Chapter 5.
NOTE: This is not a new chapter. This was once chapter 4, but I split chapter 2 in half, turning part of it into chapter 3, and the origional ch3 into 4, so I now have 5 chapters instead of four.
Lannister encampment leaving Riverrun.
Jaime Lannister.
Jaime had been given 5 trebuchetes by his lord father, and he intended to make good use of them.
Each catapult had been placed to strike the walls of Riverrun, and to take down the key structural points. Jaime had initially refrained from using them, as he wanted to take Riverrun and turn it into a Lannister stronghold.
Green Fork changed all that. Jaime was pissed off and he was going to destroy the castle, in retaliation for what happened to his father.
Riverrun had been built between the Red Fork and the Tumblestone River, and when it came under seige, a gate could be raise so that a moat would be flooded, turning Riverrun into a temporary island. With enough provisions, Riverrun could withstand a siege for two full years and see not a single man or horse die from starvation.
The walls were made of Sandstone, the Keep a farther distance. A besieging army would need some very, very long range siege weapons to attack the castle.
Fortunately, the Lannister's were always up to date with their weaponry. Such was their wealth that they had only the best of weapons, armour, and siege weapons.
Jaime had split his army into three small hosts; the one north of the Tumblestone was commanded by himself. The one to the southwest, between the Red fork and the Tumblestone was commanded by the vengeful Andros Brax. On the otherside of the Red Fork lay the smallest host, commanded by Ser Forley Prester.
Andros Brax was not at his camp though, he was at Jaime's side in the Northern camp. The southwestern camp was commanded by Alestar Lefford in his stead.
'' Have the trebuchets been placed?'' Jaime asked a messenger. '' Aye my lord. Just give the signal.''
'' Lets teach these upjumped Tullys a lesson.'' Andros declared, holding a torch close to him, even though it was midday.
Jaime took a longbow offered by his squire and dipped an arrow into the torch held by Lord Brax.
He aimed at the castle, and fired. The flaming arrow sped its way towards the walls of Riverrun, and bounced off harmlessly against the Sandstone walls.
The signal was given.
Jaime heard the groaning of the Trebuchetes as they launched their payloads- a mix of large boulders and Iron projectiles.
The boulders and Iron projectiles flew with hardly a sound, despite their weight.
Then they struck Riverrun.
Most fell short of the keep itself, instead hitting the walls. Upon impact, the sandstone cracked and started to crumble.
Jaime had to admit, the walls were so far passing his test. The boulders had scored several gashes into the walls, crushing the sandstone in their path, and causing major cracks above their impact. Unfortunately, the walls held.
2 projectiles had struck the Great Hall, and had more success. One struck the middle of a wall and left a huge hole in the sandstone. The other accurately struck a guard tower and decapitated it, sending everything above the impact plummeting down into rubble.
Jaime knew that the Rivers would provide an obstacle for his trebuchets, and had placed them at the narrowest parts of the Tumblestone River, avoiding the Red fork entirely.
5 projectiles had struck Riverrun and did little damage aside from the guard tower.
'' Well, they're wide awake now.'' Andros commented. '' Reload and fire!'' Jaime commanded. '' Don't stop until the castle's a ruin!''
'' Archers!'' Ser Dylan Marbrand yelled. '' I see archers with fire-arrows on the walls!''
He was right; Jaime saw a small hail of fire launched up from the walls of Riverrun, and the hail descended on his men. 6 men were cut down by fire arrows, and one flaming arrow struck the ground next to one of the trebuchets. Fortunately the fire went out as it missed its target and instead buried itself into cool hard earth.
'' Seven Hells'' Jaime heard Dylan mutter. '' I think I see at least 2 catapults up there!''
How did the River-lords prepare so fast?
Up at the top of the keep of Riverrun, a catapult launched its own payload- at Jaime's army.
'' Get away from there!'' A Red-cloak shouted, as the projectile struck.
Jaime had thought he knew accurate, but that catapult had perfectly struck its target. The projectile had smashed into one of their trebuchets, shattering it in seconds.
Now Jaime had only 4 catapults left, to take down the mighty fortress.
Beseiged Riverrun.
Tytos Blackwood.
Blackwood was knocked off his feet when the first boulder struck the norther wall of Riverruns keep. The wall was penetrated, and a huge boulder flew in, close to Tytos.
He got up, stunned. '' Riverrun is under attack!'' He told a guard who was getting up. '' Tell our archers to set up at the walls and bring fire arrows. ''
Not wasting another moment, Tytos ran off through the halls, towards the southwestern walls and headed up, where the trebuchets were set up. It took him all of three minutes.
Tytos had known about the impending assault on Riverrun, had seen it coming when he spotted the trebuchets had been raised and armed. Still, he knew that things could very well turn ugly.
A problem was that many of his men were not at their best- when they learned how Robb Starks army had functionally destroyed Tywin Lannisters host and cut the Lion himself down to size, he and the rest of the garrison celebrated with a feast and lots of wine and ale, only last night. It was mid-morning now, and many of his men were still hungover. They had made the stupid mistake of underestimating Tywin's son, Jaime Lannister, who was attacking their walls right now.
He watched as the second wave of projectiles were launched at Riverrun, from two of the Lannister encampments.
6 projectiles. 3 from the Northern encampment, and 3 from the southwest.
CRASH. CRUMBLE.
Tytos spun to face the west. '' Seven Hells. ''
2 boulders had struck the northern outer wall and sent a huge portion of the wall collapsing into the Tumblestone river.
'' Archers and trebuchets, fire again!" Tytos commanded. This was far worse than he thought. They had to destroy the Lannister trebuchets, or else they were doomed.
Suddenly one of his archers pointed at the southwestern Lannister encampment. '' They're firing again- at us!''
3 boulders were launched from the encampment commanded by Alestar Lefford. Two struck the general area of the southwestern corner of Riverrun, breaking the sandstone, leaving gaping holes.
The third had flown far higher than the rest and struck a smaller target- the solar of Riverrun. Inhabited by the lord Hoster Tully.
The solar had been severely damaged in the side, but it held- for now.
Jaime's encampment to the north kept hammering the Northern side. Tytos had left command of the northern side to his rival, Jonos Bracken. He had enough problems from the southwest.
'' Fire now, while they reload!'' He hollered, and his men scrambled to their stations.
1 minute later, his archers had launched a volley of flaming arrows at Lord Brax's encampment. He was too far to see exactly what happened but it sounded like they cut down at least a dozen of the enemy.
Blackwood's trebuchets followed up, their payload scattering the men surrounding the trebuchets.
Another Lannister trebuchet was smashed to pieces.
5 left.
'' Reload and fire again!" Tytos commanded. His archers continued to peck at the sea of red, but that didn't buy enough time to prevent the enemy from reloading.
Two projectiles were launched at them.
One sailed above them and struck the keeps wall. It didn't hit the corner.
The other one came straight at them. '' Seven hells, get out of the way!'' Blackwood shouted, as the projectile struck their section of the wall.
The Iron boulder struck the top of the wall, only 20 feet from Tytos Blackwood. The sandstone gave way under the impact- right where one of their trebuchets were. Debris rained down on Blackwood, as he heard the screams of his men being forced off the edge of the wall by the impact, sending them to their deaths.
He forced himself up, and looked back to his remaining men, now separated by the breach in the wall.
'' We are lost. Get back inside. Tell everyone to flee the castle!'' He commanded.
Northern camp besieging Riverrun.
Jaime Lannister.
Riverrun was turning into a very hard nut to crack. Jaime had lost 2 of his 6 trebuchets, a couple dozen men and spent over 25 projectiles. All he had managed to do was to destroy the upper half of the outer-wall on the north-side, severely damage the southwestern inner-wall, punch holes into the keep here and there, and destroy a couple high towers.
The Sandstone that Riverrun was made of was turning out to be very durable after-all.
'' Those Trout cowards hide behind their walls and pretend to be strong. '' Andros Brax growled.
Jaime could very easily see that his attempt to bring down the castle of Riverrun was not going well. He would have been happy to try and bridge the moat and break down the gate, and storm the castle, had Robb Stark and the Tully's been his only enemies.
He watched for a few minutes more, watching the walls of Riverrun being hammered away, then he grew tired of it. '' Stop.'' He commanded.
He looked at the damage. Riverrun was not a pretty site but it still stood. At the northern side facing Jaime, the outerwall had partially collapsed. The inner-wall had a great gaping hole inside it, spanning 20-30 feet, leaving the inside of the great hall exposed. On a whole, the north and southwest walls were severely damaged, leaving the southeast side intact. Despite this, the keep still stood.
Jaime sighed. They had only so many projectiles left, and he knew that it would take hours before Riverrun collapsed- if that.
He walked towards the trebuchets. They had long smashed the castles outer defences when they collapsed the northern outerwall, so there was no risk of getting shot.
Andros Brax was in a much better mood today than he had been all week. '' We broke their walls! What's the need of collapsing them? We have pitch, we have oil. Lets light the castle on fire from the inside out!''
Jaime nodded. '' You.'' He chose a soldier at random. '' Get some pitch ready, now. ''
'' Yes my lord.''
10 minutes later, Jaime was provided with barrels of deep black pitch.
At his command, a dozen boulders were covered with the pitch and placed into position.
'' Light them up, and give them a warm greeting!'' Andros hollered, and the pitch-covered projectiles were ignited, then launched towards the breached great hall, 3 at a time.
6 of them never struck their targets, instead striking the stone walls. The rest of them were swallowed up into the exposed great hall.
Tytos Blackwood.
The flaming projectile had flown right into the breached part of the Great Hall of Riverrun, and crashed into the floor, knocking Tytos Blackwood over for the third time today. He had been evacuating his people out of the castle when the Lannister's resumed hammering at the walls of Riverrun.
The boulder's flames had extinguished upon impact, and Tytos made a run for it towards the stairs, leading to the Godswood, when two more flaming boulder struck. This time, their flames started to spread across the floor. Tytos Blackwood wasn't too worried about a major fire- sandstone does not burn easily- but that was hardly a reason to stay to find out.
'' Keep going, get out of the castle.'' He commanded, as another couple boulders slammed into the castle walls.
Seven Hells, the Kingslayer is definitely pissed off.
He rushed down the stairs, daring not to stop lest he be killed by debris. He didn't stop until he reached the exit of Riverrun, where he rushed into the Godswood, where he found dozens of lords and soldiers taking refuge.
He had always enjoyed the Godswood, it was a beautiful area that grew primarily redwood trees and old elms. Whenever he visited Riverrun, he always visited the Godswood. It calmed him down usually.
Even today, being in the Godswood calmed him, despite everything.
For the time, they were safe. That was small comfort to Tytos Blackwood, as he watched several more flaming boulders fly towards Riverrun and strike the castle. Debris fell, and Tytos had no doubt that a fire was spreading, though he hoped the stone walls and floors of the castle would stop it before long.
I failed. He thought miserably. I swore to hold Riverrun, in Hoster Tully's place. I failed. I held the castle, but failed to protect it.
He looked back towards the surviving lords in the Godswood. Marq Piper and Karyl Vance were away, their fathers killed at the battle of the Golden Tooth. Piper and Vance were somewhere in the Riverlands, harassing Jaime's army and supply lines. He hoped for their sake that they had the sense to avoid the Lannister host today. He rather doubted that Jaime would appreciate being harassed today.
Hoster Tully was also missing. '' What happened to Lord Tully?'' He asked Christopher Smallwood.
The man shook his head sadly. Lord Tully died. He didn't escape when that boulder had struck his solar.
Lord Jonos Bracken, Tytos's old rival was also missing. He suspected Bracken was killed when the northern outer-wall collapsed.
'' Seven hells, this is a bloody mess.'' Smallwood said, and many agreed. '' Robb Stark went off and destroyed the wrong Lion pack and pissed off this one. ''
'' He defeated Lord Tywin in the field, smashed his army.'' Blackwood pointed out.
'' Small good that did us, now didn't it?'' Smallwood snarled. '' Look around you! Robb Stark has forgotten about us. All he wanted was to get his sisters back. I bet you he will try to invade the capitol and not look back at us, when we get slaughtered by the Kingslayer.''
'' Tywin was just as big a threat to Robb as Jaime is to us! If he didn't destroy Tywin, the Lion would have ground him into submission.'' Tytos defended.
'' And now the Kingslayer is going to kill us all!'' Christopher yelled.
'' Its not Robb's fault that the Kingslayer has refused to budge.'' Tytos countered.
Christopher shook his head. '' No it isn't. I just wish he had used that wildfire on the Kingslayer's host instead of his father's. ''
'' So does everyone here, friend.''
Tytos thought back to his children; Lucas, Robert, Hoster, Bethany, Bryden and Edmund. He prayed to the old gods that they would be safe from the Kingslayer. He prayed that he would live to see them again.
When he got up, he noticed that everything had gone silent.
Jaime Lannister.
Jaime had finally called off the continued bombardment of Riverrun, and ordered the trebuchets to be packed up and put away. He had given up on destroying the castle, and now decided it was damaged enough.
He turned to Andros Brax. '' Bring him out here.'' He commanded. '' Aye my lord.'' Brax obliged. Minutes later, he came with the captive Ser Edmure Tully.
Edmure was not dressed in filthy rags for clothes like he had been yesterday. Instead, Jaime's men had put him in his fine Tully Knight armour, with the banner of the Trout. Edmure even wore his helm, visor down.
'' Ah, Tully. Nice of you to join us.'' Jaime said, as Andros held Edmure at the bank of the Tumblestone river, giving him a full view of the damaged Riverrun.
Edmure stared at the ruin of his home and lost his temper. '' You destroyed it! You tore down our walls! I'll fucking kill you for this Kingslayer! You just wait! My nephew will do far worse to Casterly Rock, and he'll light a proper fire to!''
He struggled and tried to lunge at Jaime but Andros held him in place.
'' My, aren't we in a chivalrous manner today.'' Jaime sneered.
'' You had no fucking right to do that Kingslayer!'' Edmure shouted at him.
Jaime shrugged. '' What right did I not have? I am merely fulfilling a debt. Your nephew slaughtered my father's men and butchered him. Now I deprive him of Riverrun. If I hadn't pinned you down here, you would have joined him for sure.
Besides, what court of justice would judge me guilty? The Iron Throne certainly won't. ''
'' I don't need a Throne in order to exact justice, Kingslayer.''
Jaime shook his head. '' Big words for a fish that's going for a swim soon.''
Edmure looked up at him sharply, and if his visor had been up, Jaime would have seen the puzzled look on his face.
'' What did you say?'' Edmure demanded.
'' I said a fish is going for a swim. That's what Tullys are right? Trout. Trout swim.'' Jaime held his hands up. '' So I'm going to release a captive trout back into its natural habitat, and let it keep its scales.''
The meaning of his words hit Tully in the face. '' Seven Hells, you really are digging your grave.'' He muttered.
'' Lord Andros, please release this floppy fish back into the River, where it belongs.''
'' Aye, my lord.'' Andros dragged the bewildered Edmure Tully by his neck. '' Come along, little fish out of water. Its time to put you back in the River.''
Jaime smirked as Edmure struggled against the larger mans grip, to no avail. To his credit, he didn't scream or shout or beg.
Andros paid no mind. '' In Honrvale, the home-seat of House Brax, we have a fun game for recreational fishing, out in our small lake. Its called Catch-'' He held Edmure firmly by the neck, as they stood at the edge of the bank, a 5 foot drop into the depths of the Tumblestone River.
'' And Release!'' Brax shouted, and he pushed Edmure Tully into the River.
Edmure let out one shriek, before he fell into the water with a splash. He never surfaced, though Jaime saw him struggle a bit. His armour permitted Tully to do nothing but sink, and sink and sink, until the current snatched him and carried him away from the encampment, around the Island of Riverrun, and into the Red Fork.
Andros Brax shook his head in disappointment. '' Tut tut. I never saw the use of a fish that couldn't even swim.'' Several of his men snickered at that.
Jaime turned away from the Riverbank and headed up through his camp. '' Well, the castle is badly damaged. And the Tully's are dead.''
His men started cheering at that. Damaging a castle, however famous, and killing a few River-lords was not a big accomplishment, but it reminded Jaime's men of what they were capable of. And they needed the moral boost badly, after what happened at Green Fork.
Suddenly a group of singers, holding violins, stood up in an empty spot and started singing a very familiar tune.
Jaime thought it was The Rains of Castamere, but it turned out to have different lyrics.
And who are you, the Tullys asked
whose wrath we have lit?
Only, the Lions next door,
thats all the truth I know
Above the ground, or below the sea
A lions claws are sharp
But I am strong and sleek enough,
that I can evade his claws
I might even trap them all
And so they spoke, so they swam
Those Trout of Riverrun
But now the trout, float and rot in their halls
And none are for the wolves.
Yes now the trout, float dead in their halls
In the Ruins of Riverrun.
'' Casterly Rock!'' A red-cloak shouted, and soon others took up his chant, along with '' Pay our debts!''
and '' Revenge!''
Jaime smiled, as his men chanted all around him.
You had better run, Stark. My men and I are coming to pay off our massive debts owed to you.
Tomorrow, his men packed up camp and they started marching east.
Jaime was hoping they would make it to Harrenhal, where they would be close to the Crownlands and Robb Stark at the same time.
So Riverrun has been damaged, but not destroyed. Obviously a smarter move for Jaime would have been to leave the Riverlands at once, and keep Edmure Tully as his captive. Unfortunately, while he isn't as shortsighted as his sister, he certainly isn't as intelligent as Tyrion or Tywin. Also, he was pressured by his vengeful Banner-men, such as Andros Brax.
And finally, Joffery and Cersei are resolved of the blame for the mistake in Killing Eddard Stark- he was executed following the news of Tywin Lannister's death, instead of after a forced '' confession.'' With Tywin's death, the Lannisters would never seek peace with the Starks. Therefore, many houses will see that after the Starks killed the Warden of the West, the Lannisters were right to retaliate by executing the Warden of the North.
Next chapter: The court of Kingslanding is in crisis. And Tyrion reunites with Jaime Lannister.