The men had no chance.
They did not know we were coming.
We had made sure of that, killing and hunting each one of their scouts.
We descended upon them at dawn. Hundreds upon hundreds of armored riders pointing their lances and riding hard towards the camp.
Dozens of banner were hoisted and the knights rode out.
The three-headed red dragon of House Targaryen, the Seahorse of house Velaryon, the black and yellow banner of House Darklyn, the golden lion of House Lannister, burning tree of House Marbrand, the peacock of House Serrett and several others.
The First wave easily reached the center of the enemy camp easily killing anyone who tried to stop them.
The unfortunate men had tried to put up some resistance but the second wave destroyed any of their hope of winning.
Men trying to run away were cut down mercilessly, sleeping men were butchered, their corpses looted.
It was a massacre.
The smell of blood, gore, and shit filled the camp later.
This was a true battle.
It was nauseating.
It took all my willpower to not throw up. I had slowly gotten used to the casual violence in this the world. I had killed people in this world before. Some bandits near Ashemark. They had haunted my dreams for a long time.
But I had gotten used to it. Or at least I thought I had.
This was on whole another level.
I saw a man trembling on the ground. He had a lance stuck in his chest and his eyes barely had any light left in them.
Even if I could get him any medical help in time, he likely wouldn't survive. So I took out my sword and ended his pain.
This was a third such camp we had attacked and like all others destroyed.
Daemon Blackfyre had left Tyrosh with sixteen thousand men. Ten thousand from the Golden Company and six thousand from various other sellsword companies.
Only twelve thousand had landed with him at Massey's hook. Some were lost during the voyage, others killed when the Royal fleet had attacked them during their travel while some like this had landed far away.
I still don't know what was my father thinking when he made me Tion's second in command when I was likely the last person who Tion would listen to.
So I made sure whenever I needed to advice him. I did it in front of other Lords.
When Tion wanted to march hard and fast towards King's Landing. I publicly advised against it stating the issue of supplies while also reminding him how Blackfyre had just landed.
King Aegon had called banners the moment he heard of Daemon's departure from Tyrosh so there was no particular hurry.
As I was supported by Marbrands, Baneforts and surprisingly Brax, Lydden, and Serretts Tion had to agree with me.
Didn't mean he liked it.
So when he got the chance to get rid of me specifically when we were a day away from King's Landing and a message came from King asking Tion to send half of his cavalry to join the men under Ser Duncan, he couldn't have given me men any faster.
With my thousand horse, Ser Duncan had around twenty-five hundred men under his command. Our objective was to ride along the coast and look for these camps and destroy them.
The Yronwoods, Peakes and some minor Riverlords were making some trouble but apparently it was upto their respective Lord Paramounts to deal with them.
Some landed knights had also joined Blackfyre's cause from Crownlands but they could hardly gather a thousand men so they would be dealt with in due time.
" Is everything alright, my lord?" asked my unlikely shadow.
Ser Aubrey Serrett, the fifteen year old heir of Silverhill had pale skin with brown hair and brown eyes. His face was made up of stone. He literally showed no expression on his face. Even when he got injured during one of these attacks, he didn't show anything on his face. That combined with the detached tone he used while speaking creeped people out.
Which might be the reason Tion named him my sworn shield.
He actually reminded me of Roose Bolton from the books in the beginning.
Well the jokes on Tion, because it turned out Aubrey was quite good with sword, Jaime Lannister good. He was recently knighted. I had seen him beat two experienced Knights without breaking a sweat.
Which is why I always kept him close during the battles. I knew my limits.
Also after talking with his father I found out that he had begun repressing his emotions from a young age after watching his mother die in front him due to illness.
I actually pitied the kid.
" Nothing wrong, kid. Do you need something?" I had taken to teasing the kid.
He stared at me for a moment before softly speaking, " Ser Duncan has requested your presence."
"Well, then what are you waiting for? Lead the way."
After walking for a while we arrived at a small hill away from camp where Ser Duncan was standing.
Clad in a simple full plate armor with a white cloak on his back. Ser Duncan was probably the biggest man I had seen with his nearly seven foot height. He was an average looking man with healthy tan skin and brown hair.
He was actually just a Kingsguard right now. The current Lord Commander of Kingsguard was a Ser Willis Stokeworth.
But he was apparently too old to fight and stayed in Kings Landing.
Whenever I stood in front of him, I always felt like a child.
His armor was similar to mine but I was sure mine was definitely more expensive. I had chosen the lightest, most protective armor I could find. I had no intention of dying anytime soon.
The only difference between mine and Ser Duncan's armor was the crimson cloth displaying golden lion of House Lannister that hid my breastplate. Which I thought was a lot better than crimson monstrosity I had seen Tion wear. His armor reminded me of those decorative suits back in my world.
And while I knew a good steel plate armor wouldn't weigh much, I doubted that those dozen lions made out of gold which were on Tion's armor didn't add any weight.
"A messenger came from the king. The main army had crossed the Wendwater." Ser Duncan tells.
"How?" I questioned.
I knew wendwater river became shallower and narrowed the further inland it went.
But last I heard Blackfyre's held wendwater Bridge. They would have known if some ten thousand were crossing the river and not attacking them would be a folly.
"His grace marched the host to the mouth of Wendwater where they used barges and rafts to cross the river." Ser Duncan answered my query.
" Lord Lyonel Baratheon is also marching his host north. His grace and Lord baratheon means to fight Daemon Blackfyre at wendwater Bridge with his grace attacking from East and Lord Baratheon attacking from west." He explained to me.
"Tell your men to get ready. We leave tomorrow and ride hard and fast to join the main host." He commanded and I bowed my head slightly before leaving to give orders to my men.
All the while I was thinking how many more deaths and bloodshed would I have see at the next battle?