109 Across the river

Across the river

Beric POV

With a chicken leg in my hands, I looked out as people worked tirelessly on our defenses. The rain that plagued the Riverlands in the past few months was subsiding, but our battle wasn't. We got peace, for the most part, only dealing with small groups that tried to sneak around the passage through the river, hoping that rain would mask their approach.

Lord Edmure Tully wasn't foolish enough to let it happen, though. He was as diligent as always. Even I had to wonder if he ever slept as he would always be checking something. It helped that the crossing of Ruby Ford was flooded and impossible to pass on foot. The mud that the river covered would sink a grown man. I saw one fall; his body was probably still there under the mud.

Even boats had trouble as the current of the river was too strong. It swept away the smaller boats with ease. And the rain was so intense sometimes that you couldn't see anything before yourself. But if nothing, Lord Tarly was a stubborn man. He was able to find a few places he was able to send his men through.

Too bad Lord Tarly was fighting against Lord Tully and has met his match. Lord Tully knew of these passages long before Lord Tarly found them, and he had prepared to capture the unfortunate reachmen. At first, I was worried that Lord Tully's anger and hotheadedness would be a problem, but he managed to keep his head cool and kept the prisoners for information and as hostages.

As we expected, as much as we prepared to defend this place. Building relentlessly through day and night, with wind and rain beating us, Lord Tarly was preparing for an attack, too. While our side managed to build a fortress, the other side was building a bridge and siege engines that would tear down our fortress and protect them from our arrows.

It was a silent but exhausting battle of who could prepare better. And even though we had home advantage, with enough supplies, we lacked information. There wasn't a day I didn't worry about what was happening in the rest of the Seven Kingdoms across this damned river. Did Stannis manage to achieve his goals, or was he defeated along the way? I didn't know, and it bothered not just me but everyone else, too.

"I don't know if I should be happy for this rain ending," Edric said as he tried to dry his clothes off by the fire. "One on hand, we won't be wet all the time and will have dry wood to burn. On the other hand, once the waters settle down, the battle will only get more brutal than before."

"It is the nature of war," I replied finishing by roasted chicken leg. "Sometimes battles last this long and this brutal and are unforgiving. Neither side can't back off, for their only path is victory in this war. It doesn't matter how many suffer as long as their commanders stand tall, so the battle will continue."

"On the other hand, you might stop giving me these lectures once the battle starts again," Edric responded with a roll of his eyes in annoyance at me repeating the same things the tenth time. "Still, I worried that the bridge they are building will give Lord Tarly the advantage they needed in this battle. It was already hard to keep them away when they were halfway submerged in water."

Edric wasn't the only one worried. We couldn't see everything, but from what we knew, Lord Tarly was preparing too much a wooden structure for the river, giving them a better way to cross the river. The problem was that we didn't know how they would manage to do it, but if Lord Tarly was doing it, it meant he had a way to succeed.

Even without that information, Lord Tully was preparing for the worst anyway. The wooden walls blocking the entrance to our side were now made with stone in the middle and thick logs on both sides of the stones. It stretched along the crossing of the Ruby Ford with towers behind them to overlook the area.

Even if they climbed over the walls, they would have to cross the trenches dug up and filled with spikes before they could climb the hill to our final defenses. It was no joke what thousands of people could accomplish when everyone knew what would happen if they failed. The defenses were no worse than those of a castle.

"Lord Dondarrion," A knight from House Vance, if I remember correctly, came up to us. "Lord Edmure is asking you to come to the meeting."

"Well, I guess duty calls," I replied, standing from my campfire. "Edric, please clean up the place once you have finished eating."

The bones should be given to the dogs, and pots needed to be cleaned, too. We barely managed to avoid bloody pox, as rain washed away most of the bodies in the river, and people didn't need to depend on the river water to survive. But there were already cases of people getting sick before the rain fully stopped the fighting. So, we quickly adopted a clean lifestyle, as we couldn't afford a plague descending upon us.

"More men will not help us," I heard the discussion and Edmure's coarse voice before I entered the command tent. "We have enough men to mount the walls and towers with archers. What we should concentrate on is our arrows and oil. Whatever they might bring down upon us, I want it to be burned."

"I understand, my lord," Lord Mallister was the first to reply. "But our numbers were already lower than those of Lord Tarly. And who knows how many more reinforcements they received. I fear that they might have gone to Harrenhal while the flood stopped their movements here."

"No," Lord Edmure was deterred. "If he had gone for Harrenhal, he wouldn't have the men spread along the river stopping our advances. Lord Tarly and the Lannisters are probably content to hold the men in Harrenhal. As many men as they have, their numbers are still limited. They can't risk losing them without any results."

"They shouldn't receive too many reinforcements either," I agreed with Lord Edmure. "King Stannis is still at large, and they rather put their efforts into fighting him than us. It would only be counterproductive if the Lannisters focused on us while letting King Stannis do as he wished at their yard."

"We don't know that," Lord Piper said. "We know nothing. Barely any message can reach us. And we don't have any informants, unlike the Iron Throne. The last thing we heard was that King Joffrey was dead, but can we believe that? Maybe we should start believing that the Dragons have returned, too? Or that the White Walkers are trying to cross the Wall?"

While most people laughed at the absurdity, Lord Edmure remained silent and compilated his thoughts. Seeing this, others quickly stopped their laughter and looked ashamed of themselves. That is how much respect Lord Edmure gathered from his people. If Lord Edmure wasn't laughing, it wasn't funny, and they were fools to think it was.

"As much joy it would give me to hear that King Joffrey is dead, it doesn't change our situation much," Lord Edmure said, looking at everyone in the tent. "The Lannisters can put anyone they like on the Iron Throne; we all know that the true ruler is Tywin Lannister, and as long as he is alive, the war shall not end."

"True," Lord Blackwood agreed before everyone else followed suit.

"Either way, we have to focus on what is in front of us," Lord Edmure concluded the discussion quickly. "I am prepared to stay here and stop them from crossing no matter how much I bleed—to winter and through the winter if I have to. But it is not feasible. I can't hold tens of thousands of men here away from their homes and families. And I can't rely on King Stannis' success."

As much as I wanted to defend my king, what lord Tully said wasn't wrong. Nobody knows how the war will progress. And they needed to prepare for it. If King Stannis losses, then the Riverlands won't be left in peace. Lord Edmure can't defend them alone. And even though he said that he would surrender the moment Stannis was defeated, he didn't seem to have any intentions of giving up without a fight.

"What do you have in mind, my lord?" I asked, as Lord Edmure wouldn't say something like that without any plan.

"It will be risky, and we lose too much if we are discovered," Lord Edmure began, not filling anyone with confidence. "But we might not have any other choice. I want someone to take five thousand men and ride to Saltpans. There is no way we won't be discovered if we ride to the West, but neither Lord Tarly nor the Lannister have much presence in the East. So, they won't be able to see us coming."

"And how are you planning to cross the river there?" Lord Vance asked skeptically. "The only way is with the help of Maidenpool. You aren't going to trust that coward, Lord Mooten, are you?"

"Trust him, no," Lord Edmure replied. "Use him, yes."

"It is too dangerous. Lord Mooten will inform the Lannister the moment he sees your men, Lord Edmure," Lord Blackwood didn't like it either. "There must be a reason why the Lannisters left him be. He has already surrendered to them."

"We don't know that," Everyone thought differently from Lord Edmure. "But we know that Lord Mooten is a coward, as you have said, Lord Vance. And it so happens that the King of the North had put the fear of the old gods in him. He won't refuse to help us when we are at this doorstep. And we know that the Lannisters haven't dug their teeth in Lord Mooten either because by now, we would be overwhelmed from the east by their forces."

"Lord Tully isn't wrong," I had to agree, as the logic was sound. "Lord Mooten can't be trusted, but the Lannisters might not know that. Even with Lord Mooten sending letters proclaiming his loyalty to the Iron Throne, would he be trusted? The Iron Throne can't afford to put trust in people like him. And the lack of their presence in the East means that our guess might be right."

"We don't need much from Lord Mooten," Lord Edmure continued. We only need to sail to Maidenpool and ride to Harrenhal from there."

"Harrenhal?" Everyone was surprised by the destination.

"Five thousand is the most I can afford to let go, and it is the number that can move fast without anyone notice," Lord Edmure explained calmly. "I have had the plan brewing in my head for months now, and I know that five thousand won't be able to defeat Lord Tarly, but it should be enough to relieve the siege on Harrenhal. Once Lord Tarly is cut off from the support of King's Landing, it will be time for his forces to crumble."

"Not only will it take away his advantage, but it will also trap him without knowing what has happened," it was a solid plan. "With the forces in Harrenhal joining together, we will have a sizeable force to strike at Lord Tarly's back."

It was more than feasible. Combining our forces, we would have ten thousand men behind Lord Tarly's back. But it was still risky. If Lord Tarly finds out about this, he will be prepared for it. But it would be quite hard for him to do so, as the tall walls surrounding the crossing won't let him see the true numbers Lord Edmure has with him.

I didn't know a specific number as people continued to join Lord Edmure in defending the crossing, but it still couldn't be more than twenty thousand in total. And for the plan to work, the five thousand would need to be the best men we had. Leaving only fifteen thousand small folk who had barely any experience to defend this place.

"Lord Dondarrion," Lord Edmure turned to me. "For the plan to work, we will need to move fast. Gather your men while I choose those who will join you. You are leaving tomorrow before sunrise."

"Me?" I wasn't the only one surprised by this.

"You are the best in leading cavalry; as much as I complained about you coming late, I know that anyone else would have taken considerably more time to go the same distance that you did. And there is no return from this. There will be many times you might fail, but even then, you have no choice but to move forward. There is only death or victory awaiting anyone coming there. So, I am sorry. I'd rather sacrifice your life than any of my lords."

I could only chuckle at Lord Edmure's words. He wasn't wrong. Once we crossed to Maidenpool, if we were discovered, we would be done for it. We wouldn't be able to cross back the river and would be stuck there until the Lannister forces decimated us. But it was hard to believe that it was easy for him to sacrifice me when he had already sacrificed so much in this battle.

And I could see his tired and cold eyes. Lord Tully has grown old in those few months I knew him. The pressure was already crushing me; I could only imagine what it felt like for Lord Tully. So, even if the plan was risky and best would give us a small chance of victory, he knew that he had to take the chance no matter what. 

A.N. As always, If you want more, up to seven advanced chapters, you can support me on pa treon. com \ ironwolf852. And if you have any requests for stories, I will only take them on my pa treon.