THE NORTHERN CRUSADE

THE END IS NEAR

Seeing that the Young Wolf is busy campaigning in The Reach with the vast majority of his forces, his brother had tasked Lord Tarly to take 20,000 men and attack Maidenpool. He wanted to secure the castle as a staging point for further incursion in Riverlands.

While Tarly's attack in Maidenpool is stopped by the Blackfish and his Rivermen. The decision to appoint lord Tarly as the commander was a serious blow to Mace Tyrell's ego, who thought that it was insulting that his bannerman was given command, instead of him.

While it was a logical decision, as Mace Tyrell isn't the smartest man and Lord Randyll Tarly is a skilled general, but it has certain political backlash as it slightly alienated Mace Tyrell from their side. 

"Forgive me, my lords. You are right, of course. This is a grave matter" Tyrion's words brought him back from his musings "But I beg you to reconsider marching against Robb Stark."

"Why?" demanded Mace.

"Because it is just what he wants us to do. Forgive me my lords, but Robb Stark defeated Lord Baelor precisely in this manner: he raided his lands to lure him into attacking. I beg you not to repeat his mistake."

"You'll have to pardon me," answered Tyrell pompously "but we outnumber the rebel Starks more than two to one, we will win".

"Then let us remain here. We shall outnumber them by just as much here as anywhere. It may be that Stark wants to lure our forces away from the city so that he can seize it" Tyrion said "He still holds Harrenhall from where he can stage an attack, he can send the Rivermen to capture the capital while we are fighting his northmen in the Reach"

"That may be true" Littlefinger said "But the Rivermen suffered heavy casualties during the Battle Of Maidenpool and let's not forget Lord Tarly is still guarding the King's Road".

"That hardly means there's no threat from that quarter," Kevan said for the first time since the start of this council "By now Lysa Arryn will have learned of the capture of Old Town. The knights of the Vale might finally come in on her nephew's side. We must also consider the potential threat from Dorne, no doubt the Martells will be angry on us for breaking the betrothal between princess Myrcella and Prince Trystan"

"The Dornishmen are treacherous snakes, that's so," replied Tyrion. "The Starks might be trying to lure us away from King's Landing."

"All the more reason we should strike decisively. Lysa Arryn is a woman, and Prince Doran, well, he has a woman's heart. Neither will move swiftly, if at all. We can defeat Robb Stark before any allies might come in to help him," Mace Tyrell answered confidently.

"My lords," interjected Baelish, "Let me sail to Gulltown to treat with Lady Arryn. I am certain I can persuade her that she would be better served to remain in the Eyrie, safely out of this war."

"What makes you so confident you can convince her?" Kevan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I've convinced her of other things," Littlefinger answered with a lascivious grin.

"Lord Baelish' proposal is a good one," said Tyrell. "If he can even delay matters in the Vale, that should give us enough time to deal with this Young Wolf. And anyway, we cannot remain here. Stark has cut the Rose Road. There is no food entering the city, and we barely have enough left to feed our army. If we stay here, we shall starve. The longer we sit here, the more the size of our host works against us."