The battle for King's Landing turned into a bloodbath the moment Stannis breached the walls. Street fighting erupted everywhere as his forces clashed with the City Guard.
By the time the main Reach army arrived, it was already too late. They came under heavy fire from Stannis's warships on the Blackwater and were immediately sucked into the same chaotic urban combat.
Once inside the city, the famous heavy cavalry of the Reach became useless. Their proud charges had nowhere to go in the narrow streets, forcing them to fight on foot alongside Stannis's exhausted troops in the mud and blood.
Street fighting has always been the great equalizer. No matter how elite a force is on open ground, cramped alleys and buildings strip away every advantage.
Garlan Tyrell had been sent to reinforce the Lannisters. He wore Renly's distinctive armor, hoping the sight would shatter the morale of the Stormlands soldiers who still loved their fallen king. In a world where ghosts and magic were real, the ploy might have worked.
But when Garlan reached the city gates, he was met only with a storm of arrows and stones from Stannis's fleet. The Reach soldiers scrambled through the gates in disorder.
Stannis had anticipated their arrival. Mercenaries lay in ambush near several gates, and Garlan's column was attacked the instant it entered.
The Stormlands troops had already been pulled away to assault the Red Keep. The pirates and sellswords cared nothing for who wore Renly's armor. The moment they saw a gorgeously armored knight charging toward them, they hurled the oil pots Roman had supplied.
Those pots were filled with a magical incendiary far more stable and powerful than wildfire. While wildfire relied on sorcery, these contained a refined variant of Roman's white dragonflame.
As Garlan's men pushed through the gate into the street, the mercenaries ignited the pots and triggered the pre-placed canisters.
The explosion was catastrophic. White flame swallowed the bright yellow fireballs, reigniting unburned fuel in the air and creating a second, even larger blast.
Garlan's guards rushed to shield him, but the inferno still engulfed the Reach column. His fate remained unknown amid the flames.
At the same time, Roman's planted agents moved through the Red Keep.
Using secret passages Roman had mapped out and their own reconnaissance, they swept the hidden corridors inch by inch. Any guard or "little bird" still hiding in the passages was cut down without mercy.
In the middle of their purge, a hidden door suddenly opened. A group of nobles hurried through.
The agents raised their crossbows, but the commander stopped them at once.
"Hold! That's Princess Myrcella. Pass the word—do not harm Her Highness."
Tyrion had sent Tommen to Rosby before the battle. Now, with the situation collapsing, Cersei had entrusted Varys with smuggling Myrcella out.
Myrcella followed the attendants through the dark passages. The floor was slick with blood and worse. Corpses lay twisted along the walls, their faces frozen in expressions of pure terror.
The attendants had never seen such horror. One by one they began to retch.
Myrcella's own stomach churned violently, but she forced herself to stay calm and spoke with steady courage:
"Hold on just a little longer. Once we reach the ship, we'll have a chance to survive. If we stop now, we fall into enemy hands. Don't be afraid—I'm right here with you."
Her words gave the group strength. They pressed on, slipping and stumbling over the blood-soaked stones toward the exit.
The battle for King's Landing raged from night until the following afternoon. Stannis finally reached the limit of what his exhausted troops could endure.
He stared at the Red Keep, so close he could almost touch it, yet he could advance no farther. His bloodshot eyes burned with sleepless fury.
Ser Davos urged him, "Your Grace! We no longer have the numbers! We must retreat now, or the Reach forces will cut us off!"
"No!" Stannis snarled. "I have come this far. There is no turning back. I am about to take the Red Keep!"
"And then what?" Davos replied bluntly. "Without an army, the Iron Throne is nothing but a chair of scrap metal!"
Ignoring Stannis's protests, the Onion Knight took command and ordered his men to drag the king back. The remaining soldiers, their spirit broken, retreated with them.
Amid Stannis's furious roars, he was forced onto a ship. Davos led the battered fleet out of the Blackwater and sailed back toward Dragonstone.
With Stannis's withdrawal, the Lannister-Reach coalition finally breathed a sigh of relief. Yet they too had paid a terrible price in the brutal street fighting.
Tyrion had only just regained consciousness. He lay bandaged in a makeshift hospital, staring blankly at the ceiling.
"Water… is there any water? I'm dying of thirst."
A physician hurried over with a cup. Tyrion drained it in one gulp and rasped, "How goes the war? Did we win or lose?"
"We won!" the man said excitedly. "The Reach army arrived in time. We fought Stannis inside the city and drove him out!"
Tyrion turned to look out the window. King's Landing lay in ruins—smoke rose from countless fires, buildings lay shattered, and people rushed about trying to save the wounded and extinguish the flames.
They had won, but the cost was devastating. Tyrion sighed, already dreading the troubles that would follow.
He shook his head and reached for another sip of water. That was when he noticed the floor trembling.
"What is—"
A violent shockwave slammed into the building. Glass shattered everywhere. Women screamed and covered their heads.
Then came a deafening roar that felt as if it rearranged his organs.
Tyrion dragged himself to the window and stared in horror. Several massive mushroom clouds of orange-red fire were rising inside the city. Buildings around them had been obliterated. Ash and debris rained from the sky.
"What is happening?!"
Ignoring the pain, Tyrion stumbled outside and ran straight into a wounded Kevan.
"Uncle, what in the—"
"It's Stannis!" Kevan roared, then winced and clutched his reopened wounds. "His mercenaries planted incendiaries in several barracks. The moment our men and the Reach soldiers moved in to rest, they detonated them. We've taken heavy losses!"
Tyrion staggered. An attendant barely caught him before he fell.
He couldn't understand it. He had calculated every possibility, done everything in his power. King's Landing and the Reach had held every advantage.
So why… why did it end like this?
Now Get The FULL AVAILABLE NOVEL at Once!
Get 60% OFF for limited time only.
@patreon.com/Authorizz/shop