Chapter 22: Westward Journey

The Blackwood soldiers were quite clever; most of them turned around in a chaotic mess and slipped away without looking back.

They left behind a bound captive and Santaga, who was groaning on the ground.

Andrew was about to order a pursuit, but Arthur raised a hand to stop him.

"Why? We have a sufficient advantage," Andrew said, puzzled.

"We had better hurry and take Brynden to Riverrun," Arthur explained.

Doing this was to prevent the Blackwood Jiaodu, Lord Tytos, from sending a large army to pursue Arthur.

With Arthur's thirty-five armored soldiers and twenty-some peasant soldiers, he could not hold off the thousands of troops from Raventree Hall.

One must know that both the Brackens and Blackwoods maintained standing armies of over three thousand men.

And the vast land from the Red Fork in the north to the northern bank of the Red Fork was mostly owned by Blackwood House.

There were also some that belonged to House Tully.

However, considering that the Red Fork and the Stony Fork further west divided the Tully lands into three parts, it was hard to say whether House Tully could best the Blackwoods on the north bank of the Red Fork.

But once they entered the Tully lands to the west, Tytos would likely not dare to use force arbitrarily on his liege lord's territory.

At that time, he would show the evidence to Edmure and have him preside over justice.

Andrew scratched his helmet, "But Lord Hendry did not order us to follow you to Riverrun."

"I will pay him a large sum of Gold Dragons as compensation for borrowing you. Additionally, everyone present will receive three Silver Stags each."

Upon hearing they could get three Silver Stags, the House Bracken soldiers immediately became excited.

"We are all House Bracken; Lord Hendry will agree."

"Exactly, Andrew, you are just a Knight; how dare you refuse Lord Arthur's request?"

"Isn't it just going to Riverrun? We will accompany you."

"The Tullys are hospitable; there is nothing bad about going there."

These soldiers were all commoners from the Riverlands, many of whom had no land at all before becoming soldiers, and they only earned four or five Silver Stags a month.

Just by taking a trip to Riverrun, they could get three Silver Stags; this was simply a pie falling from the sky.

In fact, this situation of maintaining large standing armies only occurred in the Riverlands and the Reach, which was controlled by the Tyrell roses.

Because the two regions were the second and first largest grain-producing areas in the Seven Kingdoms, they had enough food to support the excess population.

Coupled with a warm climate suitable for reproduction, and uneducated peasants who did not know how to practice birth control, the population grew significantly whenever there was a period of peace.

Robert had been King for fifteen years, and a new round of population growth was about to begin.

Unfortunately, the long summer that had lasted for nearly ten years was about to end, and the contradiction between food and population would be infinitely magnified.

By then, even if Robert were not dead, Westeros would be in chaos for a while.

During the Targaryen Dynasty, there were wars with Dorne that lasted for years, followed by several Blackfyre Rebellions; these could all consume the excess population to ensure that after the long summer ended, the remaining food in Westeros would be enough to feed the survivors until the next summer arrived.

It is worth mentioning that House Bracken was the main supporter of Daemon Blackfyre, the bastard of the Targaryen family, the so-called Black Dragon Party.

Facing the enthusiasm of the soldiers, Andrew found it hard to refuse.

In any case, it was Arthur who would explain it to Hendry and Lord Janos; he was just the executor.

Andrew convinced himself of this.

After binding Santaga and releasing the captives, the five hundred or so men formed ranks and set off.

Before long, Arthur's keep appeared before his eyes.

Several people were lying on the ground, a peasant-looking man was holding someone and crying loudly, and the Steward Amber and some peasant soldiers stood to the side.

The horse trotted, carrying Arthur to the front.

He recognized that this was Daren, a villager from Riverbank Village, who had followed him yesterday to capture Brynden and his cohorts.

The three people on the ground all seemed dead; looking at their bodies, which didn't have a single piece of good flesh left, they must have suffered greatly before dying.

The person Daren was holding was a young woman with a noticeably protruding belly; besides the shredded skin, a lot of blood was flowing from between her legs.

It was clearly a miscarriage.

"Seven Hells!" Arthur exclaimed loudly, "Did that Blackwood officer do this?"

Daren was crying and unable to speak, and Amber replied with some guilt:

"Yes, my lord. I am ashamed that I could not protect your people while you were away; I am not a good Steward."

"It is fine," Arthur comforted him.

Looking at the grief-stricken Daren, Arthur also felt a bit sad inside.

He jumped off his horse, walked up to Daren, and said, "I am ashamed that I could not protect you and your family. I swear, House Blackwood will pay the price for this."

This honest villager from Riverbank Village should have had his own little life; perhaps it wasn't very happy, but he had something to look forward to.

Yet, simply because of Brynden's act of pretending to be a bandit, three families were shattered.

These were not the villagers one could rob at will in Mount and Blade; these were living, breathing people.

Perhaps she was a wife, perhaps a daughter, perhaps a mother; in any case, she was a person with defined social relationships.

Just like that, she was tortured to death.

Arthur felt a faint hatred toward Brynden and that officer.

"Amber, go bring Brynden and his men out; I will take them to see Duke Hoster and have him handle this matter justly," Arthur ordered.

"Daren, are you willing to go to Riverrun to testify? The Duke will give you an explanation," Arthur asked, bending down.

Daren wiped his nose and looked at Arthur blankly, "I... I am willing, but can you let me bury my wife and child?"

"They are evidence; we need to take them to Riverrun," Arthur said softly, "We can wrap your wife and child in salt so they will not rot quickly."

Daren's eyes were empty; he neither nodded nor shook his head.

Arthur felt he must have agreed, so he ordered the servants in the castle to bring out salt to process the three corpses.

Additionally, some of the main household's soldiers were sent to transport grain; it would take two or three days to get from here to Riverrun, and it would not do to not bring enough food.

Fortunately, there was enough food stored inside Arthur's stronghold.

After instructing Amber to continue guarding the stronghold, Arthur set off with the criminals, captives, and five hundred soldiers.

Their destination was Riverrun, at the confluence of the Red Fork and the Stony Fork.

……

Raventree Hall.

"My Lord Earl, Young Master Brynden has been kidnapped by Arthur Bracken of Red Mill."

The sentry who escaped ran the fastest; he actually made it back to Raventree Hall by the next morning and reported the matter to Earl Tytos.

"Hmm? What about the Personal Guard by my son's side? What about Santaga? What about Roger? Are they useless? Over a hundred men couldn't handle one tiny Red Mill?" The Earl was furious.

The sentry dared not reveal the fact that Brynden had been posing as a bandit, so he had to be vague: "They were all captured. The remaining brothers saw that the situation was dire and, like me, returned to report to you. They are all on their way now."

"What a bunch of trash. Get out." The Earl clearly did not believe this explanation.

He stood up abruptly, paced back and forth in the hall a few times, and then ordered the anxious Steward beside him:

"Gather all the soldiers near Raventree Hall; we are going to bring my son back."

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(End of this chapter)