[Chapter Size: 3700 Words.]
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Third Person POV
Reach, 300 AC.
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It was midday when the Arctican weapons were finally ready and began their first attack, catching everyone by surprise.
They saw the giants carrying enormous arrows with cylinders, while dwarves carried several barrels, before all of it was launched against one side of the castle.
Willas, along with the others, watched in horror as a frightened chorus spread throughout Highgarden at the sight of the barrels and enormous arrows striking one of the towers.
"Everyone to the ground!" someone shouted immediately.
The flash blinded everyone and, the next moment, the explosion came, striking the stones with such force that not only the tower, but the entire castle seemed to tremble, even the ground shook slightly from the impact, making everyone avert their eyes from the flash as they screamed in fear and covered their ears because of the explosion.
There was a group of people on that side, but it was the least occupied area of the entire castle, since it was the garden, even inside the tower there were not many people, not compared to the rest of the castle at that moment.
The Arcticans had deliberately chosen that structure to reduce the chances of killing a large number of people.
The explosion struck approximately halfway up the tower, opening enormous cracks in its structure and causing it to begin collapsing, stones crashed down onto one of Highgarden's gardens, destroying everything below while part of the structure even struck one of the walls, causing a section of it to collapse and catching the people standing atop it by surprise.
Willas could not help but frown as he recognized that place, amid all the fear he felt at seeing part of his family's castle being destroyed. It was one of Margaery's gardens. Many of the flowers there had been gifts from Jon Arctic himself when he had been in Highgarden years ago, Margaery and the others had cared for them ever since, as they were unique flowers from the North that, somehow, had managed to adapt to that environment outside their original habitat, after all some of those plants and flowers should not have remained alive in the climate of the Reach.
His sister had always shown great happiness with that garden, even his mother enjoyed spending some time there with them. Now, ironically, Jon Arctic himself had caused its destruction.
An enormous cloud of dust engulfed that side of the castle, spreading rapidly and preventing anyone from properly seeing what had happened now from every direction.
Willas did not know how many people had died, he heard screams from every direction as he watched the tower collapse, but he did not fear that there were many. Even so, a group of people, both those who had been inside the tower and those who had been struck by the stones in the garden and the men positioned atop the section of wall that had collapsed, died without any chance of survival...
'Damn... so this is how we're going to perish? Simply watching our own destruction?' Willas felt powerless, his condition did not allow him to run along the walls or help his men directly, all he could do was remain leaning on his cane and watch the knights shouting orders, while the dust continued advancing even toward the main part of the castle.
The problem was that the attack was not over yet. Another explosion from those weapons was heard and everyone, still unable to properly see what was happening due to the terrible visibility, panicked.
Even Willas could not help but shudder, expecting at any moment to feel his own death as he imagined another part of that ancestral castle, a place that had belonged to his family for thousands of years, being destroyed at that very moment.
However, the impact never came from above their heads. Willas immediately looked ahead, there was still dust everywhere, but he could also sense where the impact had come from.
It was the gate, the gate had been hit.
"Get everyone away from the gate!" he shouted the obvious, but too late...
The next moment, another flash appeared, even through that entire cloud of dust the light reached anyone looking in that direction and, soon after, came the explosion.
Blocks of stone were hurled in every direction as Willas ran inside the castle, feeling the walls themselves tremble as the gate and part of the surrounding wall were destroyed, stones struck men while the desperate screams of those being burned or crushed filled his ears. Many people, both soldiers and civilians, were struck by the blocks of stone inside the walls, hit, and that was practically a death sentence.
"Please, make them stop or they're going to kill us!" Willas found one of the knights who, only the day before, had insisted that they should fight, now the man was lying on the ground, overcome with fear.
It was more than obvious that they had no way to face that force and few still seemed willing to try. The gate was already compromised, there was practically nothing left preventing the Arcticans from advancing into Highgarden.
"Get up, you coward! You're going to give up now?!" another man shouted, approaching and kicking the fallen knight, striking his armor with a loud metallic sound. "We're not going to run, are we, Lord Tyrell?"
It seemed that some still refused to give up.
Willas merely shook his head. "Sorry. He has already destroyed a tower and now the gate, our army has already lost its morale and we cannot win this. Besides, we're 3,000 against almost five times that number..."
Willas saw disappointment appear on the man's face, almost as if he wanted to call him a coward, but what else could he do? If he wanted to fight so badly, he could take his sword, run outside, and die uselessly.
"My lord, what should we do?" asked some knights who quickly approached, clearly frightened.
"We'll wait and see if they advance. Try to shelter everyone. The Great Hall is still safer than remaining out here, but only give space to the nobility, we can't shelter everyone... Put the rest in other halls and larger spaces... If they cease their attack, we'll negotiate," Willas replied.
The men nodded and he headed directly for the Great Hall, where most of the people were already beginning to gather. After what had happened to the tower, not even the noble ladies wanted to remain in their chambers, they all began seeking shelter in the lower and more protected parts of the castle.
Willas found everyone gathered there and more arriving at a run in fear, many were crying, while some prayed to the Seven, others simply tried to calm their frightened children who clung to their clothes.
And to think that one day he would see the proud noblewomen of the Reach reduced to such a state, huddled in every corner, terrified as they waited to find out whether the castle would still be standing when the next attack came.
"Tell me, Ser Ilard, is there any way we can stop this?" Lady Kidwel asked, approaching immediately.
The man merely shook his head. "Sorry. Lord Tyrell has already decided. We're going to surrender, we just need to wait for them to stop attacking us. I believe these attacks have already been enough." Even as he spoke, he could not help expecting another tremor to run through the castle, as though the very ceiling might collapse over their heads at any moment.
"Lord Tyrell!" Someone noticed him at the entrance. "Will he spare us? Will he spare me and my children?" another lady asked in complete desperation.
Lord Tyrell merely pressed his lips together and approached with a limp. And someone else answered.
"His history shows that he hasn't attacked anyone after a conquest, at least no one who didn't have reason to be punished," one of the other ladies replied. "The Durwell family is fine. That means he'll spare us. He even helped them, didn't he?"
Willas also tried to reassure the nobles before returning outside, watching the dust begin to slowly settle, no other attack had been launched.
"Lord Willas, let me raise the white flag," one of the knights requested, it was Ser Justan of Vyrwel, approaching with conviction.
Willas hesitated for a few moments before nodding. "All right. Go and announce our intentions. We want to negotiate our surrender."
Through the enormous hole opened between the gate and part of the wall, with the dust settled now, they could see the enemy army fully prepared to advance at any moment, there were even more projectiles positioned on the war machines, ready to launch another attack if necessary.
They watched the knight Ser Justan cross the rubble, passing close to the flames that had still not gone out and continued glowing green.
Willas would never forget that color. A fire that brought only destruction and death, used with terrifying efficiency by those men.
There were rumors that the Lannisters were also trying to produce those weapons in greater numbers, taking advantage of the large stockpile of wildfire in King's Landing to try to face the enemy in the same way, but Willas doubted they could come close to the efficiency with which the Arcticans used it.
War had no longer been the same since those weapons had reached the battlefields at sea and on land... In any case, some time later the knight returned safely, but he was not alone.
At his side came a man wearing Valyrian steel armor and, since he was not wearing his helmet, everyone recognized him immediately.
Willas had to admit that it had been clever of Jon Arctic to send him to negotiate.
That was Barristan Selmy.
A man revered by the nobility, considered a hero by the common people, it would be difficult to find anyone more suitable to convince any lord of Westeros to accept the terms of a surrender.
Barristan crossed the rubble beside the knight. Since it was impossible to pass through there on horseback, he had left his horse behind and continued on foot to the courtyard, where Willas stepped forward to receive him.
"Ser Barristan Selmy," Willas said, and the knights around him immediately became alert.
That man was a legend and now served another king. Worse still, he served their enemy.
Even among the common people, it was practically impossible to find anyone who had never heard of his deeds, and his departure from the Kingsguard had been received as a heavy blow by many, especially when Jaime Lannister had taken command after him.
Willas could not help thinking that not even Jaime Lannister might be well now. He had been part of the army that marched alongside his uncle, Kevan, according to the information they had received, but whether he was alive or dead was a question Willas could not answer at that moment.
"Lord Willas Tyrell, I am here to negotiate your surrender," Barristan Selmy said in a firm and serious tone.
"Yes. We have come to the conclusion that it is better for us to surrender than simply be completely destroyed," Willas replied with a sigh.
Even those who still wished to fight had to lower their heads and await the negotiation, while the common people continued trembling in fear and, probably, the ladies gathered inside the castle were not in a much different state.
"We have no intention of destroying Highgarden, much less does my king wish to cause unnecessary deaths, especially among people who do not even know how to wield a sword, the defenseless, women, or children," Barristan Selmy said.
"You say that after he destroyed a tower?" one of the knights replied. "A thousand people were killed, their bodies are still there, fresh beneath the rubble."
"Must I remind you that surrender was an option offered by my king from the beginning, but you decided to refuse it and forced him to attack, so do not place the blame on us, place it on yourselves, for my king never had any interest in unnecessarily harming the people of the Reach." Barristan kept his gaze firmly fixed on the knight.
"The Reach has done nothing so grave that it would lead my king to act ruthlessly against you, as happened with the Ironborn and the Lannisters. The Ironborn massacred people from the North, plundered their lands like bandits, and drove my king to make a radical decision, they were to be practically exterminated."
He paused briefly before continuing. "The same can be said of the Westerlands. My king holds a grudge against that kingdom and its men because of the Sack of King's Landing, which occurred twenty years ago, and also because of the death of Aegon Targaryen, the king's older brother. All of this contributed to the anger my king bears toward them, but he did not massacre entire families as the rumors claim, he merely destroyed their castles as a warning and a demonstration of his wrath."
Those words left everyone silent, while Willas narrowed his eyes at that information. "And his sister too, right? The sister who was found burned with Ser Amory Lorch," Willas recalled.
Barristan responded only with a smile, not a cheerful smile, but something sad and, at the same time, relieved. "Queen Rhaenys Targaryen still lives, my lords. She grew up in Dorne after being rescued during the Sack of King's Landing, later, she was taken to Arctic and today she is queen alongside my king's other wives."
"She's alive!? Then... of course... Doran Martell's bastard," Willas quickly remembered.
But that was not the time for that kind of conversation.
"Yes. In any case, my king's terms are as follows: he has no intention of harming any of the common people, everyone will be allowed to return to the city. As for the guards and knights, all swords will be thrown at our feet and, as long as no man disrespects the king or does anything drastic, their lives will be spared. The noble ladies inside the castle may return to their lands in the north, from where many of them fled, or remain here, they will not be harmed as long as they give the king no reason to do so."
Barristan spoke while everyone looked at Willas, some already beginning to murmur among themselves, but the former commander of the Kingsguard of Westeros continued.
"The king's objective is only to take this castle, no other place in the Reach will be harmed, as long as they do not start a rebellion."
"And the army in King's Landing?" someone asked.
"That is already being dealt with by Arctic's main army," Barristan Selmy replied.
"Arctic's main army?" Willas could not help but shudder, his eyes widening when he heard that. It was the first time he had heard anything about it and, by that point, Jon had already decided that he no longer needed to hide that fact.
There was no communication leaving the Reach to warn King's Landing and, even if they sent a knight at that very moment, it would be too late. The Arcticans had begun their campaign by eliminating every form of communication, even by sea, intercepting ships while the true army finally prepared to advance through the lands of one of the eastern Houses.
They intended to make their appearance right in the middle of the royal wedding.
Willas, however, had no idea about any of that. All he could understand at that moment was that those fifteen thousand men did not represent Arctic's true army.
The true force was in the east...
Willas shuddered again.
It was obvious that there had to be more men, after all only around twenty thousand Arcticans had been seen in Westeros up to that point, while the rumors coming from Essos spoke of at least forty-five thousand, perhaps far more, even after that mythical war that had taken place beyond the Wall.
"Eighty thousand men, in case you wish to know, my lords," Barristan revealed. "Unfortunately, those who continue fighting in this war probably won't live much longer. Believe me..."
Just fourteen thousand men had already been enough to cross and dominate parts of two kingdoms, imagine that force multiplied almost sixfold.
Willas merely closed his eyes and heard a sword fall to the ground. The metallic sound echoed through the courtyard as everyone turned toward the knight who had dropped it.
"I surrender," the man said, thinking sorrowfully of his own brother who was in King's Landing at that moment.
Then another blade fell.
And another.
Willas merely shook his head, somewhat frustrated that his men had made that decision before even receiving his command, but that information was far too dangerous for anyone's morale.
Eighty thousand men. There were another eighty thousand of those same men in Westeros.
Perhaps they did not carry all those weapons, after all their king was there, so they would have kept the best equipment and men with him, but even so, they were eighty thousand additional soldiers.
Adding all the forces together, Arctic had brought an army of one hundred thousand men to Westeros. And that meant that, beyond the Wall, that kingdom was capable of gathering a force of proportions none of them had imagined.
How was that possible? Where had so many men come from? That force completely rivaled the Reach in numbers and, even if Arctic was extremely wealthy, it was unbelievable to think that he had managed to raise an army of that size.
Some might say they were only numbers, that perhaps those men did not know how to fight, did not know battle formations, or did not carry the same armor and weapons as the fourteen thousand soldiers stationed before Highgarden, but Willas knew things were not that simple.
There were still four thousand giants unaccounted for, as the rumors had spoken of five thousand of them... If they were not there, they were somewhere else.
And if those were already troublesome, there was also that race of small men whom anyone would call dwarves before laughing at them, but who definitely should not be underestimated. They were extremely strong, far stronger than most ordinary men, capable of crushing them easily with their warhammers, while their cavalry, despite using smaller mounts that many would simply call ponies, advanced completely armored and was a terrifying force, capable of crushing men and breaking enemy formations.
The ordinary men were no less formidable. Their formation, discipline, and training, according to what Willas had heard from the survivors of the massacre that had occurred days earlier, showed that this was a well-trained and relentless army.
They were experienced, and that made them even more dangerous.
It was no surprise that they had completely destroyed a formation of hastily gathered farmers, men who had been given armor that could barely protect them and swords with worn edges, after all the best weapons and armor of the Reach were in King's Landing along with its true army.
"We surrender," Willas finally declared, though it was only a whisper... at the same time as he spoke those words, he could not stop thinking about his brothers with overwhelming fear.
Eighty thousand men.
Willas could not even imagine that number might be much larger. Jon Arctic had sent eighty thousand men on that campaign, but, at that very moment, he was also practically starting a possible war as Arctican ships advanced against Pentos after threatening Braavos.
Willas probably would not even know what to think if he discovered that.
In the end, Westeros did not even seem to have Arctic's full attention at that moment, and Barristan had also not mentioned the forces that remained in the North.
If Jon knew Willas's thoughts, he would probably ask what he expected from Arctic, a kingdom created beyond the Wall with an army larger than that of any other kingdom in Westeros and experienced enough that practically all of its soldiers had already participated in a war before marching south...
Now they were fighting another war in the North against the Boltons, while in the west they had already devastated practically an entire kingdom with a force that initially numbered only twenty thousand men, a number that had only been reduced because some of them had needed to take the former slaves of the Iron Islands to the North, in addition to the men needed to crew the ships.
And there was still the main army in the east.
The more than ten thousand men at sea were ready to wage war against the Free Cities as well.
Arctic was practically waging war against the entire world at that moment, and no one was capable of understanding that or even predicting how far that war might go. Who else, in the entire history of that world, could say they had done anything similar?
"We surrender," Willas repeated. This time a little louder, so as not to appear weak.
He began giving orders and, with practically all the swords of the knights and soldiers already thrown to the ground, the surrender was finally made official. The castle was to be vacated by the common people, who could return to their lands or to the city without being harmed, while the first of Arctic's men advanced to assess the situation and ensure there would be no resistance.
Highgarden had fallen.
Shortly afterward, Jon Arctic advanced accompanied by his principal men and Arya, passing through the remains of the destroyed gates.
This time, he did not enter through those walls as a guest or negotiator, as he had done years before.
Now he entered as a conqueror.
Some of the people present had been there during that first visit, when they had looked at him with suspicion, mocked him, and even displayed a certain sense of superiority toward that Stark bastard from beyond the Wall, who had somehow managed to acquire a great deal of money, men, and giants from that land... Now, many of those same people remained on their knees or with their heads bowed as he advanced through the destroyed walls, and Jon no longer found any superiority in their eyes.
Only fear.
He had left those walls years ago as a successful negotiator, before all the chaos that would follow. Now he returned as a king and conqueror.
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