In the night after the war.
The cold wind seemed to blow the smell of blood not far away into the tent.
Inside a military tent that had become the "Stormlands and Starpike Joint Camp", there was a sense of dead silence and oppression in the air.
The original Horn Hill knights who were captured and placed here had their hands tied and were sitting crowded under the temporary detention tent.
Horn Hill The adjutant of the army Alyn Sir Hunter looked at the corner of the tent silently with his eyes. The blood stains on his armor slowly condensed into dark brown. He did not fight in close combat, and he did not know where these stains came from.
Perhaps what he smelled was not the bloody smell outside the camp, but simply his own body.
His cousin Hale Hunter was half a head shorter than him, only five feet eight inches tall. He was leaning against the tent wall, sighing again and again with a melancholy look on his face.
Obviously, what he experienced today had a severe impact on him.
Alyn Hunter's eyes moved over.
Cousin Haier has the same fluffy hair and hazel eyes as him, but has an honest face. There seems to be a small scar next to his left ear, which is oozing a little blood.
Well, maybe it's not from him, but from the smell on Haier's ears.
Withdrawing his gaze from the bloodstained ear, Sir Alyn continued to stare at the ground in silence.
Occasionally, when the curtain was lifted by the wind, the smell of blood lingering in his nose intensified, and he could catch a glimpse of the cold light on the spear tip of Peake Soldiers standing guard outside.
"It's all Mr. Earl's fault! Peake who trusted Starpike and put their useless Whitegrove behind us. Looking back now, this is simply suicide!"
A gray-haired knight named Quen suddenly clenched his fists and his excited voice was filled with irrepressible anger.
"If Randyll·Tarly hadn't trusted Starpike's troops and placed them in the rear as a reserve force to suppress the battle, how could we have allowed those traitors to find an opportunity and turn against each other?
We have obviously achieved good results on the front line, and we are about to drive out the Stormlands people, but we are stabbed in the back by our own people and become prisoners!"
The young Knight of Quen seemed to be defeated by the reality at hand. He looked very angry. As soon as he couldn't hold back his words, he even blamed the dead Lord Earl.
"Queen, shut up!"
Hale Hunter, the commander of the Horn Hill archers, whose ears hurt so much that he couldn't sleep, listened to his herald's unbridled speech and immediately shouted to stop.
His body, which was leaning against the tent wall, suddenly sat upright. He was short in stature, but he had an imposing manner.
"Randyll·Tarly fought to the last moment and died at the hands of Starpike Earl. He had tried his best! He didn't expect that the Peake family would actually come back at such a critical moment. I didn't even expect it myself!"
At that time, Hale Hunter obeyed the order conveyed by Randyll Earl and followed his cousin Alyn Hunter to House Peake's formation. He also showed off the airs of a veteran in the army and relied on his seniority to ask the other party to cooperate.
In order to cover the archery team, Horn Hill's second-rate spearmen suffered heavy casualties. The Randyll·Tarly in front of the siege Robert were preparing to replace them with the upgraded version of Peake Pikemen Corps, killing Stormlands's people----
That's what they thought at the time.
Who would have expected that young Starpike Earl would be so ruthless and completely disregard the friendship between the two families.
The Peake family launched a swift sneak attack from behind. After one wave, the resting archery group was forced to surrender. It was an unjust defeat.
He paused, with a hint of helplessness in his tone. "I didn't expect it, did you foresee it again? It's also the fault of Earl's wrong arrangement - I can only say that Titus----Titus Earl was too decisive, and the timing of the attack was too fatal."
On other people's territory, Hale Hunter hesitated again and again, but finally did not dare to utter insults.
In any case, Titus killed Horn Hill Earl in a one-on-one duel.
For Westeros, who has a strong knight atmosphere, he may feel unhappy about the Peake Army's sneak attack, but he will not easily question Titus·Peake's personal honor.
It must be questioned that House Tarly members who were former allies have this qualification.
House Tarly member----
Thinking of this, Haile Hunter suddenly turned his head and met his cousin Alyn Hunter who seemed to be thinking of the same thing.
Earl is newly married and has no children yet. Could it be said that the next Horn Hill Earl will be found in the collateral lineage?
The Quen knights over there are still unhappy. Now everyone is a prisoner. There is no distinction between big and small in the enemy camp. How can they care about their original superiors and subordinates?
He seemed to want to refute again, but suddenly heavy footsteps came from outside the military tent.
Two Earl guards, who were fully armed, wearing plate armor and black gold-rimmed cloaks on their shoulders, opened the curtain and entered. They stood still and glanced coldly at the group of prisoners in the tent.
Everyone immediately fell silent, and Sir Quen, who had just caused the dispute, even shrank back.
"Horn Hill's Hunter brothers, come out!"
They all glared at the shrinking young knight.
Alyn Hunter and Hale Hunter, whose names were called, looked at each other, stood up calmly, and were escorted out of the tent by the guards, leaving the knights in the tent to fall into deep silence again.
The cousins were brought to another wider military tent, which was brightly lit with candles and could even illuminate the outside.
The moment they opened the curtain and walked in, Alyn Hunter and Hale Hunter's pupils shrank suddenly.
The center of the military tent.
A man in black armor was lowering his head to clean a giant sword that they were very familiar with.
The sword body is very long, black and wide. As the angle changes, there are occasionally beautiful golden fine lines swimming on the surface of the sword body, shining with a beautiful halo. It is the famous "Heartsbane" of House Tarly.
On the wooden table on the side, there is an object wrapped in white cloth. A corner of the white cloth is opened, revealing half of the "face" inside. It is Randyll·Tarly Earl who is still energetically giving orders during the day.
Horn Hill Earl's hair is neatly combed, her eyes are closed, and at least her expression looks peaceful.
"You two Sir Hunters, you are well."
The man in black armor looked up, revealing a young and handsome face.
The Hunter brothers were in a daze. Once upon a time, they had ridiculed this Earl in private, saying that he was a pretty boy who looked nothing like Dornish Marches.
Starpike Earl put down the rag used to clean the sword, and ran his fingertips over the House Tarly coat of arms at the sword's head, thinking that the decoration on this piece needed to be changed.
There was a hint of a smile in his tone, "I understand that you are all in a difficult situation now. House Tarly has always treated your family well, and it is human nature not to want to break the oath. But right now, your lives, and the lives of your men, are all in my hands."
Alyn Hunter stared at Randyll Earl's head with half of his face exposed, his teeth chattering. "Sir Titus! Earl fought to the last moment and still refused to surrender, and we will never surrender----"
"Don't surrender? Oh, I'm afraid you don't know much about your current situation. Do you understand that you are in danger now?"
Titus chuckled, holding the giant sword, stood up and walked to the two people whose hands were tied. The huge black sword was very light in his hands, playing swordsmanship slowly and dangerously.
"Think about your family's coat of arms, and then think about the fact that this is Crowned Stag's territory, or think about it again, how many Stormlands people have you killed today?
The reason why you are still alive and receiving basic care is all because of me, ensuring your safety. If you surrender, I will guarantee that you will continue to be the commander, but you will just be replaced by another person to lead the troops, and you will do the same job.
If you don't follow——"
Titus holds a sword in one hand and points to "Randyll·Tarly" on the wooden case with the other hand. "----That is your fate. Your troops will also be broken down into cannon fodder by me and filled into the flesh and blood ravines of the next battlefield.
You see, no matter what method I use, I can always use their lives to my advantage.
In this case, why should you treat yourself badly and not think about you and your subordinates, obey me, and join the Peake family?"
Hunter brother: