Game of Thrones: Storm of the Stag

Through the black smoke filling the sky, Gendry saw small sailboats, merchant ships, and fragments of Tyroshi warships.

Some of the swiftest boats raced like swordfish. These had once been the black ships pirates used to plunder the Stepstones. Now they carried sailors and soldiers from the Narrow Sea Fleet and Wolf Pack Fleet, who swarmed ashore toward Tyrosh.

Some stretches were already choked with charred masts and sunken ships, blocking access to the stone quays. But Moloz was a smuggler, and smugglers knew the lay of Tyrosh well.

"Charge!" Sailors, archers, and infantry swarmed ashore together. Some gates in the outer city had already been thrown open by the uprising of the Free Slaves. The soldiers needed only to choose their landing routes carefully and plant the Wolf Pack banners on Tyroshi soil.

Tyroshi mercenaries and garrison troops charged out as well, but compared with Westeros, they had relatively few knights.

Blood met blood as the slaughter began. Rebelling slaves, Free Army soldiers, and Wolf Pack Soldiers roared as they attacked. The Tyroshi were far too easy to recognize; their hair alone gave them away. Flesh and blood flew as spears and battle-axes swung wildly.

"It seems the Warrior must have heard your prayers!" Ser Davos told Gendry. "Victory will be yours!"

Yet Davos felt far from comfortable. With Gendry in control of the fleet across the Narrow Sea, the mission Lord Stannis had entrusted to him had effectively failed.

A storm had risen at sea, but this storm came from another stag.

Chapter 72: Breaking the Lines

Tyrosh could now be considered only an isolated city. Having lost the Disputed Lands and its dependent towns, it was no more than an enormous city.

The most brutal naval battle in years past had been the Battle of the Howling Strait, when the Black Faction's Magic Dragons had joined the fighting. Most of the Triarchy's ninety first-rate warships had never returned.

Today's battle was not as brutal as that one, but it would still decide Tyrosh's fate. The fighting took place along the Tyroshi coast.

Apart from those destroyed or surrendered, the few stubborn ships of the Tyroshi fleet also met their end. The banners of the Three-Headed God fell one after another. Only the Wolf Pack banners still roared.

Boom! Boom! The arms of the trebuchets beside Tyrosh rose, one, two, three. Hundreds of stones climbed into the red sky, each as large as a human head.

The stones fell, either throwing up enormous splashes or smashing through oak decks, pounding living men into shattered bone, pulp, and mashed liver.

But the trebuchets did not remain effective for long. Many slaves had already overturned them or turned them around.

"Kill!"

"Kill all the slave masters!" The dock slaves of Tyrosh also took up weapons, welcoming the Wolf Pack Fleet and Narrow Sea Fleet. They performed the hardest, most exhausting labor on the docks and felt little attachment to Tyrosh.

Tyrosh was like an overripe fruit thrown to the ground, bursting with juice.

The city was now in utter chaos. With the rebellious slave army helping from within, many entrances to the outer city had been thrown wide open.

Gendry also set foot on Tyroshi soil. He donned heavy armor and carried his warhammer and Arakh.

"Charge!" Ser Jorah shouted. He followed behind Gendry into Tyrosh.

Jorah felt as though he had returned to the past, when he had been so young, so dazzling. Unfortunately, he had met her, that woman from the Reach.

Jorah had fought in the war to put down the Greyjoy rebellion. During the assault on Pyke, he had been the second man onto its walls, and King Robert had knighted him for his valor.

The warhorses kicked up dust as the cavalry ran headlong into a band of flamboyant Tyroshi mercenaries with hair dyed every imaginable color.

"Die, boy!" Their leader was lean and nimble, with smooth skin, lavish clothes, and several gold teeth. These helpless mercenaries seemed to be searching for a way to escape. They could no longer squeeze into the Black City.

The mercenary leader held two gleaming swords, their hilts shaped like the Three-Headed God.

Steel clashed with steel, swift as a raging storm, the movements too fast for anyone else to follow.

The mercenary leader's longsword struck Gendry's Blackscale Armor with a loud clang.

Bang! Gendry's warhammer roared, smashing the Tyroshi hero's head into a ruined watermelon.

Combat was a union of strength, speed, and courage. The Tyroshi mercenary's corpse collapsed like a sea fish bludgeoned to death.

"Why come to battle without a helmet?" Gendry rushed forward, and the Wolf Pack knights swept over the mercenaries like a flood.

Ser Jorah swung his longsword, carving a bloody path. He truly resembled a roaring bear, especially in battle. His skin was dark, his hair thick. Though he was slightly balding, he remained strong and sturdy.

Some defenders on the walls began firing crossbows at Gendry and Jorah, but the distance was too great. The bolts skimmed harmlessly across the ground.

Soldiers of the Wolf Pack and Free Army poured endlessly into Tyrosh, and the fighting in its streets and alleys grew ever fiercer.

"Lay down your weapons!" Gendry's knights drove forward in an arrowhead formation, destroying everything that dared resist!

The Weeping Tower stood at the harbor of Tyrosh, and the Dionysian Fountain lay within the city. But Gendry had no attention to spare for them. While the bloody battle raged in Tyrosh, Myr might also be falling into turmoil.

Tyrosh was being torn apart from within. Furious slaves shouted, seized weapons from the garrison, and opened the gates.

The remaining diehard slave masters and nobles had entrenched themselves in the Black City, determined to hold out to the end.

Tyrosh certainly produces plenty of mercenaries! Gendry thought. Tyrosh had more mercenaries than the Myrmen. Moreover, as land in the Disputed Lands was divided and the Free Slaves freed, many resentful mercenaries had fled to Lys and Tyrosh.

Spears, crossbows, battle-axes, and the screams of slaves overwhelmed everything. Apart from the inner city of Tyrosh, this battle had broken the enemy's lines and secured victory.

Gendry established his headquarters near the Dionysian Fountain, a conspicuous location.

"Commander-in-Chief, we've taken the outer city and docks of Tyrosh! Only the inner city remains beyond our grasp!" Jorah told Gendry. He had also brought along a commander of the rebelling slaves.

A tall, powerfully built man with a red beard knelt before Gendry, still smelling of blood.

"What is your name?" Gendry studied the brave man before him. Though his hair and beard were dyed red like a Tyroshi's, his features and build seemed to carry something of the ancient North.

"Raymond! They call me Wildlings. I was once one of the Free Folk Beyond the Wall. I was sold to Tyrosh when I was very young. I worked as a guard, trained children, and fought as a boxer, until I bought my freedom and became a free mercenary. I have never forgotten everything the Tyroshi slave masters gave me!"

"The Tyroshi robbed people of their freedom. Both the Old and New Gods would scorn them!" Gendry helped Raymond Wildlings to his feet. The Tyroshi had been the most savage in their slave raids, and now the uprising against them was the most terrifying.

Tyrosh had a thriving slave trade, and its slavers were extremely aggressive. They even sailed north, beyond the Wall, searching for Free Folk to enslave.

"Keep the freed slaves under control! I don't want their uprising to become too bloody, or we'll be no different from the slave masters before us!"

"As you command, Commander-in-Chief!" Raymond said.

"Where are the Archon of Tyrosh and the priests of the Three-Headed God?" Gendry asked Ser Jorah.

"The Archon of Tyrosh has taken the High Priest with him and sought refuge in the Black City."

"Make sure order is maintained in Tyrosh, at the banks, warehouses, and shops!"

"If those who surrendered can't manage it, have our soldiers take control!"

"Where is Aquad?" Gendry asked.

"Governor Aquad was imprisoned by the Archon because he told him you wouldn't attack so soon!"

I hope Aquad won't be that unlucky! Gendry thought.

"And the Black City of Tyrosh?" Ser Jorah asked.

Gendry looked at the Black City before him, enclosed by an oval wall of fused black stone two hundred feet high. A direct assault would indeed be difficult.

"Besiege it for now. Cut off its food supplies and water, and bring over the remaining trebuchets!"

"As you command!"

"Now clear out the strongholds the Tyroshi left behind, along with those diehard slave masters! We'll probably also need to wait for news from Myr!"

Chapter 73: Red Viper

"Liberator!"

"Liberator!"

"Father!"

"Father!" The slaves hailed him as Gendry rode his black horse through Tyrosh. Apart from the inner city, Tyrosh was now occupied by the Wolf Pack and Free Army.

Gray-white Wolf Pack banners and Free Army Banners fluttered overhead, replacing Tyrosh's traditional banners of the Three-Headed God.

"No slavery! No killing!" Gendry raised his hand. He saw the excited faces of the Free Slaves. Everyone called his name and tried to get close to him, their smiles filled with warmth and excitement. The slaves trampled their shackles underfoot and flung their slave identification tags into the sky.

The Onion Knight followed Gendry as well. He had to admit that this looked far more like House Baratheon's gifts: an immensely engaging charm, a forthright nature, and an extraordinary ability to turn enemies into friends. At least he was forthright on the surface. Deep down, Ser Davos believed the boy also possessed considerable strategic cunning. Stannis himself, by contrast, was the oddity in the house of the stag.

Behind Gendry and the Onion Knight rode Wolf Pack knights wearing gray-white cloaks, the Long Spear Company Cavalry who had joined him, and some knights of his own Free Army. The Unsullied followed as well, holding shields and spears. The steel spikes on their helmets gleamed cold as daggers as they watched their surroundings warily.

Gendry reached the largest temple of the Three-Headed God. The god dwelled in a tower with three turrets; his first head devoured the dead, and his third spat out newborns. Beside the gates of the Temple of the Three-Headed God stood a huge three-headed statue, and a square lay before the temple.

The knights all saw the slaves who had been hanged in the square. An unspoken sorrow and silence settled over them. These people had died before dawn. Their corpses resembled a black forest, executed by the governors of Tyrosh for rebellion and resistance. Now the situation in Tyrosh had been turned upside down, and these slaves had a better place to go.

"They died for freedom!" Gendry said. The slaves were laid out before the square, and Gendry personally led the others in covering them with shrouds.

"We will remember them. Burn their shackles and wash their bodies!"

"As you command!" Grey Wolf said. The temples of Tyrosh also had sisters who washed the dead and prayed for them. Whether noble or slave, the sisters would see them through their final journey. These victims also needed to be dealt with quickly, before the stench became overpowering and disease broke out.

"Commander-in-Chief, there have indeed been some cases of looting and rape in the city. Most weren't committed by our troops, but by the Free Slaves who joined us!" Ser Jorah and Raymond "Wildlings" hurried over.

"After the city fell, I already proclaimed that order must be maintained. The people of the North have punishments for dealing with thugs!" Gendry told Ser Jorah and Raymond. Both nodded.

Capable people were hard to find. Even with Gendry's troops stabilizing the city and restoring order, he needed suitable personnel to secure it.

"Commander-in-Chief, a raven from Maester Qyburn!" Grey Wolf, the commander of the Unsullied, brought Maester Qyburn's black raven. Gendry read Qyburn's message. Greater difficulties still lay ahead. "As you anticipated, a revolt has broken out in Myr. The rebels are attacking Free Army soldiers and Free Slaves. Brown Ben can settle the matter decisively! But the horsemen appear to have crossed the Rhoyne as well. Rather than ravaging the Disputed Lands, they are heading toward Myr! Judging by the size of their force, however, they do not appear to belong to the most powerful Khal Drogo!"

The predicament I face is the same one Daenerys will face in the future! Gendry thought. As a reformer and liberator, he would inevitably face revolts from the old nobles and slave masters. The only difference was that, as a male warrior, he could better resolve these troubles, and his soldiers were more numerous and more elite.

His present hardship lay in the relentless fighting. Besides besieging Tyrosh, he had to pacify Myr and face a Dothraki Khal. Ordinary cunning mercenaries would never accept such grueling, bloody warfare. That was why regular soldiers were necessary.

Which Khal could it be? Gendry considered it. Judging by their numbers, it should not be Drogo. Yet even under another Khal, those Screaming Warriors were formidable on open ground.

A rare opportunity! Even with the Dothraki attacking, if I win this battle, I'll not only greatly strengthen my reputation, but pin all the blame for betraying Myr on the Tyroshi and the governors of Myr! Two birds with one stone.

"Summon all the commanders at once!" Gendry told Grey Wolf.

"As you command, Commander-in-Chief!" Grey Wolf took note of the order.

The tent near the Dionysian Fountain was now packed with people. Unsullied guards stood in a circle, holding shields and spears. Only their leader, Grey Wolf, stood a little closer to Gendry.

"Gentlemen, a bloody battle is unavoidable. We cannot waste our precious time on the Black City!" Gendry said. "The Tyroshi and the fugitive governors of Myr have joined forces to bribe the Dothraki into attacking us!"

"What? Are you abandoning us?" Raymond Wildlings asked urgently. As a commander of the slave uprising in Tyrosh, he naturally feared a Tyroshi counterattack more than anyone.

"I'm not abandoning you, Raymond!" Gendry said. "The Dothraki horsemen have crossed the great river. They intend to destroy Myr. I must defeat them first!"

"Gentlemen, to save Myr and Tyrosh, and everything in the Disputed Lands, I must take up arms against these evil Dothraki. I will take part of the army back to Myr."

The commanders had little objection. Fighting on several fronts was extremely dangerous, and Myr was one of their rear bases. In the present situation, they had to secure Myr and drive off the Dothraki before they could govern Tyrosh more effectively.

"Give the orders!"

"Give the orders, Commander-in-Chief!"

"First is the siege of Tyrosh. Handsome Man will be responsible for continuing the siege of the Black City. Ser Jorah, the Free Army and Wolf Pack Company troops remaining here will obey your command. Wildlings Monde must also obey orders. Do not launch a direct assault before I return. Harris will take charge of absorbing the Tyroshi fleet, and Moloz will transport the soldiers and me," Gendry said.

The Black City of Tyrosh was certainly difficult to capture, but there was no need to storm such a stubborn fortress. Once he had completely pacified Myr, he would take the Black City in due course.

"Yes!"