Not much." Brynden said honestly. "I know several of their heirs were friends with my nephew Edmure, he talked about them often enough in King's Landing. But whether that will mean they'll side with us against the Lannisters I don't know. It will probably depend upon whether or not they have begun to threaten Edmure's life in return for forcing the Riverlands to capitulate. Up to this point all of the Riverlands Houses have been acting singly, defending their lands from what they see as a usurper whose allies are despoiling them. The moment they help us though, they too will be labeled traitors rather than simply angered neutral parties. I don't think any of the current lords of those Houses have the stomach for another war. I know Wayn won't, it's lord is nearly as old as my brother, and his son untried. Nor will Ryger I don't think. They might have patched up their relationship with my house better than most that supported the Targaryens during Robert's Rebellion, but they were still hammered badly in terms of men and riches. But their heir is supposed to be very intelligent, and skilled in many areas, I don't know enough about him."
At that Brynden shot an apologetic glance at Daenerys, who rolled her eyes. "I know precisely how mad my father became later in life, and there is no way to justify his actions, not in the eyes of the law, men or gods, nor were his actions the only infamous ones my family ever did. I won't say I don't have hard feelings about certain events during the War of the Usurper, but I certainly understand the reasoning behind it, and know that a Lord Paramount would be obligated to… to put his own realm in order I suppose. Please continue…" she smirked. "Great-Uncle."
Brynden laughed and even Rickard smiled slightly, pleased that Daenerys didn't seem to be blind to the problems her family had caused. "Well, in any event, the only House that might have the stomach for another war is House Roote. They were awarded quite a bit of House Darry's lands, so might be powerful enough but I don't think they'd have the stomach for offensive action. According to the men we talked to they pulled back out of Harroway town, bringing with them all the town's residents who were willing to leave rather than face the Lannisters there."
Still tugging at his pony tail, Ranma frowned, calculating distances in his mind and trying to imagine, or remember really, what the land had been like around the Trident. While Ranma was doing that Daenerys questioned Brynden further. "You say the farmers said that the Lannisters were consolidating their positions on the other side, and that there were a lot of refugees. Was there any talk about any of the noble houses still holding out?"
"Blackwood." said Brynden and all three of the men he had brought with him to the council. They all looked at one another then the three mountain men nodded at Brynden. "Lord Blackwood pulled back to his keep the moment the battle at the Ford was lost apparently, and had already gathered in his people. They're holding out still, and could continue to do so for a long time."
"How long ago was that battle?" Rickard asked.
"About a month ago, though that isn't solid." Brynden cautioned.
"They control the Kneeling Man's ford then from there down to Darry along with Lord Haraway's town, which means they control the Red Fork portion of the Trident." Ranma mused aloud "but how good is their control of that land?" Ranma leaned back, closing his eyes as he went through some scenarios in his head. After a moment he opened them and nodded decisively. "Alright, here's what we're going to do. First we're going to split the army."
Before anyone could speak he went on. "The larger portion, the heavy infantry, half of the light, half of the archers and two thirds of the heavy cavalry will move down the Kingsroad. We'll also split the scouting forces, a third to go with the larger force, the rest to come with me. Greatjon, you'll be in charge of that along with Brynden. Smash Erenford and Haigh then continue on." He said looking at his friends. "Brynden, you'll be in charge of speaking to the locals, and I expect you and Greatjon to lead the army equally."
Ranma looked at both older men sternly. "I don't want you to start attacking the Lannisters, I want you to reinforce that defensive position and talk to the local lords. Find out where they stand, get as much information about what's been going on down south as you can, and send a messenger to find me when you do find out what the local lords are willing to do. I'll be taking the rest of the army to capture the Twins."
"If you're talking about a siege that'll last months, if not years!" Rickard protested. He was unhappy that he hadn't been given the command of the other Army until Ranma stated his own objectives, which made him even more unhappy but for a different reason entirely.
"Not if we have someone inside." Ranma said smirking. "I don't doubt that Old Walder is arrogant enough to let in a small delegation there to talk about peace terms. I mean to give him one more chance to bend the knee and mean it, or else."
"But that will mean you and however goes with you trapped inside!" Daenerys said leaping to the logical conclusion as to who would be going on such a mission.
" That will set the wolves among the sheep lady." said Jon smirking evilly, now understanding why Ranma hadn't assigned any of the wolfsworn to the army moving down the Kingsroad. "My brother proved as a young boy what he could do in enclosed spaces against normal armsmen and all of us have been trained in that kind of thing."
Ranma nodded grimly. "The wolfsworn will fight our way out of the hall and opened the gates, all of the gates, for the rest of the army. We'll still lose men, that's unavoidable, but this way we'll be able to avoid the horrendous casualties of a full blown assault or spending too much time on the Twins."
"Remember, the moment the Lannister's second echelon reaches him Tywin is going to start north again, and with that large an army even if Fairmarket has been heavily reinforced they won't be able to stop him. I doubt even the earthworks you mentioned could do that. We need to get down there and be in a position where we can react to his moves quickly or better dictate our own and that means taking out the Freys fast and dirty."
There were some objections, Daenerys in particular was very vocal about it being too risky. But Ranma simply kept on referring everyone to what it happened when Bolton head overreached, and eventually that won the day.
OOOOOOO
It took the now much smaller northern force barely two and a half days to march to the Twins, which they timed deliberately to coincide with the dawn. Once they were in sight of their target, Ranma stopped, mentally comparing the castle to what Domeric had described, and found he had nailed it from one end to the other.
The Twins consisted of two seemingly identical stone castles, one standing on one side of the Green Fork and the other on the other side, with heavy barbicans between them connected by a massive stone bridge. They had high walls, about ten stories tall and were each surrounded by a deep moat carved out of the side of the Green Fork. The bridge supports rose from the mighty river far below. In the bridge's center was a tower almost as tall as the two castle's main keeps, called the Water Tower according to Domeric. The only crossing point of the Green Fork until the Trident, the Twin's was a major trading junction, and it had made a lot of money for the Freys, as their family motto attested to.
The army settled in nearby just out of bow-range, not even close enough to have it be called a real siege, while Ranma and the wolfsworn rode forward. Jon was once more carrying a white flag, but it seemed as if their complete destruction of the Frey force they had put out into the field had worked. They were hailed from the wall, but the portcullis was opened for them quickly, and they were met with several people who took their horses away.
A man with a thin, almost rat-like goatee, a weak chin and a pointed nose bowed to them all while the servants led away the horses. "My lords, I am Aenys Frey. Please, permit me to show you to where my lord father is waiting to receive you." He looked askance at the trio of massive direwolves, who were making deep rumbling noises at one another. "Your… beasts will of course be cared for here."
"They will come with us." Ranma said flatly, getting off Fenris' back. "It takes them a while to trust someone enough to be near them."
Aenys frowned, almost sneering before apparently thinking better of it. "In that case my lord, I must ask they be sent back to your army. I cannot allow wild beasts, no matter how well trained, into the presence of my lord father."
Before Ranma could say anything, Jon spoke up. "Well, I've already sent mine back. Besides Ser Aenys is right, the wolves are too wild to be let into a diplomatic function."
Looking around, Ranma very carefully hid a smirk. Ghost was in fact still there, standing silently between Dacey and Roger, but he doubted if even the two of them noticed the beast was there. Ghost lived up to his name, slipping somehow under people's conscious notice, not like Ranma's own Silent Thief technique, but somehow similar. If anything, Ghost's was a little better, since it also muted sound as well.
Outwardly he frowned. "Very well, that's a point Jon. Arya, we'll send them to Rickard." Ranma wasn't about to mention his wife here, none of them could figure out how the Freys would react to that bit of news, and were not willing to tempt it.
Moments later, Fenris and Nymeria were streaking back to the army, and Ranma turned to Aenys. "There, now, show us to Lord Frey. We have much to talk about."
Ranma looked around, frowning slightly. For some reason this place felt odd. The armsmen strutted around the place like they owned it, while the servants scurried everywhere, eyes darting this way and that. As they entered the keep, Ranma kept looking around, his frown deepening. "What is it?" Jon murmured out of the corner of his mouth as the two of them led the wolfsworn down the corridor.
"I don't know." Ranma said honestly, "it's just a feeling I guess."
"This place does, well…" Dacey paused thinking of the correct word. "It feels mean if that makes any sense."
"That's part of it, I suppose. And the fact they don't seem to like to have a lot of light in here, but I haven't seen a single made or out woman at all." Hathan said, looking around. Indeed, the central keep had no murder holes on the first floor, and very few torches to make up for it. Once the door of the keep closed behind them, with an ominously final sort of thump if Ranma was any judge, the darkness of the hall was very apparent.
"If we were besieging the place and had come to talk peace that would've been normal." Edd replied, keeping his voice low. "So either they've heard about… recent events and are just trying to spring a trap, or its normal for the maids to do their best to be invisible."
"Perhaps Black Walder wasn't the only one who took liberties with them." Arya growled, one hand touching Fang's hilt, her eyes glinting dangerously.
"Easy little sister." Ranma's voice barely carried to her let alone anyone who might be trying to listen in as they continued down the corridor after Aenys. "I've a feeling we'll be getting some answers on that score soon enough."
The group ascended a flight of stairs, noticing all the while how dark and forbidding the keep seemed to be at present. With every step Ranma became more certain that this darkness was simply the way the castle was kept normally rather than for their benefit. Even at places where there were murder holes letting in light the light didn't lighten the atmosphere.
Several moments more of walking down another corridor found them in front of two large oaken doors. Aenys pushed them open, bowing the northerners in. It seems to be the dining hall of the castle which doubled as the lord's receiving hall, much like the one in Winterfell. On either side wall were large tapestries, which covered both walls from one end of the room to the other. Most of the tables had been removed except for one which had been pushed into the center of the hall directly in front of the large black oaken chair in which old Walder sat. On the tables was a small plate of bread and dipping sauce, with two bottle of wine.
Walder looked ancient and brittle as he sat on a chair that was much larger than his shrunken frame. He was also bald and toothless and his skin looked as white as parchment and just as fragile. He wore expensive looking silks and there was a small circlet of gold on his forehead. It was almost but not quite like a crown, which told you a lot about the man by itself, let alone everything else that Ranma had learned about his family.
On either side of the man were armed and armored knights, their greatswords grounded in front of them, but their helmets off. There seemed to only be Old Walder, his two guards and Aenys in the room, but Ranma wasn't about to believe that. Nonetheless he led the wolfsworn through the hall, marching along the long dining tables length until they all stood to one side of it right in front of Old Walder. "Lord Frey." he said nodding his head slightly.
"So the Young Wolf has come south with the rest of his northern friends and an army behind them to save his grandfather's realm from the war that his own father began. How sweet, house silly and naïve. I note it is a much smaller army than I would have thought even the North could muster." The old man said condescendingly, his voice thin but sharp. "Did you somehow lose the rest of it? And where exactly is my great-grandson, oh and his father I suppose, fat fool that he is. But where are my manners, please eat, drink, we have much to talk about."
Ghost had taken one sniff of the food by the table and shook his head, before gliding around the table, unnoticed somehow by any there. Jon turned, as if looking at an image on the tapestry, subtly shaking his head at the others, who obeyed, none of them reaching for the food on the table.
" The rest of my army is none of your concern, nor will I break bread with you just yet." Ranma reposted coldly. "What is, is that I speak with my grandfather's voice. I am his deputy, to act as I see fit to get his heir, my uncle back and protect his kingdom. Your son Black Walder said you wanted to speak to us, here I am. Now will you bend the knee, and join with us, or not?" Even as he asked that his eyes were scanning the hall, the rest of the wolfsworn ready for action despite their easy nature. "As to Black Walder, where is your other son Stevron? As I understood it, he was an honorable man."
"Honor!" The old man spat as if it was a curse. "The only honor that matters boy, is the duty to family, that and the ambition needed to grasp every advantage you can to make your family more powerful. Stevron never understood that, believing too much in honor and oaths rather than blood and power! He never understood that an oath of fealty was never worth anything unless the one given it could enforce his words, and it has been some time since Hoster could do that."
"So you say you want me to bend the knee, you give me hard words and demands, calling on my honor! Well, the Lannisters have offered me the Lord Paramount seat of all the Riverlands. Can you offer anything even remotely like that? Of course that is a mere promise for the future, not a solid gain. I understand you're unmarried so far. I have many a beautiful daughter, and the marriage would be something far more solid than a promise from the Lannisters."
"I'm already married." Ranma said smiling grimly, delighting in the slightly widened eyes of all four Frey men. "And even if I wasn't I would not marry a Frey. You're grasping too much Old Walder, too ambitious and too unscrupulous. I would never help your family along in its ambitions, or pair my own with yours. I say again, will you bend the knee to your lawful Lord Paramount's orders and follow me?"
"I think not." The old man said setting his cup of wine down sharply, banging it on the armrest of his chair twice. To both sides of the hallway the tapestries came down, revealing small alcoves there with archers pointing their bows at the wolfsworn. No, I think that the Lannisters will truly make good their promise if I can hand them your head, boy. Did you honestly think I wouldn't know what had happened between your army and my grandson's? How arrogant of you, and to think you could come here and make demands on my honor? Hah!"
Actually Old Walder had never intended to parley fairly with the men who had smashed his field force and killed his son and grandson. Oh, if the North had offered something substantial he would have overlooked it, Black Walder and his father were not his favorites among his brood, for different reasons admittedly, and the men with them weren't family so mattered nothing to him. He had even baited the trap further, making it seem as if he hadn't heard from a few survivors of the battle what had occurred by not moving himself to the castle on the other side of the Green Fork.
Ranma raised an eyebrow his hands not anywhere near Ice where it was strapped on his back, one hand simply resting at the edge of the long table, as if he entirely at ease. "We came here under token of parley." he said simply. "Breaking that is almost as bad as breaking guest right, you would be denounced by any right thinking soul for this."
"Again just words boy, I told you the only honor that matters is that to the family. Everything else is but a tool. You offered me nothing but hard edged commands, you thought honor would be enough!" Old Walder spat the word again. "Whereas the Lannisters offered me a seat of power and gold for your head. No choice there for 'any right thinking soul'."
"I suppose from your perspective that might be right, but you know what, there's something about me you seem to have forgotten. Now!" he shouted suddenly, lifting up the giant oaken table with one hand before hurling it at the archers on the far side of the table. Ghost, who had been already waiting by the nearer wall, leaped on the archers on that side of the room. Jon, Dacey and Arya charged after him, dodging arrows or blocking with their shields, moving faster than any man there could believe, cutting the men down. Eddy and Hathan sprinted over to the men who had been smashed to the ground by the table, finishing them off quickly.
The two guards had already pulled up their greatswords to the guard position when the tapestries fell, but it didn't really help them. Roger and Smalljon barreled forward into them. Roger's axe came up in a wicked arc, blocking his opponent's blade and smashing it up and away from his body, opening the man up for Roger's next blow, which crunched into his side, cutting through his armor and side with equal ease.
Smalljon locked blades with his opponent, pushing back at the other man's two handed grip with his own, slightly shorter blade held in one hand. Then he reached forward, grabbing the other man's neck right above his gorget and ripping it out with fingers of iron. The man collapsed, dropping his blade as both hands went to his neck, vainly trying to stop his life's blood from escaping.
One hand negligently holding Aenys still where the man had tried to bolt for the door, Ranma kept his eyes locked on Old Walder's throughout the carnage. When it was over for the moment, he leaned forward. "You seem to think I'm an idiot old man. I knew I couldn't trust you, by the old gods even though I wanted to give you one last chance, I knew you wouldn't go for it, in fact I counted on it. All you did trying to set this ambush rather than fight my army on your walls is let the wolf into the sheep's pen. I tore apart the Mountain that Rode old fool, and I'll do the same to the Twins."
"You'll never get out of here alive! I have over a thousand men here!" Old Walder blustered, but his eyes showed how terrified he was right now. "Even if you use me as a hostage, there are enough children and grandchildren of mine who would like to see me dead that won't work!"
Ranma shrugged. "That's nice, but I never wanted you as a hostage. As for the number of men you have, well I didn't have anything better to do today. You should have listened to that blasted wolves of winter song old man, this won't be the first castle I've fought my way out of."
At that point Jon and Ghost moved over to join Ranma. Jon whispered into Ranma's ear a moment, causing him to nod. "Is that the only entrance into this room?" he asked Old Walder.
The old man didn't answer, and Ranma reached forward, grabbing Walder's, palsied arm and placing his thumb over the veins on his inner arm. "I'm going to ask you again, is that the only door into this room?"
Outside the alarm had already begun to spread, apparently the guards outside the door had enough sense to spread the word rather than just charge in. The rest of the wolfsworn moved over to take position by the doorway, waiting grimly.
The old man didn't say anything, but his pulse gave him away. "Search for some kind of hidden passage!" Ranma shouted to the others.
It was Arya and Ghost who found the hidden door, much like it had been Ghost that gave Jon the idea there might be one in the first place. Arya followed Ghost who seemed to be trying to figure out where the slight breath of air was coming from, pulling at the sconces of the torches as she went, figuring those were the most obvious place to put a secret lever.
Turned out she was right, and the two of them had gotten to the far right-hand corner when the sconce pulled forward out of the wall. The wall directly to its left began to move slightly, opening just wide enough for a man to enter. "Found it." she said shaking her head.
Ranma frowned, thinking then shrugged and was about to issue orders but at that moment the door to the dining hall burst open. Dozen or armsmen charged through only to be met by the wolfsworn. The first to meet them was Edd. His spear with its heavy, leaf shaped head took the first man in the gut before he pulled it out quickly twirling it around like a staff, blocking two swords and then smashing one man off his feet with the end before turning quickly and chopping another man's leg off with the side of his spearhead just below the knee.
To his side Daryn danced forward, dueling with five men at once with his longsword. His shield flicked out smashing into one trooper's shield throwing him into one of his fellows disrupting that man's footing just enough for Daryn's sword to take him in the throat. He pulled back quickly, ducked under another blow from a man wielding a flail of all things, running him through. He then smashed the side of his shield into another man's face cutting it open before the man could bring his own sword to bear.
Dacey, Smalljon and Roger went about their work with brisk efficiency, protecting their friend's back and killing ten men in the next few moments with an ease that was frightening. Ranma, his siblings and Ghost didn't even have time to join their friends at the door that first group of men were down, or running away in terror.
Ranma smirked looking back at Old Walder, who looked almost ready to pass himself in fear after seeing that display. "Smalljon, grab this old sack of shit. I don't want him to die, not yet, he needs to stand trial for breaking his oath to my grandfather, as well as anything else we decide to stick on, including breaking right of parley." Ignoring Smalljon's only half humorous mutter of 'why do I have to be the one to carry people, get someone else to do it' Ranma addressed the rest of his friends. "Follow me. We make for the Gates, we open the portcullis and the rest of the army should be ready to move again."
With that Ranma led the rest of them out into the corridor, Hathan beside him. At every turn of the corridor, at every doorway in the corridor they faced opposition small and large. Most of this came in the form of armsmen, but one or two servants also attacked them, though why was in question.
They all fell regardless. It was simple butchery for the most part. Imagine Special Forces taking on a group of high school bullies and it would be close. Like Arya had said, the Frey men had never been a part of an actual war before, or even skirmishes with bandits. They were well equipped, but most of the knights and armsmen hadn't even been to tourneys. The wolfsworn went through them like a hot knife through butter.
The only serious threat came when one of the Freys organized a defense at the far end of the first floor corridor consisting of several dozen archers behind a shield wall of four knights. The archers were already aiming at them as the wolfsworn bulled their way down the last staircase, several more defenders retreating in front of them.
While Hathan and Roger cleared out the last of the group they had been fighting Ranma bounded over their heads, clanking off the corridor's roof, landing on the other side. He was immediately taken under fire, but he smacked the arrows away, his hand toughened by his armor strengthening technique for a moment as he bounded forward. The men frantically tried to fire again, getting off one or two shots each. Most of those shots went wide, the men not taking the time to actually aim before Ranma was on them.
Ice sliced through one shield into the knight's body as Ranma landed, his weight crashing down on one of the archers. Ice then skewered another archer, splashing his fellows with his blood as Ranma kicked out, sending two men to the floor. The archers try to run for it, but couldn't get away from him and he cut them all down, along with the knights who had been supposed to protect them. This seemed to buy them some time, since no further attack appeared yet.
Eddy joined him, resting on his spear for a moment. "You now we'll have to open the other keep as well right? If not, the ones in there can hold out against us, and that Water Tower on the bridge is also going to cause issues."
"I know." Ranma said grimly. "That was what made the Twins such a fantastic defensive position, almost as good as Riverrun. It was two castles in one, with each castle being on a different side of a massive river that didn't have any nearby ways across. You could only get at one after taking the other then moving across the bridge where you would be under fire for the majority of your assault.
He looked over at the others, smiling as he saw Smalljon carrying Old Walder along under one arm like a sack of potatoes, old man's finery now splashed with the blood of the men he had thought could protect him. Taking a quick glance around, Ranma nodded. All of the wolfsworn were dinged up a little, cuts and bruises here and there, but nothing serious, not yet. And his endurance training was definitely paying off for them all, since none of them, even Arya, looked winded just yet.
Nodding he came to a decision. "Arya, Roger, Jon, take the gate and open it for the rest of the army. Smalljon you know what you need to do."
"I know and I'm not happy about it." Smalljon growled. "At least this one out will make a good shield against arrows as I run away though." He said shaking Old Walder in his grip.
"You're dead, you're all dead! Do you hear me!" Old Walder yelled. "You'll never get out of the Twins alive!"
Arya laughed coldly. "You haven't yet come up with anything that can stop us old fool, I wonder how many of your sons are going to die because of your lack of honor before the end of the day."
That was harsh but true Ranma reflected while Jon led his group off. Normally Ranma would have felt sympathy for a father who would be forced to outlive his son, but it had been obvious by the way he talked about as Stevron's death that he didn't really care about them as individuals, merely as pawns to enhance his house's power. "The rest of us." he said aloud turning to his own now much smaller team. "Are going to take out that tower, and open the other keep. We race straight across, don't stop, if we stop they'll simply pepper us full of arrows."
"What about the tower?" Dacey asked. "Are we going to leave that in our rear? I have to tell you, you may be able to dodge arrows, but the rest of us can't."
"I have plans for that. Wait for me to cross, then follow me." Ranma said smirking a little and flexing his fingers. Thank you Ryoga, all those times you use that damned move on me allowed me to learn it. Now I'm going to put it to a hell of a lot better use than you ever did pig-boy.
For a time they followed the other group, not running into much more combat since Jon and his band had taken out most of the defenders in their way already. After clearing a group of twenty men formed up by the doorway the two groups finally split. Ranma's broke off as they got out into the courtyard of the castle, racing to one side where the bridge arced out of the courtyard, defended on this side by a gatehouse, though the gate on this side had yet to be closed. Hathan and Dacey paused a moment in the gatehouse to make certain it wouldn't be closed in the future, while Ranma raced out onto the bridge.
Immediately he came under fire both from the walls of the castle above him and the Water Tower in the center of the expanse. Running forward he soon was close enough for the men manning the walls of the second castle to fire on him as well. Both groups however seemed slightly undermanned in comparison to the fire from the castle on the eastern side of the Green Fork. Apparently Old Walder had anticipated some trouble from the rest of the army after taking Ranma out of the equation.
Ranma dodged or ignored the arrows coming his way, racing across the bridge. He passed by the tower's right side, touching it with a gentle finger and intoned under his breath "Bakusai Tenketsu!" Suddenly the exterior of the tower where he touched it exploded inwards, the stone shattering for several feet in either direction as if it had been smashed by a large trebuchet shot.
Shouts and cries of dismay echoed throughout the tower and the arrows from the tower stopped, but Ranma went on with his grim business, shaking slightly. Funneling his ki into the rock to shatter it had taken almost as much out of him as firing a Moko Takabashi did in this world. I wonder why I can armor weapons and myself in ki, but can't press it into stone or extend it far from my body here? Something to think about another day. Ranma moved on touching the tower's outer wall several more times destroying that entire side of the tower.
Without that structural support the other three sides of the tower could into sustaining its weight, and it began to list badly. That worsened dramatically as Ranma went on, now only taking fire from the second castle, the Water Tower's wall blocking him from fire from the eastern side's castle. He grimly finished destroying another few segments of the towers wall, then watched as it began to collapse, falling to one side and over the edge of the bridge. At the impact with the rest of the bridge the tower's top began to crumble, taking many of the men with it into the depths of the mighty Green Fork far below.
Ranma jumped up over the small amount of rubble left from the tower's base, hiding there for a moment as he rested, almost utterly exhausted for a moment before standing up again. This battle wasn't over just yet. He saw his friends racing toward him, now holding a large segment of the oaken door that had fronted the bridges exit on that side of the Twins.
Arrows flew, but with Hathan and Dacey carrying the oak door, all four of them were able to get across the bridge safely, with only Roger taking an arrow to the side. His plate armor however defeated it, the range not low enough for the less powerful bow used here in the Riverlands to punch through.
Ranma joined them, taking cover behind the door and moving with them across the second half of the bridge. When they arrived at the portcullis on the other side, he raised Ice, its Valyrian steel gleaming with blue gold fire. "RAAH!" With a tinging sound the metal of the portcullis was sundered, and Hathan and Eddy reached forward, pushing it aside, while Ranma raced on, cutting through the interior door with as much ease.
It fell inwards, and Ranma lead the rest of the wolfsworn in roaring. "Winter is coming, traitors!"
OOOOOOO
Daenerys and Rickard were waiting with the rest of the Army. Ostensibly Daenerys was in charge, but she had learned over the past few weeks that her position at this point relied heavily on Ranma most particularly where it came to commanding the troops. It was not something that she particularly liked, but she was willing to put up with it for now. It did after all come with quite a few advantages… Despite the seriousness of the moment that thought nearly caused her to smile, but she didn't allow it just yet.
She heard a deep, basso rumble to her left. Looking to that side she saw Fenris and Nymeria stand up from where they had been lying to either side of her little ones. She took a moment just then to muse on the odd way the dragons and direwolves got on so well. Fenris she could understand, he had been around them since they hatched, and seemed to enjoy the big brother position just as much as Ranma did. Ghost, Summer and Nymeria though, their reactions were harder to explain. She discounted Shaggydog, since that one was decidedly unfriendly to anyone not of Stark or pack blood.
It was actually very simple, though it was based off how animals naturally thought in the wild merged with how the direwolves and draklings had been changed by their bonds to her and the Starks. In the wild, normal wolves and bears could coexist on the same hunting ground, not really competing for food or dens. Of course, direwolves did compete with bears all of the direwolves thought bears were delicious eating, and it would never do for another animal to think it was king of the forests. That was the reason why they were all willing to at least be neutral to the dragons. Dragons in the wild would not care about territory, and would not naturally feed on wolves unless there was no easier game.
This was combined with the fact that Daenerys was mate of the pack alpha Ranma and therefore pack herself. And since she, Ranma and Fenris all treated the draklings as pack, they were pack. Very odd pack-mates who preferred to fly rather than run, but that was okay. At least neither of them had the temper Shaggydog had somehow developed, and were well aware of pack hierarchy.
Daenerys laid a gentle hand on Fenris' neck. "What is it, Fenris?" The direwolf turned to her growling low under his throat and looking back at the Twins. Nymeria almost knocked Daenerys over, as she moved around the rousing draklings, rumbling slightly in her throat before turning back to look at the Twins. Daenerys rubbed her neck gently, while looking speculatively at the Twins, before looked at Rickard. "I think Lord Karstark you should start getting the men ready. Judging by Fenris and Nymeria reaction, what little chance of diplomacy winning out has failed."
Rickard scowled slightly at the Targaryen girl giving him an order directly like that, but couldn't fault her tone or words. And the direwolves did seem to be agitated… their connection to the Starks wasn't something Rickard looked too deeply into, but he knew it was there. So instead he simply nodded brusquely before moving off to do that very thing.
A tense hour followed then the noise of battle began to sound out into the morning air. The sound of shouting and alarms could barely be heard from here, but it was evident that Ranma and the rest of the wolfsworn were doing their bit. Daenerys stared at the castle, her eyes searching, then smiled grimly when the portcullis of the castle opened. She turned to Fenris, only to find him and Nymeria gone. She looked back at the castle and saw the two of them streaking along the ground faster than any natural wolf could move, with Fenris in the lead, his fur glowing slightly in the sun.
A moment later Smalljon raced out, some kind of bundle on his back. Rickard looked at Daenerys but she held up a hand, telling him to wait. Instead she turned to where her two draklings sat on the ground nearby hidden from sight by the same tent that obscured most of her own position. With a mental command she sent Sunfyre into the air, and he flew over the retreating a Smalljon.
Shouts of shock and fear went up from the walls of the Twins as they saw the dragon in the air, and more than a few archers tried to fire on it. But at the height he was flying Sunfyre could see their arrows coming and dodged them easily. He was also within range to hear what the old man-thing on the large bearded man-thing was shouting. Daenerys, riding his mind heard them too, and it was all she could do to stifle another giggle as Old Walder Frey kept on shouting. "Don't fire, don't fire!"
"Smalljon is coming back to us with a prisoner, I think we can take it as a given that you should begin your attack Lord Karstark." Daenerys said formally, while her other hand motioned to Rhaegon to join his brother in the air. Controlling both of them was somewhat difficult, but she had gotten used to it over the past few months.
The dragons flew in, staying well outside accurate bow range, flying easily away from the few scorpion bolts that came from the towers towards them, then breathed out there fire down at the defenders. The fire was more like a ball than a sheet of flame however. In point of fact they couldn't fly close enough to get any of the defenders without coming into effective bow range, but that was all right. They were mere distractions at the moment.
The real attack thundered forward on the hooves of the northern light cavalry, led by heavy cavalry men of house Manderly and Karstark and followed quickly by the rest of the Army that Ranma had led to Twins shouting the "North, the North, the King in the North!"
OOOOOOO
Ranma and his group had barreled forward into the western castle, facing somewhat tougher opposition here since the men were fully prepared. But there weren't many of them, so while it slowed the wolfsworn down somewhat, they were still making good progress.
Hathan, Daryn and Dacey guarded Ranma and Eddy's back as the two of them lead the assault, breaking through every defense they faced. Edd's eyes were wild, almost bloodshot as he charged on roaring incoherently. Edd had several new bruises, even an arrow in the meat of his side but he just kept moving, his spear flickering out with speed and power. Looking at him Ranma decided that the ice giant's club had knocked something loose in his friend. Where before he fought similarly to Daryn, with finesse and a slight bit of flair, now he fought like a berserker.
Soon they had cleared the entire barbican, then broke out onto the walls. The archers on them quickly retreated back into the towers behind them, and the way was clear. Across the bridge they could see the rest of the army had stormed into the castle on that side. The light cavalry continued on the moment they saw the portcullis to the bridge open on this side. After them came the infantry and archers, who fought their way up onto the walls and from there into the interior of the keeps.
"I want no wholesale butchery!" Ranma shouted continuously as he moved to join the men assaulting the second keep, whose door was still closed.
The men who heard him nodded in acknowledgement, but kept their shields up. They were still taking arrows from the keep after all. This fire soon faded when another force of archers had taken a position on the walls. They slowly began to overwhelm the defenders fire from that equal vantage point.
Ranma took up position at the head of the assault, still shouting orders. "No rape! No butchery! If anyone kills a servant save in self-defense or molests a servant or Frey girl, I will gut that man and string up their entrails up for the entire army to see! Understood?"
They'll shouted back at that the understood, and Ranma turned, raising a fist and slamming it down onto the keep's door shattering it with a single blow before reaching back over his shoulder to pull Ice out of its sheath once more. Around him his friends pushed their way into the fore, and followed him in, joining him in the shout: "Winter is coming!"
With the courtyard under their control, the attackers now were clearing out the keeps on both side of the river. Jon and Rickard led the assault on one side, with Daenerys staying back in the camp with her dragons, now unneeded as decoys, and a few others.
On the fifth floor of the western keep Ranma rested for a moment against a wall, now really feeling the effects of using the Bakusai Tenketsu. In that moment of silence he could tell the battle was starting to die down. However he soon was called up to the front by Dacey's voice. "Um, Ranma, we have a bit of a situation here!"
Ranma groaned, but pushed off the wall and moved to join her. He found her standing in front of a door, motioning most of the other men with them at that point on. Some of them went reluctantly, a few men even looking as if they were about to attack Dacey, but Ranma's appearance made them turn away. Seeing that odd reaction Ranma had an idea of what they had found but asked anyway.
"I can hear children and women's voices in here." Dacey confirmed, her eyes locked on a few of the men who were moving past them. "What should we do?"
"Let's find out if this is the entirety of the children and women in the castle first." Ranma boldly broke open the door and moved inside then his hand flashed out to knee level to grab a sword aimed at his knee by a young boy of about twelve or so. He pulled it out of the boy's startled grip easily, holding it by the blade between thumb and forefinger. "Oh no, it's a midget with a sword, or no sword now. So, what're you going to do now kid?"
The boy got over his shock quickly. He tried to kick Ranma's leg, only to hop around in agony after his toes met Ranma's calf. "Yeah, you're not the first person to make that mistake."
Ranma watched him hop around a moment, looking around the room. There were about fifteen kids of various ages, most of them boys, with six young girls all seemingly younger than eleven or so. All of them were looking fearful when he entered, but seeing him not strike out at the boy with the sword they were beginning to calm down.
He went down on one knee in front of the boy, looking at him, smiling slightly. "So, what's your name midget, or should I just call ya 'Hoppy'?"
The youngster glared at him, but answered readily. "I'm Luke Frey, and I won't let you hurt any of my younger sisters or brothers!"
"Good attitude there Luke, but I think you need some instruction on how to use a sword first. Tell you what, why don't I leave Dacey here, she'll help you guard your siblings okay?"
"She?" Luke asked, turning to stare up at Dacey, who smirked down at him. "But, but women can't be warriors, they aren't strong enough."
Dacey smiled tapping the tabard she was wearing. "I'm from House Mormont lad. The women of my house have all been trained as warriors for generations."
Some of the boys and girls now crept closer, apparently made courageous by hearing a woman's voice despite Dacey's armored body and the blood splattered on her. Indeed, both she and Ranma were covered in gore but the children didn't seem to realize what they were seeing.
One of the girls, a pretty nine year old girl who wore a dress that looked more in keeping with a much older girl of Alayaya's former profession came forward. "Please sir, um… ma'am? Um, could you tell us what's going on?"
Ranma tugged at his ponytail for a moment, thinking how to explain this, then spoke. "Well, my name is Ranma Stark, my grandfather is Lord Hoster Tully, do any of you know who that is?" The older children all nodded, and Ranma nodded back. "My grandfather is in trouble, some bad golden haired people, the Lannisters are attacking the Riverlands, but he's so old he can't lead his men against them, so he sent for me."
To his surprise Luke spoke up then, his eyes and face much more serious than they had been when he had been looking at Dacey. "I heard something about that, great uncle Stev and Oly were arguing with some of our other uncles and grandfathers about it…" His face clouded over. "After that, I went to see if Oly would continue to train me, but I was told he was gone, and not to ask more."
Ranma nodded seriously, reaching forward to ruffle Luke's hair, and decided to tell them flat out, in terms they would understand, but he wasn't going to lie to them or try to come up with a fairy tale to tell them. "Well I came here to talk to your family and get its help when I march further south, but… your family should have been loyal to my grandfather, but Old Walder and most of the rest of your family were poisoned by their own ambition, because the Lannisters promised them a lot or gold and other things for their support. Black Walder…"
He stopped as the girl flinched, as did a few others of similar age. Right then if he could he would have resurrected Black just to kill him again with a rusty knife. "He admitted that Stevron was killed for saying House Frey shouldn't back the Lannisters. There might have been others similarly removed as well, and I'd guess this Oly would have been one of them. He and his men tried to attack me and my men, but we beat them back, and Black Walder is dead, along with his father."
Not a single child in that room looked anything but relieved at that, and Ranma found himself once again contemplating necromancy and various methods of slow, painful death. "Because of that and other crimes, when your great grandfather tried to capture me and my friends after letting us in under flag of parley, I was forced to attack them."
The boy closed his eyes tightly, fighting back tears for a moment, while a few of the other children began to cry quietly. Ranma rubbed Luke's head again, then gently handed the boy back his blade, a short sword of excellent quality, whose edge was equally good.
The boy looked down at the sword in his hand in shock then at Ranma, who still was down on one knee in front of him. After a moment he asked. "Please, sir, what's going to happen to us?"
"I won't lie to you Luke, I came here fully intention to punish your family if Old Walder didn't agree to follow me, and that was only made more certain when we were attacked under flag of parley. The Twins are going to be destroyed, and your family name erased." He went on hurriedly as Luke and the girl looked horrified. "But that doesn't mean anything will happen to you or the rest of the kids. In fact, you all might have the chance to earn your own names in time."
That won Ranma some odd looks, but he went on, his voice deliberately upbeat. "After all, you can't be held accountable for the old guy's actions can you? And I bet some of you have thought about being, oh, a sailor or a blacksmith or a dressmaker?"
At that some of the younger kids to clamor, all of them shouting out what they had wished to be at one point or another. One girl even proudly stated that she wanted to be a painter, and boldly pushed her way forward to take Ranma's arm and lead him over to where she had some paint supplies. She had painted a pretty darn good tree, thought the Forest Folk in its branches were obviously her imagination at work.
After Ranma exclaimed over her talent, telling her she could surely get an apprenticeship with an artist somewhere, Ranma turned back to Luke. "That is for the future. For now though, can I trust you to keep your siblings safe, Luke?"
Luke nodded firmly. "Yes sir."
"Good, but I'll still leave Dacey here to help you. If any of you are hungry or anything tell Dacey, and she'll send a runner for some food for you." With that, and a final ruffle of Luke's hair, Ranma nodded to a faintly smirking Dacey and left the room.
As soon as he was out in the corridor, Ranma shook his head. "What a fucked up situation this is."
OOOOOOO
The sun was high in the sky as smoke rose from the Twins. Ranma and Daenerys stood in the courtyard of the eastern castle with a few of his friends. Lord Rickard, Domeric and Jon were absent, seeing to the counting and distribution of the treasury of the Twins. All told, the Freys looked to have kept on hand almost as much money as House Stark did as an emergency fund. Even with the fifteen percent that would be divided out to the men who took part in the battle, it was a huge amount to add to their ready funds.
Ranma's portion as commander would be enough to pay the wages of the troops for a year, or for the entirety of the little project he could envision down the road. That didn't even count the goods, worked items and tapestries, all of which added at least half again to the amount they had in actual coinage.
Right now however neither Ranma nor Daenerys were thinking that far in the future. They had enough problems to deal with right now. "How many?" Ranma asked incredulously staring at Edd.
Edd scowled angrily. "We found something like forty women of various ages, not including the servants. Well I say women, some of them are about twelve or so, and three of those are already pregnant! One of them claimed that she slept with Old Walder recently, and seemed proud of it! Two of them were servants daughters, and couldn't say no when one of the Freys came calling."
Arya turned abruptly. "Excuse me, I'm going to go killed that old sack of shit now, slowly."
Smalljon grabbed her shoulder while Ranma shook his head. "I like the sentiment little sister, but it needs to happen in the proper order. How many of the girls are of marriageable age, real marriageable age I mean?"
"Half or so." Eddie said after a moment's thought. There's several of them that are quite pretty, but a handful have already begun trying to opportune some of the men, it seems a learned move on their part. One or two of them haven't, and they're angry and rather arrogant shouting imprecations at the guards constantly saying we'll pay for this, that their family had friends in high places and in the rest of the Riverlands that will come to avenge this insult, that kind of shit. Roger and Daryn are down there now guarding them. While I trust most of our men, well…"
That was a good move, Ranma reflected. Roger was a married man and knew for certain that his wildling wife would cut off his balls and use them as a purse if he touched another girl, while Daryn had recently married his childhood sweetheart. Moreover, the army had received a raven from House Hornwood at the Moat while Ranma and his siblings had been heading forward to talk to the blockade force, saying that Alys was already pregnant. So they would be able to ignore any offers the Frey girls sent their way.
Ranma ran one hand through his hair, tugging at his ponytail in thought. "Any further trouble with the youngster?"
"No, though its disturbing only four of the women came forward to claim being mother of this or that child, and all of them looked younger than twenty." Eddy shook his head. "The women here, especially those married to Old Walder, die quickly, worn out by childbirth apparently."
"In your opinion," Ranma went on still tugging at his ponytail. "Are those young unmarried girls and married women going to be a problem? And by problem I mean try to rally support from the small folk around here?"
"I don't think we need to worry about the smallfolk my Lord." Alayaya said from where she had set out food for them all on a table brought out of the keep, her face set in grimmer lines than most there had seen it. "I talked to the servants, and… House Frey did not so much rule its servants as prey upon them. Oh there were one or two that didn't but they were a drop against a rain storm, and even that ended with Stevron's death. However, House Frey is connected to several other noble houses and House Charlton on the other side of the river is beholden to them, much like the Knightly Houses you've already dealt with. And the smallfolk elsewhere on their lands might see things differently for a time, until the ones who were employed here begin to spread their stories."
"Thank you Alayaya." Ranma said smiling at her. Even in a simple Castle like this, the former whore's ability to speak to servants in a manner as a friend was much better than Brynden's ability to discover information on his own.
Ranma had already decided that the two of them would split Master of Whispers duties in the future. Brynden would be head of the army's division of that, it being a bit of a specialty of his from his time in the Ninepenny Kings War, and would handle the rural areas and the Lords. Alayaya on the other hand would handle all the cities, villages and towns and the small folk therein. It would take time of course, a lot of it, for the two of them to build up networks equal to that of the current Master of Whispers but Ranma was confident that once piece came they would be able to do it.
"What about the children, how many boys and girls?" Daenerys asked thoughtfully.
"About eleven boys of various ages from three to twelve, and six girls ages four to eleven." Ranma replied from memory. At that moment Cley walked up, looking a little green around the edges. Ranma moved over to him, clasping the youngster to him with one arm. "You alright, Cley?"
"I'll all be fines milo-er, I mean Ranma." The boy stuttered, Ranma having been very clear that despite being his ward he wanted Cley to address him as Ranma rather than Sir or Lord. "I mean it's just, it's just all the bodies, the bits, the blood, and the smell!" His stories never mentioned the smell!
Just thinking about it seemed to cause Cley to go even greener, and Ranma rubbed his back. "I know Cley. Bards tales and all those who think that war is so glorious never really look at the battlefield after a battle. If they did, they'd know the only honor worth anything is surviving, and there's no glory to have."
The boy nodded against his stomach, and Daenerys looked around. "We need to figure out what to do, both with the prisoners and with House Frey as a whole. Talk to the servants again Alayaya. If any can point out specific armsmen or surviving Freys, as the ones to commit specific crimes, ask them to do so and we'll see justice done."
Ranma nodded. "For now, round all the prisoners up, and get them out of the Castle. I want everyone out. Put the armsmen under guard somewhere. Keep Old Walder and the surviving Freys away from their armsmen. Move the kids out of the eastern castle down the road a ways, I bet Dacey and you, Arya, can convince them it's a campout or something for now."
As Eddy and the others left, Ranma turned to Daenerys. "What do you think we should do about the womenfolk? I already know what I want to do about the kids. I hadn't really thought of them, but I refuse to just kill them out of hand! Whatever their father or grandfather or whatever fuck relation they are to Old Walder, the children at least are innocent."
Daenerys nodded, though inwardly she felt that was rather naïve. Children as young as nine could kill after all. But Ranma was also right in that they could not blame the children for the sins of the father brother whatever. "We've already had one talk along such lines. I would not condone such for the children in any event." she said nodding her head. "As for the women, I have an idea there as well, but first we need to speak to them as well as the servants. We need to deal out justice here, not blind reprisals."