My cousin had managed to manufacture refugees without any serious loss of life among the common people, which had earned him a solid reputation among them. He had also had the cleverness to send agents in with the main wave of refugees, and those agents burned four food stores in Gulltown. The city was on the edge of famine, and common people did not care about the gas of high lords. They simply wanted to eat. Had it been Tywin Lannister besieging the city, the townspeople would have held to the last. Examples of surrendering to the Lion tended to end badly. But Robar had been cunning about it. His n chanted around the clock that they were no enemies of ordinary people and only wished to restore peace to the Vale. The tactic bore fruit, since common folk trusted Robar. The reports varied, but at least two uprisings had been violently put down inside Gulltown. He had also used the Rykker fleet, which had since departed, to burn the port and anything that floated. That was ant to reduce the fish catch. By all estimates, the city should fall within the week.
The news was good. The trouble was that Stannis's army would arrive any day now. If that happened before the city fell, all the effort would co to nothing. The siege would be lifted without difficulty. That would be unpleasant, but not fatal. I had foreseen this and ordered Robar to withdraw the mont he spotted the main Baratheon fleet. The enemy would be left in possession of the Vale's largest city, but it would do them little good. What use was a city with nothing to eat?
The Baratheon army would sail in expecting the Graftons to provide provisions, and find only empty granaries. They could not replenish their supplies, Robar having stripped virtually all of Grafton territory bare. They would face a food crisis quickly, and the nearest place with substantial stores was the Royce domain. To reach it, they would have to break through the fortifications Andar had built and fight through Robar's army. The Baratheon force was more likely to starve than to push through to Royce lands in any short span of ti. So the help they brought to Gulltown might prove fatal to themselves. Whatever happened, it would hurt the stag.
I had no particular fondness for the Lannisters, with their groundless arrogance, but they were managing a genuinely wretched situation well enough. Tywin had ravaged the Riverlands, left an army behind to finish off the shattered river lords and ensure the Freys kept the Northern army from crossing, and then led his own host of almost thirty thousand swords to intercept Renly Baratheon's army. And here the sword-swallower demonstrated what a fool he truly was.
The younger Baratheon had mustered the Stormlands host, just over thirty thousand swords, married Margaery Tyrell, and received the strength of the Reach along with her, nearly seventy thousand swords. And with a hundred thousand n at his back, what did Renly do? He feasted and held tournants. He could have taken King's Landing inside a week, but he did not.
Such contempt for urgency was inevitably punished. Lord Tywin volunteered as the instrunt of correction, and on a given day thinned the stag's vanguard considerably. Forty thousand n were broken, and many lords and knights fell into Lannister captivity. Only when Randyll Tarly took matters in hand was there any chance to regroup and beat back the assault. Even so, it had been a resounding Lannister success. When the lords of the Crownlands understood that the Old Lion, who was not known for his particular warmth toward enemies, was winning and drawing near, they bent the knee to Joffrey.
A stillness had settled over Westeros. The Riverlands could not get themselves together. The Northerners were stuck at the Green Fork and could not co to their allies' aid. With the additional strength drawn from the Crownlands, they were waging a war of position now, each side waiting for sothing. In the Vale, sieges were being asured against the clock, and active movent would not resu for so ti. And only Dorne remained quiet and still, which was very suspicious indeed.
...
With the first light of dawn I was already making my rounds of the sentries. Over the course of the siege I had developed a useful habit: rising before daybreak and walking along the castle walls, checking on the watch as I went. This twenty-fourth walk was no different from any other. Beyond the walls, the rebel camp was only just stirring awake. The first rays of sunlight lit a thin mist. The sentries, understanding the weight of their responsibility, gazed sharp-eyed into the distance. While it was quiet, you could hear the rustling of leaves in the trees. Small details like these, together, made the picture of war.
An eagle's cry pulled from my study of the horizon. My body, sensing the magic in the bird, raised my arm without thought, and a magnificent eagle landed on it at once. Khamul. I had only two such eagles: one nad Khamul, the other Helum. And it seed he had brought good news.
Gulltown has fallen. Lord Gerold Grafton has taken his own life. Remarkable. I had plans for him. The lesser houses are falling over one another to swear fealty, which is no surprise. Baratheon ships will reach the city within the day. That ans Robar is either already fighting them off or soon will be. The next report will co in at the earliest. Ti to prepare and send word to Morgan. Let him finish off the rebel supply lines. Seven hundred horse are needed here.
User Comments
0 comments from readers