Seventh Moon of 269
Pyke
The Hour of the Rest (1 A.M)
"Here!" Lyonel, who led the group of men carrying Alaric's ladder and wore plate armor borrowed thanks to his status, shouted, stopping two meters away from the wall of the fort.
Placing the feet of the ladder on the ground, he turned back, facing the men who carried the ladder and who had their heads protected by their shields against the arrows shot by the Ironborn, and shouted, "Now! Raise it!"
Obeying the signal, Alaric and Andrey, together with all the other men, lowered their shields, some throwing them to the ground, and began to lift. The process was slow, giving plenty of time for them to be hit by the arrows of the Ironborn.
Fortunately, the Ironborn above the fort were, at the moment, giving more attention to the battering ram that struck their gate, glancing at it and setting it on fire by throwing a torch soon after.
Lyonel, knowing it was a matter of seconds until the attention was turned to them, knew he had to do something.
"Archers! Archers! Where are the archers? Fuck! Where are— Hey, you!" He pointed his sword at a group of nearby men who were waiting for the gate to be opened, attracted by the shields they held in their left hands. "Take those shields of yours and put them over our heads, now!"
Recognizing that Lyonel must be a captain or noble, the men began pushing people out of the way until they reached Alaric's group, which was halfway through the task.
Seeing the ladder almost fully raised, needing only to pass the hardest point to then move smoothly, Lyonel Lannett walked behind it and pulled it toward himself, giving the last effort needed to finally raise it, causing cheers from the men.
Lyonel, on the other hand, looked to his right, in the direction of the gate, where there would be another group of men holding a siege ladder, and saw that they had not yet raised it.
"Not now!" Lyonel shouted, throwing cold water on the crowd. "We must wait for them," he pointed to the other group, "to raise their ladder too. Until then, hold the ladder!"
Audible complaints could be heard as a reaction to Lyonel's order, but Alaric, who held the ladder, did not join them, realizing why.
'If we climb alone, we will draw all the attention to us. But if we wait for them, they will receive far more attention than us, since they are closer to the gate. I bet Ser Lyonel used his position as a noble to place himself here.'
Waiting a little longer, resisting the pushing that the Ironborn above gave, trying to knock the ladder down, the other group of men finally managed to raise the ladder.
"Now!" Lyonel shouted. "Go, go, go! Shields over the head!"
Following Lyonel's commands, several men pushed one another, trying to climb the ladder first.
Watching the scene while holding the ladder and raising shields over their own heads were Alaric, Andrey, and Lyonel, waiting their turn without any eagerness to be the first to reach the top of the fortress. This was because all three knew something that the others had misunderstood: this fortress was not the Pyke that Lord Tywin Lannister had mentioned.
The Pyke that the Hand of the West had referred to was right after the stone bridge that this small fortress protected, a bridge that led to the first stone tower that supported the Great Keep of Pyke, the largest of the three fortresses that made up Pyke, together with the Bloody Keep and Kitchen Keep on top of two other stone towers.
They still wanted to climb to the top of the fortress, but not because they would win the prize, but because it would give easier access to the bridge. Yes, it would be risky to climb, since they would be targets of the archers, but after that—easy. They would only need to clear the roof and wait for the Ironborn below to be dealt with.
While waiting for the most opportune moment, Alaric looked at the other ladder to his left, seeing several soldiers being cut down while trying to climb it. This also happened on his, but at a much lower frequency. Looking a little further, he could see the battering ram still striking the wooden and iron gate, which bent with each hit and would break at any moment. And going even further, he could see the two other ladders on the left side of the army, which were also being climbed.
Looking higher, several Ironborn desperately tried to defend the fort, shooting arrows and pouring hot oil, but they had to do it carefully, since the archers on the ground shot arrows whenever a head rose. The proportion of archers on the ground to archers on the roof of the fort was such that, whenever an ironman shot an arrow downward, three others went up in his direction. The danger was so great that no one tried to push the ladders anymore.
While analyzing the battlefield, Alaric heard Andrey speak to him, "Looks like one managed to climb all the way."
Moving the shield slightly out of the way and looking again at the top of his ladder, Alaric saw a soldier, with shield raised, in front of the top of it, defending the ladder against anyone who tried to approach.
"Hold your position!" Lyonel shouted, looking at the first man to manage to climb the ladder. "The rest of you, take advantage that he is protecting and drawing the attention of the iron bastards, and go! Go!" he continued, addressing those still climbing and those who would still try.
"That is my cue. See you at the top," Andrey said before pushing a man aside and beginning to climb, with the shield raised to his left.
Right after him, Alaric did the same, pushing the same man that Andrey had pushed, and began climbing the ladder with his right hand, while his left raised the shield against possible arrows. And on his back, ready to be used when he climbed onto the roof, was his spear, stored in a sling, something shown to him by Andrey—something the Dornish invented after centuries of fighting with spears.
Looking occasionally over the shield, searching for any arrow, Alaric eventually reached the top of the ladder and jumped onto the roof of the fort, right behind Andrey, who already had his shield raised in guard position, crouched beside several other men, forming a shield wall in a half-moon shape around the ladder.
On the ground behind the wall was a man full of arrows stuck in his body. He was the first man to reach the roof. And that was his reward.
Looking back and finding Alaric, Andrey spoke to the people around him, "Another one arrived! One more, and we can start the party, boys!" earning shouts of excitement.
Understanding what Andrey meant, Alaric took the spear from his back and joined the wall, positioning himself behind Andrey, placing his shield over his, only for Lyonel to climb onto the roof right behind him and announce that it was time.
"Prepare yourselves! At my command, we will attack the left. CLEAR!" Lyonel shouted, his voice somewhat muffled by the helm, while drawing his longsword.
"CLEAR!" everyone shouted.
"Good! Time to stick our iron in those cunts!" he continued, with the sword raised above his head, completely comfortable with the arrows flying near him.
"Hold! Hold! Now!" he commanded, pointing to the group of archers who had just shot arrows, taking advantage of the reload time.
Following the command, the shield wall began to move to the left, still in a half-moon shape, making the archers there step back while continuing to shoot arrows, which never passed the shields.
But these were not the only archers attacking the shield wall. Further from the group, in the back part of the roof of the fort, another group of archers shot at them, making the half-moon formation vital for defense, even if awkward to maintain.
Eventually, the shield wall advanced so far that it ended up pushing the group of archers to the area above the gate, which, by the way, had already been breached. The iron archers, being pushed so far from their initial area and being replaced by the shield wall was important because that initial area was where the other ladder reached.
"Wait here!" Lyonel ordered, realizing where they were.
Some were confused about why they stopped and planned to complain, but when they turned to do so, they found Lyonel receiving a person who had just climbed the ladder—a ladder they had not even noticed was there.
First, it was just one more, but then that one became two, then it became four, and then seven. With the number increased and the half-moon formation becoming larger, Lyonel saw that it was time for them to move.
"It is time for us to move again! Whoever just climbed the ladder will stay and guard the ladder, CLEAR?!"
"CLEAR!"
Slowly and awkwardly, the group split, with one being hit by an arrow in the process. But eventually, they managed to divide into two, with the original moving toward the ladder, increasing the number of groups present on the roof to three.
Yes, three. Because while they moved and increased their number, more people climbed from their original ladder and formed their own half-moon formation—a formation that marched forward behind the archers in the back part of the roof.
The group led by Lyonel, which continued to march to the left, pushed the archers back, and since they were now receiving much less attention from the archers on the roof, who were shooting against the other three groups, they advanced much faster, pushing them all the way to the archers who were attacking the ladder on the left side of the army.
Seeing the half-moon-shaped wall approaching, all the archers began to shoot arrows at them, losing focus on the ladder, which gave the opening for a man to climb and strike one of them from behind, causing panic among the archers, which created more openings, which allowed other men to climb the ladder and manage to bring down one or two.
In the next moment, the archers, being surrounded from the left and right and having nothing more they could do to push them away, fled.
"To the stairs!" one of the iron archers shouted, leading the archers to the steps that led inside the fort, abandoning the roof to them.
Seeing the archers running, several men began to run after them, wanting to at least catch one, with others throwing their spears or axes into their backs, like Alaric, who managed to hit one in the back with his spear, bringing him down.
"The work is not finished yet!" Lyonel reminded his soldiers, pointing his sword at the group of remaining Ironborn on the roof, who shot against a shield wall positioned between them and the steps that would lead them down. "Get them!"
With Lyonel's command, the formation broke apart and began to run, shouting toward the last Ironborn on the roof, drowning them with their numbers. Meanwhile, Alaric walked to the body of the ironman he had struck and pulled his spear from his back, making the man groan in pain.
With the spear in his hands again, he delivered the final blow to his head, ending his life.
[System Notification]
Level 4 Enemy Eliminated.
Reward: 180 Exp received.
Ignoring the green panel in front of him, Alaric raised his head and observed the objective before him: the Great Keep of Pyke.
Connected to the fort below him by a stone bridge, the Great Keep of Pyke was the largest of the three forts that made up Pyke and where the Seastone Chair was located.
"After I enter there, in front of everyone, and secure my own lands, you will be welcome in my future castle," Andrey said beside him, also looking at the castle.
"You are not a knight."
"You do not know that."
"You would not have stayed quiet about being a knight if you were one."
Curling his nose, Andrey nodded in confirmation.
"Well, it is not like Ser Lannister would know."
"You will lie to Tywin Lannister?" Alaric asked, in disbelief.
Snorting at Alaric's disbelief, Andrey puffed his chest and answered confidently.
"It will not be only my word that I give him. My older brother is a knight. I can just say he made me a knight, and since I doubt he would pass up the chance to have a second Blackmont branch in the western lands, he will not deny my words."
Feeling the complete confidence in his posture and words, Alaric spoke in an even more disbelieving tone. "You really think he will not check your past? Tywin would never allow a house from another kingdom to settle in his lands without being sure of second intentions."
Feeling no fear from Alaric's words, Andrey stepped closer to him and spoke, looking down. "A Lannister always pays his debts. He made a promise—he will have to pay."
"…You are crazy…"
"And you are just jealous that you cannot do the same thing. The North has no knights, does it?"
"We will after today."
Andrey smiled at Alaric's words. "A boy running away to war and becoming a knight at one-and-two-names of age, and I am the crazy one?"
Alaric said nothing. He did not need to. Lyonel, having made sure that all the Ironborn had been dealt with, called everyone's attention.
"The first part is done! Now it is time to finally enter this shit they call a fort and clear our path to the stone bridge!"
Looking at the crowd of men already present, who shouted without stopping, and at those who kept climbing the ladders, filling the roof, Andrey spoke.
"Time to put your words to the test, Little Cub."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
For 6 advanced chapter, you can go to my patreon: Patreon.com/Keiondir