Initial Clash

"Dracarys," Daenerys uttered, three pillars of flames rushing out from the mouths of her Dragons and engulfing dozens in their warm embrace. As the Dragons flew north, the flames followed their flight, spreading out and carrying along the lines of soldiers and reducing them to nothing but ash.

Dozens turned to hundreds in a matter of seconds.

But Aegon's forces didn't stop their charge, whether fuelled by loyalty or by fear, they carried on towards her army. The cavalry pulled ahead and nearly upon the Unsullied. Daenerys couldn't turn back now, she had already reached the rear of the army and her Dragons were making a slow arc back around. By the time she reached the front of the army again, it would not be her enemies engulfed in flames, but her own soldiers.

Affirming her mind, Daenerys trusted in their training and focused on the tasks at hand. They already outnumbered Aegon nearly two to one, but the quality of his troops and their armour, especially the Golden Company was far superior to any of theirs.

They needed to reduce his numbers further so that victory was all but impossible for him, and certain for them.

As she came back around for another flyover, her gaze turned to the east where Robb Stark and his army stood, unmoving and watching the inevitable clash between her and Aegon's forces. He still remained firm, not making a move to give aid, simply watching and waiting.

Again she wondered, was he going to come to her aid? Or was he simply going to let them both weaken one another here and now, then finish them both off?

'No, he wouldn't have sent Arya with me if that was his intention.' Daenerys told herself. 'The Starks are loyal to their families, he would never use them as pawns. Would he?' Not for the first time, Daenerys questioned how much about Robb she truly knew and whether what she did know was true and not simply a mask he wore.

-X- Line Break -X-

Ser Barristan watched calmly as the Golden Company cavalry, flanked by the Dornish light cavalry pulled ahead of the main force, closing in rapidly upon them. The Unsullied moved in preparation, shields raised stances widened and spears extended.

They were prepared for the charge and waiting.

Strong and firm, fearless in the face of the cavalry charge about to hit them.

"Have our archers fire upon the front runners." Ser Barristan ordered, hoping to slow the charge of the cavalry just enough to allow the lightly armoured Unsullied to better stop their charge. From history, the Unsullied had proved incredibly effective against light cavalry and equally lightly armoured infantry. But against heavy cavalry and heavy infantry, their effectiveness was untested.

The reputation the Unsullied had earned, their value alone meant that most conflicts in Essos were settled with duels between great champions, rather than all-out wars such as this. In Essos, there were rarely heavily armoured forces and the few battles the Unsullied were involved in were against weaker and lightly armoured forces.

Ser Barristan would not wager everything on the unconfirmed belief that the Unsullied defence was impenetrable. He had fought with and against the Lannisters and the Vale, those two kingdoms were rich in their own way. The Lannisters were rich with gold to purchase armour for their soldiers whereas other kingdoms could only afford to put swords and spears in the hands of their soldiers. The Vale, on the other hand, were rich with iron that they mined to form perhaps one of the most well-equipped armies in Westeros.

He knew the devastation that heavy infantry and cavalry could bring about on the battlefield. That's why he needed to slow their speed down to provide aid to the Unsullied.

It worked, a little.

The arrows curved through the air and back down. The Dornish dropped like flies, much like every other army, they were equipped with weapons, but their armour mostly consisted of chainmail and leather. Very few of their numbers wore proper armour that would protect them from arrows.

But the Golden Company, their cavalry were each heavily armoured in gold-painted iron as they continued their charge through the rain of arrows. Some slowed down, some arrows sneaked through plates in their armour, but their losses, if any, were minimal.

Frowning heavily, Ser Barristan clenched his fists. "Prepare our infantry to move forwards, cavalry move to intercept." The orders were quick, the last part being a last-ditch effort to stall the cavalry charge just enough.

It was a suicide mission, their cavalry only numbering a few hundred compared to the few thousand that Aegon possessed. But they did their job valiantly, clashing against the Golden Company head-on and providing some resistance that slowed them down. Ultimately though, they were slaughtered the cavalry charge continuing, but their speed had been dramatically reduced.

The Dornish, much like with the archers, proved ineffective against the Unsullied spear wall. Their light armour made it easy for the Unsullied to pick them off. It was only their sheer numbers that enabled them to make some progress through their lines.

However, it was the Golden Company that worried Ser Barristan the most.

And that's when they smashed into the Unsullied.

But it was not as Ser Barristan feared or expected things to go. The Unsullied were trained to feel no fear, to possess absolute obedience to their masters, to be a symbol of military prowess. The latter, against a heavily armed force like the Golden Company, would be meaningless if they couldn't land a killing blow, even less so against mounted units.

So instead, the former two proved to be the most pivotal, shocking and horrifying things to witness. Whereas every other soldier, no matter how well-trained and disciplined would have been terrified upon facing the heavy cavalry charge. Their stance and formation became loose, a reflection of the fear they felt making the charge even more devastating upon being hit.

The Unsullied did not feel fear, they lived to serve Daenerys Targaryen as free men. They would give their lives in place of hers a thousand times over and that's exactly what they did.

Each Unsullied that stood before the Golden Company cavalry remained firmed, spears thrust out and while not dislodging the horsemen, or very few. What it did do was jerk them back, a reflexive tug on their reigns making the horse's movements uneven and dodgy.

Which is when the Unsullied threw their bodies in the way.

Quite literally.

They threw their bodies into the horses, attempting to tackle the steeds who continued to come their way. Considering the uneven footing of the horse thanks to their riders, the forward momentum and the fact that the Unsullied did not fear death and so happily put every ounce of strength into it.

The cavalry charge became disrupted.

The Golden Company were in complete disarray, the horrifying tactic the Unsullied used to halt the charge miraculously working as the front lines of both sides came to a grinding halt. The Unsullied dying and being trampled to death, the Golden Company being thrown off their horses, steeds falling to the ground.

Which is when the backlines of the Unsullied came in and now on equal footing to those dislodged riders, came at them in full force. The remaining cavalry, carried forward by the momentum and the shocking actions of the Unsullied, we're unable to stop and crashed into the huge pile of bodies.

All the while, Ser Barristan never had to utter a word or give an order.

The Unsullied, so great was their training, so great was their love and loyalty to Daenerys, they put everything on the line to halt the cavalry charge and succeeded, for now. "Have our Sellswords move to intercept the rear of the cavalry, do not let them loop around. Have our archers focus entirely on the elephants." Knowing that he could trust the Unsullied to work without his oversight, for now, Ser Barristan went to work, preparing for the remainder of Aegon's forces, including his infantry.

As he did though, Ser Barristan looked towards the Stark forces, still seeing no movement on that end. 'Is he our ally? Or our enemy?'