WILOW-Ch.396: Destroying Lannister Cavalry
Near Lannister Army Camp, Riverlands
POV of Domeric Bolton
"There are 5000 horses behind you." Ygritte said with a frown, "Gods… how many horses do the Lannisters have?"
"They had 8000-9000 cavalry at the start of this war." Domeric said as he easily rode his horse at the front of his small army, "My men have been chipping away at that number for the past 2 weeks, but I'm not surprised they still have so many horse riders remaining in their army."
Ygritte joined his army on her own horse and looked over at the enemy cavalry with some fear. "Will our trap be enough?" she asked.
"Definitely." He replied, "I've created the trap with double that number in mind, so they won't be able to escape no matter what."
Then he finally saw the hill in front of him and said, "Varko! Take half the men to the left. Raksa! Take half to the right."
He turned to Ygritte, then "Ygritte. Go and inform the bolters, the archers, and the giants to be ready."
His subordinates and his wife followed his orders.
They took a semicircle position on the hill overlooking the large clearing that would soon become a tomb for the Lannister cavalry coming behind them.
Soon enough, he could see the enemy cavalry coming through the clearing.
At the front, the men from his horse archer legion were peppering their arrows.
He waited until the cavalry came within 100 meters of his position before he gave the signal to the men, who quickly raised a large number of palisades made of pointed spears in front of them. Then they turned and promptly left.
He waited and waited as the Lannisters came forward and moved their horses around the palisades to try to get to him.
None of them had died so far, but that was understandable. He never intended those palisades to kill them in the first place.
It was just meant as a delaying tactic.
As the front part of the cavalry slowed down to navigate through the palisades, the end part of the cavalry caught up and created a large and messy crowd of horses behind them.
He smiled at that and raised his hand and let it fall.
A few moments later, an arrow of fire flew over the Lannister Cavalry, who slowed down for a moment to look at the arrow sail above them before arrows eventually came down and…
-BOOMM!!! BOOMM!!! KABOOOM!!!
Continuous wildfire explosions shook the earth as barrels buried underground continued to explode until the whole area behind the Lannister cavalry was surrounded by a literal sea of flames.
A sea of flames that burned the tall grass they were standing on and was slowly spreading toward the Lannister army.
Now, Domeric had cut off the escape route of the Lannister cavalry. And the enemy had no choice but to advance if they did not want to perish, consumed by the wildfire spreading before them.
Panic instantly took over the Lannister cavalry as they tried to move forward as quickly as possible to get away from the sea of flames.
More than a few horses collided with each other during the ensuing panic, and the others quickly trampled anyone who fell.
The first phase had been completed without any problems, and now it was time to move on to the second phase.
So, he turned back with his horse archers and crossed the wooden bridge that his men used to cross the large trenches. Then he summoned his wand from the equipment slot.
With a wave of his wand, he collapsed all the bridges behind him, and they climbed to the top of the hill where the rest of his men were waiting in hiding.
He watched as the first horseman came out of the palisade trap and started riding toward him with his sword raised high.
The man never reached him.
A few meters later, the ground beneath the horse gave way, and the man fell into a 3-meter deep trench.
A few behind him followed in the same footsteps before the others learned and tried to circumvent the trenches or jump over them.
He turned to Ygritte and nodded.
She gave the signal, and the archers and bolters who had been hiding so far came out and positioned their arrows and bolts at the enemy army.
The Lannister cavalry didn't stop. They couldn't stop.
By this point, they must have realized just how badly they had fucked up, but they had no other choice but to keep moving forward.
Ygritte gave the signal, and over 3000 arrows and bolts flew in the air and rained down upon the enemy.
The sounds of dying men immediately started to reverberate throughout the entire clearing as the bolters pumped their crossbows, reloading the next bolt, and continued to fire at the enemy. At the same time, the archers nocked another arrow and released.
Credits where they were due.
The Lannister knights had decent-quality armor as well as a kite shield, and only a few of them died from the first barrage or projectiles.
But then the rain of arrows and bolts continued, and more and more of them started dying.
The panic caused by this made them hurry. They tried to escape from the side by climbing the hill or jumping across the trenches.
They couldn't climb the hill as it was too steep, but a fair few succeeded in jumping across the trenches and coming just that bit closer to him and his men.
And this was an indication that it was now time to move on to the third phase.
He gave another signal with his hand, and a few minutes later, the 30 giants took their huge bows and went down the hill in a single file.
Then the giants nocked their magical arrows and released.
The magical arrows that he'd carved runes upon duplicated into 8 different giant arrows in midair and then fell upon the horse riders in the lead. The arrows pierced through the men in the first row, and pierced through one or two rows behind the first row before stopping.
It was as if 240 scorpion bolts had been launched at once.
He heard Varko curse under his breath at the brutal display.
The Lannister men paused for a moment but then continued. Not because they want to. Because they have no other choice.
They jumped across the bodies of their comrades and tried to get away from the fire coming from behind them or to get away from the rain of projectiles.
In the end, it was all futile.
By the end of the hour, his men had destroyed the Lannister cavalry.
Not a single man that Tywin sent after them survived.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.397: Visiting and Resupplying
Ch.398: On the Eve of the Siege
Ch.399: The End of the Siege