Careful Planning

The battle yesterday had resulted in a decisive victory for the Starks by almost wiping out the Lannister cavalry, but they had suffered heavy losses in doing so. On both flanks, Robb's forces had managed to push the Lannisters back and now they were a mere mile out from the enemy camp.

Looking to his left where Sandor Clegane stood, Rickard Karstark warily studied the man. He cut an imposing figure, almost as large as the Greatjon and his son, possibly just as large. It was difficult to tell without comparing them properly. But Rickard would not deny that with the burn mark upon his face, the Hound came across as more dangerous and terrifying to look upon.

His gaze then travelled towards the left and right flanks to see that neither of them were moving. With the victory scored yesterday coming at a heavy cost for both sides, they weren't moving. Now it was their turn to make a move and as the flags raised for the beginning of the day, Lord Karstark rode in front of his army accompanied by his son, Harrion and Sandor Clegane. The centre force moved out after him and as soon as they made it a few meters, the Lannister centre also began to move in response.

They didn't move forward; they couldn't considering where the flanks were positioned. If they did, the Lannister centre would leave themselves exposed to the Stark flanks. From what Rickard was seeing, they were instead shifting their formations to better accommodate for a battle so close to their main encampment.

"Sandor, orders from King Robb, you're to take command of the vanguard, let you duke it out with your brother," Rickard said, the man grunting in agreement. "Take a thousand men, deal a blow to the Lannisters and sow disruption amongst their ranks."

As Sandor rode ahead, one thousand men following after him, Harrion turned to his father. "Do you trust him?"

"Not in the slightest," Rickard answered with a frown. "But I trust the Kings decision."

And so, the sixth day of the Battle of the Antlers began.

-X- Line Break -X-

Sitting quietly in his tent, Robb looked upon the map in thought. Much like the past day, Robb had remained silently locked away in the tent in an attempt to figure out a way to deal with the Vale reinforcements marching south.

Perwyn Frey had arrived at the camp bearing news of the Vale reinforcements only a small time after the battle in the centre had begun, confirming his long-held suspicions. Sandor Clegane had been making steady progress, though was in danger of being surrounded when the Mountain led men to attack them from behind. Even so, Rickard Karstark was watching closely, and Robb had faith that a warrior of Sandor's calibre would continue to fight long enough for Rickard to make his move.

Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to oversee it, Robb passing command once again over to his trusted friend and brother-in-law, Garlan while he spoke with Perwyn in privacy. There the truth of the Vale reinforcements struck him, forty thousand in total.

That number was near equal to the Lannister force at the beginning and Robb didn't have a big a force as he did before. He had over twenty-nine thousand men at the start of the battle, now considering injuries on top of that, he had at most eighteen thousand men at the end of today. Luckily the Lannisters only had twenty thousand remaining.

Even if he were to bring a few of the lesser injured men bolstering his ranks to around twenty thousand, he would still be outnumbered three-to-one once the Vale linked up with the Lannisters. And considering they were at the least, two days march from here, Robb had spent the remainder of the day within his tent planning out every scenario in his head. The Vale had already passed the Bloody Gate by the time Perwyn arrived.

With an army that size, Robb would wager it would take them two days and if that were the case the by this point, they would be at the Ruby Ford, possibly at Darry. If so, then retreating north was out of the question, it would lead them directly into the Vale troops and Tywin wouldn't simply stand there and do nothing. A commander that didn't pursue a retreating enemy was a foolish one and Tywin was anything but foolish.

His next option was to call for the Redwyne Fleet under the command of Lord Paxter Redwyne. With over two hundred warships bolstered by the Lannister fleet captured at Lannisport, it was a very large force, the largest fleet in Westeros. From what he was aware it was being put to use in creating a blockade around Casterly Rock. But considering that according to Randall Tarly the seat of House Lannister was going to fall sometime soon. His idea was to call the fleet and head east get the ships and travel away to a more secure location.

But that had problems in of itself, mostly that it would take weeks for the fleet to arrive and would mean holding off a force of sixty thousand men while trapped between them and the ocean. It was a suicide move in layman's terms.

So was the retreat west.

It would mean breaking through the Lannister army, and then retreating across the Gods Eye all the while being pursued by the Lannisters after already suffering heavy losses just breaking through them. Getting across the river would leave them exposed to the Lannister's even further, incurring even higher losses and would leave them exposed to possible Vale cavalry looping around the west of Harrenhal and cutting them off.

He was well and truly stuck on all fronts and the only way he could foresee any possible chance of survival was cutting straight through the Lannister's but then the question was raised of what next? Did he continue south to Stokeworth, Hayford or Rosby Bridge? Each of their lords had secretly sent envoys swearing fealty to him so he could split his force into three and send them there to wait for Randall Tarly to finish in the Westerlands. Tywin wouldn't be able to move considering how close Robb and his host would be camped to Kings Landing.

And as he thought this, his mind whirled even faster.

'That's it.' Robb breathlessly laughed, looking at the map in a new light. "Fetch me the commanders!" He shouted, already hearing the bustling and movement outside, Robb meanwhile reaching out and moving the pieces in accordance with the plan forming in his mind. It was risky and crazy, but if it worked, he could snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

"Your grace." The tent flap opened and in came a Ser Brienne, a letter in her hand. "News, from Riverrun."

"Riverrun?" Robb questioned, taking the letter while Brienne looked at the positioning of the troops.

"Your grace, a question?" As he ripped open the letter, Robb hummed, wordlessly asking her to ask away. "Why did you not send the Crannogmen to check if Lady Stark and the Princes were in Winterfell?"

"It's not as simple as that?" His gaze flickered over the beginning of the letter, a simple report from Willas about the situation in the North and explaining that they had moved from Harrenhal to Riverrun upon receiving news from Perwyn about the Vale reinforcements moving south. Robb made a reminder to reward Perwyn richly for that forethought.

Reading this, he placed it down momentarily to turn to face Brienne.

"The Crannogmen spend their lives living on floats, they constantly navigate the waters of the marshlands. The Twins sits over the Green Fork whose waters connect to the marshes and it's how food from the Riverlands is transported up to them." Robb continued. "The Crannogmen understand the river and you see, the Twins were still transporting in food, cutting off all connection by land only through the river."

By the look on Brienne's face, she was beginning to understand how things were working.

"The Crannogmen's small size meant that they could hide in places that most never could. Getting them on a transport boat was easy. The main problem they faced was getting Lord Walder out without raising the alarms. One thing to be aware of, Brienne is that just because they're small, doesn't mean Crannogmen are weak. Their tactics are viewed as cowardly by many, but they're effective."

"I still don't understand why you couldn't send them."

Robb smiled. "A commander has to know when and where to use certain people and units. You wouldn't send archers to attack cavalry, just like you wouldn't send cavalry to attack a fully prepared and well-defended spear wall. Winterfell doesn't have a river to sneak in through, nor is Ramsey unaware of what the Crannogmen can do. In the south, they're rarely seen and therefore not properly understood. It's different in the North, we're aware of what the Crannogmen can do."

Seeing Brienne deep in thought, Robb turned back to the letter, continuing to read from the information about Willas evacuating everyone from Harrenhal and relocating to Riverrun. As he did, his eyes slowly began to widen in shock, a short laugh escaping his throat.

"Brienne, please fetch, Garlan for me." As Brienne left with a bow, Robb collapsed into his chair, occasional laughs still escaping him.