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The Redfish (Edmure SI) chapter 116
🕑 Added 2023-11-04 08:08:13 +0000 UTCThe Last Stormlord
Beric POV
I waited for the signal in the distance, but it never came. All I could see were the plains of grassland. And the army of the new king at my doorstep. I knew the group he had sent to seek help from other houses wouldn’t return, yet he had to try. King Stannis has ordered me to stay and protect the Stormlands from Dorne.
So, even though King Stannis is dead and the Stormlands are falling into Oberyn Martell’s hands, I still defend it. I was given the order and will follow it to the end. Yet, I didn’t know if I could do it. Ten thousand strong stood before me, and I had barely half a thousand in my castle. If we could only unite the other lords, we could push them back from where they came, but he didn’t receive any answers to his call.
“It doesn’t look good,” Thoros of Myr said as he drank my wine. “You should have kept your boy.”
“I have my orders, but I could use Edric as my hostage,” I replied, making my decision clear and final.
Looking at the army, I could tell it would be a long battle ahead. But Blackhaven’s walls are tall, and the bottomless moat surrounds my castle. I will not let them take it, and as long as I stand, the Stormlands shall stand, too. So, no matter how long it takes, Blackhaven will stand as it stood thousands of years against the Dornish forces.
“There they come,” Thoros said as a group of riders near the castle.
“Let’s meet our enemies,” I replied, leading the way down the walls to the gates.
I walked down the black basalt walls and put up a brave face. I trusted my walls to protect Blackhaven, but still, I had to be careful not to show any weakness to the Red Viper. If I showed him even a bit of hesitation, he would use it against me somehow. I had to stay as tall and strong as my walls.
“Lord Dondarrion,” The Red Viper greeted me with a cocky smile as soon as the draw bridge was lowered.
“Prince Oberyn,” I looked at his eyes and greeted him. “State your demands.”
“Before that, I should inform you your castle is the only one left in defiance of the new King,” Oberyn told me, but I didn’t react to his words.
“If that were true, some forces from the Stormlands would have joined you,” I saw right through his lie. “State your demands so I can turn them down, and we can begin.”
“Surrender, and you shall keep your name and lands,” Oberyn said. “Come to King’s Landing and knee before the King and vow to be loyal to him for now and generations to come.”
“That won’t happen,” I replied without any hesitation. “I won’t leave Blackhaven, nor you will have it.”
“We can’t let you do as you wish, Lord Dondarrion,” Oberyn’s smile was gone, only to be replaced by a cold and vicious face.
I said nothing else and returned to the castle as the drawbridge was lifted behind me. I had to prepare for Oberyn's onslaught and ensure he didn’t do anything underhanded. It would fit him too well to use any means he could to bring me down as fast as possible. Well, I will not fall for any of his tricks.
“Prepare for the battle!” I made sure my voice could be heard by all inside Blackhaven.
Archers quickly took their positions on the walls. The three scorpions were prepared to be used and pushed around the wall to where they were needed. Two catapults inside the walls had plenty of rocks to fling at the enemy. It was all I could prepare for this battle. But even so, I was more concerned about our supplies than the walls.
The well inside the castle should have enough water to last us for a long time, but it was exposed to people, and I didn’t want anyone putting anything inside it. So, I put four guards to watch over it. We had enough grain for years to come, but I split it into many places so that if one storage was damaged, another could still be used.
“Oi, Beric!” Thoros yelled on top of the wall, and it got my attention. “It seems they are bringing out everything they got.”
I walked up to him and looked out at the grasslands. Dozen or so trebuchets were rolled up just far away for our arrows to reach. But if Oberyn thought that trebuchets could break Blackhaven’s walls, he thought wrong. The basalt could withstand as many rocks as he could throw. The only way he could get over them was to climb them, but the moat surrounding the castle made it impossible, too.
“Remember to duck under the ramparts once the stones start flying,” I told Thoros, who was too happy to watch the enemy prepare to siege us. “I leave the walls to you.”
“Wait, what?” Thoros spat out the wine he was drinking in surprise.
“It is a diversion,” I explained to him, as I didn’t think Oberyn was a fool. “He wants us to focus on his army and siege engines, while his real strategy would be wildly different. So, I will leave the walls to you for the day as I must prepare for the night.”
A night’s raid was the only logical thing Oberyn would do. Otherwise, he wouldn’t stay with the army and would leave a fifth of the forces to watch over us while he went on other battlefields. Unless Oberyn was telling the truth, I was the only one who still resisted King Jaehaerys Targaryen. I still haven’t received any signal or messages from the others, so that could be possible. I only hope I am mistaken.
…
The little sleep I could get was over once loud knocking started on my chamber’s doors. If not the sounds coming from the outside, then the worry for what to come kept me awake for most of the day. Still, a couple of hours of sleep was better than nothing. The darkness of the night has engulfed my castle. It was time Oberyn made his move.
The servant who knocked on my door quickly explained the situation. Seeing that they hadn’t awakened me earlier, the walls still stood strong. The servant only confirmed it by telling me that. Nothing major happened apart from five dead and twenty injured men. It was an acceptable loss, even though I wouldn’t say I liked it.
It didn’t take long for me to dress, as I slept in most of the armor on my body. So, I quickly left my chambers and walked through the courtyard. On the way to the walls, I noticed dozens of shattered stones on the ground with small pits underneath them. Some buildings had holes in them or caved-in roofs, and two were destroyed.
“How does it look?” I asked Thoros on the walls as soon as I saw him.
“Poor bastards threw quite a bit of shit at us,” Thoros was slightly drunk, but I expected that. “But as you said, the walls took it without a problem.”
“Wash yourself and sleep,” I told my old friend. “I will take over from now on.”
“Aye, that is for the better,” Thoros agreed quickly and dragged his body off the walls.
Soon, my soldiers who fought through the day were replaced by the night guard. One hundred fresh soldiers took their post on the walls. It was more than we needed, but I didn’t want to take any risks. If Oberyn will try something, it would be tonight. That is why I had to stay vigilant and prepare to stop anything Oberyn would try.
It was a night without any sign of the moon. Thick shadows covered the grasslands. It wasn’t possible to see anything. So, I needed to concentrate on any sounds that would come. The only way could pass through the dry moat would be with makeshift bridges, and to climb the wall, they would need ladders. There was no way I could let Oberyn get close even to try something like that.
Torches flickered in the night’s breeze as I heard a whistling sound. It took me only one moment to realize what it was. I ducked down just in time to dodge an arrow passing above me. The others weren’t so lucky. Those who were close to the torches got shot down by the arrows. Ten, maybe twenty men were down by the first volley of unseen arrows.
“Drop the torches!” I yelled as loud as my lungs could. “Ring the bell! They are coming!”
Torchers from the walls were taken off and thrown at the darkness. Some landed on the grasslands, and most of them got extinguished before they landed or were stomped down. But few managed to set the grass on fire, illuminating the enemy forces. Looking over the ramparts of the walls, I saw thousands of men. They were carrying long wooden structures.
At first, I thought it was bridges, but I soon realized that they were way longer than they needed to be. Archers on the walls quickly tried to shoot their arrows at them, but they were too close to stop them. My men, who were resting, promptly tried to take their positions, but it would take time. And the long structures were already lifted by Oberyn’s men and fallen over our walls.
Oberyn made a bridge. A bridge that covered the dry moat and the wall simultaneously. The thick wood was impossible to chop off quickly, and it was too heavy to lift with only a few people, especially when dozens of people were already climbing it as soon as they were positioned. But I wasn’t going to let them do as they wished.
We still had the high ground, and I extensively prepared to counter Oberyn’s tactics. Animal fat was quickly poured over the wooden structures, and they were set on fire. Stones were rolled over them, knocking the enemy off them and crushing them. Archers shot everyone they could see, and my men pushed back those who managed to climb on the wall.
We weren’t giving them any ground. Holding firm, we fought back until the rest of my men managed to gather on the walls. Thoros could be seen with his flaming sword cutting down the enemy from the other side of the wall. I stabbed one, cut another, and pushed the third off the wall. Even if there were more than ten times more of them than us, we still managed to fight them back.
My sword became an extension of my will, striking down Dornish attackers who dared to set foot upon our home. The archers continued to rain arrows down upon them, making it a treacherous path for our enemies. As more of our defenders gathered on the walls, we pushed the attackers back, inch by hard-fought inch.
But Oberyn Martell's forces were relentless. They kept coming, driven by their prince's fierce determination. It was clear that this was a battle of attrition, yet the longer it dragged on, the more it played to our advantage. My men were loyal and fierce, true stormlanders that, for generations, protected these lands from the invading Dornish forces. They showed no fear against the overwhelming forces.
The night was long and brutal, but as the first light of dawn began to break over the horizon, the Dornish forces, battered and bloodied, retreated. The remnants of the burning bridges crumbled into the dry moat. The battle had been fierce, but Blackhaven had held. Our walls remained unbreached, our resolve unbroken.
Unlike Oberyn, who probably was frustrated at his loss. Then, as the sun brought hope, I saw the signal I was so desperately waiting for. It informed me that I wasn’t alone. I wasn’t the last Stormlord who stood against the opposing forces. The smoke in the distance told me that it wasn’t over. The Stormlands still stood, and so will I.
A.N. Sorry for the late chapter, I got really sick yesterday, but feeling a bit better today.
