First battle, and first loss.

The main tent's flap opens to the sound of ringing bells. An unusually tall 10-year-old enters to find it filled with people going over a map as everyone looks up at the sound of his entrance.

Myles Toyne's eyes light up in recognition, pausing his contemplation to talk to the boy.

"Ah ! Young Kaiser !"

"Hello Ser, am I coming at a bad time ?"

"I asked the knight to bring you in later, but since you're here anyways, why don't you join us ?"

"Myles ! Are you serious ?! He's a child !" Shouts one of the lieutenants.

"Oh come off it Cole ! He's a good kid, he won't interrupt. Right ?" He asks, turning towards Kaiser at the end.

Kaiser playfully makes a zipping gesture on his mouth.

"See ! He's fine, grab a chair kid, let's have some fun."

"Alright, now that we are over with this, what's the situation ?" He continues.

"The Myr-Volantis alliance number roughly 40 thousand, most of them infantry or archers, while we have our 12 thousand, the Company of the Rose's 9 thousand, the second sons' 8 thousand, and the Windblown's 4 thousand." Says Lysono Maar, a Lyseni man with Valyrian features.

"So it's their forces of 40 thousand against our 33, theirs is mainly composed of infantry, with 10 thousand of them being Myr retained Unsullied, and 15 thousand are Volanti', 5 thousand are light cavalry, and 9 thousand archers. The remaining 1 thousand are Hrakkar, their elite unit of scouts. We however, have a paltry number of 13 thousand infantry, 10 thousand cavalry, and the remaining 10 thousand are archers." Says Myles.

"They will surely avoid going on the offense, their lack of cavalry gives them disadvantages in open fields. I vote to separate our cavalry into three, and harass them from three directions. That should be enough bait."

"No, it won't work, these disciplined forces are trained to obey orders unconditionally, they won't fall for a bait. Their men are stationed at a higher ground, so a cavalry charge won't work, we also can't bypass them because then they'll be able to intercept us. They have enough food to last for months as well. We are in a very bad position right now."

"So what do we do ? We can't attack them, we can't bait them. Shall we just stand here and do nothing ?!"

As the place goes silent out of contemplation, Balaq notices Kaiser staring intently at the map.

"Why don't we ask the kid ?" He says.

"What ?! Are you crazy, we're being serious here !"

"And ? Do you have an idea ? At least the kid has something."

"Why not, at least that'll help us pass some time. Alright kid, what do you have ?" Says Myles.

"Well, you said that their soldiers are disciplined, but what about ours ?" Responds Kaiser.

"Are you implying that we are incompetent ?! And what does that have to do with our strategy ?!"

"No, I'm saying that their generals will definitely assume that we aren't as good as them. And why not ? They are the professionally trained standing army with a unified leadership, while we're just a bunch of sellswords looking for gold, who will abandon our contractors at the very first sign of trouble."

"What's your point ?"

"My point is that when their generals see a contingent of light cavalry crossing around the hill at night, on a desperate bid to bypass them into Myr's defenseless farming villages, they won't think of a trap, but that one of the companies allied with us is acting on its own." Kaiser explains.

"And make no mistake, they will notice the attempt to avoid them due to their elite Hrrakar, so their reaction will be to send a significant contingent of their infantry to intercept the horses in secret. And since their generals are experienced, they will strengthen their army in the direction of the cavalry in case they turn towards them. Which will in turn-"

"Weaken their opposite flank momentarily, giving us an opportunity to ambush them while they're disorganized. That could work." Finishes Balaq.

"And what if they do think it's a trap ? Then this whole thing won't work." Interjects Sergeant Cole.

"Wrong, if they do think it's a trap, they will have to intercept them anyways or risk their food source being cutoff. So they either act like they don't think it's a trap and react to whatever we do in response, or they move their whole army to intercept which will allow us to occupy the hill in their stead, so they will have to garrison their forces between us and Myr, putting them in an extremely disadvantageous position." Answers Kaiser.

"There is quite a bit of risk involved, our timing has to be perfect to take advantage of the momentary weakness in their defenses, if we do this, we have to convince the other companies of the feasibility of this maneuver, and persuade one of them to cede their light cavalry to be bait. Then we need to gather the rest of our cavalry to hide on the other side of the hill in preparation for the ambush." Says Lysono Maar.

"The more I think about it, the better the potential outcome turns out to be. We can turn our singular ambush into three successive ones. If the bait cavalry tries to cross close enough they could be able to hear the ambush on the other side, which will be a signal for them to turn around and harass the main encampment on the other side while leading the interception on a merry chase. Finally, we could finish them up with a charge with our infantry." Says a suddenly enlightened Toyne.

"And since the Volanti are familiar with elephants, we can't use them to break their infantry, so what we can do instead is used them to scare their horses to stop them from decimating our central infantry" Says Myles.

"And while they're preoccupied with the chaos, I could lead the archers to sneak behind them, we'll be able to completely finish them off as they retreat." Finishes Balaq.

"That looks like a solid plan, Lysono, send the message to the other companies to meet up here, I want to inform them of the plan, I'm sure they are as clueless as we were before the kid came in. Cole, Lothson, and Balaq, start preparing the troops. Harry, I presume you know what to do. Everyone else but the kid are dismissed."

While everyone leaves after voicing their agreements, Myles pours himself a bottle of wine.

"So, how old are you again ? Twelve name days ? 13 ?"

"I am 10, Ser."

"You're very tall for your age. I originally called you here because Vyren told me about your intentions to start fighting with the cavalry. He said you were ready."

"I think I'm ready Ser, and my horse has just reached maturity."

"Don't you think I know that ? I saw you trouncing up half of our knights at the yard, I also saw you hit a target with a bow from 60 yards (ca. 55 m) away, of course you're ready. But now that I got acquainted with your intelligence I'm of a mind to keep you locked in here for the sole purpose of strategizing. But you don't want that, so I won't"

He downs his drink and starts pouring another one.

"You will be stationed with the second ambush, at the rear. Do take mercy on our enemies, I believe dying at the hands of a 10 name days old kid will be enough humiliation for them in the afterlife."

"I'll endeavor to do so, Ser."

"Heh, dismissed."

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

*Random Soldier POV*

I kneel next to my trusty steed, in front of a wooden statue of the Seven.

"Father above, grant me strength to bestow justice on my enemies, and defend me from their blades. Mother above, I pray to you for mercy on account of the lives taken by these hands, to cleanse them from sin. Warrior, grant me the courage to fight against fear and uncertainty, please grant us your grace, and victory. Smith, please grant me your strength and protection. May the Seven bless me for this battle."

"They won't listen, you know."

I turn around to see a kid sitting on a pitch black horse, his hair as dark as onyx, and his golden eyes glowing under the night sky, sharpening the blade of his spear.

"What does a moppet like you know about gods ? You're not old enough to stop suckling on your mothers teats."

"I know that only one god matters, not your seven statues, not those old spirits, and not that flaming god either. So I know enough."

"The light of the seven doesn't shine on heathen gods, whoever your god is, he's as fake any other, you only doom yourself by believing in anything that isn't the Seven who are one."

"I'm afraid I can't believe in them, the Seven don't show up in my dreams after all."

"Wha-"*HOOOONK*

As I'm about to question his last sentence, I hear the sound of the Horn, signaling the attack.

I retrieve the wooden statue and get on my horse, then frantically order my mount to charge towards the enemy, with the kid right behind me.

The front crashes on the Volantis army like the wrath of the Seven, but the Volanti barely hold, as the horses in front turn to the sides to dodge the enemy spike, I get ready to spin my horse sideways.

As I start pulling on the reins I get surprised by the sound of bells from above. I look up just to get gobsmacked at the sight of a pitch black horse jumping above me, the only thing I could see at the time were eerie golden eyes that were filled with excitement.

The battlefield gets a second of silence as both enemy and friend look at the sight of a child jumping in the middle of the Volantis shield wall, crushing a soldiers head. The closest infantry are the first ones to react, readying their pikes for stabbing the crazy kid, only to have their heads cut off by a twirling spear.

The audacious act causes some of the front most pike holders to turn, creating a weak point. Several knights promptly take advantage of their lapse of judgement, simply decimating them.

Their actions simply causes a flood, as horses start to overwhelm the shield wall one by one, giving us an entry point into their lines. I follow the torrent of people as I frantically wave my sword left and right.

I look to the front, trying to find the suicidal kid, I follow a trail of bodies leading towards the heart of the enemy forces, only to see a rearing black horse in front of a pile of bodies and a twirling spear held by a maniacally smiling child decapitating a few charging enemies.

I gape at the youth dodging stabs coming from his brind spots, skillfully maneuvering himself amidst the chaos with unbridled freedom, heads flying left and right.

He stabs a nearby pikeman in the chest, then takes his pike while turning in my direction. I don't react as I should when I see him making a throwing jesture in my direction, but just gawk as he throws the two-handed pike like a javelin, the polearm zooms across the field, right next to my head.

*Gasp*

I spin myself around to see an enemy falling to his death, still holding his pike in anticipation to stab my back. I look back at the child to see him smirking towards me momentarily, only to return to slaughtering the enemies.

The rest of the battle is a blur on my head, as the only thing I could reliably remember is our infantry decimating the enemy's frontline, and our archers killing any hopes of retreat.

As the battle finishes, the pious soldier loots the enemy bodies in a daze, his faith shaken up more than a bit from the experience.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The soldiers of the Golden Company gather around bonfires, celebrating their victory through food and drink, as the officiers are jovially talking about their exploits around the cetermost fire, Vyren drinks a mouthful of his ale, Kaiser next to him, reading another thick book.

"You did a foolish thing today, you endangered your life more than is necessary, you could have perished out there."

Kaiser looks up to him, eyebrow raised and bells jingling.

"Would I have really died ?"

*sigh*"Nay, only I know how much of scary little bugger you are, I know you want to *cough* show *cough* off, but you need to hold back if you want to achieve your dreams."

"I am, this is just the beginning." Kaiser's face muscles stiffen into a pained expression at the sound of Vyren's weak cough's.

"How much time did you say I have ?" Asks Vyren.

"..."

"... Any time from now and four years" Replies a very uncomfortable Kaiser.

"How will it happen ?"

"The death is painless, you will... simply stop breathing."

"I see... That's good."

Kaiser's eyes get ever so slighty teary.

"I ... I'm sorry."

"For what ? Not being able to cure an old man from death ? Every Braavosi knows that death comes for all. Valar Morghulis are two words itched in our blood, I'm not afraid of death, so you should not feel apologetic."

"I can do so so much, I can see the sickness spread everytime I look at you, I know how it works, and I know its cure, but I can't make it yet, no one can." Replies Kaiser, chagrined.

"And I couldn't stop my father from his foolishness either, I believe I felt much worse than you did right now. But do you know what he told me when I asked him not to go ?"

"..."

"He said, do you know what Jentys means ? It means being a leader, a commander, a ruler. A leader has to look out for his people, no matter the risks, no matter the obstacles, and no matter the losses. I know that my death is coming, but I don't want it to shackle you, stop you from being the best man you can, because being a Jentys means being brave in front of death, in front of loss. And you, Kaiser, are as much a Jentys as me, my father, and his grandfather, and as as a Jentys, you will carry the same responsibilities as I did when I lost my father, and my father's as he lost his father. You will have to stop wallowing, and take control of your own destiny."

"Who knows, your God of Freedom might just whisk me off when I'm dead, then we could meet again. Alright, let's go celebrate, this is no time for sadness, you just won us the victory." He continues, only recieving a thin smile from Kaiser in response.

Vyren and Kaiser then walk back closer to the bonfire in a sombre mood, just in time for Myles Toyne to stand up for a toast.

"People ! Tonight is a magnificient night !"

"Aye !"

"Tonight, we beat unsurmountable odds through grits and guile alone !"

"Aye !"

"Tonight, we've had neither the numbers nor the strength that we're used to having, but we still came out victorious !"

"AYE !"

"Tonight ! We won not because we had the upper hand but only due to our guts, and due to our steel f*cking Balls !"

"AYE !"

"And so tonight ! WE TOAST ! To the hundreds of men we lost to enemy spears ! To our brave soldiers who cut off head after head in the Battlefield ! To our gods that gave us good fortune ! And to him !" He says, pointing at the approaching Kaiser at the end, causing everyone to turn at his direction.

"TO THE 10 F*CKING NAME DAYS OLD CHILD, WHO JUMPED IN THE MIDST OF OUR ENEMIES BRINGING US VICTORY AND GLORY. THROUGH HIS UNMATCHED SKILL AND UNPRECEDENTED DETERMINATION! HE TORE A PATH THROUGH ENEMY LINES WITH UNPARALELLED FEARLESSNESS ! SO WE TOAST ! TO THE BOY WHO BROUGHT LOW AN ARMY ! KAISER THE DAUNTLESS !"

"KAISER THE DAUNTLESS !"

"KAISER THE DAUNTLESS !"

"KAISER THE DAUNTLESS !"

As people cried his name through the night, no one but the boy himself noticed the collapsed body of the man who raised him, a happy smile on his face even as he lost the spark in his eyes.

And so, on the day the name Kaiser Jentys was spread throughout Essos, the boy loses the most important day of his life.

Historic annals would record the biterness Emperor Kaiser The First always felt at the mention of one of his most legendary exploits.