The Witch-King of the Vale [GoT x LotR] Chapter 76 73

The Vale of Arryn. Grey Glen. 298 AC.

Ser Andrew Tollett. Master-at-Arms of Grey Glen.

The bone-tired smallfolk watched Arryn's army withdraw. Revenge is a fine motivator for driving ordinary people to take up arms, but the awareness of the gulf between themselves and n who had spent their entire lives at war had been giving everyone dark thoughts. The confirmation that they could actually force Falcon's eye to pull back drew a roar from every throat. Only the veterans understood that this was rely the beginning and that harder days were coming, but none of them saw fit to interrupt the general celebration.

"WE DID IT!!! HURRAAAAA!!!"

"Finally," Andrew muttered. The day had wrung him dry. He had not broken from his command for a single mont, and was greeting the end of it with as much relief as anyone on the walls.

They say the first day is the hardest test. If you survive it, everything that follows cos easier. Many good people died today, but their deaths will only harden those who remain. We only need to hold a little longer, and then Lord Uthor will return to lift the siege. And yet sothing is nagging at , sothing will not let rest, as though there is a trap I have not seen yet.

"Ser Andrew, we did it!" Ser Elbert ca up behind him, the young man who had been serving as his deputy.

"Good work, Elbert," he said. He could not deny the young man his praise. "But did it not strike you as odd that they left too early? Arryn's soldiers..."

"No," Elbert said, flatly and without hesitation. "Arryn's army only just fought Lord Uthor and the Graftons. They never planned for a siege, so they have nothing beyond ladders. Even if Falcon's eye himself is out there, there is only so much a man can do with ladders and arrows." Sotis a few well-chosen words are enough to quiet an old soldier's heart.

I must be more tired than I realized. Otherwise I would not be seeing plots where there are none.

...

Evening. The Castle Wall.

"THE ENEMY IS ATTACKING! SOUND THE ALARM!!!"

"BWAAAH, BWAAAH!!!" Two long blasts of the horn rang out, calling the defenders to the walls.

"We are under attack," one of the knights was restoring order among the shaken n. "Back to your positions, quickly!"

"CHARGE! STORM THE WALLS!!!" The attackers' battle cries were loud enough to carry to the farthest corner of the castle.

The stunned defenders barely had ti to wake, but managed to arm themselves after a fashion and scramble to the walls. Andrew had been up at the first signal, fully awake by the end of the second. A few minutes later, when his quick-handed servants had helped him into his armor, he ran to the watchtower where he had commanded during the day.

"Do exactly what you did this afternoon! Keep firing!" The commanders were managing the panic as best they could and issuing simple orders.

"THE ENEMY IS SHOOTING!!!" a young man scread as an arrow found his shoulder.

"FORWARD, FORWARD, KILL THEM ALL!!!" Arryn's cutthroats roared below.

"Elbert! They attacked after all?!" The master-at-arms ran up into the tower and found his deputy there.

"YES!" was all the reply he got, Elbert straining to see sothing in the dark.

"What is the situation here?" He needed to understand how bad things were before he could think about strategy.

"I cannot say," Elbert answered, and that surprised him. "The moon has not risen, yet everything below is black. I cannot make out anything. There are no fires in the camp, they have put them all out, but why?"

"So that we cannot judge their true numbers." Being the more experienced soldier, it was easier for him to read the intention behind it. "Those shouts are deliberate. They want us to believe there are far more of them than there are. And the mont we stand down the watch, they will co at us with everything they have." But what is Arryn actually after? Surely he does not think I would dismiss the watch in a situation like this?

"So in this situation we have no choice but to watch their movents and wait?" The boy was young, but his head was working.

Though how long would this particular waiting last?

...

Several hours earlier.

Arryn's Main Tent.

Lord Axel Arryn.

"Taking Grey Glen is not the primary objective. It is more of a feint. By our reckoning, the Graftons bore the heaviest losses in the first engagent with the rebels. Very little remains of them as a fighting force. Tollett was broken, but his swords and his authority are still enough for him to dictate terms to the other traitors. The mont we move against his ho, nothing else will matter to him. He will go to save his family. And the lords at Ironoaks will face a choice: stand where they are and watch the Tolletts lose, or march with them straight into an obvious trap." I laid out my reasoning for those present. I received slow nods in return.

"They will have no choice but to march on us without waiting for Corbray's reinforcents," Morgan summarized. "Is that why you left a screening force, to buy ti?"

"Yes," I said, taking care to be thorough for the benefit of those newly arrived. "That gives us a day or two at best. Given the distance from Ironoaks to Grey Glen, and assuming the cavalry rides out ahead, the enemy should arrive here within five days." Most of those present looked shaken. Five days was a desperately short window for a siege.

"My lord, I would venture that you have sent Ser Robar's four thousand swords to set an ambush for the enemy cavalry." Ser Symond Templeton had already pointed out on the map where a good ambush might be laid. It was a pity to disappoint him.

Ser Symond Templeton was the head of House Templeton, lords of the Ninestars. Though landed knights rather than great lords, they were among the strongest and wealthiest houses in the Vale. Symond himself was a man in his pri, with ice-blue eyes, a large hooked nose, and a black pointed beard. He had supported from the beginning but had been unable to reach the first battle in ti and was eager to make up for it. During the days it had taken us to reach the Tollett castle, we had talked at length. He had shown himself to be a sound commander with a critical mind, and in this world that was worth a great deal.

"No, there will be no ambush. Ser Robar Royce is taking his forces to assault Gulltown. Our task is to take Grey Glen and then hold it under siege until Ser Royce cos to relieve us." The prospect of deliberately trapping themselves in a siege pleased no one.

There was nothing to be done. Gulltown had to be taken quickly, while the Gulltown fleet was still available to us. Lord Renfred Rykker had lent his fleet for two months. Rather, more than a month had already passed, and if I had committed all my strength here, I would not make the deadline. Taking the Vale's main port without a fleet was not possible. I was fortunate that an alternative had presented itself, but it was too late to change the plan. The eagles would simply not arrive in ti.

"My lord, this is madness!" Lord Henry lcolm spoke his mind without hesitation. "We cannot take Grey Glen in five days without an enormous cost in blood. Whatever you offer them, the castle's defenders will fight to the last." A barb aid at . "And even if we do take it, our soldiers will be too spent to face the rebel reinforcents. And beyond that, even if everything goes to plan, Gulltown is a hard nut to crack, and there is no telling how long Ser Robar will take to open it."

"I agree with you entirely." lcolm blinked at that. "The soldiers will be exhausted and unable to face fresh enemies properly, which is why we will take the castle using only two thirds of our strength."

"Wait... My lord, how in the world..."

"Our army, even accounting for all our losses, has grown to three thousand. We divide it into three parts: two forward companies and one rear. While the rear rests completely, the other two attack in rotation, relieving each other in turn."

...

Now.

"Ho-ho-ho! They actually fell for it." Morgan was laughing openly while the shouting of our soldiers rang out below. "Incredibly loud. Though the n in the castle are giving just as good as they get. Ho-ho-ho!"

In truth only a third of the army was actually pressing the attack, while the others slept. And of that attacking force, only a portion was within bowshot range. The rest stood further back and made noise. The castle's defenders, for their part, had decided to loose as many arrows as possible into the darkness. The result was that this attack would carry on through the entire night.

"Morgan, I leave it all to you. Wake when the sun is up."

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