Entry Twenty

Date: 299 After Landing, Autumn

Ah, Lannisport. Been almost a year since I was last here, and it has definitely seen better days.

The parts of the town that my men and I set fire to during the war had been cleaned and cleared, and already had new homes and businesses setting back up, but the damage at the docks and along the coast was more recent. Ironborn had been raiding along the coast, and what they couldn't take they set to flame. The fleet managed to drive them off, but by the time the fires were put out a tenth of the city was gone. We had arrived just a few days later.

Tyrion Lannister was, to say the least, ecstatic to see me. Especially in gear more commonly seen on a sell-sword. Both Lannisters wished I could have brought more than a half-dozen Commandos, but they understood that Stannis couldn't know we were aiding them. I learned from Tyrion that during the time it took for us to travel he had been sending ravens back and forth with King Stannis who agreed to end his hostilities with the Westerlands, but only if the Lannisters forgave the crowns debts to them and turned Jaime Lannister over to the crown for judgment. As much as it would ruin the Lannister wealth, Tyrion was willing to forgive the debt, but much less willing to turn his brother over to a man who will burn him alive.

Jaime, surprisingly, seems very different from the man I knew in King's Landing. This man is much more laid back, humbled perhaps, and eager to help. I expected him to resent me, but instead the first thing he did when he saw me was to throw an arm around my shoulder and hug. I'm sure the look of surprise on my face is what caused Dacey to laugh, followed quickly by everyone else in the room. "The Mountainbreaker, made to yield with a hug!"

It was later in private that Tyrion told me what happened to Jaime after Eddard and I fled the city. His sister (it turns out the rumors of incest were true) turned her back on Jaime, seeing him as a useless cripple. She turned her attention to others shortly after, drinking heavily and sleeping with all of the knights of the King's Guard except him. Tywin stripped Jaime of his King's Guard status, and then tried to ship him back home to run Casterly Rock and even set up a few potential marriage matches, but Jaime refused. Instead he attempted to end his life, seeing his current existence as nothing but suffering. Luckily, Tyrion, having spent his life as a "cripple" in the eyes of the world, found Jaime before it was too late and took him under his wing. Turning his point of view around and helping him find meaning. Before the Baratheons arrived, Tyrion and Jaime both had left the capital and headed towards home so they could start over far from the cruel eye of their father.

Jaime is Lord of Castlery Rock, but as he puts it, "Tyrion is my good hand," who manages their lands. Jaime smiled when he explained, "Running a city, a country, I'm not good at. But telling our commanders where to attack an enemy, that I'm good at."

Between Jaime's practical experience as a warrior and Tyrion's mind for tactics, they managed to keep the Ironborn from expanding beyond their initial gains. But with Stannis demanding Jaime's head, that wouldn't work for much longer.

I need to speak with King Eddard, but I think we can help them out by harboring Jaime in the North. I know that Eddard doesn't care for the Lannisters, and doesn't think highly of the "Kingslayer," but after hearing about why he did what he did…well I can sympathize. A soldier obeys orders, but if he knows his orders are wrong he should be applauded for standing up against evil. If you know you can save a half million people, don't you have the responsibility to do so?

Anyway the Commandos and I soon got to work and Faircastle, the Ironborns newest acquisition, was the first target. When they first took the island, resistance had been light, in part because a contingent of five hundred crossbowmen had been recalled to the mainland to hold back the Ironborn who were making their way down the coast from the Crag. Six days later, the Ironborn galleys hit the islands beaches outside Faircastle and advanced on the stronghold with considerable pillaging along the way.

The size of the enemy force on the island was well known, with a raven being loosed that tallied the armies size between ten and fifteen thousand. A considerable force, but that also meant it was the bulk of the Greyjoy's forces. Maybe four to six thousand each were left to hold already captured settlements, while this force would be the spearhead that eventually struck Lannisport. Unfortunately, having just fought two wars, Lannister forces were minimal and could barely reach ten thousand men. Of those, only around 5,000 men were available for an assault. We couldn't wait to let Greyjoy come to us, we needed to hit him. But we also needed to be smart about it, and it had to look like The Warrior wasn't helping anyone.

A week later my Commandos and I set sail with a little over 5,000 soldiers, and landed at the southernmost tip of Faircastle. The soldiers we brought with us weren't a very mixed group. 1,500 Crossbowmen, 500 Longbowmen, and 3,000 infanty. Mostly they were the men Tyrion and Jaime could spare from more important theaters. Like everywhere else I have seen battle in this world, so much attention is placed on the Knights and cavalry that most military leaders don't see the advantages of archers and footmen.

The island itself isn't all that interesting, a few small hamlets separated by small rivers and vast farmland. There is a forest that makes up the bulk of the island which is hunted so often that many of the larger animals have vanished, leaving hare as the largest game animal. Maybe after the wars are over I can tell Tyrion about how to reintroduce wildlife. The hamlets are very small, only a few dozen buildings, and many of the Ironborn had already pillaged the sites until there was nothing left. The first hamlet we came across was deserted, fire having cleaned away what had taken centuries to build, with bodies left on the ground to be picked apart by whatever happened along. But the second hamlet, that was more interesting.

After capturing the hamlet the Ironborn looted and moved on, but left a few thousand here to watch the coast. Even from a half-mile away I could hear the screams as men took "saltwives." I was determined to break the Ironborn before, but now I needed to. From behind a small nearby hill I organized my forces into three lines, with my infantry in the center and projectiles to the sides. As the sun set across the waters, I led the infantry out into the open and called on the Ironborn.

One interesting thing about the Ironborn, they don't favor arrows. I prefer the sword, and the axe, something you might use while on the deck of a ship. Sure, a few will know how to handle a bow, but it isn't something that is encouraged by their nobility. So when the Ironborn saw me and my infantry, and that they outnumbered us, they formed up into a loose line and made a slow walk out of the hamlet and towards me.

I honestly don't know if I can take on a few thousand men armed with swords, but I'm glad I didn't have to find out. Once the Ironborn was cleared of the hamlet and the civilians inside, my Commandos gave the order for my still hidden archers to unleash an arrow storm. I had never actually seen a storm of arrows before, but it was everything the ancient books made it out to be. Thousands of tiny spears, the last vestige of sunlight blinking off the metal heads, firing over my head thick enough to block my view of the sky…it was both beautiful and terrifying.

The arrows ripped apart the Ironborn, causing casualties and a forming a vital distraction. Unable to respond in kind, the Ironborn took shelter where they could; under shields, planks of wood, even the bodies of their fellow men. By the time they reached me their lines had been gutted, and a vicious free-for-all then ensued. The ferocity of the Westerland men, born of a desire for vengeance, ripped the Islanders apart. In some cases, literally.

Out of an enemy force of 3,000, we only took fifty prisoners. On the flip side, we lost only a dozen. A combination of tactics, timing and surprise gave us an easy victory. Too bad storming the castle won't be so easy.

So that is how things stand at the moment. The hamlet has been liberated, though its population is a fraction of what it once was. Even so, the people are thankful and are helping us resupply. Dacey wanted to cut the privates off each Ironborn and send them to whomever controlled Faircastle, and I almost let her, but eventually I argued it down to cutting off the left ear before we buried the dead at sea. Islanders preferred to have their bodies given back to the sea, and I see no harm in allowing it.

Until next time.