Pain. Agony. Excruciating agony. That is all I felt. I looked up, wide-eyed, the sword rose and almost in slow motion I saw it coming down again. Inching closer and closer. I couldn't move my legs. I closed my eyes. And for the first time in my life here, I prayed to the Seven, to the Old Gods, to the Drowned, to the Lord of the Light, to anyone listening, and I meant it. I still have so much to do. Please, don't let me go yet. I've only just begun; there's still so much left to do.
Then, a warm liquid squirted onto my face. The metallic taste on my lips gave me the answer to what it was: blood.
I opened my eyes. And a sob left my mouth, the knight was gargling on his own blood, a sword shoved through his throat. Then, the sword was pulled out again, and my quite literal knight in shining armour was revealed.
"Your Grace, you're alright, can you stand?" He asked.
I wanted to respond to Ser Barristan, but I couldn't. The words were jumbled up in my throat. It felt like I couldn't breathe fast enough, sweat poured down my face and as I tried to stand, pain rushed through my leg. I cried out and fell forward once again. This time, Ser Barristan caught me in his arms.
"Your Grace, you're going to be alright." He assured me. He then turned his head away and yelled "Kingsguard, protect the King!" Soon after, the four knights of the Kingsguard who had accompanied me surrounded me. Shielding me from the battle which I, for the first time since I had fell, realised was still ongoing.
Ser Barristan, with me still in his arms, began to run. "Fall back", I muttered, hoarsely. He must have heard me for he bellowed "FALL BACK!"
As he ran, to Gods know where, my head began to pound, my ears began to ring, and I saw no more.
One Moon Earlier
"My Lord, I promise you we will get Lord Robb, as well as the other men who have been captured."
"Cat was right, I shouldn't have brought him." The Lord Paramount of the North said morosely. For the first time ever, he looked broken. Though I wasn't surprised, for we had just heard about the capture of Lord Robb and the men that had been raiding the Baratheon camp with him. Just a few hours earlier a raven had arrived from the usurper's camp that read as follows:
Joffrey Baratheon,
I, on behalf of His Grace, Renly, of House Baratheon, the first of His name, the rightful King of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, do inform you of the capture of Robb Stark, son of Lord Eddard Stark and the heir to Winterfell.
Our terms for the release of the prisoner are as follows:
The immediate surrender of your forces.
Your immediate abdication.
Your endorsement and recognition of His Grace being the one true King.
Signed, Maester Jurne
Now though, the Lord was in my tent just after my War Council had departed. I had decided it was time to attack. My grandfather had warned that Renly's men's moral would be rejuvenated thanks to the capture of Robb. However, I was dead set in the need to attack. I would not have Robb being kept prisoner any longer than he needed to be, and I felt that, if the setting was right, then we could win. My resolve was strengthened when Lord Tarly said that winning was possible, as long as the strategy was sound. I tasked him with coming up with one.
"As we speak, Lord Tarly is working on a way to ensure victory against Renly. That will bring us one step closer to getting Robb back. And Renly would be a fool to harm the son of the Warden of the North, my Lord."
"I suppose you are correct, Your Grace. But it is hard, not knowing if he is safe, or in pain, or in danger."
"I cannot begin to understand, my Lord, but I do understand the rules of warfare, something my uncle -as much of a fool that he is- values highly. Robb will be fine; he will be kept in a way that befits his station as heir to Winterfell."
After I finished speaking, Ned simply stared. I did not know if my attempts at calming words had worked, or even if he had listened. Knowing that nothing I did at this point would reassure the worried father, I stood and after wishing him well walked away.
The next few days were busied with preparing the camp and soldiers to move. On the third day, Lord Tarly visited me in my tent and told me the plan he had come up with. "I believe, Your Grace, that there is a strong chance of victory if we can get the element of surprise. It will be hard to do so when there are 30,000 men marching, but it can be done."
I looked down at the large map of Westeros that was spread out before me and contemplated what he had said for a moment before asking, "should we not still attack at Silver Hall?"
"I do not believe that is an option anymore, Your Grace. It would not result in eradicating their forces, which I believe is what you were hoping for."
"I would prefer to do that, but if it is not a sound strategy then I would settle for besting half of their forces."
"The problem, Your Grace, is that it could take weeks to draw out their forces, and then we would be leaving Lord Robb for longer than is preferable."
I stared at the map again, for a few long moments before deciding on a plan. "We shall wait and draw their forces out. If it takes too long, then we shall try to sneak an attack upon them when they are in camp."
"Then it is decided, Your Grace." Lord Tarly said before bowing and leaving my tent.
As he walked away, I had a feeling in my gut that I couldn't put my finger on, I felt unsettled, as if my subconscious was trying to warn me about something. I quickly shrugged it off, I had made my decision; it would do no good to keep questioning it.
It took around three weeks for the loyalist army to march to Silver Hall, the march was not particularly quick, as I saw no reason to tire the men out unnecessarily. When we arrived at Silver Hall, we set up our encampment on the Eastern side of the settlement. The castle was basic, seeing as it was built to accompany a mine that was set up by the Lannisters. The mine had run dry a few years ago, and with it, the keep was abandoned.
The camp was soon set up, and so the harassment began again. The plan was to again harass the supply trains, and the like, except this time, the location of our men would not be hidden. Half our men would soon move to the South West, and be prepared to march hard to the ambush point, between the river and the valley; when Renly's troops attacked, the main army (around 20,000 men) would fake retreat and lead the attackers to the valley, where the secondary forces would lay in wait and then strike the penned-in rebel forces.
I would be part of the secondary forces, and so my stay at Silver Hall was a relatively brief one. It lasted but two days, during which I stayed in the keep -the first time I had done so for what felt like years- before setting off once again, though this time it was a much shorter journey on horseback. Danire joined me on our journey, and so the trip was much less boring than it otherwise might have been.
There was a need to always be prepared since we did not know when the attack would take place, thus there was a lookout at all times, each being on guard for two hours, before being relieved. A few days into our wait, I elected to be a lookout, and Danire decided he would join me. We soon struck up a conversation. "I've been meaning to ask, why did you even talk to me? Most highborn wouldn't give a bastard the time of day, even more so for a lowborn one." He asked randomly.
"I couldn't care less who your family is, Dan, you were nice to me and that's all that matters." I replied.
"I wish all highborn had that way of thinking," he groused. "Most couldn't give too shits, just like the Queen." He said this forcefully, before his eyes widened comically and his head swivelled around so quickly, I thought he had given himself whiplash. I set my features sternly and steeled my voice when I replied. "You dare speak about my mother, your Queen no less, in such a way?" He gulped, and his eyes went even wider, as if that were even possible, and he rejoined, "Joffr - Your Grace, I meant no offense!"
As much as I wanted to, I couldn't keep a straight face any longer, and I burst out laughing, he looked confused for a second, then angry, "you bastard!" he yelled, punching me on my arm before he too started chuckling. Soon we were both crying with laughter.
The laughter did not last forever.
Two weeks later, the lookout ran into camp yelling; horses had been spotted. The camp soon became a furore of men preparing their weapons, armour, and themselves; mentally preparing for the imminent battle. Then, we moved into position, the area we had set up in was well hidden as not only was it high up above the valley, but it was also in a wooded area, giving us the ultimate element of surprise. We moved swiftly to the front of the trees with me at the head of the army, atop Midnight once more. Soon I could see the dust that the horses were kicking up, heading closer and closer to the valley below. I brought a spyglass to my eye, looking for how far behind the loyalist forces the rebels were. I breathed in deeply. It was nearly time. "This is it men." I began, turning Midnight around so that I could address those behind me. "With this blow, we can win the war, and send the traitors to their graves!" A cheer swept backwards, deep into the woods. "For Westeros!" I roared, and the men roared it back at me. Someone chanted "for the King!" and the men began chanting those three words as I kicked Midnight into action. He raced down the hill at full pelt as did thousands of other horses, with thousands of men following behind, all bellowing a war cry.
It did not take long for our forces to crash into the flank of the hostile Baratheon army. Half of our 20,000 men did so, the other half swept around the back, preventing the rebellious army from escaping back from whence they came. Up front, the faux retreat turned back on itself. Renly's men soon realised that they were trapped.
I quickly engaged in battle. Atop my trusty steed I felt invincible, slashing at the opposing cavalry with speed. One after another, my foes fell, my blade turning from glinting steel to a bloody red. My violent tirade came to a halt however, when a knight decked out in full steel armour met the arc of my blade with his, causing a jolt of pain to run up my arm. He tried to follow up his defence with a quick strike to my exposed underarm, but I deflected his attack away with my blade. Our swords soon began a merry dance in the air, clashing off each other, the sound of metal on metal joining the sound of the others in battle. We each tried to get the best of each other, my unnamed adversary attempting to use his brute strength to best me, whilst I used my agility to block and parry his blows. Before too long however, we both were tiring, luckily for me, he did so before I, as his reliance on fast, heavy blows used up much of his stamina. Knowing that I needed to end this shortly, I lept off my horse, and rolled forward, a move taught to me by Ser Jaime. I then slashed at the opposing knight's horse. With a pained neigh, it crumpled, falling to the ground, bringing the knight down with it, crushing him under its weight. With a sorrowful glance, I put both the man and the horse out of their pain. The battle waited for no man however, as I soon found myself under attack from another soldier.
This foe was no match for me however, and I soon slit his throat, ending our short bout. I then moved on, working my way towards the centre of the mass of men, slowly but surely. I was looking for one man. I did not know if he was here, but if he was, then we could end this once and for all. As I made my way inwards, I noticed that the field of enemy men was slowly becoming lesser, but from what I could see, we were also taking losses. I could not tell whether they were more or less than the enemy casualties though, as I was constantly under barrage from those attacking me.
I took down man after man, as I kept moving centre-wards. The battle was tiring me out more and more, and my resolve to end the bloodshed grew. Then, I saw it, the distinct flowery armour of Renly's confidant and lover, Ser Loras Tyrell. "Ser Loras!" I cried as I neared. "I see even the white cape of a fake Kingsguard couldn't stop you from wearing that blasted rose armour!"
He turned around at the sound of my voice.
"Joffrey!" He returned. "Why can't you end this? Give up, acknowledge your uncle for what he is. The one true King!"
"We both know that he has no claim to that title!" I lied. "He is nothing but a usurper, and you, his bitch!"
He howled in anger and charged at me, our polite exchange of words over. Our swords clanged together, as we both went on the offensive; I realised that if I were to win this duel, it would need to be done quickly, as my arms were already growing heavy, and sweat mixed with blood and the Seven knew what was pouring down my face. We tiptoed around each other, neither willing to commit too early to a decisive manoeuvre. Though as my strength grew weaker, I knew I would need to speed it up, so I feinted leftwards and threw a blow to his right, aiming for Ser Loras' thigh, my blow missed however, as he dodged – seeing through my feint. He responded with a gracefully arced swing, that connected with my thigh in kind. I yelled out in pain but managed to stay on my feet. In panic I jabbed forward, but he easily deflected my pathetic attempt, knocking my sword out of my hand. He kicked me, directly hitting my wounded thigh. I cried out again and fell forwards onto my knees. He swung again, slicing the back of my right leg, before kicking me down.
"Not so cocky now, are you, you brat?" He sneered as I twisted myself around.
Pain. Agony. Excruciating agony. That is all I felt. I looked up, wide-eyed my heart thumping in my chest as I saw Loras raise his sword, and almost in slow motion I saw it coming down again. Inching closer and closer. I couldn't move. I closed my eyes. And for the first time in my life here, I prayed to the Seven, to the Old Gods, to the Drowned, to the Lord of the Light, to anyone listening, and I meant it. I still have so much to do. Please, don't let me go yet. I've only just begun; there's still so much left to do.
Then, a warm liquid squirted onto my face. The metallic taste on my lips gave me the answer to what it was: blood.
I opened my eyes. And a sob left my mouth, Loras was gargling on his own blood, a sword shoved through his throat. Then, the sword was pulled out again, and my, quite literal knight in shining armour was revealed.
"Your Grace, you're alright, can you stand?" He asked.
I wanted to respond to Ser Barristan, but I couldn't. The words were jumbled up in my throat. It felt like I couldn't breathe fast enough, sweat poured down my face and as I tried to stand, pain rushed through my leg. I cried out and fell forward once again. This time, Ser Barristan caught me in his arms.
"Your Grace, you're going to be alright." He assured me. He then turned his head away and yelled "Kingsguard, protect the King!" Soon after, the four knights of the Kingsguard who had accompanied me surrounded me. Shielding me from the battle which I, for the first time since I had fell, realised was still ongoing.
Ser Barristan, with me still in his arms, began to run. "Fall back", I muttered, hoarsely. He must have heard me for he bellowed "FALL BACK!"
As he ran, to Gods know where, my head began to pound, my ears began to ring, and I saw no more.
A/N
Well, it's been a while! It took me ages to get this to a place where I was happy with it. I hope you enjoyed it! Hopefully, the next chapter will be finished much sooner. Thanks to all those who waited, and to those who kept the messages coming in! Please do leave a review/comment etc. Love you all!