Extract from The Steel Falcon written by Maester Toman 1922 AC
While it is true that conflict had been brewing for nearly a full year following the death of Lord Jon Arryn, the true beginning of the war was undoubtedly said to be when Lady Catelyn Stark seizes Tyrion Lannister for the attempted murder of her son. Brandon Stark who had fallen from a high tower at Winterfell during the king's visit and Lady Stark claimed had later survived an assassination attempt, both she claimed ordered by House Lannister.
Within days of the arrest, Lord Tywin Lannister hearing of his son's capture called his banners and began raising two hosts of men in the Westerlands preparing to raid into the Riverlands, Lady Starks homeland. In response, Ser Edmure Tully acting as regent for his ailing father Lord Hoster Tully called his banners to the defence of their land and also sent two requests for aid one to his goodbrother the King's hand and another to his nephew Lord Jasper Arryn who responded by immediately ordering the still mobilised Knights of the Vale a force of some ten thousand heavy cavalry into the Riverlands while at the same time issuing a statement confirming his support of the Tully's and asking Lord Tywin to proclaim his intent and disband his hosts
During this period Lady Catelyn and Lord Tyrion's locations were unknown to the wider world, but it is now known that Lady Stark was intending to take Lord Tyrion to the Eyrie where her nephew Lord Jasper and sister the widowed Lysa Arryn could protect her and hold her captive to trial.
Several tense weeks followed when Lord Tywin failed to answer Lord Jaspers demanded he called the banners of the Vale and began gathering a further host of twenty thousand men. At around this time it was also known that several bands of raiders posing as bandits, but later revealed to be led by Lord Tywin's bannerman ser Gregor Clegane better known as the mountain, began raiding into the Riverlands.
The Lord hand Eddard Stark would likely have ridden from the capital himself to give these men the King's justice, but he was left unable following an attack in King's Landing by Ser Jamie Lannister leaving his leg broken in response to his brothers kidnapping. Lord Stark sends in his stead a command under Lord Beric Dondarrion. While exactly what happened to this force in its early days is to this day unknown it can be reasonably assumed that they were broken in battle by the mountain's men.
Ser Gregor's and his forces would soon run out of luck however as the Knights of the Vale who under the command of Ser Bryden Tully had entered the Riverlands. Shortly after which it is known that an encounter between the Mountain's men and the Vale advanced force took place. With around a thousand men under his command, Ser Albar Royce caught Ser Gregor's force of a most two hundred off guard and justified ty the Hand's death warrant put them all to the sword with stories saying that Ser Albar brought down the mountain himself in combat.
With this minor victory under their belts and the Riverlands secured from internal threats the Vale and river forces could join together under the command of Ser Brynden and focus exclusively on the westermen threat.
To secure the Riverlands from the west and in response to the mountains raids the blackfish with Lords Hoster and Jaspers approval marches upon the Golden Tooth intending to hold the castle for use as a choke point stopping the Westermann from entering. With a large part of their men and their lord still at Casterly Rock with the gathering hosts the castle was quickly surrendered by its heir Lady Alysanne Lefford when Ser Brynden marched upon it with around ten thousand men half being Knights of the Vale and another half being gathered from the Riverlords as they progressed. The remaining Knights being station at Riverrun in case of further attack.
The Golden Tooth had severed as a border castle during its prime and was well defended and the perfect place to halt an army trying to enter into the Riverlands and also to cut off any Westerlands supply chain. Therefore an army of twenty thousand men lead by Lord Tywin himself advanced upon the castle while Ser Jamie was given command of fifteen thousand advanced into the Riverlands from the south bypassing the tooth and sacking the Stoney Sept, Accon Hall and heading towards Harrenhal where he would encounter Lord Jasper who was by then marching into the Riverlands with ten thousand vale levies which were further augmented by ten thousand men from the eastern Riverlands.
I shall take this moment to discuss the happenings in the Vale proper during this period, we know that shortly after the Knights mobilized Lady Stark arrived in the Vale passed the bloody gate and was welcomed at the Eyrie with full guest rights while Lord Tyrion was taking into custody given apartments befitting his station pending a full trial.
This trial would never take place for word soon reached the Vale about the happenings in Kings Landing. The King was dead and now King Joffrey of the House Baratheon first of his name sat upon the Iron Throne, and Lord Eddard Stark had been imprisoned for treason. Lords Jasper, Hoster, and Robb were called to the capital to swear fealty to the new King.
Of course, this did not happen, in response to Lord Starks imprisonment, Lord Robb called the Northern banners and Jasper prepared to ride to war with the ten thousand men he had managed to raise so far.
Ironically, the fate of Lord Tyrion, seen as the starting point of the entire conflict is often overlooked during this period due to a lack of information regarding the little Lord. It is known that the Lord escaped from his cells taking advantage of the leasing of the guard following the call to arms. The master of the guard at the Eyrie Ser Vardis Egen who had himself been on watch was founded dead and his captive himself was nowhere to be found in the Eyrie.
While not entirely relevant it is important to note that little is known as to the fate of the Lord Tyrion after this point. While it would be expected that he would attempt to travel south to the capital to re-join his family it is known that he never arrived there and that indeed was never seen again in Westeros. Many theorized that a dwarf wouldn't be able to survive the harsh mountain regions of the Vale alone and would have died on the trip. Others say that the mountain clan remnants might have killed him. For decades reports of sightings as far east as Yi-Ti would surround trickle back but none were ever confirmed if Lord Tyrion did survive his escape then he faded into obscurity here and played no further role upon the political stage.
The matter was put aside however and quickly forgotten considering the upcoming conflict. Lord Arryn issued another statement in conjunction with his cousin Lord Robb demanding that Lord Stark be released but did not wait before marching into the Riverlands with his men leaving Lord Nestor once again as high steward with orders to gather a further host.
This brings us back to where I left off earlier as the first large scale battle of the conflict approached. Ser Jamie had been ordered by lord Tywin to hit the golden tooth from behind to allow his army into the Riverlands while Ser Stafford Lannister was ordered to raise another fifteen thousand men at lanisport which would make the total Lannister contribution to the war forty-five thousand men a vast amount from a single kingdom given the lateness of summer.
To assault the tooth however Jamie would first have to secure his rear and so marched to meet Lord Jasper first hoping to put down the Vale Lord early. While Jasper had the advantage in numbers his army was almost entirely made up of freshmen with minimal training it was also lacking in high born and men with military experience the majority of those forces being at the Golden tooth. Lord Jasper would later note that these early days would show a major weakness in the Vale forces that being that its majority was subpar
Lord Tywin, however, hadn't received his reputation for anything, his shear wealth allowed for the faster mustering of armies and he'd had his people regularly drilled all through his time as lord. Ser Jamie's Army was, therefore, one of the best in the realm at the time well trained and with educated highborn commanders, many of whom had seen action during the rebellion and Greyjoy revolt.
The Two armies would meet at Harrenhal Lord Arryn would arrive first and took up residence in the castle, but aware that morale would drop if he allowed himself to besieged decided to give battle when ser Jamie arrived.
The two commanders parleyed as was traditional and from the writings of Lord Crackhall who was with Ser Jamie, the two seemed amicable to one another. Ser Jamie whom had of course watched Lord Arryn grow up during his time in King's Landing complimented the young Lord on his mountain campaign and told him he'd grown into a fine man. The two would both be noted later as mentioning the respect they had for one another. They quickly moved past pleasantries and spoke of demands. Ser Jamie asked that his brother be released, the Vale lords and men return home and the Golden Tooth returned to its rightful lord. Lord Arryn informed Ser Jamie of his brother's escape and swore on his life and honour that he spoke the truth in saying that he no longer held him in captivity. If the Kingslayers grin turned proud at that moment none of the gather lords were noted as commenting on it.
The Steel Falcon would go on to demand the release of Lord Stark and his restoration to the regency as well as an investigation into his arrest and compensation for House Tully on behalf of the Riverlands.
Ser Jamie, of course, had to reject these terms like most parlay's this was more of a symbolic action than anything else and the two gave each other sad smiles and wished each other luck in the times to come before returning to their men.
An account of the battle of Harrenhal given by Ser Jamie Lannister
The war against Jasper was my first time commanding a force of that size, the first time even being in one that size in truth. I had led men before of course but never in war and never more than a command of a few dozen. I hadn't needed to as a Kingsgaurd it was always the lord commander that took command if we needed to move in any sizable force.
But of course, my military training as a child had been very thorough and I had several competent Lords with me with a few veterans from the war of ninepenny kings and the Greyjoy rebellion including my uncle Ser Keven, so I didn't expect experience to be a major contributing factor
That's not to say that Jasper had ever done any real fighting either before then. He'd run down some savages armed with stones in the Vale but also had the experience of others on his side. Lord Royce was a lord to be respected and his experience and skill at arms made him one even I'd have to take seriously.
The battle took place not far from Harrenhal itself, Jasper having arrived first before me had the advantage of the Gods Eye at his left flank as a natural defense. His army was mostly infantry so I start by having my horse charge straight at his center.
The Valemen used a shield wall to route the charge but we broke through it and fell into a melee with our foot following behind us. They held fast for some time and I saw Jasper several times the boy I had helped train was a man now and his talent he showed as a child had been properly nurtured. He fought the battle with shield and hammer and tore through my men nearly as easily as I was cutting through his own an impressive feat considering my father could afford to equip every man with the finest armor.
But one man doesn't make much difference in a battle on this scale and soon his army began to break and falter before beginning to retreat.
I called for my uncle to lead a charge with our house about 2000 in all to chase them down and route them before leading my foot to follow.
We chased them cutting down what must have been thousands of men in the space of several minutes it seemed like we'd won.
Of course, it was too good to be true.
It was a mistake even my father would have made due to its simplicity Jasper had arrived here before us and stayed in Harrenhal while waiting and had then moved his forces out to give battle. But nowhere did we have any proof that those were all his forces. We'd assume the entirety of the Knights of the vale had taken and we're holding the Golden Tooth and so we weren't prepared for the gates of the castle to swing open and for 5000 fully armed knights to descend upon us taking us in the rear.
It had been a trap the army had not broken and before my eyes seemed to reform as the two forces descended upon us in a classic pincer. My men held for a time, but we were trapped on two sides, with the lake on a third. Jasper had been smart by leaving a way out the men had a clear place to break towards and they began running.
I tried to reform and push back but before I could make any commands the fighting reached me and I found myself across from Jasper Arryn.
It was almost like the other men knew to leave us to fight personally. Jasper was skilled I won't pretend anything else and he combined it with the strength of youth swinging that hammer around with ease each blow carefully controlled I parried and blocked with my shield feeling the force in my bones.
Jasper was good
But I was better
I'm not entirely sure how long we dueled for I lost myself in the fight even as my army was routed around me. I slowly wore him down laying dozens of small cuts across his body and more bruises than he gave me. A faint cost him his shield and from then on it was only a matter of time before I had him on his arse.
It was similar in a way; he had ended up in much the same position many a time when he was a child. Looking up at me standing over him ready to be told how he could do better with that knowing look in his eye as if he knew something about you that even you didn't.
He had that same look in his eye then as I stood over him, yet it seemed to have a sad tint to it this time. Perhaps that was what made me hesitate, I would curse myself later if had killed him then things would have turned out differently.
The way he looked at me there was a question in his eyes, he was asking if I would do it. I think even back then he knew that I wouldn't kill him. When I failed to strike him down he smiled at me, it was a genuine smile as if he a boy of six and ten at most was proud of me.
I didn't get to think on it much then as a blow to the back of my head took me down, I'd gotten lost in the moment and hadn't even noticed as I was surrounded.
When I next woke up, I was being weaponless and being tended to by a master in service to the Arryn host.
