As green wildfire exploded along the river channel and at the Old Gate, King's Landing erupted into chaos. The Volantene slave coalition had arrived, the reinforcements of Lion and Rose were attacking each other, and the whole city had become a boiling cauldron of disorder. The air was thick with smoke, arrows, and screams.
"The power of wildfire truly stuns the world." Tyrion had seen the boundless magic of wildfire. The low clouds over King's Landing were dyed the color of the river, and layers of green spread across the sky. It was strange and beautiful, terrifyingly beautiful, just like dragonflame in the books. Before this emerald fire-rite, the great melee at King's Landing reached its peak.
Outside the eastern city, the Lion fought the Rose. On the south bank of the Blackwater Rush, the Stag fought the Elephant. Inside the city, the rioting Antler Men clashed with the defending Gold Cloaks. In the Blackwater Rush, the Lion battled the Lyseni. The flames of war had swept across all of King's Landing.
West of King's Landing, after Gendry ordered the reserves from the Vale and Crackclaw Point to warn the Tyrell army at once with trebuchet fire, Great Lord Mace Tyrell had no time left to dream of bargaining with the Lannisters. The Golden Rose's army split with a roar. Rowan's troops and Florent's men broke away first, charging on their own to attack the Lannister army. With no other choice, Mace could only order the entire army forward.
Within King's Landing itself, the northern gate was being attacked by armed Antler Men. Though wildfire had exploded there, it had also torn open a great gap in the city's defenses.
"It's nearly time." Stripping away all the chaos, Gendry cared most about the final battle between himself and the Volantene slave army. This was the advantage of personally riding the front as a scout. He could see for himself the thickness of the enemy's lines, their weaknesses, and the shifting shape of the battlefield.
The golden banners of the Storm army waved, while the enemy raised the banners of Volantis, the hateful Harpy banners, and the Goddess of Lust banners of Lys. Army crashed into army, leaving slaughter, blood, and curses in their wake.
The Volantene army wore silver armor, silver mail shirts, and helms shaped like tiger heads. The slave soldiers had green striped tattoos running across both cheeks beneath their helmets, while the citizen soldiers had no such markings. There were also Unsullied among the ranks.
New Ghis's Iron Legions wore black armor and carried spears, shortswords, and shields. The Unsullied of Astapor also wore simple armor as they advanced. Unsullied were sold without armor, so the armor had to be bought separately, and this set had come from Volantis.
"Long live Volantis!" the Volantene citizen soldiers shouted, intermingled with the Tiger Cloaks.
"Long live the Harpy!" New Ghis's Iron Legions cried out their battle cry, pressing forward with swords, shields, and spears.
"Long live the Storm!" the soldiers in the Stormlands shield wall roared back, unwilling to be outdone.
"Kill! Kill!"
As rock met wave, the longswords of the Stormlands soldiers drove through the attacking Volantene citizen soldiers. Volantene bodies dropped limply to the ground. The Storm army struck with longswords, spears, maces, and even stones. The Unsullied of Astapor, meanwhile, took advantage of every opening to cut down Stormlands soldiers with their spears. But the men of the Stormlands gritted their teeth and held on. Whenever a gap appeared, they filled it at once, even if it cost lives.
Before the shield wall lay a mass of blood. The earth had been dyed red. The bodies of Volantenes, Lyseni, Yunkaii, New Ghiscari, and Astapori lay tangled there in every direction. The enemy stepped over their comrades' corpses to press forward, climbing higher and higher.
"Are we still not attacking, Prince?" The beautiful Tyene Sand looked at the bloody battlefield before her and nearly lost her voice.
She looked at Gendry. This commander, who held the lives and deaths of tens of thousands in his hands, was like a rock at that moment. Coldness was also something a general had to possess. Dorne had the smallest population and had rarely seen such a magnificent battlefield. Apart from the Battle of the Redgrass Field, they had only taken part at The Trident, and there they had been thrown away.
"Not yet, but soon." Gendry watched the shape of the battle closely. New Ghis's Iron Legions and Volantis's citizen legions had already spent a great deal of strength. They were not Unsullied, after all. The citizen soldiers of New Ghis had only trained for three years, and the citizen soldiers of Volantis were not much better. Only the Unsullied, raised through the wine of courage and long years of training, still had considerable stamina.
Malaquo's order for the infantry to attack in three rotating waves, throwing everything forward, had produced results. Gendry could see that the Stormlands shield wall had begun to loosen. The situation was already on the brink.
"The Tyrells have moved!"
"The Tyrells have moved! Prince, the Tyrells have attacked Tywin's army." Ser Robar Royce and Harrold Hardyng, heir to the Vale, returned in high spirits to report.
Harrold Hardyng suddenly felt his own smallness. All this time, he had taken part in tourneys, while Gendry was fighting a war of true glory, and had been winning all the way.
"They moved." Gendry had also seen it through his Myrish lens. The green Rose army and the red Lannister army had tangled together. Everything was just right. Mace was hesitant by nature, and The Reach was full of hidden currents. If Gendry had not forced his hand, he might truly have bargained his way into joining the Lannisters, leaving Gendry attacked from both front and rear.
"Tell Lord Yohn and Lord Boggs. The Vale knights are not to charge until I have attacked three times."
"Yes."
"Then now, it's my turn." Gendry ordered the horn sounded.
"Bwoooom! Bwoooom! Bwoooom!"
After three deep blasts, the cavalry, who had waited for so long, moved at last.
"May the Warrior protect us," Ser Barristan prayed, then followed Gendry into the attacking force.
"Lothor, take my great horned spare helm and spare armor. Lead the main force forward against the Volantene and New Ghis. Draw their attention, but do not charge."
"As you command!"
The Unsullied of Astapor were the hardest fighters to wear down, but they were commanded by the weakest slave masters. As long as there was a little disturbance, the Astapori would lose their nerve.
Da-da-da-da!
The sound of hooves made the chaotic battlefield pause for a moment. Then came the sound of even more hooves.
The Volantene slave army froze briefly, then could not help looking back.
The sunlight was bright, and where it struck the silver and black armor, the glare flashed dazzlingly.
A row of golden banners appeared in their sight, growing clearer and clearer. It meant the enemy cavalry had moved. They saw the great horned god coming.
"Golden banners. The sigil of House Storm and the Storm."
"The Prince's army has come."
The morale of the Stormlands shield wall surged. Amid their cheers, they forced the formation that had nearly collapsed back into place.
"Bwoooom! Bwoooom! Bwoooom!"
The horns sounded again. The cavalry drew closer, hooves thundering, soldiers shouting.
"Long live the Storm!"
"For Storm's End!"
"Long live Gendry!"
The cavalry roared out of the woods, making the battle burn hotter than ever. The golden quartered banners streamed in the wind, and the knights became part of the storm.
The storm was surging, like a black stag leaping through the deep forest.
"Here they come again." Malaquo's eyes widened as he watched that golden tide surge toward the Volantene coalition like a flood.
But Malaquo was not especially panicked. His main force was strong, and several of its legions were infantry phalanxes. If the Storm opened its mouth to swallow them, it would break its teeth. "Tell the Windblown Company, the Silver Shields, the Stormcrows, and my follow-up forces to prepare to press in."
"Kill!"
Led by Lothor, the guard knights and the knights of the Stormlands charged forward with savage force. Long axes, maces, and spears surged like a tide, and the soldiers behind the shield wall cheered as they joined the fight. Like a gale sweeping away scattered clouds, they inflicted terrible losses on the citizen soldiers of Volantis and New Ghis. One Iron Legion of New Ghis had stood too close to the front and was nearly wiped out.
"Thud!"
Lothor, wearing the great forked helm, drew every eye. His longsword flashed, and a Volantene commander's head flew into the air, his tiger helm landing dully on the ground.
Spears, greatswords, and morningstars filled the battlefield with wave after wave of blood and slaughter.
The last remaining New Ghiscari legion quickly gathered its strength to resist Gendry's main body of knights, but the exhaustion on their faces could not be hidden. Their first three ranks formed a perfect forest of spears. The front rank crouched, spears angled like a thicket of thorns. The second stood upright, holding their polearms level to form a deadly line. The third raised their spears to shoulder height, still as bronze statues. Behind them waited three more ranks with javelins at the ready. Seeing the danger, the Volantene hurriedly called to one another and formed ranks as well.
"Protect me!" the masters of Astapor shouted, waving the Harpy's Finger and ordering the Unsullied to stop advancing and immediately take a defensive stance, facing the "Gendry" ahead who was locked in bloody battle with the Ghiscari, Volantenes, and Lyseni. For the moment, all they could see was the "Breaker" still tangled with the Ghiscari.
"This is terrible," said Kraznys mo Nakloz, the Astapori slaver, his voice full of fear. Their group had hidden at the very rear. He truly should have done as old Malaquo had done and stayed behind the formation, not commanded from the front.
"Enemy attack!"
"What is going on? Two Breakers?" Kraznys saw a column of golden cavalry suddenly charge in from the flank. At their head was another man wearing a helm with twin great horns, the black and red crystals on his chest gleaming brightly.
"Long live the Storm!"
Gendry's surprise force struck the Astapori Unsullied from behind at exactly the right moment. His first target was the Unsullied, not the Tiger Cloaks or the Iron Legions.
"These men are far too easy to recognize." Gendry spotted the slave masters. Most of the Astapori slavers wore no helmets, because their oiled hair had been shaped into sharp horns.
Before the slavers could react, those golden flames were already upon them. The Unsullied had raised their spears in the opposite direction, and now it was too late to turn.
Ser Barristan's warhorse leapt over the spears. Spearheads tore into the horse's belly with wet, ripping sounds, but before it died, its thrashing hooves kicked the spear line aside by sheer force. Ser Barristan sprang down from the saddle and swept his sword out. His ice-white armor was stained with blood and earth. All the knights drove into the rear and began their work of blood and fire.
Jon Snow's blood surged. This was true knighthood. This was true battle. His face flushed red as he thought of the battle at The Trident, when Robert and Rhaegar had met, and the Stag had smashed the True Dragon to death with his warhammer.
Gendry galloped forward, his golden cloak snapping behind him. His horse screamed, and Gendry suddenly twisted in the saddle, charging straight at the slaver Kraznys.
"Stop him!" all the slavers shouted, falling into chaos. There were not many knights, but there were not many guards in the rear either. The Unsullied were somewhat heavy and slow to turn, and their formation could not be set so quickly.
"The Storm has come!"
Gendry swung his warhammer with power like a collapsing mountain and a breaking sea. The hammer struck a slaver's guard in the head. The warrior's skull caved in at once, his helm crushed flat.
"Die."
Gendry shifted his warhammer technique and smashed it into the breastplate of a gray-haired slaver. The ornate gemstones of the Harpy shattered across the ground, and the slaver's heart and lungs burst. He fell straight from his horse. Gendry killed freely among the slave masters, like a golden blaze, leaving only slaughter wherever he swept past.
Gendry saw the Harpy's Finger.
"Thud."
Gendry charged at Kraznys. Only two guards remained beside him.
"Out of my way!"
"Stop him!"
Clumsy, fat Kraznys had nowhere to run.
The Astapori guards tried to come forward, but Gendry raised his warhammer and struck left and right. Savage force erupted, turning blood, bone, and flesh into pulp. The hammer crashed into an Astapori's helm, and both head and helmet burst apart together, leaving a great hole through them both.
"Please, I'll give you this," the slaver begged.
"Thud!"
Gendry seized the Harpy's Finger, then swung his brutal warhammer backhand into Kraznys's forehead. Blood poured out as half the slaver's head was smashed in, leaving only the other half behind. He gave one wail, then his body collapsed to the ground.
Gendry took the bloodstained Harpy's Finger. Its handle was carved from black Dragonbone and inlaid with gold, with nine long leather thongs attached, each tipped with a gilded claw. The golden ball at the end of the handle was shaped like a woman's head, its mouth filled with ivory fangs.
"You are mine!" Gendry raised the whip, and all the Unsullied froze.
"You are children of the Storm. The debt is paid, and now I grant you freedom and liberation," Gendry shouted. "Unsullied! Fight with me. Protect yourselves. Protect your master. Take up your spears! Take up your shortswords!"
The Unsullied had seen the deaths of the slavers and their guards, but they did not even lower their heads. They stood there, row after row after row...
"Unsullied! You are free."
Gendry galloped before them, his horse racing wildly. His black armor reeked of blood and fire, and the twin horns of his great forked helm made him look like a god. He was tall and fierce, and every Unsullied saw him.
"Kill the Wise Masters. Kill the Great Masters. Kill the Lord Governors. Kill every slave master. Kill the soldiers. Kill every man in robes or holding a whip. Cut the chains from every slave."
Gendry's voice was like steel. He raised the Harpy's Finger into the air, then swung his sword. Orphan-Maker sliced the Harpy's whip to pieces, turning it into fluttering butterflies that fell into the mud.
"Freedom!"
The Unsullied answered in one great cry. It was the most beautiful word they had ever heard.