A caravan of 25,000 people marching and dragging supplies with them was not hard to spot.
That's why I had been on edge the past few days. We were expected to arrive in Ashford later today, and had yet to be ambushed by Randyll Tarly. Every time I turned a bend, I looked amongst the trees to see if men were lying in wait.
Yet it didn't come.
The men were tired after a week of marching, but their bodies were adapting. Grumbles were still heard in the mornings, as I marched them with different formations and tactics.
"We march slower today?" Robert asked. "Why?"
"Your words the other day inspired me to allow the men more rest." I lied. Of course, I knew that today would have to be the day we were ambushed. There was no other time to do it.
"Mmm." Robert grunted, accepting the answer.
If I was on edge earlier in the day, as the day progressed, I was damn near having a panic attack when we approached the city walls of Ashford.
On the left side of our marching party, was the Cockleswent, a prominent river that the city used to it's advantage perfectly. We could cross it if we absolutely had to, and I doubt we would lose many men to drowning, but we would be sitting ducks. The Tarly forces would have such an easy time picking us off in the river, be it with arrows or spears. That's how I knew the ambush would come on the other side. If I were them, I would try to push us into the river.
That's when I saw the ambush spot.
As we had been riding, I was constantly on the lookout. But everywhere we marched was broadly open. We were in the Reach now, and the Reach was full of fields of food. It was hard to move an army unseen in the Reach.
However, as I approached Ashford, I saw the spot that was perfect.
Just before the city, the road branched. The main road went into the city, but off to the right was a little path cut into the earth. There was a hill that began to rise on the right side of the road, tall enough that one could hide a lot of men on the other side. Tall enough that I couldn't climb it with my horse.
The road leading into the city was open, odd for a town of the Reach whose liege lord had declared for the Targaryens. We expected to have to take the town. Rather, we wanted to plunder the storehouses, as it was sure to be full. Why would they leave the gates open?
"Look at that, they have opened their gates for us!" Robert bellowed as we approached the city walls.
"Be on edge, Robert." I hissed towards him as my eyes roamed the trees and the walls of the small town.
I gripped my horn, preparing myself to blow it so that the men would know to form up, instead of break at the first sign of conflict.
"What for?" Robert asked, as his face turned serious again.
"Stay here, let our men enter first. If they were truly surrendering, you would see someone here to greet us. Where is Lord Ashford? Where are their troops?" I asked as my eyes roamed the walls of the castle.
It was deserted. Or at least they had taken the citizens out for a little while, away from the fighting.
How long had Randyll Tarly been here? And where would he attack from?
"You think there might be an ambush?" Robert asked as his hand dipped to the warhammer beside him.
"Possibly." I muttered. As I continued to scan the countryside. It was at this moment that I wished I could use my greenseeing abilities without touching a weirwood. It was honestly bullshit.
"Ha ha!" Robert said. His blood had obviously began pumping at the prospect of battle. "We are in formation, let's prove that we are not prey!" Robert said.
He raised his warhammer and pointed it towards the city gates before spurring his horse forward.
"LORD ASHFORD WHERE ARE YOU YOU BLOODY COWARD!" Robert bellowed as he rode ahead of the soldiers.
"No Robert!" I said as he rode away. But there was no stopping him, he was already twenty yards away before I could call him.
I sighed, and Gimli started trotting after him. I couldn't be seen hiding in the back while Robert led from the front. I would stay on my horse, but I would at least be behind the front lines so that I knew where to send men to reinforce in case the lines failed.
The first five lines of men were approaching the city when it happened.
I could see Robert getting close to the fork in the road when movement on the top of the hill caught my eye. It was for the briefest moment, but I had my opportunity.
I grabbed the horn at my side and wasted no time in bringing it to my lips.
Just as I blew in it and let out a long deep sound, they attacked. Men jumped up on the hill overlooking the entrance into Ashford and every single one of them had a javelin in their hands. I watched with wide eyes as a wave of javelin's poured into my front lines.
No less than 25 men died on the spot with javelin's running them through.
The worst part was when I witnessed a javelin barely miss Robert over his right shoulder, and stab through the neck of his horse. It went down almost immediately, and I knew how deadly falling off of a horse could be.
Then a wave of enemy infantry poured in from the fork in the road, just as my lines had been disrupted from the initial onslaught of javelin's.
My infantry that I had worked so hard to instil discipline in broke almost immediately. It wasn't that much of a surprise, considering we had only been marching for no more than 5 days. But I expected the lines to hold a little longer for sure!
A desperate melee that was common for Westeros fighting broke out.
I brought the horn to my lips and let it rip once more. With the hill rising above my right side, stormlanders on my left, and fighting in front of me, I rode towards where I saw Robert go down.
Luckily, the men on the hill hadn't begun throwing any more of the javelin's. I didn't know if it was because they were out of them or if the men were called off. Either way, I thanked my lucky stars and continued to ride forward to where I saw Robert was last seen.
"Form up!" I yelled to the stormlanders on my left. Most of them were alive and holding a shield, but they were obviously shaken.
My sword flew out of its sheath as a Reachman broke out of the fighting in front of me and tested his luck with the man on the horse. I parried one strike before his throat was cut.
I looked for the next opponent quickly, only to see that my horn and commands had worked. Stormlanders poured around my horse forming a wall in front of me.
Just then, I saw a warhammer swing around and crush a mans head at the literally front line of all the fighting.
"To your Lord!" I yelled as my sword pointed at Robert.
The men obeyed immediately and began rushing forward. I spurred Gimli further forward, trying to get closer to where Robert was some thirty yards away.
"SHIELD WALL!" I cried out as I brought the horn to my lips.
A deep horn blew through the valley twice back to back. It was a command that we had been practicing, but would be tested today.
My infantry rushed forward to complete my commands. They moved to where my sword was still pointing. Within 20 seconds, the men had formed into a very rough and loose shield wall next to where Robert was.
The bleeding stopped quickly as the stragglers that had busted through the lines were cleaned up behind the hastily erected wall.
I rode forward closer to Robert, to where he was only ten feet from me. From my vantage point, I could see that the hill ended abruptly at the fork. The enemy Reachmen were pouring into the road.
On one side, the castle walls stood tall and on the other, the hill rose steeply. They were in a bottleneck, perfect if your enemy had superior forces, which I was convinced that we would unless Mace Tyrell had managed to catch up to Randyll Tarly.
This is great, when you are confident that your forces are better trained, or if you are at a numbers disadvantage. I looked ahead to the wave of Reachman and immediately I knew that this wasn't their only point of attack.
"Robert!" I yelled.
The berserker looked back at me with a massive grin on his face. The Reachman had been pushed forward by the cohesion of our loose shield wall.
"Keep pushing them back here!" I said as I wheeled my horse around.
I turned around, wondering where else Tarly would hit us from. I had also yet to see a single cavalry member as they normally rode behind the main infantry. It was so that they could drill the marches constantly without having to worry about the infantry getting in the way of them.
Gimli began sprinting toward the back of my marching procession. I passed by thousands of men as they parted to let me ride by. Most of them were moving forward to Ashford where Robert was fighting. I was moving backwards to where the cavalry and supplies would be.
It wouldn't surprise me if Tarly was using his own pincer maneuver to hit at the front and back of the army to squeeze us.
I continued to ride until I finally reached the bend that I had initially spotted the front ambush location at. Gimli turned it, and I immediately saw Tarly's real ambush location.
Disaster.
What had to be the main bulk of Tarly's forces had crashed into my cavalry a hundred yards from my position. And more were pouring out of the tall grain fields that flanked the road.
My men were completely disorganized and getting absolutely smashed. The knights of the Stormlands were being pushed up against the river beside them because of the new threat.
I blew the horn in my hand deep and long, so as to signal the infantry to form up. The ones I were passing looked up, and looked in the direction I was facing before turning around to help their comrades getting destroyed in the back of the army.
"Infantry!" I yelled to the men around me. "Form up!" I said as I waved my sword about.
Gimli ran forward again and weaved in and out of my advancing men as if he was part cat, barely slowing down from a sprint.
It took us another thirty seconds to get about 40 yards away from the fighting. This was where my infantry ended and my cavalry began.
I've got to get the cavalry out of the way to let my infantry engage. I thought as I looked at the slaughter in front of me.
Horses fell left and right.
A hasty plan formed.
I grabbed my infantry horn, and blew it 3 times in short bursts.
"Petyr!"
I looked to see Ben standing beside my mount.
"Get the men into 2 rows!" I commanded. "The cavalry need to get out of there!"
Ben nodded and began grabbing men around him, setting them up into the formation I called out. I was trying to create an escape route for my cavalry.
It took them way too long.
'Replace Infantry with Cavalry'
Ping!
Success!
I looked away, knowing that my cavalry stats were back.
About this time my infantry was beginning to catch on and a road was forming between the two lines of my infantry.
"Ben!" I yelled to where the man was still directing the traffic beneath me. He looked towards me.
"When we charge through, you're in command! Close the ranks, do not advance! Defense Shield Wall! When you hear the horn, then you advance!" I told him with no room to argue.
I didn't wait for him to confirm it, instead I grabbed the second horn on my belt and brought it to my lips. This horn was for the cavalry and blew at a higher pitch than the infantry horn did.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Fourth and final time.
The command was simple, Charge!
The knights of the Stormlands looked up, almost as one. I could have smiled as I watched the product of weeks of training kick in. Even the horses began to turn my way.
The sword still in my hand pointed backwards, and I led the 'charge'.
Gimli immediately turned around and began lightly running towards where Robert and the front of the infantry would be fighting. All the while, I kept my head on a swivel making sure that my cavalry had heard my call.
Every cavalry member I saw began charging my direction and the direction of the hole in my infantry units.
The way that Tarly's infantry was fighting was not as a unit, instead they had some infantry and some cavalry members fighting in an all out melee.
It was almost easy for my cavalry to break away and run from the fighting.
Whenever I saw the infantry lines close, and a shield wall form, I turned to the direction that Robert was in and Gimli sped up.
Only the split in the infantry lines was getting narrower and narrower as the men farther away from the fighting didn't know what was going on. They didn't know how to make two lines, because we hadn't trained for that yet.
Once again, I swapped to my infantry horn. We hadn't developed anything past forming a shield wall for 1 horn, and advancing forward with 2 horns. So I had to improvise.
I let out short bursts of the horn and didn't stop, simply to get everyone's attention.
Sure enough men began to turn around and look at me. Once they saw the charging cavalry, they knew what to do.
The infantry began parting like the Red Sea. It was biblical in it's execution.
I had to slow the cavalry charge down multiple times, but in a few minutes I was back to where the ambush had begun at the head of the infantry.
All the while, I was constantly blowing the horn.
When I made it to the fighting again Robert and the stormlanders had pushed the Reachman back, almost half way down the right road that led on the side of Ashford.
I had initially planned on leading my cavalry charge through Ashford and back around to smash into the Tarly forces from behind. This plan came with a few downfalls. The most obvious was the fact that I wasn't sure I could go around the city and come back in time for it to make a difference.
I also didn't know if they had forces hiding within Ashford to hit us in the even that we retreated. That's what I would do after all. Leave the gates wide open, hide amongst the city, a third ambush right there.
But now that Robert had pushed through pretty far, I could lead the cavalry out the side road, and back around through the grain fields. Surely there was a route in that direction to accomplish such a thing. There was no way Randyll hadn't left a means of regrouping for his two armies.
I made a decision. I would continue the cavalry charge straight into the forces that Robert was crushing, and back around.
I continued to blow on my horn, and the infantry continued to part as I got close. Eventually I caught Roberts eye as I continued to ride forward.
And then, before I knew it I had to drop the horn in my left hand and focus on leading the charge through the Reachman.
It never even occurred to me, as Gimli trampled the first man with his bulk, that I was in danger at the front of the charge. All I could think about was riding through and getting around to helping Ben on the other side.
I swung my sword, and blood flew. Gimli impacted men without slowing down, and bones broke.
It got to the point of a rout really quickly on this side of the fighting.
The Reachman broke rank immediately and turned around at the sight of a full cavalry march trampling their comrades in close quarters. We cut through them like a hot knife to butter.
Eventually, when the road began rising in elevation to meet the height of the hill now at my back, I was able to turn right again. What I saw, made me pause. I had expected to see thousands of soldiers pouring in to destroy my troops.
What I saw however, was not that. I saw, at most, 10,000 troops in the distance marching to where the ambush in the back of the army was happening.
He must have banked on us fleeing through the city. Did he think we would assume he had the entire Tyrell host with him? I wondered as I looked down below me.
Either that, or he has the biggest balls of anyone in the Seven Kingdoms to attack a host of 25,000 strong with 10,000 men.
I blew my horn in the sequence that the cavalry knew all too well. Gimli immediately began trotting forward, waiting for the rest of the cavalry to line up beside him.
I looked around, and as they continued to line up along the road and grain fields, I counted about 2000 cavalrymen with me, give or take. These were rough numbers, taken at a glance. I could have had less, I could have had more.
It took them about two minutes to line up into a proper cavalry charge. Once they did, I didn't waste any time and blew my horn in the 'Charge' signal.
Gimli immediately began sprinting.
To Randyll's credit, his infantry reacted almost immediately. When we were a hundred yards away, they turned to us and pointed their spears at us.
However, this was not the Battle at Summerhall. There would be no stopping this charge. My cavalry was well trained and would be needed in the future. But the stormland infantry was going to be the key to the war effort. If I could save the infantry, and sacrifice the cavalry, then we would have a much easier time facing the Targaryens in the open field.
It was a hard decision to make, but one I made anyway. I sent a short prayer to the old gods and the new to see me through the battle. I even prayed to the God of my old life.
At 50 yards, I blew the infantry horn loud and twice in a row. I knew Ben would hear it and as I got nearer, I saw the shield wall begin to actually advance, allowing some of the more refreshed stormlanders to charge forward and fight for a bit.
It was odd when we actually ran into the side of the infantry. It was as if the world stood still when Gimli and I moved into the last ten feet that would mean contact with the enemy. All sound stopped for a brief moment. The sounds of combat, and marching didn't hit my ears, only my breathing did.
The young man that I was heading towards had pimples on his face and a full frame. The Reach did always eat well.
And then I parried a spear that almost gutted Gimli.
I didn't bother trying to kill the young man, we were moving too fast and most likely another rider behind me would finish the job. Gimli continued charging, straight into the ranks of the enemy soldiers. Most were too slow to react to our speed, allowing me to kill countless with quick swipes of my sword.
Parry, kill, parry, kill. Maneuver around when men tried to gang up on you. Parry, kill, parry kill, maneuver. Keep charging to sow even more confusion in the Tarly ranks. Rinse, Repeat.
After what felt like an eternity of blood and struggle I was on the far side of the Tarly army, having fought my way through the whole line.
I whirled Gimli around to see the damage.
My cavalry had cut a path through the left side of the army, dealing massive amounts of damage. They were still moving through in fact, cutting their way towards me.
My cavalry began to line up next to me, as it sliced it's way through the army. Surprisingly, I didn't even have to tell them to line up again. Even more surprising was the fact that my men hadn't suffered near the amount of loss that I had expected. I had half expected to die, along with the rest of my men.
I sat on top of Gimli heaving in breaths of air, as I surveyed the battlefield. Some of my cavalry was still skirmishing with the infantry, and some were already at my side.
I grabbed my horn, but I paused for a moment to catch my breath. I looked to the skies as I did it. The sun had moved a lot since I had last paid attention.
And then I blew my horn.
It took another ten minutes for the rest of my cavalry to catch up and form into another line. I allowed it, as we had been fighting and all the men were tired.
"Lord Baelish!"
I looked to the unnamed knight beside me.
"Lord Baratheon has followed us!"
My head swiveled quickly, and I looked back towards the battlefield. It was hard to see where they were still fighting, as there were still thousands of Tarly men between me and my infantry.
I stood up in Gimli's saddle, just for a better vantage point.
Sure enough, Robert had led the infantry that was fighting at the front of the army around the hill that my cavalry had charged from, and into the right side of the Tyrell forces.
I smiled. "Well then let's not allow him to steal our glory!" I yelled as I brought the horn to my lips.
Four blows.
"Charge!" I yelled and pointed my sword.
At this point, Randyll had taken command of his soldiers again, and they began to close rank in almost a circle formation.
I did not want to leave them without a way to surrender, because when you leave men no choice, they will fight like mad dogs to save their lives. Best to leave them an avenue of escape and break their will to fight. Slay them during the rout as opposed to all out war. It would be better on our numbers at the end of the day.
I turned my cavalry to my right, to hit them close to where Robert was. This would allow the Tarly forces to escape down the road that our forces had marched into Ashford on.
The distance closed faster than I was mentally prepared for. And I, like any other man, am prone to hubris. I expected us to run right through their army, just as we had done with my impromptu charge that left the right flank of their forces decimated.
I was wrong.
Twenty yards away, the entire Tarly line reared back and launched their spears towards me.
My eyes widened, and two of the spears were headed straight towards me.
I contorted my body, and one spear flew over my left shoulder. But somewhere in my subconscious, Gimli must have reacted to my panic.
He reared up, right in front of the second spear.
On his back I couldn't see exactly where it pierced into him. All I knew was that it was in the chest and it was deep, as I felt the impact rattle my saddle.
Gimli toppled to the ground immediately, with a wine that broke my heart.
Instinct kicked in, and I jumped out of the saddle. Somehow I managed to roll whenever my body hit the ground. I didn't feel any pops or pains immediately, so I did my best to find my feet.
The Tarly men had advanced, as I was on the front line.
I turned sideways, as a sword swung through the air. My hand dipped to my own belt, only to find my sword wasn't in its sheath. I was without a weapon.
The man stabbed towards me, trying to use his advantage.
He was very slow, and obviously untrained. Reactions kicked in, and I smacked the flat of his blade with my left hand before closing the distance with him.
I pulled a dagger out of my inventory, without care that someone might see me produce a weapon out of nothing. I shoved it into the soldiers throat.
I didn't waste any time in letting the dagger go, and wrenching the sword out of his hands, claiming it for my own. It was just in time too, because two men approached me to avenge their fallen comrade.
They both came with overhead strikes.
I stopped backpedaling, and instead lunged towards the one on my left. I ducked the blow and sliced with my sword along his side. Boiled leather didn't stop him from being sliced halfway into his mass. The man fell in between me and his comrade blocking the second from following up with a strike.
As the man bent over at the waist, I used the momentum of my slice to reach around and cut the throat of the second soldier before he could react and swing at me again.
"AAAHHH!"
I felt the impact beside me as I heard the battle cry. It was the sound of metal failing and the caving of someone's chest.
I turned to the new threat with my sword up.
It was Robert, and right beside him was Ben with his shield in his left hand and a sword that I knew wasn't his in his right.
Robert ripped the warhammer out of his opponents chest with a smile.
I didn't even get to tell them thank you. The glint of steel swung through the air. Ben reacted appropriately, and raised a shield to block. The blade was beautiful, and even with the blood coating it, I knew it was different than a normal blade.
I was proven right with it sunk halfway down Ben's shield, and stopped at his arm. From my vantage point, I could see that it was Ben's bone that had stopped the weapon.
Fuck! He's down, but can survive that.
Robert swung his warhammer at our new foe, who reacted by wrenching his Valyrian steel blade out of Ben's shield/arm and into the wooden handle of Robert's warhammer.
Just like Ben's shield, it cut through the wood like it wasn't even there.
The man in full plate twirled the beautiful sword around faster than he should have been able to in his attire and stabbed towards Robert's throat.
I reacted, and my stolen sword smacked the blade into the sky. Luckily, his sword didn't cut through my own.
My foot reached out and I kicked Robert's hip, throwing him towards Ben as I stepped in front of my Lord and friends.
"Get him out of here!" I yelled towards Robert as I brought my blade up.
The man across from me was unrelenting in his assault. He knew that he had a Valyrian steel blade, and he abused it.
I parried one blow, and I could feel the nick it caused in my lower quality blade. I countered with a stab towards his armpit.
The man evaded the blow and sent one of his own.
Close to ten engagements happened faster than I would have been able to keep up with a year ago. The entire time, my sword felt like it was about to fall apart.
Parry, counter strike, dodge.
This was by far the most dangerous man I had ever faced on the battlefield, and soon it became obvious he was better than me, along with his sword.
I sent a strike that the man blocked and when it did my sword broke in half. There was a slight pause in the action as the part of the sword that broke off bounced off of his breastplate.
His foot hit my chest and sent me flying backwards. Whoever I was fighting, was a strong and skilled bastard.
I landed face down, and right next to me was the upper half of Robert's warhammer. I grabbed it without thinking about it.
I rolled, and sure enough the valyrian steel blade stabbed into the earth where my torso was just at.
The hammer in my hand swung as if Robert himself was possessing me. I was on my back, so I did not have much momentum. But for the first time in our fight, i landed a blow.
The warhammer smashed into the mans wrists, where he was wielding his sword with two hands. Both of them broke without the man's consent. The metal vambraces he wore crumpled in.
"Ahh!" He grunted as he pulled his hands back.
Only he forgot the sword still in the ground.
I leapt to my feet, grabbed the sword with both hands and swung.
"AH!" I grunted.
Had the man's head not rolled on the ground in response, I would never have known that the sword connected. There was almost no resistance at all to the blow.
I kept the sword up and at the ready as I looked for my next opponent.
There was none. A wide circle had formed around where mine and the mystery knight's duel had taken place. Men of both the Stormlands and the Reach looked on at the result of the duel.
Then it all clicked.
What Valyrian steel sword was famous in the Reach? And why would it be here on this battlefield?
I used the lull in fighting to my advantage and reached down with one hand towards the head on the ground. Somehow I peeled the helmet off easily.
Randyll Tarly's dead eyes stared into the sky above me. I did what I knew to do. I grabbed it by the hair, lifted it up into the air and yelled.
"Ahhhhhhhh!" I screamed.
Behind me, the entire Stormlands answered my call. Thousands of men screamed in the air as the Reachman began dropping their swords in surrender.
"AAAHHHHH!"