A Young Lord's Ambition: Sweeping Through the Kingdoms and Subduing His Foes

Gawen Westerling stood atop the wooden wall of the siege camp, one hand resting on a rough-hewn log.

Dust billowed in the distance.

The nobles of the Westerlands were galloping away.

They had abandoned their weapons and armor. Some had even stripped the armor from their horses to lighten the load.

They thundered past his camp, racing toward the Westerlands without a single one stopping to bring him word.

Not one of them even bothered to speak to him.

"Bastards."

Gawen Westerling forced the word through clenched teeth, but there was nothing else to say. When disaster struck, everyone looked out for themselves.

He knew the army was in trouble. No, it was worse than that.

He watched his fellow nobles, usually so arrogant, flee like beaten dogs.

The army of the Westerlands was finished.

A deafening clamor of battle rose behind him.

That was Walter Hean.

The old bat trapped in his cage had sensed something too.

He was leading the Riverlands garrison in a furious assault on the siege camp's defenses.

"My lord!"

A knight of House Westerling stumbled onto the wall. His helmet sat crooked, and terror filled his face.

"The Riverlands soldiers seem to know something's happened! They're fighting desperately to break out!"

"Walter Hean's gone mad! He's burning the fortifications so he and his men have no way back!"

Gawen Westerling watched those familiar banners retreat in panic, his heart turning cold.

"My lord, we should leave too," a knight of House Westerling said behind him, unable to hide the urgency in his voice.

"If the Riverlands men break through, we won't be able to leave at all."

Gawen Westerling did not turn around. "What about them?"

The knight fell silent. He knew Gawen Westerling meant the soldiers left to hold the camp.

The cries