Second Month of 281 A.L. Riverrun

Lord Tywin Lannister

The war was going well, Tywin had always known that being prepared would always reap benefits over not being so, he had shown that with the Reynes and the Tarbecks, and he had shown that with the Darklyns and now he was showing it with the riverlords. There had been two battles so far during this whole conflict, a battle at the Golden Tooth where a host commanded by Lords Piper and Darry had tried to block their entrance into the Riverlands, the battle had been short and bloody and at the end of it all both Piper and Darry were dead their heirs prisoners and their men either slaughtered or dead. From there Tywin and his 15,000 men had marched into the Riverlands where they had met a force of some 8,000 men commanded by Lord Karl Vance and his cousins, this force provided a much tougher battle at the Tumblestone and the river had run red with the blood of the fallen but soon enough Vance was dead as were his cousins Wayfarer's Rest had been sacked and put to the torch as had Atranta and they had moved on marching towards Riverrun. Tywin had given his men under the command of Ser Armory Lorch leave to go foraging and burning through the Riverlands. And news had come of a battle between Ser Armory's men and a host commanded by Elbert Arryn now the Lord of the Vale, Ser Armory and his men had been killed but Ser Elbert and his host had suffered a great many losses. And then news had reached Tywin as he had been camped in the Whispering Wood that the Ironborn had invaded the riverlands, whilst at most times this might be seen as a grave nuisance this time round it had actually been cause for great celebration for they had taken Seagard, the Twins, Raventree Hall and Stone Hedge and were now dividing the Riverlords over what they needed to do. Balon Greyjoy was reportedly sailing towards Riverrun now.

All in all it seemed things were going from bad to worse for King Aerys and his allies, Jon Arryn had been slain at Sisterton and the Sisters now belonged to the northmen, the Vale was ravaging and burning itself to pieces under the northmen who ran wild and free. Storm's End was under siege from some 20,000 Tyrell men whilst Robert Baratheon had hidden in the Stoney Sept only to be driven out by Lord Randyll Tarly and Prince Rhaegar, whether the man was alive or not none knew but word was that both the Prince and Lord Tarly were now marching on Harrenhal. As for the King, the man had hesitated and then had supposedly had Lord Varys burnt alive for his treasons, and had named the pyromancers Rossart named hand of the king. Word was that the man was sending the army of the crownlands all 20,000 of them towards the Riverlands under the command of Ser Gerold Hightower, Ser Barristan Selmy and Ser Jonothor Darry of the Kingsguard. Sure enough the king was growing desperate and victory should just be a matter of time.

Tywin himself was currently watching and waiting for the battle of the Whispering Wood to finish and for them to move on towards Riverrun. After months of planning and preparation they had finally managed to lure Hoster Tully away from Riverrun with the promise of something that even he could not resist, though he had been loath to do it, Tywin had sent Jaime as part of a 200 man probing force hoping that the thought of capturing the heir to the Rock would be too tempting for Hoster to remain in the castle. And it seemed that he had been proven right, battle was raging now down below the hill. The screams of the dying could be heard as could the sounds of swords and steel on steel. Tywin though was saying a prayer to gods he no longer truly cared about, praying with all his might that his son might be spared and might live through this war and the battle that was raging below.

The minute it became too much for him, Tywin broke through his usual calm and raised his sword and led the charge down into the hill below. What he found was something that would remain with him for the rest of his life, there were rivermen, westermen and Ironborn all fighting one another in what seemed to be a maniacal bid for glory on all three sides. Tywin though did not care, he slashed his way through any who came in his path, looking for Jaime, he hacked and slashed and cut down men who were bigger and quicker than him, simply because the urge to find his son was stronger than any urge to truly protect himself. He received a fair few blows for this lack of protection but then he would cut down the men responsible or see them cut down for him by his guards.

He pushed on swinging and hacking and cutting and hacking, blood and bodies piling up before him, he did not care he needed to find Jaime and he needed to find him now. When he did find his son, Jaime was curled up in a ball on the ground apparently unconscious and with blood coming out in a puddle before him, Tywin grew anxious and bellowed for his guards to pick his son up and ride out of the fray of battle. The men surrounding them realising what was happening paved a way for them to get out, firing arrows or simply hacking and slashing at their enemies until they got back to the clearing. Once Jaime was safe, Tywin waited for the din of battle to settle before he looked around for a soldier to go and find news.

When said soldier returned, he brought good tidings. "We won my lord. The Tullys retreated back to their castle but not before Hoster Tully was found and killed. The Ironborn have begun laying siege the castle and they intend to take it through some means or the other."

Tywin merely nodded and said. "They are welcome to it."