WILOW-Ch.379: Lannister Army
Lannister Army Camp, Riverlands
POV of Ronald Hill
Ronald was woken out of his sleep with a kick to his butt.
His eyes flew open, and he flopped around a bit, looking for any enemies before he saw the barely restrained laughter of his friends.
He gave them an unimpressed look, and they burst into laughter.
"Pack your bags, Ron." The eldest of them, named Jack, said while he packed his own, "We're moving."
"Where?" he asked, yawning and blinking. He didn't know much about strategy, but he knew that after the Knights of the Vale joined the Northmen, their combined forces outnumbered their own by a good amount.
"Somewhere that's not here." Another of his friends, named Tygget, replied, and he rolled his eyes.
"I, for one, am glad to be out of this hole." Tim, the second youngest one of them, replied, "The whores here have all got pox of some kind or another."
"Whores… that's all you think about," Tygget said, and they all started laughing at Tim, who grumbled something under his breath but otherwise remained silent.
"Guys. Do none of you know where we are going?" he asked.
At his words, the tent became silent. And not the good kind of silent.
Finally, Jack put his bag close to his and whispered, "There are rumors going on around the tents," he said.
"What kind of rumors?" he asked.
Jack peeked out of the tent for any passerby before speaking, "It's not been made official, but… You remember the army that Ser Lucian was gathering outside Casterly Rock, right?"
"As if I forget something like that." He said while rolling his eyes. "I'm not Tim, you know."
"Hey…" Tim protested from the other side of the tent, but when Jack didn't smile at him, he started to feel a sense of foreboding.
Jack looked outside the tent once more before saying, "Don't tell this to anyone. But there are rumors that the Bloody Beast entered the Westerlands and tore through that army as well. We're on our own now."
It was as if someone had dropped a bucket of ice-cold water on him.
He stared at Jack, hoping for some kind of sign that this was a bad and twisted joke.
Jack continued to stare back at him, and he frowned. "But… that's… how would he even cross the Golden Tooth?"
Because he had seen the castle before when they were coming to Riverrun.
And when he looked at the Castle and heard about its history, he remembered thinking that no army would be able to take the castle.
And now…
"Are these rumors legit?" Tim asked, his face a bit serious as well.
Being a veteran, Jack had connections with the other veterans that he and the others in the tent didn't have. Which meant he was the first to hear about such things.
Jack nodded, and he grimaced.
"Are we fucked then?" he asked.
"What about Casterly Rock. Or Lannisport?" Tim asked, "Did those Northern bastards attack them?"
Jack nodded, "From what little I've heard. Casterly Rock is under siege now. The news apparently came from Lannisport. And the command tent doesn't seem to like what's written in the Bloody Beast newspaper, but I don't know what it said."
"If we were in Lannisport, we could get our own newspaper. There's not even a place to buy a newspaper in this damn place." He said.
"You're forgetting that the Bloody Beast's bookstore closed when the war started. Where do you plan to get the newspaper from?" Tim asked.
"If you have the right contacts, you can still find places that sell newspapers. They're just not in the obvious places." He said.
"Hold on! How did the Tooth fall in the first place?" Tygget asked.
"They left a woman in charge of the castle." Tim scoffed, "What else did you expect?"
"Are we going to Casterly Rock now?" he asked, and Jack nodded. "Most likely. And I think we'll have to run to our destination this time. Casterly Rock holds all the Lannisters' wealth. I don't think Lord Tywin would risk losing the Rock."
"Fuck!" Tygget cursed, "You think the Northmen and Knights of the Vale will chase us?"
"After what the Mountain and his men did to the poor smallfolk? I wouldn't be surprised if they did."
"That bastard Mountain!" Tygget said, "Do you know anything about the Riverlanders. Is that idiot Edmure Tully raising an army again?"
Jack shrugged, "No idea. Just that Blackfish and his men are hitting out lines. Killing our scouts, burning our food, and all that. But I would not be surprised if the Riverlanders raised an army once again."
"That's three armies." He said, wondering if deserting would be a better option.
He looked at the friends, and they all had similar expressions.
No one said it out loud, but everyone was thinking it.
Because as much as they feared Lord Tywin, they feared getting attacked by three fucking armies even more.
"Be fast." Jack said in the end, "We need to pack the tent too. And you don't want to be late."
They all nodded and quickly finished packing their bags.
And as he packed his bag, he wondered if the Bloody Beast would be able to take Casterly Rock.
He had heard that the Castle had never fallen to anyone before, but with how good a commander that man was turning out to be… anything could happen.
He didn't want to fight the Bloody Beast's army. Losing to his army was one thing, but what he truly feared was his own army prevailing in battle.
Would the Bloody Beast then rain wildfire down on them, as he had on the Lannister army at Riverrun?
This was something not only he, but all his men, feared. They feared dying in battle, but slowly perishing in the green flames was their worst nightmare.
Now Ronald was torn between deciding which one was worse: Going to Westerland to face the Bloody Beast or fighting the Vale-North-Riverlands armies.
And frankly, he thought it would be better to desert the army when he had the chance.
Whether he would ever find that chance, only time would tell.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.380: The Joy of the Northern Lords
Ch.381: News Reaches Everywhere
Ch.382: We Need to Try