Chapter 29

Chapter 29: Of taxes and trade.

275 AC, Baldur, Orange Shore

It had been 15 long years since Baldur had set foot in Essos, and the heat was as hot and unbearable as he remembered it to be. When they had set sail from Skagos, he had the men only equipped in mail and leathers for armor, along with well built kite shields to offer more protection. From white harbor, they had joined up with 500 men from around the realm of the north, all mostly equipped as light cavalry.

In Kings landing, Baldur had joined up with Brynden Tully, also known as the Black fish, a well known knight in the 7 kingdoms and brother to the Lord of Riverrun. Along with him, he had brought 1,000 river men, outfitted in leathers, with bows or spears and a number of young knights alongside him. Baldur liked him well enough, he was blunt and a man that go straight to the point, which was ensuring they were ready to set sail.

It had been decided by the king that Brynden Tully would be over all commander of the forces, which didn't please Baldur. The black fish had experience in more staged wars than Baldur did, fighting in the nine penny king war and commanding troops against the sell swords of Essos. Baldur however, would prove his capabilities and the strength of the Skagosi.

It took a couple moons turn to arrive to their destination, the Orange Shore, located to the west of Volantis itself. It was here that they would aid a Volantenes commander in securing the disputed area north of the orange shore. The goal, as far as Baldur cared, was to drive Myrish and Tyroshi sell swords from the area that had been causing disruption to the trade and production of the orange shore. Elsewhere, fighting on the sea and coast would be taking place over trade routes.

When they had arrived, they spent a good two weeks marching north into the disputed areas to the north, where they joined with the Volantis forces on one side of a river, while the enemy forces occupied the opposite side, each fighting one another with outriders and holding their ground for the time being. Baldur busied himself with the Westerosi men setting up camp on the outer edge of the war camp, eager to get to action.  

On either side of the river, Towns, villages and farms dotted the landscape, as Baldur and the Skagosi lined up along the banks for the coming battle. They had spent the last week staring across from one another across the river, though that had all changed with the recent reinforcements the enemies had received in the form of 10 elephants and a number of accompanying soldiers and archers to go along with them.

The forces under the Volantenes Commander Vargeo had commanded his slave soldiers to form up in the center of where the enemy forces would attempt to ford the river. The black fish and his spearmen, along with archers made up the right flank, while the Skagos infantry made up the left flank. The northmen cavalry was joined by other sell swords and archers, making up the rear of the column.

The ground shook as the elephants were paraded out in front of the enemy forces as they converged on the shallow depths of the river, where they would attempt to push the Volantis forces back and capture the area. Baldur had seen mammoths in his time, though never seen the employed in the use of combat. The great beasts were brought forward, loud sounds trumpeting from their horns as they stomped and shook the ground, it was an impressive display. The Skagosi around him stirred uncomfortably at the sight of the stomping elephants arranged across the river, Baldur could tell that many had never seen a display such as this. Even Baldur could admit they were somewhat intimidating. Men were mounted on their backs wielding bows and spears, ready to fling them down against their enemies. The elephants numbered only 10, but still an intimidating force, each standing around 15 feet in height. As they began their charge into the river amongst the roars of men from behind, Baldur readied his axe and shield in his hands, awaiting the order to charge.

As the charge was issued, the unsullied were the first to fearlessly charge into the oncoming elephants, parting around them in a disciplined formation and striking at their flanks as the elephants trampled into them. "Forward!" Baldur shouted, rushing into the waters of the shallow river, followed by his screaming Skagossons behind him. Baldur wouldn't be outdone by some slave soldier with no balls, that was for certain.

Behind the elephants came the Tyroshi sellswords, pounding through the water as the two forces swarmed around the elephants and began fighting. Baldur wound around an elephants trampling feet to catch a footmen in the neck with his axe, getting his first kill as the man went down with a gurgle of agony. Baldur continued on fighting with his axe and shield as he laid men low, accompanied by Rolf. Halvar, Ivar and many other Skagosi, each meeting the smaller sell swords in the dance of steel among the trumpeting sounds of elephants. 

With the unsullied breaking ranks to take down the elephants, Baldurs men were left to clash with the surging enemy forces that were crossing the river, using the disruption of the enemy elephants to their advantage to catch the enochs off guard. The Stone born, however proved their worth and were keeping them busy as they crashed into their lines, putting a stop to their advance.

Unlike the unsullied, Baldur's men had not managed to keep anything resembling a formation intact. The elephants had scattered their formation and they now resembled a mob of soldiers, though an intimidating one in Baldur's opinion as they ran fearlessly into the enemy jaws, leaping into their ranks. None the less, Baldur could tell they were suffering for their lack of discipline, something they had yet to face in previous engagements.

They had fought wildlings and Skagosi and had always held the upper hand in discipline and gear. Now that they were on equal footing with the sell sword companies of Essos, they were being pressed back, and Baldur would have to do some quick thinking to save them from heavy casualties.

"Form up, shield wall!" Baldur shouted as Rolf, Halvar and Ivar relayed his orders through the ranks.

Slowly the shield wall came to form in the front as the Skagosi scrambled back into formation, though leaving many dead behind. Baldur himself stood in the center of it, smashing and hacking with his axe at any enemy he could reach, holding the river the best they could.

They were soon joined by the unsullied as they finished taking care of the elephants and moved forward, joining their own ranks to press the enemy back as arrows rained down from both sides, causing a kill pit in the center with Baldur's men locked within as they fought, gaining the upper hand.

It wasn't long after they began pushing the enemy force back that Brynden Tully joined in with his own spearmen and archers, raining arrows down on the enemy, causing them to wither under the onslaught, clearly wavering as some began breaking back in retreat. 

"Incoming, Brace!" Rolf shouted as he pointed over the enemy cavalry slogging forward through the water to come into contact with the Unsullied, riverland and Skagosson lines with little speed and practically no shock value. Baldur and his men surged back in response as they began laying waste to the cavalry force of the Tyroshi.

The Skagossi surrounded the cavalry, using the terrain to their advantage as they drug men down from horseback and began routing the enemy force. Baldur himself drug a man from his horse as the long lancer squirmed against Baldur in an effort to fight the bigger man off. Baldur hacked off the long lancers offending limbs as he tried to resist, leaving the armless corpse to drift in the water as he mounted the captured horse.

The enemy force began breaking as arrows rained down on them, driving them from the water, or what little remained of them. Many of the trapped fighters simply threw down their weapons in surrender as Baldur surveyed the scene. The Skagossons had done well today, though had taken a good amount of casualties in the process. With the Tyroshi forces broken here, they would be able to capture the opposing bank with little if any resistance.

POV: Rickard Stark, Kingslanding, 275AC

When Rickard arrived in kings landing, he wasted little exchanging pleasantries before he began getting to work. The Master of laws was a position that oversaw the law of the realm. They were in charge of ensuring the kings justice was upheld and matters of a legal nature fell into his jurisdiction. Positions that Rickard would use to make his presence known.

From his quarters within the red keep, he set up a study where he would run the day to day operations of Master of law from. From there, he would begin replacing several key positions within the city with his own men, starting with the position of commander of the gold cloaks. Currently, the position resided in the hands of a crown lander, who was known to be disgruntled with the promotion of Rickard to Master of laws and the firing of his predecessor.

The man was proving ineffective at cracking down on the violence within flee bottom and the poorer parts of the city, giving Rickard grounds to request the king dismiss him, much to his displeasure. He was replaced by Ser Marlon Manderly, cousin to Wyman Manderly, who had experience running the city watch of white harbor and could be counted on for his loyalty. 

The position of reeve was given to Ser Grant Poole, his long time standing mater at arms. This position would carry out rulings on cases of low justice, anything that wasn't meriting execution or treason, which fell in the realm of the Kings justice. Ser Grant was under orders to ship as many men to the watch as possible, emptying the cells of many of the rapists and thieves as possible.

For High Baliff, he appointed Roderick Cassel, a promising knight who had fought beyond the wall and was a good soldier. His duties as high Baliff would have him investigating and information gathering on any cases that were open, most likely involving nobles. Under him, a number of Baliffs were appointed from guards of the north to help in carrying out the investigations.

Rickard also appointed a number of Justicars, men that were responsible for ensuring the kings justice was carried out through the land. They kept eyes on lords and areas where reports of abuses of powers had come from or disputes. Rickard planned to use these positions to keep pressure on a number of Lords he distrusted. He sent a number of Justicars to the Frey lands, due to the continuing rumors of bandits plaguing the boundaries of the neck. He also sent a number of them to the Bolton lands, if for no other reason than to maintain a presence and remind the Lord that he was still under close watch by Rickard and now had the crowns support.

Outside of his duties as Master of laws, Rickard began getting closer to the King and Queen. The king seemed to be a bit eccentric, but overall, he was pleasant enough to be around, often interested in speaking with Rickard about plans to one day place a wall further north. Rickard was uncertain if this was likely, though he did speak with the king about the changes that were happening north of the wall, including the increasing permanent settlements and the growing divide between those settling around the trade posts and working with the people south of the wall, versus those further north that were continuing hostilities against them.

Rickard put it in the kings ear that perhaps in the future, they could back one of the clans as a war lord in uniting the area and beginning to establish the idea of a controlled land. Backing wildling war lords and obtaining influence among them may lead them having increasing influence beyond the wall and perhaps one day having those lords swear to the iron throne. Any furthering of trade they could manage to establish beyond the wall would be very beneficial for the kingdom, though mostly the starks, who could easily enforce any incoming and out coming trade routes through the wall.

The Queen was a dutiful woman who was invested in works within the keep and raising her children. Rickard often interacted with the queen and king together, where he would ask about the works going around the city and arranging with the queen to ensure her protection by the city watch at all times. The Queen had establishments among the poorer parts of the city to provide food and shelter for the occupants, as well as the opportunity of employment, building upon the great roads being created throughout the kingdom, the finest of which were around kings landing itself. Where the previous gold cloak commander had failed to bring law, Rickard had ensured their was some.

While Rickard was popular with the king and queen, many in the realm looked down on him and saw him as a threat. Many of the great lords were upset that the position of master of law had gone to Rickard and weren't keen to the increasing presence of the North at court. He would not be dissuaded though, it was time for the Northerners to rise and he would be at the head of it.

Within the small council chambers, the realm continued to operate, despite the problems of goods coming from the free cities to the south. Tywin had opposed sending troops to join in the trade war, while the King had found it to be a good move. Both of the men had merits to back their decision. On one hand, the king wanted a swift resolution to the trade war, by firmly getting on one side of the agreement, hoping to push it to a quick end. Tywin was of the mind to stay entirely out of it and let it run it's course, lest they anger the free cities for involving themselves and potentially backing the loser. In the end, the king had of course won out. 

Within Kings landing, luxury items originating from the free cities and the jade sea beyond were on the rise, causing some anger among the merchants of the city, though Rickard was quick to keep order. Lord Tywin had pacified the rise in the costs by working with Hoster to lower the tax for the merchants, which seemed to pacify them somewhat.

Within the crown lands though, unrest was still increasing. Many lords were unhappy with the increase of taxes for the roads, despite the promise of long term benefits. In addition to them losing council positions, the king wasn't exactly favorable within the crown lands, which was dangerous, though Aerys seemed to have little concern over it, even allowing his young heir to go out, accompanied by a number of men, to speak with the crown land lords and pacify them. Rhaegar Targaryen proved to be good with words, managing to ease many of their tensions.