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At Highgarden's first south gate, Crey, Ramsay, Garlan, and Loras led thirty thousand Tyrell cavalry in a sudden strike against the left flank of the coalition army commanded by Ser Bonifer.
Bonifer, who had been directing the siege, saw the mass of Tyrell riders appear and stiffened.
By then, a small part of his center had climbed onto the right side of the south wall. Most of the rest were gathered on the left side, concentrating on destroying the last Highgarden defenders still resisting. The entire coalition formation had been stretched wide and was extremely loose.
"Pass the order. Cavalry, charge the enemy on the left at once. The center withdraws and forms a defensive line."
Bonifer kept his wits. After a brief thought, he gave the orders to his messengers.
He had fewer than six thousand cavalry. He did not expect them to break an enemy four or five times their size. He only meant to sacrifice them for the time his center needed to form ranks.
On the south wall, a Stormlander soldier had just killed a defender with his sword when a hound suddenly leapt on him and locked its teeth around his throat. He screamed.
Willas and his guards held the stone stair on the left wall, forcing the fewer than one thousand remaining defenders to make their last stand. Not far from them, the great fires in the round towers on either side of the south gate were almost out.
Earlier, after the Bright Banner Company and its sellswords suddenly attacked from the right, Willas had decisively ordered the two unused flamethrowers detonated to block the enemy. He had done it both to stop them and to keep such powerful weapons from falling into enemy hands.
With fewer than two thousand defenders left, Willas had originally planned to leave half the men as rearguard and withdraw with the rest through the hedge maze to the second wall.
But his Tyrell soldiers could not be compared with the Tarly men. The moment Willas prepared to retreat, the defenders on the left wall lost fighting spirit. It seemed as if all of them were waiting for him to leave so they could rout.
Before Willas could even go, great numbers of attackers began climbing over the battlements on the left wall and trying to take that section.
Willas knew that without defenders to hold the rear, his lame leg would never get him to the second wall in time. Left with no choice, he gritted his teeth and simply stopped retreating.
He and his guards blocked the stair and mercilessly cut down any family soldiers who tried to flee. In this desperate way, the south wall had held until now.
Focused on directing the fight, Willas suddenly felt the pressure from the attackers lessen. Only then did he discover, with joy, that large numbers of his family's cavalry were charging the enemy below.
"Hold on! Our reinforcements are here. Every man who survives will receive five gold hands!"
Seeing his family's riders, Willas's spirit rose, and he used a heavy reward to encourage the battered defenders.
Money had power everywhere.
Those defenders, who had looked wounded and ready to collapse, squeezed out the last strength in their bodies after seeing reinforcements and hearing the reward. Roaring, they threw themselves at the enemies on the battlements.
The coalition cavalry formed from Stormland and Reach nobles received the order and charged straight toward the oncoming Tyrell cavalry.
After they picked up speed, the left and right wings suddenly broke away from the massed charge and moved away from both the enemy cavalry and their own center.
Those were cavalry led by Stormland nobles. They had obeyed Bonifer with differing motives from the start. Faced with his order for a suicidal charge, how could nobles who valued their own interests obey loyally?
Their situation was entirely different from the Reach rebels, who had no path back unless they succeeded.
If the battle for Highgarden failed, the effect on the Stormland nobles would be relatively small. They needed only preserve enough soldiers to defend their own lands.
So the Stormland nobles reached the same conclusion almost at once and did exactly that.
After the Stormlanders deliberately placed on the wings fled, the remaining Reach rebel cavalry had no choice but to grit their teeth and charge.
Against an enemy at least ten times their number, those two or three thousand Reach rebel riders caused only a little confusion before they were swallowed by the cavalry flood.
The Stormland cavalry's flight ruined Bonifer's response. His cavalry had not delayed the enemy at all, while the withdrawing infantry had no time to form a defensive line.
Although the two armies had not fully collided, Bonifer knew the remaining coalition force could never withstand tens of thousands of Tyrell cavalry. Collapse at the south gate was unavoidable.
Without hesitation, he issued an order to fight to the death, then quietly led his Hundred Holy Men away toward the east gate.
Ser Bonifer's byname was "the Good," not "the Fool." If he died in this battle, he would have no way to continue spreading the faith of the Seven.
The fight at the west-gate harbor had turned. Now the south gate was turning as well.
Outside the north gate of the second wall, Robb and Bloodwind had rushed alone into the Dornish army. The middle and rear sections of the Dornish soldiers focused almost entirely on him.
With Will and the other Wolfguard, whom Robb had deliberately left with them, the northern soldiers gradually suppressed the Dornish front line and pushed it back.
Aside from freezing the Mander, Robb had spent little physical strength in the battle at Highgarden. Now that Bloodwind had fallen into an abnormal state he could not understand, his urgency drove him to unleash his full strength. He charged toward Oberyn like a heavy wagon fitted with cutting blades.
Every Dornish soldier or guard who dared block him was chopped into severed limbs and broken bodies by Ice, driven by the strength of both his arms. Few corpses remained whole.
"Why does my magic poison have no effect on this damned man? Is he even human?"
Watching Robb slaughter his men and advance, Oberyn muttered with a dark expression.
His confidence in his magic poisons did not come from nothing. It came from extensive experiments on animals and human bodies.
Years before the red comet descended, he had already created a manticore venom with a trace of magical effect. Ordinary manticore venom was a deadly poison that attacked the heart and killed instantly. Oberyn, who wanted his enemies to taste pain, fused it with certain magic and changed it into something new.
This poison no longer killed at once. After entering the body, it worked slowly, allowing the victim to taste clearly the terrible pain of their body being eaten away before death.
It had no cure.
Robb knew this from his previous life: Qyburn had been unable to do anything for the poisoned Mountain except use poison against poison and turn him into a monstrous corpse.
After the red comet crossed the sky, Oberyn's poison research seemed to break through a barrier. He continuously developed magic poisons with strange effects. After careful testing, however, only a few were truly useful.
What he had just used on Robb was the bloodfly magic poison, a practical poison that paralyzed a human body's muscular strength.
Bloodfly larvae in Essos were also used to prepare the wine of courage drunk by Unsullied during training. This was one reason Unsullied did not fear pain and fought bravely. Of course, the dose in the wine of courage was low, and the Good Masters of Astapor had other secret ingredients.
Oberyn kept muttering poisonous complaints, but his eyes remained fixed on Robb, searching for a flaw.
'There.'
Robb swung Ice from right to left and cut down three of Oberyn's guards. By the fourth, his force had faded enough that the brave guard hugged the greatsword with his flesh and held it for a moment.
Oberyn stepped forward without hesitation, moving with extreme speed, and thrust his golden-snake spear toward Robb's exposed right abdomen.
Robb caught the motion from the corner of his eye. He released Ice's hilt at once. His body shifted slightly right, and both hands lifted in a loose grip. Two crystal swords condensed from nothing.
Wielding both swords, Robb split his attention. The sword in his left hand stabbed straight into the eye socket of the guard hugging Ice. The sword in his right swept outward, deflecting Oberyn's spear thrust.
Once the golden-snake spear was knocked aside, Oberyn folded back with serpentine grace. His hands retracted the spear like lightning.
After the briefest pause, the hidden strength in his arms erupted like a flash flood. The spear in his hands launched a storm of thrusts at Robb.
Because the golden-snake spear was being used in a burst of continuous attacks, Oberyn could not perfectly control where every thrust landed. He could only roughly aim at Robb's chest, belly, and thighs.
What happened next shocked him completely.
Facing Oberyn's deadliest technique, Robb's dim ice eyes moved rapidly left and right. His enhanced vision clearly caught the spear's path. The crystal sword in his right hand parried and blocked with effortless precision, and a chain of crisp impacts rang between them.
Oberyn had hoped to exploit a flaw with his strongest move, but his strength drained through the unending thrusts. His steady breathing turned quick.
In Oberyn's eyes, Robb became like a mountain rising higher and higher. The more he attacked, the smaller he felt.
'I thought my martial skill stood at the top of Westeros, yet I cannot wound him at all.'
'He has not even used his feet or his left hand.'
'I cannot beat even one of his hands?'
As exhaustion and doubt wore him down, Oberyn's attack finally stopped after one last full-force thrust was easily parried.
Only then did Robb withdraw the left-hand crystal sword from the guard's eye socket. He slid forward lightly, knocked aside the now-weak spear, and set the crystal sword against Oberyn's throat.
"I will say it one last time. What magic did you use on my direwolf? Release it at once."
Oberyn dropped the golden-snake spear. A bitter smile appeared.
"That beast... that direwolf's madness truly was not my doing. But noble King in the North, please order your army to stop killing. We are willing to surrender."
'Bloodwind's abnormality truly is not the Red Viper's doing? Then what is this?'
Robb had been certain Oberyn's magic had caused Bloodwind's state. Hearing the man's sincere tone, he suddenly felt uncertain.
'Stop killing?'
After a brief thought, Robb remembered Oberyn's words and turned back.
Behind the still-abnormal Bloodwind, many northern soldiers, led by Will and the Wolfguard, were slaughtering Dornish soldiers and pushing the line forward quickly.
"Prince Oberyn, I accept your surrender. Have your Dornish soldiers throw down their weapons.
"As men who both hate House Lannister, we should not have drawn swords against each other.
"And I heard you commanded thirty or forty thousand men. At most, I see around ten thousand here. I do not seem to see Lannister soldiers."
Robb looked over the battlefield and spoke pointedly.
"Lannister soldiers?"
Oberyn spat to the side. "Before I entered the city, they were still outside the first wall. Since those cowards have not appeared, they must have fled in panic after seeing Your Grace's banners."
Then he remembered Robb's other words, and a shadow crossed his face.
"If it were only me, you could kill me and I still would not ally with House Lannister. But my elder brother considers all the people of Dorne.
"The usurpation war House Yronwood raised has consumed most of Dorne's reserves. If we did not come to the Reach to seize resources, many Dornish people would not last until the next long summer.
"And there is also the Iron-"
He stopped himself, coughed, and turned to shout, "Everyone, hear my order. Lay down your weapons and surrender."
Dornish soldiers threw down spears, bows, and swords in waves.
Faced with Robb, who had charged alone into the formation and captured their commander, with the Wolfguard slaughtering wildly and the northern soldiers in high spirits and terrifyingly neat ranks, the expressions beneath their veils were likely ones of relief.
"Your Grace, Lord Bloodwind's state is wrong. We nearly got attacked when we passed him."
As the Dornish soldiers surrendered, Will and the Wolfguard rode quickly to Robb. Their duty was to protect his safety.
The Wolfguard always called Bloodwind "Lord," just as they treated their own blood-bound direwolves as friends and kin.
"Will, first have Lord Rickard take Prince Oberyn and the Dornish soldiers into custody. Then take the Wolfguard and surround Bloodwind.
"If necessary, you will assist me in controlling him by force."
"Yes!"
While Robb gave the order, a head half-hidden above the silent second north wall slowly withdrew.
Garth pulled his head back from the battlement with care and said to Malora beside him, "Sister, it is not only the giant wolf that is a monster. Robb Stark is a monster too.
"He rushed into the Dornish army alone. After killing at least a hundred Dornish soldiers, he captured the Red Viper, the man Dorne says stands above all others.
"The battle is settled. The Dornish soldiers beneath the wall have all surrendered. You do not need to keep suppressing that giant wolf. Let us join Baelor and leave Highgarden."
Sweat dripped from Malora's pale, beautiful face. She forced a faint smile.
"Garth, I told you to leave earlier, but you would not listen. Now we cannot leave.
"Because... it is not that I want to keep suppressing it. It is biting me, refusing to let me go."
As Malora split her attention to answer him, the deep blue light in the pea-sized moonstone suddenly dimmed.
Beneath the wall, Bloodwind's eyes, which had been wild, suddenly became clear. He howled toward one part of the second wall with obvious fury.
The howl lasted only two or three seconds before being cut off. The deep-blue energy invaded his clear eyes again.
But Robb had received Bloodwind's thought. He moved at once, turning to pull Ice from the brave guard's corpse while shouting to Will, "Will, I am borrowing Warrior."
Will immediately jumped down from his blood-bound direwolf. Warrior, nurtured by Robb through the blood pact, was far closer to the king than to Will. The wolf crouched voluntarily, letting him leap onto his back, then sprinted forward.
Robb could not communicate with Warrior as he did with Bloodwind, but he had trained with the Wolfguard often enough to control the wolf's direction.
"Move aside!"
"Clear a path for His Grace!"
The northern soldiers near the second wall saw their king riding Warrior toward them and hurriedly pulled surrendered Dornish soldiers aside, opening the middle of the road.
The north gate of the second wall was tightly closed, and no one stood on the wall.
Before the battle, Robb had thought the enemy who broke through earlier had gone toward the inner keep. Only after receiving Bloodwind's thought did he learn that someone hidden on the second wall was using magic to disturb him.
'Here.'
When they reached a section of battlement to the right of the second wall's north gate, Robb made Warrior stop and jumped down.
As his feet were about to touch the ground, white ice mist sprayed from them. A clear ice pillar two or three feet wide rose from the earth, carrying Robb upward as if he were nailed to it, until he stood higher than the tall second wall.
Garth looked up at Robb standing high on the crystal pillar like a god of ice, his cold gaze looking down on them. He swallowed nervously.
"Release the abnormal influence on my direwolf at once. Then tell me what magic you used and how to avoid its effect.
"If you do not do as I say, I will show you that death would be the greatest mercy I can offer."
Robb looked at the woman holding the deep-blue light, clearly casting a spell, and forced down the violent killing intent stirring within him.
Malora immediately tried to undo the charm. Perhaps because Bloodwind had already managed to send a thought to Robb, she released the spell easily this time.
Holding the moonstone, now shrunken to the size of a soybean, in both hands above her head, Malora smiled with genuine joy. Her eyes burned as she looked at Robb.
"Your Grace, I have obeyed and released the charm. All my occult applications come from this moonstone.
"As for how to avoid being affected by occult applications, that is also the subject of my father's and my research. From what we have learned so far, Valyrian steel is the most direct and effective method.
"I have answered all your questions. May I look at the rune structure of your ice application?
"No occult text in Westeros or Essos mentions anyone able to command ice."
Robb frowned at this strangely obedient woman whose eyes were full of fanaticism.
'Something is wrong with her.'
Outside Highgarden's first north gate, Kevan was leading tens of thousands of Lannister cavalry away with a great number of horses and supplies. Some came from the Tyrell soldiers before. Some had been plundered from castles large and small along the way.
When he saw masses of direwolf banners appear at Highgarden, Kevan knew Lord Tywin's second objective had failed. He turned the undamaged Lannister army toward the third objective.
At Highgarden's first south gate, the coalition infantry, now without their commanders, had already scattered like startled rats before the Tyrell cavalry even charged.
That was the weakness of a coalition army. When fortune favored them, they plundered boldly. When it turned, they scattered.
Crey and Ramsay, with their men and half the Tyrell cavalry, cut down the fleeing enemies.
Garlan and Loras, anxious for their family, led their riders to encircle and destroy the coalition soldiers who had climbed onto the south wall and were fleeing into the city.
In the harbor outside the west gate, the Hightower line, attacked by Redwyne soldiers and ironborn together, had long since been split apart into pockets of different sizes. The last fights were underway.
Ser Baelor looked at Lord Paxter, who had surrounded him with several guards. His handsome face showed a bitter smile.
"Lord Paxter, for the sake of the time we destroyed Stannis's fleet together, can you let us go?"
Paxter's bald forehead was stained with blood. Annoyed by the feeling, he wiped it lightly with the back of his hand and asked in return, "Ser Baelor, if you had me and Highgarden surrounded today, would you let us go?"
"Probably not. But House Hightower can help you rescue your twin sons. And you have indeed proven your loyalty to House Tyrell today.
"But you have also gone against that person's command. If you let us leave, perhaps I-"
"Lord Paxter, do you need help?"
Before Baelor could try another reason, Theon arrived beside Paxter with a large group of ironborn, bow in hand and his whole body oddly clean compared with the blood around them.
"Thank you for your kindness, King Theon. I think there is no need. Ser Baelor is telling me he wishes to lay down his weapons."
Paxter did not look away from Baelor as he spoke.
Baelor cooperated immediately, dropping his sword and raising both hands toward Theon and the others.
"As Lord Paxter says, I request the treatment due a noble prisoner.
"Believe me, House Hightower's ransom will not disappoint you."
With the west-gate harbor settled, the first battlefield Robb had entered was over. Soon, the battle of Highgarden itself ended. Judged by numbers alone, one hundred and twenty or one hundred and thirty thousand soldiers had been drawn into it, and it ended in an overwhelming victory for the northern army, now strengthened by House Tyrell's fealty.
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