Chapter Twenty-Eight
…..
Fort Ronald, East Border of Rivendell
"I've always thought that the Weasels at the Crossing are fools. But I didn't exactly expect them to be that dumb," Pete, Commander of Fort Ronald thinks to himself as he watches bolts meet the fools trying to cross the river below him.
Apparently whoever it is that is leading the combined Riverland's Holy Army is not that bright. With their rather unsuccessful attack at the only bridge and gate at the river, they have opted to instead try a wet crossing at a shallow part of the river North of the Fort. There's a good reason why it is a bad idea to cross a river with an army.
Weighed down by armor, weapons and supplies; even through the shallows, parts of the Holy Army were bogged did not take long for a curious light cavalry scout patrol to raise the alarm on the Fort about the River crossing. The alarm was sounded and the fellas at the nearby homesteads were called into action to repel the River invasion.
Thus here the small counterattack force is gathered. A force of almost eight hundred men, a combination of Homestead farmers, craftsmen, artisans, intellectuals, town watch and Black Guard. There is no cavalry for the precious horsemen are sorely needed to keep scouting the river borders lest another River Crossing at another spot might be made.
Pete himself does not bring the entirety of the Black Guard at Fort Ronald to bear. The fortress after all needs to be manned at all times. Thus his impromptu makeshift force.
Looking down below, he almost feels pity for the poor fools. The weather seems to disagree with them as gushing rapids are created thanks to the heavy rain currently falling. Said rapids are washing away one out of ten men from the shallows and are giving the rafts which they are using to pull their weapons and armor across out of commission. Nearly three to four hundrd have already made landfall, a combination of soaked, wet and tired schmucks with most not wearing their armor and only with short swords, and dirks on their selves. Some are even down on their smallclothes lying on the ground panting as they shivered from the cold.
"FOR RIVENDELL! WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS?" Pete roars as he stands up raising his short sword to the air.
"WE PREVAIL!" the familiar reply echoes along eight hundred throats in unison.
"In the name of our Lady, chaarrrrggggee!" Lightniing flashes in the darkening sky as the residents of Rivendell break cover.
Pete has purposely put their waiting area atop a hill. Thus when they break cover, it is an easy task to run down the slope gaining traction quickly. Before the Riverlanders know it, his group is right atop their heads.
Panic immediately ensues as the Riverlanders realize that they are under attack. Those who retained bits of sanity immediately rushes to the meager amount of weapons and supplies that survived the crossing of the River.
Pete has to admit that the bastards are brave for underequipped as they are with lesser weapons and no armor, they still face the charge of the men of Rivendell without fear, making the war cry of their gods. Sure the men of Rivendell are wearing light armor and whatever chain mail they can scrounge up as spares from the Fort but compared to then, the Riverlanders had nothing thanks to their wet crossing.
The two forces meets together in an ugly crunch. Compared to the battles of the South where Delianah leads, this fight is an allout brawl as men and women tangle with one another, each trying to gain the upper hand.
Pete himself is the first one to deal a blow against a screaming Riverlander, his short sword hacking through his makeshift plowing scythe cutting the hand below the wrist. Before he can scream his pain of displeasure, another of the Black Guard rushes forward skewering him on the chest with a spear. Around him the rest of the first clash goes in favor of the men and women of Rivendell thanks to their preparedness.
He can see one forcing a Riverlander to flip via shied, another gets the blunt end of an axe in the face while a rather not so original Homestead dweller judo tackles a knight swaying thanks to the drenched underclothes he is wearing. His squire rushes to his aid only to suffer the same fate in the hands of a woman from Rivendell who then proceeds to cut his heart out while he is writing on the mud. More like are occurring around him. A man holding a crossbow shots point blank a Riverlander sliding on the mud, the Black Guard following him introduces his short sword to the man sneaking at his back. A screaming farmer of Rivendell tries hacking a man-at-arms without a weapon only to be pushed to the ground as the Riverlander avoided his slash by ducking. Of course the man-at-arms receives his counter when a shield slams into his face sending five out of ten teeth flying in all directions.
Everywhere the Rivendell soldiers has the advantage thanks to their downward advance. The counter-charge of the Riverlanders are more a hindrance than help thanks to the downward angle of the land, not to mention the fact that it is raining hard and the mud is making the already tired Riverlanders slipping and sliding. Many of the poor schmucks died on their backs as angry citizens of Rivendell stabs and slices them while they writhe on the ground. One poor fellow tries to crawl away while crying but an axe burying in his back flattens him for good. Another is on his knees trying to regain his balance but a roaring woodsman of Rivendell wields his battle-axe as easily as wielding a walking stack cracks his chest open like a piñata sending blood and guts everywhere.
Of course not all things go well for the men of Pete. Arrows from the archers that make it to this side of the shore drops a fair few of his men charging. That serves only to inspire him even more to wet his blade with the blood of his enemies.
Bobbing and weaving through the mass of bodies, Pete slashes his sword at the neck of one of the few men that has a sword before shoving a weaponless wonder with his shield. He ducks from a knife slash while at the same time disemboweling him with a counter slash of his own at his guts. Two more attempts to knife him via dirks and two people meet the ground with throats cut open. The next one is more wiser and uses a spear looted from the dead. His brain skills are alright, his thrusting skills however need work. Pete ducks the attack before giving him complete liver damage via shield bash on the guts. Another attempts to hijack his victory by sneaking from behind but slipped instead resulting to another neck cut. Mister liver damage attempts to rise but the sword swings once more and this time his head goes flying.
A twanging sound makes Pete instinctively raise his shield in defense just in time as an arrow smashes into it. Not stopping, he parries another attacker before following up with his sword before dodging the attack of an axe wielding guy, letting his weapon slide along the sides of the circular shield, rotating and slicing him at the back. One more spearman runs at him screaming (which is idiotic unless you want your enemy to know you are coming), only to have his face cut open when Pete turns a one eighty along with his blade. One of his friends must have been outraged by his death for he rushes Pete. Pete only crouches letting the momentum of his charge slam into his crouched form In full before using his shield like a table flipping the schmuck three sixty. His courageous yelling quickly turns into frightened screeching as he is flipped over his head.
One of the brave Riverlanders uses a tree stump to jump over towards Pete, his sword raised above his head. For a second , Pete sees his death falling only for a spear to intercept the man, courtesy of one of his Black Guard stopping him mid-air before pinning him to the ground.
Now clear, Pete rushes forward to the few horses that the Riverlanders manage to pull at this side of the River easily killing the men handling the horses with his sword. Of course this results to unhappy knights on foot charging him. One rushes at him quickly with a lance but a sword strike cuts through the wood easily hitting the jugular of the knight without armor. One of his related relatives, another knight that manages to get atop his horse tries running Pete over. The Commander of Fort Granger simply lets him rush at him with his skittish horse who is unnerved by the lightning, the battle and the bad weather. The horse zigzagging makes the knight terribly unbalanced and he barely manages to right himself before Pete's blade pierces his manhood throwing him down from the horse.
This time the rest of the Riverlanders in the area notice his killing spree and many attempts to run, not willing to be the one to face him. Pete simply rushes at the nearest one. The scared man squeaks in terror throwing a nearby basket of fish at him as he makes his escape. He cannot of course allow him that. In seconds he catches up with him and slashes his hamstring making him kneel before cutting through his chest.
A panicked yelp catches his attention as another levy try to rides a panicking horse. The animal however is completely spooked by the battle and is not behaving. Pete simply smashes his face with the shield making him eat mud. The panicked horse of course still continues flailing and the poor man's head is flattened when the heavy hooves gives him an ignoble end.
"With me soldiers of Rivendell with me!" Pete roars as he advances towards the last of the terrified Riverlanders at the shoreline. At least those that stayed behind while the rest try to swim back the direction they came.
"Chaarge!" Pete roars as he leads the rest of his men against the remnant of the Holy Army in a last ditch charge.
….
Opposite the Riverbank
Stefan Frey wants to scream out in frustration. He had lost more men than he can count these past few days. The once eight thousand strong force of the Holy Army he is leading had been reduced to a paltry four thousand after that bridge battle that cost them nearly a thousand five hundred men against the mad rush on the gates and the rest after a dozen river crossings when a direct attack against the gate seems ineffective. The heathens apparently knew which part of the river they would cross every time and would meet their crossing with their smallfolk armed with crossbows. Hundreds die at every attempt to cross. Most of the men ended up dying either through the crossbow bolts unable to protect themselves every time they make landfall at the opposite shore, drowning or the occasional angry alligator and other giant fishes that would make a meal out of unarmored, struggling swimming men.
Now it seems is another massive failure. He had thought it at first a roaring success. He had sent a hundred men purposefully to another part of the river to diver the attention of the damned scouts that they had before launching a full attack here. He managed to establish a beachhead at the opposite bank quite securely with a couple hundred men and even a fair amount of supplies. He had been at the process of sending another larger group via raft and swimming when that counterattack came out of nowhere and decimated the men that made the beachhead. Worse, the men that were currently swimming towards there immediately panicked and started swimming back. With them making absolutely slow progress thanks to the strong rapids, they were easy pickings to the crossbows of the heretics at the opposite shore. Already he can see dozens upon dozens of men floating unmoving filled with quarrels and crossbow bolts.
"Give me your crossbow!" Stefron hisses grabbing the weapon of one of his archers who is caught by surprise as the Frey levels his crossbow at the nearest Riverlander making shoreline, wet and dripping. T
"Please don't-," he tries to say only to cry out as the bolt attaches itself to his chest throwing him back to the waters.
"The only way present is forward. For glory or death you dogs!" Stefron Frey roars at his retreating forces. With a wave of his hand, he signals to his crossbowmen to step forward.
"Kill anyone who is facing this direction," he orders in monotone. For a second it seems the men aren't willing to follow the command but a glare from him galvanizes them into action. Soon the sounds of crossbows are heard as the entire retreating front are massacred.
"Face your enemies or face my wrath!" he yells gleefully as the men terrified now attempts to swim back once more on the opposite shore. Stefron is sure this time, he will make landfall today in the opposite shore.
Just as he is celebrating his newfound control to the attacking part of his army, he hears it. At first it seems to be an echo, a repeating thump. As he looks around though he can see the rest of his men also looking around as if not sure what they are hearing. He frowns as the thumping on the ground seems to become louder and louder, only for him to hear the sound of neighing of horses.
His eyes immediately widen as he realizes what it is. Only one sound in Westeros makes this sound, a complete cavalry charge. However seeing that the Holy Army in this side of the River has no present cavalry thanks to having no need of it during the Siege of the Fort Ronald and the Crossings, whoever is coming is not theirs.
"With me! With me!" he roars to his men who also come to the same conclusion as he does only a few seconds late. Immediately they start to drop their swords and exchange it for spears and pikes while those that already have those tries to bunch up.
Stefan just curses as he sees that most of the tight groups are disorganized and there are extremely little to no defenses surrounding their camp.
As he joins the largest group of men (and probably the safest), Stefan looks to the gloom and can feel his heart drowning itself as he sees an entire cavalry charge full tilt. It doesn't help however that he notices their cloaks, colored all red with a man wearing a golden armor with enough designs of countless jewels on it. Beside them is a smaller cavalry unit bearing the River Fish of Tully and the Black tree of the Blackwoods. It is the red cloaks however that makes Stefan piss himself.
The Lannisters are finally here…..and they are enemies.
…..
Rivendell, Fort Granger, Southern Fort.
"The Lannister cavalry under the command of Tywin and his brother Ser Kevan I estimate would be lifting the siege out of Fort Ronald now my lady. Word is also heard that Ser Edmure are leading whatever levies of Riverrun present with the Blackwoods and are riding against the Holy Army there. If the estimate is right, he would be meeting with Lord Tywin for the joint charge,"
"I see, good work Hidden One, you may go now," Delianah makes a shoo motion to the man who bows.
"This one lives to serve," before raising a cowl over his cloak and walking out of his private tent.
Finally back again in her lonesome, the Lady of Rivendell leans on her cot with a thoughtful expression. The news brought by her Hidden One is good. He never expects that she would gain enough favor from the Old Lion that he would personally take to the field and help her out. Same goes with Edmure, she knows that there is little love between the two of them even though they are siblings by blood. She makes a mental note that once she meets him once more, they would talk. Perhaps get some glimpse on that brain of his.
For now though she has more immediate matters to deal with other than finally bringing her army home due to the liberation of Fort Roland.
"Myrcella, Rhaenys come in," she calls out loud. Immediately the two, whom she had wait outside gingerly walks in guilt flowing from their very forms. Delianah simply raises an eyebrow at them as she clasped her hands in front of her.
"You two have put me in a difficult situation," she formally says. "You joined the battle in disguise and risked your lives needlessly,"
"We are only-," Myrcella tries to speak out but a hand raise from Delianah shuts her up immediately.
"Whatever your reason are, good or bad, I don't care. First of all Princess Myrcella, do you know that if you are injured or maimed in any way, your father will hang me?" she asks sternly at the princess who shakes her head in negative.
"Good, and you Rhaenys," the Dornish girl flinches. "You have faced death many times again and again but you willingly went into this one and you did not even try to stop our dear princess and knock some common sense into her,"
"Sorry," murmurs the reply. Delianah groans putting her hand in her temple.
"I cannot punish you hard Cella due to your station and I cannot punish Rhaenys in good conscience since I know that the only reason why your head is still attached to your shoulders is because of her being present on the battle with you. As such your punishment," both girls gulp at that.
"You two will serve as my handmaidens," Delianah declares. "You will help Amelia with her duties as Castellan of Rivendell and you will also help Yasmina clean up everyday. I have given you two those Aging potions in order for you to be a bit responsible. You disappoint me you two,"
Only two silent nods greet her. Delianah frowns at that.
"And I'm also confiscating my Pensieve until you two learn your lesson,"
Their cries of protest is certainly music to her ears,"
…
Red Keep, Tower of the Hand.
"What do you mean you will be asking the Faith to stand down?!" Jon Arryn shouts or more like screeches at the swaying Robert clearly drunk and being deposited by his own Kingsguard at one of the Hand's comfy chairs.
"That's exactly what I mean," gurgles Robert. "Fuck the Faith, they lost three armies already. The girl at Rivendell knows how to lead Jon and how to fight. I can use a woman like that in the long run as a servant of the realm instead of those damned useless septons and septas,"
"But the King is the Defender of the Faith Robert!" Jon Arryn points out. "They would not take this insult quite lightly. It is one of your responsibilities after all for wearing that crown,"
"Fuck responsibilities Jon. The Faith are lucky that I did not hang them all for breaking the peace, my peace; and even allow them to continue this worthless war of theirs. Now that they are all but lost, they are crying to me? I say fuck them!"
"Robert we owe them two million fucking dragons!" roars Jon Arryn now clearly pissed off.
"And the Crown will pay them in due time," hiccups Robert. "Tell them at the mean time that they stop this senseless war before it even gets out of hand. Maybe this way, they can stop having whoever it is they elect as High Septon actually live,"
Jon mentally winces at that. The last assassination of the new High Septon via throwing through a window a night only after his coronation is an unsurprising scenario. Everyone has been rather used of the news of a High Septon being murdered every week. Some even are making bets as to how the next Crowned Agent of the gods would die.
"Very well, but I am not happy about this Robert," Jon Arryn sighs in defeat. Robert's eyes however brightens at that as if he remembers something he shouldn't have forgotten. It is a look that Jon Arryn knows well, especially when Robert is up to no good.
"Send a message to the Lady Delianah to prepare a tourney in honor of her victory Jon!" he booms quite happily. "The Crown will be shouldering the weight and I will also be visiting my daughter there and see how she is,"
Jon Arryn can only close and open his mouth in disbelief. Not only will a tourney cause him a massive headache again and many more sleepless nights but it would also surely anger the Faith even more.
….
Author's Note: Hope you Enjoy. Finally the end of this Arc and more money making next in preparation for the Tourney. Also many things will be explained in the next Arc like the Hidden Ones and Ser Arthur Dayne's Fate.
I've read from many reviews as to how the three houses betrayed Delianah even through loyalty potions.
The answer actually is quite simple. Rivendell in this story is divided into two categories. Inner Rivendell which composes the territory once held by House Harrenhal, and the Outer Rivendell which are the annexed territories. The loyalty potions are prevalent at Inner Rivendell but not so much at the Outer territories. Remember that only the homesteads have been given as requirements with their nutrition potions. A lot of people at Outer Rivendell still is the regular Westerosi.
Delianah basically trusted the three smaller houses as retainers of hers. Their loyalty was one of her intended targets during the Turkey Invasion. Of course she did not expect them to stab her in the back in the desire that they regain their old power. This is Westeros after all and they are certainly not Northeners.