Chapter 23

After the battle outside Dyre Den, Brownhollow was almost anticlimactic. It turns out that blockade was extremely effective in reducing the food supply of the town and castle and by the time I had arrived they were on the verge of surrendering so as not to starve. The remaining Brunes had apparently been smuggled out of the port in advance of the blockade, which I put down to Littlefinger's influence. With this, the entire Point was effectively under my control. I sent a letter to Stannis saying as much and asked to be granted the Brune lands, since I was the one who had taken them. Stannis was slow in replying, as he was sailing for Storm's End with some 10,000 Troops, having been reinforced by the Houses of Massey's Hook.

While I awaited his reply, I continued drilling my troops and equipping some of the troops I had gained from my defeating of the Brunes. I had gained some 2,000 Pikemen, 1,000 Crossbowmen, and 250 Light Cavalry who had surrendered at Dyre Den and were now being trained in their intended roles. I had also acquired some 1,000 Pikemen, 1,000 Crossbowmen, and 250 Light Cavalry that had surrendered at Brownhollow who were currently training in their intended roles. With my Teaching skill I would be able to train them up sufficiently in about a week. At the same time I gathered up 500 of my best, most veteran troops, hand picked by me. These would be my Elite Guard, my Huskarls as my Ironborn blood insisted on calling them. I would train them in the techniques I had learned, Power Strike, Meisterhau, Mordschlag etc. These Troops would be the best of the best and hopefully the 500 would grow to a thousand as more of my troops gained the requisite level of skill. My Huskarls took to their training well and by the time I had received Stannis' reply, naming me Warden of Crackclaw Point with all attendant lands and privileges, not only were my additional troops ready for battle, but my Elite Guard had finished with my repertoire of sword techniques as well.

I stayed perhaps three more days to sort out a supply plan for the Point and my army before leaving. The plan was to take Rook's Rest, then march on Duskendale and from there to Rosby, Eliminating the Jofferey loyalists bit by bit before marching on King's Landing. The plan was for Stannis to defeat Renly and take the muster of the Stormlands and we would meet up at the Blackwater, myself besieging the city from the landward side and Stannis from the sea. I had cautioned Stannis that if desperate, the defenders might attempt to wipe out his fleet with wyldfire and that he should take care to disperse is fleet in such a way that if they did so, it would not catch the entire fleet. Whether Stannis would listen to my advice or not was anyone's guess.

At any rate our army marched towards Rook's Rest, the Castle guarded the point where the highlands of Crackclaw point gave way to the lowlands of the rest of the Crownlands and it was imperative that we take it. Lord Staunton had ridden out from under his gates with a flag of parlay and I and my officers went out to meet him.

"Lord Irons I presume?," asked the gaunt faced man.

"Lord Staunton. Come to arrange terms of surrender I hope?" I replied.

"Unfortunate but yes, I fear I must. My garrison was somewhat depleted by the Queen, she believed that the Brunes would tie you up in the point until she could gather enough forces to march east. I fear my nephew, along with the majority of my levy is mustering at Duskendale. The fool boy is infatuated with the Queen, it seems my heir hangs on her every word like a lost puppy. As such I have not the forces to contest your passage, even holing up in my castle would do me little good, for a determined assault would undoubtedly force the mere 150 troops remaining to me for garrison duties," the man replied.

I regarded Lord Staunton with a critical eye, the man was gaunt and without knowing his history I would not be capable of telling whether he was a decrepit 40 year old or a well preserved 60 year old, not without the use of Observe at any rate. His plate was obviously well used, but also well cared for, being an older style that was fashionable when King Aerys was a young man. I knew that Staunton and his brother had a falling out over the rebellion, when Staunton took a wait and see approach whilst his brother joined Rhaegar at the Trident, leaving his infant son to go off to a battle from which he never returned. The man himself had no living heirs and was by now too old to sire one, leaving his nephew, Ser Jeremy Staunton as his sole heir.

"If I see your heir on the field of battle, I shall take pains to capture him rather than kill him. . .provided you make sure he will bend the knee to Stannis when the dust clears," I say to him.

"I see. . .I would thank you for that. I have heard some. . .distressing rumors about Lord Brune and his family. I was fearful that the same might happen to my own heirs and you would find yourself lord of yet another castle," he replied, mildly put out.

"I seized those lands, and asked Stannis' permission to keep them. Think of it as a call back to my heritage, the Iron Price, but with lordships and lands. However I am not a savage, nor am I stupid enough to overstretch my ability to hold territory. I will not sack your lands, as often happens in war, nor will I attempt to seize your holdings for myself. If we are to be neighbors when this war is settled, there needs be no bad blood. Now, take me to your castle and we will arrange the terms of your parole," I replied.

For the next few hours we quibbled over things like supplies due for the occupying force and dispositions of garrisons, but eventually a deal was hammered out in that any supplies my army requisitioned would be signed for with a waiver that would be redeemed at the end of the war for cash or kind equal to the price of the supplies requisitioned before the war started. I also left a small garrison of 200 men there to hold the castle and arrange logistics. Otherwise it was a fairly standard parole for Lord Staunton, he pledged to not raise his sword or troops against me and would bend the knee to Stannis and make sure his heir did so in the event of victory.

What Concerned me more were reports of an army gathering at Duskendale under Lord Renfred Rykker and Ser Boros Blount of the Kingsguard. It seems that Cersei has badgered 12,000 men of the Crownlands levy into forming up to march east and relieve the Brunes from siege. It is clear her intelligence is weeks old, which makes me wonder what game the Spider is playing. I knew from the books he had Aegon and Jon Connington in the wings, but that plot wouldn't happen until next year. In the original timeframe, Varys was as against Stannis as Cersei was. Something wasn't adding up; of course, it could be that Varys had fled King's Landing for Pentos as soon as he had gotten word that the Brunes were out of play but somehow that didn't seem right. Something was in the wings, some plan of the Spider's that required him to not be doing his job on the small council. I would have to be wary of what said plan was.