A new chapter is up.
Come in, get comfortable, and let’s see what kind of trouble waits this time ❤️
✦
Standfast lay on the eastern side of Red Lake Forest.
It had once belonged to House Osgrey, but after the Osgreys declined and their last heir died of illness, House Rowan took control of the place.
The castle stood far from Goldengrove, so the Rowans entrusted its care to House Webber of Coldmoat.
House Webber, however, preferred to tend its own seat.
It gave Standfast little attention, and over time the place fell into disrepair.
Only vagrants and rootless smallfolk lived there now.
Yet Standfast’s decay did not mean it lacked value.
To smugglers, its location was excellent.
The castle sat near the tail of the mountains along the edge of the westerlands, and a secret mountain path nearby could slip past the Reach’s border patrols and reach the hills outside Cornfield.
Only experienced smugglers knew that path.
To keep it hidden and clear, they had even sent men to disguise themselves as drifters and occupy Standfast.
Now every smuggler in Standfast who had passed as a vagrant hung from wooden stakes inside the castle, and a three-hundred-man force had packed the small keep to bursting.
Their gear made the shape of the army easy to read.
It consisted of one hundred regular soldiers and two hundred irregular levies.
The regulars were equipped more uniformly.
Each wore leather armor, carried weapons of one sort or another, and had a logistics team to feed them.
The levies wore whatever clothing they owned.
Some had padded their layers for a little defense.
Others had strung planks of wood together and called it armor.
Their weapons varied just as wildly.
Most carried spears made from wooden shafts.
A few had pitchforks or sickles.
Apart from several squad leaders, almost no one wore a sword.
They were clearly ordinary farmers called up for the moment.
The force had deliberately put away its banners, but the badges on several knights’ armor still made its origin clear.
These men came from Red Lake and House Crane.
At that moment, a group of men emerged from the only hall in the castle that had survived in decent condition.
They were knights in fine plate, and most held their heads high as they walked, looking like so many quarrelsome gamecocks.
Two figures stood out among them.
One was the tallest man present, surrounded by the rest as if he were the commander.
The other followed behind the group and wore no armor at all.
He was second only to the tall knight in height, but that was not what drew the eye.
Three claw scars crossed his face from forehead through brow to cheek, giving his otherwise handsome features a hard, savage cast.
This was the force House Crane had gathered to destroy the outlaws in Red Lake Forest, and the man leading it was the famous Ser Joel Flowers.
By rights, that force should have been inside Red Lake Forest, joining House Rowan of Goldengrove and House Oakheart of Old Oak in hunting the outlaws hiding there.
Instead, it had moved to the forest’s edge and made camp at Standfast.
The decision was puzzling.
Outsiders were not the only ones confused.
Joel’s own squires were confused as well.
During the march, their trust in him had kept them from asking questions, but after two days encamped at Standfast, one of them finally could not hold back.
“My lord, how long are we staying here?” one squire asked with careful concern.
“Should we not be in Red Lake Forest, wiping out those Targaryen holdouts?”
Alden, following at the rear, gave the squire a meaningful glance.
The young man’s phrasing was hardly innocent.
Clearing outlaws was one thing.
Clearing Targaryen holdouts was far more likely to win the notice and favor of the new king, Robert Baratheon.
Any merit earned in such a campaign would shine brighter as well.
That small calculation did not escape Joel.
He seemed to make nothing of it, though.
In truth, he had sensed something wrong from the moment he heard the outlaws of Red Lake Forest were calling themselves remnants of the dragon kings.
With a strong new king on the Iron Throne, Reach houses needed to do certain things: please him, show him where they stood now, and give him no excuse to trouble them later.
“We are here to hunt outlaws,” Ser Joel said, glancing at his squire and answering simply.
The men around him still did not understand what camping at Standfast had to do with hunting outlaws.
Joel sighed, then explained with more patience than usual.
“If you were surrounded by enemies and suddenly found a gap in their line, what would you do?”
The squires looked at one another.
One tried an answer.
“I would send men to see whether the gap was dangerous.
If it was not, I would lead my men through it, my lord.
Is that right?”
Joel did not answer directly.
He only nodded and went on.
“And if, after breaking out, you found every road dangerous except one?
A road safer than the rest, able to avoid the enemy’s blockade entirely and carry you quickly away?
A road so hidden that few people knew it existed?
What would you do then?”
“We would, of course…” Someone began the answer at once, then stopped halfway as understanding came to him.
“You mean the Targaryen holdouts will try to break out through Standfast?”
Joel nodded.
This time, he did not hide the point.
“There is a hidden smuggling path near Standfast.
It cuts through the mountains and avoids the lands around Red Lake, leading straight into the hills outside Cornfield.
There should be more than a few smugglers among those outlaws.
They will know the path.
They will use it to escape the sweep.”
Excitement stirred among the knights.
This was clearly the best chance to earn merit.
One of them, however, could not hide his worry.
“I remember the outlaws numbering several hundred.
Even if they lose men while fleeing, they will still outnumber us.
And many of them are defeated soldiers loyal to the dragon kings.
They know war.
Can our men hold them?”
The excitement faded from the knights’ faces.
They grew solemn.
They wanted glory, but only if they lived long enough to enjoy it.
After a moment of thought, someone suggested, “Coldmoat is not far.
Should we ask House Webber for aid?”
The proposal quickly won agreement.
The knights looked to Joel, waiting for the order.
Joel said nothing.
He merely motioned for them to follow and continued inspecting each group in the castle as if he had not heard the suggestion at all.
His reaction left them baffled, but none had the courage to keep pressing.
They could only follow in silence.
It did not take long to inspect the force and issue orders.
Before returning to the hall, Joel commanded his squires to each take a small party, scout the surrounding ground, and find suitable places to intercept any outlaws who broke through.
Before dismissing them, however, he stopped Alden, who had also been preparing to leave.
When only the two of them remained in the hall, Joel asked, “What do you think?”
“About what?” Alden paused, not immediately understanding.
“Asking House Webber for aid,” Joel said.
Alden hesitated.
“It seems too important a matter to ask me.”
“I want your view,” Joel said, not letting him slip away.
So Alden gave it.
“I do not think we need to ask.
House Webber should come to aid us on its own, likely later today.”
Joel, who had been slouched in his chair, straightened with interest.
“Explain.
Why would House Webber come on its own?”
“To wash away suspicion,” Alden said.
“After those outlaws robbed House Rowan’s caravan, they crossed straight through Webber lands.
House Webber did nothing to stop them and let them enter Red Lake Forest.
Anyone can see there is something wrong with that.
So even though House Webber sits so close to Red Lake Forest, House Rowan did not include them in the force gathered this time.
Goldengrove clearly no longer trusts its vassal.
If House Webber does not want the Rowans settling accounts afterward, they must be eager in this campaign, more eager than anyone.
They will spend men and coin to see those outlaws destroyed, leaving no excuse for others to move against them.”
Joel was deeply surprised by the detail in the answer, but he hid the reaction well.
“Is that all?”
Alden was silent a moment.
Then he said, “Your camp at Standfast serves another purpose besides blocking the outlaws’ only escape.
It creates the impression that House Rowan sent you here to watch House Webber.
That will make the Webbers work even harder to help us wipe the outlaws out.”
This time, Joel could not quite conceal his surprise.
He studied Alden with a strange look, as if he were looking at a monster rather than a boy of fifteen or sixteen.
There was no doubt the boy had gone far beyond what should be normal.
A hunter from a little village like White Village should not have that kind of eye.
Even a maester trained at the Citadel or an old knight rich in experience might not have reached the same analysis so quickly.
Joel drew a slow breath and steadied himself.
“Do you think House Webber is connected to those outlaws?”
Alden shook his head.
“Whether they are or not no longer matters.
What matters is that House Webber must prove they are not.”
“But I want to know whether they are.”
Alden thought it over.
“Personally, I think the outlaws likely had House Webber’s secret support.
House Webber simply did not expect them to be bold enough to rob a Rowan caravan, much less kill an important member of House Rowan.
When those outlaws crossed Webber lands the way they usually did, they must have kept part of the truth back, hoping to drag House Webber into the mire.
By the time the Webbers received word and realized something was wrong, it was already too late.”
“Who taught you this?” Joel asked, eyes fixed on him.
“This is not knowledge a hunter learns.”
“Old Baine deserves the thanks.” Alden would naturally not tell him he came from another world overflowing with knowledge and information.
Nor would he feed a man like Joel Flowers talk of the Warrior’s blessing from the Seven.
That would do no good and would only create needless suspicion.
So he put everything on Baine, as he and the old man had agreed.
Joel seemed to believe it.
“Then he truly values you.
Not only did he find you fine sword teachers, he brought in learned men as well.
It seems he placed all the wishes he failed to fulfill on your shoulders.”
“Wishes?” Alden asked, curiosity stirring.
“My lord, can you tell me about Old Baine?”
“He never told you?”
Alden shook his head.
“I do not know the whole of it,” Joel said, leaning back in his chair as he searched his memory.
“Only rumors.
Old Baine and I both took part in the campaign where the Mad King’s Kingsguard hunted the Kingswood Brotherhood.
I was with Ser Barristan and had no dealings with Baine.
But on the field, I saw him lead his spear company straight through the Brotherhood’s defensive line, forcing them to retreat until the whole line broke.
In other men’s eyes, that battle belonged to famous knights.
They were the ones who seemed to decide it.
In mine, the force that truly shaped the result was Old Baine’s spear company.”
“Old Baine has a record like that?” Alden was genuinely surprised.
From their time together, he had known the old man was not ordinary, but he had seemed far from legendary.
Now Alden realized he had underestimated Baine’s past.
Simply taking part in the campaign against the Kingswood Brotherhood was enough to be called a notable experience.
Winning merit there made it something closer to legend.
I hope this chapter pulled you a little deeper into the story.
Stay close, because things are only getting more interesting.