Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I hope you liked the last chapter and will like this one as well, as always I own nothing. SPOILERS FROM THE BOOK.
Sansa fell in line with the other archers and waited, they did not have to wait long. Emerging from the morning mist there was a line of mounted men, Sansa could not see how many of them there were a lot of them, though they were too far away for her to see it she knew that they were flying the hated double tower banner of the Frey. She could not help smiling as they moved forward she was pleased to see that they were heading directly toward the ice, it seemed that they did not know of the lake ahead of them or of the danger that it represented to them.
It seemed to take hours but they drew ever closer. There was the risk that they might notice the bank of the river and be alerted to their danger, to avoid this some of the clansmen rushed out farther, despite the risk and used their slings to hurl their stones at the Frey men, while the stones that they used were capable of killing men, even ones in armor, at the range they were firing it was unlikely that that would be the result. Instead, they were aiming for the Frey horses, without armor these were vulnerable to the stones of the clansmen. Seeing the danger to themselves the Freys cast aside any caution that they might have otherwise exercised and charged forward at full gallop.
"Archers!" The man in charge bellowed; "Knock!" Sansa, along with all of the other archers knocked an arrow. If there had been longbows among the King's forces these would have already been firing but that weapon seemed foreign to his mercenaries and so he was forced to employ what archers that had joined him since coming to the North. So his archery force was a mixture of longbow men, those armed with short bows and even a few who had crossbows.
"Draw!" The command came. Sansa drew her bow back and raised it, looking out of the corner of her eye to see if she was raising it as high as the others were. As she held her bow she felt her arms begin to tremble and shake, she was not used to this. When she had been taking lessons from Xhono he had just had her draw, aim and shoot and had not taught her to hold to fire as part of a volley. Even with Xhono's exhalent lessons Sansa knew that she was not as good an archer as Arya was, her little sister had arms like iron, or at least it seemed so to Sansa now as she struggled to hold the bow and remembering that her sister had always been able to hold a draw even longer than this.
"Loose!" The command rang out and with a feeling of great relief Sansa loosed her arrow. She quickly lost sight of it among the mass of the ragged volley. It sailed out, over the clansmen and infantry, arched and fell down among the Frey horse. Due to the mixture of weapons the results were not even, some shots went long, others fell short but others found their mark. Some bounced harmlessly off of the Frey men's armor, others thudded into and stuck in shields. Others found gaps in armor and men fell from their saddles and other struck the horses, which likewise fell to the ground.
"Knock!" the command was roared out and ignoring the pain and drew another arrow.
They got off only one more volley and they were too close to fire anymore. The clansmen, who had been slinging stones this whole time, had fled back to the shelter of the infantry. These had moved up, both to encourage the enemy to continue their attack and to move to the edge of the bank to ensure that the Frey would not be able to get off of the ice when it began to break. The first rank went down on one knee and thrust their spears out. The rank behind them remained standing and held their spears out as well. Together they formed a bristling wall of spear-points that the enemy would have to penetrate if they wanted to get off of the ice.
Seeing them come at full gallop Sansa could not see how men on foot could hope to repel such a mass of men. Father had used to talk of strategy with Robb and the other boys but she had never paid much attention to such things, in the end all that she could do was hope that the King knew what he was doing. The enemy crashed into the infantry, running down those of the mountain clansmen who could not get out of the way quickly enough. They forced their way through the first two ranks of infantry but were unable to go further, leaving the majority of their forces trapped on the ice.
A horn sounded from the back rank of the defenders. At the sound of it the defenders on the other bank turned to move to come to their aid. The more lightly armored mountain clansmen moved out on the ice to pelt those attackers still on the ice. These responded by turning and attempting to charge the clansmen, who in turn fled to the safety of their more heavily armored compatriots. As the enemy cavalry moved about a sound was heard, as sound Sansa had been hoping. The sound of ice beginning to crack.
The enemy heard it as well, at last becoming aware of their peril. This caused them to redouble their efforts to break through the King's forces and gain the safety of the bank. The defenders; however, saw that the peril that the attackers were in and they also redoubled their efforts to keep them on the ice. Things went back and forth for what seemed like hours but in fact was more likely only minutes, the sound of ice cracking and splitting apart.
At that the Frey abandoned their efforts to break through and turned their thoughts to escape. They turned and tried to ride back the way that they had come, the King's forces making no effort to pursue. As they rode back the ice continued to break up and more and more men and horses went through the ice, once in the water they struggled briefly and then slid below the water.
"Fire at will!" the man in command of the archers yelled. Sansa and the others began losing arrows at the fleeing horsemen. Their efforts hardly seemed necessary.
Weakened by all of the holes that had been cut into it the ice was breaking up faster and faster and Frey men were now falling through the ice by the dozens. By the time the survivors reached the far bank their force had less than half of their numbers left and had gone from a formation of mounted men to a confused mass. Just then a shout went up from the man the King had placed at the top of the watchtower, the men from White Harbor had arrived.
Even though she had heard what they had said Sansa found her breath catching in her throat, uncertain of what would happen now. The White Harbor men rode along the edge of the lakes, a few slipped onto the ice but they quickly regained their footing. The column moved along toward the remainder of the Frey forces, who for their part seemed to be as wary of their intentions as Sansa was. The men from White Harbor, who had been moving at a trot, broke into a gallop once they were within a few hundred yards of the Frey men. They for their part tried to reform but they did not have enough time. Even with their casualties they still outnumbered the White Harbor men by a large margin, but they were disorganized, frightened and had been in battle and had many wounded. The men from White Harbor were fresh and in a cohesive unit.
They slammed into the Frey men with a crash that even Sansa could hear. The fighting was fierce but brief and the Frey were soon in flight. The men from White Harbor gave chase but there were simply too many Frey and some were sure to make good their escape. For a moment there was silence, then a cheer went up from the army and the men began to chant the King's name, they had won.
Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I hope you liked the chapter, not a lot longer but longer. I know it wasn't all that exciting, I tried but sometimes things just go right and that makes it boring. I will try to make the next one more exciting, or at least interesting. Till next time please pray for Pastor Saeed, the American Christian held in Iran, as well as the other Americans held there and all held unjustly against their will. Also those injured in a bus fire in China. Also the victims of human trafficking, the victims of attack in Colon on New Year, the sick, the homeless, refugees and all who need prayer. Bye and may Jesus bless you.