Impact, Impact, Impact

The earth trembled.

Dorne's cavalry struck first. These light horsemen, mounted on squat sand steeds, broke into a trot as soon as they had taken position, slowly advancing toward the infantry-packed center.

Lord Tully looked toward the cavalry led by Aslan Longdell on the other flank. Only after confirming that they had not charged merely because the Dornish cavalry had moved did he let out a long breath. The nobles beside him, also from the western Borderlands, glanced at Lord Tully in puzzlement.

"Lord Donald, aren't we attacking?"

Lord Tully shot the muscle-brained fool of a nobleman a contemptuous look. "Can you outrun Dornish light cavalry, or do you want to find out what it feels like to be harassed to death by javelins and horse archers?"

The young man from the east was unexpectedly more familiar with Dornish cavalry tactics than these locals who had fought the Dornish for years. Lord Tully could not help but raise his assessment of Lonzell's retainers. He knew the Dornish cavalry's methods well. Dornish sand steeds were not as large as the horses of the Stormlands and the Reach, but they were lighter and faster. That was why the Dornish favored lightly armored cavalry, leaving their horses unarmored while their riders usually wore lighter gear as well. In a head-on charge, Borderlands cavalry could crush Dornish cavalry, but the Dornish preferred to lure northern knights beyond the protection of their infantry, then exploit their superior mobility to hurl javelins or loose arrows at them. This was one of the key tactics that allowed Dornish cavalry to stand against the better-equipped Andal knights.

The Dornish cavalry began to accelerate. Wielding lances and curved swords, the horsemen howled as they charged the infantry line.

But the cavalry on both flanks still did not move.

"Set your spears! Set your spears!" Lord Edric Dondarrion and Amos Fezer commanded the center. The two worked in perfect coordination: Edric gathered the pikemen among the infantry and formed a spear wall before the central army, while Amos Fezer summoned every longbowman and crossbowman among the foot soldiers.

The Dornish javelins and arrows came, but they were launched from too far away. The shafts drifted down weakly before the infantry line.

"Loose!"

The Borderlands longbowmen and crossbowmen answered. The Borderlands longbowmen were no less accurate than the archers of the Riverlands—perhaps even better. Their finely crafted yew longbows existed for one purpose: to send arrows into the heads of enemies their people had hated for centuries.

The Dornish cavalry instantly scattered. The dense rain of arrows struck the ground, bringing down only a few Dornish light horsemen. But the scattered riders could do nothing against the Borderlands pikemen's three-layer spear formation. Several Dornish horsemen who had charged too quickly were dragged from their saddles by the first rank of infantrymen bearing twenty-foot spears. Their horses snapped a few spears before being pierced full of bloody holes by the twelve-foot spears of the second and third ranks. The remaining riders urgently reined in their mounts, lest they crash into the formation as well.

The earth trembled.

Of course, a few unlucky infantrymen had been nailed to the ground by the javelins of the charging Dornish riders.

"Withdraw." Having failed to draw out the Borderlands cavalry, Lord Toland ground his teeth in fury. But the Dornish cavalry had already lost its attack formation, and continuing their advance against an infantry formation that vastly outnumbered them would be suicide. Beside him stood Waylon Vail, the last surviving descendant of House Vail. When Wyl had been burned, he had been scouting outside with cavalry and had escaped disaster.

Relying on their faster horses, the Dornish cavalry began to pull away from the infantry line.

"Pikemen, advance! Don't let those Dornish bastards break away!" Seeing the Dornish cavalry regroup, Lord Edric immediately realized what was about to happen. He slapped his warhorse and urged the pikemen forward, lowering their spears as they advanced in formation toward the cavalry.

"Lord Toland, the Borderlands cavalry is moving!" A knight of the Uller family suddenly pointed. Lord Toland turned and saw silver-armored cavalry charging at the forefront, with a great host of Borderlands riders close behind. They were already about to cut off the Dornish cavalry's retreat.

"How are they so fast?"

"They were on higher ground." Waylon Vail understood at once why the Borderlands cavalry had repositioned so quickly. "Lord Toland, we must join the infantry as soon as possible."

"I know." Lord Toland immediately turned his horse around. But the same rumbling thundered ever closer from the other side. "Seven hells, damn Tully."

The green banner of the striding huntsman unfurled in the wind. Lord Tully charged at the front with the greatsword Heartsbane in hand. The knights of the western Borderlands had inherited the Reach's fine traditions; most wore handsome plate armor and carried several different weapons.

Only then did Lord Toland realize how foolish it had been to gather his cavalry for a breakout. Lord Tully's heavy cavalry smashed into the Dornish formation like a massive hammer.

A Dornish rider immediately wheeled his horse around to meet them, but a thunderous blow struck his chest, hurling him straight out of the saddle. Splinters flew everywhere. The knight who had just knocked him down discarded his broken lance, drew his longsword, and charged into the cavalry, hacking left and right. Lord Tully, wielding Heartsbane, lopped off a Dornish rider's head with one stroke. Raising his gaze, he saw a knight of House Jordayne charging toward him with a lance. Lord Tully squeezed his legs against his horse's flanks and raised his greatsword. The keen Valyrian steel blade cut straight through the enemy's lance. The next thing it cut through was the Dornish knight himself. Even his hot blood failed to leave a trace on the great blade.

The cavalry led by Aslan Longdell had also completed their encirclement of the Dornish riders. The silver-armored young knight swung his Valyrian steel sword, Lion King, cutting down one enemy with every stroke. Whether they wore gold-inlaid scale armor or chainmail, Dornish armor could not survive even a single exchange against Valyrian steel.

"Retreat! Retreat!" Lord Toland raised his mace and shouted as he spurred his horse southward. Then he crashed head-on into Harlow Selmy, the young lord of House Selmy. The short, powerfully built young knight raised his own mace and met him. With one blow, he deflected old Lord Toland's mace. Lord Toland nearly fell from his saddle after losing his balance. Before the old lord could react, Harlow Selmy's mace came crashing down. The green dragon swallowing its tail, enamelled onto his breastplate, cracked with a sharp snap. Lord Toland spat out a mouthful of blood from the blow and rolled straight off his horse.

"I surren—"

Before he could finish the word, a riderless warhorse charged in from the side. It stomped Lord Toland several times and dragged Harlow's horse away with it. Poor Harlow could only watch his achievement disappear beneath the hooves.

On the other side, Waylon Vail met his own opponent. Aslan had personally come for him, Lion King in hand. Waylon instantly recognized that the sword in Aslan's hand was extraordinary. He did not dare engage, but Aslan's blade was already before his eyes.

Waylon did not even manage a word before his head was cut off.

Watching his cavalry collapse, Lord Uller's eyes reddened as he grinned savagely. The Uller family knights beside him began looking at their lord differently.

Thinking that their heir was still normal, several Uller family knights quietly began backing away, wanting to leave the battlefield as quickly as possible. Then they saw a sight they would never forget for the rest of their lives.

Vomysor descended from the sky, and a breath of dragonfire crashed down upon the Dornish ranks like a waterfall. Surging flames spread continuously toward the rear of the formation. The unarmored peasant soldiers at the front screamed and fell to the ground, gradually turning to ash in the flames. The fully armored infantry in the rear screamed as well. Iron and bronze armor slowly melted beneath the blazing fire, together with the men inside it.

The crazed Lord Uller was thrown from his burning mount and fell into the wall of fire created by Vomysor. Even the knights chasing the Dornish cavalry at the front could hear his agonized screams clearly.

Silverwing flew in from another direction, pouring down an identical column of fire. It crossed the wall of flame created by her brother, and another long line of fire cut through the Dornish infantry formation.

The Dornish infantry collapsed. The two dragons crossed through the sky, continuously pouring fire upon the earth. Walls of flame blazed among the crowd, dividing the Dornish into scattered sections.

Wails covered the entire battlefield.

And the Borderlands knights would bring the Dornish in the sea of fire the mercy of the Stranger.

Lord Tully and Aslan abandoned their pursuit of the last fleeing wave of Dornish light cavalry and led their riders in a charge against the collapsing Dornish infantry.

The morning sun slowly rose, spilling light across the arid plains.

The flames gradually died out, leaving behind only ash and corpses.

House Toland's green dragon banner turned to ash in the flames. The Uller family's crossed-flames banner was so tattered that only its pole remained. House Vail vanished completely in dragonfire, while House Jordayne's green checkered quill banner was stained and damaged beyond recognition.

Jacaerys and Lucerys tried hard to identify the captured banners while Vomysor and Silverwing landed nearby to feast on roasted horseflesh and human flesh.

This meal would keep Vomysor and Silverwing from needing to hunt again for a long time.

"Your Highness." Lord Edric Dondarrion approached Lonzell, who was taking deep gulps from a waterskin, with a small notebook in hand. "It has been confirmed. Lord Toland and Lord Uller are both dead. We have won a great victory." The joy on Edric's face was beyond words. At last, he had avenged his son.

"Thank you, Lord Dondarrion." Lonzell nodded and rose with the waterskin in hand. "You have all worked hard. When we return to King's Landing, I will hold a victory feast for everyone. Anyone who has earned merit here will be rewarded."

"Long live Prince Lonzell!"

A soldier clutching a Dornish rider's head immediately stepped forward and shouted.

Then wave after wave of cries spread outward, until even the two princes could not help shouting, "Long live Prince Lonzell!"

Both dragons threw back their heads and roared, as though they too were celebrating the victory.

Great Sand Dune.

The morning sun brushed over the tattered banner of the golden spear piercing the sun.

Dead bodies and screaming warhorses lay everywhere, all proving that a brutal battle had taken place here the previous night.

"What a pity we didn't catch that son of a bitch Qoren." Though Lewyn Yronwood complained aloud, his face was filled with smiles. Tigaro followed at his side, coldly surveying the corpses strewn across the ground.

After confirming that Lord Fowler's forces had made no unusual move and had instead sent part of their troops back to defend Skyreach, Lewyn decisively chose to gamble. He immediately set out with fifteen hundred cavalrymen and reached Great Sand Dune before nightfall.

Unfortunately, Qoren was skilled at commanding troops. Even after the chaos caused by the cavalry's night raid, he had managed to gather several hundred surviving soldiers and withdraw calmly. Lord Lewyn had failed to finish the battle in a single stroke.

But the army painstakingly assembled by the Martell family had scattered completely. Only after retreating dozens of miles in disarray did Qoren barely manage to gather more than a thousand men.

The sun had been defeated.

Dorne's sky had fallen.

Second update check-in.