WILOW-Ch.373: An Easy Victory
Near Casterly Rock, Westerlands
POV of Ygritte
"You sure you want to lead from the front?" Ygritte asked Domeric one last time.
She couldn't see his eyes through the helmet, but the way he was moving his head made her realize that he was rolling his eyes.
"I'll be alright." He said, "You know very well just how good my armor is. Just wait here for me. Moreover, the magical amulets I made for us are much more powerful than normal ones. Lethal attacks will deflect before they even reach us."
She nodded and hugged him one last time before Domeric climbed on the horse and rode to the front of their army.
"I don't have much of a speech for you." He said, his voice somehow audible to the whole camp without being too loud. "You guys already know what to do. Follow the plan, and we'll be victorious."
He then turned to the skinchangers and said, "Release the direwolves."
As one, the whole pack of direwolves rushed forward. The full-body magical chain mail they were wearing would protect them against any kind of physical attack.
"ON ME!!!" her lover let out a battle cry, which had become much more fierce than before, and went after the Direwolves.
He was followed by Raksa, who led the Domeric's 700 personal guards and quickly rushed after him.
Even if Domeric was not wearing a full-body magical armor, she knew that Raksa wouldn't let anything happen to him.
After the personal guards left, Varko led the 1000 cavalry of the 1st legion, and at the same time, Mocqo also let out a war cry and led his 1200 horse archers from the right flank.
She could already hear the battle in the distance, and Bronn ordered his 2000 infantry to march forward.
Once Domeric was gone, she looked at the 2500 archers, crossbowmen, and bolters and took a deep breath.
It was the first time she would lead men into battle.
Well… She was not really leading them as they had their own commanders and command chain, but she was in charge of them for the duration of this battle.
And they did respect her more than enough to allow her to lead them.
"AFTER THEM!!!" she shouted and marched after the infantry.
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The battle was not much of a fight.
When Domeric told her that this battle would be easy, he was not underestimating the opponent out of overconfidence.
This Lannister army was made up of people who had never stepped onto a battlefield before.
They didn't have any discipline or any proper training.
So, when Domeric cut through them at the start of the battle and entered the central command camp with his men, killing everyone on his way, the army quickly lost its morale.
After that, it was a full-on rout as the defeated troops fled for their lives.
She was not even able to fire fifty arrows before the battle ended.
All in all, the whole thing was very anticlimactic.
The only people who saw any real battle were the giants and the 500 heavy infantry that Domeric had sneaked in between the Lannister army camp and Casterly Rock.
Any defeated troop that tried to retreat into Casterly Rock had to pass through the giants and the heavy infantry.
They tried. And it didn't really work out very well for them.
The giants alone killed more than 500 men before the people understood this was a no-go and escaped toward the Lannister Port.
The good thing about this was that most of the guards and knights from Casterly Rock had come to train the men in this army.
And since they weren't able to return to Casterly Rock, the Castle was now as poorly defended as it'll ever be.
With that being the case, even with how large the rock on which Casterly Rock sat, she was sure that they would be able to take the Castle.
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Casterly Rock, Westerlands
POV of Genna Frey (nee Lannister)
Genna looked at the army camped below Casterly Rock and snarled in anger and grief.
Three sons. She had sent three of her four sons to the war with the army led by Ser Devan Lannister.
Two of them died when the Bolton army destroyed that army, and the third was now held captive in Riverrun.
The Bolton boy didn't even care about the prisoners.
He just hoisted them all off to the Tullys, who were now asking a high price as the ransom money.
The only reason her fourth son didn't join the war was that he was too young.
She had thought that he would at least remain safe in Casterly Rock for the duration of the war.
She clenched her fists so hard her palms started to bleed.
Now she was not sure how safe her son truly was.
Most of the experienced knights and veteran guards from Casterly Rock had gone with Ser Lucian as he needed all the help he could get to put his new army into decent shape.
Now…
That army was broken. Ser Lucian and the other commanders were dead. And not a single one of those so-called veterans returned to Casterly Rock.
"Casterly Rock has never fallen before. Casterly Rock has never fallen before." She repeated the words to herself like a chant.
'Casterly Rock had never been up against giants, direwolves, wargs, and wyverns either,' a voice echoed in her mind.
She wanted to blame Tywin and Kevan for this war. Or Cersei and Jamie.
Her brothers might not be willing to believe the 'rumors' about King Joffrey's true parentage, but she had been like a mother to both Jamie and Cersei after Joanna's death, and she knew what those two did behind closed doors.
She let out a sigh and put those thoughts out of her mind.
There was really no point in blaming other people at this point.
She could only hope that the squires and the barely trained boys left in the castle would be able to defend it against the Hungry Beast.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.374: Meanwhile, in Lannisport
Ch.375: Don't Lie to Me
Ch.376: Till Her Last Breath