Chapter 8: First Real War

A/N:

Enjoy.

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Meanwhile, Robert looked at Edward's men's performance with some jealousy. During all that time, Edward and Robert's relation didn't change much. Robert would always be jealous and vent his frustration on the training yard while Edward would look at him as if he was looking at an idiot and wouldn't care much.

Robert sighed and turned to head to the training yard. He didn't know how many more times was he going to lose to Edward.

After preparing his men lodging and letting them relax for a day or two, Edward started their training again and this time he performed different tactics.

Lord Arryn would watch them from time to time to check their improvement. When he saw their performance and improvement, he was pleased and decided to let some of the vale soldiers train with Edwards men.

Two years passed since Edward's men came to the Eyrie. Edward had passed his fourteenth name day. He was an adult and a grown-up man according to the customs of Westeros. During those two years, everything followed the same routines, except for five significant events.

The first event was when a huge raid consisted of a lot of riders from the mountain tribes descended the mountains of the moons to raid and plunder. That was a huge event that shook all of Westeros.

Lord Arryn didn't wait for his wards or the rest of his men to gather to launch the attack. He took the available men, who were counted as three thousand knights, to the bloody gate in order to defend against the tribes' attack. But before departing he instructed Lord Royce to gather the rest of the men and follow Edward's lead to follow after him.

When Edward knew about this, Lord Arryn was long gone. Ned and Robert gathered around him while he ordered his guard unit and the two thousand knight that Lord Arryn asked him to train with his men.

When Lord Royce gathered the rest of the men, he had about three thousand knights with him, when he reached Edward. Edward was about to arrange the small army when a messenger came informing them that Lord Arryn's troupes were ambushed and needed assistance.

Panic started to spread between the army and some lord's voicing their intention to hurry to rescue Lord Arryn.

Edward took a deep breath and shouted with his loud voice.

"Silence." Shouted Edward with his loud voice.

The hall turned silent and everyone turned to look at the young ward. He was respected among them for his achievements.

"Everyone, I want everyone to fucking calm down. You can't behave like cunts who never experienced war. You must be clear-headed before the battle. We can't fucking afford to put lord Arryn in more danger. Lord Arryn can still resist for some time against this small unit of mountain tribe if you all headed there with no clear plan, the whole enemy's riders will shift their attention towards lord Arryn's location." Explained Edward with some anger.

Everyone nodded and took a deep breath to calm their mind and listened to Edward's words.

"We had three small Mountain roads that lead to the mountains of the moon plus the main high road to the bloody gate. We will divide the army into five units. They will be led by Lord Elbert Arryn, Lord Royce, Ned Stark, Robert Baratheon, and me respectively. Lord Elbert and Ned Stark units will head straight towards the bloody gate through the high road towards lord Arryn's location. I already sent a scout and tracker units ahead and they will lead you there and the trackers will help you using the terrain." Said Edward getting a nod from both Elbert and Ned.

Both of them led their units at once. They were helped by members of the scout unit.

"Robert, you will lead your unit through this Mountain Road and prevent those fucking raiders from getting any assistance from their main army. Use the mountain to your advantage. The trackers should have prepared rocks on the sides to help by the time you reach the location." Said Edward and getting another nod.

Robert moved at once and led his unit towards the location with the help of another member of the scout team.

"Now, Lord Royce, you will take this Mountain Road while I took the far one. You will help me encircling the main army and try to scatter them. Try to keep the kills to a minimum, Lord Arryn wanted to have a peace talk with them." Said Edward giving the final instruction.

Lord Royce gave him a nod and led his unit towards the second Mountain road.

Edward organized his unit plus his men. He gave his men the chance to command by assigning the knights of the vale to them. It was their chance to show the world their might.

Edward and his men headed to the far most Mountain Road and with the help of the scout and trackers units, it was a piece of cake.

One of the most important things you learned after studying the art of war was that when fighting an enemy on high ground you had only two options, either you surround the high ground and prevent water and other living supplies to make them die of hanger or you bait them down the high ground and occupy the high ground yourself especially when you had Cavalry. If a Cavalry charge is used perfectly, the mountain tribes would have no chance at all.

And since the mountain tribes descended themselves, Edward would be happy to occupy and circulate them and hit them from the back.

The marsh went smoothly through the mountains with the obstacles being clears by the scouts and trackers. When Edward's unit reached a higher ground they saw the rest of the mountain tribes attacking the two units on the other two roads.

After implementing his Arrow Tower Strategy, his men divided themselves into three groups. The first and second would surround the Mountain raiders from the sides from high grounds. They would then launch mountains of arrows and spears towards the raiders.

The raider took notice of their casualties and decided to attack the two groups. And here came Edward's group role.

Edward took a deep breath and shouted with all he had.

"Charge." Shouted Edward.

The Cavalry started their charge and with the help of the slope. Their speed kept accelerating. When the mountain tribes noticed it was too late. Edward's men hit them and they hit them hard. The mountain tribesmen scattered in every direction trying to run after killing some and scattering the rest to different directions, Edward ordered them not to pursue.