OOOOOOO
The next day dawned bright and cheery despite the bloodshed and carnage that had occurred the night before. Jon sat on the parapet right over the keep's gateway,Ghost curled up next to him as Jonhoned the edge of one of his short swords, thinking hard about what he had heard from the prisoners he had 'interrogated'. The news that even with House Blackwood having pulled their men back to Raventree Hall months back, there was still groups raiding the Lannister supply lines was excellent, as was the timing of his raid in one way, having taken Wayfarers Rest right before another convoy was due to go out.
It had explained both why there were so many supplies here, and the number of men the Lannisters had kept here. The losses among his own troops had been severe, sixty of the archers dead, along with two hundred mountain men and seventy-seven men of House Grell, not even counting the hundreds of wounded. He had barely three hundred men fit to defend this place.
That bit about a few of the raiders wearing Stark colors was interesting. Jon wondered if they were survivors of the men that his father had sent out with the force under Lord Dondarrion and the Red Priest to destroy the bandits raiding along the Westerlands and Riverlands border. Still, my job isn't to hunt them down and see if they would like to join up with us, my job is to hold Wayfarer's Rest. That might be a tall order in the long run if Tywin responds too quickly to Ranma's strategy and sends enough men back to reclaim this place.
Still, we've got that group of Westerlands stoneworkers here, and I bet they'd be willing to work for us if we promised to pay them and, you know, not torture them. Jon smirked remembering the act he and Ghost had put on early that morning. Indeed they will probably be most eager to work for us. And I don't see any of them trying to bargain a price for their services.
A moment later, Jon's thoughts turned somber. If the worst occurs I want that outer wall at least partially completed everywhere along its length, and enough stones brought in to close the entrance to the keep entirely. We've got enough supplies to last out a siege, we just need to make sure that the defenses are up to that task as well. And, I want to start building some catapults too. That way even if Tywin simply retreats down the pass unwilling to get bogged down in a siege here we'll still be her able to hurt his army.
Jon stood up, staring to the north and east. He wondered what was going on out there, wondered if Ranma had bitten off too much than even he could chew and a dozen other things that could affect not only what occurred here, but the course of the war in general.
Ghost bumped his head against Jon side from where he was laid out next to him. Jon nodded understanding the message and turned resolutely towards the staircase down from the keep's crown. He had work to do.
OOOOOOO
Stannis had not been pushing his army very hard from the moment they set out from Duskendale. For one thing, the troops he had taken off of the royal navy's war galleys needed training in land tactics and fighting in larger groups. Devoting half the day to that training of course slowed the army down. It time was well spent though, since even now only two weeks out from Duskendale their progress in their training was visible. They could now hold a decent shield wall at least in practice, and obeyed orders rather well.
He had also taken the time to begin building siege equipment near Duskendale. The further towards King's Landing you got, the less there was woods from this direction. He wouldn't have the ready source of timber that a force coming up from the south would have in the Kingswood. When this had first been ordered however, several of his lords had protested.
Stannis had replied stating, "I want us to move slowly, I want the Lannisters and Renly to soften one another up for us. We do not have the numbers necessary to take the combined Reach and Stormlands army my lords, but Renly is no general. I have no doubt that his losses will be high in any kind of siege battle, indeed I have no doubt he has already taken severe losses." Stannis's eyes did not flicker over to where Melisandre was standing, by this point he had trained himself to not let that happen.
Melisandre's visions had told him of a battle in front of the walls of the city, and of a Rose being badly burnt. He didn't know if that meant that the army had taken losses which included the men of House Tyrell in particular, or if it meant the Rose Knight Loras had been hurt in some fashion. Either way, it worked to Stannis' advantage to let his enemies continue to fight it out between them.
"And this way, we can reduce Stokeworth and Rosby, letting the troops gain valuable experience using our siege weapons and in siege warfare before moving on to the city. Remember my lords, it isn't who takes the city or even the throne, it is who can hold on to it." And that didn't even consider his wife's plans.
"I mean for us to be the ones to hold onto it. With the Navy supplying us, we would be in a good position to wait out any other army that tries to retake the city, and if the Queen can be made to confess your sins, both the Lannister and the Stark forces will have to pull back. Making peace with the Starks might be difficult at this point given certain recent events."
And here are Stannis couldn't stop himself from glaring over at Melisandre. "But when given the opportunity and so long as we can free Edmure from his captivity I have no doubt that they will be willing to retreat to the North in return for peace in the Riverlands and the Lannisters no longer having any claim on the throne." After that there no one questioned his orders further, and the army continued its slow way further south towards Rosby and then Stokeworth.
Rosby was the first to fall. Having sent most of their men to the capital, there were few left to protect the castle, and it fell in a single day. After putting together the siege engines from the parts made back in Duskendale his archers were able to sweep the walls for the precious few moments that it took to bring up a siege tower, and then his men were across. After that it was all over, though Stannis and his lords had a hard time controlling the men enough to take prisoners even so.
They succeeded in this of course, but not as many as Stannis had hoped. Worse, none of the prisoners were from House Rosby, which was a pity, as was the damage done to the hall when someone set a fire in the dining hall. This forced Stannis and the rest of the men to bunk out in their tents again.
That evening Melisandre walked into Stannis's tent. "Did you know we captured one of the fake priests of the demonic Seven?"
Stannis looked up from where he had been resting in his field chair, a canvas and wood affair that was very light and easy to move just like everything else in his tent. In that area he and Ranma were very alike, they refused to allow themselves creature comforts on campaign when their men could not. "Yes, what of it?"
He did not comment on Mellisandre's calling a follower of the Seven a demon worshipper. To followers of R'hllor, all other gods were demons, and their followers either dupes or willing demon worshippers. Though Melisandre was the first follower of R'hllor Stannis had ever met that actually believed that.
"I wish to sacrifice him to R'hllor." Melisandre said bluntly. "The sacrifice of a demon worshiper like that would give my visions much more power and possibly clarity." Melisandre was becoming increasingly frustrated by the need to interpret her visions these days rather than simply watch as events unfolded. Symbolism was something that she used and understood of course, but interpreting her visions through the lens of such was a different story.
"Are you mad woman!?" Stannis bellowed, getting to his feet and towering over Melisandre despite her own formidable height for a woman. "Most of my army still believes in the Seven! They're willing to ignore you and your R'hllor worshiping fellows, but there's a reason why I've never pushed for them to convert as I have, just as I've stopped you from creating any more Shadow Warriors since that first time, it wasn't just a logistical decision."
Carrying those large wooden boxes that the Shadow Warriors had to stay in during the day would have taken up valuable space in their supply train. For something made out of shadow they had a significant weight to them, just as if they were the men whose soul had been sacrificed to make them.
"I understood that, and I understand that men are weak and will believe whatever faith they were born into despite the truth staring them into the eyes. I agreed then and agree now with the need to wait and slowly reveal the truth to them. But I must have a more powerful, more significant sacrifice to power my visions."
"You never needed a sacrifice to power your visions before." Stannis retorted.
"I know." Melisandre said calmly, moving further into the tent. She sat down on Stannis's chair staring up at him. "But something has…shifted. Reading the future is no longer like reading a tapestry, it is like… like reading a gigantic ball of yarn made up of thousands of different colors, while you are only interested in following a few threads. It's even worse trying to scry far away events. The chaos of the moment of now is affecting the distance from which R'hllor can send my vision. If you want precise information, I must begin to sacrifice people and use that power to further my ability to scry."
Stannis ground his teeth, looking away for a moment as he thought. The information Melisandre could provide him about distant lands was invaluable in shaping his long-term strategy, and could even be extremely useful on a short term level. They were why he was in no rush to claim King's Landing, he knew that the food shortage had begun even before the true siege, and had no wish to deal with fighting his way through a hungry populace which may or may not be on his side. They were also why he knew that he had no fear of being attacked from behind or the flank, that the lion and wolf were still snarling at one another up in the Riverlands.
But are they worth the loss of trust in me that will occur if her powers are rubbed into my army's face? There were enough rumors about Melisandre's powers already. The army as a whole seemed to be ambivalent towards them, and there was no septon amongst the men of course. The healers with his army were all maesters, and such men tended not to believe in any kind of faith. But the men did, especially the levies and the armsmen from the Stormlands. One or two of the Lords were also firm believers, and they were watching Melisandre like so many hawks.
"No," he said finally, the word coming out with reluctance, but certainty. "No, I cannot afford to create the internal enemies such a sacrifice would cause to spring up." He held up the hand as Melisandre began to speak. "I know that your visions could possibly weed out such, but I can't protect you from everyone in the army that might be willing to attack you after such a move, or attack me because of my backing you. Unless you can assure me that you can sacrifice him elsewhere and make certain that not even the rumor of it could get back to the Army, I cannot allow you to do that."
Outside the tent Ser Seaworth moved away from the tent's side, certain the discussion wouldn't go anywhere. When Stannis made a decision trying to change his mind was like trying to get water from a stone. Yet despite that, Davos was frowning heavily as he walked off, trying to figure out if he was happy that the Red Witch hasn't convinced Stannis to go through with her plan, or unhappy that the reasons she hadn't been able to were so prosaic rather than simply the fact they were disgusting.
Pragmatism and the need to keep morale up is all well and good, but I would've preferred him to simply say no, I will not be party to evil like that. Pragmatism can too easily swing the other way, and when that happens will Stannis still be the man I swore allegiance to? And when that happens, will my oath to him still hold?
Back inside the tent Melisandre scowled, but after a moment she spoke up hesitantly. "If I can think of a way to sacrifice him without it seeming so, would that suffice?"
"What do you mean?"
"The false priest in question is old and very feeble." Melisandre shrugged. "Such a man could have a heart attack and go at any time. I could hasten such, and still use the power of the demon worshiper's death to power my ability to see current events further away than I can on my own. Future events would take more power and a true sacrifice to the fire of R'hllor." she finished sternly. "We will need to do so at some point."
"That point is not now." Stannis replied firmly. "As for your suggestion, such a decision can wait until after we take Stokeworth and have turned toward King's Landing. At that point I'll need to know precisely what's been going on down at the city, which might require your visions. If so, you may have your sacrifice, but not before."
Melisandre scowled, but nodded her head. "It shall be as you say, Azor Ahai."
OOOOOOO
Willas stood up from where he had been sitting in the hall of Old Oak, castle of house Oakheart as one of the servants entered. "My lady will see you in the solar my lord, please follow me." Willas nodded, trying to keep his weariness from his face and body language.
It was hard. His men had crossed the Golden River almost a week back and kept right on marching making for Old Oak as quickly as they could. To call it a retreat might be a little too harsh, but in his head at least Willas knew that was what it was. After the battle in the apple grove Willas no longer had enough men to take on the Westerlands forces in the area, and knew it.
His total losses amounted to half of his heavy cavalry, they had been lost in the ferocious melee among the apple trees, their heavier armor and weapons unable to defend against the numbers or mobility of their enemy. Their sacrifice however was all that had allowed his force to retreat in relatively good order, thus his heavy infantry hadn't suffered nearly as much, only losing about 100 men all told, though a further 70 had been so badly wounded they had died of their wounds later in the march. The levy force, the light infantry that had actually been part of the battle had lost half their number along with nearly all his local guides and several of his own scouts. He hadn't lost many archers or light cavalry but that was scant comfort.
On that same note was the fact that the Westerlands forces had pursued him across the Golden River. They were no longer attempting to head further into the Reach, seemingly intent on wiping out his small army. This didn't stop them however from ravaging the lands they marched through, and this side of the river was now feeling their depredations as well, though not to the extent of their initial victims. Smallfolk could tell the way the wind was blowing, and hundreds of families had already fled before they finished crossing the river.
Still despite my losses if this conversation goes the way I wish it, I might be able to reverse my fortunes. Willas thought to himself grimly. If it didn't, well he was prepared to remove Lady Oakheart and commandeer her men as the heir of the Lord Paramount of the Reach, regardless of his father's initial respect for her position.
Willas was led through Old Oak up to the solar on the fifth floor of the main keep. By the time he was ushered in, his maimed leg was performing its familiar refrain of pain so when the lady Oakheart ushered him into a seat Willas collapsed into it rather less gracefully than he had hoped.
Lady Oakheart sat there, and besides waving Willas into a seat didn't seem to register his presence. Instead she was reading slowly throughout a raven message, which looked quite a bit longer than most messages by ravens were. From where he was sitting Willas couldn't see any of the words, but whatever it was it was engrossing to the woman across from him. She had light brown hair like her son Arys, though it was touched with hints of grey here and there. She was small, almost delicate, yet pleasant to look upon with a comely face, and deep, intelligent eyes.
After a moment Lady Oakheart set the message down, then looked across at Willas, though her eyes were didn't seem to be registering him, simply staring through him at something else. After a moment she shook her head focusing on Willas at last. "This," she said tapping the message. "is a letter from Princess Myrcella, who apparently is traveling with the northern army. She sent it from Seagard. It's an apology of sorts and a thank you."
Myrcella had actually written that message while on the ship. She had wanted to send it off from Winterfell, but none of the ravens there trained to search out anything beyond the Neck but the Eyrie, Highgarden, Seagard, Riverrun and King's Landing.
In it Myrcella spoke about Ser Oakheart, thanking his mother for his service to her, detailing a few of the fun times they had, and her personal feelings about the man, who had acted at times as more than a knight, almost a father to her when her own was lacking in that regard. Then Myrcella described events in the city during the battle of Two Truths. Myrcella went into much greater detail than she had ever had before save with Ranma about how she had been forced to run away from the mob, how Oakheart had helped her over the fence and stayed behind, wounded sorely by that brick to the face to give Myrcella and her friend enough time to get away.
"She thanks me for my son's service, as well as telling me more about how he died in far more detail than the queen regent had. She then goes on to say that she is with the Starks by choice, and that she knows Joffrey is not legitimate."
That wasn't all Myrcella had said on that topic. She had stated 'I know no one will believe me, I know it will be my word against his, but he is a monster above and beyond his bastard origins. Even you would not believe me if I told you why in this letter, it would simply be his word against me, but he is a monster! A beast in human clothing! He has not changed in the years since he was a young boy who disemboweled a pregnant cat in order to pull out her unborn children and show them to our father as if it was something to be proud of. He was glad our brother died, I could see it in him!'
Lady Oakheart had met all three of the royal children in the past having gone to tourneys in King's Landing many a time to see her son in action and though Joffrey had never impressed her one way or the other Myrcella had always been a sweet, gentle, and observant child. She had no idea what Joffrey could've done to be called a monster, but with the accusation of incest being thrown around plus the last bit about him being glad Tommen was dead, Lady Oakheart was very much afraid she could guess.
And if that was the case, her family would never serve the Lannisters again, who were keeping that beast on the throne. Indeed, she was now more than willing to take the field against them, though she hoped to meet Myrcella in person and discover what act Joffrey had committed that had turned his sister so against him. "What would you wish of me and mine?"
An hour later Willas walked the interminable route back down, then out of the keep to where his commanders were waiting in the hall for him. "Well?" asked Ser Graceford. "Is the lady willing to pledge her men to our aid?"
"Her men will leave with us on the morning. 2000 all told, 400 heavy horse, 600 heavy infantry, 200 light horse, and the rest are scouts and archers."
Graceford whistled appreciatively while Toulev simply smiled grimly. "That more than makes up for our losses my Lord, though we might still be under strength in comparison to the Westerlands forces."
"I doubt it." Willas said disagreeing with a shake of his head. "I think they were hammered just as badly as we were in that apple grove, if not worse. Certainly the raiders they were using were. In all likelihood this will give us force parity. And Lady Oakheart shared with me that Lord Crane kept half of his force at home. We'll be able to get at least another six hundred men from him when we turn northwest."
Willas stared around at his troop leaders, his eyes hard, his face set in a grim line that none of his family had ever seen him wear back in Highgarden. "We're going to hunt those Father-damned fucker's down, then after we slaughter them to a man we're going to march up into the Westerlands and take the war to them on their own ground. I will allow for nothing less." Both men nodded grimly, agreement plain on their faces.
OOOOOOO
While Ranma was leading the lion around by the nose, Dacey and the rest of the wolfsworn and their raiding force had marched straight west, moving further and further away from the main Northern forces and the scouts from the Lannister forces that quickly began to shadow it once more. Thanks to the chaos of that night battle, and the fact that there was another force heading straight north with the wounded and the Lannister losses in that fight, they got away clean.
Still, Dacey forced them to keep moving westward away from the rest of the Northerners and therefore away from any interest from the Lannisters for now before striking out south towards the Red Fork. It didn't matter after all where along the Red Fork they intersected the River. They weren't about to go for one of the Fords anyway, they were going to swim across.
When one of their scouts reported that the Red Fork was in sight, Arya and Nymeria moved forward with the scout to look at the River. They hid along the bank for a moment as Arya looked across into the distance. From here they could see the smoke of the castle of Riverrun in the distance to their southwest and Arya decided they were too far west. If the Lannisters had any scouts on the other side of the river they would be concentrating on Riverrun and besides, it would put them closer to the supply lines they were supposed to raid.
Keeping well back from the river edge they followed it east, becoming more and more nervous with every day because that was the same direction Ranma had traveled, and they had no idea where his army or the Lannister force was at present. Thankfully Ranma had led the Lannisters well eastwards of their original position which was even further east than Arya and her force's present position.
Soon after a few days careful travel they were well enough away from Riverrun to attempt to cross, and Dacey ordered the men to stop and build a large makeshift raft which would carry their armor and weapons across. Despite the fact the Red Fork was a slow, lazy river for most of its course, the bottom of it was deep and muddy. If a person put a foot wrong in even chain mail getting him unstuck would be strenuous, noisy and dangerous work.
The following night Arya, Nymeria, and Dacey moved forward. Arya had divested herself of her chain mail, her helmet and shield, leaving even Fang behind. She only brought along a very sharp stiletto that she stuck between her teeth as she reached the river bank, gently easing herself into the river. Beside her Nymeria whined, but Arya's glare over her shoulder silenced the direwolf who hesitantly moved forward into the water as well with nary a splash.
Dacey waited for a moment then moved forward himself, her own weapons left with Roger and the others. Not only as the leader of this expedition but as the only other wolfsworn who could swim, she had to go with Arya on this. When she entered the water she made a little more of a splash than Arya or Nymeria, but not much of one despite being so much larger than Arya, who hadn't grown much since they had left Winterfell.
The two Northerners and the direwolf made their way across the river as quickly as they could without splashing too much. The Red Fork was wider here than any portion of the Green or Blue Forks they had seen on the march, but it was also much slower, and therefore they could swim it. Even so, when Dacey had nearly stuck her foot into the deep silt of the bottom she had trouble extricating herself. And in the center it was well above even her head.
Eventually however they did make their way across, pulling themselves up onto the river bank. Arya wordlessly pointed in one direction while Nymeria moved straight ahead, ignoring her wet fur for ranged out for several hours, finding and killing five men who were watching the River, as well as a few more further away who were heading towards Riverrun along the River Road, which was a little too close for their comfort.
As the noises of birds and other animals waking up began, Arya and Nymeria met up again quickly joined by Dacey who nodded. "I think we're good."
"For now anyway, I am really not happy with how close the River Road is to this place, we need to get the men across and over the road as fast as possible, we can hopefully find someplace to go to ground nearby." Arya said. Dacey nodded agreement and they moved back to the river.
Back at the river Dacey stood out in full view from theother bank, waving one hand up above her head. As they watched Daryn, Roger and the others came out up from where they had been hiding moving towards the river. They had all removed their armor already and quickly carried up the makeshift raft.
Roger through across a rope, which Dacey and Arya grabbed, with Nymeria grabbing the end of it in her jaws. While the men made their way across in groups the three of them pulled over laden raft over, with Roger and Hathan on the other side to pull it back the other way. They did this several times before the first group of men wereacross and took over.
They took over the work on the raft and Arya stretched her arms above her head, shaking her head. "That was irritating. How many days do you think we have before we get to Bracken land?"
"We'll have to keep heading south for a few days even at our best speed to get well away from the River Road before heading west to enter Bracken land. Remember their land is southeast of Lannister fortifications at the Kneeling Man's Ford, we're northwest of that now, I think." They checked with the local guides, Shawney and Mallister men who had come with them for this because they could swim. All of them agreed that was likely.
Arya nodded, then moved over to where her equipment had been laid out. She pulled out Fang testing the edge while she smiled grimly. "Four days straight south, let's move, I hate how vulnerable we are here."
Dacey raised an eyebrow at the young girl, amused that despite her protests about not wanting to lead she was so forward about giving her opinion but nodded and began to organize their men. Within an hour the raiding force was marching off, exhausted form a hard day's work already, but needing to get away from the River Road as far as they could before resting.
The small raiding force continued to travel forward, hiding however they could during the day, mostly up in trees or down and among the fallen leaves, though at one point they had to hide their entire force on an abandoned farmstead to avoid Lannister patrol, which was much more difficult. Nonetheless, they were making excellent time and Arya was almost positive that no one had spotted them yet.
Soon enough they turned further west, and entered Bracken land, finding a former riverbed to hide in during the day. Here there were even fewer patrols than elsewhere, with most of the House's strength devoted to the siege of Raventree Hall. Still, those there were wore the tabards of that family, which was enough to tell them they were at their destination, which didn't even consider the fact that for the first time since they had left Fairmarket they saw smallfolk around.
Everywhere else the smallfolk had fled ahead of the Lannister forces, here only a few families had done so, with the majority of them fleeing to Riverrun. Most however had enough faith in their lords to remain where they were, though several of them had paid for that. The Lannister army had not been kind even on the lands of their ostensible allies, the burning and pillaging was just not authorized there.
Even so the smallfolk here did not travel at night which allowed Nymeria, with Arya riding her mind, to scout all over the land in a single night, the speed of the direwolf only matched by its stealth. Nymeria was even able to get close to Stone Hedge itself, a large castle that was at least a quarter again the size of House Vypren's former seat.
Arya could see through Nymeria's eyes, and more importantly she was somewhat better than Ranma at interpreting the information Nymeria's nose took in. It was something that she had practiced with in Winterfell whenever she could, while Ranma had to concentrate on other things.
A direwolf's nose was even more sensitive than a regular wolf's which put every breed of hunting dog in Westeros to shame. Circling the castle, Nymeria could tell in a vague way how many people there were inside it, and the number shocked Arya. There were the scents of only a bare hundred and fifty men in there, and two dozen females or so. That astonished her so much that she nearly came out of her trance. Nymeria could tell that even over the smells of steel and leather that all the men stank of, like most armsmen did.
Arya kept Nymeria there, moving around Stone Hedge throughout the rest of the night then helped Nymeria find a den for the day before opening her own eyes to stare across the riverbed at Dacey. "I think we need to wait on hitting the supply lines for now." She blurted. "Nymeria found out something, something that might let us take out an even more vital target."
Over the next few days Nymeria and Arya scouted out all around, while the men stayed put, trying to not be noticed, and succeeding.
Meanwhile Arya watched through Nymeria's eyes as the men of House Bracken went out from Stone Hedge once to take what looked like a lot of foodstuffs from the local smallfolk, gathering it into the keep. The very next day a group of armsmen wearing the tabards of various Westerlands houses arrived with several carts. They left that same day, their carts now laden with far more supplies then the House Bracken men had gathered in. Two days later, while the men around her were getting restless, Arya and Nymeria watched as a large group of Lannister men arrived from the southwest, with several dozen laden carts.
"The stuff the House Bracken armsmen brought in must be just fresh bread and other things like that." Arya explained to Dacey and the others. "House Bracken must've already gathered as much foodstuffs as they could into the keep, and Stone Hedge has also become a major point along the supply line from the Westerlands. Ranma was right, the Lannister army can't live off the land very well, if at all! We need to take it, now!"
"Our orders were just to raid the supply lines, not try to take a castle on our own." Dacey protested. "Even a hundred men could hold that keep against us if they were prepared, and you said they were much more alert than the men Vypren's seat had guarding it."
That much was true. The Bracken armsmen were much more experienced, and they patrolled the walls day and night, and not with torches to take out their night vision either. The towers were also manned, and they did have lights inside, but the archers in them would be easily able to spot any attacking force coming out of the farmlands around the keep, which was the other issue: there was very little in the way of cover anywhere around Stone Hedge. The Bracken keep had been besieged several times, while Vypren never had. All in all it was a much tougher target despite the defenders lack of manpower.
"Yes, but I think the gains are worth the risk!" Arya argued back, practically growling as she stood across from the older woman, the rest of the wolfsworn moving backwards slightly to let the two women argue it out. "If we raid the supply lines, we'll only be able to do so much damage before they assign too many men to protect their supply convoys! If we take Stone Hedge and Jon's taken Wayfarer's Rest, they lose the two most important points along their supply line, and you know Ranma's going to be coming from the west, they'll either have to fort up and starve or retreat out of the Riverlands south."
Dacey scratched a small scar on her arm for a moment, thinking while staring hard at the younger girl. "That's all well and good, but do you have a plan that might let us do that without being mauled? It won't do any good if we take Stone Hedge without enough men to hold it."
"Yes, I do!" Arya replied, now actually moving closer to Dacey so they were almost standing chest to chest, or rather stomach to head given the disparity in their heights. "We use the same trick the Lannisters tried to use at Fairmarket, only modified a little. Also remember, there'll be hostages to be taken in there as well, if we can get into the castle itself, I bet the defenders will surrender." Arya went on describing her plan, and eventually Dacey nodded, realizing it actually was workable.
Later that night, Dacey, Arya and Nymeria moved out with a few of the local guides. They moved through the scrubland that marked this area of Bracken land they moved north, intending to cut off the road leading to Stone Hedge from the fortifications at the Kneeling Man forward. They had all spread out, which made it easier for them to move silently with Nymeria well ahead of the Arya and the others.
For now the two northern girls, or rather one woman and one girl were alone as they moved through the brush, silent and quiet is only the wolfsworn could be after months of being trained for times like this by Ranma. That thought made Dacey pause for a moment, wondering how long Ranma had been planning to have the wolfsworn act as… she didn't know the word for it really, special raiding force? The fact of the matter was that all of their training had put them on a pedestal well above any normal opponent they could face, though the real, long term implications of that hadn't truly sunk until this war. They had become a tactical and strategic resource, not just warriors several cuts above the norm.
However Dacey pushed that thought to the back of her mind, she had something else she needed to do right now. The two of them were now moving through the night closer together now thanks to having passed through a bit of brush and were now into a small copse of trees. And the other scouts were well out of hearing range, there would be no better time for it. "For someone who didn't want to be in charge Arya you pushed hard for this change in our plans."
"It makes sense," Arya shrugged, keeping her own voice low. "Stone Hedge doesn't have the manpower to face us in an open battle. If we can get inside we win. We win a lot more than we would if we were just raiding the supply lines."
"I know that, and I agreed with your reasoning or else we wouldn't be out here right now." Dacey said slowing her pace down and reaching out to touch Arya on the shoulder to slow her down in turn.
The Mormont woman's voice was a whisper in the dark of the thicket, but intense and stern for all of that. "But I was the one given this command, I am in charge. When we go into battle, I need all the men to look to me. I can't have them up pause even for a second wondering whose commands they should follow or who they should look to for orders. Don't challenge me like that again, not in front of the troops."
Arya's bared her teeth reflexively at the admonishment in Dacey's voice and she knocked the older woman's hand away from her shoulder growling. It was a very wolf-like sound, which made Dacey scowled. She had been afraid of this. Arya crouched, almost as if she was about to lunge at Dacey, Fang forgotten at her side.
However Dacey was much faster than most would assume looking at her, and while she wasn't up there in strength in terms of the wolfsworn, neither was Arya. Arya found herself lifted out of the air and slammed back against the tree behind her. "Control it." Dacey growled in her ear. "Don't let the wolf in that far! You're human girl, remember that."
Arya growled a little, but she slowly got control of herself. After a moment she nodded shakily, waving off Nymeria, who had appeared out of the trees growling deep in her cavernous throat at the site of her bonded human being manhandled by the bear woman. "Sorry." Arya grunted. "I've been warging with Nymeria too often lately. Jon and Ranma warned me something like this might happen, but I didn't believe them. Sorry."
"I don't need an apology, girl." Dacey said backing away and cuffing the younger girl in the back of the head. Arya grinned, having always enjoyed have Dacey simply treated her like a young boy rather than a young woman to tell the truth, regardless of her status as a Stark. "I said the plan was good, and it shows that you might be ready for command whatever your reflex reaction might have said. But if you want the command, you can't just challenge me like a wolf would challenge the alpha for the leadership of the pack. Humans don't do it like that understand?"
"I just needed to be reminded." Arya muttered, nodding her head. "And I'm not ready, I don't have the situational awareness you need to be able to give orders in battle, I didn't do that when the Lannisters attacked that night no matter what anyone thinks. I simply shouted at people and gathered them to me, after that I didn't try to organize them or anything."
"That sounds a heck of a lot like giving orders in battle to me." Dacey replied dryly. "If you think you can do a better job, we'll transfer the command to you, tell the men about it, and be human about it, not like a wolf. And you're cutting back regardless on your warging times with Nymeria."
Arya nodded, drooping a moment in weariness. Crisis averted Dacey moved off again through the copse of trees with Arya and Nymeria following behind.
At one point the trail they were following at a distance might have been barely used, but since the Lannister forces had begun to dig in on their side of the Red Fork that had of course changed. Now it was pitted and rutted with use, all of the nearby plants having been chopped away. There were very few places along its edge where an ambush could succeed now, but Dacey and the others persevered. They found a place eventually, where the drovers would stop about a day and a half is out from Stone Hedge.
There wasn't much cover there, but the northerners were good at this game. Certainly better than the Westerlanders, especially here in territory they knew they and their allies controlled. It wasn't like the bad area nearest the Mummer's Ford, where there was still cases of brigandry. So there were only twelve guards, and five drovers. Following them even during the day was child's play for Nymeria and Arya, even without Arya riding Nymeria's mind to it.
A little while after the next the convoy arrived at the watering hole, the Northerners and their Riverlands allies came out of the scrub brush all around, dropping down from one or two trees that were near the watering hole, or in Dacey's case bursting out from the small pool of water.
Dacey's claymore also came up out of the water, gutting a man who had just been about to drop a waterskin into the water. His body fell to the side, and Dacey absently kicked it away from the water so that it wouldn't pollute it before charging forward. Roger and Hathan came in from both sides, leading ten of the Northerners apiece to make certain that there wasn't any way the defenders could get away.
However instead of being armed with swords or anything within edge, all of them were armed with long clubs which made the battle a little more difficult than it would otherwise have been. But only a little. The man who had been marching alongside the wagons fell quickly, and then a few Northerners leaped up onto the wagons, knocking unconscious the drovers before pushing them off the carts.
Two men on horseback at the back of the small party tried to turn away, but Nymeria was there snarling. The sight of a monstrously huge wolf and the sound caused both horses to rear up in abject terror, throwing their unprepared riders off. One landed awkwardly on his neck, then fell limp, and the other one found itself facing Nymeria face-to-face as his horse ran off. A second later only both horses were hit by arrows from a few archers who hadn't participated in rest of the attack. Horses after all would return to the herd, and that could give the game away just as easily as anything else.
"And now we strip them or all you strip them," Arya said, growled, somewhere between irritated and embarrassed, looking away suddenly. "I don't think any of them have anything that would fit me."
It turned out that none of them had anything that would fit either Arya or Dacey. For all that she was a warrior and had been trained as such for most of her life Dacey still had feminine curves and a generous chest, far too much of one to even fit into either the guard's armor or wear the drovers clothing and look like anything but a woman. Arya of course didn't have any chest yet, something she was glad of. But she was also short, far too short for any of the clothing they had just taken to fit her.
So both women hid in one of the carts at the back of the convoy, Nymeria barely fitting between them, rumbling discontentedly at the tarpaulin over them. Arya tried to shush her bonded direwolf, succeeding for several moments at a time while the convoy wound its way down the road towards Stone Hedge.
Each of the convoy's carts had five men lying under the tarpaulins. The rest of the raiding force were waiting near Stone Hedge, hidden here and there in small groups three to ten men strong, ready to rush forward the moment the castle's gates were taken.
On the front cart Roger and Hathan were sitting together. Roger wore the uniform of one of the guards, whose colors, a blue rooster on a yellow background, was from one of the Westerlands Houses, a Knightly House if he was remembering it right. Though why any self-respecting knight would put a rooster on their banner is beyond me. Hathan on the other hand hadn't fit anything the guards had so he dressed up as one of the drovers instead.
"A thought occurred to me just now." Roger murmured, as they began to see Stone Hedge in the distance. Hathan grunted, which Roger took to mean he could keep speaking. "What if the guards in Stone Hedge know the guards on the convoy? We only watched one convoy after all, it could be the same guards every time, or it could be a set amount of guards all of whom the Bracken men might know."
"That is not a thought I want to hear at this moment." Hathan said, breaking his habitual silence, reaching across and thumping Roger on the shoulder. "You were all for this plan when Arya came up with it, you could have said something then."
"Yes, but it didn't occur to me then. Did you notice the bit of tension that started between Dacey and her, rather interesting I thought. The little wolf has grown up quite quickly."
Hathan grunted noncommittally. "She's still got a bit of growing to do."
"Yes, but the plan was good. The details, they are not pleasant to contemplate."
"You mean the part where it might be the two of us against over a dozen archers on a four-story tall wall?" Hathan murmured, the cart having trundled on during their discussion.
"Exactly that detail, yes." Several moments later, that moment happened, as they came close enough to hail the archers up on the wall. Roger did so, the only one of them who didn't have a distinct northern accent, hence why sitting in the front cart.
A few of the archers actually waved back, then both men held their breaths as the portcullis slowly began to open and the cart began to trundle into the gate area, which was barely a cart's length long. It was only a few seconds before the portcullis at the far end of the gateway began to open, but even so for both men they stretched on like years, the murder holes above them so potent with threat. Yet none appeared.
The inner portcullis and the gate there opened allowing the convoy through the gate area and out into the courtyard of the castle. As the last cart trundled under the portcullis a dozen servants began to hurry towards them from the stables, and even a few guardsmen were also moving towards them from the barracks area. There it began to go bad. One of the guards said "Here, you're not Lawrence, where's the regular lot?"
At that the men in the carts all boiled out, with Dacey and Arya being the first. "Winter is Coming, traitors!" Arya shouted.