Chapter 116: Breach or Reclaimed?
The Bloody Gate had fallen, but the specifics of the process were entirely different from what anyone had previously anticipated.
For reasons Egger had failed to account for, the elite units sent into the mountains to hunt down and subdue the Mountain Clans did not meet with smooth progress. These mountain natives had practiced guerrilla tactics to their absolute limit. Intimately familiar with the terrain, they engaged in hit-and-run without the hit—simply refusing to face Robert's loyalist forces head-on. Clan sentries would spot the soldiers from afar and immediately set up a hullabaloo, leading their families and entire worldly possessions into flight. After several days in the mountains, the allied soldiers had failed to capture a single clansman. At this rate, Robert's fifteen-day deadline would have been woefully insufficient.
However, just as the plan hit a stalemate, the troops led by Robb Stark unexpectedly stumbled upon an old elder—Brynden Tully, the younger brother of Hoster Tully (the current Lord of the Riverlands and the last surviving patriarch of the great Stag-Wolf-Fish-Falcon Alliance), better known by his nickname, the Blackfish.
Due to a falling out with his brother, the Blackfish had left the Riverlands years ago to seek refuge with Lysa in the Vale. He was subsequently appointed the Knight of the Gate by her husband, Jon Arryn, and tasked with guarding the entrance to the Vale. As Lysa Tully's own uncle, Brynden naturally had no intention of rebelling against his niece. When the Bronze Alliance launched their coup, Brynden attempted to command his men to repel the mutineers but found the situation untenable. He decisively turned tail, escaping through a secret passage inside the Bloody Gate and vanishing into the Moon Mountains. After hiding from the Mountain Clans in the vast wilderness for over a month, he fortunately crossed paths with his grand-nephew, Robb, who was searching the peaks.
Having guarded the Bloody Gate for over a decade, the Blackfish might not have had many ideas on how to breach it from the front, but when it came to how to navigate the back ways to the Gate, who in the world surpassed this old man? Thus, the legitimate Supreme Commander of the original Gate Garrison led several hundred strike troops through the rear of the Bloody Gate as easily as if strolling through his own garden. They weren't discovered until they actually began scaling the gatehouse.
...
It was indeed Egger's strategy that secured the Bloody Gate for Robert, but the lion's share of the credit went to a man who had never even stepped foot in the allied camp, let alone attended a war council.
In the television series, Brynden Tully managed to escape the Red Wedding via a well-timed bathroom break, and in the original books, he swam to freedom from Riverrun even as it surrendered to Jaime. Even with the world of Ice and Fire turned upside down by the butterfly effect, his astounding talent for escape still managed to shine. Egger felt that he shouldn't be called the Blackfish—he should be called the Loach.
Once the Bloody Gate was taken, the loyalist army spent half a day clearing the passage. Hundreds of strong men took turns digging from both sides simultaneously to clear the obstructed gate—a process that took much less time than expected. Egger felt a chill of retrospective fear when he heard the news: when Robert took the Gate, he discovered that the inner side of the blocked passage had already been more than half excavated.
Captives revealed that they had begun clearing the gate the very day they saw signs of the allied host breaking up. Had the strike force not encountered the original Knight of the Gate, or had the Blackfish's team arrived just a few days later, the allied camp at the mouth of the Vale would likely have suffered a devastating night raid by the rebels!
One could imagine the result: an allied camp of tens of thousands of soldiers with fragmented allegiances, where the officers, elite veterans, and knights were almost all absent. A surprise attack would have resulted in an undisputed rout. Even innocent bystanders like Egger and Yoren might have been injured or killed in the chaos.
Fortunately, history has no ifs.
After taking the Gate, the allied host unified their story: King Robert had personally led his troops to storm this impregnable pass that had stood unbreached for a millennium.
Even though the fact was that the Blackfish, loyal to Lysa Tully, led troops to reclaim the Gate, and even though the fighting was nearly over by the time Robert reached the battlements—leaving the King no time to sate his bloodlust before the enemy surrendered—Robert did arrive before the fighting officially ended. The crowned stag banner that first fluttered over the wall was indeed hung by his own hand. As the supreme commander of the suppression force, there was no issue with claiming he had broken the Gate.
Since everyone reached a tacit understanding, the direction of public opinion was set: Robert had achieved his heart's desire and become the first king in a thousand years to conquer the Bloody Gate.
Egger felt nothing regarding this; it was merely an empty title. Why not let him have it? If humoring this drunken king made him more generous with rewards, wasn't that a win for everyone?
...
With the Bloody Gate fallen, the entire Vale lay open to the allied host. The thousand-plus rebels stationed within the valley and at the base of the Giant's Lance saw the Gate lost and surrendered decisively without hesitation. Two days after the breach, the Vale of Arryn fell completely into Robert's hands.
Only the Eyrie remained. To reach it, one still had to pass through another formidable obstacle: the Gates of the Moon. The master of that castle was also named Royce. Fortunately, the Royces of the Gates of the Moon and the Royces of Runestone were not of the same branch. Until Robert arrived at the Gates of the Moon with his host, the lord there had not openly declared support for the Bronze Alliance, and the castle had not been taken by force.
Passing through the Moon Gate allows travel to the Eyrie, but only via a very narrow goat path up the mountain. Under normal conditions, it takes half a day, and the path is exposed to long-range fire from the Eyrie and the three purely military way-castles: Stone, Snow, and Sky. The good news was that the controllers of these castles had not joined the Bronze Alliance. Perhaps they had sympathized with and secretly supported the rebels, but as the six-kingdom host arrived at the foot of the mountain flying the crowned stag, they all transformed into the most loyal vassals of Lord Arryn.
Lysa Tully refused to believe the rebellion had been pacified and remained cowering inside the Eyrie. However, with the castle's food supplies nearly exhausted, this war of suppression—which had embroiled the Seven Kingdoms for nearly two months—would soon come to a close, albeit an imperfect one.
The victory feast was held in a field within the Vale that offered a distant view of the Giant's Lance. By day, one could admire the sheer majesty of the mountain range; Alyssa's Tears, the ghostly torrent, cascaded down from the towering western peaks like a shimmering silver ribbon pinned to the cliffs, contrasting sharply with the dark stone and sparkling brilliantly in the sunlight.
By night, this place became the site of the largest bonfire revelry in the history of the Seven Kingdoms. With the Bloody Gate broken, the wealth and grain that the Bronze Alliance lords had moved out of their castles and hidden within the Vale fell into the hands of the loyalist army. The families involved in the mutiny were among the most powerful in the Vale, and the total value of the spoils was estimated at over a hundred thousand gold dragons. Even the paramount of the Vale likely couldn't produce such a sum at once. While it couldn't compare to the true titans like the Lannisters or Tyrells, it was more than enough to pay the army for their final ten days of service, with plenty left over. Robert, in his typical extravagance, waved his hand and declared all of it as rewards for the soldiers and nobles.
A king who didn't lack for coin! Robert's prestige, rather than falling due to the early setbacks, soared even higher!
...
After the rewards and praise for the number one hero, Ser Brynden the Blackfish, were concluded, the number two hero, Egger, stood in the center of the great tent. This time, not only was Robert all smiles, but even the seated lords of the six kingdoms stared at him with looks of genuine interest.
The more sensitive politicians could already sense that the peace between the Seven Kingdoms was on shaky ground. If a Great War were to break out, having a man in one's camp who excelled at strategy would drastically increase the odds of victory. Furthermore, this man was the protagonist of a famous adventure legend and could hold his own for dozens of rounds against the renowned Red Viper of Dorne?
A celebrity gifted in both the quill and the sword—even if he did nothing in this era of mediocrity, simply standing in one's camp was a massive boost to morale and a potent deterrent to enemies!
A pity he was a Man of the Night's Watch; no one could recruit him.
...
"Other-Slayer," Robert liked to call Egger by that moniker, perhaps thinking it sounded cool. "Though it was Ser Blackfish who ultimately led the way behind the Gate, the strategy you provided was indispensable. Tell me what you want. Speak freely! As long as it isn't too outrageous, I, as your King, shall grant it!"
As long as it isn't too outrageous, I shall grant it!
Coming from the mouth of Robert Baratheon, the weight of those words was beyond question. The once rowdy and chaotic tent fell into an instant, dead silence. Every eye was fixed on the young man in black at the center.
What would a Man of the Night's Watch want?
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