"Break the chains! Kill these Myrish slavers!"
The knights charged through to the other side. Gendry regrouped them and led a second charge, sweeping from the front of the estate to the rear once more and settling the battle. Steel Fist, Long Spear, and Grey Wolf commanded the infantry of the Wolf Pack and the Free Army in pursuit of the fleeing enemy, reaping the full rewards of victory.
Gendry and the Golden Company's officers rode across the battlefield. With Bloodbeard dead, the Cat Company's rout accelerated, and this great mercenary company, second only to the Golden Company, fell apart.
After this battle, the Myrmen were terrified. There were even fewer opponents left in the Disputed Lands, and the Wolf Pack and the Free Army would sweep through the region.
"An army of exiles, but well trained enough!" Gendry's gaze passed over the Golden Company's senior officers and ordinary soldiers. The Golden Company had money, and its formations were tightly ordered.
The Golden Company's mercenaries flaunted all their worldly wealth, with a decidedly ostentatious air. In this, they were no different from other companies: they wore jeweled swords and engraved armor, fine silk clothing and heavy collars of gold thread. The gold bands on their arms were especially valuable, each worth enough to ransom a lord. Each band represented a year of service in the company.
"Congratulations on your great victory, Commander-in-Chief!" Homeless Harry praised him. Unable to refuse his officers' demands, he could only go along with them.
"I should thank you all as well. Had you arrived any later, the Golden Company could have gone straight to my Wolf's Den for the victory feast!" Gendry said flatly. Long Spear, Grey Wolf, and the others stood behind him. These warriors were covered in blood, carrying the savage air of men fresh from battle.
Gendry had seen through the Golden Company's game. They had watched and waited, choosing to advance only once the outcome was beyond reversal and the Cat Company and the Myrish alliance had been utterly defeated. They had added to an existing triumph rather than offered help in a desperate hour.
"You must be joking!" Homeless Harry summoned the courage to reply. He had come up as a paymaster, not a fearless warrior. Before Gendry, he felt as though he were facing a gleaming sword, and he paled in comparison.
"Please understand, the Golden Company is a mercenary company of ten thousand warriors. We cannot enter conflicts lightly," the Volantene paymaster, Gorys Edoryen, said apologetically.
"We merely wish to offer the commander a small measure of goodwill and friendship. The Golden Company will not stand in the way of your endeavors," said the Lyseni spymaster, Lansono Marr.
"And what does the Golden Company want?"
"Warriors appreciate other warriors. The Golden Company admires a fine man such as you, Commander-in-Chief. We support your claim to kingship, and we also wish to obtain your help. Westeros is our home.
"Have you thought this through, gentlemen? You're far too optimistic! The king has Lord Jon, Barristan, and the Kingslayer to assist him, the support of the Vale, the North, the Riverlands, and the Stormlands, and the wealth of Highgarden and Casterly Rock behind him." Gendry laughed, emphasizing the difficulties facing the Golden Company.
Leswell Peake raised his fist. "Though we have been exiled for a hundred years, we still have friends in the Reach. Highgarden is not as powerful as Mace Tyrell imagines. We have friends in Dorne as well."
"We have waited a long time already. We can wait a little longer. The queen grows prouder with every passing year. How many years can old Arryn live? Then there is Lord Renly, with ambitions of his own. We will have our chance, Commander-in-Chief!" the Golden Company's spymaster explained to Gendry. Though the company operated in the Disputed Lands, it also followed news from its homeland across the Narrow Sea.
"To my eyes, your plans to return home are nothing but bubbles! A hundred years ago, Daemon Blackfyre, the Warrior, and Aegor Rivers, Bittersteel, could not win. What chance do you have now?" Gendry pointed out their delusions without mercy.
"King Daeron had Lord Bloodraven to assist him then, along with his sons Baelor Breakspear and Maekar the Hammer. They stood united. Now undercurrents swirl around the Iron Throne. We are not entirely without a chance," Franklin Flowers stressed.
"An invasion of Westeros is a grand and difficult undertaking. Perhaps we must wait another year, or five, or even ten. There is no certain number. But we seek your friendship, so that when the Golden Company decides to cross the sea, the Wolf Pack might offer us some help," Homeless Harry said. He breathed a sigh of relief. They were not crossing the Narrow Sea right now, after all, and there would still be room to bargain in the future.
"As long as the Golden Company doesn't interfere with my taking the Disputed Lands, I'm willing to offer you some help," Gendry said vaguely. Both sides were offering empty promises anyway. So long as the Golden Company did not obstruct the Wolf Pack's advance, there was no harm in exchanging assurances.
"Then we could ask for nothing better!" The rising power of the Wolf Pack Company bore the Golden Company no ill will and would instead help and support it. Even a signal of cooperation was good news for the Golden Company.
After the Golden Company left, the Long Spear Company submitted to Gendry under its captain's leadership. Gendry readily accepted the eight hundred cavalrymen and brought them into his ranks.
Next came Brown Ben, leading the remnants of the Second Sons. After Mero was killed, the company's other members had elected Brown Ben as their captain.
"The Second Sons are willing to serve you, Commander-in-Chief! I am Ben Plumm, their newly elected captain." Brown Ben laid his longsword at Gendry's feet, then bent the knee in surrender.
"You certainly have a distinctive appearance, Captain Ben." Gendry studied him. Brown Ben was an unusual mixture of bloodlines, with a broad face, brown skin, a broken nose, thick gray hair, and large, black, almond-shaped eyes inherited from his Dothraki mother, with wrinkles at their corners.
"I have Braavosi, Summer Islander, Ibben, Qohorik, Dothraki, and Dornish blood. I even have a drop of House Targaryen's blood," Brown Ben said proudly.
"Look at our Captain Ben. What a kindly man he is!" Gendry said to Long Spear.
Brown Ben continued to grin foolishly, looking friendly and approachable.
"I know your story, Brown Ben. Our Captain Ben Plumm has a kindly face, and his smile makes him look even more benevolent. He's like the dependable uncle everyone loves, always gentle, full of marvelous stories and an elder's wisdom. Unfortunately, it's all a disguise. His smile never reaches his eyes, those eyes that so carefully conceal his greedy nature. This is a hungry, wary man." Gendry's words were like blades, filling Brown Ben with terror.
Brown Ben saw Long Spear, Grey Wolf, and the others beside Gendry flexing their hands, ready for action. Long Spear tightened his grip on his spear. The warriors' gazes were hard as iron. They were no ordinary mercenaries; now they were as savage as a wolf pack, as merciless as steel. A few blows would be all it took to kill Brown Ben here.
"Commander-in-Chief, you cannot do this! I have already surrendered to you!" Brown Ben's face went pale. A defeated man had no grounds to boast of courage, and cunning could not replace the brutal realities of war.
"Still, you're not completely useless. At least the Second Sons are fairly good at running away! How many men do you have left?" Gendry asked.
"More than four hundred!" Brown Ben replied.
"Everyone knows the Second Sons never keep their word. And the Myrmen are terrified now, especially of an attack by the Wolf Pack Company."
"What do you mean?" Brown Ben looked at Gendry.
"To be honest, I don't trust you, Brown Ben. The Second Sons are notorious, and far too cunning. I could wipe out your entire company, but I think keeping you alive might serve a better purpose. Go to Myr. You understand what I want!"
"I understand, Commander-in-Chief!" Brown Ben nodded. Gendry had already decided where they would go: back to Myr, to continue serving as Myrmen mercenaries—or rather, as the Wolf Pack's agents on the inside!
"You have already chosen wrongly once. I don't want the Second Sons making the wrong choice a second time. Otherwise, when I take Myr, the Wolf Pack will show no mercy!"
"Rest assured, Commander-in-Chief. There are old mercenaries, and there are bold mercenaries, but there are no old, bold mercenaries," Brown Ben said thoughtfully. "This time, I will not choose wrongly. I will stand with the victor."
Chapter 54: Jorah Mormont, the Great Bear
"Bloodbeard is dead! The Cat Company has been destroyed!"
"The Second Sons have surrendered! The Long Spear Company has surrendered!"
The destruction of the Cat Company seemed to toll Myr's death knell, a bell ringing for its governors and slavers. The slaves of Tyrosh and Lys were also stirred by the collapse of the Myrish army, and unrest and clamor began to grip the cities.
In this war, the Wolf Pack Company and the Free Army had won an overwhelming victory.
The Cat Company's captain, Bloodbeard, had died in battle, and the mercenary company had been utterly defeated.
The Second Sons' captain, Mero, the Titan's Bastard, had died in battle. Under their new captain, Brown Ben, the surviving members had surrendered to the Wolf Pack Company. Later, Brown Ben claimed that he could not endure the Wolf Pack Company's oppression and once again "defected" to Myr.
The Long Spear Company had switched sides during the battle and joined the Wolf Pack Company.
Of the three Myrish governors commanding two thousand free mercenaries and numerous slave guards at the rear, one had died in a slave uprising, one had been captured by the Wolf Pack Company, and the last had fled back to Myr in disgrace to deliver the news.
The Myrish warships supporting the land attack had swiftly fled back to Myr Bay after learning that the army had collapsed.
Apart from the Golden Company, whose position remained ambiguous and which was rumored to have helped the Wolf Pack Company during the battle, no major armed force in the Disputed Lands remained capable of challenging the Wolf Pack Company and the Free Army.
"Long live freedom!" Across the Disputed Lands, slave uprisings on the estates of the Three Daughters grew ever fiercer. On many estates, the slavers had already fled back to their cities before the Free Army arrived. Apart from Crown Town, the most chaotic center of free mercenaries, and a few dependent towns and estates near the Three Daughters, the Disputed Lands had been occupied by the Wolf Pack and the Free Army. The Wolf Pack had also marched beyond the Disputed Lands to attack Myr's dependent territories.
The Wolf Pack's frenzy swept across the entire Disputed Lands, rivaling the war of the Ninepenny Kings. Yet the Wolf Pack Company operated differently from the Ninepenny Kings. The Ninepenny Kings had relied on the Golden Company, pirates, and mercenaries to seize control of the Disputed Lands by force, and their grip had been loose. By contrast, the Free Army seized estates and recruited their slaves, giving it an endless supply of soldiers.
Gendry had ordered men to haul the Myrmen's Three Giant Trebuchets to the outskirts of Myr. Only the isolated city and its harbor remained, surrounded by Gendry on land. The three enormous Trebuchets were a fearsome sight. The Free Army took up positions to attack Myr, but did not advance.
The three Trebuchets had been renamed Wolf Pack, Liberator, and Freedom! The shadows of the enormous engines seemed to fall across the Myrish governors' hearts, leaving them in constant dread.
"Commander-in-Chief, you clearly have the strength to take Myr. Why don't you attack?" asked a burly, middle-aged man standing beside Gendry.
Jorah Mormont was an exiled knight from the North. He was a burly, middle-aged man with dark skin and thick body hair. Though slightly balding, he was still strong and sturdy. As an exiled northern knight, Jorah was a rare talent who understood the situation in Westeros, and he had been brought into the Wolf Pack's ranks along the way.
"There's no hurry, Jorah! War is not a game. I don't want lovely Myr, the city of craftsmen, smashed into oblivion!" Gendry looked at the city close at hand. He needed to restrain his desires and find a better way to take Myr. In his eyes, Myr ranked well above Lys and Tyrosh. It was a paradise for craftsmen, and that could be turned into a continuing stream of wealth.
The unfortunate Jorah had joined Gendry and could hardly wait to demonstrate his abilities before the Wolf King. Even if the North no longer welcomed him, gaining a position in the Disputed Lands offered him a new path.
Gendry continued to bleed Myr. After their defeat, the Myrish governors had paid him a large sum in gold as compensation. He had also obtained several warships from the family of the captured Myrish governor.
"Our next priority isn't here," Gendry told the friends beside him: Handsome Man, Long Spear, Steel Fist, and Jorah the Great Bear.
"Then what is your next move?" the Great Bear asked.
Gendry smiled without answering. While he feigned an attack on Myr, his next targets were actually the islands of the Stepstones-a diversion to strike elsewhere. Taking Myr alone would not be enough. Ideally, he also needed to consider Tyrosh.
Once Gendry's fleet captured the Stepstones, Tyrosh and Myr would be completely surrounded by land and sea. He had yet to repay Tyrosh for letting the Myr Fleet pass through last time.
"Inside Myr, I have the Second Sons planted as spies. Outside the city, I've seized its estates and granaries and set up the three Trebuchets. Once my final step is complete, I'd like to see how long Myr can hold out."
Politics and military action complemented one another, and military victory was the foundation of continued success.
"When facing the Three Daughters, a head-on clash between the main armies isn't particularly suitable. After all, the Three Daughters are the domain of cheesemongers and butter merchants." Taking the Three Daughters rarely involved tactics such as a direct clash between the main armies. The Free Cities were different from Westeros, and fleets were more important.
"With such a commotion in the Disputed Lands, will King Robert become wary of us?" Handsome Man asked. When it came to close contact with King Robert, Ser Jorah knew the most. The changing situation across the Narrow Sea might also draw Westeros's attention.
"Robert is no longer the king he once was. Most of the time, he leaves the affairs of the realm to Lord Jon!" the Great Bear said. "I only met the king during the Ironborn rebellion, when he knighted me. Back then, he was still a handsome, fearless knight. Now I hear he's become nothing but a fat whoremonger."
"Apart from whores, drink, and hunting, the king may only be interested in pursuing the remnants of House Targaryen, because he hates Prince Rhaegar's kin most of all. He won't be in such a hurry over the new situation in the Free Cities!" Jorah believed the Iron Throne would not obstruct the Wolf Pack Company's actions.
"Even if King Robert is a fat man, he still has men like Eddard Stark, the Kingslayer, Stannis, and Randyll under him," Long Spear said. "We should assess the powers around us carefully."
"Let's leave the Iron Throne's attitude aside. They have little interest in interfering across the Narrow Sea. A drunkard's realm is a disorganized realm. The more pressing danger is that Myrish envoys have gone to several cities, including Tyrosh, Lys, and Volantis. They're said to have gone to Slaver's Bay as well, but that's too far away!"
"Volantis! Volantis invaded Myr once!"
"Times change. Slavery is also the foundation of Volantis. Even if the Elephant Party still governs it, Volantis will never simply watch the Disputed Lands fall and the abolitionist movement rise." The Elephant Party consisted mostly of merchants and moneylenders who advocated conquering the world through trade. Some of its earliest members had been women, who had contributed greatly to overthrowing the Tiger Party's rule. In the three hundred years after the wars of the Century of Blood ended, the Elephant Party had controlled the government of Volantis, holding at least two of the triarchs' seats.
"Don't worry. The Elephant Party is far too cautious about war! Even if troops are to be sent, it will have to wait until the next election of triarchs, when the Tiger Party returns to power!" Gendry analyzed the situation calmly. He had several sources of intelligence. Besides Qyburn's team, the Golden Company had also shared some information with him.
"Besides Volantis, Commander-in-Chief, you also need to consider the threat of the Ironborn," the Great Bear suddenly added.
"The Ironborn have probably recovered from the last war by now. They're a pack of greedy bastards who love plundering. They often raid the Disputed Lands and the Stepstones, too, and they might join an attack against us!"
Chapter 55: The Rose's Envoy (Please keep reading)
The Golden Wine, a large merchant ship from the Arbor, sailed beneath a flag of blue-purple grapes, its prow cutting through the sea like a giant's finger.
"Since the Greyjoy rebellion was put down, the seas have been much calmer!" said a sailor of House Redwyne. "The Ironborn are behaving themselves, and there's no powerful pirate king in the Stepstones."
"That fool King Balon is old news! The Narrow Sea belongs to the Fireweed King and his slave brats now!" another sailor said mockingly as he opened a bottle of firewine. "But none of that matters, so long as I still have firewine and pear brandy to drink."
The rebellion launched by Balon Greyjoy had become a laughingstock. Balon had intended to restore the glory of the Ironborn, only to disgrace himself instead. His eldest and second sons had died in the war, while his youngest son, Theon, had been sent to the North as a hostage. As for Balon himself, he had once again sworn allegiance to the Iron Throne.
"They always come up with something new across the Narrow Sea!" Garlan Tyrell had already taken off his green robes and removed his Golden Rose Badge. Garlan was tall, even more strongly built, and wore a beard. He had changed into a purple cloak and blue armor, the colors of House Redwyne. The Highgarden guards accompanying him had all changed their colors as well.
Garlan had no choice but to pay attention to the changing situation across the Narrow Sea. A reshuffling of power among the Three Daughters was bound to affect Westeros in turn. There had been the Triarchy's war against the True Dragon after its alliance was formed, and the Ninepenny Kings' attack on the Stepstones after seizing the Disputed Lands.
The Spider's spies are everywhere. Even the halls of Highgarden and the Arbor cannot be free of his people. But the Spider's thoughts are impossible to fathom. We needn't be too nervous, Garlan thought.
Varys the Spider harbored deep schemes, but fortunately, not all of them served the Iron Throne. Where the friendship between Highgarden and Renly was concerned, the Spider had wisely refrained from discouraging it or warning the king.
"Is the Fireweed King a devil?" Margaery asked curiously. She too had changed into a pretty blue dress and covered her face with a veil. Still, her slender figure and gentle eyes remained visible.
"To the slavers and governors, yes. But to the slaves, he is a savior!"
"What sort of man would the Wolf Pack Company's Commander-in-Chief be?"
"I know the story of him and the Wolf Pack. Their desire for revenge drives them to fight in the Disputed Lands. He must be very strong; mercenaries worship strength. He must be very ruthless; otherwise, he could never trample the slavers' cities beneath his feet," Garlan said.
"So we're going to discuss cooperation with him now?"
"Not exactly cooperation, but I must meet the Fireweed King and his army. Wherever the Wolf Pack is headed, meeting him will give us a surer understanding," Garlan said. "The Disputed Lands are a fine granary, too. The Fireweed King controls those estates-the fireweed, the orchards, the wheat farms, and so on. That is wealth."
"But what about Highgarden's own army?"
"Highgarden's army has advantages in numbers and equipment. But war doesn't depend on those alone," Garlan said. "Highgarden has already missed too many opportunities."
War depended on many factors: equipment, numbers, courage, logistics, and command. The North's armies were less well equipped than those of the Reach and the Westerlands, but during the Dance of the Dragons, the Winter Wolves had still earned a fearsome reputation.
The Reach was wealthy and fertile, but somewhat fragmented. In war, House Tyrell always seemed to arrive too late. During the Dance of the Dragons, House Tyrell remained neutral. During the Blackfyre Rebellion, Longthorn missed the Battle of the Redgrass Field. During the War of the Usurper, they again missed the larger struggle, fixating on the siege of Storm's End.
Margaery understood a little more now. House Tyrell believed its power was not reflected in its standing at court, and that was why they were determined to prove themselves.
"I want to meet this Commander-in-Chief and see whether he is a conqueror, a Copper King, or a man content to indulge himself," Garlan said, his heart full of ambition.
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