Within mere days, an army of vengeance nearly twenty thousand strong, composed chiefly of hate-filled nobles' private troops, surged toward the Westerlands beneath Highgarden's Golden Rose and the Crowned Stag.
Gendry rode a powerful warhorse, clad in heavy plate engraved with the Crowned Stag, his enormous warhammer hanging beside his saddle.
Barristan Selmy followed close behind in white armor and a white cloak.
Randyll Tarly served as commander-in-chief of this Revenge Army.
Upon entering the Westerlands, they bypassed the strong castles and fortresses, sweeping across its vast fields and scattered towns and villages.
Wherever they passed, thick smoke billowed up, blotting out the sky and sun.
In the fertile Crakehall valley, golden wheat fields were set alight, the flames devouring crops almost ready for harvest and staining the sky a sickly orange-red.
Farmers tried to fight the fires, crying out, only to be cut down mercilessly by cavalry from the Reach.
Villages burned, their thatched roofs cracking and popping as wooden beams collapsed in showers of sparks.
Women's screams and children's wails mingled with the soldiers' wild laughter.
Soldiers burst into every house, seizing everything.
Whatever they could not carry, they smashed or burned.
The army of the Reach proved unstoppable in the poorly defended Westerlands, easily crushing the small garrisons along its route.
At last, Lannisport's magnificent walls and bustling harbor appeared on the horizon.
The wealthiest city in the Westerlands was now shrouded in panic.
Ships moored in the harbor weighed anchor and fled, while crowds thronged the walls.
A Lannister army nearly ten thousand strong hastily formed ranks on the open ground outside the harbor, attempting to halt the army of the Reach.
Its commander was Ser Daven Lannister, Tywin's cousin's son.
He galloped before the ranks, trying to rally their flagging spirits. "For Casterly Rock! For