The Farosi

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Chapter Nine

The Field of Smoke

A stone wall behind a small ditch. That's all it took to change the course of history, well, a stone wall behind a small ditch with five thousand riflemen, some ten thousand normal infantry and three thousand heavy horsemen would be more accurate. The battle wouldn't really change the course of history either, but it would mark the point that historians would say changed Westeros.

As Robb Stark rode his horse through what was left of the battlefield he wasn't sure if he should vomit or smile. As soon as he got the word he called the banners and led the regular army, as he had started calling it, down to Moat Cailin. There the armies from Houses across the North gathered, Umber, Karstark, Mormont, Bolton and others assembled their forces, loual to fight in the name of Lord Eddard Stark. The core of his army was made up of riflemen, at first glance they looked like any other soldiers fighting for House Stark, dressed in the usual armour, but instead of sword and spear they carried one of the flintlock rifles bought just before his father rode south with the king. Unfortunately they forgot to order bayonets for them so they had to make them themselves. The Farosi instructors had nicknamed the creation the Mark 1 Northern Bayonet, unlike the Farosi bayonets which were long and thin three sided blades the Northern Bayonet was shaped like a glaive. The riflemen carried their cartirdges in leather satchels on their right side which also made it obvious that they were not just normal levies. Their four cannons proved themselves to be useful in the battle which unfolded that day.

When Robb had assembled his whole force at Moat Cailin he had recieved word that the Lannisters had struck into the Riverlands and Riverrun was already under siege. He had to act quickly, a disadvantage of having cannons was that they limited the speed of his army. He didn't want to divide his force either so he decided that there was only one thing he could do. He had to save his mothers family. His mother had joined them at Moat Cailin, leading to them securing a deal with House Frey, adding more men to his army, another thousand knights and three thousand foot. He also had a squire, Olyvar out of the deal and now he was betrothed to one of the Frey girls. He'd deal with that later.

At the Twins he sent a small force, about two thousand mounted troops, down towards the crossroads where they could attempt to harrass the main Lannister force commanded by Lord Tywin and perhaps save some lives. At the same time, Robb would lead the main force of his army over the Twins and then relieve Riverrun. They soon took back Raventree Hall where he learned that Jaime Lannister had heard of his movements and was marching on him.

'What do we know?' Robb asked his scouts and bannermen.

'The Kingslayer commands eighteen thousand men,' was one of his outriders responses. 'From what I saw milord, they numbered five thousand horse, the rest on foot.'

There they formed the plan, just south of Raventree Hall was a wide, low hill running from west to east. On the western side was a small wood and on the other a deep pond. Along the length of the southern slope of the hill was a low drystone wall and in front of that a ditch, both served to keep in the herd of goats which normally resided on that hill, the farmer and his family had fled to Raventree Hall when they were told a battle would be fought near their home.

The front line was assembled along the wall, the riflemen taking the centre and each flank held by several thousand normal infantry. Behind them was another line of infantry and archers. On the top of the hill, positioned in one group, were the four cannons, behind them on the reverse slope was the cavalry. The right he gave to the Great Jon, the left to Lord Karstark, the centre was commanded by Robb himself. He decided to grant the second to Lord Bolton and the cavalry to the Blackfish who had accompanied his mother from the Vale. Theon was with Robb, standing at his side just behind the riflemen as they watched the massive Lannister army form up. On Robb's other side stood Grey Wind, steady as ever but slightly growling.

'By the look of it the infantry are going to strike first,' said Theon. 'He's keeping the cavalry back.'

'The Kingslayer's reckless but not stupid. With that ditch in front of us his cavalry will never be able to charge us properly.'

'So all we need to worry about are thousands of infantry,' Theon said with a slight grin.

A horn blew and Robb looked towards the enemy as the first wave of Lannister infantry began their march forwards.

'Don't fire until ordered to,' Robb said as loudly as he could as he saw his men nervously shifting.

He looked behind him and drew his sword, holding it aloft and then the cannons began their bombardment. Like thunder they roared, dragons made metal, releasing vast clouds of smoke and which flew south, caught in the wind. A faint whistle could be heard before the cannonballs crashed into the ground infront of the Lannister troops and then bounced, skipping across the field towards them. Even from where he was Robb could tell how devestating the attack had been, great holes had been torn through the Lannister lines, the survivors stopped their advancing, stunned at what had just happened.

'You know I've always said we should use cannons,' Theon joked.

'That wasn't what you said when my father bought them.'

They stopped laughing when the Lannister troops marshaled themselves and continued their advance.

'Steady!' he heard officers shout to their men.

The cannons fired again and the result was the same. Another horn was blown, they Lannisters must be sending in another wave to support the first.

'They're about to enter firing range my lord,' said one of the officers.

The riflemen had been trained to fight in the Farosi style, grouped into comapnies of two hundred, each led by a captain, mostly minor nobles.

'Alright. FIRST RANK!' he bellowed, he'd practiced his commanders voice. 'TAKE AIM!'

Along the wall the riflemen aimed their weapons, just waiting for the order.

'Here we go,' said Theon as he drew his sword.

'FIRE!'

His view of the Lannister army was blockd by a wall of smoke which, taken by the wind, rushed towards the enemy. The captains did their job, taking over the role of ordering their men to fire. Five ranks deep, each rank fired their weapons and hastily began to reload, their practice over the past months made them a lethal force. Take the paper cratridge, bite out the bullet, pour most of the powder down the barrel, spit the bullet down the barrel, ram the bullet down the barrel, pour the remaining powder into the lock, pull back the hammer and then pull the trigger. Three shots a minute normally.

Again and again they fired, again and again clouds of smoke were rolled over the enemy. In one of the short gaps between the clouds of smoke he could just see the tattered remains of the remaining Lannister first wave, struggling throught he hailstorm of bullets and coughing on smoke. The next time he could see them they had merged with the second wave who now broke their formation and just charged, many of them dropping their useless shields as they went.

'Bayonets!' one of the captains ordered.

The order was echoaed along the line as the large glaive like blades were fitted onto the rifles.

'Our turn,' Theon said, almost happily.

'Remember to stay on the wall!' was Robbs command as he gripped his sword in both hands and made his way through the riflemen to the front, his men cheering him on as he pulled down the visor of his helmet.

The Lannister troops crashed into the ditch and then the wall, Robb saw some of his men fire their rifles one last time before swinging down with their bayonets. Robb thrust his sword into a mans neck and then pulled the weapon out. Next to him he saw Theon do the same while Grey Wind stayed close, tearing off the hand of a man who tried to spear Robb.

A Lannister soldier armed with a sword put his hand on the wall to climb up only for Robb to sice his sword down and cut it off, blood splattering everywhere. The screaming man vanishd into the ranks of enemy only to be replaced by another. All around him Robb could see the chaos of battle, a Lannister soldier and a rifleman grappled over the latters weapon, a man with an axe swung his weapon down and split in half a rifle, killing the man holding it with the same blow only for the axeman to be killed by a bullet to the eye.

At last the enemy broke and ran for it and Robb pushed up his helmets visor, grinning in joy at the men holding the line against the enemy attack. Cheers rose up from the rest of his men and a few jumped over the wall to chase the enemy down. Before Robb could shout to stop them the officers did it for him, getting them back onto the wall while other men quickly reloaded their rifles and gunned down the Lannister's as they retreated.

'Well done Robb,' said Theon as he wiped the blood off his sword, the two men looked towards the enemy who were regrouping while fresh troops were being brought up.

'We're not finsihed yet,' Robb said and stood on top of the wall, held up his sword and his men cheered him. He looked along the wall and saw that on the flanks the battle was still raging between Lannister infantry and his own.

'Sons of the North!' he declared to which his men cheered. 'Let them crash against us! They will fall! Reload and prepare to fire!'

And so they fought on and on until what was left of the Lannister infantry retreated back to their lines. Robb reached for his water skin and took a long drink, the battle was exhausting, all around him men were being passed water and more ammunition. That was when the thundering happened. He looked towards the enemy and saw the massed ranks of Lannister cavalry thundering towards them.

'Is he mad?' asked Theon.

'Desperate more like,' was Robb's response. 'Prepare to fire!'

The cannons opened up again and killed some of their knights but they were moving so fast that even by aiming ahead of them to bounce the cannonballs it was hard to hit them.

'Fire!' a captain shouted and his men began to unleash a storm of lead at the enemy.

Of course Robb couldn't see them properly, the smoke clouded everything but he could hear the scream of horses falling in agony. As his men fired Robb stood by the wall, his sword drawn and waiting for the attack. This was it. The wall was a good barrier, and so was the ditch, but he knew enough about history that the greatest threat cavalry posed was in the terror they brought to the humble infantryman. Suddenly a line of lances burst through the wall of smoke and the rifleman next to Robb was run through. Thousands of knights were swarming along the wall, cutting at the men behind it who fought back with incredible ferocity. Robb knew they were looking for weaknesses, the infantry attacks had weakened the wall, if the enemy found enough of them, he realised, the line could break. Another knight appeared and the rider aimed down at Robb with a double barrel shotgun. He pulled the trigger and Robb was sent flying, knocking down a few of his own men as he went. When he hit the ground it was hard to breath, for a moment he didn't know if he was dead or not, but then he took in a shaky breath and pushed himself up so he was standing. With some fear he looked down at his armour, the coat of plates he wore was shredded and the steel was almost rent apart but it wasn't broken. He wans't bleeding either, thank Gods for that. That was when he realised he lost his sword. Needing a weapon he saw a dead rifleman nearby and took the corpses weapon and cartridge bag, the rifle was loaded as well. Wanting revenge he looked for the knight who shot him but couldn't make him out in the storm of horses and men. Robb pushed his way forwards again and swung the rifle, the bayonet hacking into a man who forget to wear a gorget. He paid for that mistake with his life. Robb saw another knight who tried to push his horse over a weakness in the wall being shot by a quick rifleman.

'Theon!' Robb shouted and his old friend was soon at his side.

'Are you alright?' he asked.

'I'm fine. Send a messanger to Blackfish. It's time.'

'I'll do it.'

Theon was then off and Robb fought on, Greywind at his side. The wolf held a knight who had climbed off his horse by the arm allowing Robb to end the mans life easily. Looking back, Robb realised that he couldn't remember much of what happened in the battle after that but somehow he ended up using a bastard sword, losing the rifle along the way. Enough of the Lannister knights had dismounted and gotten over the wall that they were now fighting more or less evenly. That was when the new horn being blown got his attention and Robb looked to his right to see hundreds of Northern horsemen, riding around the pond as fast as they could, and leading them was the Blackfish, his sword held high as he quickly struck down several Lannister knights.

Seeing their flanks under attack the Westerland knights along the wall began to flee. Those on horseback doing a better job than their comrades who dismounted and were soon swamped by the infantry. Robb, seeing that now they could win, stood back on the wall and pointed his sword forwards.

'Advance!'

The men cheered and climbed over the wall, their bayonets level and some reloading as they marched. Robb looked to the right to see the men under the Great Jon's command charging to catch up with the enemy. The sight of it made everyone else, riflemen included, charge towards the enemy who were still being harrassed by Blackfish and his cavalry. For a moment Robb wondered what the enemy would be thinking, the sight of an unbroken line of Northerners and Rivermen racing towards them would be enough to break most armies. He pushed the thought away, he led the attack and soon they reached the enemy baggage train, Lannister knights and men at arms throwing down their arms to surrender while other men began to enjoy the plunder.

'Robb!' it was Blackfish. 'I've got my men following them. The Kingslayer escaped though.'

'It doesn't matter. We've shattered the Lannister army.'

'I know that but we need to move now. I want to collect as many mounted men as we can and move on Riverrun before the enemy can regroup.'

'Do it. If the enemy is well preared don't try to take the castle. We'll join you as soon as we can.'

'I understand. Well done Robb.'

He smiled and then rode off to gather men for his mission. Suddenly Robb was lifted up, he saw one of the men holding him up was Theon, the others were young other young nobles, and around him he saw hundreds of his men, levies and riflemen, sellswords and knights, all around him and cheering in victory. Robb held his sword aloft yet again and they cheered more. They were chanting but he didn't know what, slowly he came to hear it as his men cheered him with one voice.

STARK! STARK! STARK! STARK! STARK!

That was three hours ago. Now he walked across the remains of the battlefield, the entire distance between the wall and the range of the rifles was covered in corpses, what little ground was left between the bodies was like a swamp, the ground drenched in blood. He walked past a line of six dead men, each of them with a massive hole torn in their torso, they must have been standing behind each other when a cannon ball struck. It had felt incredible at the time, being raised above his men as they celebrated their glory. Now he saw what his riflemen had brought, thousand of dead and dying. He turned around to walk back to camp and felt the pain in his chest. The shotgun had given him a broken rib and the king of all bruises but he wouldn't be harmed in the long term.

AN: So, sorry this is late but real life got in the way.

The Northern Army, equipped with Farosi equipment, has defeated the army of the Kingslayer but the commander has gotten away. How will this affect the course of the war?

In this I also made the army Jaime had larger due to the fact that because of the newly militarised North Lord Tywin would have been able to gather more men sooner. For the record, Tywin has about twenty five thousand under his command at this point in the story. I just wanted to show how much of a game changer firearms are on a battlefield with this chapter. As for Robb's armour protecting him from a shotgun, I watched videos of birdshot and buckshot being used against steel so in that context I think this makes sense.

Join us next time for happenings in the capital as House Cassius makes its move.

Review Responses:

: Interesting theory. You'll see next time.

Guest: Brandon and Wylla, is that for Jon's origins or something else? hanks for the review.

Hitman: Thanks for the review, as for the political situation, you'll see next week.

Tertius711: Ah a fellow historian. Yeah I know about that history, basically my love of Victorian history is what inspired this. As to what the Queen of Thorns would do, well, aside from their participation in the Greyjoy Rebellion, Farsos has't been very involved in Westeros until now so they are still a relatively unknown quantity.

ATP: Farsos certainly could do it but it's a matter of currency. Farsos has a massive army and equiping each of those soldiers with half plate would massively increase costs.

The armed forces: I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Thanks for the review.

Eriador12345: I suppose Ned might, you'll have to see though. As for the Farosi claim, again, you'll see.