Chapter 92
-POV Rodrik Cassel-
I nodded towards my nephew and then forced my horse to turn right while he turned left; behind each of us, about 500 men did the same. Once the 5 volleys of arrows were finished, we charged from both sides to encircle them and finish them off.
We had no trouble breaking their formations as the arrows had brought down riders and many horses, which also created a chain reaction that completely halted their cavalry.
-20 minutes later-
"Everything went as planned," I said to my lord, bowing.
He nodded and then said with a slight tone of disappointment, "Yes, but it's a shame we couldn't draw out all the forces loyal to Bolton."
I nodded and then said, "There are even more than we anticipated."
"There are 5,000 mercenaries from the Golden Company and 3,000 men bearing the Karstark banners."
"A Karstark has betrayed Rickard and his sons to gain power over Karhold," he said sadly.
I nodded, and we fell into a brief silence before he raised his head and unsheathed Ice, the legendary sword of House Stark, and said:
"Then they shall perish like all traitors, and I will personally execute the sentence as all Starks before me."
---
-Harry Strickland-
I quickly surveyed the forces in front of me and realized that to gain the advantage, I would inevitably have to push back the Starks and take the hill. Unfortunately, there was a problem: I did not yet know the full strength of their host.
I was about to order the Ryswells to open hostilities since they were most eager for revenge, but I stopped when the gates of Winterfell opened behind us, and the 2,000 men supposed to guard the fortress at all costs threw themselves into the battle.
I shook my head in disdain and told the messenger, "Order the Ryswells and Dustins to stop the pup's charge and take the castle."
"Tell them this is their chance to avenge the death of his nephew and all his loyal bannerets who fell in battle," said Duke Bolton.
I nodded in agreement, and then he said, "With this, we now have the advantage; they will be forced to surpass us to reach the heir of Winterfell."
"Speak of the devil," said Arnolf Karstark, seeing the Stark troops quickly descending the hill.
"Sound a quick retreat; we will draw them in a bit more and then begin to fight," I said, turning my horse around.
-Return to the Present-
---
-Robb Stark-
I frowned as I crossed the empty Bolton camp, searching for them in the distance. I found them at the foot of a small hill, while I could see the banners of our house on top of this hill, but I didn't have time to rejoice because about 5,000 men charged us and quickly surrounded us.
From atop my horse, I could easily see that we had no choice but to confront them because if we retreated, they could enter with us and take advantage of that to forcefully take the castle.
So, I yelled, "INTO BATTLE FORMATION!"
Quickly, a semicircle formed in front of me, and then I shouted, "Advance but stay in tight formation."
The Winterfell Guards were true guards trained on the basis of dragon guards; I was inspired by the formation and skill of each of the guards that Aegon had recruited and trained both individually and collectively. This gave me the idea to create my own company of guards trained in the same combat formation as his.
Once the enemy soldiers were close enough, I shouted, "SHIELD WALL!"
Everyone instantly stopped and began to form a wall with 3 stacked shields, and then they waited, just like me, with a knot in their stomachs. This was the first combat most of us were going to participate in.
The cries of the Ryswells and the clinking of metal signified their arrival. The wait seemed endless, and then it happened: the Ryswell bannerets tried to breach our wall and almost succeeded, but before I could even order my men to kill those who had made their way through and to plug the gaps in our defense, almost instinctively, some of them stood up and of their own accord restored the formation at the breaking point.
The charge lasted a few more seconds, and then I shouted, "FALL BACK!"
My men stepped back a few paces, which destabilized the balance of some of our enemies, and they took advantage of that to open the wall and pierce through these traitors with their spears.
I waited a few moments and then, once our enemies tried again to break our wall, I signaled to two of my lieutenants to take the reins on the flanks and to widen our semicircle.
I wanted to turn the situation around by attracting the enemy to the center while slowly encircling them. So, I began to divert by ordering my men to switch to another combat formation.
"SHIELD WALL, PIKEMEN FORMATION!"
The impregnable shield wall cracked, and small openings appeared in it; before the enemy could understand what was happening, spears emerged from these small slits, piercing quickly like a snake jumping on its prey.
After a few minutes, the tide turned because the forces, now identified as those of the Ryswells and Dustins, were not at all prepared to face a unit of the level I possessed.
"ADVANCE, ADVANCE!"
I yelled at my men to advance, and I continued to follow from behind with the cavalry, hoping to find a good spot to definitively breach their formations and create a panic movement uncontrollable by their officers in hopes of being able to win the forces of my father.