RM: Chapter 112

If any place in the Riverlands could truly be called a city instead of a town, it was Maidenpool. Town charter or no town charter, not only did seventy thousand people live here, but the port would be a major artery of Narrow Sea trade in peacetime, and the Castle, where the Mootons lived and administered from, was strong as hell. Honestly, it reminded me quite a bit of Dover Castle back in my Old Life on Earth, between the layout of the fortifications, the port, and everything. It was no wonder that the Mootons were as powerful as they were, able to be considered by Tywin Lannister for a Royal Marriage and capable of fielding ten thousand men just to send off to King's Landing.

In short, Maidenpool was going to be an extremely difficult nut to crack. I recalled that the first time around, it was only due to the Mountain being the Mountain and willing to burn everything that he managed to blitz his way through Maidenpool that the Lannisters managed to seize the area. Even then, he never cracked the castle, only the City. I was no Gregor Clegane, though to be fair, thanks to my actions, even Gregor Clegane was no Gregor Clegane these days. Regardless, the point was that I wasn't willing to burn down the entire countryside and set the City ablaze for victory. That meant I had to do this the hard way.

I had a few advantages here, however. The gap between my opponents and I in terms of black powder technology had been narrowing over the course of the war, but it hadn't gone completely away just yet. I still had better and larger guns than they tended to have. I also had a slight edge in numbers, not that such a thing was insurmountable given the fortifications. My troops had the advantage of equipment and quality compared to all but the few remaining Sellswords left in Maidenpool. Finally, I also had the advantages of a fleet presence, plus facility with Rhoynar Water Magic. Some of those advantages would be negated by the fortifications, but not all of them could be.

It was going to come down to tactics. That was what had been made imminently clear. However, unlike with the Red Keep or with Duskendale, we had no easy point of entry to try our infiltration tactics. There was no helpful map of the sewers of Maidenpool like there had been at the Capital, and no Ser Barristan to lend learned experience in infiltration to a small but elite strike force. Maidenpool was largely unknown to me in terms of places to infiltrate through, and I wasn't Bronn, whose team specialized in such unorthodox tactics. Vizimir had trained them too well, and they were in demand everywhere. No, we would have to take a different approach to crack Maidenpool.

As I sat in my tent, the siege camp being set up around me, however, I frowned as I looked over the local maps, trying to seize some advantage of terrain. It wasn't to be had, however. Much like Dover Castle did, the Mooton's Castle sat on the high ground, overlooking both the town and the port, so there was no joy to be had there. There was no handy river access to the town, just waiting for someone to blow apart a sluice gate or something in order to sail in on small boats, the land outside was rolling hills of no real elevation, and flat plains, which meant there was no advantage of ground or terrain to be seized there.

"It seems like the Mootons chose their spot well." I grumbled.

"My Lord? You sent for me?" Questioned Ser Roger Groves at the entrance of my command tent.

I looked up to see my Bannerman having arrived after I had sent for him by courier. Ser Roger was quite possibly the most experienced man in the army. I could do a lot worse than to use him as a sounding board for my ideas. Salahdor Saan was similar, but he was mostly experienced in Naval Matters, and so wouldn't really be able to contribute in terms of the bigger picture.

"Ser Roger, good. I have need of your years of experience." I nodded.

"How can I help, My Lord?" Queried Ser Roger Groves.

"I'm thinking of a comprehensive combined approach to take Maidenpool. I would like to run it by you in the hopes of finding any flaws before I put the plan into action." I began.

"How so, my Lord?" Asked Ser Roger.

"First, I would like to send envoys in secret to the Tattered Prince. I realize he is still under contract, but he must know now that he has little enough hope of seeing his payment, and if he wishes to have sellswords left with which to conduct business, he needs to look for a way out." I informed.

"And you believe his ill-treatment by the Vale Nobility will make such a thing more feasible?" Questioned Ser Roger.

"Plus, I plan to pay him the remainder of his contract in lieu of Tywin or Lord Mooton." I confirmed.

"That could work, My Lord. It would lower the forces available to the enemy by two-thousand-five-hundred men." Acknowledged Ser Roger.

"That many?" I queried.

"The Windblown have absorbed the shattered remnants of the other Sellsword Companies that had been contracted for this. Aside from the Golden Company, it seems that they are the the now the largest concern going when it comes to Essosi Sellsword Companies." Explained Ser Roger.

"It's not enough by itself, I would want three or four to one in numbers before assaulting Maidenpool in ordinary times, and this wouldn't even be two-to-one, but with my other stratagems, it may well be." I nodded.

"Tell me of them. I will do my best to point out flaws." Insisted Ser Roger.

"I plan to concentrate my bombardment on the landward sections of the town. The Walls of Maidenpool are strong. They are thick enough to resist bombardment, and there is yet some ancient magic still left in those pink stones from the days of Florian and Jonquil that makes them a touch stronger than normal. However, a concentrated bombardment will still break through, and the Gates are not nearly so strong as the walls." I added.

"Yet I notice that you haven't mentioned the Fleet. Do you intend to have them simply sit out in the Bay of Crabs and blockade?" Asked Ser Roger.

"No. Salhador Saan would be furious if I didn't give him at least a little something to do." I refuted.

"Then what, My Lord?" Questioned Ser Roger.

"Once the eyes of the enemy are on the landward side of the City, I plan to have Salhador Saan slip attack parties into the Harbor of Maidenpool via the Fleet's Longboats under cover of darkness. They're going to raid the Harbor, and once the enemy has sent forces to combat them, then we drop all pretence, blow down the landward gates, and assault with full force." I answered.

"A night assault is risky, especially by sea. Do you believe the fleet's Marines and Sailors can shoulder that risk well enough to handle it, My Lord?" Queried Ser Roger.

"If anyone could command such an attack, it would be Salhador Saan. Besides, I have something I can do to ensure they arrive swiftly and silently, using the Water Magic I have learned from the Priestesses of Mother Rhoyne." I pointed out.

"True. His piratical past is certainly tailor-made for such unorthodox tactics. He would also be the most comfortable being aided by your sorcery." Acknowledged Ser Roger.

"Besides, once the enemy has divided their forces between the landward walls and the harbor, we will have just over the three-to-one numbers advantage on the enemy that I would want at minimum for an assault." I insisted.

"This will only gain us the town, though. How do you plan to take the Castle, My Lord?" Asked Ser Roger.

"I plan to offer them terms. Lord Mooton's three Daughters are still in the Castle. Lady Eleanor had yet to travel to the Capital to be married when the fighting cut the Mootons and Lannisters off from one another. Nine-year-old Meryn Mooton, too, who at this moment is currently the only son of Lord William Mooton not captured. With all these women and children in the Castle, and no hope of victory, I doubt the Enemy will spurn terms when offered." I responded.

"The Mootons are not in command, though, my Lord. Do you believe the Valesmen in Charge of the defense will care for such things as Mooton women and Children?" Questioned Ser Roger.

"Who is in command over there, then?" I queried.

"Lord Uthor Tollett." Informed Ser Roger.

I frowned at that. House Tollett was known to flip-flop between Black Humor-laden Pragmatism and Grim Fatalism. The Maesters claimed that there was something about the bloodline that led to a buildup of black bile in the spleen, resulting in a familial tendency toward melancholic temperaments. Personally, I just thought there was some sort of undiagnosed mental disorder in the family tree. However, what this meant was that I couldn't entirely be certain whether that meant that Lord Uthor would agree to terms or would insist on fighting it out, depending on which way he was feeling on the day I offered terms.

"Perhaps it might be best to have a fallback plan to assault the castle, then?" I asked.

"I think that might be wise, My Lord, yes." Nodded Ser Roger.

"All right. I'll think about it. In the meantime, arrange a meeting with the Tattered Prince to see if we can't begin the first phase of the plan and have Ser Harry begin concentrating our guns on the landward wall." I ordered.

"Of course, My Lord. There is one other thing, though. Ser Andar Royce and Ser Raymun Darry have reported that there is a stranger with a message for you at the entrance to the siege camp. One with no tongue who communicates through writing with chalk on a slate hanging about his neck." Intoned Ser Roger.

I got a sinking feeling as he said that. There was only one man I knew of whose minions were routinely forced to have their tongues cut out. Varys should be working for the enemy, however. Why would he send one of his Little Birds to me with a message now of all times? It didn't make sense. I was intrigued, but cautious as I thought over the possibilities. Either this was a ruse to attempt to assassinate me, or something completely unexpected was happening. If it were the former, meeting with this messenger would be a bad idea. If it were the latter, however, could I really afford not to meet? What if Varys were offering to switch sides? True, I couldn't trust him as far as I could throw him, which, given his bulk, wasn't far at all. However, there may be some advantage to be gained by giving a false agreement to lull him into a false sense of security. Maybe even enough to pin down his location and send a strike team to take him out.

In the end, I couldn't afford not to see this messenger. That didn't mean that I needed to be stupid about this whole thing, though. I wanted to be prepared for any potential surprises when I saw this Little Bird, just in case.

"All right, I'll meet with this messenger in one hour. Have Ser Andar, Ser Raymun, Ser Denys, and Lord Mors be with me when I do. Fully armored, as I will be, just in case." I nodded.

"Of course, My Lord." Agreed Ser Roger.

Then I dismissed him to carry out my orders. Surrounded by allies and bannermen, fully armored and ready for combat, I figured I would have the greatest chance at defeating any potential surprise assassination that this Little Bird might try when I finally did meet with him. Once Ser Roger had headed out, I moved to armor up myself. Hopefully, this day would lead not only to the beginning of the end of the War in the Eastern Riverlands, but also to the beginning of the end for Varys as well.

We would find out shortly. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the next chapter. This is just part one of the Battle of Maidenpool. There are multiple parts to it. Here, we see Ricasso's tactical plan for the capture of Maidenpool, along with getting an update on Varys' activities. Of course, only time will tell whether either of Ricasso's strategies will work out for him, but if they do, that is going to be two major loose ends tied up, especially as regards Aegon and the Golden Company if this does actually lead to Varys' death.

At any rate, the next chapter will involve going back to Stannis to show the next part of his attempt to finish the fight in the Westerlands. Then we'll have an interlude with Rodrik the Reader before finishing the Battle of the Wall. Then we'll be back with Ricasso for the next part of the events at Maidenpool.

Stay tuned. . .