"Those bastards never learn their lesson," Mace shouted. "Once I bring the soldiers back to Highgarden, those bastards won't dare come."
"Fight when you can; when you can't, pull back your fist. That is the essence of warfare," Gendry stressed. But this was not something that could really be taught. The art of war lay in the mind, and studying the classics alone would not bring success.
Mace, the Lord of Highgarden, claimed to have spent twenty years on campaign, but even his victories had come from riding Earl Randyll's coattails.
On the whole, these lords of the Reach might have had the same problem: they were summer warriors. He had reminded them repeatedly, but how well they would carry it out was hard to say.
"We must also deal with Tywin and the others," Stannis continued. "Tywin is suspected of treason, and his crimes are beyond pardon. There are also his eldest son Jaime and his daughter Cersei. Word is that Tywin is regrouping. The Kingslayer is training the remnants who fled back, while his nephew Daven is helping his father recruit a new army in Lannisport."
"The Kingslayer is only a cripple," Mace said. "If we could advance on two fronts..."
"Casterly Rock and the Golden Tooth are two thorns in our side," Earl Yohn Royce said. "Countless men have met defeat before Casterly Rock."
The Golden Tooth guarded a great road that ran from the Riverlands through the mountains straight into the Westerlands. Under ordinary circumstances, an invasion of the Westerlands required taking the Golden Tooth first. As for Casterly Rock, that lofty, magnificent rock castle was another stone tortoise shell.
"If we take the Westerlands, Casterly Rock will be nothing but an empty castle."
Gendry stroked the Fire-Driving Ring on his finger. "Casterly Rock may be