Raindrops the size of beans pattered on Lynd's cloak, then gathered and flowed down the leather of the cloak, dripping onto the grass below.
Lynd wiped the rain from his face, looked up at the dark sky, then turned to look at the dispirited troops around him, and couldn't help but sigh.
Ever since escorting House Tyrell to Bitterbridge, Lynd had felt his luck had turned for the worse; the rain hadn't stopped for nearly half a month.
It was precisely because the rain had formed small rivers that the hills and mountains north of Bitterbridge were cut off into sections. Roads that were passable on sunny days became small rivers, forcing them to take detours, which effectively doubled their marching time.
What was worse was that the local guide they had recruited had fallen into the river earlier when the water suddenly rose while crossing, unable to stay seated on his horse. As it was raining heavily at the time, everyone was covering their heads and didn't notice what was happening around them. When they finally realized he was missing and went back to look, they only found a body washed up on the riverbank.
Losing the guide forced Lynd to send out the scout team to find a path, while the others could only wait in place for the scouts to return.
Fortunately, Lynd adhered to the ancient wisdom of "troops not moved, provisions first," and had purchased a large quantity of food for both men and horses when leaving King's Landing, so there was no need to worry about food.
Now, the only thing Lynd needed to worry about was illness. Prolonged exposure to rain had already caused more than a dozen people in the troop to fall ill, and one of them had not survived, dying on horseback last night.
There were casualties even before encountering bandits, which undoubtedly dealt a significant blow to the troop's morale. Fortunately, the prestige Lynd had built through his formidable strength was still effective at this time, sustaining their dwindling morale; otherwise, this cavalry troop would likely have already disbanded.
"Jon, can your good luck make the rain stop?" Lynd asked the Official beside him.
"Sorry, My Lord, my good luck can only make belts break, cause incontinence, or give people toothaches," the Official said, taking off his cloak hood, wiping the rain from his face, and looking at the sky. "The weather, that's the realm of the gods. My luck can't control that."
Anyone who attended the Tournament in King's Landing would certainly be familiar with Lynd's Official; he was Jon Bulwer, known as Jon the Lucky.
As Ser Roger Redwyne's Official, he should have returned to Highgarden with the Lord's retinue, but at Bitterbridge Castle, he chose to abandon the comfortable life in Highgarden and instead joined Lynd's troop, voluntarily becoming Lynd's Official.
Lynd smiled and asked, "Do you regret it now?"
"I regret it!" Jon Bulwer answered loudly. "I regret drinking the last bottle of wine last night. Tonight, I'll have to drink that horse piss."
Raul, the captain of the Lord Guard, rode his horse over to Jon Bulwer and said, "My Lord Jon, I apologize, but you won't even have horse piss tonight, because that kid Scarface secretly drank the last jug."
Hearing Raul's words, Jon Bulwer couldn't help but curse, "Damn it, I knew letting a rat manage the provisions wasn't a good idea." Then, he turned to Lynd and said, "My Lord, aren't you going to do something about Scarface?"
Lynd turned to look at Jon and asked Raul loudly, "Raul, did the captain of my Second Cavalry Regiment steal any provisions from the logistics team?"
Raul loudly replied, "No, his mouth is very tight, and he's sewn up the mouths of his subordinates too, so they can't steal anything."
"No, he did steal!" A voice came from the cavalry troop not far away, shouting, "I saw him stealing last night."
Scarface Mike shouted angrily, "Shut up, Hoof! Next time you peek, I'll dig out your eyes!"
Those who heard it burst into laughter, and their previously low morale recovered somewhat.
After leaving King's Landing, Lynd began to systematically divide the cavalry troop. A cavalry troop of fifty hunters and scouts formed the First Cavalry Regiment, commanded by Brynden Rivers. Twenty recruited mercenary knights and ten others, including Scarface Mike, formed the Second Cavalry Regiment, with Scarface Mike as captain.
The rest were all assigned to the personal Guard, personally commanded by Lynd, with Raul as his adjutant, thus forming the preliminary officer structure of the cavalry troop.
Apart from the Second Cavalry Regiment, the First Cavalry Regiment and the personal Guard, primarily composed of archers, scouts, and hunters, had been continuously practicing their mounted archery skills since leaving King's Landing. To increase their firing rate and facilitate drawing the bow while on horseback, Lynd also improved the bows, changing the longbows commonly used by archers to shortbows.
In the Ice and Fire World, there seemed to be no armies primarily focused on mounted archery. Whether it was the armies of the Seven Kingdoms or the Khalasar of the Dothraki Sea, their combat style was cavalry charge and close-quarters combat.
Although mounted archery had various drawbacks, it was the method that could preserve the most troops in battle.
From a relatively safe distance, moving quickly and continuously firing arrows, once large-scale casualties were inflicted on the enemy and their formation was broken, a charge could be launched to achieve final victory.
Even if large-scale enemy casualties could not be inflicted, the enemy could be constantly harassed, keeping them on the run, and even allowing for timely retreat to preserve strength when the battle turned unfavorable.
For Lynd, without a way to replenish troops at any time, every soldier he had was extremely important and could not be lost.
At this moment, a standard-bearer from the First Cavalry Regiment, carrying Lynd's banner, quickly weaved through the cavalry formation ahead, then was blocked by the personal Guard cavalry in front. Raul saw this and loudly said, "My Lord, someone from the First Cavalry Regiment's scout team has returned."
"Let him come over," Lynd instructed.
As the order was given, the personal Guard cavalry in front allowed him through, and the standard-bearer rode his horse to Lynd. He wanted to dismount and salute Lynd, but Lynd stopped him.
Lynd asked, "There's no need for those boring formalities now. Tell me, what did the scouts find?"
The standard-bearer quickly replied, "We discovered a bandit camp ahead. Bryn estimates it's a camp of the Bloodshoe Brotherhood."
"Bloodshoe Brotherhood?" Lynd was stunned and said in surprise, "How did we end up at Blackwater Rush?"
According to the intelligence provided by Varys, the Bloodshoe Brotherhood was one of the largest bandit groups entrenched in the area north of Bitterbridge. However, they were not Lynd's main target for this mission, as the Bloodshoe Brotherhood preyed not on merchants on the Rose Road, but on caravans on the Golden Road, the main trade route in the Westerlands. Their camp was also in the upper and middle reaches of the Blackwater Rush to the northwest, which was why he was surprised.
Because if that truly was the Bloodshoe Brotherhood, then they should have crossed the Mander River before this; otherwise, they couldn't possibly appear within the Bloodshoe Brotherhood's territory.
"Are you sure it's the Bloodshoe Brotherhood?" Jon Bulwer had also seen the map provided by Varys. He was also surprised and asked the standard-bearer of the First Cavalry Regiment.
"Yes, we saw the Bloodshoe banner in the camp," the standard-bearer answered the question very seriously, then added, "My Lord Brynden Rivers said that camp might be a routed force of the Bloodshoe Brotherhood."
"What does 'routed force' mean?" Lynd asked.
"Sorry, my Lord, I don't know," the standard-bearer shook his head.
Lynd thought for a moment and then instructed Jon Bulwer and Raul, "The entire army is to stand by. Have Scarface take good care of our logistics team. I'm going to go ahead and check the situation."
"My Lord, that's too dangerous. As commander, you shouldn't..." Jon Bulwer tried to persuade him.
"Dangerous? You think too highly of those Bloodshoes." Lynd smiled and instructed the standard-bearer, "Lead the way!"
Upon hearing the command, the standard-bearer immediately pulled the reins, turned his horse around, and led the way. Lynd also urged his horse to follow.
As he followed, a dark shadow closely trailed by Lynd's side, its speed no slower than that of a warhorse.
This dark shadow was Honor, and transforming into a shadow was one of Honor's abilities after absorbing the energy of the dragon's lair's vengeful spirits. This ability seemed a bit useless, merely changing its fur between black and white at will.
However, Lynd believed that if this ability was used well, it could have a significant effect, especially in terms of reconnaissance.
The two men and one beast moved quickly. After crossing a few small hills and turning around a small lake where water had collected, they saw the First Cavalry Regiment hidden in a low-lying area, and the First Cavalry Regiment also saw them.
Brynden Rivers was stunned to see Lynd following the standard-bearer. He came forward and asked, "My Lord, why have you come here?"
Lynd shook off the accumulated water on his body and said, "No nonsense. Take me to see the Bloodshoe Brotherhood's camp."
Hearing Lynd's words, Brynden Rivers took over the standard-bearer's role of leading and guided Lynd around the low-lying area where the First Cavalry Regiment was stationed. They stopped at another small hillside, then both dismounted and climbed the hillside. As they neared the top, they crouched low.
There were already two scouts lying in a concealed spot on the hillside, watching the camp below. When they saw Lynd and Brynden Rivers creeping over, they wanted to salute them, but Lynd stopped them.
Lynd came to their position, which was a cracked rock. Crouching behind the rock, he could clearly see the situation below the hillside, while those below the hillside could not see their position behind the rock.
Below the hillside, a crude camp built of stones and wood was visible. Several bonfires were lit inside the camp, and by their light, Lynd could easily see the situation within the camp.
"The rain is too heavy, I can only clearly see the Bloodshoe banner," Brynden Rivers came to Lynd's side and whispered, "Perhaps we need to get closer to see the situation inside the camp clearly."
"No, there's no need to get closer. I can already see the situation in the camp clearly." Lynd had now clearly seen the situation in the camp below the mountain. Just as Brynden Rivers had guessed, this was indeed a routed force. There were many wounded in the camp, and there were no old people, women, or children, only warriors.
"Since you can't see the situation inside the camp clearly, how do you know they are a routed force of the Bloodshoe Brotherhood?" Lynd asked Brynden Rivers.
Brynden Rivers replied, "Before coming to King's Landing for the Tournament, I heard that Tywin was preparing to deal with the bandits on the Golden Road, and the Bloodshoe Brotherhood was a key target. Calculating the time, the Bloodshoe Brotherhood should have already been annihilated."
Lynd questioned, "Tywin? The Bloodshoe Brotherhood was annihilated so easily? I remember the intelligence said they had over nine hundred men, and even heavy infantry."
Brynden Rivers shrugged and said, "The Bloodshoe Brotherhood is indeed strong, but Tywin is very rich. Gold dragons can often accomplish many incredible things." Then, he looked at the camp and asked, "What do we do now?"
Lynd looked up at the sky and asked an unrelated question, "How much longer do you think this rain will last?"
Brynden Rivers also looked at the sky and said, "It might rain for a few more days! It is the rainy season, after all."
"We need a place to shelter from the rain," Lynd said, pointing to the crude camp below, "Isn't there one already made?"
In the rain, night falls quickly. It was already completely dark in the early evening, and the noisy raindrops masked all sounds.
Big Foot was the captain of the Bloodshoe Brotherhood. Ten days ago, he still had a hundred men, staying in a warm house, lying on a soft bed covered with velvet, with two voluptuous prostitutes beside him.
But now, all his men were dead. He had been driven like a dog by the Westerlands army from south of the Blackwater Rush to east of the Mander River. All his men had died along the way. Not only him, but the men of the other brotherhood captains were also almost all dead.
Then, the fellow they considered a brother, relying on his own men still being intact, robbed them of all the wealth they had brought out during their escape, bestowing their lives upon them like bones to a dog.
He hated that fellow deeply, but he could not show even a hint of hatred, otherwise he would be hanged at the camp gate, like the other two captains, on some pretext found by that fellow.
But he wasn't worried that the fellow would hold his position, because fear had driven that fellow mad, just like the Mad King. He didn't need to do much; he just needed to wait, and that fellow would eventually die in his own madness. When that happened, what rightfully belonged to him would naturally return to his embrace.
A smile appeared on Big Foot's face as he stood at the camp gate. He had already envisioned himself reclaiming everything. He could even feel the cold sensation of those glittering little darlings in his hands.
However, a sudden dark shadow shattered all his illusions. The sharp pain in his throat and the gushing blood instantly drained all his strength, and he slumped to the ground. He knew he was done for. All his eyes could see was a dark shadow—a monster with pale eyes and a pitch-black body. And the other gatekeeper, who had been dozing, had also become the monster's target.
Finally, he saw some armed figures following the monster, silently entering the camp. He knew the Bloodshoes were finished.