Chapter 101

The Battle of Last Rest began with an artillery duel. Entire batteries of Cannons fired each trying to silence their opposite numbers. Hundreds of guns firing at each other to attempt such a thing. In this, our forces had the advantage. Ser Harry Ruskyn had ensured that our artillery was well-drilled and extremely capable, able to fire three rounds a minute accurately. Lord Tywin's men were capable of firing two rounds a minute, and some of them couldn't even manage that many. At the same time, our guns were heavier, six and eight-pounders compared to Lord Tywin's two and four-pounders.

Of course, there were exceptions to these generalities. The Lannisport Artillery was just as well-trained and well-disciplined as my own artillery, if not as well-equipped. Meanwhile, the Artillery from Greenstone had proven to be a paper tiger or Turtle, as the case may be. They fluctuated between firing one to two rounds a minute, sometimes wildly off-target. All in all, however, we were clearly dominating the Artillery duel. As batteries were destroyed, their guns wrecked by counterfeit, and artillerymen let out screams of pain, I saw that the Lannisport Battery had finally managed to put a cannonball into the powder storage of the Greenstone Battery, sending up the entire battery up in a ball of flames. Ser Harry Ruskyn soon focused his fire on the Lannisport Battery as revenge.

Eventually, the lines had closed enough for Musketry to come into play. Here, we also had the advantage. Our snaplocks allowed three rounds a minute, but the matchlocks in use by Lord Tywin's forces could never manage more than two, no matter how well drilled. The technology just wasn't up to snuff for that. As men dropped on both sides, Lord Tywin must have realized that keeping this to a ranged duel wouldn't swing the fighting his way, because the Lannister Forces fired one last volley before their Musketeers broke off and wheeled back behind their lines of Pikemen and other assorted melee troops, which were advancing to contact at the quick march, hoping to get to grips with our lines as soon as they possibly could.

From my position with the Pikemen, in the center of Stannis' Lines, I saw that we would be attacked by the Rock's Own Infantry Guardsmen, led by none other than Ser Kevan Lannister. It was a mix of Elite Guardsmen, Men-at-arms, and dismounted Household Knights. A veritable tide of red cloaks, plate armor, pikes, halberds, and bills. My Pikemen were well-drilled, well-equipped, and had high morale, even so, I decided it would be best to offer a few words of encouragement.

"Steady Lads! Keep formation and follow your training and we'll pull through this!" I called out, drawing my Valyrian Steel Blade.

Then the Rock's Own Infantry let out a war cry and suddenly surged forth, the lines meeting with a crunch of metal and a flash of steel. I saw one of my pikemen go down to a Lucerne Hammer crunching his skull under his Morion Helmet even as his Pike punched through the shoulder of a charging Lannister Guardsman. I parried an incoming thrust of a pike, hacking the metal spearhead off the wooden haft with my Valyrian Steel Blade, before riposting and cutting the throat out of the Lannister Guardsman who the Pike belonged to. I recovered from my cut in time to parry the descending hook of a Bill under the head, redirecting the Man-At-Arms' polearm away from me even as I stepped forward into his guard, drew a dagger, and punched it into his eye. He fell to the ground, dead, and I looked around at the line.

To my right, I saw a pair of Dismounted Lannister Household Knights carve through a trio of my Halberdiers with various polars, while to my left, a quartet of my Halberdiers had managed to butcher twice their number of Lannister Men-At-Arms using the tactics we'd drilled into them. A few feet nearby, my Squire, Bryen Faring, had managed to take a Lannister Household Knight captive and kill the Man-At-Arms trying to retrieve him with a thrust of his arming sword through the Would-Be Rescuer's visor. All along the center, people were fighting, dying, and screaming out in rage and pain. Neither side could get the edge on the other, I realized. If nothing changed, the center would stalemate, though if I was being honest, that's really all that Stannis needed me to do here was hold the line. After all, the longer this fight went on, the more our technical and drill advantages would grow.

A Lannister Household Knight then took a swing at me with a Bec De Corbin, hoping to use the spikes to punch through my helmet and brain me. I ducked under the swing and came back up with a rising, stocatta, thrust that punched through the gaps between his breast and backplate, punching through the mail covering his armpit with ease, and going deep into his torso, killing him. As the Lannister Household Knight fell into the mud, I wrenched my blade free of his corpse just in time to catch a thrusting Pike with my blade, slicing out in a parry that cut the spearhead off the wooden haft. I reached to the Brace of pistols I had strapped across my chest and fired, the ball shattering the Lannister Guardsman's teeth and Jaw as it punched through the cheekplate of his barbute helmet to do so.

"Come on Lads! Hold the line!" I roared.

A loud cry went out from my men as I rallied them in the hopes that some extra morale would help break the deadlock. It wasn't to be, unfortunately, as after an hour of battle, the center fully stabilized. We'd held the line against the Lannister attack but hadn't been able to push back through them. Now a stalemate was in the offing here. I could only hope that the wings weren't having this rough a time of things. It was unfortunate, but it seemed like it would be up to them to score the knockout blow here. I wouldn't ordinarily feel comfortable leaving that job in the hands of another party, but Stannis knew what he was doing, and so did my Vassals. After all, many of them were with the cavalry on the wings.

And I had the utmost faith in their ability to pull something out of their hats. . .

XXXX

Tywin Lannister frowned as he saw that his brother had failed to punch through Stannis' Center. He had given Kevan command of the finest infantry they had for that task, but it seems to have not been enough. Luckily, Tywin had a contingency plan for just such an occasion. His best Knights he had concentrated in a single formation, a mailed fist to sweep aside any opposition they faced. He had kept this formation in reserve until now, thinking to use it when the time was right. Unfortunately, as the second hour of the battle came to an end, and the stalemate that had developed during the first hour of battle persisted, it seemed he would have to use it now to break the deadlock.

"Send to Lord Lydden. Tell him to take our little surprise out of the Village and right into Stannis' right flank." Commanded Tywin.

"At once, My Lord." Saluted the Messenger, some distant Moreland Cousin, too far from the succession for Tywin to bother learning the name of.

As the Messenger rode off, Tywin rested his gauntleted hands on the pommel of his saddle, gazing out over the battlefield. He had sustained heavy losses in artillery to Stannis' Artillery, their heavier guns and better-trained crews were a problem that Tywin would have to solve if he wanted to have any hope of victory in this war. Hopefully, Littlefinger would figure something out. Baelish had the same particular sort of low cunning that Seawynd had, though turned toward other pursuits. Tywin had promised him Harrenhal after the war, a seat fit for a Great House. If he could bring the Vale into this on their side, he could find a way to neutralize enemy artillery.

That was neither here nor there at the moment, however. No, right at this moment, Tywin had a battle to win. If he could pull off a victory here, that would set the tone for the rest of the war. As the dust cloud that had been kicked up from the Village Square of Last Rest drew closer, Tywin nodded at himself. Now they would see if keeping this secret formation back for the right moment had been wise or not. Tywin hoped for the former, though he would not lower himself to praying for it. He was, after all, Tywin Lannister. He did not require such fickle things as the Blessings of the Seven to win battles. One need only look at the wreck of Castamere to see that.

As the dust cloud resolved itself into the image of an armored wedge streaking for Stannis' flank Tywin leaned forward, waiting for the outcome of his latest gambit. . .

XXXX

Stannis Baratheon, First of His Name had just finished carving through Mountain Clansmam wearing armor of toughened hide when he had heard the roar. It was as if a hundred drumbeats were being pounded out all at once, even as a hundred voices roared in anger. It was coming from his right and he turned to see it. A mass of horses and armored riders, the leader wearing the arms of House Lydden on his surcoat. There had to be a few hundred Knights in that spearhead, and they were heading right for his unprotected flank! This sort of unit couldn't sprout up from out of thin air, and that could only mean that Tywin had been holding them back and waiting for this opportunity.

"The right! To the Right!" Called out Stannis.

As the flank tried to reform and reorient to face the new threat, however, Stannis realized it wouldn't be enough. Too many of his men were out of position to reorient, too busy fighting the mix of Sellswords, Mountain Clansmen, and Seagard Levies that formed the enemy lines in front of them to easily turn about and brace for a charge of horse. The perception of time slowed down for Stannis as he realized this was it. He was about to be undone here by one cavalry charge. Stannis ground his teeth in frustration at the whole scenario. To have come so far, done so much, all for it to be taken away from him in the blink of an eye like this was almost too much to bear.

Growling, Stannis knew he would not simply go quietly. He turned his horse around, preparing to gather what forces he could to counter-charge. Even if it was futile, that this surprise charge would be the end of him, he would go down fighting, as any true Baratheon should. Then, there was a Roar and his perception of time sped back up to a normal pace as the front ranks of the enemy's sudden charge were obliterated. Turned to shards of metal and red, bloody, paste as a series of cannonballs bounced through their flying wedge. The wreckage of the front ranks slowed the back ranks as they tried to negotiate the suddenly difficult terrain, allowing a second round of cannonballs to bounce through them, taking heads and limbs and staving in chests.

"Come! Let us see the remainder off!" Shouted Stannis, as he led his countercharge into the suddenly disorganized enemy cavalry wedge. As they charged forward, Stannis had scarcely had time to hack a Knight wearing the Colors of House Estren out of his saddle before the charge that had faltered to a standstill started up again in the opposite direction. The enemy force withdrew in the aftermath of being bombarded by artillery and countercharged. Stannis felt grisly satisfied as he returned to pressing back against the enemy flank. It had almost been the end, but thanks to a bit of aid from the artillery, they had turned things around.

At the very least, Stannis was no longer grinding his teeth as he renewed his attack on the Lannister Forces. . .

XXXX

Three hours into the battle, things had turned in our favor. The center held, Stannis had inflicted heavy casualties on the Lannister Left Flank, and Ser Denys Irons and Lord Crabb had led an assault on the Lannister Right Flank that seemed to be really hammering them. At the same time, our artillery had begun bombarding certain sections of the enemy line. It was touch and go for a moment, especially after Tywin pulled a hidden heavy cavalry formation from out of nowhere, but now it seemed only a matter of time before we won.

Tywin must have realized that too, because after three hours and fifteen minutes, horns sounded from the Enemy Lines and suddenly, the enemy began to withdraw, Tywin sacrificed his weakest units as a rear guard action to buy time for him to extricate his stronger ones. Ser Roger Groves tried harrying Tywin's retreat by using his Hussar-style Medium Cavalry to charge after Tywin, but Tywin had musketeers fire a volley to keep the Cavalry at bay long enough to escape. No rout here, just an orderly withdrawal.

Still, the enemy left ten thousand killed, captured, or wounded on the field, along with around forty guns captured, though Tywin had ordered them spiked before leaving, meaning only a handful could be added to our own artillery. In the meantime, we had lost around two-thousand-four-hundred killed or wounded, less than a quarter of Tywin's losses. Around one-thousand-one-hundred of those would, with proper care, be back on their feet and ready to fight on after a few weeks with some nifty new scars to show for it. This was a victory, Tywin had lost a fifth of his army and been forced to withdraw back north.

As we pushed ahead up the Kingsroad, we took the realty of several other Lords who hadn't sworn to Stannis yet. This included crossing into the Riverlands to receive the fealty of Lady When and Lord Roote of Harrenhal and Lord Harroway's Town respectively. These swelled our forces by a considerable amount, gaining Stannis another five thousand troops of varying quality. Some were guards, Lady Whent, for instance, not having committed any troops to any of the claimants, pleading neutrality due to age. Others were little more than levies, House Darry having had to fend off numerous raids from Houses Wode and Hawick, both of which had sided with Lord Mooton, and thus needed forces closer to hone.

From here, however, Stannis had given me a detached force and another task. I was to head east with five thousand Men and force the surrender of Houses Wode, Hawick, Cox, and Mooton, along with the Port of Maidenpool. The Castellan of Maidenpool would have to surrender, after all, we had the heir and both the second and third-born sons of House Mooton while Lord William was MIA after the capture of King's Landing. The others would likely put up a bigger fight, but I was up to the challenge. In the meantime, Stannis would take the rest of the Army west to chase Tywin Lannister. Hopefully, he could catch up to Tywin before the Ironborn or Vale could be brought into the war on Tywin's side.

Because that would complicate matters severely if it happened. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, here's the next chapter with the Battle of Last Rest. Tywin lost but managed to withdraw in Good Order and now the War has gone back into the Riverlands and is largely going to be fought there once again. Ricasso is being sent east to sweep up the remains of Mooton and the other Eastern Riverlords who supported the Lannisters while Stannis goes west after Tywin. That will effectively put Ricasso in position to deal with the Vale if Baelish can swing their involvement.

Speaking of which, the next chapter will be an interlude in the Vale showing Baelish attempting to do just that. Then we'll have an interlude in Pyke, one at the Wall, and one with the Targs before coming back to Ricasso for his Eastern Riverlands Campaign.

Stay tuned. . .