Rember to check the new Gwendis H&L above!^^
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Kris
Kris Vaith was mounted on his war horse, standing still between Ser Howar U… moreller and captain Yohn Redfort from the Wild Suns. Behind them was a cavalry of around eighty mounted soldiers from the forces of Ser Howar and the Wild Suns. They were positioned a few hundred feet away from the bridge, observing in silence as the Unsullied, led by their commander Red Maggot, advanced against the defenders. Though Kris was thankful that Dalia had not chosen to send the Mother's Favored, it was still an unpleasant sight – the men defending the bridge were men of Vaith after all.
While the Unsullied and Vaith soldiers battled at the bridge, captain Zara had led archers to the beach. From there they sent volleys on the reinforcements of the defenders. The Vaith's did have their line of archers as well of course, positioned a couple dozen feet behind the bridge, mostly aiming their arrows … [view original content]
Rember to check the new Gwendis H&L above!^^
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Kris
Kris Vaith was mounted on his war horse, standing still between Ser Howar U… moreller and captain Yohn Redfort from the Wild Suns. Behind them was a cavalry of around eighty mounted soldiers from the forces of Ser Howar and the Wild Suns. They were positioned a few hundred feet away from the bridge, observing in silence as the Unsullied, led by their commander Red Maggot, advanced against the defenders. Though Kris was thankful that Dalia had not chosen to send the Mother's Favored, it was still an unpleasant sight – the men defending the bridge were men of Vaith after all.
While the Unsullied and Vaith soldiers battled at the bridge, captain Zara had led archers to the beach. From there they sent volleys on the reinforcements of the defenders. The Vaith's did have their line of archers as well of course, positioned a couple dozen feet behind the bridge, mostly aiming their arrows … [view original content]
Rember to check the new Gwendis H&L above!^^
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Kris
Kris Vaith was mounted on his war horse, standing still between Ser Howar U… moreller and captain Yohn Redfort from the Wild Suns. Behind them was a cavalry of around eighty mounted soldiers from the forces of Ser Howar and the Wild Suns. They were positioned a few hundred feet away from the bridge, observing in silence as the Unsullied, led by their commander Red Maggot, advanced against the defenders. Though Kris was thankful that Dalia had not chosen to send the Mother's Favored, it was still an unpleasant sight – the men defending the bridge were men of Vaith after all.
While the Unsullied and Vaith soldiers battled at the bridge, captain Zara had led archers to the beach. From there they sent volleys on the reinforcements of the defenders. The Vaith's did have their line of archers as well of course, positioned a couple dozen feet behind the bridge, mostly aiming their arrows … [view original content]
And Kris will go with Dalia. I know, technically it's a tie, but this one got the first vote, and I've also been infromed by Stigz via PM that he prefers this choice (and Kris is his character) Anyway, this will have some pretty interesting consequences, but more about them later.
Next we will have two parts, Myke and Kortney, concluding their Chapter 2 storylines. It's been a while since we saw Myke, but the last we saw him he was in Blackmont, where he heard a rumor from Maester Mortin that Kortney could possibly be held as a prisoner in Kingsgrave. With no other clues to follow, Myke decided to head towards Kingsgrave, as well as send a raven to Nightsong about this. Raina immediately offered to help Myke, and Myke also decided to remind Joran Storm that saving Kortney is his duty. And so, Joran joined in on the mission to Kingsgrave as well. In this next part we'll see them arrive to their destination.
Kortney on the other hand was given a chance to escape Kingsgrave with Willem Pyke and Salladhor, but he decided to stay. Now Willem has left, and the armies of Blackmont's and Fowler's have arrive to lay siege over Kingsgrave.
These parts should be ready today or tomorrow!
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Oh, and some of you may have noticed the cover of Book 2 already on the op, but here is a bigger version:
I read this H&L a few days ago but haven't really had the chance to comment until now. There isn't much I can say that hasn't already been I'll go ahead and say great job! This part tells so much about Gwendis and what shaped her and it was always clear her mother was her biggest influence but seeing Valaena in writing is clearly awesome and I definitely like the Syrenho appearance as well. Now I need to get a new computer so I can jump back into some H&L's. Great work!
Nymeria's War – Histories&Lore
Gwendis Blackmont – Ambition
"Gwendis", her father said softly. "Wake up. She felt the bed moving u… morender his weight, as he lay down next to her, his hand gently moving through her hair. A smile formed on her face, as she tried her best not to move, while her father started to tickle her neck. "Little Gwen, wake up", he whispered in her ear and she giggled. "Wake up"
"Let the child sleep, Ben", her mother added. "If she does not want to, she doesn't have to. I can deal with them on my own. The lords and knights and commoners of Blackmont. Let's just leave, she needs her sleep" Her father stopped tickling her neck. "Hm, you have a point, Val", he replied. Once again, the bed moved as he stood up again. "Good night, my little princess", he added.
Instantly, Gwendis jumped up. "Wait!", she yelled and her parents turned around, both smiling. "Wait for me!" In fact, she had waited for them. She knew tha… [view original content]
And Kris will go with Dalia. I know, technically it's a tie, but this one got the first vote, and I've also been infromed by Stigz via PM that he prefers this choice (and Kris is his character) Anyway, this will have some pretty interesting consequences, but more about them later.
Ah... this battle for Vaith is sure finding a way to make me sweat I am sure you know what I mean but since it hasn't completely happened yet, I still have hope! If it does though, I am still optimistic it will go well for a certain knight though!
Anyway, I am really excited to see the siege of Kingsgrave with the might of House Fowler and Blackmont at their doorstep, it very much seems like things are over for the Manwoody's but I have a certain theory that just might mean that Albin isn't finished yet. I am going out on a massive limb here and am going to say this will lead to the first appearance of House Yronwood in book one. I am probably way off but Alaric mentioned they should do this and maybe he took intiative and contacted Yorick on his own. I am probably way off but I figured I would throw it out there! Along with this will be Myke and Kortney being right there with one another and hopefully this means that Myke will be able to save her somehow!
As for the cover, this is awesome! It got me all the more hyped for the inevitable Dayne vs Martell war. I really feel it will be a good one and now hopefully Jamison takes care of some business in Vaith and gets back to Starfall! I mean I would be lying if I didn't say that Jamison mouthing off to Nymeria was something that I didn't want to see... as long as she forgives him when the Dayne's lose that is Nice job on the cover!
Voting is closed!
And Kris will go with Dalia. I know, technically it's a tie, but this one got the first vote, and I've also been infrom… moreed by Stigz via PM that he prefers this choice (and Kris is his character) Anyway, this will have some pretty interesting consequences, but more about them later.
Next we will have two parts, Myke and Kortney, concluding their Chapter 2 storylines. It's been a while since we saw Myke, but the last we saw him he was in Blackmont, where he heard a rumor from Maester Mortin that Kortney could possibly be held as a prisoner in Kingsgrave. With no other clues to follow, Myke decided to head towards Kingsgrave, as well as send a raven to Nightsong about this. Raina immediately offered to help Myke, and Myke also decided to remind Joran Storm that saving Kortney is his duty. And so, Joran joined in on the mission to Kingsgrave as well. In this next part we'll see them arrive to their destination.
Kortney … [view original content]
Ah... this battle for Vaith is sure finding a way to make me sweat I am sure you know what I mean but since it hasn't completely happened yet, I still have hope! If it does though, I am still optimistic it will go well for a certain knight though!
Oh yes, I know what you mean This choice will affect Jamison too, but whether it's a positive or negative affect... we'll see.
Anyway, I am really excited to see the siege of Kingsgrave with the might of House Fowler and Blackmont at their doorstep, it very much seems like things are over for the Manwoody's but I have a certain theory that just might mean that Albin isn't finished yet. I am going out on a massive limb here and am going to say this will lead to the first appearance of House Yronwood in book one. I am probably way off but Alaric mentioned they should do this and maybe he took intiative and contacted Yorick on his own. I am probably way off but I figured I would throw it out there! Along with this will be Myke and Kortney being right there with one another and hopefully this means that Myke will be able to save her somehow!
Indeed, Albin is trapped in his own castle, and way outnumbered against the combined strength of Blackmont's and Fowler's. That said, Albin isn't one to surrender easily. Of course, eventually the morale of his subjects is bound to plummet under a siege, which could lead to them throwing down their weapons and opening the gates. However, you do bring up a good speculation there. Yronwood's are the neighbouring kingdom of Manwoody's, and it certainly wouldn't be out of character for Yorick to use this situation to his own advantage.
As for the cover, this is awesome! It got me all the more hyped for the inevitable Dayne vs Martell war. I really feel it will be a good one and now hopefully Jamison takes care of some business in Vaith and gets back to Starfall! I mean I would be lying if I didn't say that Jamison mouthing off to Nymeria was something that I didn't want to see... as long as she forgives him when the Dayne's lose that is Nice job on the cover!
Thanks! Yeah, the cover really makes it clear what the main focus of the book will be, and I can't wait to get to write it Oh, and btw, Book 3 cover is almost ready as well, I'll probably add it to the op tomorrow.
And Kris will go with Dalia. I know, technically it's a tie, but this one got the first vote, and I've also been infromed by Stigz via PM th… moreat he prefers this choice (and Kris is his character) Anyway, this will have some pretty interesting consequences, but more about them later.
Ah... this battle for Vaith is sure finding a way to make me sweat I am sure you know what I mean but since it hasn't completely happened yet, I still have hope! If it does though, I am still optimistic it will go well for a certain knight though!
Anyway, I am really excited to see the siege of Kingsgrave with the might of House Fowler and Blackmont at their doorstep, it very much seems like things are over for the Manwoody's but I have a certain theory that just might mean that Albin isn't finished yet. I am going out on a massive limb here and am going to say this will lead to the first appearance of House Yronwood in book one. I am probably way off… [view original content]
Finally they saw it ahead of them, Kingsgrave. The old castle stood on a hill, surrounded by the crude and rocky fields of the valley. And at the moment it was also surrounded by a siege encampment, set up by the armies of House Blackmont and House Fowler.
"Well, we certainly won't be able to pay a visit", Ser Joran Storm said dryly, and Myke shifted his gaze to him. Joran hadn't been in the best mood during their journey, quite often seeing it necessary to remind that this was all most likely in vain. Myke understood his friend's point of view, but at the same time he knew that deep inside Joran hadn't fully given up on Kortney. Or at least he hasn't given up on his vows. Why else would Joran have come along after Myke had reminded him of their duty towards Lord Trevas Caron?
"I think you might be right this time", Raina Serviene replied to Joran with a sigh, looking at Kingsgrave and the army around it with a hint of frustration in her blue eyes. Raina had been eager to help, and perhaps even more hopeful about their mission than Myke himself, but every day she had started to show more signs of anxiousness. Myke had no doubt it was because they were getting closer to the lands of her old home – the lands where she had lost her family.
"Let's not abandon hope just yet", Myke said calmly. Then he saw a few scouts in Blackmont tabards riding towards them from the camp. Sure, they had already been once stopped by scouts a few miles ago, and given the permission to approach the camp, but still it was only to be expected that they couldn't just sneak in.
"Who are you and what is your business here?" One of the Blackmont soldiers asked with a strict tone. Myke cleared his throat before answering. "I am Ser Myke of the Marches, knight in service of Lord Trevas Caron", he said with a calm and polite tone. "With me are Ser Joran Storm and Ser Rai. We have rode here from Blackmont, where we heard troubling rumors related to the missing daughter of Lord Trevas."
The Blackmont soldier nodded to Myke approvingly. "The son of Lord Trevas Caron, along with some twenty Caron soldiers already arrived yesterday", the man informed. Myke raised an eyebrow for this. Prestan is here? He found it very surprising that Trevas would've let his son and heir to take part in such a dangerous mission. "Could you take us to him?" Myke asked, keeping his voice stoic.
"Sure, just follow after me", the soldier said, turning his horse around and heading back towards the camp with the other scouts. Without further conversation Myke, Joran and Raina followed, and rode into the camp. Closer Myke noticed that the clear majority of the troops were Blackmont soldiers, with just about a fourth of the army being Fowler's. And between the Blackmont's and Fowler's were three pavilions of House Caron.
"Here they are", the soldier said needlessly, and Myke gave him a nod. They dismounted their horses, and the scouts left them there. Just then Prestan Caron walked out of the largest pavilion, clad in a shining armor and tabard of House Caron, a sullen look on his green eyes, and his red hair combed back. Quickly the young boy's eyes met with Myke's, and a small smile formed on his boyishly handsome face.
"Prestan!" Myke greeted cheerfully, walking closer to him. "Good to see you, boy!" They hugged briefly, and after that both Myke and Joran bowed to the Heir of Nightsong, and Raina quickly followed suit.
"Ser Myke, Ser Joran, it's good to have you here", Prestan said with a genuine tone, finally turning his eyes to Raina. "And you are?"
"My name is Ser Rai, mylord", she answered with a muffled tone. Prestan looked slightly confused, but gave her just a nod before turning to Myke and Joran again. "I have to say it is quite a surprise to see you here, Prestan", Myke said with a touch of concern in his voice. Prestan seemed to pick up on his tone. "No need to feel concerned for me, old man", he quipped with a smirk. "I know how to take care of myself."
"I have no doubt of that, but I still have hard time believing your father approved this", Ser Joran joined the conversation now. "He did", Prestan replied with all the defiance of a fifteen-year-old. "Besides, it's my sister we should be worrying about."
"Keep in mind that all we have for now is a flimsy rumor", Myke reminded the boy. "It could very well be that Kortney is not here."
"That's what father said as well, which is why he refused to send an army here", Prestan's tone told he disagreed with his father's decision. "I believe Kortney is in there, waiting for us to save her... But what can we do?" Myke could hear desperation in Prestan's voice as he asked this. Indeed, the situation was not favorable for them. A rescue mission to Kingsgrave would've been dangerous on its own, but now that it was under siege it was near impossible.
"We'll come up with something", Myke answered, forcing a smile on his face. They made their way into Prestan's pavilion, and sat around the small table in the middle of it. "So, how's Lord Trevan doing?" Joran asked casually.
"Oh, you know, he's like he has been ever since Kortney disappeared", Prestan answered with a sigh. "And your message, it was a shock for him. Kortney having been a prisoner of Albin Manwoody all this time, Trevas could hardly handle the mere thought of it."
"I understand how your father feels", Myke said quietly. "How about your little brother? Is he doing fine?"
"Well, Ronard is still just a boy, but even he can see that father is not doing well", Prestan said with a sad look on his eyes. Ronard Caron was indeed still just a boy, even more so than his older brother, being at the age of eight. "And he does miss Kortney", Prestan added wistfully.
"We all do", Myke said with a grim tone, and Prestan nodded. They kept talking for a few minutes, until suddenly one of the Caron soldiers stepped in.
"M'lord, Ser Kegan Drinkwater and Prince Ferris Fowler have invited you to the war council", the soldier informed with a bow. Prestan turned to look at Myke and Joran. "Would you like to come?" He asked.
"Sure, let's go", Myke answered calmly, and Joran nodded agreeingly. "Rai, we'll be back soon", Myke said to Raina, who gave him a small nod. And so Prestan, Joran and Myke made their way through the camp, and into the large pavilion that served as the war council.
At the end of the table was a middle aged knight in thick armor and tabard of House Blackmont, and next to him was a younger man, clad in a silvery armor and blue cloak. There were also few others present at the meeting.
"Ser Kegan, Prince Ferris, you invited me", Prestan said with a polite tone, and Ser Kegan nodded to him, gesturing for him to take a seat. Myke and Joran remained standing behind him, as Prestan sat down.
"We are about to send the terms of peace to King Albin", Kegan begun with a stern tone, tapping at the parchment under his fingers. "And there was a certain issue that we needed to ask your opinion on."
"Sure, go ahead", Prestan said with a curious tone, and Kegan nodded. "Well... let's just go straight to the question then, would you want to demand for the safe release of your sister in the peace terms?" Before Prestan could answer, Prince Ferris spoke up.
"We understand that there is no certainty if your sister is actually there, but if she is, there is a certain risk at demanding this", the prince spoke with calmly, but the look on his eyes was mildly concerned.
"What risk?" Prestan asked with confusion. Kegan and Ferris glanced at each other, and the Kegan spoke up. "King Albin... he is not the most reasonable man, and might not take demands well. And if he indeed has your sister, there is the possibility that he will punish her for these demands."
Prestan turned his eyes to Myke, his gaze full of uncertainty. "Ser Myke, what do you think?" He asked timidly.
[Demand the release of Kortney][Don't mention Kortney in the peace terms]
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Kortney
Kortney stood on the battlements of Kingsgrave, along with many soldiers clad in light armor and black tabards with the crowned skull of the Manwoody's. Down on the field next to the castle, over a thousand feet away from the walls, was the large siege encampment of the enemy. Most of the banners flying over the camp were the yellow of House Blackmont, decorated with a black vulture carrying a pink infant in its claws. On the left of them was a smaller portion of the army, flying silver banners with hooded blue hawks – the Fowler's.
However, between these two armies was something that intrigued Kortney much more, something she had been staring at for minutes now. It was hard to see from afar, but the longer Kortney looked the more convinced she was that between the banners of Fowler's and Blackmont's were a few banners with a different shade of yellow, and on them were several black dots. Nightingales?
It made no sense though. If the Caron's had learnt about what happened to Kortney, surely they would've marched here with an army at least as large as that of the Blackmont's. Yet all Kortney could see was a few banners, indicating that there was at best a couple dozen Caron soldiers there.
"Isn't this a bit too dangerous place for a lady?" Kortney heard a calm voice ask next to her, and she turned her gaze to see Larry the Kind walking next to her. "There won't be a battle", Kortney said dismissively, "They will try to starve us out."
"And it is a smart choice from them", Larry replied with a sigh, leaning on the parapets of the battlement. "For all they know, King Albin has no allies, no help. They see that he is trapped, and all they have to do is wait."
For all they know. Those words stuck out to Kortney, and she wondered what exactly did Larry mean. Albin's vassals couldn't muster enough forces to save him now, and Kortney could think of no one else who would be willing to help. Perhaps the Yronwood's, Kortney thought, remembering how reluctant Albin had been about the idea of seeking refuge from King Yorick's court. She didn't know much about Yorick Yronwood, but she did know that he wasn't the kind of man to help anyone out of pity – if Yronwood's would save the Manwoody's, there would be a price for Albin to pay for it.
"So, Kortney Caron, what do you expect will happen next?" Larry asked with a sly tone, and Kortney shot a glare at him. "Do not use that name", she hissed, making him raise an eyebrow.
"I thought you would take pride in that name, mylady", Larry said with a mildly amused tone. "After all, you don't want to be just a freak, or a bed slave, do you?" Kortney stayed silent, keeping her eyes on the army ahead of them. "I have to wonder though... why didn't you go with Willem Pyke?"
In surprise and shock Kortney darted her eyes on Larry, who gave her a gleeful grin. As she stayed silent, Larry continued. "Oh yes, I had a little chat with our Ironborn friend before he left", he said nonchalantly. "Since you had not been able to provide him the information he wanted, he decided to threaten it out of me. Of course, I had no reason not to tell him what I know about Carsen, and frankly I'm not surprised there are people who have bad blood with that man. What did surprise me though was that Willem had offered to take you with him... and you decided to stay here." Larry spoke those last words with genuine curiosity in his voice, narrowing his eyes as he looked at Kortney. "Why?"
"None of your business", She spat sternly, but Larry just chuckled coldly. "Oh don't get me wrong, mylady, I thought you actually made a wise choice – just not the one I expected from you", he said this with a calm and smooth voice, taking a step closer to Kortney. "Willem Pyke is an impulsive man, driven by his anger and hatred. Following him would have been a mistake. Still, that leaves us with the question – what do you think happens next?"
"I don't know, perhaps we'll just starve to death", Kortney replied dryly, eyeing the army that was besieging them. "Maybe so", Larry said quietly, a sharp look on his eyes. "But do you really think Albin will go down without a fight? The Great King of the Red Mountains, starving to death in his own castle?"
"He can call himself the Great King of the Red Mountains as much as he wants, but the truth is he has lost this war", Kortney replied with a sigh, and Larry nodded. "So it would seem, but Albin Manwoody is the kind of man who would be willing to sacrifice everything just to see his enemies suffer – he will not surrender." He spoke with a thin smirk on his face and an ominous tone on his voice, making Kortney feel uncomfortable. There was certainly truth to what Larry said, Kortney knew it – Albin would use every option available to him, no matter how vile or low. There will be blood, she thought with a gulp.
"I'll see you later, mylady", Larry said with his polite tone, giving Kortney a small bow and proceeding to walk away from the battlements. Kortney remained standing where she was, her gaze still fixed on the army ahead. Her eyes found their way to the Caron banners again, and she let out a sigh. Freedom was so close, and yet so far.
-
The sun was already setting as Kortney sat alone on her chambers, silently thinking what Larry had said earlier. What happens next? She wondered if staying here instead of going with Willem had truly been a wise choice. Part of her felt hopeful seeing those Caron banners among the siege encampment, but the other part screamed she was foolish to put her hope in anyone else except herself. No one will save me, I have to do it myself, she decided. However, the next problem was how would she do it? She couldn't just wait for the siege to end, only gods knew how long it would take, and how many of them would be alive by the end of it.
A loud knock on the door woke Kortney from her thoughts. Quietly she walked to the door, and stopped just before it. Taking in a deep breath, she opened the door. At the corridor stood a figure dressed in a dark cloak, hood over the head. For a split second Kortney thought it was Zereth the assassin, but then she recognized those cold blue eyes – it was Queen Sofina.
"Can I come in?" Sofina asked calmly, a piercing look on her eyes. "Of course, Your Grace", Kortney answered after a moment of hesitation, letting the Queen inside her chambers. As Sofina took a seat, Kortney spoke up again. "The King has forbidden me from seeing you...", she started, but Sofina cut her off.
"Albin won't hear of this", she said nonchalantly. "So no need to worry, Lady Caron." Kortney's eyes widened, and Sofina clearly spotted her shock. "Did you think the rumor wouldn't spread?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. Kortney turned her eyes down in a loss of words. "Half the Kingsgrave knows by now, and soon enough the truth will spread outside the castle as well. And that will mean one more strong enemy for my husband. Apparently the Caron's are already suspecting something, since few of them are among the army of Blackmont's and Fowler's."
"I'm loyal to King Albin", Kortney muttered, and Sofina let out a chuckle. "There is no need to play games with me, Kortney", she said with a thin smirk. "I already offered you a way out earlier, and you refused."
"And I'm glad I did, considering what happened to Shana", Kortney spat, and now the Queen's expression turned sour. "You're right", Sofina admitted with a sigh. "I failed Shana... just as much as I failed you, and the Purple Ocelot. But I am determined to end this madness." Kortney gulped as she heard the willfulness on the Queen's voice. Finally she removed her hood, and Kortney could see the bruises on her face.
"Wh- what do you plan to do?" She asked quietly, and a smirk was formed on Sofina's face. "I will end Albin's reign", she said, a murderous look on her eyes. "I have gathered men around me, men who are loyal to me, and ready to take action. After Albin has been dealt with, his brother will take the crown, until Prince Brodin comes of age." Brodin wasn't actually the heir, so Kortney assumed this meant that Prince Arvin would be taken care of as well.
"Why are you telling this to me?" Kortney asked nervously. For a moment Sofina was silent, just eyeing at Kortney. "You will have an important role once this is over, Kortney", the Queen finally spoke with a serious tone on her voice. "The last thing we want is a war with the Caron's, and you will be the one to ensure the peace between our houses."
"So... When you have killed Albin, you want me to tell my father not to wage war with you?" Kortney asked, and Sofina nodded. "Exactly", she said sharply. "I know your father must be enraged when he'll learn about what happened to you, but I promise to you and your father, justice will be served for Albin and his freaks." With these words Queen Sofina stood up and pulled the hood over her head once again. "Soon you will be free, Lady Kortney", she said, giving one more look at Korteny, before walking out of the room and closing the door behind her.
With faltering steps Kortney walked to her bed. She laid down, silent and motionless, and she already knew she wouldn't be able to sleep a minute that night.
[Don't mention Kortney in the peace terms]
While I don't doubt he would refuse, we all know Albin will be defeated by someone else, if House Yronwood do intervene (considering House Wyl is the nearest to Kingsgrave), things will get ugly for House Fowler and Blackmont, although it will only provoke House Caron to send an army.
Hopefully the chaos will give Kortney an opportunity to escape, although I pity the fate of the remaining Manwoody's.
Myke
Finally they saw it ahead of them, Kingsgrave. The old castle stood on a hill, surrounded by the crude and rocky fields of the valle… morey. And at the moment it was also surrounded by a siege encampment, set up by the armies of House Blackmont and House Fowler.
"Well, we certainly won't be able to pay a visit", Ser Joran Storm said dryly, and Myke shifted his gaze to him. Joran hadn't been in the best mood during their journey, quite often seeing it necessary to remind that this was all most likely in vain. Myke understood his friend's point of view, but at the same time he knew that deep inside Joran hadn't fully given up on Kortney. Or at least he hasn't given up on his vows. Why else would Joran have come along after Myke had reminded him of their duty towards Lord Trevas Caron?
"I think you might be right this time", Raina Serviene replied to Joran with a sigh, looking at Kingsgrave and the army around it with a hint of frustrati… [view original content]
Demanding that Albin let Kortney go is no doubt a recipe for disaster. I remember you saying the big question about Albin will be how many he takes down with him and I don't want to give him a reason to harm Kortney since at this point he has nothing to lose. Albin sees the Caron banners I'm sure but flat out demanding he let her go is the complete opposite of what seems like the best way to deal with Albin here. Also it is cool to see a Prestan apperance since he was supposed to have a big role if we would have chosen to take him originally!
As for Kortney's part, it is awesome to see Sofina here but I have a feeling this will just be a tease like Lyla finding Gwendis was so I will hold back on my excitement since I definitely don't see her plan working at all especially with the Book 3 cover so Albin is most likely not going down just yet but hopefully Sofina can help free Kortney nonetheless.
Myke
Finally they saw it ahead of them, Kingsgrave. The old castle stood on a hill, surrounded by the crude and rocky fields of the valle… morey. And at the moment it was also surrounded by a siege encampment, set up by the armies of House Blackmont and House Fowler.
"Well, we certainly won't be able to pay a visit", Ser Joran Storm said dryly, and Myke shifted his gaze to him. Joran hadn't been in the best mood during their journey, quite often seeing it necessary to remind that this was all most likely in vain. Myke understood his friend's point of view, but at the same time he knew that deep inside Joran hadn't fully given up on Kortney. Or at least he hasn't given up on his vows. Why else would Joran have come along after Myke had reminded him of their duty towards Lord Trevas Caron?
"I think you might be right this time", Raina Serviene replied to Joran with a sigh, looking at Kingsgrave and the army around it with a hint of frustrati… [view original content]
Hmm, well this is a hopeful but difficult decision you've left us with here. Firstly, I'm happy to see Prestan here, the sight of Caron's is always warming to the heart And now this talk of sending a letter, well, I think Prince Ferris' word holds merit here, I only fear that the same will happen now that the majority of Kingsgrave knows that Kortney is Kortney.
[Demand the release of Kortney]
I'm worried that the alternative of this choice may end as Ferris said, but then again I'm fearful it won't matter if she mentions it or not. If the majority of Kingsgrave knows of Missy's identity, then without a doubt Albin does too, and as Larry said, he'll use any leverage to see his enemies suffer. This potentially means torturing Kortney and showcasing her on the battlements for all eyes to the see, even the Caron's. While part of me holds hope he wouldn't do this as it would bring a Caron army, I can't see why he wouldn't. He's fucked, he knows he's fucked, what's he got to lose? Sure, his family and home, but if Larry is right then he won't surrender, and where is there to hide in Kingsgrave if the likes of Zareth are snooping around.
I honestly don't know the best alternative for this part, I think either will end up with the same outcome, the only difference being time. Maybe not mentioning her in the peace terms will not put the thought into Albin's head, or at least won't provoke the idea until later. The main worry though is that Kortney may get a feeling that her family isn't truly interested in saving her. I mean, we've already seen her disappointment in perhaps seeing a couple of flags which she doesn't know are Caron's or not. If they are, she'd expect they're trying to rescue her, so being put in the peace terms would at least assure her she has allies trying to save her. Actually, I think I've just had a change of thought when it comes to allies.
Sofina has brought up that she plans to kill Albin, and that's a big feat on its own, one that will likely get caught if there isn't something distracting Albin entirely. Sure, there's two armies outside his wall starving him out, but they're not exactly on his gate, and there are other sick things Albin could be doing. Being provoked by the letter may mean more harm for Kortney, it may even mean a relapse of Missy, but I don't think Sofina will let it get that far. I mean, what role will Kortney play in Albin's assassination other than a distraction, bait? I'd love for her to take the kill, but for the chance of this even succeeding, I think Albin's eyes need to be focused on one thing, rather than scouring around for solutions. This may not bode well with Kortney's wellbeing, but she has allies within the wall, and outside of it, she needs to be reminded of it. Kortney has survived torment in Kingsgrave before, and I'm sticking by her by saying she can again.
Myke
Finally they saw it ahead of them, Kingsgrave. The old castle stood on a hill, surrounded by the crude and rocky fields of the valle… morey. And at the moment it was also surrounded by a siege encampment, set up by the armies of House Blackmont and House Fowler.
"Well, we certainly won't be able to pay a visit", Ser Joran Storm said dryly, and Myke shifted his gaze to him. Joran hadn't been in the best mood during their journey, quite often seeing it necessary to remind that this was all most likely in vain. Myke understood his friend's point of view, but at the same time he knew that deep inside Joran hadn't fully given up on Kortney. Or at least he hasn't given up on his vows. Why else would Joran have come along after Myke had reminded him of their duty towards Lord Trevas Caron?
"I think you might be right this time", Raina Serviene replied to Joran with a sigh, looking at Kingsgrave and the army around it with a hint of frustrati… [view original content]
Myke
Finally they saw it ahead of them, Kingsgrave. The old castle stood on a hill, surrounded by the crude and rocky fields of the valle… morey. And at the moment it was also surrounded by a siege encampment, set up by the armies of House Blackmont and House Fowler.
"Well, we certainly won't be able to pay a visit", Ser Joran Storm said dryly, and Myke shifted his gaze to him. Joran hadn't been in the best mood during their journey, quite often seeing it necessary to remind that this was all most likely in vain. Myke understood his friend's point of view, but at the same time he knew that deep inside Joran hadn't fully given up on Kortney. Or at least he hasn't given up on his vows. Why else would Joran have come along after Myke had reminded him of their duty towards Lord Trevas Caron?
"I think you might be right this time", Raina Serviene replied to Joran with a sigh, looking at Kingsgrave and the army around it with a hint of frustrati… [view original content]
Myke
Finally they saw it ahead of them, Kingsgrave. The old castle stood on a hill, surrounded by the crude and rocky fields of the valle… morey. And at the moment it was also surrounded by a siege encampment, set up by the armies of House Blackmont and House Fowler.
"Well, we certainly won't be able to pay a visit", Ser Joran Storm said dryly, and Myke shifted his gaze to him. Joran hadn't been in the best mood during their journey, quite often seeing it necessary to remind that this was all most likely in vain. Myke understood his friend's point of view, but at the same time he knew that deep inside Joran hadn't fully given up on Kortney. Or at least he hasn't given up on his vows. Why else would Joran have come along after Myke had reminded him of their duty towards Lord Trevas Caron?
"I think you might be right this time", Raina Serviene replied to Joran with a sigh, looking at Kingsgrave and the army around it with a hint of frustrati… [view original content]
Thank you so much, I am glad you enjoyed it! Writing Valaena was probably my favourite thing about this H&L, as she is indeed the biggest influence in Gwendis' life and the role model she has looked up to in her entire childhood. Back when I submitted the characters, I never thought she'd become such an important part of it all, but with this and the work from your earlier H&L, I am absolutely happy with the way she became a part of the story even despite her obvious absence. Speaking of H&L's, I cannot wait for your new computer, because I would surely love to see more of your work
I read this H&L a few days ago but haven't really had the chance to comment until now. There isn't much I can say that hasn't already be… moreen I'll go ahead and say great job! This part tells so much about Gwendis and what shaped her and it was always clear her mother was her biggest influence but seeing Valaena in writing is clearly awesome and I definitely like the Syrenho appearance as well. Now I need to get a new computer so I can jump back into some H&L's. Great work!
Whoa, that cover is intense! I absolutely love it, even more than the last cover. Naturally, this makes me hyped for Book 2 and I cannot wait to find out how the Book 3 cover will look, or the Book 4 cover. One thing that concerns me a bit is the red of the falling star, because that implies some death among the Dayne family. Since I doubt Vorian himself will die, this will put some of my favourites at risk, as I just love Jamison, Malcolm and Nealia. I hope that red is not to be seen as literal blood, but there is also concern among my hype, as I am pretty sure that no matter if they survive Book 2 or not, things will be very rough on each on them, with the Martell-Dayne war and all.
Voting is closed!
And Kris will go with Dalia. I know, technically it's a tie, but this one got the first vote, and I've also been infrom… moreed by Stigz via PM that he prefers this choice (and Kris is his character) Anyway, this will have some pretty interesting consequences, but more about them later.
Next we will have two parts, Myke and Kortney, concluding their Chapter 2 storylines. It's been a while since we saw Myke, but the last we saw him he was in Blackmont, where he heard a rumor from Maester Mortin that Kortney could possibly be held as a prisoner in Kingsgrave. With no other clues to follow, Myke decided to head towards Kingsgrave, as well as send a raven to Nightsong about this. Raina immediately offered to help Myke, and Myke also decided to remind Joran Storm that saving Kortney is his duty. And so, Joran joined in on the mission to Kingsgrave as well. In this next part we'll see them arrive to their destination.
Kortney … [view original content]
Oh, I hate to choose this, because I fear that this will somehow ruin Kortney's chances of being freed. A part of me thinks that even Albin has to know that he won't have a chance to secure his houses survival if he does not comply with the terms. However, I cannot deny that there is one super huge concern I have about this. I doubt Albin is going to just give Kortney up. I mean, he might indeed technically fulfil the conditions by freeing her, but maybe reminding him of her real identity and the importance she has to those that are about to humiliate him will lead to him torturing her horribly and beyond recovery before freeing her. After all, nobody can prove that he only did so after learning about the terms. Or even worse, there is no hard evidence of her truly being at Kingsgrave. He could just make sure that Kortney will be hidden in the castle and claim that she has never been there. Then, after surrendering, he will take his wrath out on her. No, I believe that the only way to ensure Kortney's safety is to make sure that Albin does not know about how important her health is to the Caron's. That way, he might ignore her somewhat and maybe he won't even keep her hidden when he inevitably has to come and sign the terms. That way, they can surprise him with this additional demand when they have him at their mercy. Maybe he will be too baffled by this revelation to do anything messed up right then and that will give Myke a chance to fulfil his quest. Or maybe Sofina can protect her, as long as Albin won't direct his full attention towards her. Actually, I think Sofina will play an important role in Kortney's freedom. I bet she and Myke will have to combine their efforts if there is any hope for Kortney to be free ever again and even then, it will be one huge piece of work.
Myke
Finally they saw it ahead of them, Kingsgrave. The old castle stood on a hill, surrounded by the crude and rocky fields of the valle… morey. And at the moment it was also surrounded by a siege encampment, set up by the armies of House Blackmont and House Fowler.
"Well, we certainly won't be able to pay a visit", Ser Joran Storm said dryly, and Myke shifted his gaze to him. Joran hadn't been in the best mood during their journey, quite often seeing it necessary to remind that this was all most likely in vain. Myke understood his friend's point of view, but at the same time he knew that deep inside Joran hadn't fully given up on Kortney. Or at least he hasn't given up on his vows. Why else would Joran have come along after Myke had reminded him of their duty towards Lord Trevas Caron?
"I think you might be right this time", Raina Serviene replied to Joran with a sigh, looking at Kingsgrave and the army around it with a hint of frustrati… [view original content]
Myke
Finally they saw it ahead of them, Kingsgrave. The old castle stood on a hill, surrounded by the crude and rocky fields of the valle… morey. And at the moment it was also surrounded by a siege encampment, set up by the armies of House Blackmont and House Fowler.
"Well, we certainly won't be able to pay a visit", Ser Joran Storm said dryly, and Myke shifted his gaze to him. Joran hadn't been in the best mood during their journey, quite often seeing it necessary to remind that this was all most likely in vain. Myke understood his friend's point of view, but at the same time he knew that deep inside Joran hadn't fully given up on Kortney. Or at least he hasn't given up on his vows. Why else would Joran have come along after Myke had reminded him of their duty towards Lord Trevas Caron?
"I think you might be right this time", Raina Serviene replied to Joran with a sigh, looking at Kingsgrave and the army around it with a hint of frustrati… [view original content]
And by Myke's advice to Prestan, Kortney won't be mentioned in the peace terms delivered to King Albin. Yeah, it's probably better not to take the risk of provoking Albin to harm Kortney. Now, as I said earlier these parts concluded the Kingsgrave storyline for Chapter 2, but as you could clearly see, this wasn't so much of a climax, but rather a setup for things to come in the next chapter. And I can promise you, Kingsgrave certainly will be a crazy and chaotic location in Chapter 3
Next we'll have a Nealia PoV, taking us back to Lemonwood. Last time we saw her, Nealia was fighting on the battlements with Lien, White Elephant, Jinora Ling and Edric Thorne. After this, they made their way deeper into the city, following after the Rose Company. They made their way into a tavern, where they found Jacke and mortally wounded Illor. It was quite clear Illor was in a very weak state, and sure to die soon. However, he asked for Nealia to stay by his side, and you voted for her to stay. I'm fairly confident I'll get this part done today.
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Edit: Ah, almost forgot, here is a portrait of Prestan Caron:
Aaaah, I never thought that Kingsgrave would have the potential to be my favourite Chapter 3 location, but with this teaser here, I now start to dread the time where I have to answer questions at the end of the next chapter about my favourite storyline. There's just so much and I already have a hard time deciding and now you come and hint at seriously awesome stuff to go down there in Chapter 3 Anyways, I am looking forward for Nealia as well, very much so! The battle for Lemonwood is clearly the highlight of this chapter so far and I feel like we're far from done with it.
I have also just noticed the Book 3 cover in the main post! Manwoody, that is only half a surprise for me. I mean, you confirmed you wish to work with the Manwoody sigil at some point, because it is legitimately badass, so I somewhat expected it to be a part of the cover. That leaves House Yronwood for Book 4 and probably means that Albin will somehow stay in power until that point, as bad as things look for him right now. It also means I have nothing to work with when it comes to the point where the houses Blackmont and Fowler will bend the knee. I could see Fowler kneeling before Blackmont, either in early Book 2 before the Dayne's or early 3, with the Blackmont's potentially staying somewhat in power until late Book 3 or early 4. I also genuinely hope that this cover is foreshadowing of Albin taking a spear to the eye, because if there is a single character in this story I want dead, it's AishaWesleyValerieMyraMother MinesaDalia Albin. Yeah, Albin... Hm, come to think of it, he might not be the only one I legitimately wish to see dead, but I genuinely want him to die after all he did so far. Given that there is still so much time until Book 3, I can guess that the worst is yet to come from him.
Voting is closed!
And by Myke's advice to Prestan, Kortney won't be mentioned in the peace terms delivered to King Albin. Yeah, it's prob… moreably better not to take the risk of provoking Albin to harm Kortney. Now, as I said earlier these parts concluded the Kingsgrave storyline for Chapter 2, but as you could clearly see, this wasn't so much of a climax, but rather a setup for things to come in the next chapter. And I can promise you, Kingsgrave certainly will be a crazy and chaotic location in Chapter 3
Next we'll have a Nealia PoV, taking us back to Lemonwood. Last time we saw her, Nealia was fighting on the battlements with Lien, White Elephant, Jinora Ling and Edric Thorne. After this, they made their way deeper into the city, following after the Rose Company. They made their way into a tavern, where they found Jacke and mortally wounded Illor. It was quite clear Illor was in a very weak state, and sure to die soon. However, he asked … [view original content]
Nealia was sitting next to Illor, who was laying down on the floor of the tavern, while Jacke sat on the table close by, downing his fourth ale. All the time the battle was going on in the city of Lemonwood around them, but right now Nealia didn't care about that. She only cared about her friend who was getting weaker every moment.
Nealia held Illor's hand, her eyes red from crying. "I... always knew this day would come", Illor said with quiet and painful words. "I just imagined it'd be... faster, less painful."
"Just stay calm Illor, you'll be fine", Nealia said thinly, but Illor seemed to ignore her words. "I wonder who is right... about what happens after." He spoke with a fearful look on his eyes. "The Andal septons with their seven heavens and hells?" Illor turned his eyes to Nealia as he said this, and his lips formed a pained smirk. "Which hell do you think I'd end up then?" He asked, and Nealia chuckled weakly, tears coming to her eyes again. As she didn't answer, Illor continued, his voice much grimmer now. "But I'm not afraid of any hell... what I'm afraid of is... that there's nothing. That this was my only life, and I wasted it."
"You haven't wasted it", Nealia insisted with compassion, grabbing Illor's right hand between her palms. "I gotta agree with the silver lady", Jacke joined the conversation, his voice slightly slurring. "You've lived and seen more than most, my friend." Nealia saw a single tear streaming down Illor's cheek.
"I should've stayed with her", the Braavosi muttered quietly, clearly talking more to himself than to Nealia or Jacke. Nealia glanced quickly at Jacke, who just gave her a subtle shrug. "Perhaps one day I could've..." Whatever Illor tried to say, he couldn't bring himself to finish it. He just groaned, either in pain or grief, or perhaps both.
"If there is anything you want to say, I'll listen", Nealia encouraged quietly, and slowly Illor turned his eyes to her. The fear and weakness in his eyes was crushing. Illor opened his mouth slightly, but no words came out. Slowly his gaze froze, as well as all of his movements, the frightened expression still on his face. He is dead, Nealia realized, and closed her eyes in frustration and grief, still holding onto Illor's hand. After a moment she closed Illor's eyes, making him look at least slightly less frightened, and more in peace.
"Seven save him, he was a good man", Jacke lamented with a sigh. "There aren't many like him in this line of work... a big loss for us all." After saying this, the Stormlander sellsword gulped down another mug of ale. Nealia stayed silent, there were no words for how she felt at this moment. Though she had known him merely for couple months, losing Illor was the worst thing that had happened to her ever since her mother's death. Just like Jacke said, Illor had been a good man, but more importantly he had been a good friend.
Slowly Nealia's grief was starting to be overtaken by anger – yet she didn't know to what or whom exactly was she angry at. Illor for dying? The Dalt soldiers for killing him? They had just been doing their duty, and most likely the man who had thrusted his spear to Illor's guts already laid dead on the streets. No, Nealia was angry at life itself, the whole world, and whatever gods dictated the faiths of men and women on it. So much war, so much useless death. She clenched her fists as she stared at the corpse of Illor, feeling extremely frustrated. There would be no vengeance for this man, no justice to be served – she would just have to forget him. No, I will remember him, Nealia promised to herself.
Suddenly, the door of the tavern was opened. Inside strolled a group of half a dozen bandits, led by none other than Corren. The skinny man had a smug expression on his narrow face, which was currently smeared with blood. Few of the men following Corren were clearly injured, limping or holding their arms in pain.
"Well, well, if it isn't the royal cunt, and a dead foreign fucker", Corren said arrogantly, and Nealia stood up. Jacke also stood up from his chair, placing his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Oh no, you don't want to do that", Corren said, gesturing towards the men behind him. "You're quite severly outnumbered for starting a fight." With these words the bandit leader took a couple steps closer to them, narrowing his eyes as he laid them on Nealia. "I haven't forgotten that punch of yours, love", he said quietly, an underlying threat in his words.
"Good", Nealia spat back defiantly, and Corren's lips formed a twisted smirk. "Daddy Tryden isn't here to protect you now, bitch", he hissed, raising his sword up. Both Nealia and Jacke unsheathed their swords, and the thugs behind Corren did the same. Nealia felt her pulse getting faster, she felt nervous, but she also felt satisfied – now there was someone she could focus her anger on.
"Go ahead and try it then, bastard", she said, anger oozing from her words. For a moment Corren's eyes widened, perhaps he hadn't expected defiance. He backed away, retreating behind his thugs. "Kill them", he said coldly, and the bandits started to slowly move closer to Nealia and Jacke.
Finally, after a tense moment of silence, one of the thugs stormed towards them with a shrill scream. However, that scream was swiftly cut short, as Nealia easily parried his swing with her left sword, and stabbed the right one violently into his guts.
Meanwhile Jacke rushed towards the next two thugs. Though his steps were slightly faltering from the effect of the ale, the Stormlander quickly disarmed one of Corren's men. However, the other one smashed his ribs with a mace, making him stumble to the ground. Nealia rushed in quickly to help, jumping on the thug with the mace from behind, and slicing his throat open.
Meanwhile the disarmed thug had reclaimed his sword. However, Jacke and Nealia attacked him simultaneously. He was barely able to parry Nealia's strike, but Jacke's sword immediately split open his skull. Aside from Corren himself, there were just three thugs left, and they were all injured. One of them dropped his sword and raised up his hands. "Fuck it, I'm not dying for this", he said and shook his head, and the other two followed his example. With an equally panicked and angered expression on his face, Corren quickly retreated to the door of the tavern, and ran out.
Nealia glanced at Jacke, who was holding his ribs where the mace had hit him, a pained expression on his face. Meanwhile the three injured thugs made their way out as well. Jacke sunk back into his chair. "You can go after the bastard if you want, but I think I need some rest", he muttered.
Nealia
Nealia was sitting next to Illor, who was laying down on the floor of the tavern, while Jacke sat on the table close by, downing h… moreis fourth ale. All the time the battle was going on in the city of Lemonwood around them, but right now Nealia didn't care about that. She only cared about her friend who was getting weaker every moment.
Nealia held Illor's hand, her eyes red from crying. "I... always knew this day would come", Illor said with quiet and painful words. "I just imagined it'd be... faster, less painful."
"Just stay calm Illor, you'll be fine", Nealia said thinly, but Illor seemed to ignore her words. "I wonder who is right... about what happens after." He spoke with a fearful look on his eyes. "The Andal septons with their seven heavens and hells?" Illor turned his eyes to Nealia as he said this, and his lips formed a pained smirk. "Which hell do you think I'd end up then?" He asked, and Nealia chuckled weakly, tears c… [view original content]
[Stay with Jacke]
As much as I want to kill that bastard Corren, is better to make sure he's okay, she will not lose another companion like that on this night.
Nealia
Nealia was sitting next to Illor, who was laying down on the floor of the tavern, while Jacke sat on the table close by, downing h… moreis fourth ale. All the time the battle was going on in the city of Lemonwood around them, but right now Nealia didn't care about that. She only cared about her friend who was getting weaker every moment.
Nealia held Illor's hand, her eyes red from crying. "I... always knew this day would come", Illor said with quiet and painful words. "I just imagined it'd be... faster, less painful."
"Just stay calm Illor, you'll be fine", Nealia said thinly, but Illor seemed to ignore her words. "I wonder who is right... about what happens after." He spoke with a fearful look on his eyes. "The Andal septons with their seven heavens and hells?" Illor turned his eyes to Nealia as he said this, and his lips formed a pained smirk. "Which hell do you think I'd end up then?" He asked, and Nealia chuckled weakly, tears c… [view original content]
Shit... this was another choice I felt conflicted about. Actually, my first impulse was to go after that bastard, to hunt him down and make sure that he won't be a problem anymore. I think Jacke's injuries, while painful, are not life-threatening, so maybe this will be a chance to get rid of Corren once and for all. However, then I thought, can we be sure that Jacke is going to survive? Illor's death has already been painful enough, there's no need for Nealia to lose yet another friend. If Jacke's wounds are worse than they seem right now, then staying with him could save his life. Or if any enemies find their way into the tavern, as unlikely as it seems right now. The thing with Corren is, he's done for. Once Tryden learns about this, that bastard is dead. If I have gotten Tryden' character correctly so far, then he will be legitimately pissed at this and he's really not the kind of guy I'd like to severely piss off. If Corren shows his ugly face near the Rose Company again, he is likely to be executed on the spot. It seems his men have taken severe losses during the battle, meaning that Efran might not even need him anymore. And most importantly, if Nealia rushes after him, there is no saying what will happen. It could give Corren a chance to turn the fight around entirely. She could run into a trap, or he could ambush her in the streets. He has lost here, so let's not risk him getting a chance to win.
At the same time, he might just return with more men... ah, this is a hard choice and I might change my vote later on, but for now, this seems more reasonable than blindly chasing after that guy.
Nealia
Nealia was sitting next to Illor, who was laying down on the floor of the tavern, while Jacke sat on the table close by, downing h… moreis fourth ale. All the time the battle was going on in the city of Lemonwood around them, but right now Nealia didn't care about that. She only cared about her friend who was getting weaker every moment.
Nealia held Illor's hand, her eyes red from crying. "I... always knew this day would come", Illor said with quiet and painful words. "I just imagined it'd be... faster, less painful."
"Just stay calm Illor, you'll be fine", Nealia said thinly, but Illor seemed to ignore her words. "I wonder who is right... about what happens after." He spoke with a fearful look on his eyes. "The Andal septons with their seven heavens and hells?" Illor turned his eyes to Nealia as he said this, and his lips formed a pained smirk. "Which hell do you think I'd end up then?" He asked, and Nealia chuckled weakly, tears c… [view original content]
Nealia
Nealia was sitting next to Illor, who was laying down on the floor of the tavern, while Jacke sat on the table close by, downing h… moreis fourth ale. All the time the battle was going on in the city of Lemonwood around them, but right now Nealia didn't care about that. She only cared about her friend who was getting weaker every moment.
Nealia held Illor's hand, her eyes red from crying. "I... always knew this day would come", Illor said with quiet and painful words. "I just imagined it'd be... faster, less painful."
"Just stay calm Illor, you'll be fine", Nealia said thinly, but Illor seemed to ignore her words. "I wonder who is right... about what happens after." He spoke with a fearful look on his eyes. "The Andal septons with their seven heavens and hells?" Illor turned his eyes to Nealia as he said this, and his lips formed a pained smirk. "Which hell do you think I'd end up then?" He asked, and Nealia chuckled weakly, tears c… [view original content]
Nealia
Nealia was sitting next to Illor, who was laying down on the floor of the tavern, while Jacke sat on the table close by, downing h… moreis fourth ale. All the time the battle was going on in the city of Lemonwood around them, but right now Nealia didn't care about that. She only cared about her friend who was getting weaker every moment.
Nealia held Illor's hand, her eyes red from crying. "I... always knew this day would come", Illor said with quiet and painful words. "I just imagined it'd be... faster, less painful."
"Just stay calm Illor, you'll be fine", Nealia said thinly, but Illor seemed to ignore her words. "I wonder who is right... about what happens after." He spoke with a fearful look on his eyes. "The Andal septons with their seven heavens and hells?" Illor turned his eyes to Nealia as he said this, and his lips formed a pained smirk. "Which hell do you think I'd end up then?" He asked, and Nealia chuckled weakly, tears c… [view original content]
Nealia
Nealia was sitting next to Illor, who was laying down on the floor of the tavern, while Jacke sat on the table close by, downing h… moreis fourth ale. All the time the battle was going on in the city of Lemonwood around them, but right now Nealia didn't care about that. She only cared about her friend who was getting weaker every moment.
Nealia held Illor's hand, her eyes red from crying. "I... always knew this day would come", Illor said with quiet and painful words. "I just imagined it'd be... faster, less painful."
"Just stay calm Illor, you'll be fine", Nealia said thinly, but Illor seemed to ignore her words. "I wonder who is right... about what happens after." He spoke with a fearful look on his eyes. "The Andal septons with their seven heavens and hells?" Illor turned his eyes to Nealia as he said this, and his lips formed a pained smirk. "Which hell do you think I'd end up then?" He asked, and Nealia chuckled weakly, tears c… [view original content]
And Nealia will stay with Jacke in the tavern. Well, going after Corren would've offered an opportunity to kill the guy, but aside from that this is a character building choice. Instead of going after Corren to tear down her rage on her, Nealia is going to stay to look after her injured brother-in-arms. Jacke's injuries aren't life threatening, but it's safe to say he might not be in the condition to defend himself in case an enemy would find its way to the tavern.
Anyway, next up will be Dianna and Verro PoVs, which will start to shift the Battle for Lemonwood towards its ending. I have to admit I haven't made a ton of progress on these parts on the last couple days, but I'd still say you can expect them to be ready by Sunday. I don't think long recaps are needed, but just as a reminder: Dianna decided to keep following Bjorn in her latest part as he led the Ironborn to raid the southern parts of the town. Verro's leg was injured in his latest part, slowing him down considerably. Nesila took him to an abandoned house near the harbor gate and patched him up, and he decided to stay hidden in that house after Nesila returned to the fighting.
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Oh, and you may have already noticed the smaller versions on the op, but here are the covers of Book 3 and Book 4:
Well... I feel a bit embarassed at me writing out two long sentences about how much I look forward for the battle for Vaith and then I realized that you announced a Dianna part and not a Dalia part. That... was not my finest moment But I really look forward for the Lemonwood parts as well. I wonder if this means that Vaith will be the absolute chapter finale, as we seem to reach the end of the battle for Lemonwood soon. Ah, even if I misread her name as Dalia for a moment, I look forward for Dianna as well, at least as much, probably even more
And that final book cover is awesome! Well, I expected nothing less of course, given how great the previous three are. All in all, the third might be my favourite, but that might just be for the supreme badassery that is the Manwoody sigil. Naturally, I am excited for Book 4 as well, even if that'll be years until we get there. Unsurprisingly, we have the Yronwood's there and paired with the title, that makes me believe that the two wildcard houses, the Blackmont's and Fowler's, are probably going to bend the knee in Book 3 at latest, likely shortly before the Manwoody's, giving Nym one clear enemy in Book 4 instead of several smaller opponents.
Voting is closed!
And Nealia will stay with Jacke in the tavern. Well, going after Corren would've offered an opportunity to kill the guy… more, but aside from that this is a character building choice. Instead of going after Corren to tear down her rage on her, Nealia is going to stay to look after her injured brother-in-arms. Jacke's injuries aren't life threatening, but it's safe to say he might not be in the condition to defend himself in case an enemy would find its way to the tavern.
Anyway, next up will be Dianna and Verro PoVs, which will start to shift the Battle for Lemonwood towards its ending. I have to admit I haven't made a ton of progress on these parts on the last couple days, but I'd still say you can expect them to be ready by Sunday. I don't think long recaps are needed, but just as a reminder: Dianna decided to keep following Bjorn in her latest part as he led the Ironborn to raid the southern parts of the town. Verro's leg… [view original content]
While Bjorn Harlaw and his crew had been pillaging the houses of the southern parts of Lemonwood, Dianna had stayed on the streets, keeping guard. She had no interest in watching the Ironborn do their atrocities to the people who were still in the houses, and rob whatever valuables they found.
Now Dianna was starting to notice the sky slowly getting brighter. The dawn was close, and the city had been completely overrun by the forces of the Bandit Lord, with only the streets right in front of the gates still being held by the Dalt soldiers. It would be interesting to see how would this battle continue from here. Would Lord Darin surrender? From her brief meeting with the man, Dianna didn't see Darin as someone who would easily admit his defeat. But perhaps his troops will.
Dianna's thoughts were interrupted as the door across the street was slammed open, with Arfast Stonetree walking out. On the man's left hand was a large bag of items he had looted from the houses, and with his right hand he dragged a crying young girl, probably on her late teens. Atrocious, Dianna thought, frustrated that there was nothing she could do to help the girl. Not yet at least.
In the coattails of Arfast came Roryn Drumm and half a dozen more Ironborn warriors. Slowly the whole Ironborn crew made their way closer to the castle, approaching the gate from south. There was a strong force of enemy spearmen and heavy swordsmen defending the gate.
Bjorn stopped few dozen feet away from the defenders, while Efran's men already charged against them. "In the castle are many treasures that have been promised to us!" Bjorn yelled loudly. "If we want to get them, we need to kill those sorry cunts of greenlanders. Can we do it?"
"Yes!" The Ironborn yelled with eager tones, beating their axes and swords against their shields. "For the Drowned God!" One of them yelled, and they begun their charge against the Dalt soldiers. Some of the Dalt soldier turned to face them, but not nearly enough. The Ironborn overwhelmed them, crashing through their lines, causing a chaos among them, which helped Efran's men to break through the lines as well.
Dianna watched this all from a safe distance, having to take down just a few Dalt soldiers who tried to desert their own. At one point two Dalt soldiers charged against Dianna. She easily deflected one of the swords with her shield, and tackled the soldier down to the ground. Taking a quick glimpse behind, she saw the other one quickly approaching her. I don't have enough time to parry, she thought in panic, trying to turn towards the attacker. However, before the man could swing his sword, an axe had cut his throat open. Quickly Dianna turned towards the man who she had earlier tackled, seeing him now trying to crawl towards his sword. Dianna stopped him by kicking him to the ribs, and then slashing his throat open with her arakh.
After that was done, she turned to see who had saved her – and it was Roryn Drumm, standing there with an arrogant grin on his face and cleaning the blood from his axe. "Saved you again, Lady Dianna", he said with a cocky tone. Dianna decided not to answer, but just walked past him, and proceeded to take down the next soldier. Soon the skirmish was over, and the remaining Dalt soldiers were retreating inside the castle. Bjorn Harlaw raised up his sword, and the Ironborn cheered for him. Dianna took in a couple deep breaths, feeling thankful that he had survived this battle.
As the Ironborn walked through the fallen and Efran's men started to form lines, Dianna noticed that many of Bjorn's men had gathered around one of the bodies. She walked closer, noticing the dead corpse belonged to Arfast Stonetree. Bjorn seemed angry and disappointed looking at his friend's dead body, and even kneeled down to kiss the dead man on the forehead. Then he stood up, commanding few of the men to carry Arfast's body away from the street, and the men obeyed.
"Why is it so hard for you greenlander women to be grateful?" Dianna heard Roryn's voice ask behind her, and she turned to face him. "Why is it so hard for you Ironborn to be decent?" She shot back, and Roryn chuckled coldly.
"Decent... I guess that's your word for weak", he said with a smirk, but Dianna shook her head. "No", she said strictly. "You are the weak ones, rejecting any honor and dignity, following your primal instincts like you're bloody animals. True strength is to fight for what's right, not to reave and rape when and where you please." After Dianna's rant, Roryn took a step closer to her. "And you think the knights and high lords of Westeros fight for what's right?" He asked with a condescending tone. "Oh my dear, every man on this earth wants to dominate – we are just being honest about it. Besides, I saved a beautiful lady twice this night, that would make any knight jealous." Roryn tapped Dianna on the shoulder as he walked past her, making his way towards Bjorn.
Dianna rolled her eyes as she watched Roryn go. And then she noticed another man approaching her. This one was also an Ironborn warrior, clad in leather armor and sporting a long brown beard. On his other hand was an axe, and on the other he was carrying a sturdy helmet that he had clearly worn in the battle. "Looks like my brother has laid his eyes on you", the man said with a mellow expression on his face.
"You're Roryn's brother, huh?" Dianna asked with a tense tone, and the man nodded. "My name is Hilsgurd Drumm, Roryn is my older brother", he explained calmly. "Our father, Lord Daven, is part of King Harmund's court and has forbidden us to take his ships to raid... so we joined Bjorn's crew."
"How fascinating", Dianna said dryly, and Hilsgurd chuckled softly. "Sorry, mylady, I didn't mean to bore you. Just wanted to warn you."
"Warn me? Of what?" Dianna asked strictly, and Hilsgurd sighed. "My brother", he answered with a dark tone on his words. "I'd advice you to stay away from Roryn... he is a dangerous man, more dangerous than you think."
"I can take care of myself", Dianna stated quietly, and Hilsgurd nodded. "I've noticed that", he replied, his lips forming a subtle smile. "But still, take heed of my warning." With these words Hilsgurd walked away, following after his brother.
As the forces of Efran and Bjorn formed their ranks on the streets around the gate, the sun was raising above the walls and shining into the city. The last phase of this battle was about to begin.
No decision.
-
Verro
Verro looked towards the doorframe on the other side of the room, noticing that light was starting to creep in. The sun is rising, he realized. For awhile Verro hadn't heard any sounds of fighting from the streets closest to him – the battle had moved deeper into the city. By now they could already be assaulting the castle, he thought.
Verro put his hand lightly on the bandaged wound on his upper right leg. Nesila had done a good job with stopping the bleeding, but the wound was still painful. Despite that, Verro decided to finally stand up again. However, as he put his weight on his right leg a flash of pain went through him, and he had to lean on the wall next to him. Verro cringed in pain, closing his eyes and waiting for the pain to fade away. It didn't, but after a while Verro nonetheless felt comfortable enough to start limping towards the door.
As he stepped outside, Verro saw the morning sun shining above the battlements, illuminating the streets that were riddled with corpses and dried blood. Slowly Verro started to walk up the street next to the walls, making his way towards the castle. He stepped over the bodies of Dalt soldiers and Efran's bandits alike, an apathetic look on his eyes. A few of Efran's soldiers walked past him without paying much attention to him.
Soon Verro started to hear more clearly the noises coming from the castle. They weren't noises of fighting though, just some talking and shouting. And from the streets right next to the castle Verro found the army of Efran, lined up just outside of the range from the battlements of the castle. He saw bandits and Ironborn swarming on the side streets, and sellswords formed up next to what appeared to be the barracks of the city guard. And here were even more dead bodies laying on the streets.
Verro saw Nesila standing next to one of the buildings with Axel, Cullen and Zaltha Qo, but he decided to keep walking. He walked through the crowd of sellswords, and he finally he saw Lord Efran, Elise and Ser Byrron Granit, who were positioned behind most of the forces. Carefully he approached them, still limping.
When Verro was about a dozen feet away from them, Efran shifted his gaze to him, and Elise's eyes quickly followed. The Bandit Lord was holding his left shoulder, but the injury didn't look to be severe. Elise and Byrron on the other hand looked to be in perfectly fine condition, their clothes smeared with only the blood of their enemies.
"Verro... I thought you might be dead", Efran said, a subtle smile on his face. "Not yet", Verro replied with a grimace of pain, stopping a few feet away from them. Efran nodded with a small chuckle. "Glad to see you're... somewhat well", he said, now looking at Verro's injured leg. "I heard you did good job at breaking through the harbor gate."
"It was a team effort", Verro said with a humble tone. "So, what exactly happens next?" He proceeded to ask.
"As you can see, we are surrounding the castle", Ser Byrron joined the conversation with a stern and condescending tone. Efran nodded subtly. "Indeed, and if my uncle is smart he will surrender... if not, we'll have to storm the castle." He let out a sigh after he finished speaking.
"Are you sure we have enough men left for it?" Verro asked carefully, and a small smirk was formed on Efran's face. "Oh yes", he said confidently. "Though I'd rather not do it... the more men we'll have after the battle is over, the easier it will be for me to establish my rule over Lemonwood."
"Don't worry about it too much, my love", Elise purred, a seductive look on her eyes as she stared Efran. "You were born to rule Lemonwood." Verro could see Efran raising his chin up proudly, encouraged by the words of his lover.
Before anyone could say anything more, one of the sellswords approached them. "Lord Efran", the man said with a voice that was clearly hoarse from screaming. "News from the frontlines – Lord Darin is surrendering, he is opening the gates."
Efran's eyes widened from surprise. "It could be a trap", Ser Byrron pointed out quickly, and the man nodded. "It could", he agreed with a sigh, and now Byrron turned to Efran. "I'll move in first with the forces. When the castle has been confirmed, you follow", the Granit knight spoke with serious tone. Efran didn't look particularly pleased with this, but after a moment of consideration he nodded. "Alright, let's do this", he said quietly, and Byrron flashed him a smirk, then proceeding to make his way towards the frontlines.
Efran, Elise and Verro along with majority of the forces stayed behind as Ser Byrron made his way into the castle. Around five minutes passed, and then one of Byrron's men came back to Efran. "The castle is secured, you can move in now", the soldier said after bowing to the Bandit Lord. Efran smiled, a hint of relief on his expression. And so he lead the rest of the forces, or at least majority of them, inside the castle of Lemonwood.
Verro couldn't quite keep up with Efran with his injured leg, but when he finally did walk through the gates and arrived to the courtyard, what he saw was an interesting sight. A middle aged man stood in the middle of the courtyard, clad in a finely decorated steel armor and a tabard of House Dalt, and in his hands was a shining steel longsword. The man had a short black hair with receding hairline, and on his angular face was a stern expression. He raised up his sword and pointed it at Efran.
"What do you say, nephew?" He asked loudly. He must be Lord Darin Dalt, Verro realized. Darin and Efran were surrounded by the Bandit Lord's men, who were ready to murder the old lord whenever Efran would give the order. "You against me, one on one! Let's see which one deserves to be Lord of Lemonwood!"
Ser Byrron quickly walked next to Efran, whispering something to him. However, Efran seemed to ignore his words. He took a couple steps closer to Lord Darin, and unsheathed his Valyrian steel sword. "I am here to avenge my father and claim my birthright... I wouldn't give the honor of killing you to anyone else, uncle." Efran spoke with a tone that revealed he was both excited and angered. A grin was formed on the face of Lord Darin as he took one step closer to Efran, and took a defensive stance.
With a frustrated sigh Byrron stepped away from Efran, who twiddled his sword on his right hand. The courtyard was astonishingly quiet as these two claimants for the lordship of Lemonwood stared down each other. Who knew bandits, sellswords and Ironborn warriors were capable of being so quiet?
Finally Efran charged towards Darin with a roar, and his men started to cheer for him. Their swords clashed again and again, as Efran unleashed a series of strikes against his uncle. However, despite being older, Lord Darin wasn't slow with his moves. He parried all of Efran's swings with relative ease, all the time having a sharp and focused look on his eyes. When Efran stopped attacking, Darin quickly struck back with a fast downward swing. Efran managed to deflect the sword just enough to avoid it cutting him open, and he was forced to take a couple steps backwards. Darin took a defensive stance once again, an arrogant grin on his face.
"Is that all you got, boy?" The Lord of Lemonwood yelled aggressively. "I defeated your bastard of a father, I will defeat you as well!" This clearly agitated Efran, who charged for another attack. This time his swings were faster, coming from left, right, up and down. Darin had harder time to parry now, but he could still keep up. For a moment the two locked their swords against each other, both of them furiously staring to their opponent's eyes. "You thought this day would never come didn't you?" Efran asked, his every word oozing of rage. "That you would get away from taking what belonged to my father – you were wrong!" The Bandit Lord pulled his sword away, and attacked Darin with a heavy strike from the right. However, Darin managed to parry it, and proceeded to elbow Efran to the face.
With a painful expression on his face Efran stumbled backwards. Darin struck again, and though Efran managed to just deflect the swing, it made him lose his grip on his sword, as well as fall back first to the dusty ground. The look on his one eye was revealing as he laid defenseless on the ground – he was in panic. Darin approached him, ready to end the fight and his nephew's life.
However, before that could happen, Ser Byrron sneaked behind him. The Granit knight saved the life of his lord by embedding his sword to the back of Lord Darin's skull. Darin fell on his knees, and let go of his sword with a shocked expression on his face. Meanwhile Efran grabbed his sword and stood up. With one furious strike he slashed the throat of his uncle open.
Lord Darin Dalt fell to the ground, dead. The battle for Lemonwood was over – Efran had defeated Darin.
And with that, we've reached the end of the battle for Lemonwood! It ultimately came a bit faster than I thought, but nonetheless felt super awesome. I guess we might get to see the aftermath of it from Nealia's PoV, unless there's still more parts coming for Dianna and Verro. Anyways, what a battle it has been! That was just brutal, from start to finish and exactly what I enjoyed about a siege. Every part of these had me at the edge of my seat, because there are so many characters involved I don't want to see dead, at least not just yet. Bjorn is surprisingly among them, that guy has grown on me a lot. Roryn though... eh, I am sure he will be a lot of trouble in the future if Dianna doesn't find a way to deal with him. That guy gives me bad vibes an I could see him as being more dangerous than Bjorn or Hargan even, who at least seem to hold some minor levels of decency.
Now, the highlight of this part and the battle in general was clearly the duel between Efran and Darin. For just a second, I had hopes Darin would actually succeed. He came close to it and that would have been quite the interesting twist. I mean, what would have happened then, if Efran would have died at the hands of his uncle even after winning the battle? As crazy as that twist would have been, what we got is just as interesting. Darin went out like a boss, actually defeating Efran in single combat. I wonder what this will mean for his followers. Efran surely likes to show himself as this strong badass, but we just saw him getting his ass kicked by an old man. In fact, it seemed that he was relatively chanceless even and had to rely on one of th few men that hold personal loyalty to him to stab his opponent in the back. He was even in a panic right there and that was so satisfying to read. I guess ultimately, Efran is not as strong as he wants to be seen and maybe this was an eye-opener for his followers. Those who respect his strength might abandon him now, most importantly Bjorn's Ironborn. In fact, I could see Bjorn as going a step further. He wants to loot and plunder and defeat the weak. Efran just showed himself to be weak and he has a lot of newly gained riches to plunder. At worst (or best), Bjorn could turn on him even, he gave me such vibes right there. Tryden and his men are unlikely to remain loyal for much longer either, I guess while following gold, Tryden is the sort of guy who also wants to fight for a strong leader, so if Bjorn and his men make a move, I can't see many of Efran's men willing to die for him. Byrron is the exception, maybe Elise as well, but I don't know enough about her to make clear assumptions about her. Anyways, an outstanding finale for a wonderful battle, one that made me so hyped for the sieges and battles to come
Dianna
While Bjorn Harlaw and his crew had been pillaging the houses of the southern parts of Lemonwood, Dianna had stayed on the streets… more, keeping guard. She had no interest in watching the Ironborn do their atrocities to the people who were still in the houses, and rob whatever valuables they found.
Now Dianna was starting to notice the sky slowly getting brighter. The dawn was close, and the city had been completely overrun by the forces of the Bandit Lord, with only the streets right in front of the gates still being held by the Dalt soldiers. It would be interesting to see how would this battle continue from here. Would Lord Darin surrender? From her brief meeting with the man, Dianna didn't see Darin as someone who would easily admit his defeat. But perhaps his troops will.
Dianna's thoughts were interrupted as the door across the street was slammed open, with Arfast Stonetree walking out. On the man's left hand was a large bag … [view original content]
And with that, we've reached the end of the battle for Lemonwood! It ultimately came a bit faster than I thought, but nonetheless felt super awesome. I guess we might get to see the aftermath of it from Nealia's PoV, unless there's still more parts coming for Dianna and Verro. Anyways, what a battle it has been! That was just brutal, from start to finish and exactly what I enjoyed about a siege.
Yeah, the battle is now over. It was certainly enjoyable to write, so I am glad to hear it has been enjoyable to read as well! That said, I might be even more hyped to get to show the ramifications and aftermath of this battle in the next chapter
Every part of these had me at the edge of my seat, because there are so many characters involved I don't want to see dead, at least not just yet. Bjorn is surprisingly among them, that guy has grown on me a lot. Roryn though... eh, I am sure he will be a lot of trouble in the future if Dianna doesn't find a way to deal with him. That guy gives me bad vibes an I could see him as being more dangerous than Bjorn or Hargan even, who at least seem to hold some minor levels of decency.
Indeed, and well, you may have noticed that the dead count of this battle (when it comes to named characters) isn't super long The reason is just that with many characters it just felt like way too early to kill them off. Even with Illor it felt a bit iffy, but in the end I thought him dying here will be more effective for Nealia's storyline than anything he'd do if I kept him alive. Heh, Bjorn is definitely meant to be one of those bad guys who has plenty of respectable features as well Roryn though, yeah, let's just say it's better to be cautious about him. I mean, we are talking about a guy who goes out of his way and against his father's wishes just to get to raid and pillage, and not even to get rich, but just for the "fun" of it.
Now, the highlight of this part and the battle in general was clearly the duel between Efran and Darin. For just a second, I had hopes Darin would actually succeed. He came close to it and that would have been quite the interesting twist. I mean, what would have happened then, if Efran would have died at the hands of his uncle even after winning the battle? As crazy as that twist would have been, what we got is just as interesting. Darin went out like a boss, actually defeating Efran in single combat.
Indeed, it was actually pretty smart move from Darin to challenge Efran to duel, because he had already lost the battle, and this was really the only solution left for him to potentially turn the situation around. Of course, killing Efran might've not saved him, or at least his castle still would've been robbed from all riches. And Darin has actually been a great warrior in his youth, so Efran definitely underestimated him here.
I wonder what this will mean for his followers. Efran surely likes to show himself as this strong badass, but we just saw him getting his ass kicked by an old man. In fact, it seemed that he was relatively chanceless even and had to rely on one of th few men that hold personal loyalty to him to stab his opponent in the back. He was even in a panic right there and that was so satisfying to read. I guess ultimately, Efran is not as strong as he wants to be seen and maybe this was an eye-opener for his followers. Those who respect his strength might abandon him now, most importantly Bjorn's Ironborn. In fact, I could see Bjorn as going a step further. He wants to loot and plunder and defeat the weak. Efran just showed himself to be weak and he has a lot of newly gained riches to plunder. At worst (or best), Bjorn could turn on him even, he gave me such vibes right there. Tryden and his men are unlikely to remain loyal for much longer either, I guess while following gold, Tryden is the sort of guy who also wants to fight for a strong leader, so if Bjorn and his men make a move, I can't see many of Efran's men willing to die for him. Byrron is the exception, maybe Elise as well, but I don't know enough about her to make clear assumptions about her. Anyways, an outstanding finale for a wonderful battle, one that made me so hyped for the sieges and battles to come
Oh yes, this really did not go the way Efran would've preferred, and it will be seen in the next chapter how his followers react. Though in reality it's no shame to be bested by Darin, it still looks really bad for Efran that he had to be saved by Byrron. And oh yes, the Ironborn are the ones who most likely have the strongest reaction to this, because they definitely don't want to follow someone they see as weak. Especially now that Efran's campaign turns from being offensive and harassing the lands of Dalt's to actually ruling those lands - there's no plunder in that kind of campaign. And Tryden is an opportunist above all else, so if he sees that Efran is not able to hold what he has won here, he might want to abandon him. And another thing to remember is that Tryden and the Rose Company aren't actually even paid by Efran - they are just there because King Lucifer paid for them to help Efran out, to make a distraction for the Martell's, and that has already been achieved. Byrron is really the only one we know for sure to be absolutely loyal to Efran, because he truly believes in the cause. Elise? Well that remains to be seen, but being powerful and charismatic is part of what attracts her in Efran, so if that goes away... well, she might not be as loyal as our Bandit Lord hoped.
And with that, we've reached the end of the battle for Lemonwood! It ultimately came a bit faster than I thought, but nonetheless felt super… more awesome. I guess we might get to see the aftermath of it from Nealia's PoV, unless there's still more parts coming for Dianna and Verro. Anyways, what a battle it has been! That was just brutal, from start to finish and exactly what I enjoyed about a siege. Every part of these had me at the edge of my seat, because there are so many characters involved I don't want to see dead, at least not just yet. Bjorn is surprisingly among them, that guy has grown on me a lot. Roryn though... eh, I am sure he will be a lot of trouble in the future if Dianna doesn't find a way to deal with him. That guy gives me bad vibes an I could see him as being more dangerous than Bjorn or Hargan even, who at least seem to hold some minor levels of decency.
Now, the highlight of this part and the battle in general was clearly… [view original content]
Yeah, the battle is now over. It was certainly enjoyable to write, so I am glad to hear it has been enjoyable to read as well! That said, I might be even more hyped to get to show the ramifications and aftermath of this battle in the next chapter
It has so far even been one of the biggest highlights of the story! Many other storylines hold potential to surpass it, to be fair, but this has been the first big highlight so far, while many of the others still seem to be in the process of getting build up before paying off. So, unless the battle of Vaith manages to surpass it, this might even be a strong contender for my favourite Chapter 2 storyline
Indeed, and well, you may have noticed that the dead count of this battle (when it comes to named characters) isn't super long The reason is just that with many characters it just felt like way too early to kill them off. Even with Illor it felt a bit iffy, but in the end I thought him dying here will be more effective for Nealia's storyline than anything he'd do if I kept him alive. Heh, Bjorn is definitely meant to be one of those bad guys who has plenty of respectable features as well Roryn though, yeah, let's just say it's better to be cautious about him. I mean, we are talking about a guy who goes out of his way and against his father's wishes just to get to raid and pillage, and not even to get rich, but just for the "fun" of it.
Aye, though I don't have a problem with that. Illor was an emotional death and I don't know if I would have even wanted another one to hit hard. Surely, you could have killed off some less developed characters, but that wouldn't have caused much of a reaction and as a whole, I guess it's enough that a lot of people died, just only few we actually got to know. I was a bit afraid you'd kill of Lien, to be honest, I had this bad feeling, though I am glad she survived because ultimately, I think this relationship between her, Ying and Nealia still holds so much potential to be explored. And Roryn, I knew it! That guy is going to be trouble, I'm calling it now!
Indeed, it was actually pretty smart move from Darin to challenge Efran to duel, because he had already lost the battle, and this was really the only solution left for him to potentially turn the situation around. Of course, killing Efran might've not saved him, or at least his castle still would've been robbed from all riches. And Darin has actually been a great warrior in his youth, so Efran definitely underestimated him here.
That was a super smart move indeed, though one I would have probably expected in Efran's situation. It says a lot about his actual qualities as a ruler that he failed to foresee this final desperate move of his defeated uncle. I guess in case of his victory, Darin could have only hoped to impress Efran's followers and to convince them to work for him instead, though I guess at the very least he would have lost all of his riches. Ah, but at least he would have taken Efran down with him.
Oh yes, this really did not go the way Efran would've preferred, and it will be seen in the next chapter how his followers react. Though in reality it's no shame to be bested by Darin, it still looks really bad for Efran that he had to be saved by Byrron. And oh yes, the Ironborn are the ones who most likely have the strongest reaction to this, because they definitely don't want to follow someone they see as weak. Especially now that Efran's campaign turns from being offensive and harassing the lands of Dalt's to actually ruling those lands - there's no plunder in that kind of campaign. And Tryden is an opportunist above all else, so if he sees that Efran is not able to hold what he has won here, he might want to abandon him. And another thing to remember is that Tryden and the Rose Company aren't actually even paid by Efran - they are just there because King Lucifer paid for them to help Efran out, to make a distraction for the Martell's, and that has already been achieved. Byrron is really the only one we know for sure to be absolutely loyal to Efran, because he truly believes in the cause. Elise? Well that remains to be seen, but being powerful and charismatic is part of what attracts her in Efran, so if that goes away... well, she might not be as loyal as our Bandit Lord hoped.
Yeah, I could see some sort of a chain reaction right there. I'm pretty sure Bjorn and his men will get out of there, now that their employer had to be saved like a sissy girl and doesn't actually give them more stuff to plunder. I mean, we have Roryn right there and I highly doubt he is the only one of Bjorn's men who is there primarily to raid and pillage. Bjorn himself might be a bit of a pragmatist, but even he has to obey to the will of his men. That could convince others to abandon him as well. Corren and his men, the White Elephant and co., I guess they might follow. Tryden's job is done as well and I don't really think he will see value in working for Efran any longer. And finally, Elise. Well, Efran was surely anything but powerful and charismatic in what should be the moment of his biggest triumph. Might be a bit of an eye-opener for her. I must admit, I am intrigued by her reaction now.
And with that, we've reached the end of the battle for Lemonwood! It ultimately came a bit faster than I thought, but nonetheless felt super… more awesome. I guess we might get to see the aftermath of it from Nealia's PoV, unless there's still more parts coming for Dianna and Verro. Anyways, what a battle it has been! That was just brutal, from start to finish and exactly what I enjoyed about a siege.
Yeah, the battle is now over. It was certainly enjoyable to write, so I am glad to hear it has been enjoyable to read as well! That said, I might be even more hyped to get to show the ramifications and aftermath of this battle in the next chapter
Every part of these had me at the edge of my seat, because there are so many characters involved I don't want to see dead, at least not just yet. Bjorn is surprisingly among them, that guy has grown on me a lot. Roryn though... eh, I am sure he will be a lot of trouble in the future if Dianna d… [view original content]
This was a very interesting battle. I'm glad most of the characters survived. I'm still sad Illor didn't make it. Besides Nealia, he was my favorite in the Rose Company.
Dianna
While Bjorn Harlaw and his crew had been pillaging the houses of the southern parts of Lemonwood, Dianna had stayed on the streets… more, keeping guard. She had no interest in watching the Ironborn do their atrocities to the people who were still in the houses, and rob whatever valuables they found.
Now Dianna was starting to notice the sky slowly getting brighter. The dawn was close, and the city had been completely overrun by the forces of the Bandit Lord, with only the streets right in front of the gates still being held by the Dalt soldiers. It would be interesting to see how would this battle continue from here. Would Lord Darin surrender? From her brief meeting with the man, Dianna didn't see Darin as someone who would easily admit his defeat. But perhaps his troops will.
Dianna's thoughts were interrupted as the door across the street was slammed open, with Arfast Stonetree walking out. On the man's left hand was a large bag … [view original content]
This was a very interesting battle. I'm glad most of the characters survived. I'm still sad Illor didn't make it. Besides Nealia, he was my favorite in the Rose Company.
This chapter was pretty intense, and is making me excited about what comes in the aftermath. We'll find out what happened to Dallin and Adian in the next chapter?
This means the only other POV are Dalia, Kris and Nymeria or her role in this part is already over, cause I can't remember.
Indeed Efran won, but either he ignores Nymeria's presence or doesn't think that she will depose him easily, probably the latter.
If we had known Arfast a bit more I might have felt sad, but Illor was still pretty painful.
Funny idea, how about you draw the heraldry of the original Houses, such as Upton, Bloodspill and Blackpool.
Dianna
While Bjorn Harlaw and his crew had been pillaging the houses of the southern parts of Lemonwood, Dianna had stayed on the streets… more, keeping guard. She had no interest in watching the Ironborn do their atrocities to the people who were still in the houses, and rob whatever valuables they found.
Now Dianna was starting to notice the sky slowly getting brighter. The dawn was close, and the city had been completely overrun by the forces of the Bandit Lord, with only the streets right in front of the gates still being held by the Dalt soldiers. It would be interesting to see how would this battle continue from here. Would Lord Darin surrender? From her brief meeting with the man, Dianna didn't see Darin as someone who would easily admit his defeat. But perhaps his troops will.
Dianna's thoughts were interrupted as the door across the street was slammed open, with Arfast Stonetree walking out. On the man's left hand was a large bag … [view original content]
Yes, we will definitely get an update on Adian and Dallin (as well as get introduced to more of the Dalt family) in the next chapter! And yeah, Dalia and Kris will still have their parts in this chapter, but Nym's storyline is already concluded. Instead, Nealia will have one more part, so we will get a glimpse of the aftermath in Lemonwood already in this chapter. Aha, Nymeria is definitely a big threat to Efran, which is something he has to acknowledge sooner or later.
And yeah, I didn't really expect anyone to be sad for Arfast However, it's good to hear that Illor's death was impactful.
This chapter was pretty intense, and is making me excited about what comes in the aftermath. We'll find out what happened to Dallin and Adia… moren in the next chapter?
This means the only other POV are Dalia, Kris and Nymeria or her role in this part is already over, cause I can't remember.
Indeed Efran won, but either he ignores Nymeria's presence or doesn't think that she will depose him easily, probably the latter.
If we had known Arfast a bit more I might have felt sad, but Illor was still pretty painful.
Funny idea, how about you draw the heraldry of the original Houses, such as Upton, Bloodspill and Blackpool.
Alright, there is no voting to close this time, but I just wanted to say that the next part will be ready later today And it will be a Dalia PoV, taking us to Vaith and the ongoing battle there. Last time on Vaith we saw things from Kris' PoV, as he lead the cavalry of the Wild Suns with Yohn Redfort and Howar Uller against the Vaith cavalry. He was succesful in defending the infantry, and drove the remnants of the Vaith cavalry back into the city. After this he went to have a few words with Dalia. The plan was that Khazor the Sarnori with his Bloodfangs would break through the southern gate, allowing the cavalry to charge in, while the Unsullied and Mizro would break in from the eastern gate, allowing Dalia to enter the city with Desi - their mission being to find the witch of Vaith. Dalia asked Kris if he wanted to join with them instead of leading the cavalry, and he did.
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I also have another portrait for you, this time Roryn Drumm:
Dalia stood a couple hundred feet away from the eastern gates of Vaith with Desirea, Kris, Mother Minesa, Vyran and Belan, while Red Maggot, Mizro and Marduk were leading the attack in front of them. Haridos Fyllah had recently reported that the watchtower was now under the control of the Wild Suns, and Dalia assumed Khazor had managed to break through the southern gates by now, allowing the cavalry to charge into the city.
Dalia glanced at Desi, who was holding a torch in her right hand, and had a focused and slightly nervous look on her dark eyes. Dalia turned her gaze to Kris, whose bright green eyes were filled with determination and anger as he eyed the battle ahead of them. She could understand his feelings – the man was attacking his own city, which had been taken from him by someone he had once thought he loved. That must be a hard thing to cope with. Mother Minesa on the other hand observed the slaughter in front of them with calm and emotionless expression on her face.
The gates had been broken for a while now, but finally it looked like the Unsullied were starting to break the defenders' lines and force their way into the city. After a while the fighting had moved into the streets, and Dalia turned once again towards her daughter. "Shall we move in?" She asked softly. Desirea gulped, considering her answer for a moment. "Yes, let's go", she finally said with a determinant voice. And so, surrounded by their red guards of R'hllor, they started to approach the gates of Vaith.
"I can feel it now", Kris said quietly as they were just a couple dozen feet away from the gate. "The dark magic of that witch." There was genuine anger in his last words, and Dalia gave him a subtle nod.
"Our flames will burn the darkness away", Minesa said nonchalantly, as Vyran and Belan led them in from the gates. They walked over dozens, if not hundreds, of bodies. There were corpses with the tabards of Wild Suns, others with tabards of Vaith, and some with the uniform of the Unsullied. And blood, the streets were red from it.
"Desi, do you know where we should go?" Belan asked, clenching tightly to his sword. Desirea didn't answer immediately, but she stopped and closed her eyes. "It's strong... the presence of the dark god", she gulped after saying this. Belan turned around and put his hand on Desi's shoulder, looking her to the eyes. "It's alright, Desi, we're here to protect you", the young boy said with a soothing tone. Desi opened her eyes, taking in a deep breath. "Thanks, Bel", she said quietly. "I... I'll have to concentrate for a moment."
Dalia stepped next to her daughter, and softly pushed Belan away, giving him a meaningful glare. She gazed towards the town square, seeing the battle raging there right now. "Take your time, darling", she said calmly, now turning to Kris. "Do you think Lady Myra is in the castle, or somewhere in the city?" She asked, and Kris shrugged with hesitation in his eyes.
"She rarely left the castle, but... I don't know, Dalia, there is much about my former wife that remains a mystery to me", Kris spoke with uncertainty in his voice.
"That way", Desirea suddenly spoke up again, her voice now very confident, and she pointed towards the street to the northwest, which led to the harbor gate. "Oh yes, I feel it too", Minesa said, a small smirk forming on her face.
"Let's go then", Vyran grunted, and they stared walking down that street. As they moved closer to the harbor gate with their twenty guards, a couple dozen Vaith troops came from the side alley to block their way. "Shit", Vyran cursed, and the red guards quickly formed up in front of them, to make sure no harm would come to Desirea.
"Charge!" Dalia quickly commanded, and the guards attacked. Dalia followed them into the skirmish, Kris coming quickly after her, while Vyran, Belan and Minesa stayed behind to guard Desirea. Dalia swinger her two arakhs furiously, cutting down any soldier that dared to come close to her. Luckily these were clearly just poorly trained grunts, and for every red guard that got killed at least four of the Vaith soldiers were cut down. Dalia could see from Kris' movements that he was much less eager to kill these men, but he did what he had to.
And soon the little skirmish was over, all of the Vaith soldier who had attacked them laying dead on the ground. There were still twelve red guards left, which was enough for them to continue their mission. "Do you still feel it, Desi?" Dalia asked loudly, still catching breath from the fight.
"Yes... I feel it, let's continue forward", Desirea guided, and Dalia nodded. "You heard her, continue forward!" The Wild Sun commanded, and the guards obeyed, as did Kris, Vyran, Belan and Minesa. They walked slowly forward, their swords up for any possible attack. "Stop", Desirea finally said, and they all stopped. "It's the next alley right", she said with a nervous tone, and Dalia nodded calmly. She led them to that alley, and at the end of it she saw a dozen soldiers wearing the colors of House Vaith. They approached them in silence, and as they got closer Dalia noticed something very disturbing. The look on all of these soldiers' eyes was a blank stare – like they were dead men walking. In the middle of them was a warrior with long dark hair and purple eyes, armed with a dark sword with slightly curved blade. And behind all these soldiers was a young ebony skinned lady, dressed in dark robes, and in her eyes was an unnatural blue glow.
"Valerie", Kris muttered quietly, concern and confusion in his voice. "Kill them!" The dark lady shrieked with a voice that sent shivers down Dalia's spine. After that she made her way into one of the buildings, and her soldiers charged towards Dalia and the rest, the one with the long dark hair leading them.
Vyran was the one to take on the leader of these silent soldiers, while Dalia faced against a soldier armed with a spear. Unlike the soldiers they had faced earlier, these were not so easily defeated. They fought without mercy, and their every strike was aimed to kill.
Dalia knew defense wasn't her strong point, so after deflecting the spear once, she proceeded to attack aggressively. She managed to slash the man on his left arm, but to her surprise the soldier showed no sign of pain. And all pained screams Dalia could hear came from the red guards who were bested by these servants of darkness.
Dalia dodged the soldier's vicious strike again, and managed to dance her way behind him. From there he could slash her other arakh behind the man's right knee, forcing him to fall on his knees. Then she opened the man's skull with a powerful downward strike. Glancing around herself, Dalia saw that seven of the red guards were still standing. Then she heard a familiar voice screaming in pain – Vyran the Lion. As she turned her gaze towards him, she saw the curved blade of the dark warrior impaled through the chest of Vyran. The dark warrior pulled his sword out, and Vyran fell to the ground, dead.
With a scream filled with rage, Belan charged towards the dark-haired man, clearly wanting to avenge his father. The dark warrior easily parried Belan's swing and quickly struck back. His dark blade hit Belan on the ribs, mercilessly throwing him to the ground. Dalia quickly charged in, preventing the dark warrior from killing Belan.
Her black Valyrian steel arakhs clashed against the dark glimmering blade of this mysterious warrior, who stared at her with a dead and emotionless look on his purple eyes. Aggressively Dalia unleashed a series of strikes with her arakhs, but the dark warrior seemed to have no issues to parry them all. And then he begun to strike back. His first swing hit Dalia on her left arm, causing her to loose her grip on the arakh. The second strike was aimed to her head, and Dalia only just managed to deflect it away. The next one hit her on her right knee, way too quickly for her to react. "Fuck", Dalia cursed in panic – she was down on her knee now, at the mercy of this dark warrior.
At the last moment, Kris rushed in to save her. With his glowing Valyrian steel sword he challenged the dark warrior. Kris made him back away from Dalia with his furious strikes, but the dark warrior still managed to parry each swing. While the two continued their duel, Dalia crawled to Belan. The boy was injured, but instead of caring about his own wound he was holding his dead father in his arms, tears streaming down his cheeks. Desirea was next to him, a compassionate expression on her face.
Dalia had no idea what she could say to make the boy feel better, so she just turned her gaze back to Kris and the dark warrior he was fighting against. All the other Vaith soldiers had been defeated, and the three red guards that were left were all injured.
The dark warrior moved his sword with a frightening speed, striking from every direction while dancing around Kris, who concentrated on defense. One of the injured red guards charged into the fight, trying to help Kris, but with an elegant move the dark warrior dodged and tripped the guard, slashing his throat open as he fell down. However, this gave a second for Kris to attack.
With all his power Kris swung his glowing sword, the End of Night. The dark warrior managed to parry the strike, but then something unexpected happened – the dark blade shattered under the Valyrian steel, and the tip of Kris' blade moved to cut open the dark warrior's face. He fell down to the street, letting go of his broken sword.
Dalia, Desirea, Belan and Minesa approached them, looking at the dark warrior laying on the ground, defeated but still breathing. Desirea kneeled down, noticing a necklace with dark stone around his neck. She grabbed the necklace and ripped it away. The dark warrior's eyes were closed, while the wound that ran across his face was still bleeding.
"We should kill him", Minesa said coldly. "The spirit of the Great Other has tarnished his mind and body." For a moment everyone was silent, but Desirea was clearly ignoring Minesa's words, trying to subdue the bleeding from the man's scar.
"He killed my father", Belan said bitterly, and Desirea turned to look at him. "I understand your anger, Bel", she said softly. "But it is not this man you should be angry at... he did not act on his own will – he was under a dark spell, one made by a servant of the Great Other."
Dalia didn't really care about the man, but she understood what Desi was saying, and turned to the two red guards that were left. "Guards, take this man somewhere where he can be healed", she commanded, and the guards bowed to her, proceeding to carry the dark haired warrior away. Meanwhile Desirea had walked in front of the door of the house where the witch had entered before the fight had begun. Dalia limped after her, both her right knee and left arm still in pain from the brief duel she had with the dark warrior.
"Should I go in first?" She asked quietly, and Desirea nodded subtly. And so Dalia pushed the door open, and the rest followed in after her. It was dark inside, just one small window bringing in some light. However, it didn't take long before Dalia's eyes found the most atrocious sight she had seen in a long time. On the table laid a naked dead body that was smeared with blood, and its chest was carved open.
Dalia walked next to it and carefully put his hand on the body, feeling that it was still warm. And as she looked at the opened chest, she saw that the man's heart had been ripped out of the body.
"Blood magic", Minesa said, a hint of anger in her calm voice. "This is clearly work of a devout servant of the Great Other."
"I agree", Desirea said with a sigh, a disgusted look on her eyes. "But she is already gone, we won't find her here", she added in frustration, and Dalia shared the feeling. All this for nothing? As she turned to Kris, she could see an equally frustrated look on his eyes, only even more furious.
"I'll go now... to lead the forces", he said sternly. "To help take over the castle." With these words Kris turned around and started walking towards the door, and Dalia was left with a choice. Would she stay here to help investigate the house with Desirea and Minesa, or would she join Kris in making sure they would win this battle?
Okay, Jamison is an absolute beast. I mean, we knew it before, but I guess this is pretty much what he is capable of when he is not holding back in the slightest, not even to protect himself. That was legitimately terrifying, though I am glad I was right with my speculation that he is going to survive. Hell, he even managed to basically dominate his fight with Dalia. A good thing he still lives though and might even be able to be fully freed. Hell, I could actually see him joining Dalia and Desi now, to repay her for saving his life. That would be a serious advantage againt Wesley. I mean, if Lyla is able to almost kill him, then Jamison should absolutely butcher him. Ah, I doubt it'll be that easy, but maybe we'll get him to help out in some capacity. Fact is, he owes Dalia. Also fact is, I still dislike her, for reasons I myself can barely uphold now. And finally, it is a fact that she is and always will be way better than that utter bitch Mother Minesa. Seriously, if they got to burn anyone, it's her.
[Stay with Desirea and Minesa]
Okay, the problem is, I really don't know what is better here. I obviously want to push Dalia into getting closer to Desi again, so that she won't b tempted to stay in Vaith with Kris later on. If anything, either Dalia, Kris or maybe even Jamison are absolutely necessary if we want to have any chance at taking down Wesley. However, I don't know if going with Kris here makes Dalia staying in Vaith more or less likely. Maybe it'll even be helpful by taking out one of the witch duo already. Since I guess that Valerie is pretty much confirmed to be the shadow from Gwendis' vision, the one that escaped, on account of her being present during this fight with Jamison, I think that we might be able to kill Myra at least. However, maybe that'll make Dalia less likely to go after Aisha, because she underestimates her remaining enemies. That would obviously be terrible. So, I am a bit torn. By nature, I think that any choice in which Dalia can spend more time with Desi is a good one (oh, how ironically my opinion has changed), whereas Kris, though an overall likable guy, is someone I'd rather want Dalia to stay away from. Unless he becomes an ally in the literal witch hunt for Aisha, in which case supporting him might be a good thing... argh, I have this talent to confuse myself with my reasonings, as I am now less sure than ever that this is truly the better choice. I hav to pick something though. And one unarguably good aspect of staying with Desi is that Dalia could counterbalance Minesa's influence. Because undoubtedly, Desi is far better when she's not a nonsense-babbling brain-damaged fanatic. I doubt she'll become like this anytime soon, but well, Minesa must nonetheless be closely watched, or else she might convince Desi that it is a good thing to burn innocent people, aka people who might accidentally have a direct, if unwanted connection to the god of evil.
Dalia
Dalia stood a couple hundred feet away from the eastern gates of Vaith with Desirea, Kris, Mother Minesa, Vyran and Belan, while Re… mored Maggot, Mizro and Marduk were leading the attack in front of them. Haridos Fyllah had recently reported that the watchtower was now under the control of the Wild Suns, and Dalia assumed Khazor had managed to break through the southern gates by now, allowing the cavalry to charge into the city.
Dalia glanced at Desi, who was holding a torch in her right hand, and had a focused and slightly nervous look on her dark eyes. Dalia turned her gaze to Kris, whose bright green eyes were filled with determination and anger as he eyed the battle ahead of them. She could understand his feelings – the man was attacking his own city, which had been taken from him by someone he had once thought he loved. That must be a hard thing to cope with. Mother Minesa on the other hand observed the slaughter in front of them … [view original content]
Okay, Jamison is an absolute beast. I mean, we knew it before, but I guess this is pretty much what he is capable of when he is not holding back in the slightest, not even to protect himself. That was legitimately terrifying, though I am glad I was right with my speculation that he is going to survive. Hell, he even managed to basically dominate his fight with Dalia. A good thing he still lives though and might even be able to be fully freed. Hell, I could actually see him joining Dalia and Desi now, to repay her for saving his life. That would be a serious advantage againt Wesley. I mean, if Lyla is able to almost kill him, then Jamison should absolutely butcher him. Ah, I doubt it'll be that easy, but maybe we'll get him to help out in some capacity. Fact is, he owes Dalia. Also fact is, I still dislike her, for reasons I myself can barely uphold now. And finally, it is a fact that she is and always will be way better than that utter bitch Mother Minesa. Seriously, if they got to burn anyone, it's her.
Indeed, this Jamison was probably even more frightening than the usual Jamison, because being under Valerie's spell there was none of his usual cockiness or playing around - he was constantly doing his all to kill his enemies. And yeah, Dalia really had no chance, because she mainly shines against enemies where she can be the aggressive one, whereas here Jamison quickly forced her to a defensive position. I mean, you can already tell from Dalia's choice of weapons - double arakhs - that she is much more comfortable attacking than defending. Ultimately it came down to Kris' sword being OP and breaking Jamison's sword, had that not happened Jamison would've eventually beaten Kris as well And yeah, Jamison definitely is a better fighter than Mordekhai. We'll see in the next chapter where he will go from here. And well, I didn't really expect there to be anything in this part that would change your opinion on Dalia, so no surprises there
Okay, Jamison is an absolute beast. I mean, we knew it before, but I guess this is pretty much what he is capable of when he is not holding … moreback in the slightest, not even to protect himself. That was legitimately terrifying, though I am glad I was right with my speculation that he is going to survive. Hell, he even managed to basically dominate his fight with Dalia. A good thing he still lives though and might even be able to be fully freed. Hell, I could actually see him joining Dalia and Desi now, to repay her for saving his life. That would be a serious advantage againt Wesley. I mean, if Lyla is able to almost kill him, then Jamison should absolutely butcher him. Ah, I doubt it'll be that easy, but maybe we'll get him to help out in some capacity. Fact is, he owes Dalia. Also fact is, I still dislike her, for reasons I myself can barely uphold now. And finally, it is a fact that she is and always will be way better than that utter bitch … [view original content]
Comments
[Lead the cavalry]
[Lead the cavalry] I may change my mind but I am going with this for now.
[Go with Dalia]
I might change my mind on this choice later, but I was just thinking that Dalia might need his help to defeat Myra.
Voting is closed!
And Kris will go with Dalia. I know, technically it's a tie, but this one got the first vote, and I've also been infromed by Stigz via PM that he prefers this choice (and Kris is his character)
Anyway, this will have some pretty interesting consequences, but more about them later.
Next we will have two parts, Myke and Kortney, concluding their Chapter 2 storylines. It's been a while since we saw Myke, but the last we saw him he was in Blackmont, where he heard a rumor from Maester Mortin that Kortney could possibly be held as a prisoner in Kingsgrave. With no other clues to follow, Myke decided to head towards Kingsgrave, as well as send a raven to Nightsong about this. Raina immediately offered to help Myke, and Myke also decided to remind Joran Storm that saving Kortney is his duty. And so, Joran joined in on the mission to Kingsgrave as well. In this next part we'll see them arrive to their destination.
Kortney on the other hand was given a chance to escape Kingsgrave with Willem Pyke and Salladhor, but he decided to stay. Now Willem has left, and the armies of Blackmont's and Fowler's have arrive to lay siege over Kingsgrave.
These parts should be ready today or tomorrow!
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Oh, and some of you may have noticed the cover of Book 2 already on the op, but here is a bigger version:
I read this H&L a few days ago but haven't really had the chance to comment until now. There isn't much I can say that hasn't already been I'll go ahead and say great job! This part tells so much about Gwendis and what shaped her and it was always clear her mother was her biggest influence but seeing Valaena in writing is clearly awesome and I definitely like the Syrenho appearance as well. Now I need to get a new computer so I can jump back into some H&L's. Great work!
Ah... this battle for Vaith is sure finding a way to make me sweat
I am sure you know what I mean but since it hasn't completely happened yet, I still have hope! If it does though, I am still optimistic it will go well for a certain knight though! 
Anyway, I am really excited to see the siege of Kingsgrave with the might of House Fowler and Blackmont at their doorstep, it very much seems like things are over for the Manwoody's but I have a certain theory that just might mean that Albin isn't finished yet. I am going out on a massive limb here and am going to say this will lead to the first appearance of House Yronwood in book one. I am probably way off but Alaric mentioned they should do this and maybe he took intiative and contacted Yorick on his own. I am probably way off but I figured I would throw it out there! Along with this will be Myke and Kortney being right there with one another and hopefully this means that Myke will be able to save her somehow!
As for the cover, this is awesome! It got me all the more hyped for the inevitable Dayne vs Martell war. I really feel it will be a good one and now hopefully Jamison takes care of some business in Vaith and gets back to Starfall! I mean I would be lying if I didn't say that Jamison mouthing off to Nymeria was something that I didn't want to see... as long as she forgives him when the Dayne's lose that is
Nice job on the cover!
Oh yes, I know what you mean
This choice will affect Jamison too, but whether it's a positive or negative affect... we'll see.
Indeed, Albin is trapped in his own castle, and way outnumbered against the combined strength of Blackmont's and Fowler's. That said, Albin isn't one to surrender easily. Of course, eventually the morale of his subjects is bound to plummet under a siege, which could lead to them throwing down their weapons and opening the gates. However, you do bring up a good speculation there. Yronwood's are the neighbouring kingdom of Manwoody's, and it certainly wouldn't be out of character for Yorick to use this situation to his own advantage.
Thanks!
Yeah, the cover really makes it clear what the main focus of the book will be, and I can't wait to get to write it 
Oh, and btw, Book 3 cover is almost ready as well, I'll probably add it to the op tomorrow.
Myke
Finally they saw it ahead of them, Kingsgrave. The old castle stood on a hill, surrounded by the crude and rocky fields of the valley. And at the moment it was also surrounded by a siege encampment, set up by the armies of House Blackmont and House Fowler.
"Well, we certainly won't be able to pay a visit", Ser Joran Storm said dryly, and Myke shifted his gaze to him. Joran hadn't been in the best mood during their journey, quite often seeing it necessary to remind that this was all most likely in vain. Myke understood his friend's point of view, but at the same time he knew that deep inside Joran hadn't fully given up on Kortney. Or at least he hasn't given up on his vows. Why else would Joran have come along after Myke had reminded him of their duty towards Lord Trevas Caron?
"I think you might be right this time", Raina Serviene replied to Joran with a sigh, looking at Kingsgrave and the army around it with a hint of frustration in her blue eyes. Raina had been eager to help, and perhaps even more hopeful about their mission than Myke himself, but every day she had started to show more signs of anxiousness. Myke had no doubt it was because they were getting closer to the lands of her old home – the lands where she had lost her family.
"Let's not abandon hope just yet", Myke said calmly. Then he saw a few scouts in Blackmont tabards riding towards them from the camp. Sure, they had already been once stopped by scouts a few miles ago, and given the permission to approach the camp, but still it was only to be expected that they couldn't just sneak in.
"Who are you and what is your business here?" One of the Blackmont soldiers asked with a strict tone. Myke cleared his throat before answering. "I am Ser Myke of the Marches, knight in service of Lord Trevas Caron", he said with a calm and polite tone. "With me are Ser Joran Storm and Ser Rai. We have rode here from Blackmont, where we heard troubling rumors related to the missing daughter of Lord Trevas."
The Blackmont soldier nodded to Myke approvingly. "The son of Lord Trevas Caron, along with some twenty Caron soldiers already arrived yesterday", the man informed. Myke raised an eyebrow for this. Prestan is here? He found it very surprising that Trevas would've let his son and heir to take part in such a dangerous mission. "Could you take us to him?" Myke asked, keeping his voice stoic.
"Sure, just follow after me", the soldier said, turning his horse around and heading back towards the camp with the other scouts. Without further conversation Myke, Joran and Raina followed, and rode into the camp. Closer Myke noticed that the clear majority of the troops were Blackmont soldiers, with just about a fourth of the army being Fowler's. And between the Blackmont's and Fowler's were three pavilions of House Caron.
"Here they are", the soldier said needlessly, and Myke gave him a nod. They dismounted their horses, and the scouts left them there. Just then Prestan Caron walked out of the largest pavilion, clad in a shining armor and tabard of House Caron, a sullen look on his green eyes, and his red hair combed back. Quickly the young boy's eyes met with Myke's, and a small smile formed on his boyishly handsome face.
"Prestan!" Myke greeted cheerfully, walking closer to him. "Good to see you, boy!" They hugged briefly, and after that both Myke and Joran bowed to the Heir of Nightsong, and Raina quickly followed suit.
"Ser Myke, Ser Joran, it's good to have you here", Prestan said with a genuine tone, finally turning his eyes to Raina. "And you are?"
"My name is Ser Rai, mylord", she answered with a muffled tone. Prestan looked slightly confused, but gave her just a nod before turning to Myke and Joran again. "I have to say it is quite a surprise to see you here, Prestan", Myke said with a touch of concern in his voice. Prestan seemed to pick up on his tone. "No need to feel concerned for me, old man", he quipped with a smirk. "I know how to take care of myself."
"I have no doubt of that, but I still have hard time believing your father approved this", Ser Joran joined the conversation now. "He did", Prestan replied with all the defiance of a fifteen-year-old. "Besides, it's my sister we should be worrying about."
"Keep in mind that all we have for now is a flimsy rumor", Myke reminded the boy. "It could very well be that Kortney is not here."
"That's what father said as well, which is why he refused to send an army here", Prestan's tone told he disagreed with his father's decision. "I believe Kortney is in there, waiting for us to save her... But what can we do?" Myke could hear desperation in Prestan's voice as he asked this. Indeed, the situation was not favorable for them. A rescue mission to Kingsgrave would've been dangerous on its own, but now that it was under siege it was near impossible.
"We'll come up with something", Myke answered, forcing a smile on his face. They made their way into Prestan's pavilion, and sat around the small table in the middle of it. "So, how's Lord Trevan doing?" Joran asked casually.
"Oh, you know, he's like he has been ever since Kortney disappeared", Prestan answered with a sigh. "And your message, it was a shock for him. Kortney having been a prisoner of Albin Manwoody all this time, Trevas could hardly handle the mere thought of it."
"I understand how your father feels", Myke said quietly. "How about your little brother? Is he doing fine?"
"Well, Ronard is still just a boy, but even he can see that father is not doing well", Prestan said with a sad look on his eyes. Ronard Caron was indeed still just a boy, even more so than his older brother, being at the age of eight. "And he does miss Kortney", Prestan added wistfully.
"We all do", Myke said with a grim tone, and Prestan nodded. They kept talking for a few minutes, until suddenly one of the Caron soldiers stepped in.
"M'lord, Ser Kegan Drinkwater and Prince Ferris Fowler have invited you to the war council", the soldier informed with a bow. Prestan turned to look at Myke and Joran. "Would you like to come?" He asked.
"Sure, let's go", Myke answered calmly, and Joran nodded agreeingly. "Rai, we'll be back soon", Myke said to Raina, who gave him a small nod. And so Prestan, Joran and Myke made their way through the camp, and into the large pavilion that served as the war council.
At the end of the table was a middle aged knight in thick armor and tabard of House Blackmont, and next to him was a younger man, clad in a silvery armor and blue cloak. There were also few others present at the meeting.
"Ser Kegan, Prince Ferris, you invited me", Prestan said with a polite tone, and Ser Kegan nodded to him, gesturing for him to take a seat. Myke and Joran remained standing behind him, as Prestan sat down.
"We are about to send the terms of peace to King Albin", Kegan begun with a stern tone, tapping at the parchment under his fingers. "And there was a certain issue that we needed to ask your opinion on."
"Sure, go ahead", Prestan said with a curious tone, and Kegan nodded. "Well... let's just go straight to the question then, would you want to demand for the safe release of your sister in the peace terms?" Before Prestan could answer, Prince Ferris spoke up.
"We understand that there is no certainty if your sister is actually there, but if she is, there is a certain risk at demanding this", the prince spoke with calmly, but the look on his eyes was mildly concerned.
"What risk?" Prestan asked with confusion. Kegan and Ferris glanced at each other, and the Kegan spoke up. "King Albin... he is not the most reasonable man, and might not take demands well. And if he indeed has your sister, there is the possibility that he will punish her for these demands."
Prestan turned his eyes to Myke, his gaze full of uncertainty. "Ser Myke, what do you think?" He asked timidly.
[Demand the release of Kortney] [Don't mention Kortney in the peace terms]
-
Kortney
Kortney stood on the battlements of Kingsgrave, along with many soldiers clad in light armor and black tabards with the crowned skull of the Manwoody's. Down on the field next to the castle, over a thousand feet away from the walls, was the large siege encampment of the enemy. Most of the banners flying over the camp were the yellow of House Blackmont, decorated with a black vulture carrying a pink infant in its claws. On the left of them was a smaller portion of the army, flying silver banners with hooded blue hawks – the Fowler's.
However, between these two armies was something that intrigued Kortney much more, something she had been staring at for minutes now. It was hard to see from afar, but the longer Kortney looked the more convinced she was that between the banners of Fowler's and Blackmont's were a few banners with a different shade of yellow, and on them were several black dots. Nightingales?
It made no sense though. If the Caron's had learnt about what happened to Kortney, surely they would've marched here with an army at least as large as that of the Blackmont's. Yet all Kortney could see was a few banners, indicating that there was at best a couple dozen Caron soldiers there.
"Isn't this a bit too dangerous place for a lady?" Kortney heard a calm voice ask next to her, and she turned her gaze to see Larry the Kind walking next to her. "There won't be a battle", Kortney said dismissively, "They will try to starve us out."
"And it is a smart choice from them", Larry replied with a sigh, leaning on the parapets of the battlement. "For all they know, King Albin has no allies, no help. They see that he is trapped, and all they have to do is wait."
For all they know. Those words stuck out to Kortney, and she wondered what exactly did Larry mean. Albin's vassals couldn't muster enough forces to save him now, and Kortney could think of no one else who would be willing to help. Perhaps the Yronwood's, Kortney thought, remembering how reluctant Albin had been about the idea of seeking refuge from King Yorick's court. She didn't know much about Yorick Yronwood, but she did know that he wasn't the kind of man to help anyone out of pity – if Yronwood's would save the Manwoody's, there would be a price for Albin to pay for it.
"So, Kortney Caron, what do you expect will happen next?" Larry asked with a sly tone, and Kortney shot a glare at him. "Do not use that name", she hissed, making him raise an eyebrow.
"I thought you would take pride in that name, mylady", Larry said with a mildly amused tone. "After all, you don't want to be just a freak, or a bed slave, do you?" Kortney stayed silent, keeping her eyes on the army ahead of them. "I have to wonder though... why didn't you go with Willem Pyke?"
In surprise and shock Kortney darted her eyes on Larry, who gave her a gleeful grin. As she stayed silent, Larry continued. "Oh yes, I had a little chat with our Ironborn friend before he left", he said nonchalantly. "Since you had not been able to provide him the information he wanted, he decided to threaten it out of me. Of course, I had no reason not to tell him what I know about Carsen, and frankly I'm not surprised there are people who have bad blood with that man. What did surprise me though was that Willem had offered to take you with him... and you decided to stay here." Larry spoke those last words with genuine curiosity in his voice, narrowing his eyes as he looked at Kortney. "Why?"
"None of your business", She spat sternly, but Larry just chuckled coldly. "Oh don't get me wrong, mylady, I thought you actually made a wise choice – just not the one I expected from you", he said this with a calm and smooth voice, taking a step closer to Kortney. "Willem Pyke is an impulsive man, driven by his anger and hatred. Following him would have been a mistake. Still, that leaves us with the question – what do you think happens next?"
"I don't know, perhaps we'll just starve to death", Kortney replied dryly, eyeing the army that was besieging them. "Maybe so", Larry said quietly, a sharp look on his eyes. "But do you really think Albin will go down without a fight? The Great King of the Red Mountains, starving to death in his own castle?"
"He can call himself the Great King of the Red Mountains as much as he wants, but the truth is he has lost this war", Kortney replied with a sigh, and Larry nodded. "So it would seem, but Albin Manwoody is the kind of man who would be willing to sacrifice everything just to see his enemies suffer – he will not surrender." He spoke with a thin smirk on his face and an ominous tone on his voice, making Kortney feel uncomfortable. There was certainly truth to what Larry said, Kortney knew it – Albin would use every option available to him, no matter how vile or low. There will be blood, she thought with a gulp.
"I'll see you later, mylady", Larry said with his polite tone, giving Kortney a small bow and proceeding to walk away from the battlements. Kortney remained standing where she was, her gaze still fixed on the army ahead. Her eyes found their way to the Caron banners again, and she let out a sigh. Freedom was so close, and yet so far.
-
The sun was already setting as Kortney sat alone on her chambers, silently thinking what Larry had said earlier. What happens next? She wondered if staying here instead of going with Willem had truly been a wise choice. Part of her felt hopeful seeing those Caron banners among the siege encampment, but the other part screamed she was foolish to put her hope in anyone else except herself. No one will save me, I have to do it myself, she decided. However, the next problem was how would she do it? She couldn't just wait for the siege to end, only gods knew how long it would take, and how many of them would be alive by the end of it.
A loud knock on the door woke Kortney from her thoughts. Quietly she walked to the door, and stopped just before it. Taking in a deep breath, she opened the door. At the corridor stood a figure dressed in a dark cloak, hood over the head. For a split second Kortney thought it was Zereth the assassin, but then she recognized those cold blue eyes – it was Queen Sofina.
"Can I come in?" Sofina asked calmly, a piercing look on her eyes. "Of course, Your Grace", Kortney answered after a moment of hesitation, letting the Queen inside her chambers. As Sofina took a seat, Kortney spoke up again. "The King has forbidden me from seeing you...", she started, but Sofina cut her off.
"Albin won't hear of this", she said nonchalantly. "So no need to worry, Lady Caron." Kortney's eyes widened, and Sofina clearly spotted her shock. "Did you think the rumor wouldn't spread?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. Kortney turned her eyes down in a loss of words. "Half the Kingsgrave knows by now, and soon enough the truth will spread outside the castle as well. And that will mean one more strong enemy for my husband. Apparently the Caron's are already suspecting something, since few of them are among the army of Blackmont's and Fowler's."
"I'm loyal to King Albin", Kortney muttered, and Sofina let out a chuckle. "There is no need to play games with me, Kortney", she said with a thin smirk. "I already offered you a way out earlier, and you refused."
"And I'm glad I did, considering what happened to Shana", Kortney spat, and now the Queen's expression turned sour. "You're right", Sofina admitted with a sigh. "I failed Shana... just as much as I failed you, and the Purple Ocelot. But I am determined to end this madness." Kortney gulped as she heard the willfulness on the Queen's voice. Finally she removed her hood, and Kortney could see the bruises on her face.
"Wh- what do you plan to do?" She asked quietly, and a smirk was formed on Sofina's face. "I will end Albin's reign", she said, a murderous look on her eyes. "I have gathered men around me, men who are loyal to me, and ready to take action. After Albin has been dealt with, his brother will take the crown, until Prince Brodin comes of age." Brodin wasn't actually the heir, so Kortney assumed this meant that Prince Arvin would be taken care of as well.
"Why are you telling this to me?" Kortney asked nervously. For a moment Sofina was silent, just eyeing at Kortney. "You will have an important role once this is over, Kortney", the Queen finally spoke with a serious tone on her voice. "The last thing we want is a war with the Caron's, and you will be the one to ensure the peace between our houses."
"So... When you have killed Albin, you want me to tell my father not to wage war with you?" Kortney asked, and Sofina nodded. "Exactly", she said sharply. "I know your father must be enraged when he'll learn about what happened to you, but I promise to you and your father, justice will be served for Albin and his freaks." With these words Queen Sofina stood up and pulled the hood over her head once again. "Soon you will be free, Lady Kortney", she said, giving one more look at Korteny, before walking out of the room and closing the door behind her.
With faltering steps Kortney walked to her bed. She laid down, silent and motionless, and she already knew she wouldn't be able to sleep a minute that night.
No decision.
[Don't mention Kortney in the peace terms]
While I don't doubt he would refuse, we all know Albin will be defeated by someone else, if House Yronwood do intervene (considering House Wyl is the nearest to Kingsgrave), things will get ugly for House Fowler and Blackmont, although it will only provoke House Caron to send an army.
Hopefully the chaos will give Kortney an opportunity to escape, although I pity the fate of the remaining Manwoody's.
[Don't mention Kortney in the peace terms]
Demanding that Albin let Kortney go is no doubt a recipe for disaster. I remember you saying the big question about Albin will be how many he takes down with him and I don't want to give him a reason to harm Kortney since at this point he has nothing to lose. Albin sees the Caron banners I'm sure but flat out demanding he let her go is the complete opposite of what seems like the best way to deal with Albin here. Also it is cool to see a Prestan apperance since he was supposed to have a big role if we would have chosen to take him originally!
As for Kortney's part, it is awesome to see Sofina here but I have a feeling this will just be a tease like Lyla finding Gwendis was so I will hold back on my excitement since I definitely don't see her plan working at all especially with the Book 3 cover so Albin is most likely not going down just yet but hopefully Sofina can help free Kortney nonetheless.
Hmm, well this is a hopeful but difficult decision you've left us with here. Firstly, I'm happy to see Prestan here, the sight of Caron's is always warming to the heart
And now this talk of sending a letter, well, I think Prince Ferris' word holds merit here, I only fear that the same will happen now that the majority of Kingsgrave knows that Kortney is Kortney.
[Demand the release of Kortney]
I'm worried that the alternative of this choice may end as Ferris said, but then again I'm fearful it won't matter if she mentions it or not. If the majority of Kingsgrave knows of Missy's identity, then without a doubt Albin does too, and as Larry said, he'll use any leverage to see his enemies suffer. This potentially means torturing Kortney and showcasing her on the battlements for all eyes to the see, even the Caron's. While part of me holds hope he wouldn't do this as it would bring a Caron army, I can't see why he wouldn't. He's fucked, he knows he's fucked, what's he got to lose? Sure, his family and home, but if Larry is right then he won't surrender, and where is there to hide in Kingsgrave if the likes of Zareth are snooping around.
I honestly don't know the best alternative for this part, I think either will end up with the same outcome, the only difference being time. Maybe not mentioning her in the peace terms will not put the thought into Albin's head, or at least won't provoke the idea until later. The main worry though is that Kortney may get a feeling that her family isn't truly interested in saving her. I mean, we've already seen her disappointment in perhaps seeing a couple of flags which she doesn't know are Caron's or not. If they are, she'd expect they're trying to rescue her, so being put in the peace terms would at least assure her she has allies trying to save her. Actually, I think I've just had a change of thought when it comes to allies.
Sofina has brought up that she plans to kill Albin, and that's a big feat on its own, one that will likely get caught if there isn't something distracting Albin entirely. Sure, there's two armies outside his wall starving him out, but they're not exactly on his gate, and there are other sick things Albin could be doing. Being provoked by the letter may mean more harm for Kortney, it may even mean a relapse of Missy, but I don't think Sofina will let it get that far. I mean, what role will Kortney play in Albin's assassination other than a distraction, bait? I'd love for her to take the kill, but for the chance of this even succeeding, I think Albin's eyes need to be focused on one thing, rather than scouring around for solutions. This may not bode well with Kortney's wellbeing, but she has allies within the wall, and outside of it, she needs to be reminded of it. Kortney has survived torment in Kingsgrave before, and I'm sticking by her by saying she can again.
[Don't mention Kortney in the peace terms]
[Don't mention Kortney in the peace terms]
Thank you so much, I am glad you enjoyed it! Writing Valaena was probably my favourite thing about this H&L, as she is indeed the biggest influence in Gwendis' life and the role model she has looked up to in her entire childhood. Back when I submitted the characters, I never thought she'd become such an important part of it all, but with this and the work from your earlier H&L, I am absolutely happy with the way she became a part of the story even despite her obvious absence. Speaking of H&L's, I cannot wait for your new computer, because I would surely love to see more of your work
Whoa, that cover is intense! I absolutely love it, even more than the last cover. Naturally, this makes me hyped for Book 2 and I cannot wait to find out how the Book 3 cover will look, or the Book 4 cover. One thing that concerns me a bit is the red of the falling star, because that implies some death among the Dayne family. Since I doubt Vorian himself will die, this will put some of my favourites at risk, as I just love Jamison, Malcolm and Nealia. I hope that red is not to be seen as literal blood, but there is also concern among my hype, as I am pretty sure that no matter if they survive Book 2 or not, things will be very rough on each on them, with the Martell-Dayne war and all.
[Don't mention Kortney in the peace terms]
Oh, I hate to choose this, because I fear that this will somehow ruin Kortney's chances of being freed. A part of me thinks that even Albin has to know that he won't have a chance to secure his houses survival if he does not comply with the terms. However, I cannot deny that there is one super huge concern I have about this. I doubt Albin is going to just give Kortney up. I mean, he might indeed technically fulfil the conditions by freeing her, but maybe reminding him of her real identity and the importance she has to those that are about to humiliate him will lead to him torturing her horribly and beyond recovery before freeing her. After all, nobody can prove that he only did so after learning about the terms. Or even worse, there is no hard evidence of her truly being at Kingsgrave. He could just make sure that Kortney will be hidden in the castle and claim that she has never been there. Then, after surrendering, he will take his wrath out on her. No, I believe that the only way to ensure Kortney's safety is to make sure that Albin does not know about how important her health is to the Caron's. That way, he might ignore her somewhat and maybe he won't even keep her hidden when he inevitably has to come and sign the terms. That way, they can surprise him with this additional demand when they have him at their mercy. Maybe he will be too baffled by this revelation to do anything messed up right then and that will give Myke a chance to fulfil his quest. Or maybe Sofina can protect her, as long as Albin won't direct his full attention towards her. Actually, I think Sofina will play an important role in Kortney's freedom. I bet she and Myke will have to combine their efforts if there is any hope for Kortney to be free ever again and even then, it will be one huge piece of work.
[Don't mention Kortney in the peace terms]
Voting is closed!
And by Myke's advice to Prestan, Kortney won't be mentioned in the peace terms delivered to King Albin. Yeah, it's probably better not to take the risk of provoking Albin to harm Kortney. Now, as I said earlier these parts concluded the Kingsgrave storyline for Chapter 2, but as you could clearly see, this wasn't so much of a climax, but rather a setup for things to come in the next chapter. And I can promise you, Kingsgrave certainly will be a crazy and chaotic location in Chapter 3
Next we'll have a Nealia PoV, taking us back to Lemonwood. Last time we saw her, Nealia was fighting on the battlements with Lien, White Elephant, Jinora Ling and Edric Thorne. After this, they made their way deeper into the city, following after the Rose Company. They made their way into a tavern, where they found Jacke and mortally wounded Illor. It was quite clear Illor was in a very weak state, and sure to die soon. However, he asked for Nealia to stay by his side, and you voted for her to stay. I'm fairly confident I'll get this part done today.
-
Edit: Ah, almost forgot, here is a portrait of Prestan Caron:
Aaaah, I never thought that Kingsgrave would have the potential to be my favourite Chapter 3 location, but with this teaser here, I now start to dread the time where I have to answer questions at the end of the next chapter about my favourite storyline. There's just so much and I already have a hard time deciding and now you come and hint at seriously awesome stuff to go down there in Chapter 3
Anyways, I am looking forward for Nealia as well, very much so! The battle for Lemonwood is clearly the highlight of this chapter so far and I feel like we're far from done with it.
I have also just noticed the Book 3 cover in the main post! Manwoody, that is only half a surprise for me. I mean, you confirmed you wish to work with the Manwoody sigil at some point, because it is legitimately badass, so I somewhat expected it to be a part of the cover. That leaves House Yronwood for Book 4 and probably means that Albin will somehow stay in power until that point, as bad as things look for him right now. It also means I have nothing to work with when it comes to the point where the houses Blackmont and Fowler will bend the knee. I could see Fowler kneeling before Blackmont, either in early Book 2 before the Dayne's or early 3, with the Blackmont's potentially staying somewhat in power until late Book 3 or early 4. I also genuinely hope that this cover is foreshadowing of Albin taking a spear to the eye, because if there is a single character in this story I want dead, it's Aisha Wesley Valerie Myra Mother Minesa Dalia Albin. Yeah, Albin... Hm, come to think of it, he might not be the only one I legitimately wish to see dead, but I genuinely want him to die after all he did so far. Given that there is still so much time until Book 3, I can guess that the worst is yet to come from him.
Nealia
Nealia was sitting next to Illor, who was laying down on the floor of the tavern, while Jacke sat on the table close by, downing his fourth ale. All the time the battle was going on in the city of Lemonwood around them, but right now Nealia didn't care about that. She only cared about her friend who was getting weaker every moment.
Nealia held Illor's hand, her eyes red from crying. "I... always knew this day would come", Illor said with quiet and painful words. "I just imagined it'd be... faster, less painful."
"Just stay calm Illor, you'll be fine", Nealia said thinly, but Illor seemed to ignore her words. "I wonder who is right... about what happens after." He spoke with a fearful look on his eyes. "The Andal septons with their seven heavens and hells?" Illor turned his eyes to Nealia as he said this, and his lips formed a pained smirk. "Which hell do you think I'd end up then?" He asked, and Nealia chuckled weakly, tears coming to her eyes again. As she didn't answer, Illor continued, his voice much grimmer now. "But I'm not afraid of any hell... what I'm afraid of is... that there's nothing. That this was my only life, and I wasted it."
"You haven't wasted it", Nealia insisted with compassion, grabbing Illor's right hand between her palms. "I gotta agree with the silver lady", Jacke joined the conversation, his voice slightly slurring. "You've lived and seen more than most, my friend." Nealia saw a single tear streaming down Illor's cheek.
"I should've stayed with her", the Braavosi muttered quietly, clearly talking more to himself than to Nealia or Jacke. Nealia glanced quickly at Jacke, who just gave her a subtle shrug. "Perhaps one day I could've..." Whatever Illor tried to say, he couldn't bring himself to finish it. He just groaned, either in pain or grief, or perhaps both.
"If there is anything you want to say, I'll listen", Nealia encouraged quietly, and slowly Illor turned his eyes to her. The fear and weakness in his eyes was crushing. Illor opened his mouth slightly, but no words came out. Slowly his gaze froze, as well as all of his movements, the frightened expression still on his face. He is dead, Nealia realized, and closed her eyes in frustration and grief, still holding onto Illor's hand. After a moment she closed Illor's eyes, making him look at least slightly less frightened, and more in peace.
"Seven save him, he was a good man", Jacke lamented with a sigh. "There aren't many like him in this line of work... a big loss for us all." After saying this, the Stormlander sellsword gulped down another mug of ale. Nealia stayed silent, there were no words for how she felt at this moment. Though she had known him merely for couple months, losing Illor was the worst thing that had happened to her ever since her mother's death. Just like Jacke said, Illor had been a good man, but more importantly he had been a good friend.
Slowly Nealia's grief was starting to be overtaken by anger – yet she didn't know to what or whom exactly was she angry at. Illor for dying? The Dalt soldiers for killing him? They had just been doing their duty, and most likely the man who had thrusted his spear to Illor's guts already laid dead on the streets. No, Nealia was angry at life itself, the whole world, and whatever gods dictated the faiths of men and women on it. So much war, so much useless death. She clenched her fists as she stared at the corpse of Illor, feeling extremely frustrated. There would be no vengeance for this man, no justice to be served – she would just have to forget him. No, I will remember him, Nealia promised to herself.
Suddenly, the door of the tavern was opened. Inside strolled a group of half a dozen bandits, led by none other than Corren. The skinny man had a smug expression on his narrow face, which was currently smeared with blood. Few of the men following Corren were clearly injured, limping or holding their arms in pain.
"Well, well, if it isn't the royal cunt, and a dead foreign fucker", Corren said arrogantly, and Nealia stood up. Jacke also stood up from his chair, placing his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Oh no, you don't want to do that", Corren said, gesturing towards the men behind him. "You're quite severly outnumbered for starting a fight." With these words the bandit leader took a couple steps closer to them, narrowing his eyes as he laid them on Nealia. "I haven't forgotten that punch of yours, love", he said quietly, an underlying threat in his words.
"Good", Nealia spat back defiantly, and Corren's lips formed a twisted smirk. "Daddy Tryden isn't here to protect you now, bitch", he hissed, raising his sword up. Both Nealia and Jacke unsheathed their swords, and the thugs behind Corren did the same. Nealia felt her pulse getting faster, she felt nervous, but she also felt satisfied – now there was someone she could focus her anger on.
"Go ahead and try it then, bastard", she said, anger oozing from her words. For a moment Corren's eyes widened, perhaps he hadn't expected defiance. He backed away, retreating behind his thugs. "Kill them", he said coldly, and the bandits started to slowly move closer to Nealia and Jacke.
Finally, after a tense moment of silence, one of the thugs stormed towards them with a shrill scream. However, that scream was swiftly cut short, as Nealia easily parried his swing with her left sword, and stabbed the right one violently into his guts.
Meanwhile Jacke rushed towards the next two thugs. Though his steps were slightly faltering from the effect of the ale, the Stormlander quickly disarmed one of Corren's men. However, the other one smashed his ribs with a mace, making him stumble to the ground. Nealia rushed in quickly to help, jumping on the thug with the mace from behind, and slicing his throat open.
Meanwhile the disarmed thug had reclaimed his sword. However, Jacke and Nealia attacked him simultaneously. He was barely able to parry Nealia's strike, but Jacke's sword immediately split open his skull. Aside from Corren himself, there were just three thugs left, and they were all injured. One of them dropped his sword and raised up his hands. "Fuck it, I'm not dying for this", he said and shook his head, and the other two followed his example. With an equally panicked and angered expression on his face, Corren quickly retreated to the door of the tavern, and ran out.
Nealia glanced at Jacke, who was holding his ribs where the mace had hit him, a pained expression on his face. Meanwhile the three injured thugs made their way out as well. Jacke sunk back into his chair. "You can go after the bastard if you want, but I think I need some rest", he muttered.
[Hunt down Corren] [Stay with Jacke]
[Stay with Jacke]
[Stay with Jacke]
As much as I want to kill that bastard Corren, is better to make sure he's okay, she will not lose another companion like that on this night.
[Stay with Jacke]
Shit... this was another choice I felt conflicted about. Actually, my first impulse was to go after that bastard, to hunt him down and make sure that he won't be a problem anymore. I think Jacke's injuries, while painful, are not life-threatening, so maybe this will be a chance to get rid of Corren once and for all. However, then I thought, can we be sure that Jacke is going to survive? Illor's death has already been painful enough, there's no need for Nealia to lose yet another friend. If Jacke's wounds are worse than they seem right now, then staying with him could save his life. Or if any enemies find their way into the tavern, as unlikely as it seems right now. The thing with Corren is, he's done for. Once Tryden learns about this, that bastard is dead. If I have gotten Tryden' character correctly so far, then he will be legitimately pissed at this and he's really not the kind of guy I'd like to severely piss off. If Corren shows his ugly face near the Rose Company again, he is likely to be executed on the spot. It seems his men have taken severe losses during the battle, meaning that Efran might not even need him anymore. And most importantly, if Nealia rushes after him, there is no saying what will happen. It could give Corren a chance to turn the fight around entirely. She could run into a trap, or he could ambush her in the streets. He has lost here, so let's not risk him getting a chance to win.
At the same time, he might just return with more men... ah, this is a hard choice and I might change my vote later on, but for now, this seems more reasonable than blindly chasing after that guy.
[Stay with Jacke]
[Stay with Jacke]
[Stay with Jacke]
Voting is closed!
And Nealia will stay with Jacke in the tavern. Well, going after Corren would've offered an opportunity to kill the guy, but aside from that this is a character building choice. Instead of going after Corren to tear down her rage on her, Nealia is going to stay to look after her injured brother-in-arms. Jacke's injuries aren't life threatening, but it's safe to say he might not be in the condition to defend himself in case an enemy would find its way to the tavern.
Anyway, next up will be Dianna and Verro PoVs, which will start to shift the Battle for Lemonwood towards its ending. I have to admit I haven't made a ton of progress on these parts on the last couple days, but I'd still say you can expect them to be ready by Sunday. I don't think long recaps are needed, but just as a reminder: Dianna decided to keep following Bjorn in her latest part as he led the Ironborn to raid the southern parts of the town. Verro's leg was injured in his latest part, slowing him down considerably. Nesila took him to an abandoned house near the harbor gate and patched him up, and he decided to stay hidden in that house after Nesila returned to the fighting.
-
Oh, and you may have already noticed the smaller versions on the op, but here are the covers of Book 3 and Book 4:
Well... I feel a bit embarassed at me writing out two long sentences about how much I look forward for the battle for Vaith and then I realized that you announced a Dianna part and not a Dalia part. That... was not my finest moment
But I really look forward for the Lemonwood parts as well. I wonder if this means that Vaith will be the absolute chapter finale, as we seem to reach the end of the battle for Lemonwood soon. Ah, even if I misread her name as Dalia for a moment, I look forward for Dianna as well, at least as much, probably even more 
And that final book cover is awesome! Well, I expected nothing less of course, given how great the previous three are. All in all, the third might be my favourite, but that might just be for the supreme badassery that is the Manwoody sigil. Naturally, I am excited for Book 4 as well, even if that'll be years until we get there. Unsurprisingly, we have the Yronwood's there and paired with the title, that makes me believe that the two wildcard houses, the Blackmont's and Fowler's, are probably going to bend the knee in Book 3 at latest, likely shortly before the Manwoody's, giving Nym one clear enemy in Book 4 instead of several smaller opponents.
Dianna
While Bjorn Harlaw and his crew had been pillaging the houses of the southern parts of Lemonwood, Dianna had stayed on the streets, keeping guard. She had no interest in watching the Ironborn do their atrocities to the people who were still in the houses, and rob whatever valuables they found.
Now Dianna was starting to notice the sky slowly getting brighter. The dawn was close, and the city had been completely overrun by the forces of the Bandit Lord, with only the streets right in front of the gates still being held by the Dalt soldiers. It would be interesting to see how would this battle continue from here. Would Lord Darin surrender? From her brief meeting with the man, Dianna didn't see Darin as someone who would easily admit his defeat. But perhaps his troops will.
Dianna's thoughts were interrupted as the door across the street was slammed open, with Arfast Stonetree walking out. On the man's left hand was a large bag of items he had looted from the houses, and with his right hand he dragged a crying young girl, probably on her late teens. Atrocious, Dianna thought, frustrated that there was nothing she could do to help the girl. Not yet at least.
In the coattails of Arfast came Roryn Drumm and half a dozen more Ironborn warriors. Slowly the whole Ironborn crew made their way closer to the castle, approaching the gate from south. There was a strong force of enemy spearmen and heavy swordsmen defending the gate.
Bjorn stopped few dozen feet away from the defenders, while Efran's men already charged against them. "In the castle are many treasures that have been promised to us!" Bjorn yelled loudly. "If we want to get them, we need to kill those sorry cunts of greenlanders. Can we do it?"
"Yes!" The Ironborn yelled with eager tones, beating their axes and swords against their shields. "For the Drowned God!" One of them yelled, and they begun their charge against the Dalt soldiers. Some of the Dalt soldier turned to face them, but not nearly enough. The Ironborn overwhelmed them, crashing through their lines, causing a chaos among them, which helped Efran's men to break through the lines as well.
Dianna watched this all from a safe distance, having to take down just a few Dalt soldiers who tried to desert their own. At one point two Dalt soldiers charged against Dianna. She easily deflected one of the swords with her shield, and tackled the soldier down to the ground. Taking a quick glimpse behind, she saw the other one quickly approaching her. I don't have enough time to parry, she thought in panic, trying to turn towards the attacker. However, before the man could swing his sword, an axe had cut his throat open. Quickly Dianna turned towards the man who she had earlier tackled, seeing him now trying to crawl towards his sword. Dianna stopped him by kicking him to the ribs, and then slashing his throat open with her arakh.
After that was done, she turned to see who had saved her – and it was Roryn Drumm, standing there with an arrogant grin on his face and cleaning the blood from his axe. "Saved you again, Lady Dianna", he said with a cocky tone. Dianna decided not to answer, but just walked past him, and proceeded to take down the next soldier. Soon the skirmish was over, and the remaining Dalt soldiers were retreating inside the castle. Bjorn Harlaw raised up his sword, and the Ironborn cheered for him. Dianna took in a couple deep breaths, feeling thankful that he had survived this battle.
As the Ironborn walked through the fallen and Efran's men started to form lines, Dianna noticed that many of Bjorn's men had gathered around one of the bodies. She walked closer, noticing the dead corpse belonged to Arfast Stonetree. Bjorn seemed angry and disappointed looking at his friend's dead body, and even kneeled down to kiss the dead man on the forehead. Then he stood up, commanding few of the men to carry Arfast's body away from the street, and the men obeyed.
"Why is it so hard for you greenlander women to be grateful?" Dianna heard Roryn's voice ask behind her, and she turned to face him. "Why is it so hard for you Ironborn to be decent?" She shot back, and Roryn chuckled coldly.
"Decent... I guess that's your word for weak", he said with a smirk, but Dianna shook her head. "No", she said strictly. "You are the weak ones, rejecting any honor and dignity, following your primal instincts like you're bloody animals. True strength is to fight for what's right, not to reave and rape when and where you please." After Dianna's rant, Roryn took a step closer to her. "And you think the knights and high lords of Westeros fight for what's right?" He asked with a condescending tone. "Oh my dear, every man on this earth wants to dominate – we are just being honest about it. Besides, I saved a beautiful lady twice this night, that would make any knight jealous." Roryn tapped Dianna on the shoulder as he walked past her, making his way towards Bjorn.
Dianna rolled her eyes as she watched Roryn go. And then she noticed another man approaching her. This one was also an Ironborn warrior, clad in leather armor and sporting a long brown beard. On his other hand was an axe, and on the other he was carrying a sturdy helmet that he had clearly worn in the battle. "Looks like my brother has laid his eyes on you", the man said with a mellow expression on his face.
"You're Roryn's brother, huh?" Dianna asked with a tense tone, and the man nodded. "My name is Hilsgurd Drumm, Roryn is my older brother", he explained calmly. "Our father, Lord Daven, is part of King Harmund's court and has forbidden us to take his ships to raid... so we joined Bjorn's crew."
"How fascinating", Dianna said dryly, and Hilsgurd chuckled softly. "Sorry, mylady, I didn't mean to bore you. Just wanted to warn you."
"Warn me? Of what?" Dianna asked strictly, and Hilsgurd sighed. "My brother", he answered with a dark tone on his words. "I'd advice you to stay away from Roryn... he is a dangerous man, more dangerous than you think."
"I can take care of myself", Dianna stated quietly, and Hilsgurd nodded. "I've noticed that", he replied, his lips forming a subtle smile. "But still, take heed of my warning." With these words Hilsgurd walked away, following after his brother.
As the forces of Efran and Bjorn formed their ranks on the streets around the gate, the sun was raising above the walls and shining into the city. The last phase of this battle was about to begin.
No decision.
-
Verro
Verro looked towards the doorframe on the other side of the room, noticing that light was starting to creep in. The sun is rising, he realized. For awhile Verro hadn't heard any sounds of fighting from the streets closest to him – the battle had moved deeper into the city. By now they could already be assaulting the castle, he thought.
Verro put his hand lightly on the bandaged wound on his upper right leg. Nesila had done a good job with stopping the bleeding, but the wound was still painful. Despite that, Verro decided to finally stand up again. However, as he put his weight on his right leg a flash of pain went through him, and he had to lean on the wall next to him. Verro cringed in pain, closing his eyes and waiting for the pain to fade away. It didn't, but after a while Verro nonetheless felt comfortable enough to start limping towards the door.
As he stepped outside, Verro saw the morning sun shining above the battlements, illuminating the streets that were riddled with corpses and dried blood. Slowly Verro started to walk up the street next to the walls, making his way towards the castle. He stepped over the bodies of Dalt soldiers and Efran's bandits alike, an apathetic look on his eyes. A few of Efran's soldiers walked past him without paying much attention to him.
Soon Verro started to hear more clearly the noises coming from the castle. They weren't noises of fighting though, just some talking and shouting. And from the streets right next to the castle Verro found the army of Efran, lined up just outside of the range from the battlements of the castle. He saw bandits and Ironborn swarming on the side streets, and sellswords formed up next to what appeared to be the barracks of the city guard. And here were even more dead bodies laying on the streets.
Verro saw Nesila standing next to one of the buildings with Axel, Cullen and Zaltha Qo, but he decided to keep walking. He walked through the crowd of sellswords, and he finally he saw Lord Efran, Elise and Ser Byrron Granit, who were positioned behind most of the forces. Carefully he approached them, still limping.
When Verro was about a dozen feet away from them, Efran shifted his gaze to him, and Elise's eyes quickly followed. The Bandit Lord was holding his left shoulder, but the injury didn't look to be severe. Elise and Byrron on the other hand looked to be in perfectly fine condition, their clothes smeared with only the blood of their enemies.
"Verro... I thought you might be dead", Efran said, a subtle smile on his face. "Not yet", Verro replied with a grimace of pain, stopping a few feet away from them. Efran nodded with a small chuckle. "Glad to see you're... somewhat well", he said, now looking at Verro's injured leg. "I heard you did good job at breaking through the harbor gate."
"It was a team effort", Verro said with a humble tone. "So, what exactly happens next?" He proceeded to ask.
"As you can see, we are surrounding the castle", Ser Byrron joined the conversation with a stern and condescending tone. Efran nodded subtly. "Indeed, and if my uncle is smart he will surrender... if not, we'll have to storm the castle." He let out a sigh after he finished speaking.
"Are you sure we have enough men left for it?" Verro asked carefully, and a small smirk was formed on Efran's face. "Oh yes", he said confidently. "Though I'd rather not do it... the more men we'll have after the battle is over, the easier it will be for me to establish my rule over Lemonwood."
"Don't worry about it too much, my love", Elise purred, a seductive look on her eyes as she stared Efran. "You were born to rule Lemonwood." Verro could see Efran raising his chin up proudly, encouraged by the words of his lover.
Before anyone could say anything more, one of the sellswords approached them. "Lord Efran", the man said with a voice that was clearly hoarse from screaming. "News from the frontlines – Lord Darin is surrendering, he is opening the gates."
Efran's eyes widened from surprise. "It could be a trap", Ser Byrron pointed out quickly, and the man nodded. "It could", he agreed with a sigh, and now Byrron turned to Efran. "I'll move in first with the forces. When the castle has been confirmed, you follow", the Granit knight spoke with serious tone. Efran didn't look particularly pleased with this, but after a moment of consideration he nodded. "Alright, let's do this", he said quietly, and Byrron flashed him a smirk, then proceeding to make his way towards the frontlines.
Efran, Elise and Verro along with majority of the forces stayed behind as Ser Byrron made his way into the castle. Around five minutes passed, and then one of Byrron's men came back to Efran. "The castle is secured, you can move in now", the soldier said after bowing to the Bandit Lord. Efran smiled, a hint of relief on his expression. And so he lead the rest of the forces, or at least majority of them, inside the castle of Lemonwood.
Verro couldn't quite keep up with Efran with his injured leg, but when he finally did walk through the gates and arrived to the courtyard, what he saw was an interesting sight. A middle aged man stood in the middle of the courtyard, clad in a finely decorated steel armor and a tabard of House Dalt, and in his hands was a shining steel longsword. The man had a short black hair with receding hairline, and on his angular face was a stern expression. He raised up his sword and pointed it at Efran.
"What do you say, nephew?" He asked loudly. He must be Lord Darin Dalt, Verro realized. Darin and Efran were surrounded by the Bandit Lord's men, who were ready to murder the old lord whenever Efran would give the order. "You against me, one on one! Let's see which one deserves to be Lord of Lemonwood!"
Ser Byrron quickly walked next to Efran, whispering something to him. However, Efran seemed to ignore his words. He took a couple steps closer to Lord Darin, and unsheathed his Valyrian steel sword. "I am here to avenge my father and claim my birthright... I wouldn't give the honor of killing you to anyone else, uncle." Efran spoke with a tone that revealed he was both excited and angered. A grin was formed on the face of Lord Darin as he took one step closer to Efran, and took a defensive stance.
With a frustrated sigh Byrron stepped away from Efran, who twiddled his sword on his right hand. The courtyard was astonishingly quiet as these two claimants for the lordship of Lemonwood stared down each other. Who knew bandits, sellswords and Ironborn warriors were capable of being so quiet?
Finally Efran charged towards Darin with a roar, and his men started to cheer for him. Their swords clashed again and again, as Efran unleashed a series of strikes against his uncle. However, despite being older, Lord Darin wasn't slow with his moves. He parried all of Efran's swings with relative ease, all the time having a sharp and focused look on his eyes. When Efran stopped attacking, Darin quickly struck back with a fast downward swing. Efran managed to deflect the sword just enough to avoid it cutting him open, and he was forced to take a couple steps backwards. Darin took a defensive stance once again, an arrogant grin on his face.
"Is that all you got, boy?" The Lord of Lemonwood yelled aggressively. "I defeated your bastard of a father, I will defeat you as well!" This clearly agitated Efran, who charged for another attack. This time his swings were faster, coming from left, right, up and down. Darin had harder time to parry now, but he could still keep up. For a moment the two locked their swords against each other, both of them furiously staring to their opponent's eyes. "You thought this day would never come didn't you?" Efran asked, his every word oozing of rage. "That you would get away from taking what belonged to my father – you were wrong!" The Bandit Lord pulled his sword away, and attacked Darin with a heavy strike from the right. However, Darin managed to parry it, and proceeded to elbow Efran to the face.
With a painful expression on his face Efran stumbled backwards. Darin struck again, and though Efran managed to just deflect the swing, it made him lose his grip on his sword, as well as fall back first to the dusty ground. The look on his one eye was revealing as he laid defenseless on the ground – he was in panic. Darin approached him, ready to end the fight and his nephew's life.
However, before that could happen, Ser Byrron sneaked behind him. The Granit knight saved the life of his lord by embedding his sword to the back of Lord Darin's skull. Darin fell on his knees, and let go of his sword with a shocked expression on his face. Meanwhile Efran grabbed his sword and stood up. With one furious strike he slashed the throat of his uncle open.
Lord Darin Dalt fell to the ground, dead. The battle for Lemonwood was over – Efran had defeated Darin.
No decision.
And with that, we've reached the end of the battle for Lemonwood! It ultimately came a bit faster than I thought, but nonetheless felt super awesome. I guess we might get to see the aftermath of it from Nealia's PoV, unless there's still more parts coming for Dianna and Verro. Anyways, what a battle it has been! That was just brutal, from start to finish and exactly what I enjoyed about a siege. Every part of these had me at the edge of my seat, because there are so many characters involved I don't want to see dead, at least not just yet. Bjorn is surprisingly among them, that guy has grown on me a lot. Roryn though... eh, I am sure he will be a lot of trouble in the future if Dianna doesn't find a way to deal with him. That guy gives me bad vibes an I could see him as being more dangerous than Bjorn or Hargan even, who at least seem to hold some minor levels of decency.
Now, the highlight of this part and the battle in general was clearly the duel between Efran and Darin. For just a second, I had hopes Darin would actually succeed. He came close to it and that would have been quite the interesting twist. I mean, what would have happened then, if Efran would have died at the hands of his uncle even after winning the battle? As crazy as that twist would have been, what we got is just as interesting. Darin went out like a boss, actually defeating Efran in single combat. I wonder what this will mean for his followers. Efran surely likes to show himself as this strong badass, but we just saw him getting his ass kicked by an old man. In fact, it seemed that he was relatively chanceless even and had to rely on one of th few men that hold personal loyalty to him to stab his opponent in the back. He was even in a panic right there and that was so satisfying to read. I guess ultimately, Efran is not as strong as he wants to be seen and maybe this was an eye-opener for his followers. Those who respect his strength might abandon him now, most importantly Bjorn's Ironborn. In fact, I could see Bjorn as going a step further. He wants to loot and plunder and defeat the weak. Efran just showed himself to be weak and he has a lot of newly gained riches to plunder. At worst (or best), Bjorn could turn on him even, he gave me such vibes right there. Tryden and his men are unlikely to remain loyal for much longer either, I guess while following gold, Tryden is the sort of guy who also wants to fight for a strong leader, so if Bjorn and his men make a move, I can't see many of Efran's men willing to die for him. Byrron is the exception, maybe Elise as well, but I don't know enough about her to make clear assumptions about her. Anyways, an outstanding finale for a wonderful battle, one that made me so hyped for the sieges and battles to come
Yeah, the battle is now over. It was certainly enjoyable to write, so I am glad to hear it has been enjoyable to read as well! That said, I might be even more hyped to get to show the ramifications and aftermath of this battle in the next chapter
Indeed, and well, you may have noticed that the dead count of this battle (when it comes to named characters) isn't super long
The reason is just that with many characters it just felt like way too early to kill them off. Even with Illor it felt a bit iffy, but in the end I thought him dying here will be more effective for Nealia's storyline than anything he'd do if I kept him alive. Heh, Bjorn is definitely meant to be one of those bad guys who has plenty of respectable features as well 
Roryn though, yeah, let's just say it's better to be cautious about him. I mean, we are talking about a guy who goes out of his way and against his father's wishes just to get to raid and pillage, and not even to get rich, but just for the "fun" of it.
Indeed, it was actually pretty smart move from Darin to challenge Efran to duel, because he had already lost the battle, and this was really the only solution left for him to potentially turn the situation around. Of course, killing Efran might've not saved him, or at least his castle still would've been robbed from all riches. And Darin has actually been a great warrior in his youth, so Efran definitely underestimated him here.
Oh yes, this really did not go the way Efran would've preferred, and it will be seen in the next chapter how his followers react. Though in reality it's no shame to be bested by Darin, it still looks really bad for Efran that he had to be saved by Byrron. And oh yes, the Ironborn are the ones who most likely have the strongest reaction to this, because they definitely don't want to follow someone they see as weak. Especially now that Efran's campaign turns from being offensive and harassing the lands of Dalt's to actually ruling those lands - there's no plunder in that kind of campaign. And Tryden is an opportunist above all else, so if he sees that Efran is not able to hold what he has won here, he might want to abandon him. And another thing to remember is that Tryden and the Rose Company aren't actually even paid by Efran - they are just there because King Lucifer paid for them to help Efran out, to make a distraction for the Martell's, and that has already been achieved. Byrron is really the only one we know for sure to be absolutely loyal to Efran, because he truly believes in the cause. Elise? Well that remains to be seen, but being powerful and charismatic is part of what attracts her in Efran, so if that goes away... well, she might not be as loyal as our Bandit Lord hoped.
It has so far even been one of the biggest highlights of the story! Many other storylines hold potential to surpass it, to be fair, but this has been the first big highlight so far, while many of the others still seem to be in the process of getting build up before paying off. So, unless the battle of Vaith manages to surpass it, this might even be a strong contender for my favourite Chapter 2 storyline
Aye, though I don't have a problem with that. Illor was an emotional death and I don't know if I would have even wanted another one to hit hard. Surely, you could have killed off some less developed characters, but that wouldn't have caused much of a reaction and as a whole, I guess it's enough that a lot of people died, just only few we actually got to know. I was a bit afraid you'd kill of Lien, to be honest, I had this bad feeling, though I am glad she survived because ultimately, I think this relationship between her, Ying and Nealia still holds so much potential to be explored. And Roryn, I knew it! That guy is going to be trouble, I'm calling it now!
That was a super smart move indeed, though one I would have probably expected in Efran's situation. It says a lot about his actual qualities as a ruler that he failed to foresee this final desperate move of his defeated uncle. I guess in case of his victory, Darin could have only hoped to impress Efran's followers and to convince them to work for him instead, though I guess at the very least he would have lost all of his riches. Ah, but at least he would have taken Efran down with him.
Yeah, I could see some sort of a chain reaction right there. I'm pretty sure Bjorn and his men will get out of there, now that their employer had to be saved like a sissy girl and doesn't actually give them more stuff to plunder. I mean, we have Roryn right there and I highly doubt he is the only one of Bjorn's men who is there primarily to raid and pillage. Bjorn himself might be a bit of a pragmatist, but even he has to obey to the will of his men. That could convince others to abandon him as well. Corren and his men, the White Elephant and co., I guess they might follow. Tryden's job is done as well and I don't really think he will see value in working for Efran any longer. And finally, Elise. Well, Efran was surely anything but powerful and charismatic in what should be the moment of his biggest triumph. Might be a bit of an eye-opener for her. I must admit, I am intrigued by her reaction now.
This was a very interesting battle. I'm glad most of the characters survived. I'm still sad Illor didn't make it. Besides Nealia, he was my favorite in the Rose Company.
By the way, I sent you a pm.
This chapter was pretty intense, and is making me excited about what comes in the aftermath. We'll find out what happened to Dallin and Adian in the next chapter?
This means the only other POV are Dalia, Kris and Nymeria or her role in this part is already over, cause I can't remember.
Indeed Efran won, but either he ignores Nymeria's presence or doesn't think that she will depose him easily, probably the latter.
If we had known Arfast a bit more I might have felt sad, but Illor was still pretty painful.
Funny idea, how about you draw the heraldry of the original Houses, such as Upton, Bloodspill and Blackpool.
Yes, we will definitely get an update on Adian and Dallin (as well as get introduced to more of the Dalt family) in the next chapter! And yeah, Dalia and Kris will still have their parts in this chapter, but Nym's storyline is already concluded. Instead, Nealia will have one more part, so we will get a glimpse of the aftermath in Lemonwood already in this chapter. Aha, Nymeria is definitely a big threat to Efran, which is something he has to acknowledge sooner or later.
And yeah, I didn't really expect anyone to be sad for Arfast
However, it's good to hear that Illor's death was impactful.
Alright, there is no voting to close this time, but I just wanted to say that the next part will be ready later today
And it will be a Dalia PoV, taking us to Vaith and the ongoing battle there. Last time on Vaith we saw things from Kris' PoV, as he lead the cavalry of the Wild Suns with Yohn Redfort and Howar Uller against the Vaith cavalry. He was succesful in defending the infantry, and drove the remnants of the Vaith cavalry back into the city. After this he went to have a few words with Dalia. The plan was that Khazor the Sarnori with his Bloodfangs would break through the southern gate, allowing the cavalry to charge in, while the Unsullied and Mizro would break in from the eastern gate, allowing Dalia to enter the city with Desi - their mission being to find the witch of Vaith. Dalia asked Kris if he wanted to join with them instead of leading the cavalry, and he did.
-
I also have another portrait for you, this time Roryn Drumm:
Dalia
Dalia stood a couple hundred feet away from the eastern gates of Vaith with Desirea, Kris, Mother Minesa, Vyran and Belan, while Red Maggot, Mizro and Marduk were leading the attack in front of them. Haridos Fyllah had recently reported that the watchtower was now under the control of the Wild Suns, and Dalia assumed Khazor had managed to break through the southern gates by now, allowing the cavalry to charge into the city.
Dalia glanced at Desi, who was holding a torch in her right hand, and had a focused and slightly nervous look on her dark eyes. Dalia turned her gaze to Kris, whose bright green eyes were filled with determination and anger as he eyed the battle ahead of them. She could understand his feelings – the man was attacking his own city, which had been taken from him by someone he had once thought he loved. That must be a hard thing to cope with. Mother Minesa on the other hand observed the slaughter in front of them with calm and emotionless expression on her face.
The gates had been broken for a while now, but finally it looked like the Unsullied were starting to break the defenders' lines and force their way into the city. After a while the fighting had moved into the streets, and Dalia turned once again towards her daughter. "Shall we move in?" She asked softly. Desirea gulped, considering her answer for a moment. "Yes, let's go", she finally said with a determinant voice. And so, surrounded by their red guards of R'hllor, they started to approach the gates of Vaith.
"I can feel it now", Kris said quietly as they were just a couple dozen feet away from the gate. "The dark magic of that witch." There was genuine anger in his last words, and Dalia gave him a subtle nod.
"Our flames will burn the darkness away", Minesa said nonchalantly, as Vyran and Belan led them in from the gates. They walked over dozens, if not hundreds, of bodies. There were corpses with the tabards of Wild Suns, others with tabards of Vaith, and some with the uniform of the Unsullied. And blood, the streets were red from it.
"Desi, do you know where we should go?" Belan asked, clenching tightly to his sword. Desirea didn't answer immediately, but she stopped and closed her eyes. "It's strong... the presence of the dark god", she gulped after saying this. Belan turned around and put his hand on Desi's shoulder, looking her to the eyes. "It's alright, Desi, we're here to protect you", the young boy said with a soothing tone. Desi opened her eyes, taking in a deep breath. "Thanks, Bel", she said quietly. "I... I'll have to concentrate for a moment."
Dalia stepped next to her daughter, and softly pushed Belan away, giving him a meaningful glare. She gazed towards the town square, seeing the battle raging there right now. "Take your time, darling", she said calmly, now turning to Kris. "Do you think Lady Myra is in the castle, or somewhere in the city?" She asked, and Kris shrugged with hesitation in his eyes.
"She rarely left the castle, but... I don't know, Dalia, there is much about my former wife that remains a mystery to me", Kris spoke with uncertainty in his voice.
"That way", Desirea suddenly spoke up again, her voice now very confident, and she pointed towards the street to the northwest, which led to the harbor gate. "Oh yes, I feel it too", Minesa said, a small smirk forming on her face.
"Let's go then", Vyran grunted, and they stared walking down that street. As they moved closer to the harbor gate with their twenty guards, a couple dozen Vaith troops came from the side alley to block their way. "Shit", Vyran cursed, and the red guards quickly formed up in front of them, to make sure no harm would come to Desirea.
"Charge!" Dalia quickly commanded, and the guards attacked. Dalia followed them into the skirmish, Kris coming quickly after her, while Vyran, Belan and Minesa stayed behind to guard Desirea. Dalia swinger her two arakhs furiously, cutting down any soldier that dared to come close to her. Luckily these were clearly just poorly trained grunts, and for every red guard that got killed at least four of the Vaith soldiers were cut down. Dalia could see from Kris' movements that he was much less eager to kill these men, but he did what he had to.
And soon the little skirmish was over, all of the Vaith soldier who had attacked them laying dead on the ground. There were still twelve red guards left, which was enough for them to continue their mission. "Do you still feel it, Desi?" Dalia asked loudly, still catching breath from the fight.
"Yes... I feel it, let's continue forward", Desirea guided, and Dalia nodded. "You heard her, continue forward!" The Wild Sun commanded, and the guards obeyed, as did Kris, Vyran, Belan and Minesa. They walked slowly forward, their swords up for any possible attack. "Stop", Desirea finally said, and they all stopped. "It's the next alley right", she said with a nervous tone, and Dalia nodded calmly. She led them to that alley, and at the end of it she saw a dozen soldiers wearing the colors of House Vaith. They approached them in silence, and as they got closer Dalia noticed something very disturbing. The look on all of these soldiers' eyes was a blank stare – like they were dead men walking. In the middle of them was a warrior with long dark hair and purple eyes, armed with a dark sword with slightly curved blade. And behind all these soldiers was a young ebony skinned lady, dressed in dark robes, and in her eyes was an unnatural blue glow.
"Valerie", Kris muttered quietly, concern and confusion in his voice. "Kill them!" The dark lady shrieked with a voice that sent shivers down Dalia's spine. After that she made her way into one of the buildings, and her soldiers charged towards Dalia and the rest, the one with the long dark hair leading them.
Vyran was the one to take on the leader of these silent soldiers, while Dalia faced against a soldier armed with a spear. Unlike the soldiers they had faced earlier, these were not so easily defeated. They fought without mercy, and their every strike was aimed to kill.
Dalia knew defense wasn't her strong point, so after deflecting the spear once, she proceeded to attack aggressively. She managed to slash the man on his left arm, but to her surprise the soldier showed no sign of pain. And all pained screams Dalia could hear came from the red guards who were bested by these servants of darkness.
Dalia dodged the soldier's vicious strike again, and managed to dance her way behind him. From there he could slash her other arakh behind the man's right knee, forcing him to fall on his knees. Then she opened the man's skull with a powerful downward strike. Glancing around herself, Dalia saw that seven of the red guards were still standing. Then she heard a familiar voice screaming in pain – Vyran the Lion. As she turned her gaze towards him, she saw the curved blade of the dark warrior impaled through the chest of Vyran. The dark warrior pulled his sword out, and Vyran fell to the ground, dead.
With a scream filled with rage, Belan charged towards the dark-haired man, clearly wanting to avenge his father. The dark warrior easily parried Belan's swing and quickly struck back. His dark blade hit Belan on the ribs, mercilessly throwing him to the ground. Dalia quickly charged in, preventing the dark warrior from killing Belan.
Her black Valyrian steel arakhs clashed against the dark glimmering blade of this mysterious warrior, who stared at her with a dead and emotionless look on his purple eyes. Aggressively Dalia unleashed a series of strikes with her arakhs, but the dark warrior seemed to have no issues to parry them all. And then he begun to strike back. His first swing hit Dalia on her left arm, causing her to loose her grip on the arakh. The second strike was aimed to her head, and Dalia only just managed to deflect it away. The next one hit her on her right knee, way too quickly for her to react. "Fuck", Dalia cursed in panic – she was down on her knee now, at the mercy of this dark warrior.
At the last moment, Kris rushed in to save her. With his glowing Valyrian steel sword he challenged the dark warrior. Kris made him back away from Dalia with his furious strikes, but the dark warrior still managed to parry each swing. While the two continued their duel, Dalia crawled to Belan. The boy was injured, but instead of caring about his own wound he was holding his dead father in his arms, tears streaming down his cheeks. Desirea was next to him, a compassionate expression on her face.
Dalia had no idea what she could say to make the boy feel better, so she just turned her gaze back to Kris and the dark warrior he was fighting against. All the other Vaith soldiers had been defeated, and the three red guards that were left were all injured.
The dark warrior moved his sword with a frightening speed, striking from every direction while dancing around Kris, who concentrated on defense. One of the injured red guards charged into the fight, trying to help Kris, but with an elegant move the dark warrior dodged and tripped the guard, slashing his throat open as he fell down. However, this gave a second for Kris to attack.
With all his power Kris swung his glowing sword, the End of Night. The dark warrior managed to parry the strike, but then something unexpected happened – the dark blade shattered under the Valyrian steel, and the tip of Kris' blade moved to cut open the dark warrior's face. He fell down to the street, letting go of his broken sword.
Dalia, Desirea, Belan and Minesa approached them, looking at the dark warrior laying on the ground, defeated but still breathing. Desirea kneeled down, noticing a necklace with dark stone around his neck. She grabbed the necklace and ripped it away. The dark warrior's eyes were closed, while the wound that ran across his face was still bleeding.
"We should kill him", Minesa said coldly. "The spirit of the Great Other has tarnished his mind and body." For a moment everyone was silent, but Desirea was clearly ignoring Minesa's words, trying to subdue the bleeding from the man's scar.
"He killed my father", Belan said bitterly, and Desirea turned to look at him. "I understand your anger, Bel", she said softly. "But it is not this man you should be angry at... he did not act on his own will – he was under a dark spell, one made by a servant of the Great Other."
Dalia didn't really care about the man, but she understood what Desi was saying, and turned to the two red guards that were left. "Guards, take this man somewhere where he can be healed", she commanded, and the guards bowed to her, proceeding to carry the dark haired warrior away. Meanwhile Desirea had walked in front of the door of the house where the witch had entered before the fight had begun. Dalia limped after her, both her right knee and left arm still in pain from the brief duel she had with the dark warrior.
"Should I go in first?" She asked quietly, and Desirea nodded subtly. And so Dalia pushed the door open, and the rest followed in after her. It was dark inside, just one small window bringing in some light. However, it didn't take long before Dalia's eyes found the most atrocious sight she had seen in a long time. On the table laid a naked dead body that was smeared with blood, and its chest was carved open.
Dalia walked next to it and carefully put his hand on the body, feeling that it was still warm. And as she looked at the opened chest, she saw that the man's heart had been ripped out of the body.
"Blood magic", Minesa said, a hint of anger in her calm voice. "This is clearly work of a devout servant of the Great Other."
"I agree", Desirea said with a sigh, a disgusted look on her eyes. "But she is already gone, we won't find her here", she added in frustration, and Dalia shared the feeling. All this for nothing? As she turned to Kris, she could see an equally frustrated look on his eyes, only even more furious.
"I'll go now... to lead the forces", he said sternly. "To help take over the castle." With these words Kris turned around and started walking towards the door, and Dalia was left with a choice. Would she stay here to help investigate the house with Desirea and Minesa, or would she join Kris in making sure they would win this battle?
[Stay with Desirea and Minesa] [Go with Kris]
Okay, Jamison is an absolute beast. I mean, we knew it before, but I guess this is pretty much what he is capable of when he is not holding back in the slightest, not even to protect himself. That was legitimately terrifying, though I am glad I was right with my speculation that he is going to survive. Hell, he even managed to basically dominate his fight with Dalia. A good thing he still lives though and might even be able to be fully freed. Hell, I could actually see him joining Dalia and Desi now, to repay her for saving his life. That would be a serious advantage againt Wesley. I mean, if Lyla is able to almost kill him, then Jamison should absolutely butcher him. Ah, I doubt it'll be that easy, but maybe we'll get him to help out in some capacity. Fact is, he owes Dalia. Also fact is, I still dislike her, for reasons I myself can barely uphold now. And finally, it is a fact that she is and always will be way better than that utter bitch Mother Minesa. Seriously, if they got to burn anyone, it's her.
[Stay with Desirea and Minesa]
Okay, the problem is, I really don't know what is better here. I obviously want to push Dalia into getting closer to Desi again, so that she won't b tempted to stay in Vaith with Kris later on. If anything, either Dalia, Kris or maybe even Jamison are absolutely necessary if we want to have any chance at taking down Wesley. However, I don't know if going with Kris here makes Dalia staying in Vaith more or less likely. Maybe it'll even be helpful by taking out one of the witch duo already. Since I guess that Valerie is pretty much confirmed to be the shadow from Gwendis' vision, the one that escaped, on account of her being present during this fight with Jamison, I think that we might be able to kill Myra at least. However, maybe that'll make Dalia less likely to go after Aisha, because she underestimates her remaining enemies. That would obviously be terrible. So, I am a bit torn. By nature, I think that any choice in which Dalia can spend more time with Desi is a good one (oh, how ironically my opinion has changed), whereas Kris, though an overall likable guy, is someone I'd rather want Dalia to stay away from. Unless he becomes an ally in the literal witch hunt for Aisha, in which case supporting him might be a good thing... argh, I have this talent to confuse myself with my reasonings, as I am now less sure than ever that this is truly the better choice. I hav to pick something though. And one unarguably good aspect of staying with Desi is that Dalia could counterbalance Minesa's influence. Because undoubtedly, Desi is far better when she's not a nonsense-babbling brain-damaged fanatic. I doubt she'll become like this anytime soon, but well, Minesa must nonetheless be closely watched, or else she might convince Desi that it is a good thing to burn innocent people, aka people who might accidentally have a direct, if unwanted connection to the god of evil.
Indeed, this Jamison was probably even more frightening than the usual Jamison, because being under Valerie's spell there was none of his usual cockiness or playing around - he was constantly doing his all to kill his enemies. And yeah, Dalia really had no chance, because she mainly shines against enemies where she can be the aggressive one, whereas here Jamison quickly forced her to a defensive position. I mean, you can already tell from Dalia's choice of weapons - double arakhs - that she is much more comfortable attacking than defending. Ultimately it came down to Kris' sword being OP and breaking Jamison's sword, had that not happened Jamison would've eventually beaten Kris as well
And yeah, Jamison definitely is a better fighter than Mordekhai. We'll see in the next chapter where he will go from here. And well, I didn't really expect there to be anything in this part that would change your opinion on Dalia, so no surprises there 