12th Moon, 8001
Fields outside Yronwood Castle
Corlys Velaryon, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard sat upon his horse, looking across the field at the Dornish Host that approached them from his vantage point on the hill, his sworn brothers mounted around him, their white armor shining in the sun. Ser Gregor Goode held the standard of the Kingsguard, a plain white banner waving in the wind.
It was a pleasant day, though one that would soon see its fair share of blood and death. Two weeks prior, their scouts had informed them a large host was approaching Yronwood to give battle, Aegon had been content to await them at Yronwood rather than attempting to take another castle after its burning, the boneway had been taken and their supply lines were intact. Orys Baratheon had not committed his men to the campaign but he was more than willing to send food and supplies to the Targaryen host, giving them the luxury of simply waiting.
The luxury of time meant that Aegon, Rhaenys and Corlys had been able to plan the coming battle and they meant to make use of the hills around them, arranging their 8700 man army in three equal forces spread out along the hills outside Yronwood, the forests at their sides.
Aegon and his sister would of course be fighting atop their dragons, so command of the land forces would fall to Corlys and other smaller commanders, the Lord Commander and his sworn brothers would be fighting on the right flank, where they expected to face the men of Prince Lewyn of Dorne, younger brother to Princess Deria and the current heir to Dorne.
Ryam Redwyne, the king's squire would also be squirting for the lord commander in battle since Aegon would be on his dragon, the newly knighted Theo Tyrell would not be present however, as his sister was in Dorne and his presence could be seen as an act of aggression.
Corlys had to admit the Dornish had brought an impressive host, numbering some 14,000 men, the scouts claiming it comprised nearly 2400 cavalry, a number that did not appear to be exaggerated. In addition to this, the Dornish had brought several scorpions with them which were being prepared for the coming battle.
‘’We will be outnumbered…..even with the Dragons we will need to keep our discipline, the King and his sister cannot be everywhere at once.’’ Corlys mused, the scouts estimates were that the Dornish had nearly six thousand more men, though this was counteracted by the Targaryen dragons and their defensive positions on the hills.
‘’It doesn't matter how many they number….we shall throw them back.’’ Ser Harold Langward said.
‘’Aye…the bastards will burn.’’ Ser Gawen replied, the ruby in his Valyrian steel sword shining bright like his armor.
‘’Nevertheless we will not be rash….we will respond to their attack, give the King and Queen time to burn their host.’’ Corlys said and his sworn brothers nodded.
‘’With their numbers they could send a force through the forest, hit us in our flank.’’ Garmon Hightower said he, was a fine warrior and sword but was not a man that liked to ignore any possibility.
‘’Unlikely, they would be spotted by the King or his sister from the air, and would be burned easily, they wouldn't be able to bring a Scorpion through the woods.’’ Corlys responded.
Before the reachman could respond, a cacophony of trumpets sounded…the Dornish were beginning their attack.
‘’Helmet.’’ Ser Corlys demanded and Ryam Redwyne handed the Lord Commander his helm, made of heavy silver and steel plate with eye slits.
From the hill he saw Lewyn Martell was sending his heavy infantry in first, split into two groups advancing on the flanks while archers advanced up the middle, seemingly undefended.
‘’He wants us to attack his archers …draw us in….order a shield wall with our own infantry we won't fall for it, send the cavalry behind the hill in reserve, they will be targeted by their archers.’’ Corlys demanded and one of his men nodded, sounding a trumpet giving the orders, and the Targaryen right flank began to make a shieldwall at the top of the hill.
He turned to his sworn brothers ‘’Dismount, our horses will do us no good in a shield wall.
He saw Aegon and Rhaenys had mounted their dragons and were beginning to fly towards the advancing Dornish, Corlys forced himself to focus on the battle in front of him, he always felt powerless that despite being a Kingsguard, he could do nothing to defend his cousin on dragonback.
The Dornish, seeing their trap had not worked merged their two groups of heavy infantry into one, advancing up the hill while the archers once in range began to fire up the hill, several of their arrows striking shields around the Lord Commander, who along with his sworn brothers was present at the front rank.
‘’LOCK SHIELDS…TIGHTEN THE LINE.’’ Corlys commanded and the shield wall tightened in preparation for the Dornish charge.
A wordless cry came from the Dornish as they charged, many of them in heavy leather and chainmail armed with two handed axes or with shields and maces, the men necessary to break a shield wall.
The crash was enormous as the two lines came together in a crash of shields, with the front line of the Targaryen line being pushed back initially.
A dornish warrior in a padded leather jerkin with a steel nasal helm charged the lord commander, raising a two handed ax in the air, but Corlys calmly blocked the strike upon his shield, causing the blade to become stuck, Corlys then hacked his sword at the wooden handle, shearing the ax in two. The man could only give a surprised look at his now useless weapon as Corlys delivered a fearsome hack under the man's nasal helm at his face, sending blood and bone everywhere as the man fell to the ground, his body rolling down the hill.
To his left he saw a Dornish warrior on the ground,wounded and begging for mercy, but Ser Gawen Corbray gave him none, bringing Lady Forlorn into the man's neck with a yell of rage. Ser Gregor Goode had the standard of the Kingsguard in one hand, and the other a shield, in which he used his strength to hold the line.
A dornish warrior with a Glaive cut down the man in front of Corlys and charged the lord commander, but Corlys punched his shield forward, shattering the man's neck and causing him to crumple to the bloodstained ground.
The Lord Commander had fought his way past the shield wall at this point and he sighted his next opponent, who appeared to be a nobleman.
The man was dressed in a rather brown plain cloth vest, with a vest of stitched leather on his chest, he wore no helm and had only a long ashen spear. Corlys would have thought him a common soldier if not for his demeanor.
Corlys was far enough away from the main fighting to approach the man, who stood with his spear outstretched.
‘’If we would come to blows I would know your name Ser.’’ Corlys said as the battle raged around them, the two men circled each other.
‘’I am Galeran….but you give me an honor I do not possess for I am no Knight…I own a small keep along the coast….my ancestors have lived there for centuries, first as fisherman and eventually lords…it is for their memory I fight….they lived and died free….as will I if necessary.’’ The man said calmly.
‘’I shall give you a clean death my lord’’ Corlys said.
‘’Perhaps.’’ The lord of Sandford said, before the melee began in earnest.
Galeran launched two strikes with his spear, but the lord commander blocked them both with his sword, forcing the spearpoint away. Their isolation had ended by now, and the battle had moved around them, but both men seemed not to notice, focused on their deadly dance.
Corlys launched an attack this time, but Galerion dodged it and counterattacked, the Lord commander blocked the strike with his shield and very nearly was able to cut the spear in half with his sword but the dornishman withdrew it at the last moment. It was clear that Corlys was far more skilled, but the man continued to fight on, sidestepping a shield bash from the Velaryon knight, but Corlys had simultaneously launched a backhand strike from above cutting the man's spear in half.
True to his word, Corlys gave the man a clean death, a sword through the throat which killed the man instantly.
Despite this victory the melee on the right remained stalemated with both sides continuing the fierce fight.
Skies above the Battle
Balerion let forth another stream of fire, setting the hills ablaze, along with the unfortunate men and horses in the front rank. The commander of the Dornish center had sent forth his light cavalry and horse archers to try and draw the Targaryens from the hill, but Aegon had not been letting them get close.
After the destruction at Yronwood, Aegon did not want any more death than was necessary, and his main objective for the battle was to simply force the Dornish to retreat as opposed to destroying their whole army, many of the men that fought against him on the field would someday be his people.
True to that end, Aegon had been more focused on burning the land around the Dornish center flank, preventing them from advancing and hopefully showing them the battle was pointless, but they were a brave people and slowly but surely were advancing.
The King had been so focused on his task of stopping the centers advance that he had neglected to keep an eye on his flanks, Rhaenys and Corlys were competent commanders and he trusted them completely, so it was a complete surprise when he heard the trumpet sounds from the left flank, signaling a fighting withdrawal.
He turned and saw that Rhaenys’s flank was in bad shape, and the Dornish had essentially neutralized her and her dragon.
They had scorpions, archers, and horse archers firing into the air, not so much with the goal of hitting her, but with the simple goal of filling the sky with arrows and preventing her from getting close and helping her men.
The Dornish left was commanded by Gerold Dayne, a formidable commander, and head of an ancient and powerful house which Grandmaester Arlan had educated him on extensively.
Gerold Dayne, having essentially taken Rhaenys out of the fight, had sent his remaining horse archers to attack the flanks of the Targaryen defenders, shooting up the hill at them.
The defenders had fallen for the trap and attempted to drive off the horse archers, but once they had left their positions on the hills and abandoned the high ground, Lord Gerold had sent his light cavalry to attack them, thundering across the field at lightning speed and catching the Targaryens by surprise.
Aegon realized he would have to intervene or the withdrawing men on the left would be slaughtered, but before he could do that he had to deal with the Dornish center, and he did not have the luxury of holding back now.
The dornish in the center had actually been emboldened by the King's mercy, thinking that the Dragonlord had been trying to kill them but could not control his beast, they were wrong, and after a few torrents of Dragonfire, they fell back, leaving behind dozens of their comrades burning.
With the center dealt with, Aegon turned his attention to Lord Gerold Daynes men. The Lord of Starfall was no fool, he knew that his Scorpions were not positioned to employ the same strategy as they had against Rhaenys, but he was determined to offer at least some resistance, but it was futile, and another line of men burned before the Lord of Starfall angrily ordered a general retreat, Aegon let them go, the battle had been won.
The right flank which had been deadlocked in a melee for so long finally had a victor.
Lewyn Martell had made the rather puzzling decision to break off the shieldwall and withdraw his heavy infantry while at the same time sending his horse archers and light horse forward, hoping the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard would pursue the infantry and be caught in the open by the horse archers.
Corlys Velaryon did charge his men, but the Dornish horse archers, distracted by the men burning on the other flanks were poorly organized and easily chased off by the Lord Commanders infantry, leading to Lewyn ordering his flank to withdraw as well, leaving the Targaryens the victor of the battle of Watersmeet, named after a nearby coastal village.
The battle had not been a decisive one as Aegon had allowed his opponents to retreat and not attempted to completely slaughter them, but nonetheless it had still been bloody.
By the end of it, nearly 2500 Dornishmen had been killed, many in the melee on the right as well as the burning of the center. The Targaryen losses were not insignificant, numbering around 1000 killed and severely wounded, most of them on the right, having fallen victim to Lord Gerold Daynes' trap.
House Yronwood would receive another crippling blow as we,,, Lord Yohn Yronwood, the elderly lord and the last surviving male had attempted to flee the field, his horse burned and in pain threw him from the saddle down a hill, the last Yronwood male dying some days later of his wounds, all but spelling the end for the once mighty house.
