Stannis IX & Tywin IX (AC 289)

Stannis IX

They'd spent the long voyage drilling the fleet and when Casterly Rock touched the horizon (Lannisport, much lower lying would be invisible until later) Stannis had the signal sent for a battle formation. Bright flags were hoisted and the loose columns of ships began shaking themselves out into lines abreast.

The Redwyne fleet was reputedly formidable but they'd not had as long under Stannis' lead so the two forces remained distinct. As previously agreed, they formed up on the right as the inshore squadron with two lines of galleys ahead of...

Stannis shook his head. "They still don't seem to get the idea," he complained, looking east at the still disorderly gaggle of Redwyne cogs. In contrast, his own galleys formed a similarly orderly triple line in the centre of the formation with the sailing ships - needing more handling space - grouped into an outshore squadron of two lines.

"Well, at least they recognised the signal to assume battle formation," pointed out Davos. "And to be honest, I understand their reservations about putting all their cogs on the edge of their formation, particularly up against the shore. All it would take is the wind shifting and they could run their ships aground or right into the galleys. Keeping them further back is safer."

Gritting his teeth the younger man stared across the water and then exhaled. "And their rigging isn't as good as ours. Which would be more useful if we didn't have to hold back and let them keep up."

"That's the price of having the extra ships when it comes to fighting the Ironborn," the smuggler said philosopically.

They watched as the mountains of the Westerlands crept up and up, eventually revealing Lannisport.

Davos frowned and reached for a glass. Holding it to one eye he frowned. "There's a ship in the harbour entrance."

"A merchantman?" Stannis shook his head. "No, that wouldn't make sense. The Ironborn are reaving away any coastal trader they see, according to Lord Redwyne."

"It's a galley - a large one." The captain of the Fury squinted. "Red and gold banner... looks as if the Lannisters managed to recover at least one."

"Not that they'd accomplish anything with one ship if we were hostile." Stannis looked up at the fore mast and the Baratheon banner that served as the topsail. "Valiant, but stupid."

By the time they were in hailing distance of the lone galley, the sun was low in the sky and the shadows of the fleet were cast long across the water.

Davos looked again at the quarterdeck of Lannisport's one defending warship. "There's a child in charge."

Stannis extended his hand for the glass. He glanced through it once and then handed it back to Davos. "That's Tywin Lannister's younger son. He's a dwarf."

"Oh." The former smuggler eyed the ship. "Well, I've seen worse. By the look of the paint, half the ship was sunk not long ago. Must have been in shallow water."

"Hallo the Fury!" called the small figure through cupped hands. "Is this Prince Stannis' fleet?"

"If it was Balon's, what would you do about it?" shouted Stannis back.

"I'd scuttle my ship here in the channel," came the unhesitating reply. "Good luck getting a galley that size past a wreck in the channel. Besides, you've no longships."

Stannis gave a short bark of laughter. "I'm Stannis Baratheon!" he called back. "So you don't need to sink the ship a second time."

The dwarf bowed. "Your grace, welcome to Lannisport. Permit me to back my ship out of the channel and my brother will be glad to welcome you to Casterly Rock."

Davos nodded. "Looks like this lion has a working brain, however short his legs are."

"Aye." Stannis glanced at Davos. "Put on a better tunic. I want you with me at the Rock."

"I'd be more than glad to oversee the port."

"I'm sure you would, but I want at least one honest man with me."

Tywin IX

"Greetings, your grace." Tywin had spent the previous night with an encampment of Stormlanders south of Riverun. To his surprise, the King had elected to disperse the combined armies into several distinct camps, each of around ten thousand men. It made sense to a point - over forty thousand men gathered around Riverun would have overun the town near the keep - but it would make it harder to keep them under control.

The great hall of Riverun was full of men but it wasn't the greater lords. Instead, there was a bustle of officers coming and going. Stood at the door, Robert stepped forwards from beside Hoster Tully and when Tywin rose from his bow, the King took his hand. "It's good to see you again, Lord Tywin."

"Welcome to Riverun," Lord Hoster added. "I believe you've met my son, Edmure?"

"Indeed." Tywin returned the young knight's bow. "And my brother, Ser Tygett."

"My pleasure." Robert shook Tygett's hand. "Step inside out of the rain. We've had a raven from Lannisport," he added to Twyin. "You'll be glad to hear that the fleet has reached them. My brother and your sons seem to be on good terms which I'm glad to hear."

"Then Balon Greyjoy will soon face our wrath."

Robert nodded. "I've considered offering him terms of surrender but I doubt there's any point. He won't accept anything I demand and I could hardly ask for less than the surrender of his fleet to you and similar concessions to Lord Tully, so I'd just be wasting time."

"I'm inclined to agree. Greyjoy may not see reason once we have an army on Pyke but he certainly won't before." Inside the great hall of Riverrun, the tables were covered with several dozen harnesses. Tywin glanced questioningly at Hoster Tully, who nodded towards the king.

"Oh, these?" Robert lifted one and inspected it. "I wanted to keep the men from getting too bored so I offered a reward of 100 dragons to the best horse collar. It occurred to me that if we put a heavier collar together that followed the collarbone of the horse, it might let horses pull heavier loads."

"And have they?"

"Some of these are good but I think there's some room for improvement still. I might wind up paying out to more than one of them." Robert shrugged. "In the long run, better horse collars will save me far more than a few hundred gold dragons. For that matter, keeping the men from being bored might save me that much."

Tywin nodded. Bored soldiers could be a problem. "There's always training."

"I know. But route marches, digging trenches and hitting each other with training weapons can only go so far."

"I wouldn't have thought you needed many trenches."

"Latrines," the king pointed out. "Also we have them working on the roads where we can. If one of the roads washes out we could waste days later on. Better to deal with it now when we can."

"I see." Tywin accepted bread and salt from Hoster and servants brought forth several mugs of ale which the new arrivals accepted gratefully. "I understand that you didn't want to discuss strategy by raven..."

Robert looked at Lord Hoster. "If we could use your solar?"

"Of course," the Riverlander Lord Paramount agreed and led the way.

Inside the more private chamber, Robert took out a map. "I've been organising the army into divisions of around ten thousand men." He made a face. "Each has some cavalry, some archers, and good number of infantry. I think we can reasonably hope that that's six or seven thousand that'll actually fight if it comes to that."

"Don't count on more than five," Tygett muttered.

Tywin glanced at his brother and then shook his head.

"You may be right," conceded the king. "In principle though it gives us some flexibility. Four of them will be placed under your command in the northern Westerlands while Prince Eddard will take charge of the other four and march them onto the Cape of Eagles. Once my brother has sufficiently weakened the Iron Fleet, we'll invade Harlaw and Pyke first, then push on to take the other islands in turn."

"And if Prince Stannis suffers reverses?"

Robert smiled slightly. "That will depend how bad they are. However, more ships are being prepared and there are other fleets - the Dornish, the remaining Arryn and Manderly ships - that can be called on. What Stannis has with him is a fleet that's supportable out of the western ports. If we take losses we can replace them. Every ship Greyjoy loses is lost forever, because the Iron Islands don't have the timber to build more."

Tywin considered and then nodded. One defeat could probably be coped with. On the other hand, he thought drily, two and the Dornish might very well decline to further support King Robert. Better to do everything he could to bolster the royal efforts now... "You should consider hiring sellsails from Essos. Some of them are creditable fleets and if they're fighting for us they aren't turning pirate on the eastern trade routes."