Chapter 25: Going into the West

299 AC

Jon

He was in his tent, near Oxcross. He was waving his hand slowly through Ghost's fur and his companion seemed to like it. It was dark outside, and it had been like that for quite a while. He knew he would need to get some sleep soon, but his thoughts about today's battle kept coming.

They had massacred the Lannister force. Nine thousand men they had counted, as learned by the prisoners. Nine thousand men and most were gone. Hundreds had retreated with something resembling order, almost two thousand had dispersed in all directions. Over six thousand were dead or captured, mostly dead he thought cynically. The raiding parties under Harrion Karstark, Greatjon Umber and Galbart Glover to capture or kill as many of the dispersed troops as they could were still out there. So, the casualties would likely be a little higher.

Ser Stafford Lannister had died by Harrion's hand. His son Ser Daven had been killed by Domeric. The man had been able to organize a retreat for some fifteen hundred men but Domeric had rallied the Ryswell, Dustin and Bolton cavalry and had charged them from both sides. The man had come to the back himself to give his soldiers a means of escape, which some managed to do because of him. He himself had been killed by Domeric with aid from his uncle Roose Ryswell. The latter had a nasty scar on his arm to prove it.

They hadn't been the only Lannisters present, as they had also captured Martyn Lannister. He was another son of Ser Kevan and they planned to send him to his brother to join him in captivity. He hated himself for the fact he was beginning to learn the whole Lannister family tree by heart. The family was massive, mostly due to the amount of children Ser Jason Lannister had produced. Every Lannister he learned the existence from was another one he never wanted to hear from again. The only benefit it brought was the fact that you knew who you were fighting against.

A little maliciously, he also thought it helped knowing which branches had already died out and which ones were still to come. Ser Stafford Lannister's line had now ended in the male line. It would do the massive family tree some good if even more of the branches were cut short.

They had also managed to kill Rupert Brax, the brother of the important lord that had died at the Battle of the Camps. If it meant another important noble less in the Westerlands, he was all for it. The best possible scenario now was to find the whole Westerlands leaderless and in disarray. It would mean that they could pick Tywin's vassals apart one by one.

Another important vassal was captured in a Ser Vikary. Same thing as before, more leaderless houses and more coin they could get from his ransom to pay for winter. Some other landed knights like the heads of Houses Yew and Ruttiger were also slain.

It was an amazing victory. Tywin would not receive any reinforcements from the Westerlands now. The Westerlands also lay completely open to pillage and plunder and Robb had made it very clear that that was what he was planning to do. The next couple of weeks they would take all the big and smaller castles in the area with the head price being Ashemark and they would go from there. Robb had also personally entrusted him that they would try to raid the gold mines.

He had also promised him a command soon but hadn't disclosed which one it would be yet. He was both nervous and excited but also proud to call a man like Robb his King and brother. He would keep his word and would probably even go beyond what he had asked of him. How he had ever thought of joining the Night's Watch, he didn't know but he was glad he hadn't. This is were he belonged, with his brother fighting for the North and to avenge their father.

He stroked Ghost's fur some more, before finally deciding to try to sleep. It would be a long day tomorrow, he knew.

(A few days later)

He was sitting atop his horse and felt powerful for the first time in his life. He had almost three hundred riders under his command, all loyal Stark men directly sworn to Winterfell. Robb had commanded him to take some six villages between Sarsfield and Ashmark, while he and the main force marched onto the latter castle.

The villages were controlled by two knightly families who both had small holdfasts in the area. He was to take them, strip them of their valuables and capture the family members. They could be worth some coin after. He would then proceed with taking the livestock of the villages and a portion of their grain supplies.

Robb had explicitly stated that it wasn't his intent to hurt the smallfolk, which he was glad for. They also wouldn't take all the food, as to give the local people some chance to survive. Still, anyone who resisted would be put down and a lot of the food would be taken to feed their army or bring back to the Riverlands.

His secondary objective was to screen part of Robb's western flank as he marched on Ashmark. As such he had sent out over a dozen scouts that kept him up to date on everything that happened.

One of them seemed to have returned as he saw a lone rider approach them. The man approached and called out "Captain Snow, the first holdfast belonging to House Bandel is just behind that hill over there. They have at most two dozen trained guardsmen, but could probably call upon a few dozen peasants from the village below it, if we allow them to enter the holdfast. They seem to be oblivious to our arrival here."

"Great, thank you good man. Ride down to the baggage train and tell the man to give you some food and ale from me." he answered.

"Thank you, m'lord! That is most appreciated!" The scout called out with a broad smile as he drove to

"Call a halt, we wait here. Bring my commanders to me, I wish to plan our course of action." he said to one of his men.

The fact that Winterfell barely had any knight made the command a bit fussy. Especially for Southerners who would be used to knights or squires leading these groups of men. His six loyal advisors and sub-commanders weren't knights though. They were either members of small masterly houses living around his home or were hardened lowborn veteran soldiers who had even served with his father in the Rebellion.

They all stood around a map. "I propose we split into four groups of around seventy riders. The first two will march on holdfast from either side, they will carry ropes and try to climb the walls. The other two groups will do the same to the village, cutting off the villagers from entering and reinforcing the holdfast and, if possible, try to enter through the gate. Everyone agreed?" he proposed his plan.

All six men nodded. He appointed the commanders of the small forces and himself took the command of the group that would attack the village from the west. He got back on his horse and he and his men broke from the column to circle around the hill to the west.

When everyone was in position, he gave the signal to a hornblower and all four groups came into view and charged the holdfast. He spurred on his horse, a grey destrier he had received from Ser Wendel. They soon reached the border of the small village, distantly he heard the bells of the Sept ring in danger but he payed it no mind. They rode through the gate in the palisade and marched past houses full of scared smallfolk. All fled at their charge through the village, all but one.

A foolish guardsman with a spear defiantly stood in their way. He clearly wanted to go for his horse, trying to kill his enemies leader but he never got a chance to do so. Ghost charged on and mauled the man's throat within seconds, before he ever got close to the spearman. He rode past the gruesome remains of the man and whistled. His direwolf immediately left his victim and joined him on his right side.

Soon they had taken the market square and he ordered a dozen men to secure it. Meanwhile he shouted for the others to follow him towards the gate of the holdfast that stood upon the small hill next to the village. They were quickly joined by dozens of men from the opposite force that had charged into the village. On their way up the hill, they charged past large amounts of the villagers who had tried to make it up the hill.

"Stay down and obey our command and no one will be harmed!" he shouted at the screaming men, women and children as he passed, making sure none of his soldiers attacked them.

Soon they reached the gates who hastily shut in front of them, leaving dozens of villagers stuck outside between his force and the walls. A quick glance made it clear to him his troops were already setting up the ropes to climb the walls and they would be able to take the holdfast in less than an hour.

He didn't want to lose any more troops, however, neither did he want to kill any more innocent people, so he stepped forward and shouted out. "I am Jon Snow, brother to His Grace, Robb Stark, the King in the North and the Trident. I'm willing to give you the chance to surrender. We outnumber you ten to one and will take this holdfast anyway, but I want to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. Open your gates and I promise neither you, your family or your people will be harmed. If you don't, I will burn the holdfast and the village below to the ground."

He saw how many men were looking down upon him from atop the wall. He saw soldiers, peasant boys but also someone that was clearly in charge. "I am Ser Jason Bandel and the knight in charge of Bandel's refuge." Bandel's refuge, he vaguely remembered that this was the name of this holdfast from the meeting with Robb.

"Good day, Ser Jason. Surrender and your men and people will be spared and left alone. You and your family will be escorted towards the Riverlands with all the honors expected to come with your knightly status. Your holdfast nor your villages will be razed, so you can return and continu ruling after the war is done or a ransom is paid." he said, in his most commanding but respectful tone.

"And if I don't?" the man responded, clearly not happy with the proposal.

"Then my men will storm your holdfast and kill everyone who resists. You will be executed, and your family will be sent to the Riverlands anyway, but this time in less optimal conditions. After all this we will scrap anything useful from the holdfast before burning it and the village below to the ground. Any smallfolk who resists will die."

Sudden murmurs erupted all along the wall as he saw soldiers and peasants alike talk to each other in nervous hushed voices. Ser Jason lifted his hand, and all went quiet. He looked into the man's eyes from below the gate and he looked back. They stayed like that for what seemed like minutes until finally the Westerman said "You swear on your honor you will let everyone live and they will be unharmed? Including my family and I?"

"Aye." he simply responded. The man looked at him once more before he bellowed. "Open the gates!"

Simple as that, they took control of the first holdfast. They first disarmed the garrison and let them and the smallfolk leave. After that he took control of the knight's chambers and gave his soldiers orders to gather and count the supplies they could find here and in the village.

They had no dead and only three wounded. The enemy only lost seven guardsmen and three peasants who had thought themselves heroes. Any other useless loss of live had been avoided and he was glad for it.

He was content, as he looked outside of the window to the lands he had taken for his brother. Already squadrons of his men had left with a son and a brother of Ser Jason, to the two other villages under their control to force their surrender and take more supplies. In one day, he had finished half of what his brother had tasked him to do in the next ten days. The day after tomorrow he would finish the rest, now he needed to gather part of the food to feed the army for the siege of Ashmark.

Bran

It was a great day. Alyn, Arya and him had been playing in the Godswood with Nymeria and Summer. The two Freys had wanted to join them but they had managed to dodge them, so they only played with Rickon instead. Alyn and him had secretly shown Arya some of the sword fighting moves they had learned in Riverrun with training swords they had managed to smuggle out of the armory. His sister seemed quite good at them, although she was too frail for the heavier moves.

Mother and most of the Household were too busy to watch them most of the time. They had to prepare for the upcoming Harvest Feast and already some lords had started arriving. He was on his way to one of those now. Lord Wyman Manderly had asked an audience with House Stark before the feast and he was supposed to attend as the heir to his brother.

Luckily for him he wouldn't have to do too much, just sit there and listen how the fat man discussed things with mother, Alys, Ser Rodrik and Maester Luwin. He quickly dressed himself in more suitable attire and went on his way.

He arrived in the Lord's solar and saw that everyone was already there. His father's chair was still empty, and his mother sat next to it in a chair that was brought over. She motioned him over to sit and he did so obediently. On the other side of the chair sat Alys as the reigning Queen.

He looked around the room. "I'm sorry I'm late My Lord, I didn't mean to offend." he said to Lord Manderly.

"Why, no prince is ever late," the Lord of White Harbor responded amiably. "Those who arrive before him have come early, that's all." He boomed with a laugh. He looked over to his mother and she smiled at him. Good, she didn't seem mad.

Lord Wyman proposed to start minting Robb's own coinage and mother, Alys and Maester Luwin were clearly surprised but happy with the offer. They gave Lord Manderly the permission to start working on some models for silver and gold coins and prepare a workforce to start immediately after the models were accepted.

Next up Lord Wyman proposed something much more unexpected. "The King has asked me to raise additional troops for his campaigns in the South. I am already raising six hundred men, mostly peasants or laborers that I am training to become footmen or archers. I could raise some more, although I think that would be a mistake."

"A mistake, Lord Manderly? How could sending troops to my husband the King on his orders ever be a mistake?" Alys said, clearly not amused.

"I will of course send men to the King, My Queen. I have already sent troops South, both my sons amongst them and I will sent six hundred more now. I would never refuse an order of House Stark. That being said, I think I could do things with the remaining manpower that could be far more beneficial to His Grace's cause than sent him a few hundred more footmen." The Lord patiently explained, and this made him curious. What could be more important to Robb than soldiers right now?

"What are you hinting at, Lord Wyman?" His mother asked, not unkindly.

"I propose to build His Grace a warfleet. The North has had no strength at sea for hundreds of years, since Brandon the Burner burned his father's ships. Grant me the gold and within the year I will float you sufficient galleys to take Dragonstone and King's Landing both. Maybe we could even pressure you sister in joining us with it, Lady Stark."

This peeked his interest. In his mind's eye, he saw a massive warfleet in the waters of the Bite. All of their sailes had direwolves or mermans on them and he loved the idea.

His mother seemed less thrilled. "A warfleet, Lord Wyman? What costs would that imply and what use would it be?"

"The costs itself would be great, but House Manderly would pay half of it. The other half I would ask House Stark to give to me. Well for its purpose, first of all it could give us leverage over the Vale. His Grace still has to decide what to do with the Vale and the information that good Ned, may the Gods old and new rest his spirit, gave him. Secondly, it could greatly help our forces to put pressure on both Stannis and the Lannisters. I promise you that in a year it will be able to take attack even King's Landing if need be."

"Thirdly, even if His Grace doesn't need the fleet right now, it would still serve as a formidable new defense to his new kingdom. The fleet would be able to protect the entire Eastern coast of the North. All the way from Skagos and Karhold down to White Harbor. It could give us complete control over the Bite and threaten everyone who would name us their enemy from there to Dorne." The Lord of White Harbor responded.

Maester Luwin responded. "A very tempting offer, My Lord. However, you must know that House Stark's coffers are low right now with funding the war and Lord Eddard's previous road planning that has drained on its reserves."

"I do, Maester. I also know that due to those roads, taxes have increased from White Harbor to Barrowton and up to Wintertown. The extra revenue created there might be a possible source of income. Maybe even more importantly is the fact that our young King will be taking many spoils in the war. Spoils that might immediately come to good use. They captured most of the funds of the Kingslayer's army at Riverrun, a formidable amount and I believe it only the beginning." the fat Lord tried to persuade the Maester.

It seemed to have worked somewhat, as Maester Luwin looked at his mother and Alys and said to Lord Wyman that they would sent it over for Robb for his consideration.

The meeting ended and he walked into the courtyard. There he saw dozens upon dozens of men train with sword and axe. The new recruits that Ser Rodrik had brought in to join Robb in the South. He had already raised three hundred men and even more were coming in every day. Poor people from Wintertown, farmer's sons, older men who didn't think they would survive the coming winter, all came.

He had heard Cley Cerwyn, Lord Cley now, was doing the same in Castle Cerwyn and many other houses were also raising men. Ser Rodrik even told him that Robb had called for the Mountain Clans to be raised. They would gather slowly and had a long march to go from their mountains before they reached Winterfell. Until then, all the lords closer to Winterfell had time to raise, arm and train their new levies.

It was said Robb wanted five thousand more men and Ser Rodrik said it would be possible, so he trusted they knew what they were doing.

Suddenly Alys came from behind him. "Bran," she called out. "would you like to join me with your sisters and Alyn? We could play a game, or I could tell you more stories of the North that I heard when I was little.

Excited, he immediately said yes. He loved Alys' stories. she grew up far more to the North than even Winterfell and a lot of other stories had survived there she said. Stories of magic and the Long Night. Stories about the First Men, who hang the entrails of their slain enemies in the Weirwood Trees. She also told stories of their more recent history. Stories about the wildling invasion in which his great-great-grandfather had been killed or of the Skagosi Rebellion that had been put down by his kinsman Lord Barthogan Stark.

He gladly promised to get Arya and half an hour later, his sisters, Alyn and he were all sitting in half a circle in front of Alys. She had made sure there were all of their favorite snacks were available. She had even ordered the kitchen to make Sansa a bunch of lemon cakes.

He looked over siblings and their wolves cuddled against them or on their laps and smiled. It was good to be with the pack. He then looked to Alys again and to the ever growing bump in her belly. The pack will soon grow, he thought with a smile. He was excited to meet his little niece or nephew and was wondering how they would name the babe. It would be fun to play with and maybe it could be a suitable playmate for Rickon. He would definitely get the babe to become used to Summer, so when Robb returned he or she wouldn't shy away from Grey Wind. That could hurt Robb and he wouldn't want that for his brother. Alys saw him smile and smiled back sweetly, winking at him as she saw him steal one of Sansa's cakes.

After a while she speaks up. "Today I will tell you about the story of Alys Karstark, my namesake, the Lady of Winterfell. She married Lord Brandon Stark, the son of Lord Cregan, the Old Man of the North, when she was sixteen years old." Alys started her tale and he felt the excitement raise in his stomach.

This is it for this smaller chapter!

I wanted to flesh something out here. The Battle of Oxcross here went a lot different than in canon, although it is not shown because the tactic is completely the same. The big difference is that in canon a big part of the force are the surviving veterans of Ser Jaime's army that Ser Forley Prester managed to rally to th Golden tooth and sends to Ser Stafford.

I believe it to be 2-3k veteran disciplined troops. They would be a core to hold of the Stark troops, while the others fled or dispersed and they would have spent weeks/months helping with the training of the peasant boys in the army. This would have made Ser Stafford's force 1. Larger 2. More disciplined. 3. The morale would be better. 4. it would be built around a better, veteran core than happens here and hold out longer. Here Ser Forley Prester could max send 500 men or risk losing the Golden Tooth.

In canon, most of the army disperses but it still encounters high losses, In this fanfic 2/3rds are dead/captured. Ser Daven also dies here because of an action of Domeric and the troops send by his family. Another big difference in battle would have been Ghost combining his strength with Grey Wind which would have created double the original chaos.

I also wanted to flash out Jon's arc here and see him gradually change into a commander. Next up there will be much more fighting.

Thank you all for the support!

Fannic

Reviews:

- WarBerserk: Yes, but it will take a while. I'm thinking of implementing the POV or tale from someone who has been in King's Landing the whole time. I don't know if it will be a Lannister though, but it will give a lot more insight in what happened. It will take at least a few chapters, as more is about to happen there and I would want to cover it all in one go.

- Kingmanaena: Here a quick small update!

- Kuman: The Skagosi are an interesting idea! However the problem is they don't know him and they are the kind of people that only respect strength. I am doubtful they even knew Ned. Robb could however leverage his prestige from down south to raise them by saying "I am the one who did this, this and this ..." still it won't be easy. Besides that I think 5k is a little much, maybe 3?

I agree the North has more population, I'm going for 45k. The reason Mountain Clans are so good is because they are bred though and often still fight with each other or wildlings. Historically herders AND farmers in borderlands or rough areas have always been the better troops as they needed to fend for themselves. For example Anatolia was the recruiting ground of the Byzantine Empire for centuries.

The Umbers, Karstarks and Clans might be the fiercest because of the conditions and the wildlings, however the Manderlys might be better trained/armed and the Ryswells will have better horses and so on so that balances out.

- Mlkool86: Thank you! It will be interesting. In canon Roose left 600 man to garrison the Dreadfort, Halys is marching North with 800 and still has his own (smaller) garrison at home. He is also married to the cousin of Lord Wyman Manderly and is (distantly) related to the Karstarks and Flints so he might find allies there now that he himself is in charge.

- Raw666: Thank you! There is another reason for the Vale's chivalry and that is historical realism, which GRRM does pretty good. The main thing dividing the Andals and the First Men (Mountain Clans) would be their Gods and their culture in which chivalry was big for the Andals. So the reason they are so chivalrous is because most live in huge green valleys and they put more importance in chivalry because it made them different from the heathen savages they loathed.

Their horses would be perfect for their valleys and to scout/patrol the passes. It also makes fighting in the mountains to their strengths impossible, which is why the clans survive to this day. The North has a lot of specialized troops. White Harbor has sailors, Ryswells cavalry, Mountain Clans/Mormonts fierce infantry, Reeds poison and stealth troops, ...

- Marksbay: Thanks, I fixed it.

- Force Smuggler: No it won't, but it will be interesting!

- Greatazuredragon: Next up there is a new one! Thank you.

- Foxy-Floof: I agree! Here he is slowly becoming his own men, while still backing Robb in everything.

- Anja Quickert9: Thanks for the support!

- Fahri Uchiha: Ramsey SNOW, that monster aien't no Bolton! :P

- Guest1: Because the Night's Watch is independent and would deal with Robb the same way they would deal with the Lannisters. They are sworn to protect ALL the realms of men and so they couldn't in good conscience make that deal without the acceptance of the whole of Westeros below the Wall. If they made it and the Lannisters would scorn them they would basically become a client state of the Starks if they wished it so.

- Guest2: Wowie