as many men as possible to live through this. No heroics, we've done what we needed to do. With this we can secure our people's future for generations to come as the most feared and respected house in this world. None will dare cross us if we can take even so called impregnable castles" Warrington said firmly. The two officers nodded and went about issuing orders to their subordinates.

Jon

He could hear the faint booming from the special weapons that the carracks possessed in the distance. It surprised him how loud they were even barely a mile away. It seemed though that he wasn't the only one as Bronn and a few of the younger men with them in the row boats were a bit jumpy at the noise too. Meanwhile the older men, the ones who had sailed with House Britanican when it appeared or were the first to join up when they settled, barely batted an eye. Jon stretched nervously, his leather jerkin with brigandine over it clinking softly with the movement. All the men present wore brigadines or chain mail of good quality, nothing less was tolerated and nothing heavier was needed as they needed to be swift and light while on the boats and once inside.

There was twenty of them in all, spread among a number of row boats that had made their way over to a small cove which they had been told led had a tunnel leading to it. As they approached the small beach they jumped out of their boats and pulled them ashore. "Alright lads," a cough, "and er some women, the tunnel should be just here. While we could have tried to use the existing port there would have still been guards there who'd notice us so once inside we'll double back and take it which will allow us to bring in the remaining troops to assist our capture. Now the garrison has been mostly lured away but they can just as easily come back so we do this quick and silent like yeah? No heroes, being a hero gets you fookin' killed, so be quiet like and kill them quick. Alright lets head through" Bronn said.

Jon squeezed himself through the gap in the solid rock cliff face and found a small stone tunnel ahead of him. He had to bend over a bit much like the others though he noticed some squatted instead. He was flushed with nervous excitement. If this worked they'd make history as the first to seize this place and they'd been offered a few bonuses to encourage them though they'd been warned that bad behaviour, read drinking and raping, would not be tolerated. The tunnel eventually turned into a larger wider one which quickly revealed itself to be a sewer due to the stench. It was however big enough for them to walk normally along the side of it and Bronn soon pointed out a ladder leading up into the lowest part of the castle.

Five men slowly climbed up it before Bronn went up too, followed on by Jon. They were in a store room of some sort with shelves holding baskets of food or crates of salted meat. It was just about big enough for eight men to stand up but it was a tight fit. Looking outside the group got their bearings as the rest of their force climbed up. "Alight lads, looks like we go this way" Bronn said in a hushed whisper, indicating to head down to their left. Jon wasn't quite sure how Bronn knew where to go but every so often he would press at his ear as if listening to something. Perhaps Warrington's men had mapped it out using that metal bird thing and were guiding them. He gave a shrug, not knowing quite how Warrington and his people did what they did (they were on the whole quite secretive about all that, only giving out basic explanations) and followed quietly on after the sellsword.

As they walked slowly down the corridor Bronn put his hand up and they heard the sound of footsteps and soft talking. 'A guard patrol' Jon realised. "You lot duck out of sight, hurry. Jon, you go into that alcove, I'll be just over here. When they pass slit their throats quick as you can alright lad?" Jon nodded nervously while the men stepped around corners, into other alcoves or into a few nearby side rooms to hide out of sight. The footsteps got louder until he could just make out the words

"-you think it's the squid cunts again?" came a voice as it drew closer down the corridor, the sound of feet marching on the stone slowly getting louder.

"Nah can't be, they wouldn't be stupid enough to attack here again. Lord Tywin would raise them to the ground and sing Rains of Castamere over them if they did."

"They're Ironborn." the first retorted, the clinking of their armour and swords now clear to hear as they approached.

"True they are stupid cunts" the other admitted.

"Nay lads, you're both stupid cunts" a third voice said and it took Jon a moment to realise that Bronn had just stepped out in front of them and spoken. Jon quickly drew his bastard sword and drove it through the chest of the guard nearest him with a hard thrust as he clamped his hand over the guards mouth. The man let out a muffled scream and blood spurted from his chest as the sword went through and out the other side. The guard on the right turned and gaped at Jon but before he could cry out Bronn drew his dirk across the man's throat while also covering his mouth. The man struggled slightly and made a muffled moan before going limp as blood leaked and spurted from his throat. Jon and Bronn gently lowered the two guards to the ground before wiping their blades on the red cloaks worn by the guards. "Not bad lad, you acted quick and remembered to cover his mouth. Good job."

"It didn't feel right, my father wouldn't have done this" Jon said despairingly.

"Aye your father is an honourable northern idiot. Honour is a good thing until it gets you killed and in true war you can't be honourable all the time. Sometimes you can't afford to take prisoners, just like now. Chin up lad, you'll get your more honourable fight later, now lets stuff these two in those closets our friends hid in."

Bronn stashed the bodies away as the rest of the men came out of hiding and soon they were making their way through the lower levels. They encountered only two more guards en route and both were dispatched quickly by Bronn and another soldier. Unhindered, they carried on walking down towards the small dockyard and port which was built within a large cavern on the western side of the mountain that Casterly Rock was built upon. They eventually came out of a passage on the right side of the cavern, there they saw a series of wooden walkways as well as some paths carved from the rock face which snaked around the edge of the cavern while the wooden walkways led down to the water and then out from there to form a dock with piers. Bronn split them up into smaller groups and told them to take certain areas. Jon, Bronn and two others would go to secure the portcullis winch on the right side of the cavern entrance while another group would take the winch on the left side as both were needed to lift such a large steel object. The rest would clear out the guards.

On the signal from Bronn the twenty men charged out from behind the various cargo crates and boxes to attack the dozen or so of guards milling lazily about the place. Cries of alarm went up but they were soon replaced by the clash of steel from swords and axes as the northerners fought the Lannisters. One came at Jon, sword raised and crying out in anger, and he parried the first strike before punching the man in the nose which knocked him back and off balance before he then slashed at the guard with his sword which made the man scream in pain. Jon then kicked the crying man in the chest which sent him sprawling into the water with a pained yelp and a splash. Jon then hurried along the side walk towards the winch and found Bronn fighting off a guard while another lay dead at his feet. The other two in his group were also engaged with other guards so Jon went to help them, stabbing at one to cause a distraction which allowed the marine to drive his axe into the distracted guard's back. Within a matter of minutes the entire dockyard and jetty area had been secured with a dozen Lannister guards lying dead on the walkways and piers. Thankfully they suffered no fatalities given the surprise and swiftness of their attack but a few had some nasty cuts and gashes. It helped their conscience somewhat that there were no dockworkers around since it was night but also with the garrison being sent off it meant fewer people could be allowed down here.

Together with the squad at the left winch, they lifted the heavy portcullis which covered the cavern entrance and was embellished with golden rampant lions before Bronn then started waving a flaming torch as well as muttering something while he pressed at his ear. A few minutes passed and soon five longships entered the cavern and docked. Quick enough, nearly two hundred eager men and a few women disembarked from them and began hurrying through the castle. Nearly all went along to the Lion's Mouth, the main entrance to the castle which was a large gated cavern connected at the rear to the dockyard by a long excavated and widened cave passage. That troop of two hundred went down the passageway to take the main gate by surprise. Once that initial group had left the longboats exited the cavern with the badly wounded and a new group of ships replaced them. They came in with another two hundred who were quickly sent up to secure the rest of the castle. Bronn and Jon, along with the two others, went with this group.

xxxxx

The four hundred marines and northmen quickly moved down the cave passage and towards the unsuspecting Lannister guards at the Lion's Mouth where they took them completely by surprise, after all why would they expect an attack from within the impregnable castle? The Mouth itself was one giant gatehouse using a mixture of the cave walls themselves and stone blocks to form a wall and gatehouse sealing the mouth of the cave. Murder holes and arrow slits had been carved into both the gatehouse and the cavern walls and ceiling allowing for multiple angles of attack. Thankfully they were silent thanks to the surprise nature of this assault. The fifty men were soon cut down in a series of bloody fights led by an older man in Lannister red steel plate armour. However the sheer numbers against them and despite valiant efforts ended with the Lannister guards being overwhelmed with nearly all the fifty guards present being killed with only a handful surrendering and the older man being knocked out for use as a potential hostage. The bodies of the dead guards were then mostly propped up to maintain a supposed presence on the walls facing out into the Westerlands in case anyone came to look. With that done they sealed the heavy wooden and iron gates and lowered the two portcullises before they then headed back into the castle to help secure the lower levels. They left behind a squad of forty marines to guard the Lion's Mouth. These guards however were equipped with rifles along with swords given that stealth was no longer needed and so that they could hold off large amounts of people with a few men.

xxxxx

Up in the upper floors Jon and Bronn were having to fight far more regularly now that the remaining redcloaks had twigged that something was up. Jon parried a sword from a Lannister guard, did a riposte before shoving his blade in to the neck of the Lannister guard who had engaged him as he went up a flight of stairs. Bronn was nearby taking on another man, dodging blows and swiping his blade back at the guard.

Over an hour after they began the attack and they were now in the upper levels of the keep near the family quarters and the Golden gallery, a room which contained various treasures that the Lannisters had made, found or bought including gilded ornaments and paintings on the walls. Most of the castle had now fallen due to the skeleton force left behind lacking the numbers to repel the organized and well equipped assault force, that they'd been taken unawares certainly didn't help. In one of the family rooms they came across a middle aged woman with a square figure and an enormous bosom, who possessed a broad and smooth face with blonde hair coming down to the back of her neck in braids. Beside her was a weasel face man huffing and puffing indignantly as he was dragged, and she slightly encouraged, through the corridors of the great castle. "Do you know who I am? My brother will destroy you for this outrage. You've heard the song Rains of Castamere, well soon it'll be rains of wherever you're from, you hear me!" the woman shouted angrily. She along with the man, her husband presumably, were brought down from the family rooms to the great hall. There the two of them met the sight of a small golden haired girl along with a grey robbed man with a chain and a handful of guards who'd surrendered.

"Ser Benedict! Joy!" yelled the golden haired woman worriedly.

"Aunt Genna, w-what's going on? W-who are t-these men?" the young girl said nervously while glancing around.

"Don't worry my dear, everything will be alright soon enough" Genna replied soothingly as she held the young girl close.

"I'm sorry Lady Genna, with the garrison depleted because of the attack on Lannisport we could not repel them, they caught us unawares" the grey haired man in Lannister red replied sadly.

"Aye your chaps fought well but we took them in the rear and made them squeal" Bronn said mockingly. "Four hundred men to take the keep, how many did you leave behind? Fifty? A couple of hundred?"

"Nine hundred were left behind from our garrison of six thousand" Ser Benedict spat bitterly.

"Oh aye and they were spread all around this giant castle while my lot stayed mostly in one group thereby outnumbering your various patrols and those on the walls" Bronn explained. "As of now House Britanican owns the Rock. We have more troops pouring in down below in the docks and we are pulling out of Lannisport to bring those troops here. We have your supplies and those we bring in by sea so we're safe and secure and able to dig in quite easily."

"What of us? I am Ser Emmon Frey, are we hostages or are you going to kill us?" the weasel faced man demanded.

"Lord Warrington will decide your fates, I was just paid to get his men in" Bronn replied with a dismissive shrug.

"Paid?! You're a sellsword? Well my brother will pay triple whatever this lot are paying you!" Genna tried on hearing Bronn's profession.

"Nice try deary but you're not really in a position to pay anyone with us controlling your gold mine are ya? Plus the way I hear it the throne is in mountains of debt, and the Lannister army by Riverrun had just been wiped out. On top of that Renly has amassed an army of nearly a hundred thousand. Tywin fucking Lannister doesn't exactly have much to pay me with now does he Lady whats-your-face?

"I am Lady Genna Lannister" a cough from the weasel faced man, "Genna Frey" she corrected with a grimace.

"Unlucky lass, heard the Freys suffered too if it makes you feel any better. It seems you suffer the Freys yourself too" Bronn said with a smirk. Jon just watched on nervously, half expecting the beaten guards to try something. "In the meantime you will be placed in your family room under guard and after its been searched. The surrendered guards will go to the cells."

"How many of my men are left?" Benedict asked.

"'bout twenty or so" Bronn replied nonchalantly.

"What?! Twenty? Why you-" the man started angrily.

"Ser Benedict, save your strength for another time" Lady Genna said gently. The old man spluttered but nodded at his lady lord while feeling despondent at the loss of nearly the whole garrison.

"Right, well, keep quite and out of the way and we'll have no trouble. Lord Warrington will speak with you once he arrives. Off you pop" Bronn finished with a dismissive wave.

Warrington

He was at the front of the row boat as he was brought towards the entrance to the small port under the mountain that was Casterly Rock. His troops had finished pulling out from Lannisport taking minimal causalities thank god, or was it thank the gods now? Warrington mentally shrugged and carried on pondering the last few hours. They had lost almost one thousand of their marines during the attack, most of them when they began to pull out and the Casterly Rock garrison chased them through the port. That said they had made the Lannisters pay heavily for it. The City Watch was down to possibly only a hundred or so guards by their estimates, based on the number of bodies they'd found during the brief lull before the Rock garrison host arrived. Meanwhile the garrison itself had lost well over eight hundred from the remaining force left within Casterly Rock and another three thousand from the host that went to Lannisport. In short, his assault on Casterly Rock and the port had cost the Lannisters over six thousand men which left, by their estimates, a tired and battered host of somewhere around three thousand men outside the Rock. His own forces were down to just over three thousand as well, all now based inside Casterly Rock or on their ships.

He landed at the docks spotting both Jon Snow and Bronn waiting for him. "Lord Warrington" Bronn said in greeting. "Welcome to the Rock, told ya I could do it."

"Indeed, well done Bronn, helped yourself to some Dornish red per chance?" Warrington said with a grin.

"Ha yeah got meself a flagon in my room, seven 'ells it's good. Though what d'ya expect from these fancy gold headed, gold shittin', high and mighty lords eh? Tried getting broody here to lighten up and have some too but he's not taking." James just chuckled at Bronns dig at Jon's expense, Jo just frowned.

"Shouldn't be drinking when we're this close to combat and only just taken the castle" Jon said defensively.

"True but the castle should be secure now and I'm sure you can have at least one glass, you did quite well so I'm told. Even led a squad during one of the searches" James replied easily. Jon had more than earned a drink in his books. "Now shall we get to the Tywin's Solar, I want it searched for any hidden panels, rooms, alcoves etc. Then I'll start going through some of his documents in regards to the gold and any plans he might have been involved in. Bring the Lannister representative there, Lady Genna I believe?" Bronn nodded and went off to pass on the orders as well as look at the solar personally, after all sneaking about and robbery was his sort of thing.

xxxxx

Tywin's solar was an ornately decorated, wide and brightly lit room made of cream, red and white stone with gold inflections and white marble columns. It had a large balcony leading out from the back of the room looking out to sea. On many walls or support columns were Lannister flags or fine tapestries depicting pivotal moments of their history. One seemed to commemorate an aged sickly dragon being fatally bitten or eaten by a proudly lordly lion. 'A reference to Tywin's destruction of the Targaryens no doubt' James noted absently as he looked about the room. There was some shouting from outside and the door opened to reveal Bronn and Jon bringing in Lady Genna and her husband as well as three guards.

Warrington seated himself behind the large dark mahogany desk. Lion faces were fitted as hand holds for draws and feet while rampant lions marked its sides decoratively. The top surface was varnished and polished enough you could see your face in it. Genna's mouth curled into a look of disgust when she saw him sitting there. He held her gaze before she turned away. "I am James Warrington, Lord of the Stoney Shore and the head of House Britanican. Lady Genna I presume and your husband?"

"You will regret taking this castle Warrington" she spat. "My brother Tywin will take it back and then destroy your house and everyone in it root and stem" she said added. James just chuckled slightly, both infuriating her and confusing her.

"You seem to be under the impression that I care? Or more accurately that I fear what Tywin Lannister will do. There is little he can do with my control of his home. Robb Stark has led a Northern victory over the Lannister host at Riverrun capturing or killing everyone there. Tywin is now trapped by the Ruby Ford with his only route left being towards Kings Landing. A city that is, according to proclamations and my intelligence reports, soon to be under siege by Renly and his one hundred thousand strong host, assuming Renly moves at all. So what do I have to fear?" Warrington posed calmly. Genna slumped slightly at realizing how cornered Tywin was. He either falls to the Stark boy or that pompous sword-swallower Renly.

"What are your terms then?" she asked bitterly after swallowing her pride.

"I have none. This castle is fully under my command. As we speak orders have been sent to continue to mine or clear out your gold stores and to ship it back north. We will also survey the mines to determine just how depleted they are. Depending on how bad it is, well, won't it be unfortunate if it leaked that the Lannister mines were dry?" James said with a smirk to Genna's horrified expression.

"They w-won't believe you, they'll think it's a trick" Genna tried nervously.

"Aye possibly, but enough just might believe it and then the Lannister name is dented and just who would follow a cornered, impoverished lord then?" Genna gulped nervously while Bronn grinned. Jon seemed to merely look confused.

"My lord, how does that help us win?" Jon asked hesitantly.

"Simple really Jon, who would back the loosing side? If the Lannisters have no gold they will lack funds to pay for their troops or hire sellswords which reduces their ability to threaten houses into submission" Warrington explained. "Reducing that ability means fewer houses will follow them since the majority of Lannister loyalty in recent years has been generated by fear. Fear works in the short term but for an empire or a long reign? You need something more than fear to keep control of your vassals. Why do you think the Starks have reigned solidly for over eight thousand years? They used force and threats to establish themselves and then ruled ably and honourably while also using enough threat of force to ensure that they were unchallenged. The closest they came to trouble were the Bolton and Greystark rebellions but they were both put down due to the capability of their commanders and the large amount of loyalty the Starks had accrued during their good rule. The Lannisters on the other hand has in recent years wiped out two whole families and are not the original rulers of the Rock. Much like the Tyrells, the Lannisters have had internal politics within the Westerlands to deal with to secure their rule. They however have had more time to secure their paramountcy than the Tyrells who have only had since Aegon the Conqueror to do anything. Thus they are open to potential rebellion, why do you think the Tarbucks and the Reynes tried to rebel when a bad Lord Paramount came along? They didn't even think of waiting for his son to replace him, they just decided to overthrow the family all together. You wouldn't get that in the North except for perhaps from Lord Bolton, but even he is not stupid enough given the wide support the Starks have and the good leadership your father has provided."

"So you plan to de-fang the Lannisters by taking the Rock and their gold?"

"Exactly, this is the sort of planning a military leader and a potential lord should know."

"But I won't be a lord will I?" Jon retorted glumly.

"Your father might give you a keep to be a bannerman of your brother" Warrington pointed out. "You could found a new cadet branch of the family, House Snowstark perhaps?" he suggested with a grin. Bronn laughed and even Jon smiled slightly at the thought.

"If you don't mind but enough with the history lecture, what about us and my niece?" Genna interrupted impatiently.

"You will remain in your rooms under supervision. You will not be harmed, you have my word. For now I have a letter to write to Riverrun informing them of the Rock's fall."

Riverrun

Ned

"Are we there yet?" came the bored voice of his youngest daughter. Ned sighed, this was the second time this day she'd asked. He and his daughters had ridden with Major Sheppard and nine soldiers from Saltpans and kept to the northern side of the Trident so they stayed away from any possible Lannister scouts, briefly stopping at the inn at the crossroads to rest for a night. Arya had taken to riding well, 'much like Lyanna' Ned thought sadly, Sansa meanwhile grew tired more quickly having preferred to travel by wheelhouse when she was younger and so was not as used to riding as her sister.

"We will get there soon enough my little wolf" Ned replied while keeping a steady riding pace.

"How soon?" Ser Barristan now sighed and rolled his eyes. Even the famed kingsguard commander was slowly loosing patience with the bored second daughter.

"We are a few hours ride away Lady Arya" intervened Major Sheppard much to Ned relief.

"I'm not a lady, I was learning to use needle" Arya protested. Sansa rolled her eyes this time at her annoying younger sister but she also looked relieved that there was to be only a little more riding.

xxxxx

Indeed two hours later they rode up to Riverrun's main gates and were quickly let inside, many of the northern soldiers cheering at the arrival of Lord Stark. He glanced around the castle as he thought back on the last time he'd been here during the Ironborn rebellion on his way to Lannisport, it had not changed must in that time. "Father!" came a shout from across the courtyard. Ned turned to see his eldest son approaching quickly from what Ned vaguely remembered as the godswood, Rob wore dark leathers and had his sword at his side. Greywind padded gently behind him.

"My son, you have done well. I hear we earned a victory or two under your leadership" Ned said proudly before drawing his son in to a deep fatherly hug.

"Aye father, the cost though and sending Lord Bolton and a few thousand to their possible deaths… It was hard, the Lord Umber and Lord Karstark have been helpful though earning their respect has been...difficult. Greywind had to bite the Greatjon to get him in line" Robb said with a nervous chuckle and stroked his loyal wolf's fur.

"Aye the Greatjon is as loud and proud as he is loyal once it you have earned it. You did well Robb. Truthfully I should have taught you more on our relations with the various northern lords, it would likely have eased things for you when you came south. No doubt I will need you and your siblings to marry in order to ensure their continued loyalty to you should I fall before you earn their respect in this war."

"Marry father? And we are to continue this war? We only came south to free Riverrun and save you. The lords will not be happy if the fighting continues."

"Aye I know but things have changed and there is much to do. And yes you must marry to continue our name and secure your rule, the North is loyal to the Starks but marrying various sons or daughters from your vassals maintains that loyalty and rewards them. Are Jon and Lord Warrington going to be coming here anytime soon?"

"Yes father, I sent a message via their representative here yesterday when scouts reported your presence. They know to come here quickly to plan the next phase of the war."

"Good there is much I must tell Jon, it is time he knows of his mother."

"Who-"

"I will tell him first Robb, I'm sure Jon will tell you after but speaking with Jon is… key to what our plans will be. I must send a raven to Lord Reed as well, he has some items I require."

"Very well father, I'm sure the Maester can help you with that. Sansa, Arya it's so good to see you" Robb said turning to his sisters and drawing them into a hug one at a time. "I've missed you dearly, as has mother and Bran and Rickon. We've been worried sick since we heard of the chaos in the capital."

"Lord Robb! Lord Robb! Oh your pardon Lord Stark, I didn't know you had arrived" came a call from behind the small group of Starks, interrupting their reunion. An old man in grey robes and carrying a metal chain around his neck quickly hurried over to them from the main keep. "A letter by raven for you, it has House Britanican's seal on it."

"My thanks Maester Vyman" Robb replies will taking the letter and breaking the seal. He reads it quickly but gasps in shock before reading it again.

"What is it son?" Ned asks worriedly.

"Lord Warrington has sacked Lannisport and seized Casterly Rock. The Rock has fallen."

AN: Hello all and hope you enjoyed this new chapter. I hope I got the chaos and destruction in battle right but am willing to here any suggestions to improve the battle scenes. Just to clarify in case people didn't quite follow; the plan was to attack Lannisport and raid it so as to draw out the Casterly Rock garrison thereby allowing Bronn and Jon to capture it. As you can see the war has gone markedly differently than in cannon with the Rock's fall so what else might change? Please keep following and thanks for all the reviews, all are helpful as long as they're constructive.