The Redfish (Edmure SI) chapter 77

Opportunity

Edmure POV

Arrows flew, hitting my shield, few men near me fell to the ground with arrows impaled in their throats and chest. A battering ram was trying to get close to the main gates even after getting hit by the bolts from scorpions. With my order, a valley of arrows finished the rest of the men protecting the battering ram.

As the sun set and the light was gone, the men from both sides retreated. I ordered the men to collect the dead and the weapons and arrows. After checking the defenses, I went to report to Queen Shireen. The fighting became more intense each day, yet I still couldn’t find the right opportunity to strike back.

“Your grace, I implore you not to participate in the next battles,” Davos was on his knees pleading with the little queen.

“She has to,” I interrupted them. “She alone is worth a thousand men. If you have not noticed, there is a reason why they are only attacking the main gate.”

“Even so, if she falls, the battle will be lost,” Davos didn’t give up.

“And that is one of the reasons they are not putting more pressure on the other gates,” I explained. “Without her, we will lose.”

“Enough, both of you,” The little queen said. “It is as ser Oscar said. I have no choice but stand with the others on the wall.”

“Then, at least take your knights with you,” Davos again pleaded.

“No, we can’t use knight yet,” I said. “They too important of force to be wasted on the walls.”

I explained my plan many times. Shireen had to stay on the tower above the main gates to bait the enemy forces into attacking only that point. If the Wise Masters put their troops to the other gates, they would admit they feared the little queen. The sellsword companies attacked the main gates to get to Shireen, as they get the most rewards for capturing her. And our soldiers had a massive morale boost as they saw their savior fighting with them.

Still, even though most forces were concentrated on the main gates. We were still trapped in the city. The harbor was blocked by dozen or so ships. Hundreds of men watched the other gates. If they were opened, they would block out escape until the rest forces arrived. And once they got into the city, it would be all over.

“How many we lost today?” Shireen asked. She was too kind. She always worries and then blames herself for losing lives.

“Fifty died. Another twenty will be too injured to fight tomorrow,” I reported.

“We won’t have even one and a half thousand left fighting,” She said.

“The enemy has lost three times more,” I said.

“But they will soon use other tactics, wouldn’t they?”

“By the lack of ladders in today’s fight, I assume they are building a siege tower,” I told what I guessed. “Still, it will take three to four more days for them to use it.”

“Then we need to do something before that happens,” Davos said.

“There still isn’t an opportunity to go anything,” I replied. “We have to wait.”

“With each day, they are getting closer to taking the walls,” Davos said. “For how long can we wait.”

“Until opportunity presents itself,” I replied. “That’s why I am protecting your knights. Even though they only number three hundred and only a small part of them are truly knights, with their armor and horsemanship, they are a formidable force that can break the enemy forces. But to use them, an opportunity has to be presented to us.”

“For a former slave, you know a lot about warfare,” Davos said.

“You can suspect me as you wish,” I didn’t bat an eye at him as he tried to insinuate something. “I am only repaying the debt to the Queen for saving my life. No matter what you suspect me, that is my goal.”

Davos didn’t seem to trust me, and I didn’t blame him. After I took control of the defenses of Astapor, I did my job too well for a former slave that didn’t know much. My pretext for being a son of a wealthy merchant and squiring under a knight in my childhood wasn’t the best of explanations. Still, fighting for Shireen put the rest of the men to rest about my past.

...

I could tell as days passed that the Wise Masters were frustrated. I have watched how they behaved and how the sellsword companies reacted. Ever since the siege began, I made sure to watch their camp. I could tell that the sellswords didn’t risk their lives and didn’t want to die on the Wise Master’s commands.

Now that everyone knew that it wouldn’t be an easy fight as their expected, it became clear that the sellswords would have some dissatisfaction. So far, it was slave soldiers from Yunkai and Iron Legated from New Ghis that fought most. Two massive sellsword companies commanded thousands of men. From my knowledge, it was a company of Cat and the Windblown.

Both companies had separate camps in the middle being that of the Wise Masters. If I got an opportunity to strike the Wise Master’s camp and managed to kill their command, the battle would be ours. The lack of authority would cripple them even if they didn't disperse. Yet it wasn’t that easy, the camp was quite far away, and once the knights rode out, they wouldn’t be able to return so quickly to the city. I got only one chance.

…

My guess came true after four days. It wasn’t easy to build a siege tower. Even if they knew about building one, it still wasn’t that simple. Firstly, one needed to measure the wall’s height, and Astapor had tall walls. So, the siege tower had to be tall too, but if it was too tall, the base of it had to be wide to contain the balance. Otherwise, it would just fall.

Even though I knew how big it should be, it still shocked me to see it getting near us. It was bigger than I expected. It had a broad base covered in thick hide and metal sheets. If I wasn’t wrong, hundreds of men could get inside it from the bottom to the top. The fire arrows did nothing as the tower was covered in something that prevented it from catching on fire quickly.

The men on the walls were rightfully terrified seeing it getting closer and closer, even after killing the horses pulling it. I suspected that Iron Legate would first come through the siege tower, securing the walls or even breaking into the gates and opening them for the others. Yet, I found an opportunity I had been looking for so long.

“Your grace,” I quickly climbed to the watch tower where Shireen stayed. “Please gather your knights. Soon I will make an opening for us to strike.”

“Isn’t it too late?” Ser Davos asked. “Look at that tower. Once it reaches the walls, it will be over for us.”

“You are mistaken, ser Davos,” I said. “I was preparing for it to appear for a long time. Once it reaches our walls, it will be a deathtrap for their forces.”

“Will you lead my knights yourself, ser Oscar?” Shireen asked.

“Yes, I have a pretty good idea where their command is,” I answered. “I hope you made sure to tell them that they might not return.”

“They know that if the Wise Masters win, I will be brutally killed or sold off as a slave. Such fate would bring too much dishonor to the knights that served my father so proudly.”

Indeed, they followed Shireen’s orders without question. They have lost the war and their homes, so all they have left is their Queen. I feared what they would do if they discovered that the man who took everything from them was now leading them. If my identity were revealed, I would be doomed.

“The siege tower was going to the wall near the main gates,” Ser Davos informed us.

“It is as I expected. They will open the gates from the inside,” I said.

“Then I hope your plan will succeed because if it doesn’t, we will all be doomed.”

He didn’t have to say that. I knew very well how important it was. While the knights prepared themselves, I watched as the siege tower got closer. Scorpions couldn’t reach their weels as they were covered by wood, hide, and metal. Fire arrows did nothing as they got closer and closer.

A shield wall was created to meet with the forces inside the tower once it hit the walls. I got men to cover both sides of the siege tower, and barrels were prepared to be thrown. With a thunderous sound, the siege tower hit the walls. It opened, revealing more than fifty men with spears and shields. Without delay, they pushed forward through our shield wall.

When I ensured that the tower was filled to the brim with men and our shield wall started to falter, I ordered the barrels to be dropped. The barrels broke at the siege tower, covering it with oil. A lot of oil, more than half of the city’s oil, was now on the tower and the ground at the bottom of the walls of the main gates.

Before anyone could realize what was happening, torches were thrown, and a blaze of fire consumed everything. Screams rang out. The tower shook as the men inside started to push to escape from being burned alive. The men at the bottom of the walls backed off as the fire spread. After I ensured the shield wall could withstand and push the men back, I climbed off the wall.

A horse awaited me at the gates with three hundred knights. Every single one looked like they were prepared to die. With a signal, the gates opened, revealing confused and panicking men outside. With a roar, I rushed forward, knocking down everyone in front of me, and the knights followed close to me.

The enemy had no time to prepare to confront us. Groups of men tried to get in our way, but we skillfully avoided them and went straight to their camp. I saw panic in them as the camp tried to muster some defenses, but with the front crushing anything they tried, the back quickly threw their torches at all that could burn.

It didn’t take long to find targets, as they were the first to run away. I didn’t know if they were in command of his army, but they were the most important people. Without mercy, I directed the men to hunt them down. Cutting and then trampling them under our horses. I ensured they died even at cost when we had to run away.

I led the men away only after seeing that nothing else could be done. There was no way to return, so we just rode forward. Before they started to chase us, we had made some distance and managed to escape. Still, after a close look, I found that we had lost more than fifty men. In all considerations, we succeeded and got minimal losses.

The attack was lightning-fast and exhausting to our horses and us. Once we managed to escape and felt relatively safe, we all dropped to the ground breathing heavily and taking our armor off as we felt like we were burning under the scorching sun. Yet the men laughed at their victory. We took our opportunity and struck a massive blow at the enemy.

Now we needed to wait for the response. More than two hundred men behind their backs would put some fear into them. And without Wise Masters will be hard for them to direct the battle. At best, the forces will dismantle and retreat. At worst, they will still try to fight. If they do, we will ensure they don’t have a good night’s rest.