RM: Interlude: The Battle of Hammerhorn

Hammerhorn was a formidable square castle, one of the few that didn't lie on the coast in all the Iron Isles. Instead, it lay in the Hardstone Hills, an area rife with veins of Iron, Tin, Copper, Lead, Antimony, and Zinc. The Hardstone Hills also contained stone quarries for Basalt, Shale, and Granite. In short, it was one of the few areas of economic activity in the Iron Isles that both did not involve raiding and could also be considered to be lucrative in its own right, similar to the Smiths of Lordsport. This had made it a prime target for the Traditionalist Faction to attack, as the economic activity exemplified the New Way and Gold Price that the reformers under Rodrik the Reader championed.

Of course, that had also meant that the traditionalists would have to contend with the castle, which was no mean feat. The Large, Square Castle was perched atop a hill that had already had its ore mined out. Those former mine tunnels had become a warren of underground chambers and guardrooms, similar to what Casterly Rock had going on, if on a smaller scale. Meanwhile, anyone attempting to climb the hill to enter the castle that way would swiftly find their advance stalled by iron gates and walls topped by iron spikes. It was a formidable castle, one that wouldn't be taken easily.

It was for that reason that the Traditionalists had been forced to settle in for a siege. Hammerhorn, being unable to supplement its food stores by fishing or by seaborne resupply like most of the other castles in the Iron Isles, was more vulnerable to such tactics than someplace like Pyke or Ten Towers would have been. Of course, Lord Gorold Goodbrother knew that to be the case and had prepared accordingly, laying in extra supplies using the proceeds of his mines to pay for them. It had been a textbook example of how the Gold Prince could supplement the Iron and shore up weaknesses.

Now, as the forces of Reform came upon the forces of Tradition, and both sides formed up for battle, Rodrik the Reader couldn't help but frown. This would likely be the final battle of the War. True, Qhorwyn Humble, the Humble of Humble, was still holding out at Headland Hall, but this army besieging Hammerhorn under Red Ralf Stonehouse was literally Qhorwyn's only hope. Once Rodrik won here, it was likely that the Humbles would see that things were futile and seek terms, and that would be that. There may be a few minor pockets of resistance to mop up afterward, but the large-scale battles would be over, and the Ironborn Civil War would end within the next month or two.

"It seems as if we're nearing the end, doesn't it?" Questioned Young Lord Maron Volmark, giving voice to Rodrik's thoughts.

"It does at that." Nodded Rodrik the Reader.

"What happens next?" Queried Maron Volmark.

"Next, we have to actually govern. That, you will find, is like as not to be a far harder task than the war." Cautioned Rodrik the Reader.

"Aye, though my Nuncle Rodrik will help you in doing so." Confirmed Ser Harras Harlaw.

"Indeed. As much as I am able, at any rate." Agreed Rodrik the Reader.

"Will governing be that difficult?" Asked Maron Volmark.

"In the Greenlands? No. Here in the Iron Isles, though, we will have our work cut out for us to ensure that none of the surrendered Lords backslide into their reaving ways." Insisted Ser Harras Harlaw.

"Aye, that will be the trick. Fear not, Lord Maron, I will be here to aid you in doing so." Nodded Rodrik the Reader.

"My thanks, Lord Harlaw. I'll be leaning on your support then." Thanked Maron Volmark.

"First, though, we have to actually win this battle. Red Ralf Stonehouse is in command over there, and he's a veteran of dozens of raids and small campaigns." Warned Ser Harras Harlaw.

"Yes, that being so, perhaps we should get on with the business at hand. Lord Maron, please give the order." Intoned Rodrik the Reader.

"Right! All troops, advance!" Commanded Maron Volmark.

Ser Harras and others spread the order, and the Battle of Hammerhorn began. Both sides formed shield walls, locking their shields as they advanced on one another. However, as the sides closed, the Reformers shifted formation. Instead of a line of locked shields, they began to configure themselves into a large flying wedge as they crossed the field, managing to change formations just as they reached the halfway point toward the enemy. This was the Narwhal Array, a traditional Ironborn Tactic meant for breaking through enemy shield walls. It was called such because the large, single wedge that the formation resembled put the Ironborn in mind of the spike-like tooth of a Narwhal. The Traditionalists, meanwhile, we too slow to adjust their own shield wall to cover, forcing them to give ground to gain time to adjust their formation.

Just before the Reformers had managed to push the Traditionalists back to their siege camp, however, the Traditionalists managed to adjust their formation into a square instead of a line. The Block of Traditionalist Troops met the Wedge of Reformers with the Traditionalist's Sieg Camp at their backs, and the Battle for Hammerhorn began in Earnest. The Narwhal Array ground against the square formation, seeking to penetrate the reinforced shield wall and break the Traditionalist's Formation wide open. If they could do that, then the Traditionalist formation would begin to disintegrate. However, Red Ralf Stonehouse knew that was a weakness of traditional Ironborn formations, and had brought mounted riders on pilfered horses to cover.

The Ironborn didn't make for the best riders, mind you. They had no real cavalry tradition, and instead, any time they managed to acquire horses in significant numbers for a campaign, they often fought more like mounted reavers than actual cavalry. It was still an effective enough tactic to continue to employ. Red Ralf Stonehouse and his army had the run of Great Wyk for several weeks, and in that time, had pilfered enough mounts to equip a few hundred riders. At the one-hour mark, with casualties mounting on both sides and neither side managing to gain the upper hand in the press of bodies, Red Ralf Stonehouse unleashed his riders. Two-hundred-fifty mounted reavers stormed out from around a nearby hill, where they had been concealed, awaiting just this order, hollering and hooting in an attempt to unnerve the Reformers as they rode hard for the flank of the Narwhal Array.

Fortunately, Rodrik the Reader had a few tricks of his own up his sleeve. He had managed to conserve enough powder and shot, even though such things were not manufactured in the Iron Isles and instead had to be traded for with the Mainland, to muster one last battle's worth of Musketeers. He unleashed them now, their Matchlocks firing into the Mounted Reavers in a ragged volley. Smoke, flame, and lead death belched forth from the Musketeers, and many of the Mounted Reavers fell, lead shot punching through mail and leather to down Traditionalist Forces. The Mounted Revaers changed course, riding for the Musketeers, though with a signal from a horn, a group of Halberdiers wielding Atgeir-style Halberds emerged from the reserves to defend the Musketeers. There was a brief moment as the Traditionalist Mounted Reavers threw axes into the ranks of Halberdiers, attempting to break up the row of metal blades on sticks to little effect.

Then the Mounted Reavers and Halberdiers clashed, and battle was joined properly yet again. Many of the Mounted Reavers found themselves punched off their mounts as the bladed Atgeirs swiped them from saddles or impaled their looted horses. The Atgeir Halberdiers likewise began to fall, as the shock of the charge slammed into them. It was a brutal fight, and for a few long moments, a stalemate began to form. Seeing this, the Musketeers disregarded their order to preserve their last volley and fired again into the fray, though it did not stop the press of Cavalry versus Halberdiers from devolving into a slog. Because of that last volley, however, the Reformer Troops went into that slog with the upper hand, and by one hour and thirty-five minutes into the battle, they managed to finally cut down or capture the last of the Mounted Riders and could now move to join the main battle near the Traditionalist Siege Camp.

This, it turned out, happened just in the nick of time, as the Traditionalists were on the verge of launching a counterattack now that the Reformer's Narwhal Array had run out of steam and their attack had bounced. The Halberdiers and Musketeers, now armed with spears instead of muskets, brought up from the reserves, moved to steady the main force. Another fierce melee ensued, and by the two-hour and fifteen-minute mark, a stalemate had once again developed. Red Ralf Stonehouse was good. His veteran status and lack of many of the preconceived notions that had hindered Traditionalist Commanders, such as Victarion Greyjoy, had lent him enough cunning and strategy to compete with the Reformers, now that their supplies of powder and shot had largely run out after multiple large-scale engagements.

Thankfully, at the two-hour and forty-five-minute mark, something happened to tip the scales back in favor of the Reformers once again. The Reader was just about to advise a temporary tactical withdrawal back to Sparr Sound to wait for the forces under Lord Baelor Blacktyde, who had taken over for Lord Donnor Saltcliffe at Sunderly Cove, when the Reader sent Lord Donnor to Stannis with the ships that Stannis had requested to reinforce them, when it happened. A horn blast echoed out from Hammerhorn, and the iron gates of the Castle Opened. Immediately, a large party of ragged-looking Ironborn Troops emerged, with the Arsenal Steel Plate Armored form of Lord Gorold Goodbrother leading them.

The sally of Goodbrother Troops streamed down the hillsides and swept through the Traditionalist Siege Camp before slamming into the rear of the Traditionalist Formation. Caught between the hammer of the Goodbrothers and the Anvil of the Reform Army, not even Red Ralf Stonehouse was able to think up a stratagem to win the day. By the three-hour mark, with the Traditionalist Forces on the verge of disintegrating, Red Ralf Stonehouse surrendered, bending the knee to Lord Maron Volmark, and thus, King Stannis. With this, the War was all but over, as it was the last, large-scale force that the Traditionalists had left, with only a few garrisons in scattered castles and holdfasts remaining to them, many of which were already under siege.

However, the price for such a victory was high. of the four-thousand-five-hundred men that the Reformers had committed to the Battle, not including the Goodbrother Forces, some nine-hundred-fifty men had been killed or wounded. That was just about twenty-one out of every hundred men as casualties. However, the Traditionalist casualties were total. Out of the three thousand men that had been besieging Hammerhorn, all of them had been either killed, wounded, or captured, including Red Ralf Stonehouse, Rodrik Sparr, and Quellon Humble, heir to Headland Hall. Meanwhile, the Goodbrothers had lost two hundred men killed, wounded, or sickened by attrition in the siege out of the thousand men that had been holding Hammerhorn.

Thankfully, this would be the last of the large-scale fighting in the Iron Isles, as on hearing of Red Ralf Stonehouse's defeat, Lord Qhorwyn Humble surrendered at Headland Hall, bending the knee and laying down his arms. Several other Traditionalist Forces surrendered as well, and only Erik Ironmaker remained at large, holed up with a scattering of men at Ironforge, his primary holding, though this was largely a tactic to get concessions for laying down his arms. The Wily Old Man realized that if he was going to transition to the Gold Price, his small foundry at Ironforge needed those concessions to compete economically with the Smiths of Lordsport. Honestly, Rodrik the Reader advised Lord Maron to grant a few small concessions to Erik Ironmaker as a way to encourage his transition from arming reavers to selling ironwork abroad.

Thus, by the end of the month, the Ironborn Civil War had ended with a Victory for the Reformers. Maron Volmark was proclaimed the new Lord Paramount of the Iron Isles and bent the knee to King Stannis officially. This victory would coincide with others elsewhere, such as the capture of Tywin Lannister and the successful defense of the Wall against the Wildling Hordes. It seemed to Rodrik the Reader that as the sixth month of Two-ninety-nine AC drew to a close, the various wars that had plagued Westeros were drawing down, largely in favor of the Coalition that Stannis had built to support his claim to the Iron Throne. He had no idea how right he would wind up being on that count. Nor did he have any way to realize just how timely said victories would become.

For as the Realms of Men began to quiet down, a cold wind began to stir in the far North, and it would not be long before such peace would be shattered once again, this time by beings which viewed Humans as Amusements at best and Cattle at Worst. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the next chapter. Sorry, it's tardy, I had stuff all day that I had to do. Here we see the end of the Ironborn Civil War, with the Reformers coming out victorious, though the limits of Gunpowder Weapons have been clearly shown, as by the end of the Battle, the Reformers were completely out of Powder and Shot, since they don't make any of it themselves and instead had to trade for it with Oldtown. Logistics are the weakness of such weapons, after all. That and the damp. We also get hints of the Others gathering a force to march south in earnest at the end there.

At any rate, the next chapter will have us return to Ricasso's POV for the next part of the Battle of Maidenpool, then we'll be sticking with Ricasso until Maidenpool is done, before taking a peek at what's going on with Dany in Tolos.

Stay tuned. . .