The Lord Commander of the Kingsguard

Ser Raynard Ruskin winced as he stretched, his joints creaking, made all the more painful due to him just having woken up. As was his wont, his squire handed him a wineskin full of water, which he downed in one go and then washed his arms and face in the basin which his squire filled with warm water(he once used cold water, but those days were long gone). Then, he relieved himself in the chamber pot and after that, he was ready to tackle the day.

The 'council' had gone about as well as expected, which was not really very well at all. All the knights just argued with each other while both of the princes just sat there bored out of their minds. It served Raynard right for trying to even hold a council for such a trivial thing. These bandits were worse than the men-at-arms they had brought along with them. The bandits were, at best, barely better than peasant levies.

Ser Robert Darklyn's information was really useful, though, and the smallfolk rumors and men sent out by Ser Darklyn himself had agreed on a few things. The gang was around fifty strong, give or take a few men. They were encamped just within the kingswood, not even a few hours' ride from the Byrch estate. And finally, they were led by a knight, formerly of the North, one Ser Brandon Snow. As if the name couldn't be generic enough. Though, how a Northman, and one named Brandon at that, became a knight anointed by the Seven was a mystery. One Raynard was not inclined to solve.

"Well, lad, time to get my armor on me," he said to his squire and Aemon nodded walking over to where Raynard's armor was kept after he took it off for the night. As Aemon brought it over and busied himself with the various straps and buckles, Raynard thought of what might be done during the fight. Yes, Aemon was a dutiful squire and a squire's place was by his master, but he was also a prince of the blood and as a Kingsguard, Raynard was sworn to let no harm come to the prince's person.

Aemon finished strapping on Raynard's armor and the both of them set out from their shared rooms. Raynard continued with his musings as they walked. The prince could be trusted to hold his own during the fight. Raynard believed that. These were simple bandits. Still he would position himself close to both the princes. Yes, that would be prudent.

The total number of their party, excluding the ten knights was seventy men. The odds were a bit too even for his tastes, but Lord Byrch promised to send ten more of his own men-at-arms and the two household knights in his employ. It was clear he was taken with Prince Aegon, who was princely and maintained a regal gravitas even at his young age and Lord Burch hoped this help would give him royal favour.

Soon, they arrived at the training yard where they found Prince Aegon whacking away at one of the Byrch men-at-arms with a mace. He had no finesse or technique but then again, he had enough strength to manoeuvre the mace in any way he liked and more importantly, he knew where to hit for devastating effect, as shown in his just ended fight, though it was with a wooden mace, thankfully.

Aemon looked at Raynard pleadingly and Raynard understood. He'd let the boy have his fun. They were training to fight anyways, not whoring or some such. "Go on then, lad. Spar with your brother, but your sword against his mace. You'll not have the luxury of always facing swordsmen," he said and Aemon had nodded and rushed off, barely stopping to put on a padded gambeson and an open-faced helm and grab a blunted sword and a wooden shield.

Aegon noticed his brother and smiled, which turned predatory upon seeing him getting ready for a fight. That was something Raynard liked about Prince Aegon. He had a sort of killer instinct, though how much of that would translate to actual killing would be decided in the kingswood today.

The brothers circled each other as a retainer of House Byrch stood to the side as the arbitrator. The master-at-arms, perhaps. No sooner did he signal the start, than Aemon lunged forward intent on skewering his brother on his sword's non-existent point. Aegon however, just stepped aside, the sword missing him by a matter of inches even as he brought his mace overhead to drop a strike on his overextended brother.

Aemon, to his credit, reacted swiftly, raising his shield and pushing away just as the mace struck it, the force of the parry causing Aegon to stumble. Aemon then followed up with a slice of his own aimed at Aegon's midsection but missed due to his own misjudgement of the distance.

Aegon needed just that to recover, and brought around his mace for a series of furious strikes giving Aemon no chance to do anything but block with his shield. However, this blistering offensive also took its toll on Aegon, who was already tired before the fight and now became a bit sluggish in his motions.

This was just what Aemon needed and in a beautiful riposte, disarmed Aegon simply by hitting him on his wrist forcing him to drop his weapon following which Aemon put his sword at his brother's throat and asked, "Yield?"

"Yield, brother. That was well fought. Though we shall need to have a rematch. I cannot remain the loser in our bouts. It wouldn't be proper if the younger brother defeated his elder, would it?" Aegon asked with a chuckle and Aemon let out a little laugh of his own, both of them panting from exertion.

Satisfied that the brothers were not hostile to each other, Raynard went around the yard, giving pointers to some of the men-at-arms, who had come to practice or even having a few bouts with the knights of his own party. Before he knew it, the yard was empty, with many of the men having gone to break their fast.

Looking around the yard, he spied Aemon waiting for him and soon the both of them set off to break their own fast and make preparations for the fight.

It was just after eating, that their party had set out from the Byrch manse, intent on reaching the bandits' hideout just as the sun passed its highest point. The lethargy of the late afternoon and the summer heat would serve them well.

Even the timing of attack was apoint of strife for their party. The Rivermen had both joined together and argued for attacking at night under the cover of darkness. A rather foolish idea to do so in the kingswood. If they got lanterns to light their path, they'd be found out and if they didn't their horses would stumble about, breaking a leg or worse.

Eventually, they had reached a consensus on the plan of attack. They'd walk their horses with the men until they were a few hundred yards from the expected location of the bandit camp. Then, they would charge the camp with lances and go a few passes to kill as many as possible before the men-at-arms arrived.

Raynard thought the bandits would break before then, but there would be no mercy, and the runners would also have to be hunted. These bandits had killed the Master of Coin and stolen the Crown's money, the gift of mercy was the only thing they were going to be getting.

Soo, they had arrived at their predetermined point and mounted their horses, cantering towards the bandits' camp. They came upon it within a few minutes and it was set in a large clearing, just the Master of Whispers' information had it out to be. The group of knights urged their horses to gallop just as they came within sight of the bandits, with the men-at-arms rushing forward behind them.

As they charged into the bandits, Raynard could see that many were shocked that their hideout was found out and a few were even trampled under horse's hooves, so unprepared were they. Raynard speared a man with his Lance and another before throwing it away, having broken it from the force of the blow. He took out his sword from its scabbard on his horse's saddle and turned his mount around for another go.

Cutting down men left and right mechanically, he observed that the princes were near the centre of the clearing and had dismounted, preferring to fight on foot. Aemon had his sword out and three bodies already lay near his feet.

Aegon, nearby to Aemon, was fighting with a man who could only be the leader. He was the only one with armor on, though calling it armor would be an insult to armors. It was a mishmash of parts, most likely scavenged off of battlefields. Raynard urged his horse on forwards to help Aegon.

Just as was about to reach the prince, Aegon parried a strike from Brandon Snow and his retaliatory blow caved the bastard knight's chestplate in.

Seeing their leader fall, the rest of the bandits who were close to breaking even before the battle had begun, broke entirely and started running away into the forest. The initial charge by the knights and subsequent horseback combat had killed at least two dozen men, though Raynard also noticed that two of their own knights, both from the Crownlands were also dead.

The men-at-arms began to cheer on seeing the enemy break, but Raynard turned to face the princes.

"Aegon, Aemon, I hope you are unharmed? We have to chase down these bandits, lads. No quarter for these scum," he said. Aegon turned to him and nodded, his excitement clearly writ on his face, but Aemon was slow to do so. He had always had a soft heart and Raynard still considered him a child in matters of war.

But it was all for nought, Aemon had killed already now, and he would have to continue to do so. Coddling him would do the boy no favours. All he could do was to help him become the best fighter he could be.

Soon enough, the bandits were overrun and Ser Foote of the Westerlands had managed to find out where the bandits had hidden their stolen gold. Lord Arryn's sword was found there and in the absence of his body, no doubt thrown facedown in a ditch somewhere, his sword would have to be sent back to Gulltown.

Their task finished, the men started the march back to the Byrch estate, their own dead buried, some personal effects taken to give back to the families fo the deceased. Raynard had the dead knights' armor loaded up to be sent back to thier families. Perhaps, it would inspire their sons or brothers to take up arms for the king one day.

Warrior's Day would be upon them within a couple of weeks and the men were getting excited about the festivities, the fighting of a few hours prior already forgotten. Raynard saw Aemon and Aegon talking about the battle and the men they had killed and about how they'd do in the upcoming tourney.

Behind them, the bodies of the bandits lay forgotten, having been stripped of their valubles by the men-at-arms. There would be no burial for these bandits, no songs of their deeds would ever be sung and they'd lie forgotten. And that was how Raynard preferred it to be.