What is dead may never die (Chapter 22)

Why me?

Theon POV

I thought of what the hell this war was to me. I felt like I am the luckiest unlucky bastard out there. How the hell did I take Golden Tooth almost all alone? I was lucky the dungeons were dark and had many hallways, so it wasn’t hard to sneak in and kill a couple of guards at a time.

I was lucky that only a few men protected the gates, and only a dozen men were on the walls. So, I took the gates and opened them, while the lords and knight I rescued took the walls. We were only noticed when the rest of the men entered the castle.

Again, if Anguy and the guys weren’t drunk, I would have tried to escape and wouldn’t have even looked for a chance to take the castle. It was all luck. I didn’t know when the guards would change. I was only lucky that they didn’t change while I was killing them.

I was lucky once more that Lord Piper and Lord Ryger knew of a few villages where they could get more men. So, Lord Piper and Lord Ryger had gathered men in the last few weeks.

Only a couple of dozens at a time, they moved them to Golden Tooth. They moved in secrecy as I asked them to do so. Nobody even knows that I have the castle in my hands. Meanwhile, Robb was gathering the southern lords of Riverlands to his cause.

Tywin has not left his hill, probably waiting for reinforcements. Well, there wasn’t much he could do as to leave his hill would mean abandoning an advantageous position. He was probably waiting for his new host to reach him.

“Theon, the host is a day away,” Lord Blackwood informed me.

He was grateful to me for saving him, so he had no problem following my orders. The others listened to me too, but they looked down on me. We had about two hundred men handling the walls. Lord Ryger and Lord Piper brought a hundred men to defend Golden Tooth.

It was enough to defend the castle. After all, it was a small castle, not like Harrenhal. Harrenhal was just too big, with too many broken towers. It needed thousands of men to cover all the walls adequately. There were too many blind spots in Harrenhal. The terrain itself outside Harrenhal walls wasn’t in our favor.

“Put additional men to guard the captives,” I ordered.

“Theon,” Anguy called me out, running towards me. “There are about fifteen thousand of them.”

“That is not a small number,” Lord Blackwood murmured.

“It isn’t. I managed to find out that Tywin’s brother is leading them,” Anguy informed us.

“Kevan Lannister?” I asked.

“Yes, and his two sons.”

“Ser Kevan is an experienced man. It will be hard to deal with him,” Lord Blackwood commented.

“It would, but they don’t have many resources,” Anguy said. “I didn’t see any wagons filled with food or anything. It seemed they came only with what they could carry.”

“They would have resupplied there. And I was surprised that there were so many weapons, armor, and food for a small garrison.”

“Lord Lefford had gathered everything from nearby villages to support the host,” Lord Blackwood said.

“Tell me, Anguy, did they seem to be preparing for battle?” I asked.

“No, even their sentries were lax. I even got into their camp, and they have not noticed me.”

“So, they don’t know that we hold Golden Tooth,” I said with a smile spreading on my face. “Call for council. We need to discuss the battle preparations.”

There wasn’t much to fear. I only needed to hold the castle until Robb showed up. I had enough men and resources, and it wasn’t as enormous as Harrenhal, so there won’t be any weak points. I won’t need to spread the men too thin.

…

Everyone was gathered at the solar of Lord Lefford. Lord Piper and Lord Ryger looked proud of themselves. At the same time, Lord Darry didn’t look favorably at me. Only Lord Blackwood was someone I trusted.

“We have enough men to hold Golden Tooth, and Kevan Lannister doesn’t know of us,” I informed everyone. “They don’t have many resources, so they will probably retreat.”

“Leaving their back to us?” Lord Piper asked.

“I believe Kevan Lannister will leave a part of his host to hold us down,” Lord Blackwood said.

“I would like to hold Kevan Lannister’s host there until King Robb comes,” I said.

“King Robb? There is only one King in Westeros,” Lord Darry said.

“Get on with the times, old man. Now there are three kings,” I replied. “Would you rather wait for King Stannis to help you defend your lands or maybe King Joffrey?”

Lord Darry quieted down. I looked at the map, Robb should have already found the goat path, but it would take some time to go around Golden Tooth and then come back. I knew we could hold the castle, but I feared Kevan would retreat if he saw no hope.

“We are grateful for what King Robb has done for us,” Lord Blackwood said. “Even if he isn’t our king, we are indebted to him.”

“Lord Blackwood is right. We should be more concerned about how to defeat the Lannisters,” Lord Vance agreed.

“Don’t worry, Robb Stark didn’t come to conquer your lands. He wants justice for what happened to his father and to help his uncle.”

It seemed that my words put them at ease. Even Lord Darry didn’t try to say anything. Once again, I looked at the map. There wasn’t anything new to see, only one road to Golden Tooth and then to Riverlands.

“We won’t be using all the men,” I said.

“What do you mean,” Lord Ryger asked.

“We need Ser Kevan Lannister to think that only a couple dozen men are holding the keep,” I said. “I want to give him a sense of security. We also will seek to negotiate with him. We have Lady Lefford as a hostage. We will have to give her to him.”

“And what will you ask in return?” Lord Blackwood asked.

“Time. I will ask him to give us time to retreat,” I said. “We only need to stall him for a couple of weeks, at most a month. Then it doesn’t matter if he wants to go back to Westerlands or not.”

“You are putting a lot of fate in King Robb,” Lord Darry said. “Yet what stops Tywin from chasing him and coming to Golden Tooth?”

I didn’t have an answer. It was a good point, but I knew Robb is clever and probably will leave his foot and go with only cavalry. But even I started to question where such fate in Robb comes from.

“Even if King Robb fails to show up, we still are holding Golden Tooth, with resources enough to survive the winter,” That was all I could say.

“Let’s not forget that Stannis has probably already gathered his host. Tywin doesn’t have many men to spare,” Lord Blackwood added.

With everyone agreeing that we should do everything to stall Kevan Lannister, we moved in, preparing for battle. There was no time to relax, and it would be a mistake to let your guard down.

…

I had to wonder why me? Why is it always me who has to fight impossible odds? Why the fuck didn’t Kevan fucking Lannister agree on my conditions. What do you mean ‘I know of your tricks’? I didn’t have time to think as arrows rained upon me. Still, I asked why I was so unlucky and succeeded in Ser Kevan being stuck on attacking me.

He didn’t even try to negotiate with me once he saw that I held Golden Tooth. He set a camp below the castle and started to attack us. Like, what the hell? Does he think that he can take Golden Tooth? I know he has fifteen thousand men, but we have enough arrows, and it is not like they can push any siege engines up the hill.

“Damn it all,” I cursed and shot another man down. “Why are you not even trying to run back to the Westerlands?”

“I think your reputation is well spread,” Lord Blackwood commented next to me. “Ser Kevan probably thinks you want to run and is trying to stop you.”

“Well, it isn’t like I can tell him it is a misunderstanding.”

“When I go home, I have to tell my people how crazy Westerosi men are,” Jalabhar found the situation funny.

I didn’t laugh. I wanted to trick him, but not this way. How can my plans still succeed even when they fail? I swear this world is mad and is getting madder with every day. I can only hope I won’t go mad with it.