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Torrence Teague was fit to kill, he had lost, for the first time in his life he had lost, the Blackwoods had used the terrain expertly and he had fallen for their trap. Only some sort of god wouldn't have, how was he to know the ground there was solid? Yet still his men questioned him, they had lost thousands of their comrades and he knew already men plotted against him. He needed to do something quickly. The Arryns would not support him anymore, only thirty five of their men had survived the battle, none noble, and all of them had returned to the Vale taking a good portion of supplies and gold with them in the middle of the night. His only break had been when news came of the Stark bitch birthing a dead girl and a healthy son. Unfortunately she had survived and it had only given him three days head start before the Blackwood army was once more marching active. To make it worse he was running low on gold to pay his men. Yes, something needed to be done… but what? And then he grinned as he read over the letter from the spy he had in Raventree hall. A servant girl who's family he held hostage. He knew what needed to be done now.

—-

Sara smiled softly as her baby gave another kick. She was on the way back to Darry, Lara had told her she should return before her baby was born which would no doubt be in the next moon or so. The war was nearly over, Torrence Teague sat in the Twin's with his remaining men while her cousin slowly marched north taking his time to give the sellswords ample time to betray their king. It had been judged safe for her to travel with a large guard. She was sitting in the carriage, being judged too pregnant to ride as she would have preferred, she was slightly restless and so was aimlessly embroidering ravens onto a blanket. She had just gotten bored of that and thrown it down when the shouts began. She heard the familiar clash of steel she remembered all too well from her countless hours watching Brynden and Lucas in the training yard.

One of the Blackwood guards, a younger one ripped open the door of the carriage, panic clear on his face.

"My lady, we must get you out of here." The man said hurriedly and she nodded and jumped out of the carriage to a road filled with the dead, dying and fighting. She noticed men with arrows in them, obviously having been hit in the first ambush but her guard were holding well enough, some men such as the man rushing her away where shooting arrows from their longbows while the rest engaged the horsemen who had ambushed them. The man with he loosed on an arrow to kill one of the men who had been charging towards them, the arrow struck true and the man dropped dead but the horse continued on and the guard had to forcefully drag her out of the way of it such was her battleshock, but in doing so he himself was knocked over by the horse and was sent sprawling unconscious. Sara shook herself from her shock and ran over to the guard. He was unconscious and bleeding heavily from a wound in his head, she didn't think he would make it. She looked around and grabbed his bow and arrows. She was a Blackwood all of her family could shoot and shoot well, and she was the best of the cousins. Yet she was pregnant and a longbow was heavy and took a lot of strength to use but she had no other choice, the gods only knew what these men would do to her if she was caught alive, her baby certainly wouldn't survive. And she would call on the strength of the gods themselves to help her kill these men for her child.

Nocking an arrow she shot it into the back of another man who had been about to stab one of her guards in the back. Her heart pubmed rapidly as she took her first life and she was aware she was hyperventilating yet she ran for the woods. She shot another arrow into a man who had come too close for her liking and then she shot another at a man who had seemingly come from nowhere, but her panic at the sight of him so close made her miss and she fell to the floor as he reached out and grabbed her.

The man fell on top of her and began talking excitedly in a language she couldn't understand but guessed to be Valrayian by the man's looks. He hauled her up and began dragging her away from the battle; she did not risk struggling knowing it was fruitless for one thing and would only endanger her and her child for another. Instead she frantically searched for a way to get away.

The man had sheathed his sword so he could carry her away but she knew she would not be able to draw it fast enough and it was too big to be used effectively from such close range. The man's hand drifted up and began to grope her breasts as he carried her and his muttering got more excited, determined her hands began to search his body pretending as though she was actually fighting him, her hand finally hit what she guessed to be a dagger, making sure to continue her flailing so as not to give the man a warning instead she catalogued exactly where the knife was in her mind so when the man shuffled her around so that he could tear at her dress even as he still carried her towards the woods, she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the man's neck making him gasp and loosen his grip enough for her to graph the knife and stab it into his heart multiple times even after she knew the man was dead she kept going until her dress was stained red with his blood.

She sobbed as the fighting came to an end, more than ready to end her own life rather than burden her family as a hostage. But through blurry eyes she saw only men in Blackwood colours coming towards her.

She gave a sigh of relief. But then the contractions started. No! It was too early! She panicked. The men around her approached her wearily, sheathing their weapons more than likely all too aware of her state of mind.

"My lady." One of the men spoke.

"The baby… the Baby!" She said the first one softly but shouted the second time "It's coming! It's too early!" The men around her began to panic and she was only half aware of the leader barking orders and being helped into a carriage with two of her female servants who had survived the battle, the other, a middle aged woman named Celia had been killed by a crossbow bolt. The girls were young and had no experience with childbirth but they did their utmost to make her comfortable as the soldiers made a detour towards the closest place she would be able to get help to birth her child. They made it to an inn along the Redfork and it was there that her son was born, small and frail yet healthy enough. But she did not go undamaged, the early birth had been hard and the midwife there had told her in private that another birth was likely to either kill her or leave or barren, the midwife told her that frankly it was a miracle that she was still alive with the chance of having another child and she was determined to have another one. She had cried that night that even if she did manage to birth another healthy baby there was a high likelihood she would not be able to see it grow. But still she was happy to have birthed a son, and an heir to Darry.

—-

Lucas was enraged when he found out what had happened, the gaul of the Sellsword king to try and kidnap his pregnant cousin, he was not so stupid to know what faith would have awaited her had they succeeded, noble and pregnant or not he was under no illusions as to the beauty of his little cousin, it was one of the reasons he was so protective of her. He had vowed on Teagues death then and there, his entrails would decorate the heart tree at Raventree and Lucas planned on encasing Teagues body in a stone statue with a permanent expression of pain and suffering on his face. It would serve as a warning to those who would attack his kin. Maybe he could send a hand along with a raven's feather for each of the fallen Valemen to the Arryns as well, to warn them that he was not unaware of their hand in sponsoring the Teague King. Yes, it was brutal but sometimes brutality was needed, once it did not descend into depravity or senseless violence.

He was at the head of the army, the majority of the cavalry had been in this area, surrounding the Twins for the past week or so, led by Lord Ryger they had been stripping the land of food and supplies that might be hoarded in preparation for a siege. The Twins were not yet the formidable stronghold they would eventually become, instead only the bridge was made of stone while the forts on both sides were wooden yet solid. After the war he planned tearing down the timber forts and replacing them with smaller, yet easily defensible forts similar to the ones he planned for many places across the Trident and the other rivers. The rest of the lands would be granted to the Charltons and Erenfords who had declared for him at the start with only a smaller portion going to the garrison of the bridgefort that they could farm and draw some, though not all of their revenue from.

He led his forces towards the last rebel holdout content in his knowledge that after this last battle there would be peace in his lands and he would be able to attend to the affairs of the realm and to his family. He had engineers, for after a year at war he had soon come to realise how valuable they would be for him to build two rams, ladders and a wooden bridge to cross to the other side of the river easily. Within two weeks preparation was complete and the assault was ordered, the first two waves where mostly him testing for weaknesses in the defence while archers fired flaming arrows, which were not half as effective as movies made out, into the keep and on the walls, only small fires came from his but it was still something. Other arrows managed to hit men on the walls though few. Then on the third day of this an all out assault was launched on both sides. The keep was well manned and he did not expect the assault to be successful but it managed to destroy the gates on both sides and straight after that he withdrew.

"What was the point in that?" Brynden asked him when the war council convened.

"Well now an already demoralized and unfaithful army no longer has a gate protecting them." Lucas said, "I will call for a parlay with the sellswords and offer them free passage back to Essos if Teague is given to me alive." He said.

"You mean to let them go free!" Cried Lord Charlton, his own lands had been ravaged by the sellswords and Charlton's pride was wounded that he had to leave his own lands to their devices.

"No, Teague knows his men will accept." Bryden said, catching on.

"And will come to face us, either in a last ditch attempt or while he tries to flee." Finished Lord Mallister, nodding approvingly at the plan.

—-

King Lucas was a brilliant King, smart, cunning, honorable, generous to those who serve him well yet fierce to those who oppose him. Some of his ideas seemed somewhat ridiculous to Lord Axel Tully yet his sister had not raised a fool and he was rarely wrong. So then Axel went to war with his nephew he rarely questioned him, for while Lucas was a brilliant king he was first and foremost a warrior, he lived and breathed war and Axel knew no idea he could come up with would ever be of use to Lucas for it was a near certainty that Lucas had already thought of it and dismissed it for reasons only he could see but where undoubtedly correct. Axel was more of a steward and diplomat than a warrior and it was for that reason he was chosen to speak during the parly with the sellsword king.

"You stand before King Lucas Blackwood, Lord of Raventree hall and the Lords of the Riverlands." Spoke Axel after the Teague man was introduced.

"I can see that." Said Teague, ignoring him and turning his attention to Lucas.. "What do you want to say to me?"

"To you? Why would I want to speak to you? It's your captains I want to speak to." Lucas said before he turned away to speak to the men who had accompanied the Teague King. "Give me this man alive and I will allow you to get on your ships and return to Essos with all of his gold and valuables, the choice is yours. Stay here and die. Of starvation or by the blade." Lucas told them and many shared glances. Teague saw this and Axel could see instantly that he saw what was happening and the mistake he had made. With one last glare at Lucas he walked off with his captains following after him a second later.

"Ready the men, have some men watch for escape ways, the river or on foot or horseback on either side of the river, do not let him get away." Lucas commanded and the gathered lords nodded, preparing to do battle once more.

—-

As Lucas predicted 6,000 men poured out of the Twins on the northern side. That was the side Lucas wasn't on and he only had 13,000 men there led by Brynden. Brynden already had his men in battle formation and Lucas left most of the men on the southside where they were under the command of his uncle Tytos while Lucas led the 1,000 Cavalry he had close to the bridge across it. By then the battle was just beginning, arrows flew and men fell. Brynden kept the men disciplined and did not move them at all even though he outnumbered the sellswords two to one, content to wait for Lucas to join him which he did. He rode over to Brynden.

"Ready to get revenge for Sara." Lucas asked.

"Always. Let's kill the Essosi cunts!" Brynden shouted the last part and the men closest to him roared, soon joined by the others even if they don't know why, battle fever was a powerful thing. Shields banged as they had at the slaughter at Lucas's ford as the battle at the river had been named. He now had a river named after him, no matter how shallow and muddy.

"You take command when I go on foot. I'm going as soon as I see the Teague fucker." Lucas said.

"There he is." Brynden said pointing with his sword at a man on a white horse who wore a helmet decorated with a helmet.

"Good, as soon as he gets close im going down and killing the fucker. Spread the word that anyone who gives me him alive will be given a place in my guard or lands whichever they want." He commanded and men rushed off to tell the army he knew word would spread rapidly but he still wanted to be the one to get him himself. The sellswords advanced and Lucas marched his own men to meet them. He had the cavalry on both flanks, 3,000 in total while archers were between them and the infantry who occupied the center. 7,000 infantry, 4,000 archers and 3,000 horses. Arrows did their job even as the army advanced on the other army, footmen marched, cavalry trotted.

"Send the right cavalry wide, tell them to flank but not engage." Lucas commanded and a minute later the cavalry did as ordered. The move was purely to make Teague make a move, the cavalry threatened his flanks but he didn't have the numbers to deal with them.

"He's rotating." Brynden commented, and they were. Rotating to be diagonal to face the cavalry on their left flank and the infantry to their front. Of course this also put them in a position to be easily pushed closer to the river, which Lucas used by marching his infantry forward to face them at the same angle and his left cavalry force to advance on his left flank as well forcing Teague to fall back and put his back to the river to protect his flanks, you can't be outflank if you have no flank after all. But it also put them right where Lucas wanted them because from across the river where the long ranged longbows of the Blackwood lands, 4,000 in total unleashed their arrows from across the river and were soon joined by the men on the north side of the river. Arrows tore through their ranks and men dropped in the hundreds as a hasty shieldwall was erected that absorbed some arrows, apparently Teague had drilled his men at least somewhat and they had a lot more cohesion than they had at the ford.

As this happened the infantry kept up their steady march closer and closer and the cavalry geared up for a charge. Lucas rode down to join them to cheers from the men as he rode out to the front with four mounted guards, proudly wearing the king's colours. He drew his Greatsword 'Kingslayer' the men called pointed it at the enemy who were still being ripped apart by arrows before he turned to face his fifteen hundred cavalrymen.

"You men! You men are the heroes of the ford! You men are the fangs of my army! And you men will be the ones to end this war! Let's end it!" Lucas shouted and his cavalry contingent roared proudly at the praise from their renowned warrior king.

"KING LUCAS! LUCAS THE GREAT! THE YOUNG KING!" They called and Lucas was slightly stunned at the moniker. As far as he was aware it had not been given to any king in Westeros and even in his world it wasn't liberally used, except by the Russian monarchs. Giving a small bow to the men he turned around and the trumpets blared for a charge.

The infantry by now was closer to the enemy but of course horses were much faster and they quickly sped ahead of the army and smashed into the disorganised sellswords. Kingslayer cut through men like butter and in his eagerness to reach Teauge he was only half aware of the few glancing blows that struck him. He had dismounted early on in the battle and was soon joined by the infantry who eagerly joined in on the slaughter, they often felt underutilised and under appreciated by Lucas which was part of the reason he had decided to even send them into battle today even when it wasn't really needed.

He and his three guards, the fourth having been killed, advanced through the battle killing anyman who challenged them in battle or any man fighting a Riverlander, which was few by now. He had just stabbed a sellsword through the neck when he heard a shout.

"Blackwood!" He turned around and grinned beneath his black helmet, decorated with a crown of ravens, there was Teague, come to him. "Let us end this!" Without hesitation or words Lucas stalked forward, looking at Teague like a piece of meat. He noticed his blade, Valyrian Steel, a greatsword similar to his own. "Got it from a Valyrian I killed under the Rhoynars service." Teague said, gesturing to the blade. Still Lucas stalked towards him unspeaking. "I'll take yours as well, and your wife, I tried to get your cousin, I heard she was a beauty you see, and I havent fucked a whore in a year!" Teague said then laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world. "I'll take her as well, kill both their sons of course and your other cousin, Brynden the Redwood, that's what he's called isn't it? Yes, well perhaps I'll raise his daughter and when she's old enough I'll give her to my men."

Lucas did not even begin to fall for his obvious attempts to get him angry. Instead he got into a fighting stance Kingslayer at the ready to claim another King. Lucas strook first, hard, fast and precise at around shoulder height, a sideways swing. They were hard to deal with as it was at an awkward height to block and so instead Teague stepped back and then responded with a series of his own strikes which Lucas knew he had to dodge, a block would result in only a broken blade. He stepped in close and caught Teague's sword arm and smashed his pommel into the sellswords helmet sending him sprawling but he quickly recovered and stood up with an upwards swing that nearly took off Lucas's head. Annoyed, Lucas advanced with a flurry of blows forcing Teague back, waiting for the counter he knew would come. And when it did he was ready. A thrust towards his appendix that Lucas stepped away from and Teague obviously not expecting this was off balance and stumbled forward into the space Lucas had just been. The sellsword was only saved from Kingslayer being brought down onto his neck by his years of experience which made him spin as he fell and instead Lucas's blade struck the plate armour on his shoulder and bounced off though it had likely broken the shoulder or collar bone and he was proven right when Teague was forced to fight with one hand, but Valyrian steel was light and though awkward Teague managed to wield it.

Lucas however did not give him the time to get used to it and launched an unending series of blows with a few getting through Teague's desperate defence injuring him further. And so when five minutes later Teague gave a desperate overhead strike it was slow and deadly, but not for Lucas who easily stepped away from it, swinging Kingslayer as he did which cut deep into the Teague's thigh sending him to the floor and using the momentum from the cut Lucas thrust his sword through the sellsword's neck, ending the would be kings life and the war with that thrust.