Bw2

It had been a year since he was married and he had never been happier. Lara was a lovely woman, smart as a maester, witty as a comedian from his old life and as fierce as the lands she hailed from. Within a year he was in love with her and the love had been returned by her in equal measure though he had not nor would he ever tell her about his past life, that was strictly to be kept to himself. Now though he was looking over a map of the Riverlands.

"The Brackens are causing trouble then?" He heard a familiar voice ask and he looked up to see his wife standing at the door, he nodded at her with a smile and waved her over.

"They launched raids across the Red Fork, claiming the lands as theirs for some unknown reason." He said, sighing.

"And what are you and your father going to do in response?" She asked him.

"My father? Nothing, he hasn't been the same since mother died." Lucas said softly, the loss of his mother to winter fever had hit them both hard but his father was merely a shell of what he once was, leaving most of the ruling to Lucas. "That's why the Brackens are doing this, they think they can get away with it because my father doesn't have the motivation to do anything about it." He said tiredly.

"And what are you going to do about it?" She asked him, "You can't mean to let this continue."

"No. If I do that I shall never be respected. No the Brackens will be ended, they have no daughters and their King married his own cousin to prevent a succession crisis, they and his sons are the last of the line." He said.

"Will any other houses get involved?" His wife asked.

"Potentially the Vances, the Pipers will not, they are you busy squabbling with their vassals." He spoke of the three southern andal houses.

"And what of the Tullys will they still support you?" She asked.

"Yes. My uncle is a good man." He said and she nodded.

"And what of the Vyprens?" she asked him and he sighed he had not thought of the andals to his north.

"They shouldn't but it's a possibility they might join the Brackens." He said and his wife nodded before looking over the map.

"Then you should send ravens to the other houses saying that this a blood feud between two houses and any that wish to get in the way will be crushed with equal ferocity." She suggested "The Vyprens are cowards, they will not join if they fear you destroying their house."

"Aye, but the other Riverlords will take offence to that." He told her. "No, I shall call the banners and we will join up with my uncle and march on the Brackens and Vance's." He said.

"And what of the Mallsiters? What will they do?"

"They will keep to themselves and watch for Ironborn, they won't interfere on either side unless they have a real reason to." He said.

"And the Freys will do the same I take it." She said and Lucas nodded, the Freys in this time were barely a hundred years old and were considered upstarts by many despite their relative wealth and power.

"I didn't think you would be marching to war so soon after our marriage." She told him, taking the seat beside him and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Neither did I but I must do it." He responded. "My uncle will rule in my stead with you, and Brynden will come with me." He told her and she nodded.

"Speaking of your cousins, Sara needs a match." She told him, Sara and her had grown as close as siblings and his favourite cousin had started to ask about a marriage for herself. Lucas sighed, not happy about sending away his little cousin who was like a sister to him.

"I'll speak with her and her father after the war, I take it you have some suggestions." He said and she nodded, of course she did.

"We could marry into the Riverlands, someone like Kevan Mallister, heir to Seaguard, Lyman Darry, heir to Darry or even Candon Frey heir to the Twins, other options could be Jason Lefford heir to the Golden tooth, though whether they would be allowed to help us by the Lannisters I doubt but heir gold could help." She said but Lucas heard there was something else she wanted to say.

"But…" He prompted.

"The Bracken Lands will have no lord to rule them, perhaps Sara could marry someone and they would rule them." She suggested.

"I had similar ideas, though it would be with Brynden ruling as a cadet branch." He told her. "The lands would be reduced in size, with some lands going to the Tullys and some to us but the rest would go to him, as for a wife I had planned to marry him to Venessa Mallister and bring the Mallisters into the fold." He told her and her eyes lit up at the plan recognising the cleverness of it.

"And the Mallisters would bow to you?" She asked him.

"Aye, proud they may be but they do not truly think of themselves as kings."

"So who would Sara marry then?"

"Probably Lyman Darry." He said "But I would need to discuss it with her father, brother and herself of course."

"Good, he's known as a good man and the Darrys and Mallsiters are of firstmen lineage, they will bow to I guess?"

"Aye they will." Agreed "The Darrys aren't as powerful as they once were and our families have long been allies and with a Blackwood marriage they would easily bow" he said.

"Which would leave the Pipers, Freys, Rygers, Mootons and their vassals." She said "The Pipers are as Andal as the the Vances and would join the Vances, the Rygers should bow, the Motons might as well If you have already conquered the rest of the houses as would the Freys." she said and Lucas nodded in agreement.

"We are not going to war for the throne right now, this is merely the Brackens which will not only gain us more respect, power, lands and wealth but will give us more of a foundation to lay our claim with." He said and she nodded.

"Are you going to send the ravens?" She asked and he got up and nodded, letters to be sent to his vassals who would call their own men, sergeants who would raise the men from his own lands and letters to the Pipers, both Vance houses and their vassals and to the Mallisters with a proposition, the Mallisters would keep tabs on the Vyprens and watch his northern border in return for the marriage with Brynden and they would of course bow when the time came.

His own force of 6,000 men met up with the 4,000 Tully men at Riverrun, the seat of his uncle, King Axel Tully, who in truth was only a King in name and had already agreed to bow to him when the time came.

"Prince Lucas, King Axel has requested your presence." a squire told him after a guard let him into the chambers Lucas had often taken whenever he took the short journey south to his mothers home.

"My thanks." He said to the squire who nodded as scurried away. Lucas got up and looked in the mirror. His hair was raven black and short on the side and on the top it was not quite as short and curled at the ends, he had lost all the baby fat he had as a twelve year old and puberty had blessed him with both handsomeness and a good build. He was fairly tall at about six foot one and had a lith, muscular build. His most notable feature however was the icy blue eyes that he had learned could intimidate any man into doing as he wished with a single glare, it was quite a handy trait to have. His mother and wife had often said how nice they looked on him and Brydnen always mockingly called him Sapphire eyes to annoy him. He wore black plate and mail armor. On his chest he had a black coloured chest plate that had his family's sigil on it, his pauldrons, rondels and groget all had the same black colour but they were engraved with a single red raven. On his back he wore a raven feather cloak that his wife's father had gifted him. He had a Bastard sword sheathed on his waist, though in combat he preferred a great sword with which he was considered the best in the continent with, a true master of battle akin to legends such as the Hammer of Justice, the Falcon Knight, the Hungry wolf and the Storm kings, or so the rumour went. Lucas knew he was extremely good, he hadn't lost a bout since he was 14 years old and he had faced many of the great warriors in Westeros in tourneys and such, though he had stopped competing in them when he turned one and six and since then just how good he was had become a bit of a mystery.

"Vanity is a sin brother." A voice came from the door and he looked up to see Brynden at the doorway with a grin on his face.

"Sorry brother, I was just thinking about how much better looking I am compared to you." He said to his cousin as he walked out the door with Brydnen at his side wearing a grin.

"That so? Been looking at me a lot have you Lucas?" joked Brynden.

"Of course, sometimes I dream of you." Said Lucas with a straight face and Bryden just snorted knowing Lucas was only joking. They talked without purpose all the way to his uncle's solar where they walked in to find his Uncle Axel, cousin Hugo the heir to Riverrun, Lord Paege of fairmarket and his vassal, and some landed knight of the Tullys. He shook his cousin and uncle's hand and nodded at his vassal and the other man he did know.

"Nephew, news from the south." His uncle said grimly.

"What is it?" He asked his uncle.

"The Vances have joined the Brackens while the Pipers have not yet but likely will soon." His uncle said and Lucas nodded, looking over the map of the southern and western Riverlands.

"We march tomorrow then as a United force, we have to try and force them into battle before the Pipers deal with their rebels." said Lucas and the others nodded.

"They will know this as well." Said his uncle "They won't just come to meet us and if you plan on conquering that land then raiding is out of the question."

Lucas nodded, knowing this. "We will wait a few days before we send a scout to get 'captured' by them, they will be wondering why we haven't marched. Are scouts will 'confess' that my dear cousins Brynden and Sara have both agreed to take Lannister brides in exchange for their support." He said.

"It's risky but if it works it's genius," said his uncle.

"Aye but it could backfire if they don't fall for it." Said Brynden and Lucas nodded in agreement at the risk of it.

"Aye but it's better than marching deep into their territory and risking all sorts of things." Lucas said and the others nodded, ambush's, leaving their own territory undefended, supply problems, letting your opponent pick the terrain were all reasons why it was better to let the enemy come to you.

Lucas pretended not to be surprised when they got the news that the Andals were marching on them, his plan had worked and now their combined force of 10,000 men marched off to meet a force of 11,000. 4,500 Brackens, 3,000 vances of Wayfarer's rest and 3,500 Vances of Antranta. Outnumbered they might be but not outmatched, no his own Blackwood men were a sight to behold when in a fight and for the few weeks they had been camped at Riverrun had only seen the drilling being done at a larger scale. It had taken a week for them to get used to doing it in formations of that size but by the third week it was as seamless as had been within the smaller units they practised in at home. It had been quite a shock to the Tullys but not an unwelcome one considering they were now going off to war with them as allies. It was also obvious that there was a marked difference in the armament quality of the two forces, the Blackwood forces had much better armour to the levies of the Tullys, the Blackwood men were not untrained levies but neither were they a standing army but rather something in between, their weapons and armour was actually the crowns property and was only given to them during campaign, even a whiff of the distinctive black armor being sold illegally somewhere would bring down a serjeant and his men in search of the culprit who would have the choice of the wall or death. It was harsh but had rooted out any stupid enough to try it and had made a example of those men.

They set out to march on the day after they got the news, they reached a hill on the road where they lined out. Lucas led the center, Brynden led the left, his uncle the rear and his cousin Hugo led the right with Lord Paege.

The southern riverlanders met them on the road and he saw them halt and then line out, the Brackens in the center and the Vances on either flank with a mixed force as a reserve. Lucas observed them, levies, all of them except for the knights and professional men at arms from the three houses. The cavalry from both sides was on the flanks to guard against flanking manoeuvres though some was held in reserve just in case. Lucas knew that as he watched the Lords of the three houses were likely realising they had been deceived but there was nothing they could do, if they retreated now Lucas would be able to chase them as they went and destroy their army. No, their best bet would be to try and overwhelm the inexperienced commanders with the weight of numbers and hope the hill didn't work against them too much.

And as expected the Andals did just that and began their advance.

"Lockstep!" He called and with a grunt the Blackwood men in the center bunched together in a line four men deep. And braced themselves against each other spears braced through the gaps the kite shields made, the shields locked together and it would be extremely hard to break through them. His archers began to fire well before the enemy ones did, the hill giving them a huge advantage in that aspect and his Blackwood archers, famed even before he came, rained death on the approaching forces; he saw hundreds of men fall with arrows in them, falling with haunting screams Lucas had to steal his nerves and clamp down on the long forgotten part of his modern mind that cried out against the violence he was causing.

When the enemy archers got in range he barked a command and the back rows raised their shields at an angle absorbing most of the arrows with only a few unfortunate men falling to them, this continued even as the Brackens advanced on them. He could see Samwell Bracken just behind his front line with a greatsword and gold horse head helmet. Lucas wanted to kill him on the battlefield as well as his two sons. Lucas watched with internal horror as the lines clashed, from his horse he perfectly saw men being impaled on spears, stabbed and dying all sorts of other gruesome deaths. In his time here he had become largely desensitised to death, he had killed many men before now. Executions and bandits but to see death on such a large scale was still shocking to him. He shook his head and focused on the battle.

The Blackwood men were doing as they were trained to do with ruthless efficiency, the initial clash had been bloody for both sides but it had started to swing in his favour, the superior Blackwood men showed their worth working easily as a unit, every man protecting another as they stabbed and and held their shields in lockstep, their body's hidden behind the large kite shields with only a small gap to see from and another to stab from could be used to kill the men behind the shield something that was extremely hard to do when you also had to avoid being impaled by either the man in front of you or the man on either side of him or even the man behind him. The fighting went on and he kept his eyes on Bracken after an hour or so of fighting he saw the Bracken king lose his patience and charge into the fray.

Lucas steeled himself and with a roar led his own honour guard, the Ravens, two handed axe and sword wielding men with plate armour who were the best of the best in his army. They charged on foot and the shield wall opened for them as they had practised. Lucas was the first man through it, Greatsword a blur and had carved a bloody path into the Bracken men with his own men pouring through the gap.

He dodged a spear thrust and dislodged his sword from the corpse of another man and with a quick swing killed the spear wielder, another man with a sword and round shield came to face him with another man with some sort of hoe tried to take him on at the same time, Lucas dodged the hoe and with a two handed thrust stabbed the man with the hoe through the stomach and out the back, he raised his gauntlet and with a wince blocked the blow of the swordsmen. The man had not expected that and was caught off balance by it, it cost him his life as Lucas withdrew his blade and brought it down in the man's shoulder killing him.

He looked up and blocked another blow and quickly disposed of the armoured knight who had tried to win some glory by killing the renowned young Blackwood prince. He went on like that for another ten minutes before he was within shouting distance of Bracken and one of his sons. The son noticed him first as Lucas cleaved through two men who had rushed at them to protect their king and Prince, he saw the rage in the son's eyes and the boy charged at him with a roar. Lucas would admit the boy was good, he nearly landed a blow on his shoulder but Lucas had fought much better, a double feint in rapid succession opened up a hole in the man's defence as his shield went from one side of his body too quickly and was out of position when the third strike that cut into his side and dropped him to the ground with a shout of pain, without messing about Lucas quickly stabbed down and finished the older boy.

He heard a scream of rage and looked up to see the Bracken king himself charging at him, his other son at his side both clearly enraged. Lucas quickly dodged the first blow of the son and surprised the father by stepping into his strike and crashing a shoulder into the man's cheek and sending him stumbling. Like a sixth sense he turned and blocked the son's strike and knocked it away and struck with a swing that would have decapitated the man if it was not blocked by another Bracken man stepping in. How many of the fuckers where there?

There were two sons, one was now dead, a father who was now back in the fight and the new man was clearly the uncle. It was three on one and Lucas spent at least twenty minutes not letting them gain the front foot, knowing it would be deadly if they did, a greatsword was not a good defensive weapon. His arms were burning but he felt no pain from them and barely felt tired somehow only faintly aware of the burning. Adrenalin likely. He just waited for one of them to make a mistake. The uncle did first. A slight over extension opened him up to a swing that cut deep into his side, sending him to the ground in a heap, likely dead before he touched the ground.

The son was next after five more minutes where Lucas barely kept the upper foot a brutal swing knocked the man's sword out of his weakened and tired hand and before the father could move to defend him Lucas had stabbed him through the heart, not stopping for half a second he went on a fierce attack with at the now even more enraged King, however Lucas was better and a deep cut on his thigh sent him onto his knee and a strike into the man's arm severed the sword wielding limb, Lucas heard roars of approval as with one last swing he decapitated the man his horse helmet going flying as he did. He looked up and saw with a slight feeling of internal annoyance the battle was already over. His charge had nearly broken the center and after seeing three of their king's family members die in a four vs one the remaining men in the center surrendered and it was not long before the flanks did the same. However he knew Westerosi code dictated that no one was to step in between two lords fighting in combat. Of course this wasn't single combat but the rules still applied.

He picked up the man's helmeted head and raised it into the air with a shout and the men joined him with a celebratory roar.

—-

Prince Lucas Blackwood watched with a smile as his brother was pulled away by a hoard of eager women on his wedding night, he watched with equal amusement as Kevan Mallister and his father decked any man that tried to get close enough to partake in the bedding ceremony with their sister and daughter. The Mallister were a good family and he was delighted for his cousin, the new Lord Brynden Redwood. Some had questioned the logic behind the move citing the Greystarks in the north as cadet houses that tried to usurp their parent houses but he knew Brynden and his descendants would be loyal, besides their lands were small, smaller even than his uncle Axel's and only likely to raise around a fifteen hundred men.

"Not in the mood for taking advantage of a girl on her wedding day husband?" Asked his wife to which he scoffed in derision at the tradition.

"No, not tonight Lara." He chuckled. She just glared at him knowing he was joking but annoyed all the same.

"So what happens now?" She asks him.

"Uncle Axel, Lord Mallister and Darry have agreed to bend the knee and along with Brynden it's enough to proclaim the kingdom of the Rivers and Hills." He said.

"And what of the Vances?" She asked him. Both Vance Lords had been killed along with the heir of Wayfarer's rest who had been killed by Brynden but their sons and grandsons had managed to escape and had returned to their keeps.

"They and the Pipers will be given the option of bending or death." He told her.

"They'll choose death." She said and he nodded in agreement, the Vances or Pipers would never bow to an Old god worshiping house, especially not the Blackwoods.

"And they'll get it." Lucas said "The Vances have lost three thirds of their strength and the Pipers are weakened from warring with their vassals as the Andals are so fond of doing."

"I'd kindly like to remind you that my own house has had to put down more than its fair share of rebellions." His wife told him.

"Aye, the Boltons should have been put to the sword centuries ago." He said and his wife shook her head.

"It teaches the King in the North that he is never truly secure." She said,

"I think a bed night story would suffice. There may come a time when the King in the North is not competent enough to deal with the Boltons or the Boltons too competent for the Starks." he said.

"Aye, I fear the same thing. Which brings on the question of what is to be done with the Vance and Piper lands." She said,

"We shall see, for now though we are at a wedding, now is not the time to discuss it." He said and his wife nodded in agreement with a smile on her beautiful face as Kevan Mallister decked another brave man who tried to touch his sister. He knew soon he would once more be leading men into war but now was not that time. Not yet.