Chapter 9: From Lys to Oldcastle
Created: 1.1.21 - 1.4.21, edited: 3.9.22 & 5.10.22
Circa 293 AC
The first few months setting up our camp just off the Lys controlled coast turned out to be very helpful and informative for my growing army, giving us a lot of experience dealing with a siege type situation and working on basic defensive rotational tasks. We developed guard rotations that worked well for our camp, and would translate just as well to guarding a castle or city that got a lot of use and experience for our many and growing troops. Our mobile siege engines and guard towers all worked really well, and allowed us to maximize our camp defenses as we built temporary walls, dug out moats, and created obstacles to help with the defense of our camp.
Our large presence had originally terrified Lys, who had quickly doubled the price they were paying both the Chained Men and the Bronze Vipers, and we benefited from that significantly as our cut was increased as well. That pay was increased after Lys learned that Tyrosh was trying to convince me to invade Lys in their name, something I may have let slip on purpose to put more pressure on Lys, as I had no plans to invade another city. We did run several military exercises with both Sellsword companies, mostly to help with training and maneuvers and kept good relations with both groups. Timet Flowers was our representative for the Chained Men, as he spoke their language the best and was friends with their Captain, and Tristifer was our chosen representative to the Bronze Vipers. He always came back with a wide shit eating grin and in great spirits, having joined the Prince and his paramour on many occasions now, and often foretelling of their accomplishments.
He had even invited the pair to join us at our camp for a meal, wanting to show it off and also at my invitation to get the chance to return the favor to the Dornish Prince, and offer my own hospitality and get to know him better. I could tell they were both really impressed with the large family atmosphere in my camp when Trisitifer brought them over, the amenities and resources we had created and cultivated, and the sheer numbers and organization in our army rivaled many cities. Oberyn even joked that he was surprised I let him know how big my army really was, as it was so deceptive and hard to read our size because of the large camp, and it removed one of my advantages.
"Wait …you want me to see how large your Legion has become," came his knowledgeable reply after I simply smiled at his accusations, and I simply nodded.
"I have no quarrel with you, or any reason to hide it from you," I responded openly, looking around us at all the busy people going about their jobs, not very different from how it was at every Westerosi Castle and stronghold. "These are my people, I like to be among them and join with them, and share them with my friends."
"You consider us friends so easily?" purred Oberyn, with a bit of a dangerous look, but I wasn't fooled into thinking he was truly angry.
"I consider you a friend," I said with a small grin, "whether you consider me one is less important, and won't change how I feel."
"You are the most peculiar Northerner I have ever met, Locke?" came the curious response from Oberyn.
"We simply come from different parts of a larger country, both currently on the 'wrong side' of our planet where we Westerosi are all looked at like second class citizens. We aren't lords or heirs or even Princes out here, we are just men with a little more money and freedom than the rest."
"True, out here we have freedom unlike any I could have in Westeros," responded Oberyn with a knowing grin back towards his paramour, who was currently flirting with Tristifer and Rickard, while several more of my friends surrounded us, involved with their own drinks or entertainment, uncaring about propriety.
"I am sure you experience some freedoms in Westeros as well, my prince," I smiled back with a teasing tone that had the man narrow his eyes at me for only a second before he lost it, and laughed loudly, agreeing with me.
"And what of you in Westeros, Captain Locke?" he asked after several minutes of getting himself back under control, and trying to turn the discussion around on me, "are you free in Westeros to act as you want?"
"I am not a King, Prince, or Lord Paramount, and am not yet even a Lord," I laughed in response, "just the Heir to Oldcastle, a small town in the north with less than 10,000 people, and 10,000 golden dragons to our name."
"That is only in Westeros, here you control a much larger group?" continued Oberyn, "with enormous economic potential from your mobile industry and large number of trained troops. If we were back in the north, with these resources, you and your little town of Oldcastle would be the most populated and wealthy city in the North."
"What do you think I am here waiting in Lys for?" I laughed back, "I have already sent word for my Family to start sending ships. I will be bringing my Legion back home."
"All of them?" he asked wide eyed at my declaration, and could only whistle at my confirming nod. "Does the honorable Lord Stark know you are bringing all these people back to the North?"
"He will be told about the economic and population booms my returning will bring mostly from the increased taxes we will be collecting for him," I replied easily, despite hearing and knowing about Oberyn's dislike of anything related to Robert's Rebellion, including his dislike of the Stark Lord, "but, will he be given the full picture right away? Probably not."
"So, some people in the North do know how to play the Game?" he purred, looking me over even more carefully, and getting me to smile politely in return.
"I have no idea what you could be insinuating," was my smiling reply, that had the Prince laughing uproariously.
Later that evening after several drinks, and a long discussion on the capabilities of my mobile siege engines, and how my forces would fare in battle, I retired to bed alone, despite the invitation to join the Prince and his Paramour. I could admit that it was still tempting as Ellaria was an absolutely stunning woman of undeniable skills despite having birthed Oberyn three young children being raised in Sunspear with the Prince's older bastard daughters, but I didn't want to cloud our relationship too much too soon. I had taken several lovers over the last year especially, as our camp grew in size and the amount of attractive women increased, I was rarely without a partner if I wanted one, but I doubt any of the ones I had been with had half the skills of Ellaria. I couldn't get Tristifer to stop smirking for over an hour after the Dornish pair left, as he continually teased me about my skittishness around Oberyn's bigger advances despite my desire to sample Ellaria.
The other big thing to happen during the first month, was that I was able to slip into Lys along with Juden Graymander, my most capable spymaster, as stowaways on a supply ship, and spend two days in the beautiful island city. It was really impressive, and it was true the people there were very attractive overall, with the typical pale skin and silver-gold hair of Valyrian ancestry, and the pleasure houses were as advertised. We were able to rent a small warehouse with port access that Juden promised to stay and run, and got two boat captains that promised to run trips back and forth from the warehouse to a small hidden port our scouts found a few miles down the coast from the standard one used by Lys, which was currently defended against by the other three sellsword companies after Lys refused to allow anyone from the Legion into Lys.
With that little port we found and repaired to make workable, we were able to purchase food and supplies from Lys with the money I was getting as part of our cut from the Bronze Vipers and Chained Men's deals, but without Lys finding out. Those boats also started ferrying people that wanted out of Lys, and those Juden and I were able to purchase and set free when the opportunities arose. With that pipeline in place, we had finally reached well past the 55,000 threshold with no end in sight, and that our attractive female population was increasing at a greater rate was a big bonus as well, though that created its own set of problems.
Our child birth rate inside the camp had also started increasing significantly, as we encountered more people and grew our population throughout the time we formed outside of Myr, until we settled outside of Lys. With the addition of even more women, our army of mostly men was quick to take advantage, and we had seen a steady increase in the number of children born each month. Luckily, our few skilled healers had trained a veritable army of midwives and helpers, and the addition of our mobile soap industry and the promotion of cleanliness I was pushing for, and we had quite the growing numbers of children being born with a sharp reduction in infant's and mother's deaths.
This also meant that some of my own friends even fathered a child or two, though neither myself, Juden, Sydel, Cale, or Cletis as nobles had fathered any, nor had Trisitifer surprisingly. Richard and Raymar both had new sons, while Timet and Geremy both had daughters, with all of the men marrying the mothers of their children over our time on the march except Alston. He surprisingly, had been with several different women, and managed to impregnate six of them, all of whom were less than pleased that he wasn't willing to marry them all, but settled on one of them to be his wife. It made for a much different camp as the soldiers started finding girlfriends, bed warmers, and eventually wives among our population, but also helped bridge the growing gap between the army and helpers and kept us together.
With us now having been camped outside Lys for almost four months, we had a pretty good idea on the day to day upkeep and running of the newly even more defensive camp, and the newest batch of soldiers were already coming along nicely. I had just gotten the response, through Juden in Lys, from my father to the inquiry I sent him when we reached Lys, and was very pleased with his responses to everything. It seemed our population boom of almost three years ago had really helped all the industries and buildings we had begun before leaving, and Oldcastle was experiencing a period of economic growth that was unparalleled.
He also promised to gather the largest armada of ships we had to come to the Lysene coast and start picking up my Legion, estimating a month from sending his letter until they arrived. He said I would be happily surprised when our 'fleet' arrived, and that the other things I had started before leaving were all coming along very well, and was eager to see me again soon. He filled me in on the Family, Grandfather's even further declining health, my sister Sybelle had been married to Robett Glover the heir and younger brother to Lord Galbart of Deepwood Motte, and my other sister Haylia was now promised to Robin Flint, the Heir of Widow's Watch.
Both matches were good, the families were both well positioned to help us continue growing certain elements of our newest industries and ideas. Deepwood Motte would be a great place to get Iron wood and other timber for our ship building and other projects, and Widow's Watch would be a great port for trade to the northern parts of Essos and were known to have grazing lands further inland and sheep herds. The biggest advantages though, would be the potential influence and friendships with the other Northern Families that this could benefit us all, and make the North stronger for what I remembered was coming next.
I was pretty sure that there would be the War of the Five Kings to come in Westeros, and wanted to be in position to alter and effect that war, and at least prevent the Red Wedding as it crippled the North for whatever was supposed to come next. With inroads into other Northern Houses, I could try to help and push them along to increase their own forces, and be better prepared for whatever came our way. I thought about going to Winterfell and trying to talk to and save Lord Eddard, but didn't see how the man would believe me, though a visit after returning home would be a good thing to make sure I was at least familiar to his Family, and maybe pass along some help or advice.
I was still a little worried about things much closer to me in the here and now, as I had yet to hear back from one of the scout groups I sent east along the coast last month, as I had been hoping to learn more about any nearby settlements or coastal towns that we could purchase food and supplies from. I would need to send out another scouting party just to find the first if they didn't report back soon, and hoped they were all okay and we would find out what the delay was in their return. Giving one final look at my response to my Father, telling him of our eventual return and the need to prepare an area for my large tribe of almost 60,000 to settle in when they reached Oldcastle, I blew out my final candle and took a brief walk to the nearest latrine to empty my bladder before sleep.
The camp was pretty quiet that night, as the usual breeze off the southern coast was much gentler than usual, and it must have been a real calm night at sea to be able to hear more of the general sounds of camp. Patrols walked through the tents to make sure everything was going okay inside the camp, the more distant sounds of guards on the makeshift walls and in the towers to protect us from the outside. The loud snores from several tents gave everything a background white noise that I had come to expect, so it took me a minute to realize the other noises I was hearing and what they were.
There was a distant quiet rumbling sound, and voices in the distance being raised, and I wondered what exactly was happening and decided sleep could wait. I headed towards the noise and the eastern wall, quickly finding that I wasn't alone, as several others who were still up in the area began making their way in the same direction drawn to the growing commotion. I reached the eastern wall just as our small somewhat hidden gate was being thrown open and a pair of riders on horseback came stomping into the small area inside the gate and it didn't take me long to recognize them as part of the missing scouting party.
"Matteo, report," I commanded, making my way closer to the two men as they dismounted, and turned at the sound of my voice.
"Captain," gasped Matteo breathlessly, "a …a fairly large settlement about a two day's ride from here is under siege ...a large sellsword company is trying to invade the large coastal city."
"Did you see which sellsword company?" I asked curiously.
"Their flags had an ax and arakh crossed," answered Matteo quickly, but without recognition of the company, "a little over 1,000 men on horseback. We had to flee past their blockade, and Pinves and Klavoth sacrificed themselves so we could make our escape and get back here. The couple hundred or so people we had already gathered are all still stuck in the coastal settlement if their walls haven't fallen yet."
"We will pay them back for attacking our own," I replied intensely, getting a grateful smile from Matteo, "you two rest for now, in the morning we march."
"Get me my officers in the command tent in ten minutes," I spoke to a nearby soldier on guard, who had been here to defend the eastern wall, "and I don't care if you have to pull them off their bed warmers and into the command tent naked, you get them there ...understood?"
"Yes sir," the man saluted me quickly, grabbed the arm of the man next to him and ran back into the camp towards the main tents containing my officers, as I followed at a more sedate pace, thinking about what we would need to do to respond to this new threat, and still maintain our position here.
The meeting in the command tent went surprisingly quickly, as I explained what Matteo reported, and that I wanted our response to be swift and brutal. Everyone agreed, and I asked for 6 of our now 10 brigades of infantry, 1 of the 3 pikemen and archers each, 2 of the 4 cavalry, and a quarter of our mobile siege weapons to be ready to go first thing in the morning. Some of those units were still in their basic training phases though, and I wanted to get as much of the army some real life experience as possible, so I asked our most veteran brigades to give the newer ones first chance.
Infantry brigades 3 through 8 were decided as the main body of the army, leaving us the most veteran soldiers and the very newest two brigades to keep the camp protected and continue the training of the newbies. Likewise the 2nd Archers, 2nd Pikemen, 2nd and 3rd Cavalry were going to join us all, leaving those with the most and least experience behind to best protect the camp and continue training, while giving the others some real battle experience. Tristifer was going to stay to keep the army in line with Sydel's help, while Rickard would continue running the camp as he pretty much had been already, while I led the march.
Juden was still in Lys itself, so his second Glovis, would lead the 3rd Infantry brigade, Axel Whiteye the 4th, Geremy Rivers the 5th, Jaygr Snow the 6th, Cale Burke the 7th, and his brother Cletis the 8th for the Infantry lieutenants and their brigades. Ser Royce Kellington would lead the 2nd Cavalry brigade, while Wilem led the 3rd brigade of cavalry, Mundeff led the 2nd Pikemen brigade, and Sondry the 2nd Archery brigade. I also asked Rickard's top assistant Alston Rivers, Geremy's brother, to be in charge of the marching camp as we would need to bring some of the mobile siege engines and keep our supply line of food open with the walled main camp.
I returned to my tent to find my pair of squires, a pair of ten year olds that joined us near Volmyr Lake, that were part of the most recent upgrade for all of our officers that I thought could help us. Having people available to help you get ready, keep your equipment prepared and ready at all times, fetch you food or orders, and run a bunch of errands that I and the other officers didn't really have the time for was a huge boon. It also helped us find jobs for some of the more promising younger members of our tribe, and allowed us to be more efficient and better prepared at all times with their help, while giving them some experience around the army before they were old enough to join officially.
I told them to ensure they have my chest loaded and ready by morning with all my gear for battle, and to get themselves ready as well to go in the morning, and what they would need to accomplish that. I then went to bed for a few hours to get some rest, my mind thinking over all the possibilities and things I needed to remember and think about in preparing for a march to battle. I was hopeful that the status quo here in the main camp in front of the Lys coast would remain the same while I was away, and felt confident with the amount of forces I was bringing if Matteo's read of the situation was accurate, and thought about the need for good scouting before I committed to anything.
The march began at first light after another restless night of little sleep for me, as the various brigade units were quick to get everything they needed together, and the squires had ensured all the officers were ready to go first thing as well. We slowly filtered out of the camp through the thin and protected eastern gate of our camp, not wanting to alert any of the other sellsword companies of our movements and the large part of our forces that was leaving the now much less protected camp. We made incredible time though, and marched late into the evening that first day, as the almost full moon provided us with plenty of light to continue moving safely and setting up camp much further than I had anticipated.
The light of the moon was a good thing too, as it meant that we were able to march late into each of the next four days as well to reach the coastal settlement very late on the fifth day, or at least get close enough to be able to start scouting the attacking sellsword company and able to make needed plans accordingly. The march went slower the final day, as we were still going to make it close enough to scout our opponents, and I didn't want us all to arrive exhausted incase we needed to act immediately. By the time we did get close enough, where our scouts were able to find out what we needed from the unknown sellsword company, it was confirmed that the crossed ax and arakh of their sigil was a group of about 1,000 visible cavalry.
They were not the traditional type of cavalry though, with most of them seeming to be closer to Dothraki horse lords, with little to no armor to speak of and all of them carrying mostly either an ax or arakh as a weapon, though there were a few with bows, swords, and even maces. Their numbers were about what Matteo said, but not very organized according to our scouts, and had been trying unsuccessfully to get inside the rather large coastal settlement for over a week. It seemed like the twenty foot walls of the settlement were too much for the sellswords to overcome, so instead they had set up their disorganized and pathetic looking camp outside the walls harassing travellers and merchants trying to get in or out, and had seemingly taken several slaves and stolen their goods.
My scouts also said they seemed to be in no hurry to try and break into the city, content to take their spoils from the passing merchants and wait for the leaders of the settlement to buy them off, and simply celebrated their minor successes with an excess of wine and partying. It made me feel more confident that we could take them, and if we attacked at first light when most of them would be sleeping off hangovers, it had the potential to be a rout, and reduced the risk to my forces. I relayed those orders to my officers, and had them prepare to be ready before first light so we could seize the largest advantage, for some reason giving me a feeling of deep satisfaction that I couldn't even explain but left me sleeping fitfully for another night as I dreamed of a ruined city covered in volcanic ash.
The following morning, even before dawn, our brigades were equipped and in formations waiting on the signal to begin, as my unexplainable feelings of satisfaction persisted until I gave the orders to charge. I was grateful that the other sellsword company wasn't even scouting their surroundings enough to notice us just over the closest ridge to the outer walls of the fortified coastal settlement. It was allowing me to keep the 2nd Cavalry and 2nd Archer brigades in the rear, with directions to run down any trying to escape and cover our backs in case more fighters showed up, while I led our Pikemen, Infantry, and 3rd Cavalry brigade in a charge of their disorganized camp just before dawn broke.
-Locke's Legion-
Rothan Xaon, was happily fucking one of the more recent prisoners for the fourth time since bringing her into his tent late last night, having slept little and drank more over the following week, as he enjoyed the latest pale skinned and fair haired daughter of a Lys merchant. His sellsword company the Wandering Horses, had just come upon this coastal settlement a little more than a week back, and despite not getting to breach the walls, had already enjoyed some of the bountiful spoils of the seemingly wealthy town by blockading the gates and attacking merchant caravans. They had been further east on the edges of Volantis doing whatever they wanted as they decided to make their way back towards the Disputed Lands with their surprising amount of spoils and riches they collected, hoping to become even more famous than they were currently, at least in his own mind.
This settlement was one of the first that didn't immediately fall to their overwhelming numbers of fighting men or provide gifts to be left alone, and that was primarily due to their larger size and mediocre twenty foot walls and the closed gates upon their arrival. It didn't bother him though, as he knew if they stayed long enough and provided enough pressure on their merchants and economy, something would have to change, and they were likely to reap even more rewards once they got a foothold inside the walls. He never even considered trying to build siege engines, or to try scaling the walls, as they primarily only fought on horseback, didn't have those kinds of resources or knowledgeable enough people available, and most of their members weren't ones for cities or long boring sieges when there were celebrations to be had.
Besides, they already had over forty female prisoners for his men to share and pass around, having killed all the men they encountered upon arrival or capture, and he had the best of the whole lot. He was just getting close to his latest climax as he heard an approaching thundering of hooves, that could only be horses charging, and he wondered who was messing around with the horses this early before dawn. That those horse noises were soon being drowned out by the loud yells and screams of obviously dying men, he realized they were under attack and quickly pulled out of the beaten girl and struggled to pull back up his pants as the noise only got louder.
Sprinting out of his tent with his breeches not even tied but a beautifully decorated ax in one hand and a Valyrian Steel arakh in the other, he could only watch on in shock and confusion as another even larger sellsword company was tearing their way right through the middle of his camp, and were just about on him. He tried to find a sigil to know who would dare to attack him, but didn't recognize the crossed keys on a purple field before several well armored and uniform looking men broke through the nearest tents. Raising his weapons, he gave a large scream of rage and jumped at the nearest man, batting aside his thrusting spear with his trusty ax and burying his arakh in the man's side, felling him before moving onto the next.
He had successfully killed at least five men before he noticed a man approaching him with a pair of swords, this one was dressed even better than the others, with a shiny breastplate and the crossed keys sigil embossed and painted upon it, and knew this was most likely their commander. Another yell of rage as he saw the other man's men cutting his men down far too easily came out of his mouth, before he charged the seemingly younger man intent on exacting his revenge. His duel wielding of weapons though, wasn't the advantage it usually was, as the strong looking gray eyed and dark haired man carried a pair of swords himself that he used quite well, and their length and range actually gave him the advantage pretty quickly into the fight.
Rothan tried every trick and cheap shot he knew of, but nothing seemed to get the younger well dressed and armored man to falter, as he continuously was pushed to his limits, taking several cuts and bruises along the way. At the two minute mark, he realized that his entire camp was practically overrun, and tried begging for peace, but the younger man's gray eyes just hardened and his attacks came even more swiftly. It wasn't long after that, when Rothan tried a final desperate attack when he knew the end was near, but never got to say or see anything else, as all of a sudden his mind went black and he knew no more.
-Locke's Legion-
I looked down on the now headless former leader of the sellsword company with disgust at his attempts to bargain for his life, and simply took in the battlefield around me. To say it was a fair or even fight would have been a flat out lie, as we maintained as much silence as we could during our approach, and were practically on top of them before they even realized they were being attacked and overrun. The Cavalry reached first, startling a lot of the horses in camp, and getting them to panic and run, leaving many of their riders behind to defend themselves on their feet as my Pikeman and Infantry forces tore through the shitty camp.
I was always a more lead by example type, and that wasn't about to change now as it really helped me bond with my men and for them to see me working and fighting right alongside them, as I was in the thick of it as we cut down anyone who raised a weapon. When I reached the largest tent near the center of camp, I was pissed at the several dead bodies of my men at the feet of one bare chested man, wielding an expensive looking ax and unusual arakh simultaneously, and charged him with a yell of my own. The ensuing fight was brutal and I quickly had the advantage, but had to avoid several underhanded tactics as the fight progressed before I was able to separate his head from his body and end the short duel, despite barely avoiding a final desperate gamble that had his unusual arakh break my old bastard sword.
With the fight around me now over, and most of the army routing the last quarter of the now mostly fleeing or surrendering camp, I had a little look around me at the state of the enemy camp, and was impressed with my army's efficiency. Almost every tent behind me had already been cleared completely, and a large portion of the 3rd Infantry brigade, which had stuck around me as their usual lieutenant was still stuck in our Lys warehouse, was now doing the same to those in the center. Any stragglers of the sellsword company were either put to the sword or surrendered, while countless hostages were being rescued and brought together near my position as it was currently the most defended while the other brigades all fought on to the end.
I watched two men practically carry a pretty but beaten young girl with beautiful silver hair into the growing pen of rescued hostages that would need medical attention of some sort. There were others carefully picking up our own dead and injured, luckily not nearly as many of the former, and leaving them nearby as well. Having an unusual feeling that I needed to have a quick look myself at the main command tent, before it was pulled down and the treasures stored away, I went into the largest of the tents to only stop in shock at the amount of wealth on display.
There were easily five large chests, big enough to fit a person inside, all filled to the brim with gold, jewels, and surprisingly enough, several pieces of a rippling patterned metal that could only be Valyrian Steel. I was in complete shock that this little unknown sellsword company had accumulated so much wealth, and priceless pieces that most would kill for. I counted at least three Valyrian Steel swords, almost a dozen knives, and even many tableware pieces all with the same rippling metal pattern and could barely believe it, and realized the leader's unusual arakh was most likely made of this same Valyrian Steel.
One of the swords was a bastard sword style with absolutely no ornamentation on it, and I quickly replaced my own now broken sword with the new one, glad to have a Valyrian Steel sword of my own and wondering what to do about the other two. They were much fancier looking, with expensive looking handles and impeccable blades, but neither were anything I instantly recognized, and both much larger great swords that would make incredible gifts to my Family and possibly my Liege's Family as well. Or I could try and sell it to Tywin Lannister, as it was a known fact he covetted his own Valyrian Steel sword, and I could probably fetch an outstanding price for one so beautiful and large.
Calling out to Glovis, the current lieutenant of the 3rd Infantry brigade with Juden still stuck in Lys, I asked him to get several men and start gathering and guarding this treasure first after showing him the pair of Valyrian Steel Greatswords, and getting his wide eyed nod of approval. I spent a minute looking over the messy table the leader of this sellsword company obviously seldom used, and found a pair of bound journals that would hopefully provide me with some information on who these people were and where they had been and found their treasure. Returning back into the overrun camp, I saw the brigade carefully saving old tents and folding them up to store with the other goods and treasures they found, and nodded my approval.
The fighting had all stopped at this point, and I quickly made my way towards the side of the camp where our prisoners had been gathered to deal with them first. Only about 100 men didn't fight until the end, and I offered all of them the option of a clean death, or to be turned over to the settlement for judgment, not wanting any part of this group to join my own, though hoping I could talk to a few to discover where they've been. Only ten asked for a quick death, and I personally stepped forward and had them all go to their knees and bow their heads, before swinging the sword and seeing justice done myself, as it was always done in the North.
The rest had their hands bound and tied in groups together so we could bring them into the settlement for judgment, before I returned to the gathered female prisoners all in various states of undress and misery. I spoke to them all at once, promising them that they would all be safely brought into the settlement and any that needed it would receive medical care on my coin, getting many frantic agreements and cries for thanks. I then had my horse brought to me, and was joined by Axel, Geremy, and Alston as we rode towards the gates of the city under my own banner along with the white parlay flag and waited for those in the settlement to respond.
It took a half an hour until their large gates opened, and a small party of four came out on horses of their own, an unusual sigil of a ship on purple and blue wavy fields and the white parlay flag raised like ours. The man in front seemed to be relatively overweight and soft, though all three men with him bore the strong physique of former soldiers, but based on their graying hair, not one of them was under fifty. I smiled as they approached us, though none seemed to be too friendly in return, and thought they probably didn't really know what just happened and thought this a trick of some sort to get inside their walls.
"Greetings," I started, "I am Captain Donnel Locke, of Locke's Legion. Some of my men were recently in your town, and brought word to me of the problem you were having with the sellsword camp outside your walls. We have killed all but 86 of them, who wish to surrender to your judgment, and have 41 women we rescued to return as well."
"And what do you want in compensation for this?" came the voice of the heavy man in front, failing to introduce himself.
"From you? Nothing," I replied easily, stunning all four men. "We will take their supplies and horses in compensation, and return to you what is yours. I was told however, that we had some people inside the walls that wanted to come with us, and would like them to get that opportunity."
"You are the Legion camped before the Lys coastal port?" came the awareness of the heavy set man with wide eyes. "I apologize for my rude behavior ...I am Sertik, the leader of the Point settlement, you are of course welcome in our town ...please follow me, we would celebrate you with a proper feast."
"You are very kind Sertik," I responded politely, "but please allow me to give my Legion some orders to set up camp out here, and bring your women inside to return them to their lives and families."
"Of course Captain," he nodded, and I turned to Axel to see him smirk at me, before nodding his head and going back towards the old sellsword camp to tell my Legion to set up a camp of our own, and send the hostages back.
It was almost a parade as we rode into the Point Settlement to see thousands of people lining the streets, cheering our arrival and recent destruction of the enemy sellswords that had been plaguing them for over a week. Healers came out and took care of the returned women, and the few injured we had that came along with them as we made our way to the largest building in the center of town, up on a small hill that let it overlook the entirety of the Point Settlement and port. After dismounting and handing the reins of my horse over to a group of stable men, me and my small party of Geremy and Alston, followed Sertik into a large building where he offered us bread and salt, before assigning each of us rooms to be taken to in order to prepare for the feast in one hour.
I asked that we speak first, and followed him to his office before discussing some of the specifics I was looking for, namely food and resources for my large Legion, of which I would pay the going rate for. He easily agreed, and sold me their large surplus of foods at below market costs despite my protests, and asked in return what my plans were, and if I was interested in either a wife or several thousand more people to join me. I had to laugh at the man's bluntness, but also decline his offer of a bride as I wanted to marry in the North to help my Family.
When he started talking about how their settlement had grown beyond the size they were capable of defending and feeding long term, only having a food surplus due to the long summer and recent harvest, I understood his overwhelmed position. He offered to make an announcement at the feast for anybody willing to join my Legion, so they could go back to being a small easily managed fishing port and he could reduce his stress in leading such a large settlement. I left his office happy, looking forward to an actual feast of sorts, and excited at the prospect of even more people possibly joining my Legion before it was time to return to Oldcastle.
The feast was brilliant, with wine and ale aplenty, various local foods and flavors I had never tasted, and good spirits from pretty much everybody in the town. Sertik made his announcement about those willing to travel to join my Legion, and I too stood up after to reiterate that everyone was treated fairly, and martial skills were not a requirement, as we had work and jobs for everybody. By the end of the night, I had already been approached two dozen times over with those taking me up on the offer to join the Legion, and knew this last group of people would be a good addition to our forces and overall numbers.
We stayed at the Point Settlement for three days, and left the morning of the fourth with 15,000 more people to increase the Legion to an unprecedented size, wagons full of purchased foods and goods from the Point, and wagons full of supplies and treasure confiscated from the enemy sellsword company. Among the large population were several dozen artisans and musicians, skilled laborers of almost every trade, and hundreds of new recruits for another entire Infantry brigade and then some. We also managed to convince a Madame to accompany us, along with her large group of prostitutes, eager to join our Legion, and make a profitable way among our thousands of soldiers and the large Legion.
"My only requirement for inclusion in our group is that every man, woman, and child needs to be a free citizen to make the choice and decision to come themselves, and not be forced into it by anyone," I spoke to the older former prostitute who now ran several girls at the Point Settlement, and would now be leading and organizing the Prosittution business for my Legion. "Your employees too, I won't have slaves or slavery of any kind. They all need to be given the choice to stop and find something else if they ever feel stuck or trapped."
"It will be hard to keep girls long term then," she rebutted shrewdly, knowing a little of control over her employees went a long way to ensuring they followed her rules.
"We will give them a living wage, protection, and housing" I replied evenly, knowing the older woman was somewhat set in her old ways of doing things, and needed to be shown how this would work before fully buying in, "eventually, we will have turnover …but that's good. I expect many of them will soon become wives and mothers as has happened to many of the women who have attached themselves to our camp already. What I want from you is organization and leadership, so I don't have to do all the work finding employees and running the houses, and I'll pay you well, treat you and your employees right, and will be responsible for your protection."
"Why?" she asked, almost stunned and unable to believe me, "why would you go to such trouble?"
"I already told you, I don't tolerate slavery of any kind, even slavery by circumstance," I answered honestly. "The service you and your employees will provide is unmatched and needed for an army of this size, if I am to lead this Legion successfully, and I don't bite the hand that feeds me. Locke's Legion needs you, and your services, to become a part of our family and camp so that we cansurvive and thrive."
That I then ensured all those coming right from the start that I was not going to tolerate slavery in any form, and treated everyone with a level of respect that wasn't often seen in these parts, went a long way to getting me accepted by the newcomers. It helped endear me to them as their leader, and gave them all a sense of personal ownership and power in their lives that many of them had never had before, and when I combined that with the list of trades and mobile industries we created and maintained, that were now available to them for apprenticeships, many were very happy they chose to come. That they all looked to and saw me as the leader of the Legion would also help make it all the easier to incorporate them into the North, after we returned and settled in Oldcastle.
The march back to the Lys Coast was much slower, as we were in no hurry, and had greatly increased our size and therefore cut down on our speed, but I had our scouts working overtime to keep us all protected and get word to the Main Camp of our imminent arrival and need for more growth. On our last day of the march, a scout returned with a letter from Tristifer, saying they were expanding the eastern and north walls to help accommodate all the newcomers, without tipping off the sellsword companies to the south and west to the changes. I was happy with the arrangements, and was excited to get back to the Main Camp before the ships from my father arrived, as I knew I would need to be here for that, and the moving of our tribe.
Tristifer took one look at the long lines of people slowly making their way into the expanded parts of the Main Camp, and gave me a deadpan stare that had me laughing at his face and the situations I had continuously found myself in. He promised that things had been quiet here, and except for a recent trip to check in with the Prince of Dorne and his paramour, which he explained in great detail, not much of anything happened while I was gone. I told him to gather the officers for an evening meeting, and some things to go over after the battle, and promised him that he would really be happy with some of our newest guests.
The new population was quickly integrating themselves into our camp, after designating another two infantry brigades, and a fifth cavalry unit due to the influx of over a thousand horses that we returned with which had my Legion very pleased. Nothing however was as pleasing to my officers, as the news that we now had a Legion sanctioned pleasure house which had quickly become a favorite of Legionnaires, and in only a few weeks had to be expanded twice over as more women from the camp joined and more Legionnaires patronized the establishment. There were now three madames that all answered to the original, and they were all very pleased with my hard line stance on cleanliness, disease prevention, and strict codes of conduct with their employees, both for Legionnaires and any other patrons.
One of the newer Madames, was a young twenty two year old former slave from the Summer Islands named Neko, who had been one of the few regulars in my bed over the last few months since rescuing her from Myr. She had beautifully creamy dark skin and silver hair and eyes that sparkled so bright with intelligence, and I may have used my pull to get her the position, and keep her to myself. This way though, I had someone I could trust looking out for me in the bedroom and making sure all my needs were met while on the march or in camp, whether it was from her or one of the girls she would occasionally send me.
Before long, I got to witness the sight my father had mentioned, and was in awe when the fleet of over 60 ships flying the Crossed Keys of House Locke sailed past the main Lys coastal port, and continued east a few miles to our smaller no longer hidden port. That at least 15 of the ships were full War Galleys, equal in size to the Northern Locke we first purchased over three years previously, was mind boggling, and amazing news. The rest was made of merchant ships, though many of those were also brand new from the Locke-Dontaryon Shipbuilding company, and I was impressed that my Family had done so much as well during this time.
I met with the fleet's Captain Derik, the same man that first captained the Northern Locke when it was purchased, and explained how many people we were moving and how much he could hold. I was a little surprised that he could hold about 20,000 people and even more supplies among all the ships in our fleet, and told him we would start loading him up the next day, after we determined who was going to travel in the first wave. I then had to meet with all my officers and discuss how and who to start sending back to Oldcastle, as I felt it was important that I remain here until the last group left to help with running the camp in the midst of our little standoff with Lys.
Sydel offered to take command of the first wave, and offered his 2nd Infantry brigade to help set up and establish our Legion in the area around Oldcastle, as a fellow noble, he would have the most sway when it came to other Northerners and Westerosi. That he knew and got along well with my father was also a strong point in his favor, and I agreed to put him in charge, and asked at least one of every unit to accompany him. It turned out the most veteran of every unit was selected for the first wave, as they had been serving the longest, were due the first real leave, and were fearsome enough to handle any issues that came up in establishing a new camp near Oldcastle. The only ones who would remain of my original group were; Tristifer who would be in charge of the second wave, bringing most of the least experienced soldiers and letting those with some experience and skill remain to maintain our position near Lys, Rickard who was running the day to day of my camp, and Juden who was still running the Lys warehouse and would both be coming with me in the final wave.
I sent Sydel and Alston with a long letter to my father and other family members, promising to be home soon with another large influx of people, and eager to continue the work we started. I also made sure that he was taking a large chunk of our recovered treasure and money, to ensure it arrived safely, and was quickly put back to use getting the camp set up, and helping my Family wherever they needed it. Saying goodbye to a third of the army and smaller portion of the tribe in general was pretty tough, though with the amount of people and apprentices we had in every field, it was much easier than it could have been, as we still retained all our abilities and services to continue providing for our Lys camp, and the first wave should have everything they need to get started.
The next several weeks went by pretty quickly outside of Lys, as we were continually planning to separate off another large chunk of our army and camp in the second wave, and made sure all the laborers would still be available in both camps going forward. We were still over 50,000 people though, as more arrived every day from neighboring villages and Lys itself to join us, that by the time the ships returned for the second wave, we had several new brigades just forming to fill the gaps left by the second wave. That second wave had all the newer brigades that had only been with us for a few months training, along with the 1st Infantry brigade and Tristifer leading the way, and brought our numbers down to around 33,000.
I had to apologize to Prince Oberyn and Ellaria personally for sending their favored bed partner back to the North, and put up with several visits with the pair where I was asked to take his spot but only accepted once for curiosity's sake. I had to try it the once just to see, but I had no desire to have sex with another man again, despite how good looking the Prince was, and I considered Ellaria to be the greatest lover I had encountered to that point, even better than Neko. I did get the chance to have Rickard fill in a couple times, as he had no problem filling Tristifer's role much to the couple's enjoyment, and he wouldn't be leaving until the very end with me.
We had sent his second, Alston during the first wave to help Sydel with setting up and running the camp in Oldcastle, and Rickard would stay here running the camp until we were all gone. I was getting a little nervous about sending out the third wave, and not having nearly as much protection for the rest of the camp, but was hopeful with the good relations between us and the Chained Men and Bronze Vipers, I wouldn't need to worry about a battle with either of them. Just in case, I decided to have the third wave consist of almost all camp members, and leave as much of the army behind for the fourth and final wave to maximize our protection, and had them prepare some ready made foods that would keep us content for the six weeks until we could join them again.
When the third wave left, they took a good deal of our temporary fortifications, catapults, scorpions, and siege engines with them, as it wouldn't do to have to make them all again, or leave them in the hands of someone else's army to be used against us down the road. It was visible that our large camp had shrunk considerably by the time the third wave had set sail and left, but with almost exclusively soldiers remaining, we were still a strong force to be reckoned with. We still had 10,000 total troops spread out in our various units, with an additional 3,000 of the more essential camp helpers, and less than a third of our siege engines and fortifications and mobile industry, making us still the largest of the gathered forces, but nowhere near the overwhelming numbers of before.
During the three month wait for the last two waves and after the final goodbye Melee with my friends and officers, I had really gotten back into training ferociously on a daily basis, constantly trying to sharpen my skills with a pair of swords, though I didn't often use my new Valyrian steel sword as I didn't want to answer too many questions just yet. But, I did occasionally practice with it in my tent at night just to get a good feel of the incredible balance and reduced weight of the impressive blade. It was really helpful to use in my left hand, as the reduced weight was easier to handle for longer amounts of time with my weaker arm, and I took to continue training my left arm's strength and endurance to help.
"Okay, spars in the ring, come on all," I called loudly over the noise of several hundred men all loosening up and getting their gear on as we started another day of drills and training, currently working with the 11th and newest Infantry Brigade, comprising mostly of former slaves from Lys who swelled our ranks the longer we stayed nearby.
"Are you fighting, Captain?" came the timid voice of Grenel, a good soldier that joined my Infantry back when it was still under the Company of the Rose, and who had now been promoted to Leitenant of the 11th Infantry, as one of the best of those available to me.
"Try and stop me," I smirked back, as this was the fourth day of these morning training practices, and I had been a part of every one so far, and was looking forward to another day of kicking the shit out of everyone and giving them all some fighting experience.
"Here are your weighted training swords, Captain," came my squire Jolle, as I finished putting on my helmet, grabbing the two heavily weighted blunt swords and entered the ring, waiting on the bravest or stupidest of the lot to come in first and challenge me.
"Wikes and Fursten together, now you are starting to figure it out," I grinned at the two young soldiers, who were two of the better members of this particular brigade, and were currently trying to double team me, though gulped at the excited look I got.
"Ahh," yelled Wikes in a panic, just before leaping at him swiftly and lashing out with a strong left handed swing that had him on his back in seconds, so I could turn and face Fursten as several more soldiers scrambled to get into the ring and start coming at me in greater numbers, laughing the whole time.
"Shit, let's hope he doesn't hurt too many today," came the exasperated groan from Grenel as he watched dozens of his men charge, and then get tossed aside by his rampaging leader and Captain, grateful he didn't have to get in there, and that they had left his favorite healer and hospital cart behind for the final wave, as he had a feeling they were going to be getting a work out in the next several weeks.
Along with training up my men, I was even able to spar with Oberyn one day, and learned quite a bit in that hour after several rounds, as his skills with a spear were unparalleled though I didn't fare too bad, and wondered who would actually win in a fight to the death. He was surprised by my two sword style, but had spared in his youth with Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning, and despite being better himself now, he said I still had a ways to go until I got to that level which wasn't too surprising as the man was a legend. I also got him to actually train a bit with my Pikeman commander Lotho, who he also complimented after beating him too for close to an hour, and thought he had real potential with a spear.
He even invited Lotho to spend the night with him and Ellaria, and I gave them both a knowing smirk and my consent, before I returned to my own camp eager to continue with my training. Lotho returned the next day in great spirits, and was quickly back in the training ring incorporating several newly learned moves and techniques into his next spars and lessons with the rest of his pikemen. Glad things were working out, and my army was constantly growing and improving, even if the newest recruits couldn't see their improvement yet, they would soon. It was about a week before the final wave was expected to get picked up, that I snuck back into Lys to get Juden.
I spent two days in the city with Juden seeing even more of the sights, doing a bit of personal shopping for items to give to my family members and maybe a few others. We also cleaned up the warehouse we rented of any of our things, and prepared for the final withdrawal from Lys and the many people we were taking with us just before it was time to leave the area. When he first told me of the amount of people he had convinced to leave Lys with us, I was absolutely floored, and somewhat grateful it wouldn't put us over the 20,000 person cap we had as far as ship space went, even if it was going to be close.
When we met at the warehouse on our final day in Lys, just seeing over 3,000 almost entirely fair skinned, silver or gold haired, blue or lilac eyed beauties, with only a few dozen men thrown into the mix I was a little floored. Juden simply laughed at my obvious pause, and then explained how he had found a corrupt owner of several pleasure houses that abused his slaves and treated people like shit, and that he arranged an accident for the man and took over his operation. These were all the former slaves willing to leave Lys if it meant getting their freedom, and then it all made a lot more sense to why there were so many, as the call for freedom was a strong one.
We were only back in the camp for two days with all our newest additions before the ships came back for the fourth and final wave of transporting the Legion to Oldcastle, and I gave the orders to break down the camp and leave the next day. I went and said my goodbyes to Mirlan and the Chained Men, and Prince Oberyn, Ellaria Sand, and the Bronze Vipers wishing them all well, and to keep in touch if they ever needed anything. Then it was following the rest of the camp as we made our way to the nearby dock we had secured, and waiting as the remaining 18,000 plus people and everything else from the camp was loaded onto the fleet of ships for the return to Oldcastle and Westeros.
It was hard to believe that over three years had passed so quickly from when I left Oldcastle at the age of just 18, still just a boy, and now I was finally going to be returning home, feeling and looking more like a man. Bringing with me a large Legion of people and forces that were going to really grow and change the landscape of the North, and keep me busy for years to come. Luckily, I had grown even more over this time into the role of an extremely capable administrator and leader of men, and was returning with one of the strongest single armies of any individual family in Westeros to protect him.