Chapter 9; Of bears and horned men;
Characters of the Chapter
Lyanna Mormont, Lady of Bear Island
Ser Caleb Threestones, Knight of Westeros,Second to Lyanna Mormont
"So, are our troops ready?" Asked Lyanna Mormont, a woman of eighteen years as she was pulling on a gauntlet.
"They are my lady. I just hope the king considers the numbers we send adequate. There aren't all that many after all, and I'd hate to see him angry because he thinks we are holding back." Said Caleb, a young knight roughly of Lyanna's age.
"I wouldn't worry. The king knows full well that house Mormont is small in number and that we haven't fully recovered from our earlier commitments him and King Robb." She said. "Besides, he should have no cause to complain. Last time we gave him sixty two men, and with that number we obliterated the Boltons. We are bringing three times as many this time around. If the old signs hold true this thing will be over in an afternoon." She joked.
"A short campaign then? That would be a welcome change of pace would it not? Although I would be loath to travel all the way to the mainland to march straight back home once we get there." He returned the jest.
"Oh I'm certain that no one will mind if we stick around for a few weeks afterward, and enjoy the local scenery. By that time we should have been able to do something to earn such a break."
"Go get the men to marching order, I'll be right out." She then told Caleb. Caleb gave a curt bow and left, and Lyanna checked that her equipment was in order one last time. She was armored in a suit of chain complete with a coif, with a leather cuirass worn over the mail, the Bear of house Mormont pressed into the leather. Steel gauntlets protected her hand and arms above the elbow and steel boots did likewise below the knee. A heavy cloak of deep forest green hung over her shoulder while she was riding, although if battle was near she would not wear it so it would not impede her movement. As her weapon she had eschewed the ax usually carried by Mormont women. Instead she carried a longsword forged for her hand as well as a long, slender and stiff dagger designed to pierce plate or go between the links of chainmail.
Satisfied that her outfit was in order she walked outside, where she found her troops already in waiting. Perhaps half of her force were archers, the rest had shields and either swords, axes or short spears. Most of her force were men, but there were also a few women who had never quite gotten to putting down the weapons they had picked up in the service of king Jon during the second War for the Dawn. She had never objected to them doing so like other lords and ladies of Westeros might have done, quite the contrary. There was a long tradition of female Mormont warriors, why not extend that to the rest of the people from her island? And a few of these women had had a tenure as Inquisition soldiers and she was not nearly foolish enough to set aside people with such extensive experience.
With their thick mops of hair and the bushy beards of the men, they looked every inch what one would expect the warriors in the service of her house to be like. An outside observer might have thought them an unruly mob, but she knew well their true worth. "Any fighter from Bear Island was worth a dozen from the mainland." Had she once said of them, and she thought that still. Few though their numbers were, her people were fierce, brave and loyal to a fault. "Yet your people have not been tested against this enemy." Warned the more cautious part of her. How well would her people fare against the disciplined footsoldiers and the legendary Chevaliers of the Orlesian Empire? Then she shook her concerns aside. She would do her best to lead her people to victory and see what happened.
She spotted her horse at the head of the column, and Caleb was also nearby, already mounted on his own horse. He was encased head to toes in shining heavy plate that through some queer foreign trick had a distinct pale green tint to it. His shield was made of wood and cloth over it and carried the colors of his house, three grey circles in a triangle set on a field of dark green. Lyanna had to admit that Caleb made quite a handsome sight sitting atop his warhorse, feeling a slight stirring of warmth in her chest.
She climbed atop her own horse and the force set out, heading for the shore, where ships would be waiting to carry them to the mainland. From there it would be a longer march to Winterfell where the army of the King was assembling. She and Caleb were the only ones on horseback; at the rear of the marching column there were three carts carrying supplies and pulled by mules, beyond that everyone was on foot.
As they marched the morning sun began to warm the air, the mist of the night receding. Already Lyanna could guess that by midday the weather would be sweltering. "The spring has only just properly begun. If it gets this warm this early in the morning, then this will be one hot summer." she thought. Briefly she mused on the past when summers and winters could last for years.
"If that were still the case these invaders would never have dared to come here. They could not defy a winter as long and cold as those of the past." She thought bitterly. Her generation had been the last to witness a true winter, and even that one had been abruptly interrupted by the destruction of the White Walkers. In a way she was glad of that. It had undoubtedly made life easier; that much was already becoming clear, even though the condition had been in effect for less than a decade. Yet she had to wonder just what they had gone and unleashed in their victory over the army of the dead. It had created a new vulnerability, one that had not existed before. It meant that the North could be taken and most importantly held by peoples not native to this land. The Orlesians were the first to try and exploit the situation, but now that they had opened the door it could never be closed again. Even if the Twin Kingdoms won this war sooner or later others would be tempted to follow in the footsteps of the Empire and try their own luck against them, of that she was certain.
In the beginning of this invasion she had witnessed an end of an era and the beginning of another. Just as it had been when the dead were defeated. Just as it had been when Seven Kingdoms had become two. Just as it had been when the Thedosians showed up for the first time. Far more changes than she had ever thought she would witness, far more than she had ever wanted to have.
"Well, at least the Orlesians were a common enemy, arriving to conquer rather than exterminate." She told herself, trying to lighten her own mood. It was comforting to face an enemy with such mundane motivations, to defend the freedom of her people rather than their right to live. And their magic tricks aside they were normal people that could die from blades. That meant they could be fought, and defeated. Steel could still be their salvation, even if cold would no longer serve them.
They had almost reached the shore when she spotted a man running toward them, probably one of the sailors. To her concern she noted that his gait was stumbling and panicky, waving and shouting incoherently as he ran toward them, his clothes bloodstained and in tatters, a nasty looking cut just above one eye.
When he reached them he fell on his hands and knees in front of her horse. "Help us, please my lady. They attacked us, destroyed our ships, slaughtered us. They are coming ashore. Help us, help us, you have to…" He sobbed.
"What are you talking about? They who? Who attacked you? Orlesians? Pirates?" She demanded.
"No, no! Neither of those! Monsters! Monsters with horns! They came with ships that belched smoke and death. They killed everyone…" Said the wounded man.
She frowned, briefly pondering what he meant by monsters with horns. "Get yourself to safety. We will get to the bottom of this." She then said to the wounded man, and he ran off, continuing down the path as fast as he was able.
"It seems that our Journey to the mainland will have to be delayed." Lyanna said to Caleb.
"No kidding. And in the bargain we seem to be facing a whole another invader." He replied. Then his expression became thoughtful: "Hmm. Horns. Ships of smoke and death. That description does fit a faction that has passed by this Island before does it not?"
After a moment of consideration Lyanna's eyes widened in shock when she realized what Caleb was alluding to: "Oh no. It better not be them. Not now. Not when the Orlesians are invading as well. We might all be fucked, us and the mainlanders."
After that she spurred her horse on, with Caleb right behind her, the rest of their entourage running behind both of them.
Emerging to within sight of the beach they were met with a devastating sight. Over the water there was a ship larger than any Lyanna had ever seen. It had fierce red sails that bore a strange sigil, like a square standing on its tip with a strange jagged shape running through it. Around this monster of a ship there were wrecks of three smaller ships, burning and rapidly sinking beneath the waves. There were boats on the shore, upturned and likewise ablaze. Other boats were making landfall, each disgorging soldiers to the beach, huge soldiers with grey skin and horned heads.
"Fuck, you were right. It's them. Blasted Qunari." Lyanna cursed.
It was at that very moment they were spotted, one of the Qunari soldiers pointing straight at them. In response another soldier waved a flag at the Qunari ship. Moments later the side of the ship erupted with fire and smoke, a sound akin to thunder coming across the water.
Lyanna's horse panicked at the sights and sounds, reared and threw her from the saddle. A good thing too, for at that exact moment a flurry of fast moving objects flew at them, raising up plumes of sand and shattering trees behind them. One of them caught her horse in the chest, and her horse practically exploded, coating her in sticky red from head to toes.
"Gods dammit… disgusting!" She cursed, wiping blood and horse bits from her eyes.
"My lady, are you alright?" Caleb said, having dismounted and helping her up, letting his terrified horse run away.
"Yeah, yeah, fine." She assured. "What was that? Magic?" She asked. Glancing around herself she saw that most of her people had survived, having had the sense to take cover when the fist shots sounded.
Caleb shook his head. "Cannons. I've heard a little about them, but I never imagined anything like that."
"We need to get to the one with the flag, he's signaling the ship." Lyanna said, pointing.
"I don't know. There seem to be quite a lot of Qunari." He tried to protest.
"There are. What's your point?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
Caleb rolled his eyes. "Right, I forgot. Doesn't matter to you, does it? Let's do this." He said, drawing his sword.
Lyanna nodded and drew her own sword. "Follow!" She yelled, running toward the enemy, her people following at her heels.
The Qunari threw javelins at the charging warriors of house Mormont, killing a few of her people. The archers they had with them returned fire and at least one Qunari went down. Then the two groups met. Lyanna used her sword to swat aside the spear of her opponent, then struck at his shoulder, grunting in surprise at the unexpected resistance. The Qunari soldier wore nothing above his waistline except red war paint, but striking the skin felt like hitting at chainmail. She ducked under the counterstrike of her opponent, struck his collarbone with the pommel of her sword, then slashed him across the chest, feeling much less resistance this time. "Go for the grey parts!" She shouted to her people, realizing that it was the red paint that was somehow making the skin unusually tough. She turned aside another spear thrust, and sliced open the meat of her opponent's thigh. As he stumbled and doubled over from the leg wound she finished him off by promptly beheading him.
"Tough creatures." She thought before turning to seek out her next opponent. She saw one Qunari set fire to a rope connected to a small metal ball, and then throw the ball at her people. A few moments later there was an explosion and three of her people were killed on the spot. The Qunari pulled another ball from his belt, but before he could ignite it Lyanna slashed at his wrist, leaving a wound on his arm and causing him to drop the ball in his hand. The soldier let out an angry snarl and hit her with a backhanded strike, hard enough to knock her over, causing her sword to slip out of her hand. Lying on the ground she pulled out her dagger and stabbed the Qunari in the leg. He spat a curse in his own language and stomped on her wrist, pinning her arm to the ground. He raised a spear in his hand, ready to impale her. Lyanna caught a glimpse of green armor behind the Qunari's shoulder before a sword pierced his torso and the said soldier fell on her, fresh blood gushing on her from his open wound.
"Fucking twice…" She grumbled as Caleb pushed the Qunari off her.
"What's that you said?" Caleb asked, confused.
"Never mind that." She said picking herself up and taking stock of the situation. The Qunari that still lived had formed into ordered ranks, advancing with rhythmic steps, the ones in the rear hurling javelins while those at the front cut down anyone that came within reach. Her people were faltering before this, unable to stand against this disciplined formation. Lyanna's archers were firing at the enemy, trying to stop them, but most of their arrows were bouncing harmlessly off the Qunari's locked shields.
"Shit, this is not good." Caleb cursed.
"Don't count us out yet. I have an idea." Lyanna countered, going to search the corpse of the dead Qunari soldier. It was not long until she found what she sought, taking one of the metal balls into her hands. She used one of the burning boats to set fire to the cord and threw the grenade at the Qunari formation. The grenade landed just outside their ranks and rolled to amongst their legs. It touched the leg of one of the soldiers, who stopped, saw the grenade and managed to shout half a syllable in warning before the grenade went off. Packed as closely together as they were, the grenade did terrible damage, taking out nearly a third of them at once, the entire right flank of their formation collapsing. When they recovered from the blast those that survived broke ranks and charged at her. But by that time Caleb had apparently found more grenades in one of the Qunari boats, throwing two more at the enemy. The pair of explosions that resulted was enough to kill the Qunari taste for battle, sending them retreating back to their boats.
Seeing the enemy break away, Lyanna ran forward, picking up one of the enemy Javelins. The weapon was awkwardly heavy for her and the distance she had to throw it was considerable, but nevertheless she threw the Javelin with all her strength, catching the enemy banner bearer in the back, causing him to collapse onto the sand just before he reached the boats. Then the remaining boats pulled away, the survivors heading back to their ship. Her archers did the rest, pouring arrows at the enemy until nothing lived in the boats.
Lyanna walked briskly through the battlefield, picking up the Qunari banner from the grasp of its dead bearer. She broke the pole of the banner against her knee before tossing the pieces into the water.
"Stay the fuck out of my island!" Shouted angrily at the Qunari dreadnaught.
As if in reply the guns on the dreadnaught fired again, except this time the shots came from the upper deck rather than the depths of the hull. These cannonballs travelled far more slowly, clearly visible as they sailed through the air. Just before it hit the ground the first cannonball burst apart over their heads, killing a dozen of her people that had been standing just under it. Another landed amongst one of their carts before exploding, tearing asunder the cart, the driver and the mule.
"Damn." Lyanna cursed. "Can't stand up to that thing from here."
"We have to get out of range." Caleb said.
"Fall back! Fall back everyone!" Lyanna yelled to her people.
"Bring that crate!" Caleb shouted to two of them, pointing at the crate where it lay on the sand. "More of those exploding… whatever they were in there. Might be useful later." He explained to Lyanna as the two he had commanded went to get the crate.
"Good thinking." Lyanna said.
They fled before the dreadnought, the ship firing after them with cannons and mortars. They had just reached the tree line when an explosion shattered a tree to Lyanna's left and she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her leg. She let out a yelp, then hobbled to lean on a nearby tree, a snarl escaping her lips.
"My lady, are you all right?" Caleb asked her, having run back to her when he noticed she was hit.
"Managing. It's not serious. Just lend me a hand." She hissed between clenched teeth.
Caleb let her lean on him as she limped away.