13 Battle of Tarth

79 Ac

Kingslanding

Why must you go to Tarth asked Jocelyn as she paced around the room with little Rhaenys in her hands.

It was father's order sweetheart I responded calmly while putting on my armor and furs for the ride on Caraxes.

Yes, I know that, you've said that many times before what I am asking is for the reason why you must go there to aid Tarth, I heard Galladon Tarth has the situation under control and is now pushing the pirates back to the sea.

I raised an eyebrow at the heat behind her words and said you mean sir Galladon, why all the animosity towards house Tarth, or is it just sir Galladon, in particular, you don't like?

She turned her back to me and didn't respond for a while until I hugged her from behind.

"Father wants me to go to Tarth as a show of strength and solidarity to show are vassals the power of house Targaryen and to show them that we stand with our vassals in their time of need. Now tell me what's really wrong" I said as I kissed her behind her neck.

She sighed handing our daughter to a maid nearby and making them leave the room she then started to speak of how house Tarth started to undermine her house's power and how it all started with Galladon bringing enormous wealth and trade to Tarth and how his grandfather used his grandson fame and prestige to gather allies in the Stormlands.

She continued by saying how most of the southern Stormlands mostly the lords from Cape Wrath now take the lead of Tarth since they are making coins hand over fist, trading the woods from their forests to galladon shipyards. Before the pirates attacked some of the marcher lords were coming under their influence since they were selling them foodstuffs and weapons for a much better price than anywhere else.

As my wife continues her tangent on house Tarth's growing influence. I am lost in thought,

I am a bit shocked by the amount of influence Tarth had on the Stormlands

Of course, the small council already knew of their growing influence but never thought it was to this extent maybe I should bring this up to Father when I get back from Tarth. I thought while saying sweet nothings in my wife's ear to calm her down.

A few days later in Tarth

I circled around the main camp of Sir Galladon trying to find a spot to land the soldiers must have noticed me as I saw a few gathered outside the camp waiting for me to land. I landed in a good area and waited for the soldiers to approach. To my right, I can see the ruined castle of Evenfall Hall now the main base of the invading pirates.

An assembly of Tarth men with the banner of house Tarth waving above them stopped a good deal away from my dragon. Only a lone rider approaches to greet you

The sun burns high above you, the mother's warmth making you sweat under your amour.

I waited for some time as the rider approached, and then descended my dragon.

Sir Galladon of House Tarth rides a gray stallion as he approaches you, his blue cape waving behind him. As the young lord comes closer, you can see the details of his garments. His polished steel plate mail armor shines underneath a surcoat that depicts the heraldry of his family with an extra addition. Yellow suns and white crescent moons on a quartered background of rose and azure and standing proudly inside was a golden eagle.

The man slows the gallop of his horse until he stops in front of you.

Galladon takes away his helmet and gives you a warm smile. "Prince Amon. It is good to see you."

"Am I too late?" I asked as I took off my riding gloves and fur. "Is it over already?"

"Haha no my lord you're just in time for the final battle come and join us in the war tent," said Galladon with a bow. As we walk towards his well-maintained camp we continue to talk of the progress of the war.

"We were able to push these godless sons of whores from most of the island now they are just held up in evenfall hall, they did some damage to the west side of the island attacking homesteads and small lord manors." But nothing too serious my army was able to mobilize fast enough to stop most of the disaster. but not fast enough to save my family, as he said this I could almost see a vain pop on his forehead as his face scrunched up in anger, he tightened his fists as he spat out "I shall kill them all none shall escape my vengeance."

He took a deep breath and said

"I'm sorry my prince my anger took hold of me"

"No need for apologies sir, your anger is understandable I myself would have burned down the whole of the stepstones if something like this happened to my family."

He nodded and we continued on with silence until we reached the large war tent. As we neared the tent, I heard voices arguing, and when we walked in the arguing stopped and everyone bowed to me and their lord.

"Don't mind me go on with your discussions." They nodded and a huge knight with house Tarth colors with a badge of an Eagle on his left breast came up and introduced himself as Garth master of arms and a general of Sir Tarth's army.

"What should we do now that the pirates can't run? We've burnt their fleet and knowing the pirates they probably feasted on all the food in the castle stores. So they can't stay held up in the castle for long and the castle's defensive ability is greatly damaged from their attack on it.

So what we need to decide now is to either attack the castle now, which will cause us some casualties or we can besiege them and wait until they come and meet us in the field. we have a camp from which we can maneuver and resupply, while they are sitting ducks starving in a ruined castle."

Another man steps up to give his opinion on the matter with house Tarth colors and a badge of a horsemen on his left breast. He introduces himself as Renly captain of the scouts.

"From what we already know it would be best If we fight in the open field, we'll be exposed yes, but the pirate's army outnumbers us by a large margin, so if we attack the castle we will win but we'll have a hard battle ahead of us…but if they attack us then it's a forgone conclusion we will massacre them in the field. He then turned and looked at me and nodded before saying "And also now that Prince Aemon is here to assist us we can lure the enemy out to this valley here"

He said while pointing to a valley with a forest on the left and a stream of water on the right. "We will hold them with our infantry then have Prince Aemon swoop down and rain fire upon them, and after a long pause, he says.

"Only if the prince agrees of course."

A lot of the people in the room started nodding at his suggestion. Another young man approached the table also in the colors of house Tarth with a badge of an Archer on his left breast. He introduced himself as Captain Brian after his introduction he began to add to the strategy of the battle.

"The woods are thick enough to hide the movement of a small battalion of soldiers, who could pass through and thus make their way across the slope to the other side of the field. There, they might be able to wreak havoc on the enemy's back lines.

Still, if the enemy scouts were to find them, they would be quickly surrounded.

"Let me guide the men there," says Brain with confidence. "I can lead them through these woods."

"Are you sure?" Asked Sir Galladon

The hunter nods. "I want to help. This is what I do best. If we find Bluebread in the rear and I manage to take a shot at him, we have a chance to end this sooner rather than later, with fewer people killed."

Galladon nodded and the meeting continued with different people coming up with different strategies for the upcoming battle while I just listened and gave my input when I think it's needed.

Evenfall hall

Meeting room

The main leaders of the pirate's army

Captain Bluebeard Pov:

Talking about anything with these idiots is going to have me kill them before Galladon has a chance. One of said idiots loudly interrupted my thoughts.

"Why don't we attack their camp at night in a surprise attack, they must be overconfident now that they have been winning all the skirmishes we had with them. They might have let their guard down enough for us to sneak up on them."

Captain Taenos of the ship Mothermulchers shakes his head "It won't work they have built their camp in a clear field they can see an attack coming from miles away."

"What do we know about the army of Sir Galladon?"

"From all the small skirmishes we had with them we know they have a strong Calvary force they are fast and maneuverable, And their crossbows are as deadly as they come, but what I'm most afraid of is their heavy infantry who can throw small balls made of fire which would cause havoc among our lines and moral. If we decide to fight them on the field, it must be where we hold the advantage. They know this land better than we do so we must be careful with falling into any traps from them."

A sickly-looking man known as One Eye Billy spoke up.

"Can we not strike a deal to avoid the battle? Perhaps pay for peace? Please, do not take me for a coward, but this war is simply not something we can win."

Another captain spoke up

"Are you stupid we killed his whole family if he doesn't hang us all by our intestines then he is a coward and Galladon Tarth is no coward. I regret accepting this deal, greed has led me to my death."

That raised more arguments with the other captains until Bluebeard hit his fist on the table and said

Enough!! We will meet them in the field tomorrow, they couldn't have gathered too many troops in such a short amount of time. If we wait for too long then we will all die in this castle. This is what we going to do, we will have them focus on our main army in the front and I will lead a small force out of the castle tonight under the cover of night, to go behind them and hit them when they least expect it.

The next day

Galladon Pov:

A merciless and unobstructed sun shines upon all. Soldiers are forced to continue moving under the weight and the heat of their equipment. Such harsh conditions might take a toll on their morale but I know my troops are well trained this is nothing to them.

After leaving the main road and advancing over a gentle slope, the bulk of my army reaches the other side of a hilltop. A steep decline there leads to a large valley. Beyond it, on another hill, there lie Bluebeard and his pirate forces spread atop a hill much like yours. The left portion of the valley is consumed by a thick woodland that spreads across its entire length, reaching upwards over the distant hillside. The right portion of the field is obstructed by a narrow stream of water.

And finally, at your back, there is a gradual incline that leads back to the main roads.

I look over at the enemy and see them advance against my troops, Many of them are simple militia fighters poorly armed with tattered leather armor and chainmail., but there is a good number of men-at-arms as well along with some archers and a few heavily armored men. They must have gathered those armor from my grandfather's fallen knights.

I have to make sure we kill them all so their secrets die with them of course we can leave one or two captains alive to let us know where they leave their Gold. I smiled under my helmet at the thought of getting the money I spent on hiring them back.

I look at my army with heavily armed men-at-arms who hold the foot of the slope. A battalion of mounted winged knights stands in formation to our right, carrying the standard of House Tarth, while our crossbows remain positioned atop the hill.

According to my scouts, The pirates have brought about four thousand men to the battle.

This puts them with more than double of my forces.

Both armies stand outside each other's reach for now, and the archers will be ineffective until someone commits to the open field below.

The lack of rain is a good sign, and the wind is somewhat steady for now. Your arrows will fly true, but so will the enemy's. There is also the matter of not hitting your own troops. You can only guarantee that the arrows will not reach your soldiers if they are not engaged with the enemy.

While holding an elevated position is usually a good idea during any battle, there is plenty of space around the valley for the enemy to maneuver. If they encircle you on the right side, moving between the river and the hill you are on, you might find yourself trapped. Still, it may be better to defend my position than it would be to spread my forces throughout the valley since they greatly outnumber me.

I raised my hands to cover my eyes from the sun rays. The sun sets in the west—the direction that we came from. It is already moving past its peak, and in a few hours, the light will be behind us. It could be harder for their troops to attack if they are facing the sun's light directly. So I will wait until we have the sun behind us when we fight.

I spot Garth passing through the ranks, checking on the soldiers and giving instructions.

The soldiers seem eager to engage in combat, but they maintain their formation and await your orders.

Jugs of water and ale are constantly passed around, quenching thirst and giving courage. The sun moves slowly, and it will take more time for it to be in the right position.

There is a brief and light shower of rain that lasts about half an hour. The soldiers welcome it after such a hot day.

Meanwhile, while we wait for the sun to be positioned behind us, the enemy forces maintain position which I found a bit odd but I thought nothing of it. An hour later the sun is now behind us. So the battle will soon start.

I send a battalion of 500 men into the woods. If they manage to pass through undetected, they will find themselves near the back of the enemy lines, where they can either cause havoc or kill some important target. Hopefully, Brian's experience as a hunter in the Redwood will be of service here. He was one of the orphans who showed a lot of promise as an archer and expert hunter so I gave him the lead on this mission.

I decided to give a speech to the soldiers before the battle. I rode my horse to the front of my troops while looking over them then began speaking.

"I am sorry. I know many of you were expecting a real battle. But today, all I have to offer you is a massacre! It's True they have a force larger than ours but We have better armor, better strategy, and a reason to fight. we will annihilate the enemy here today!"

And when we do they will write songs and tell stories about this moment in the days to come of how the people of Tarth faced the overwhelming numbers of the enemy. How we stood our ground and fought back without fear. And how we won a battle we had no right to win, simply because we were too stubborn to accept defeat!

Now Look before you! There lies glory to be achieved! Vengeance to be taken! Battle to be won! A bright future awaits on the other side of this valley. Let us seize it with bloodied hands!"With me, soldiers, for we shall write history today!"

ROOOAAAAARRRR!!

The soldiers raise their weapons and roar their approval.

Gladdened with the response from the soldiers I look over to the enemy when a war horn sounds, and the pirates start moving.

The main chunk of the enemy infantry advances slowly towards your position, the troops wearing iron bassinet helmets and leather or chain mail vests. They carry shields and swords, maces, spears, axes, and whatever else there is to thrust and swing against a foe. The width of their lines occupies almost half of the valley, a massive wave of about three thousand men.

On the right flank, my knights start riding close to the riverbank—there are at least three hundred of them, riders and their horses all clad in heavy armor. Meanwhile, the enemy archers remain on their hilltop, waiting with the rest of the back lines.

I Order my crossbows to start firing as soon as the enemy is within range. Before they get close to us I have my cavalry descend in a wedge formation to break the enemy infantry's charge. As the knights led by Garth charge toward them, the pirate's infantry fighters try to adapt their formation, moving into a rough shield wall. The riders of Tarth crash against the enemy lines and make a hole, trampling over infantry troops and hacking their way through, killing many in the process.

Your knights crash against the enemy lines, immediately killing many of the men in the first row. Yet even with their momentum, they find it hard to break through completely. The enemy endures the charge, fighting back fiercely. Meanwhile, the enemy archers shoot at them repeatedly, but the riders and their mounts are well protected by their armor. Only a few horsemen are taken out—not enough to stop their advance.

The battle rages on.

Your knights keep harassing the enemy lines, but they are not enough to stop the pirate's advance on their own. They cannot risk committing to a direct confrontation with their low numbers. So I ordered their retreat. The enemy troops on the ground keep marching through the valley unopposed and soon come within the range of my crossbowmen, who start loosing their bolts. The pirates raise their shields, protecting themselves from most of the attack.

Instead of moving to your right and trying to get through the somewhat narrow passage near the river, the enemy troops continue straight ahead, reaching the hillside and throwing their numbers towards the top. They must be mad with rage.

Bluebeard might have promised riches to the pirates, or maybe they believe themselves to be stronger than my soldiers, perhaps more likely, they are under the effects of some substance—perhaps the same thing the mercenaries from the disputed lands consume before going into battle.

Nothing else could explain such eagerness for dying a violent death. They cannot win this battle. Not like this. Not by mindlessly throwing themselves upwards against a steep slope.

Yet the Pirates continue to come. Those in the front are pushed by the ones behind. Waves upon waves of soldiers struggle to reach the hilltop or at least kill some of the defenders who remain on the edge, thrusting at them with lances and spears.

You are disturbed from your thoughts by a dire announcement from someone behind you.

"There are more of them coming!"

You turn and look as they arrive in the distance—a battalion of pirates, one that was not with the main forces on the other side of the valley. This new host is coming from the same roads you traveled. It seems you are not the only one who is trying to use the sun as an advantage.

While your infantry holds the advance of the enemy in the east, you are quickly briefed about the new threat from the west.

The upcoming host is led by Bluebeard himself, He advances with fifty mounted horsemen and a battalion of around five hundred men.

You have little time to decide how to prepare for their attack. And you must do so without your cavalry since they are too far away.

Your crossbowmen turn their attention to the soldiers at their backs and fire their bolts. The fire disrupts the enemy lines, killing a good portion of their troops. While the crossbowmen find it difficult to aim against the blinding light of the fading sun, the huge mass of pirates huddled together makes for an easier target than most.

I grab some soldiers to go meet the new attackers downhill. It is better not to fight on two fronts at once, regardless of your position. The sooner I finish this new threat, the sooner I can focus on the main battle with the main pirate force.

And there is no quicker way of doing anything than doing it yourself, you reckon.

As you start descending the slope, the fifty enemy knights are already closing in.

Bluebeard leads his horsemen from atop a black stallion and wears mismatched plate armor. He charges as if aiming his spear straight at you—and he might as well be.

"Spears up! Hold your ground!" I shouted orders at my men.

My men raise their spears and plant their feet firmly on the ground. The pirates come with great speed and collide against my troops, some impaling themselves on your soldiers' lances, others trampling over them. Meanwhile, Bluebeard ignores the anarchy around him and stays true to his intentions of reaching you.

I hold my Blade tight and move to the side, barely avoiding his spear and the weight of the horse. At the same time, I slide onto the ground and slice at the lower parts of the animal with my blade, hacking at the belly, the legs, and whatever else I can reach as the horse moves past. Bluebeard is then left unhorsed but manages to reach the ground with some grace. He is quickly back on his feet.

He had lost his lance and shield when he fell but is quick to unsheathe a longsword, which he holds with both hands as he recovers his breath. He stares at you from behind the slit on his helmet.

'A fucking Valyrian steel sword where the fuck he found that.' I thought in my head when I saw him unsheathed his sword.

Bluebeard turns to you. "Lord Galladon. If I can kill you now, I will avoid the deaths of my men. When your men see your head on a pike they will lose their will and run and we kill them all and then take over this island."

"My soldiers will fight on regardless of my fate. Can you say the same for your pirates?"

"Come and try your luck, then."

I advance rapidly toward the enemy, sword in hand. He waits for you with confidence, raising his sword slightly as if preparing to block and keeping his sword ready for a counterattack.

His footwork betrays his intentions, though. Your trained eyes notice that he is planning to dodge at the last moment.

I charge at him and, at the last moment, feint instead of delivering your attack. It takes all your strength not to let your weight pull you off balance, but the move works. Your opponent evades a blow that never comes, giving you the opening to make a quick hit. He certainly felt that.

You and Bluebeard proceed to exchange dozens of blows, using the bread and butter of your weapon techniques. The exchange favors you slightly, as you hit him more times than he hits you, but I have to be careful because I don't want the Valyrian blade to cut through my armor. You keep moving around and swinging your sword aggressively, never giving Bluebeard time to recover. The pirate does his best to keep up with you, but it is not enough. His reactions become slower as his stamina fades, and the man soon finds himself moving too late to block your attacks.

I lunge at the pirate and hold my blade with both hands like a huge poniard, thrusting it hard at the eye slit in his helmet. The blade does not slide gently into it, instead scratching at the metal surface for a moment before finally gaining entrance, but it does the job just the same. The Pirate captain yells in agony, blood dripping from the opening on his helmet as he hacks aimlessly around him, blinded by his wounds. As such things go, it is precisely at this moment that your men finally arrive and overwhelm him.

You took a moment to catch your breath and told one of the soldiers to grab and hold onto the Valyrian steel sword for me until the battle ended. Then I took a look at the state of the other fronts. All around, your men are killing and dying, most of them busy with the troops who are trying to climb through on the east side or the new enemies who are approaching from the west. The battlefield itself has turned chaotic, all forces converging on the hilltop. Men from Tarth made the pirates fight for every inch of the ground while my mounted knights circled the sides, picking stragglers apart.

Numbers are a hard thing to discern while in the center of a conflict. Soldiers struggled to ascend on every side, many started to gain ground against your defending troops. Just as we planned since we want them to fully commit we are giving the illusion of us losing ground so they can send all of their men into battle, now they have fully committed.

There is another piece of good news. I can see fire on the opposing hilltop across the valley. It suggests that the men you sent through the woods have managed to do their job and got behind the enemy.

Still, I have to focus on the fight around you.

I rallied the defenders and assembled them around my position. But the pirates come pouring toward you from all directions, forcing your troops ever toward the center.

Since they are finally in the position we want them in, all we have to do is wait for Aemon to finish this. Your troops fight hard for each inch of the hilltop, constantly forcing the invaders back down with swords and halberds. Their superior positioning and better tactics make the difference, and as brave as the pirates seem to be, braver still are the soldiers of Tarth. The battle is all but won for your side when we hear A loud Roar come from above and I smile knowing this battle will soon be over. The pirates look up in fear when they see a massive dragon coming from up above they start to retreat but it was too late Aemon Dragon Caraxes falls from the clouds on top of the unexpecting enemy and starts breathing fire upon them.

The sky is slashed with jagged tears of fire. They are like wounds upon reality itself and cast everything in a harsh red light. The enemy screams and try to run every which way in an effort to out run a dragon. Most were not fast enough and got bathed in dragon fire and the ones who survived got mowed down by our crossbowmen, and knights on the flanks, the battle was over in a few hours the pirates were no more.