RM: Interlude: The Vale Marches

Ser Lyn Corbray frowned as he watched his artillery duel with the artillery from the fortress in front of him. Bronze Yohn Royce declaring for Stannis was an unpleasant surprise, especially given how well-fortified the Royce Lands were. House Royce had long been a priority target for raids by the Mountain Clansmen, as they had seen the Royce's bending of the knee to the Arryns after the Battle of the Seven Stars as a betrayal. That had meant that not only were the Royce Lands dotted with holdfasts, towers, and other fortifications, but House Royce had practiced a form of Yeomanry, whereby the Smallfolk were obliged to train at arms in a similar manner to Knights, meaning that House Royce's Levies were quite well-trained and well-equipped compared to the rest of the Vale.

It was serving House Royce well now, as Ser Lynn had been forced to take twelve thousand men from the Army of the Vale that had been mustered to fight for King Tommen to attempt to compel Bronze Yohn to bend the knee. It was proving to be a slog, however, because of said Yeomanry and Fortifications. The Fact that Runestone could also rely on Supply by Sea didn't help his case either. Indeed, some had argued for attacking the Three Sisters first, as the Sistermen were clearly the less powerful target. That had quickly been proven unfeasible, however, due to the presence of elements of the Seawynd Fleet off the coast of the Vale.

No, the fleet presence had made marching along the coast or attacking the Three Sisters not a viable tactic, which meant attacking House Royce from the inland route, which in turn meant slogging through the morass of fortifications. As he watched on, Ser Lyn Corbray couldn't help but think that Ser Symond Templeton had the easier task, marching to reinforce Maidenpool with the Main Army of Twenty-Eight-Thousand Men. Of course, no sooner had he thought that, than a cannonball whizzed overhead to bounce into one of his own batteries of guns, wrecking four-pounders and spattering cannoneers in a spray of limbs and gore. He let out a sigh at that and shook his head.

"Bronze Yohn's trained his gunners well it seems. Mychel, go tell the gunners to focus on silencing the guns from the fort and not to worry about breaching the walls for now." Commanded Ser Lyn.

"Aye, Ser Lyn." Nodded his Squire, Mychel Redfort, moving to go carry out his commands.

Ser Lyn brushed his long black hair out of his eyes as Mychel left, peering at the fort in the distance. By his count, the Fort only had half the guns it had started this with remaining. That wasn't to say they weren't playing merry havoc with his force, of course. Each time that he had to stop and deal with one of these fortifications, he wound up with a butcher's bill that was excessive given the fact that there only ever seemed to be eight and ten men guarding the forts at most. This particular fort had killed or wounded a hundred of his men so far through deadly gunnery already, and Ser Lyn doubted that it would end there.

Fortunately, Mychel was a good lad, a dab hand with a sword and he had a silver tongue to boot. Ser Lyn couldn't have asked for a better squire. Mychel swiftly got the gunners to focus on the enemy cannons and within ten minutes of Ser Lyn sending him off to do so, the Gunners were firing at the Enemy Cannons on the Fortress walls exclusively. It would only take another hour of exchanging shots to silence the enemy guns and two more hours to breach the walls. Then the assault would go through and finally take the fortress.

By the end of the day, Ser Lyn Corbray and the Royce Pacification Force would have taken yet another fort. It had cost them eighty and one-hundred men killed or wounded to do so, but they had done it. Now they could continue on their way toward Runestone. Their next target would be the Town of Wheatshelf, a terrace farming town in the valley ahead, whose entrance this fort had guarded. Unfortunately, the Town itself was ringed with walls of rammed earth and had a stone holdfast in the center of town, where a Knight could command the defense from.

It was simply par for the course with Royce Lands and it made Ser Lyn sigh in frustration. As his Army set up around Wheatshelf for a siege, Ser Lyn Corbray could only bemoan that it seemed like he was fated to slog through dozens of little strongpoints, losing men along the way until his army was whittled down to a nub. What he wouldn't give to be Symond Templeton right now, actually being able to move about the countryside freely and engage the enemy on his terms instead of on the Enemy's.

Of course, it would be Littlefinger who had the easiest job, sitting pretty in the Eyrie and administrating while Ser Lyn and Ser Symond did the fighting. Mind you, Petyr Baelish was many things, but a battlefield commander wasn't one of them. He had needed to delegate during the conquest of the Mountain Clans to more experienced commanders, and so that was clearly what he was doing here as well. Delegating to Ser Lyn and Ser Symond.

"Oh well. I suppose you can't always get what you want in this life." Sighed Ser Lyn.

"Ser?" Questioned Mychel Redfort.

"Nothing Mychel. Have the Gunners set up yet?" Queried Ser Lyn.

"Aye Ser Lyn, they have." Nodded Mychel.

"Fantastic. Let's get this over with. Begin the bombardment." Ordered Ser Lyn.

And for Ser Lyn Corbray and the Royce Pacification Army, the song and dance of siege and assault began once again. . .

XXXX

Meanwhile, Ser Symond Templeton was having a much easier time of things. With confirmed Enemy Fleet Elements at Saltpans, along with the Enemy Army, marching from the Bloody Gate was infeasible, however, House Waxley had offered to ferry the Army across the Bay of Crabs from Wickenden to Maidenpool under cover of darkness with their ships. It was an offer that Ser Symond had gladly taken, especially given the circumstances of the War at the moment.

Doubtless, Lord Seawynd knew that the Vale would declare for King Tommen, save those few Lords that held out, like the Royces and the Sunderlands and so forth. However, until they actually did so, he had no pretext for attacking Vale forces. It was a polite fiction enforced by the customs and norms of war which would allow House Waxley to ferry the Army to Maidenpool without being intercepted by the Seawynd Fleet Elements in the Bay of Crabs. Had Lord Seawynd discarded the Customs and Norms of War to simply assail Wickendon pre-emptively, that wouldn't be possible, but Lord Seawynd was, for all that he bucked numerous trends, an honorable man. He wouldn't do such a thing.

And so, we came to the present circumstance, where Ser Symond and the Twenty-Eight-Thousand Men of the Vale's Army of Maidenpool boarded House Waxley's ships some three days after the fall of Saltpans and made ready to sail to Maidenpool under cover of night. House Waxley's ships, just about a dozen War Galleys, and several dozen trade ships impressed as transports, slipped their moorings while the moon was high in the sky and set sail for Maidenpool, with Ser Symond Templeton uttering a prayer to the Seven-Who-Are-One that they weren't spotted as the Waxley Fleet set forth.

The Journey would take into the next day, but it was the initial part of the crossing that was the most dangerous. Were they to be spotted by ships from House Seawynd patrolling the Bay of Crabs during the initial part of the journey, it would give the Enemy Fleet Elements docked at Saltpans time to muster a force to intercept them before they reached Maidenpool. If that happened, then it was entirely likely that the entire Vale Army of Maidenpool would be lost, drowned in the Bay of Crabs as their transports were sunk, or else captured by House Seawynd. Fortunately for Ser Symond and his Forces, the first part of the voyage to Maidenpool passed without incident.

No, it was during the second part of the voyage that they would be spotted by a small squadron of Seawynd Ships. One Nau-Style Carrack the Copper Star, and three War Galleys, the Redoubtable, the Resistant, and the Resolute, spotted the Waxley Fleet while they were patrolling the Bay of Crabs while the fleet was still four hours out from Maidenpool just as dawn broke over the Bay of Crabs. As Ser Symond watched, the Resistant turned back, likely to report back to Lord Seawynd at Saltpans, while the other ships made for the Waxley Fleet.

"Ser Edmund!" Called our Ser Symond, hoping that Ser Edmund Waxley, the commander of the Naval Element, was seeing this.

"I see them, Ser Symond! Make ready for battle!" Called out Ser Edmund.

As the first shots came in from the Enemy's Larger Cannons, however, they fell not amongst the dozen or so ships capable of fighting back, but among the transports. Heated cannonballs set alight a few of the transports, while others were sunk in the bombardment. For several, long, agonizing moments, the Transports were bombarded by the enemy's broadsides before House Waxley's War Galleys could come into range with their smaller guns. Then, the moments had passed and House Waxley's War Galleys came into range to open up with their Four Pounders.

Aboard the Candlelight, the Flagship of the Waxley Fleet, Ser Symond watched as the gunners on board fired back at the Seawynd ships, sending four-pounder cannonballs hurtling at the enemy. He winced as a gun crew was smashed like a bowl of eggs by a six-pounder cannonball from the Resolute but as the Candlelight returned fire he knew that while they didn't have the six or eight-pounder guns that the Seawynd ships had, the sheer numerical advantage in gunnery that the Waxley Fleet had would eventually carry the day.

Indeed, the ships traded fire for an hour or so, allowing the remaining transports to get clear of the engagement area and run for Maidenpool. Several of the Wickenden War Galleys were badly battered in the attack, with the War Galleys Midnight Light, Solid Pewter, and Beeswax sunk or damaged badly enough to effectively be lost in the process, but the tide was turning. The Enemy War Galley Redoubtable was listing heavily and the Enemy War Galley Resolute was burning, its crew now more concerned with fighting fires to save the ship that fighting the Waxley Fleet.

"I think we've got them! Just a bit more and we'll send them packing back to Saltpans with their tails between their legs!" Laughed Ser Symond.

Unfortunately, he had perhaps spoken too hastily. A full broadside from the Copper Star, a parting shot from the powerful Nau-Style Carrack before the enemy made to flee the battle, thundered into the Candlelight. There was a pair of terrible cracking noises as the ship shuddered, the first of which cast a shadow over Ser Symond. Looking up, he saw the mainmast with its square sail begin to plummet, the lines tugging on the foremast with its lateen sail as it did so.

"Abandon ship! She's going to capsize!" Called out someone.

Ser Symond barely had time to throw himself overboard before the ship listed to the side violently, rolling over onto its side and capsizing. As he hit the water, Ser Symond Templeton's breath was blasted out of his lungs from the icy chill of the Bay of Crabs. The current grabbed hold of him, and he was swept away, vision beginning to fade into darkness. He didn't know how long he had spent in the waters of the Bay of Crabs before he felt himself be fished out. It had to be some time because dawn had fully arrived when he was hauled onto the deck of a ship by armed men, sputtering and coughing up water.

"Make way! Make way, I say! Give him some room!" Came a familiar voice.

Ser Symond looked up to see the fat, purple-clad, form of Lord Benedar Belmore forcing the armed men away from him. Lord Benedar nodded at him and helped him to his feet, steadying Symond as he coughed the last of the water out of his lungs.

"Symond! Thank the Seven, we thought we'd lost you when the Candlelight went down!" Exclaimed Lord Benedar.

"What. . .happened. . .Benedar?" Asked Ser Symond, huffing and puffing.

"We sunk the Resolute and Redoubtable but the Copper Star got away. Right now, the Waxley Fleet has lost five ships, the four you know of, plus the Burning Wick. Ser Edmund is still missing, presumed gone down with the ship. A bit under two-thirds of the Transports made it out of the engagement area. However, we need to sail out of her soon ourselves if we don't want to be caught up in Lord Seawynd's Response." Reported Lord Benedar.

"Fine. Make it so." Grunted Ser Symond.

And so, rescue operations from the Battle of the Bay of Crabs were suspended after one hour. The remaining ships of the Waxley Fleet would make it to port in Maidenpool without further incident, though the Vale's Army of Maidenpool would be cut down to eighteen thousand men in the battle. Ser Edmund Waxley, the head of House Waxley, would be among the dead, as would Old Lord Horton Redfort, lost on one of the Transports. it was a dark day for the Vale, but all was not lost. After all, many others had made it to Maidenpool, where they would assemble alongside the forces under the Tattered Prince.

From there, they would organize the defense of Maidenpool against the forthcoming Seawynd Attack. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we see the Vale's response to the invasion of the Eastern Riverlands. Ricasso's ships get some of the army being sent to reinforce Maidenpool, but not the majority of it. Meanwhile, Ser Lyn Corbray is trying to force House Royce and their vassals to bend the knee to King Tommen but is having to slog through a bunch of fortifications to do it, losing men in drips and drabs along the way.

At any rate, the next chapter will be an interlude showing the current state of the Civil War in the Iron Isles. Then we'll get an interlude at the Wall.

Stay tuned. . .