FicWad

Chapter 27: a second Field of Fire

Joffrey

I re-wrote the words to ‘Revolution’ so that is was now a humorous/tragic song about how foolish we Lannisters were to rebel against the King. The last verse was about how our former wives were now being fucked by Wildings in the Westlands. The recent rebels, both Westlander and Ironborn hated it. But everyone else loved it! It caused a bar fight. I’ll never sing that one again!


MARGAERY

They had all left me now, Bran . . . his wizard mentor, Ser Edric . . . . his brother and fencing instructor, Ser Jon . . . . his new friend and fellow magic student, Jojen. . . . The loyalist Riverland Lords and their armies . . . Most of our soldiers. . . . I was alone . . . .
Sure, I had Meera to keep me company. But she was practically a stranger. She was here to be my Lady-in-waiting and bodyguard. I suppose I could train with her in the practice yard until the baby starts to show. But I wouldn’t be able to actually spar with her.
That attack by the Freys really shook me up. I had been spending so much time in the Gods’ Wood, I hadn’t realised I didn’t have enough plants in the rest of the castle. I’d wandered there now. When Edric had re-grown the weirwood tree, he had grown it with a triple trunk that split in the right place to form a perfect seat for an adult to sit in. Bran was small for it now. But he would grow into it. It’s really nice here. This seat in the tree feels really comfortable. It seems so stupid for there to be such a bother about our powers. I can’t believe we’re having to fight a war over a religion! I’d always considered myself to be an atheist. But if I were to become a believer, a religion that worships magic trees seems like a good choice. I didn’t want to become a heretic. But if the Church of the Seven is going to force me to take the side of the Old Gods, then I need to go all in, to jump in with both feet. They thought I was a tree worshiping Witch! Wait until they see the real me! I think I need more plants around here though. . . Even though there was no wind, the tree swayed in response, as if blown by a gentle breeze.


EDRIC

Taking on Jojen as a student changed things. I may have taken three years of Divination classes, but I didn’t have the ‘inner eye’ that was need to really be successful. But Jojen did. He quickly taken in all my knowledge of tea leaf reading crystal gazing and even a simplified version of geomancy. Astrology was out though. I still hadn’t gotten around to re-inventing magical Astronomy. The maesters had divided the sky into seven zodiac signs that covered almost twice as much sky and the ones I was used to. And the planets were completely different. This messed with the symbology of Tarot. So I have not bothered creating a set of Tarot cards yet. Perhaps I should, after the war. To my surprise, Bran was able to pick up Divination even faster than Jojen. He had the ‘inner eye’ too. Bran was also much better with wand work than Jojen. I had been teaching him for years at this point. Bran could handle himself with a wand at this point. Jojen had barely begun his magical studies. I was going to take Jojen as a squire, but Bran wanted him, instead.

Traveling with an army was frustratingly slow. I could magically transport a small group instantly to any known location. But not an entire army. And a large group, like an army, could only travel as slow as its’ slowest members. Jon had been able to speed things up a little by banning camp followers. All of us were members of the Army. If any civilian cooks, troubadours or whores wanted to follow us, they had to be in the rear, and we would not wait if they fell behind. We would ride all day, then if there was time in the evening, I might teach Bran or Jojen a little magic. I had made a broom for Bran. He was starting to learn to fly it. But he did not have my natural talent for flying and my home made brooms were a lot harder to control than the store-bought ones I had used in my past life.


JON

Traveling with an army that was on horseback or foot was frustratingly slow! I tried to speed things up by banning camp followers. But Lord Tytos Blackwood had argued that it was bad for moral to make the soldiers eat their own cooking and deny them whores and other entertainments. In the end, we reached the compromise that the camp followers would be in the rear and those that fell behind would not be waited for. Lord Tytos and I had established a good working relationship. He and I would meet with Bran and plan things out, only telling our plans to the other Lords after they had been finalised. Lord Tytos thought I was some sort of military genius, so he mostly went along with my ideas. It wasn’t my fault I had lived a past life in a civilization that had tens of thousands of years of military history and tactics to draw upon.
Our current plan was to move as fast as possible to Harrehal. If we could get there first It would make a good place to hold back the Sevenist Forces and deny them access to the Isle of Faces. All of my battle plans would keep Bran well away from actual fighting. He and Jojen could command from the rear while Edric and I were in the vanguard. The wizards were a great help in intelligence gathering. Between Bran’s warging, Bran and Jojen’s divination, and my Force abilities we were able to keep track of our enemy’s movements and adjust our plans accordingly. The Sevenist Army was blind in comparison. All they had were scouts, which we could quite easily compromise.
Our route took us on a road that ran parallel to the Red Fork river. We were a day from the Trident setting up camp when the calls of “Blackfish!” began rolling through the camp like a wave. I looked in the direction it had started from to see a man on a horse wearing black armor with a Tully fish painted on his chest.

“Pardon me, my Lord. Can you tell me where I might find Lord Tully?” asked the Blackfish.

“Follow me, I said as a started walking towards the source of my mild headaches. The man called Blackfish dismounted and handed off his Horse to a squire I had waved in his direction, then strode in the same direction as me.

“You have to say it right,” admonished Bran. “Its Wingardium Leviosa, not Wengerdia Leviawsom.”

“I just don’t see what use this would be in a battle,” complained Jojen.

“You’d be surprised,” said Edric. “I friend of my once knocked out a troll with this spell. Now, try it again.”

“Wingardium Leviosa!” shouted Jojen, before the log began to rise into the air.

I had arrived by then and I turned to introduce our guest, when I saw him gaping, open mouthed at the sight of the levitating log.

Lord Tully, It appears we have a guest,” I said, indicating the Black-clad knight. “I’m sorry I don’t actually know your name, besides: Blackfish.”

The log dropped to the ground as Jojen exclaimed: “See! I told you a black fish would come to us, riding on the back of a horse!”

“Lord Tully?” asked the Blackfish, as he looked from boy to boy, trying to figure our which one was Bran. “I’m your great uncle, your grandfather’s brother, Byrden Tully, also known as the Blackfish.”

“I’ll try not to hold your brother against you,” joked Bran, causing the Blackfish to snort in amusement. “What brings you to us?”

“I heard the family was in trouble,” explained the Blackfish. “So I rode here from the Vale as fast as I could. What was that he was doing with the log?”

“Magic. This is my squire, Jojen Reed and our magic teacher Ser Edric Peverel and I am, of course, Lord Brandon Tully,” explain Bran, as he pointed to them. “You’ve already met my chief general: Ser Jon Stark.”

“I heard stories. But I thought they were just tall tales,” said the Blackfish.

“NoPe!” said Edric, popping the “P”, as he waved his wand and a ghostly stag appeared that was radiating happiness. “Magic is real in the Riverlands!”

After this introduction, Lord Tytos recommended we add the Blackfish to our strategic inner circle. But by now, we had already made our plans for the Battle at Harrenhal.
I had taken to training the peasant levies in discipline, getting them used to taking orders, without question. I would train ten for an hour each night before sunset and the next night those ten would train ten more and so on. I would also have the entire army march in step for an hour before walking normally for an hour. We would repeat this all day. One of the Bards, a man from the North, who played a six-stringed variant of the lute, had a song called ‘Revolution’ that fit the rhythm of the march well. It was about how foolish the Lannisters were to rebel against their king and how it had led to them being sent to The Wall, while their former wives were now being fucked by Wildings in the Westlands.

After passing the Ruby Ford, we took the Kingsroad South towards Harrenhal. With our various abilities, we had plenty of advanced warning that the enemy army would arrive a few minutes before us. But the were a thin line going down the road, while we had taken time to deploy for battle. Edric was on his broom and would be coming at them out of the direction of the sun, raining curses down from them above. I would be leading the vanguard of the cavalry. I put the Blackfish to leading the reserve cavalry. While Bran and Jojen were safely in the rear. I hoped that the drilling I had done on pikemen tactics would make our peasant levies more resilient than theirs. The battle went perfectly, especially since I knew and our foes didn’t know, that the King was leading an army of 7,000 up the Kingsroad from behind them. Earlier in the day, Edric had relayed a message to the King. So his forces would be arrayed for battle when they caught up with the Freys and their allies.


EDRIC

Earlier in the day I had flown down to carry a letter from Jon to the King and apparated back. Now, I was high over the Army of the Seven. I dove at them from the direction of the Sun. When I was low enough, I cast a fiendfire in the center of them, then pulled up and let them burn. Once I was high enough to be out of range of their bows, I made another run and cast another Fiendfire. The King’s forces were starting to engage them from the South and Our army was cutting them to pieces from the North. I made one more run at the largest concentration left. The Frey army and their allies were in full rout now, all of them running away in any direction that took them away from the blazing inferno. I hovered over the three huge fires that had grown and merged together into one huge fire that was now trying to climb up to me. I took hold and starting battling for control of the fire, making it smaller and smaller until after what seemed hours, it finally went out. Exhausted, I flew down to land near Bran and Jojen.

“The Island!” screamed Jojen.

“What?” I asked.

“Some of them got away during the battle,” explained Bran. “They took all the boats and are heading for the Isle of Faces.”

“Hop on!” I said, patting the back of my broom.

He climbed on the back and we zoomed across the lake. The God’s Eye lake is more like an inland sea. I couldn’t see the other side of it from shore. I could barely see the Isle of Faces. When we started to approach the fleet of rowboats heading for the island we went around them, making sure to stay out of bowshot. before continuing on to the island. When we arrived and dismounted I turned it into a lesson for Bran.

“We’re going to work on our long distance casting,” I began. “In my previous life, when I first found out I was a wizard, I expected magic to move as fast as light. But it is actually quite slow, slow enough that you can dodge hexes if you are fast enough. It’s a little slower than an arrow. This is not a critical in short range fights as it is at long range when you have plenty of time to get out of the way of the spell. Of course, it’s pretty hard to dodge when you are in a boat. But we are hampered by not being able to use any fire or electricity based curses. We don’t want to start the fire we came here to prevent! So let’s begin.”

I silently cast a bombarda curse at the lead boat and it’s bow exploded in a hail of splinters that cut the men on the boat.
Bran cast a cutting curse at one of the boats and the alert crew rowed to the side, causing the curse to hit the boat behind them, which started taking in water.

“Very Good!” I praised. “Now watch this! You can also use transfiguration.”

I turned one of the boats into a shark, which the men fell off of. It then began biting every one of them that fell in the water. Bran and I cast a few more until we had sunk all the boats and the shark had bitten everyone to death. I then reversed the transfiguration on the shark so it was now a boat drifting in the lake.

“We thank you for your service to us,” said a high pitched voice behind me.

I turned and saw the local inhabitants of the island. I could see why the former Lady Stark, in her new plant body, had been mistaken for a Child of the Forrest. They were shorter than adult humans and were green, both their skin and hair. And they were all wearing sleeveless mini-dresses made of red leaves. But the their eyes were too large for humans and were spaced too far apart. And their noses were too small for a human to have without surgical help. They were all armed with spears tipped with black volcanic glass.
Now that I had a chance to look around, the entire area of the island that I could see was covered in enormous old Weirwood trees. In the shade of these red leafed trees were fruiting plants, all of whom gave red fruits: Strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, peppers and others I could not identify.

“I greet you O people of the forest,” I said, as I bowed. “I am Ser Edric Peverel, sworn sword of my Lord, Ser Brandon Tully, Lord of the Riverlands.

I Indicated Bran.

“We know who you are, Master of Death,” replied the Child of the Forrest. “And we know who you are too, little Raven. I am called Stem, in your tongue. We were surprised to to see men come to our island and even more so to see them using sorcery in defense of us. We had thought the ways of the Old Gods were lost below the Neck.

“I am of the First Men, I came from the North and I follow the Old Gods,” explained Bran. “Many people are returning to the Old Gods now. You don’t need to hide here anymore. I think my Wife, Margaery would like to meet you. May I bring her here to meet you?”

“You may do so,” agreed Stem. “And I will measure the truth of your kind words. Blossom here will return with you as our emissary.”

One of the them stepped forward and bowed to us. We bowed back to her before Bran said: “I am happy to have an emissary of the Children of the Forrest. I will try to make your stay with us comfortable.”

“But you should know that we are currently in a war with the followers of the Seven Gods,” I warned. “There may be danger ahead of us.”

“There is always danger for us when dealing with the humans,” replied Stem.


JON

“Seven Hells! This is like a second Field of Fire,” boomed the King as he approached me.

I was still co-ordinating the aftermath of the battle, gathering the prisoners, tending to the wounded and organising things.

I knelt and said: “The Riverlands are yours.”

“Get up!” commanded the King. “How are you Ser Jon?”

“I’m good, your Grace,” I replied.

“And where’s your brother, Lord Tully?” asked the King

“Some of the Freys took some boats out on the Gods’ Lake. They were planning to burn down the Isle of faces. Ser Edric took Lord Bran with him to stop them.”

Suddenly a whirlwind appeared! When it stopped spinning, in its’ place were Bran, Edric and a short green person.

“That’s a Child of the Forest!” gasped the King.

Instantly, everyone within earshot was staring in our direction.




SAM

My wife, Shae and I had gone to experience that new dance hall, the one with the Big Jass Band, in Fleabottom. Apparently, this one had been organised in imitation of the King’s Jass Band, but this orchestra was reputed to be superior. Their music had a bouncy exciting beat to it. And we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly as we forgot our cares for a time. As were were exiting the establishment, I looked down the street at a sudden flash of light. To my dismay, the public library
I had established was in flames.

“Fire! FIRE!” I yelled, and the people began pouring out into the streets with their buckets. Shae and I ran to the fire house and grabbed one for each of us, then joined the lines. We began passing our buckets down the line and when they returned filled with water, we passed them to the next person in line. Eventually that would make it to the head of the line, by the library, where the water would be emptied onto the conflagration. Suddenly, the fire turned green and engulfed several of the other nearby buildings, instantly incinerating the people who had been closer to the fire.

“This is all your fault! Sinner!” said a voice behind me, before I felt a sharp pain in the head as I fell into the arms of Morpheus.


TRYSTANE
It’s been weeks, and I am no closer finding her than I was before. I passed by a beggar girl. She had very light blond hair and next to her begging bowl was her walking stick. She was apparently blind. But then, I noticed her purple eyes.

“Pardon me, you wouldn’t, by any chance be Danerys Targaryan?” I asked as a dropped a coin in her bowl.

“A girl is No One,” replied the beggar.

“That’s not true!” said a teen-aged girl with her own staff who hit the beggar girl with it and scolded her. You’re too weak to be No One!”

Instantly, the blind beggar girl leapt to her feet and swung her walking stick at the girl, but missed completely as her opponent easily stepped away from her.

“You’ll never be No One!” snarled the waif, as she hit the blind girl again.

“Hey! Stop that!” I said, as I grabbed the staff from her. I now saw that her face was some sort of illusion.

“Do not interfere!” said one of the by-standers, a man wearing an illusionary face with multi-coloured hair. “A man will feed a girl if she will tell him her name.”

“A girl is No One,” replied the blind beggar girl.

“A man will restore a girl’s sight if she will tell her name,” said the man.

“A girl is No One,” replied the blind beggar girl, after a pause.

“This man is Trystane Martell,” said the man as he pointed to me. “He wants to marry you and take you back to Westeros, where you can be Queen. Tell a man your name and you can have your sight restored and go with him.”

“A girl is No One,” replied the blind beggar girl.

“Your quest is ended. She belongs to the Many-Faced God now,” said the man. “Do not pursue her again. She has made her choice. Come girl, we shall return to the House of Black and White.”

The three of them walked away from me.