Chapter 26 Jaime

"Mercy!" the prisoner cried as the Mountain Ser Gregor Clegane wrapped his massive left hand over the man's throat. Soon his cries were cut off and his face began to turn blue. Then Jaime Lannister spoke.

"Enough."

The Mountain released his grip and the prisoner gasped and breathed deeply and his color soon returned.

"The next time I let him do that to your skull," Jaime told the man tied to the chair inside the large tent where he had been taken after being captured. Jaime had no sooner arrived back at the army camp outside the walls of King's Landing when a messenger reached him to say that a prisoner was taken. He was captured upriver, near the bridge where Jaime and his father had parleyed with Stannis Baratheon not three days past, before they had killed his father.

"Now tell us, where is Stannis and what is he planning to do?" Jaime asked.

"I don't know," the man pleaded again. "I'm just a soldier, ser. I don't know the plan."

"Where are you from?"

"Highgarden," the man whimpered. "I was Renly's man till he died and then I was with Lord Tyrell till the fire came and destroyed our camp and scattered our army. Then Stannis offered us our lives if we joined him."

"So like the coward you are you turned your cloak again," the Mountain growled. "Tell us what Ser Jaime asked or I will crush your skull!"

Ser Kevan had stood in the background while this went on and then he stepped forward for the first time. "He is not from Highgarden," he said. "He has the Lord of Light's sigil on his armor, the fiery heart. Only Stannis' true men carry that sigil."

The Mountain smashed the back of his massive right hand across the prisoner's mouth and several teeth went flying. "Highgarden is it? More likely Dragonstone."

The prisoner was stunned, and almost passed out but then he shook his head and he laughed as blood dribbled out of his mouth. "You cannot hurt me. Soon I will be in the Lord of Light's arms. And soon you will burn like the Tyrell men did!"

"I fear no fire," the Mountain said. "But maybe you do."

A brazier was nearby where the Mountain had shoved his dagger in the hot coals when they first began interrogating the prisoner. Now Ser Gregor took his dagger out of the coals and pointed its fiery tip at the prisoner's left eye. "The truth or your eye."

"Fire has no danger for those who truly believe in R'hllor," the man said and then without hesitation Ser Gregor shoved the dagger into his eye and the scream was long and pitiful and the man collapsed as his eye socket smoked and his eye turned to blood and jelly.

Jaime had to admire the Mountain's ruthlessness. While he could never have done such a thing, he knew his father had kept Clegane around because he was capable of such things and actually enjoyed doing them.

The Mountain threw a bucket of cold river water over the prisoner and he woke up with a start. He was very pale now, blood dripping from his mangled eye socket, his lips trembling. Ser Gregor put his dagger back in the coals to get it hot again.

"Now," Jaime told the prisoner. "Where is Stannis? Or shall I ask him to make you permanently blind. Will your Lord of Light save you then?"

The prisoner gasped, and they could see his will was broken. "Stannis…he is coming."

"When?" Kevan asked sharply.

"Tonight…soon," the prisoner told them.

"How?" Jaime asked.

"Ten thousand horse have already crossed up river," the prisoner gasped.

"How did he do that?" Jaime asked him next. "We have scouts everywhere."

"Behind the hills, and then across a shallow ford. You have no scouts, we have killed or captured them all."

"What was you mission?" Kevan asked the prisoner.

"To find out if you were still in camp."

"Why?" Jaime shouted at the man.

He laughed and it was macabre with his damaged face still dripping blood and fluid from the damaged eye socket. "So you can all burn in hell."

Jaime stepped back and looked at his uncle who nodded once and then Jaime looked at the Mountain. "Kill him."

The prisoner gasped. "No…I told you the truth! You must take me out of here. Soon fire will come!"

"It already has, for you," said Ser Gregor as he took up his hot dagger again, grabbed the man by the throat and shoved the red hot dagger straight through his good eye and into his brain.

As the man's last screams faded into a death gurgle and then silence, Jaime and his uncle stepped out of the tent. Jaime looked up into the sky and saw in the moonlight that clouds were rolling in from the west and a hint of rain was in the air.

"Could be we are in for a soaking," he told his uncle.

"Yes," Kevan agreed as he looked at the sky. "Trouble from the west. Could he be telling the truth? Or was he sent here to dupe us?"

Before Jaime could answer, Ser Addam Marbrand approached.

"My lords, none of my scouts have returned from upriver since the noon hour," he reported.

"Then it is true," Kevan said with finality.

"What do we do?" Jaime asked. He needed his uncle, now more than ever with his father dead. Jaime was brave and had led men into battle but his uncle had studied at his father's right hand for many years and knew what they should do. When he first arrived back in the camp Jaime had apologized to him for Cersei's remarks and his uncle snorted and had said he would accept an apology only when she apologized to him in person. They put that ugly business aside as they went into the tent to interrogate the prisoner. Now that they knew battle was on them, Jaime relaxed and so did his uncle.

"Recall our men from the first bridge," Ser Kevan said at once. "If the enemy is already across the river we don't want to lose those men for nothing. Then we pull back from camp. I don't believe in sorcery any more than you do. But if there is something to this, we cannot keep our men in place and allow Stannis' woman to do her damage again. Come, let us make our plans."

Ser Addam sent out a messenger to order the men by the first bridge to retreat. Then they went over to the commander's pavilion, the same place where Jaime's father had died. As the other commanders gathered and they stood around the table, Kevan laid out the plan, drawing with a piece of charcoal on a sheet of parchment.

"Stannis approaches us from the west, on this side of the river. He has mostly cavalry, while we have a strong enough infantry force to withstand such. To forestall any surprises we will abandon our camp but leave the tents and wagons as they are so he will be led into falsely attacking it. When he does so we rain arrows down on his men. We form the army up closer to the city. Two large squares of infantry with pikes and spears with archers and crossbow men in the middle of each square and cavalry on the wings and in the center between the squares. Ser Gregor will lead the left wing cavalry. Ser Addam will lead the right wing cavalry. Ser Jaime will lead the center cavalry, with my headquarters behind him near the Lion Gate." Kevan told them as he drew on the parchment. "Jaime, if you see a gap in their ranks you charge. But you hold steady until you see such a gap or I give the command."

"You would leave me out of battle, uncle?" Jaime asked, his pride hurt.

"I think no one will be left out of battle before this night is done," Ser Addam said and Jaime smiled.

"Good," Jaime replied, knowing he was right. "Then we avenge father and kill Stannis and his red whore. Tonight."

With that the meeting broke up. A messenger was sent on a fast horse to the Red Keep to tell Tyrion and the King what was happening. Quietly all around the camp men began to gather their arms and began to march off towards the city. The tents and supply wagons they left behind. As they got closer to King's Landing they began to form up in their ranks, row on row of pike and spear men in two large squares, the cavalry on the wings and in the center. The thousands of archers and crossbow men stood out in front, preparing their arrows and bolts. They would fire three volleys and then retired into the infantry squares.

As they waited, water and wine was passed through the ranks by pages and squires, who after they did this retired behind the headquarters group by the Lion Gate. Up on the walls men were looking down on them.

"What's happening?" shouted a captain of the gold cloaks from the battlements

"Stannis is coming!" shouted one man from Jaime's cavalry group. "If you don't want to be buggered with his spear you best get ready for war!" That brought a roll of laughter through the ranks and suddenly Jaime felt good. He grinned and it was time to fight or die and he was in his element.

Then in the city they heard a bell toll. Then another, and soon many more. "The fleet," Jaime thought, but there was no time to think more on it. The city and their own fleet would have to make sure no army came up behind them to bugger them as well.

Then to the west came a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder. For a moment Jaime thought the red woman was up to her tricks again but no, it was just the gods, preparing a thunderstorm for their battle. Then, suddenly, they saw a score or more of lit objects fill the air, all of them on fire, and then they slowly tumbled in the air and then dropped to the ground where the camp was located, and burst into massive sheets of flame that lit the western sky.

"Flaming oil!" shouted one of his men and Jaime had to agree. Stannis had some siege engines out there, catapults no doubt, and they had just flung fire into their camp which was now empty. If they had stayed it would have caused chaos. They could see tents on fire, draft horses and oxen screaming in pain, and supply wagons going up in flames. Then a massive shout came to their ears across the field, the thunder of ten thousand horse hoofs was heard, and Stannis' cavalry charged toward the light and into the camp.

"Arrows!" Ser Kevan shouted and the command was passed forward. The archers and crossbowmen all notched their arrows and bolts and in seconds a flight of thousands went into the air to land among the enemy. They heard screams of men and horses as they were hit and the army cheered and the men on the walls cheered. Two more flights of arrows fell among the confused enemy and then they began to realize where the danger was coming from and broke free of the flaming camp and started to form ranks on the east side. The archers and crossbow men retreated through gaps in the squares and then the infantry formed ranks again.

"Archers fire at will!' Kevan commanded and the order was passed along to the men inside the squares and then as Stannis' cavalry charged more arrows and bolts fell among them from the sky and more men and horses fell and then the cavalry was coming at a thunderous pace, the scene lit by the fires behind them. As they made the final hundred yards the skies opened and the rain fell.

Jaime knew horses could not stand a solid wall of spears and pikes and the enemy veered away from these men and broke into three groups and headed for the gaps where the cavalry was. The Mountain did not wait for them and charged with a massive bellow as he sat on his massive war horse. Ser Addam was only seconds behind him and the two forces lowered their lances and hit the wings of Stannis army with a clash of steel and horse flesh. Then lightning flashed again and thunder rolled across the battlefield and Jaime saw an enemy column heading straight for him. Without waiting for his uncle's orders he stood high in his stirrups and waved his gold gilt sword. "CHARGE!" he yelled and his men lowered their lances and began to trot and then canter and then sprang into a gallop as if they were a coiled snake, bursting from between the infantry squares and charging headlong into the middle enemy column.

In seconds lances skewered men on both sides, and soon swords were out and it was down to hacking and slashing as individual battles raged across the landscape. Steel clashed on armor, shields were splintered, and men were wounded and fell from their horses and died in the mud as they were trampled. Over his head Jaime heard the flights of arrows coming from the city walls. One hit him in the back on his armor but bounced off and he cursed their clumsy aim. Already he had killed three of Stannis' men and he kept looking for Stannis himself. In his white armor Jaime was conspicuous and more than one enemy shouted "The Kingslayer!" and converged on him. Jaime hacked and parried and thrust and killed and dozens of his own men were with him and they defeated all those who wished eternal glory if they could take his head off.

In ten minutes it was over and Stannis' men were retreating, leaving behind hundreds, maybe more than a thousand corpses and wounded men and horses on the field, with many more dead by the still burning camp. The Lannister army lost as well but not as many. Screams and whimpers filled the air as the rain slashed down hard. Stannis' cavalry stood off to the west, and then more arrows and crossbow bolts fell among them and they retreated to the west past the still burning camp. A great cheer went up from the Lannister army and the men on the walls. Then commanders were shouting to the men to reform ranks, as they feared a second charge might soon come.

Ser Kevan found Jaime wiping the blood from his sword. "I have had word from the city. Stannis' fleet is landing men by the Iron Gate on the shore below Rosby Road."

"Then Tyrion will have to take care of them," Jaime told his uncle as rain dripped off his helmet. "We cannot break ranks to deal with them."

"The messenger said ships are picking up men from the south shore of Blackwater Rush, near its mouth. Stannis' large banner was seen there, now on a ship heading to the Rosby Road shore," Kevan told him. "I fear Stannis is not in front of us. This is a diversion, but they are still too strong to ignore. He is trying to break the Iron Gate. You must take your force there to stop him from landing in strength and forming ranks!"

Jaime at once understood the danger. The Rosby Road went out the Iron Gate and was but a few score yards from the shore. The wall ran straight to the northwest here and then met the Dragon Gate and the shore was but a few hundred yards away. A strong force of infantry lined up next to the Dragon Gate could anchor on the city walls and the shore and prevent a relief force from reaching the Iron Gate. Jaime had to stop that from happening.

"With me!' he shouted to his men and he turned his horse and waved his men forward. They swiftly followed him and as the rain lashed down they galloped along the walls of the city, past the Gate of the Gods, and then took a sharp turn and in five minutes they were near the Old Gate and were approaching where the Dragon Gate was located. Jaime reigned in his horse and the hundreds of men with him did the same. There were no fires here and up ahead in the rain and darkness Jaime had trouble seeing what was happening. He did not want to fall into another trap.

Then one of his men shouted. "My lord!"

They all looked to where the man pointed and suddenly a great ball of green flame shot into the sky out at sea and they saw the outlines of a ship burning. Jaime laughed. Tyrion was in the fight. But then his laughter died as he saw in front of them many men running to form ranks by the Dragon Gate. He pulled out his sword.

"CHARGE!" he yelled.

Only a few men had lances left but they all had swords and moved to a swift gallop and fell on the men in front of them. Arrows came whizzing by but none touched Jaime and then there was a wall of shields and spears. But the ranks were not fully formed yet and his men found gaps. They hacked and slashed and Stannis' men screamed and fell and the rest were soon running. But as they ran more wild fire fell from the city walls and landed on the ground and on ships at sea and in the light Jaime saw a solid wall of men locking shields and forming ranks halfway between the Dragon Gate and Iron Gate. The survivors of his charge joined them and they stretched away for over a hundred yards and reached the shore of Blackwater Bay on Jaime's left. Jaime also heard shouting and a slow booming noise which he guessed was a ram pounding on the Iron Gate. All along the walls men were firing arrows and dropping rocks and flinging pots of wildfire down on the attackers, but they did not panic and fought back. Ships at sea were moving in close to shore and firing large bolts and arrows and stones at the city walls and men were dieing up there.

"Form ranks!" Jaime shouted once more, his body aching and tired, but the battle lust was on him and he knew they had to charge again. And charge they did but this time they were beaten back and Jaime lost many men. Arrows and bolts bounced off his armor and shield and the enemy wall of shields and spears held as their horses shied away from them. Jaime's men were forced to retreat back towards the Dragon Gate out of arrow range.

Then the Dragon Gate opened and a large force of a few hundred gold cloaks on horse came out and approached his force. They were led by a captain of the gold cloaks and with them was Bronn on horseback.

"What news?" Jaime shouted to him through the rain. Bronn wore no helmet and had on leather armor. His black hair was slick with wetness.

"They landed on the south bank of the Blackwater outside the river mouth and picked up thousands," Bronn shouted back. "They never even went up the Blackwater. Now they're moving across to this shore by the Iron Gate. We burned some of their ships and burned some who landed below the Red Keep but too many of the cunts are getting through."

"What of our fleet?"

"Moving out of the river now to take them in the flank…I hope," Bronn said grimly. "It's fucking chaos out there."

Jaime ignored that. "Where's Tyrion?"

"With the King on the battlements. He sent me to tell whoever was in command here to break that wall of men and kill those fuckers."

"That's what I'm trying to do!" Jaime shouted back. Then he grinned. "You get up above to the walls and rain wildfire on these men in front of me! Then I will charge once they begin to panic!"

"Right you are," Bronn said and then without a word he turned and rode back into the city.

Jaime waited and the rain lashed down harder. His men that had survived so far were weary and so were their horses. The gold cloaks were fresh but they were no soldiers, just glorified watchmen. But they would do nicely for arrow fodder. Jaime approached their captain. "Your men will lead the charge. We will exploit any gaps you make."

The man gulped and Jaime could see the fear in his eyes. "Yes, my lord," he managed to say. Then he looked forward and his fear changed into a grin. His face was bathed in green light and Jaime turned to see five men in the enemy ranks in front of them spinning and screaming and burning to death. More wildfire pots fell among them and more men screamed and then they started to panic and broke ranks.

"NOW!" Jaime shouted and the gold cloaks moved forward and his men were close behind. The gold cloaks were two slow and not used to moving their horses in battle and Jaime's men soon passed them and now it didn't matter. The green fire was burning men alive everywhere and the ranks broke and fled back towards the shore and the Iron Gate. As they thundered down once more Jaime cursed and reigned up his horse. Stannis had put a third line of infantry by the Iron Gate and there out at sea his ships were standing close to shore, the nearly perfect high tide helping them move in close, and from them came a rain of arrows and stones flung by catapults. The gold cloak captain took an arrow in the chest and was tumbled off his horse and then one of his men's head was crushed by a falling stone and blood splattered many near him. The rest panicked and began to retreat.

Jaime felt a sudden sharp pain in his shield arm. A large crossbow bolt had shot straight through the shield and its barbed head had cleaved through the armor on his left forearm and cut his flesh.

He threw the shield away and turned and his men were already following the gold cloaks back towards the Dragon Gate. He needed more men, and more wildfire to rain down on those by the Iron Gate. As he gathered his dwindling force together he sent off a messenger to his uncle to ask for reinforcements and to explain what was happening. Then one of Jaime's men began to bandage Jaime's injured arm with a strip cut from a cloak and others took care of some minor wounds as well.

"What do we do?" one of his men asked.

"We wait," Jaime said as he breathed deeply. "We need help." The rain had begun to ease but it was still falling in a drizzle.

Jaime looked across the field where Stannis' men were gathered and in the glow of the green fires more of Stannis' men came and then some more and Jaime knew there were too many and the ships were right up to the shore, many of them grounded for sure. Then one of the ships caught fire in a green blaze and burning men were jumping off the ship into the water. The wildfire was still falling down among the soldiers but it was not enough and there were too many of them. Jaime knew Tyrion and Bronn had placed barges of the stuff in the Blackwater to float down on Stannis' navy but now it was out of place and wasted.

All of a sudden above and to their right they heard a massive sound, a great booming noise that Jaime felt in his chest and guts seconds later. In horror he watched as a great column of green flame and smoke shot up inside the city by where he knew the wall between Aegon's Hill and the Iron Gate stood. Then more bursts of noise came and long arcs of green flame shot up into the air and started falling into the city at many points.

"Gods," Jaime said in a bare whisper. The wildfire was out of control.

As if to punctuate his statement there came screams from thousands of throats inside the city walls. Soon there was pounding from inside the Dragon Gate and then the gates opened. A great stream of people came pouring out, with nothing more than the clothes on their backs, racing away across the fields, terror at their heels.

Then in horror Jaime realized his sister and brother and two sons were still in the city where columns of smoke and flame now erupted from a dozen spots. He turned to his men.

"Rejoin the army!" he shouted to them.

"What of you, my lord?" one asked him.

"I'm going into the city," he said with that grin he always wore before battle. "I have to save the love of my life and my little brother."

Then Jaime charged forward and his horse bulled its way through the crowds. Soon he was amid the chaos of a city on fire in the midst of war.