9th Moon, 8025

Siege Camp Outside Casterly Rock

Deria Martell sat upon her horse as she made her daily rounds of the siege camps. All around her were the banners of Dorne, the white crossed swords on purple of house Dayne, the white green and orange of house Shells, the golden hand of house Allyrion, and countless others were represented amongst the some 10,000 Dornishmen that had answered the Targaryens call.

There was a new banner visible as well, a cluster of purple grapes on blue, levies of house Redwyne of the Arbor,....reachmen, though luckily for all parties involved they kept their own separate camp.

They had arrived one month prior, some 4000 men, led by Lord Rowan of Goldengrove and their arrival had not been one that the Dornish welcomed. For centuries, the Dornish and the Reachmen had been rivals and enemies, with countless wars, skirmishes and massacres being exchanged between the two kingdoms before both were brought under the authority of the Iron Throne, there had been peace in the decades since, but the enmity remained.

To make matters worse, despite having less than half the men the Dornish had committed to the siege, the Reachmen had all but taken over the siege, Lord Rowan had been polite, yet made it clear that King Vaemond had given the Knights of the Reach the role of leading the siege of Casterly Rock, showing her a letter from the King, who remained in Greenfield recovering with his wound with some 10,000 men.

Deria had grudgingly admitted to herself that she could hardly fault the King for giving the overall command to the Reachmen, whose entry into the war had well and truly shifted the momentum. It seemed that every week's war council, Lord Rowan shared a new victory that his countrymen had won in the undefended southern Westerlands. The Reachmen had stormed the castles of Payne Hall, Redramble and Fieldsview. Lord Hightower had captured 5 villages and towns, setting Kimpton, Fivehead and Cedric Town aflame after forcing the local civilians to flee in retaliation for resisting their host.

In addition to capturing much of the southern border, the Knights of the Reach had defeated a small force of Westerlanders at Peckledon decisively, sending them into a rout.

While Deria recognized the King's decision to reward the Knights of the Reach, her countrymen were far less understanding. They were outraged that, despite sieging Casterly Rock for months, they would be forced to serve under a much smaller force who had only just arrived, and would no doubt take credit for their months of hard work.

None were more upset than her son Lewyn, who had declared that the Reachmen were free to serve as commanders of the siege, just as they were free to return back to Dorne in light of the current insult.

Deria had not put too much stock into his outburst, she intended to do her duty, in truth the glory of taking Casterly Rock under a Dornish banner did not interest her, it would be enough for her to have a quiet word with the King at the war's end and secure some suitable reward for her family, he would see the worth of the Dornish surely.

They had proved invaluable in the opening months of the siege, and if she had followed her son's advice to abandon the war the Reachmen at Casterly Rock would have been slaughtered.

Two weeks prior, some thirty thousand Westerlanders had been sighted marching west towards Casterly Rock, with Deria and Lord Rowan readying their combined force, which at the time included 7000 Ironborn for battle. Inexplicably however, the Westerlanders had changed their mind and retreated east, passing up the chance for an advantageous battle.

Her son Lewyn had loudly declared the Westerlanders had turned tail at facing the prospect of fighting 10,000 dornishmen, with old Vickon Greyjoy claiming the same for his Ironborn. Deria and Lord Rowan had both agreed that Loren Lannister likely did not want to get caught in a pitched battle with the 10,000 man army of King Vaemond at his rear, who despite being wounded, had ordered a sizeable calvary force to make their way west from Greenfield to join a potential battle. Some of Lorens men had been among the dead at Westborder, but the majority of his men were unaccounted for, their positions unknown, which perturbed Deria more than a little.

Following this unexpected retreat, Vickon Greyjoy had taken his men south, muttering something about Lannisport, in truth Deria was not sad to see him leave, she still remembered it had been Vickon Greyjoy who had plundered Spottswood and the village of Olivegrove, and had ordered the Ironborn assault on Sunspear all those years ago.

Her dornishmen gave their respects as she passed, bowing their heads and offering courtesies, while a few passing Reachmen paid her little mind at all, though Deria had grown used to their arrogance.

She felt the fatigue of the day setting in and nodded to her escort that it was time to return to her tent. In truth the siege was wearing Deria thin, her people were as hot as the sands of their homeland and it was a tiring business to keep the peace in the siege camps between Stone, Salt and Sand Dornish, made especially difficult by the fact Deria was a woman who devoted herself to overseeing every aspect of the siege, from latrine pits to rations.

She dismounted her horse, tied it to a post next to her tent and entered the small orange silk tent, sitting down on a small chair and pouring herself a cup of Dornish Red.

She did not even get a full minute of reprieve until her second son Lewyn barged into the tent, dressed magnificently for war in a chainmail byrnie of copper links, wearing a cloak of orange silk clasped with a silver sun.

‘’You are dressed for battle Lewyn, and yet I have not heard our scouts sound the alarm.’’ Deria said with a tired smile.

Lewyn ignored that and began to pace the tent, his hand on the golden sun pommel of his scimitar.

‘’The Reachmen bastards mean to take the credit when Casterly Rock falls, and yet it was us that have sat outside this damnable rock for months…..and do not try to deny it mother, you surely cannot be so blind as to see the insult in the King's appointment of Lord Rowan.’’ Lewyn said hotly.

Deria said nothing at that, folding her hands in her lap, she knew it was pointless to try and talk sense into her son when he fell into one of his wrathful rants.

‘’Nothing to say about that…..well I do….I wont be made to sit around, subservient and watch these smug reachmen command us when they don't even have half our men….I won't stand for it any longer mother.’’ Lewyn continued, pacing.

‘’I can arrange an escort to take you back to Sunspear if you truly cannot bear it.’’ Deria said coolly.

‘’To hell with that.’’ Lewyn snapped before gentling his tone and kneeling before his mother, taking her hand.

‘’I have a plan mother…..a good plan which will make sure the glory of the capture of Casterly Rock will belong to the Dornish and us alone…..we can avenge this slight’’ Lewyn said, the anger having left his face.

Deria raised her eyebrows.

Lewyn returned to his feet and straightened himself ‘’As you are no doubt aware of, beneath Casterly Rock there is a network of tunnels and mines, a labyrinth of interconnected tunnel shafts and walkways.’’

Deria let him continue, though she already had heard enough of the plan in truth.

‘’I found a man that swears he worked as a miner within the bowels of the rock, he swears there is an entrance two miles west of here, long forgotten and abandoned, I mean to take a force of men into those tunnels, take the gatehouse while the castle sleeps and open a postern gate and send men to open the sewer grates…..we will storm the castle while our Reachmen friends sleep through the battle.’’ Lewyn said, crossing his arms proudly when he had finished.

Deria frowned ‘’A bold plan…but the Lannisters declined the chance for battle against us, they've all but conceded Casterly Rock, within half a year, perhaps a bit more the castle will fall to us, I see no reason to risk this plan, we have the time.’’

‘’There is no glory in starving a castle into submission.’’ Lewyn responded.

‘’The purpose of war is not to win glory…it is to defeat one's enemies, and we are doing that….and we are poised to take the Rock with almost no loss of life….surely you do not want to risk your men's lives for nothing.’’ Deria asked, hoping to play on the fact that, despite all of her son's bluster, he had a good heart.

‘’I take my men's lives seriously, mother….I won't force any to accompany me, only those that volunteer, one decisive attack and we could have the castle by the morning….we are taking a risk sieging the castle as well, just yesterday one of their trebuchets killed three Vaith spearman and a horse, tomorrow it could be your tent…and Loren Lannister declined battle yesterday, but what is to say he will not return in a weeks time, how many men will die in a battle of that magnitude.’’ Lewyn said.

‘’You make good points my son….and perhaps your plan will work….but I know that mine will work….I won't risk your life on a gamble.’’ Deria said.

The Princes face darkened at that ‘’Your answer is no then?’’

Deria nodded and her son stormed out of the tent without another word.

He will get over it Deria thought tiredly.