Ch. 3 - Lines in the Sand

Drezielle
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Ser Orvus had done well in charge of Tynker during their absence, and Zel was grateful that for once, things seemed to be working right. The blood collectively on their hands did not disturb her so much. She had seen far more petty murders, with less at stake, and she knew Felsward would have been a danger to them all. Now, they might have a fighting chance. But they were only back at the tower a couple of weeks when Ser Orvus brought word that the miller's daughters, returning with the new millstone, had seen an army on the Rose Road, coming this way. Zel was sent out as a scout to learn what she could.

It was getting cold at night, but she had dealt with cold before, and Zel left her horse at the bottom of a hill and went sneaking towards the camp. It was a large army, over a thousand strong, certainly larger than the forces that trained at Tynker. They had set up a good picket, and guards, and she tried sneaking through, but a piece of her clothing snagged on one of the lines and the bells attached to it rang. She backed out and ran, and made her way painstakingly to the other side of the camp. It was marshy here, and she ended up with one leg wet and freezing nearly to the thigh. This time, she decided to go through the guards. She threw a knife, catching one in the throat, and as his partner looked over to see what had happened, she rushed him and stabbed him before he could cry out. She was at last in the camp, and was trying to edge along the tents to overhear what she could, but luck was not on her side. She tripped over a tent pole and the noise had guards running towards her. She had no choice but to run, out of the camp and back to her horse, and take off back to Tynker.

She arrived cold and damp and feeling ill. She gasped out what little she had learned and went to bed. While she rested, the others began making preparations for war. They had learned enough about Tynker's defenses to be able to capitalize on their location, and that would most certainly help. By the time Zel was on her feet again, there had been a barricade built, and fire pits, and numerous other preparations for siege made. They were finished just in time, as the army hove into view. Four riders came forward and asked for parlay, and Zel rode out with the others to talk. From the start, it did not go well. One of them was in shining, fancy armor, with a standard Zel had never seen, and Cyril explained in a low voice that it was the symbol of the Sons of the Sept, an order of holy knights thought to have vanished into history. They tried to speak to Toby, who told them to leave. Then they started appealing to Maester Cyril's reason, and Toby, feeling slighted at being ignored, shouted for them to go. When he felt they had ignored his warning and the others' protests long enough, Toby drew his sword and attacked. Zel got out of the way. There was a skirmish, and Toby injured one of the men badly enough that they all retreated, and Florie had to get in front of him before he would even listen to her telling him to ride back. It had been answer enough for the army at the mouth of the valley, and they rode in. Zel helped get their own forces ready, and soothing those who thought they had seen their lord strike the first blow. A few more stretched truths, Zel knew, would hardly be anything at this point.

Tobias
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Tobias would have faced the army head on himself, but Florie had begged him to stay back, to lead by shouting orders rather than by example. He quelled the battle rage that came so easily to him, and started relaying orders. Cyril and Florie would be in charge of the men still in the tower, and Zel would help Tobias hold the base of the tower for as long as possible. It was a good plan, he knew, and it utilized their smaller forces to the best advantage, but the army coming towards them was formidable. He would in any case put up a good fight. Tower archers and archers on the cliff side felled the front line of the attacking forces, and then it was a battle in earnest, all clashing blades. Toby rode through, taking down enemies wherever he could, more comfortable in flat out battle than in leadership.

The hastily constructed barricades held as well as they could have hoped, but enough work by enemy soldiers, and those walls began to fall. And then came their horsed men, and the fight got bloodier. Tobias was forced to order their troops back behind the pits they had dug, and he gave the signal for Cyril's archers to light the fires. Flaming arrows hit the mark, and the fires roared up to catch their oncoming enemies by surprise, burning brilliant green. He could hear his wife shouting from the tower, encouraging their men that this was a sign, that the Seven were truly with them in their struggle. Lit by holy green fire, the battle continued.

Drezielle
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During the battle, Zel accounted well for herself, but she knew that her strengths were better suited to other pursuits, and even as she fought, she found herself watching the battle as if from farther away. Their enemies were now almost all in the valley, and if they were forced to retreat, they could be cut off. If, of course, there was anyone to cut them down as they drew back. They had men on the cliff sides but no way to reach them, to send a message that they should move along and get to the mouth of the valley. Zel made a decision, and rode away from the battle, to the back of the tower. She shed her heaviest armor, and began to climb the cliff face. She was dizzyingly high when she slipped and then caught herself, heart pounding. A fall now would mean death. She tried again, but she was stuck where she was, and her grip would not hold for much longer. Then she heard Florie's voice faintly from the top of the tower, shouting where a handhold could be seen. With that, Zel managed to drag herself up. The climb was more painful now, and she had another terrifying slip, barely managing to catch herself on a protruding root. She didn't know how far she was from the top, only that she must keep climbing. Then, something hit her lightly on the shoulder. A rope was being lowered. She scrambled to hold onto it, and let the astonished men at the top pull her up. Now, she could direct them to where they would be most useful.

Tobias
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Though their enemies had been a little stunned by the miracle fire at first, they had nonetheless pressed on, and the tower forces were forced to draw back even more and prepare to defend the tower itself. Toby knew he was supposed to go back in, but his wife and Cyril could easily command the men inside. And he could not in good conscience, leave men wounded outside, doomed to die because they could not retreat. So he got as many into the tower as he could, and ordered the gates shut and barred, with him outside. He saw Zel on the cliff, but could not think what she was doing there, and then the fighting was too brutal to think of much else.

This was more like it, Toby thought, battling without having to order others around. His battle rage was so strong that he didn't notice the small wounds he took, and barely realized that as he fought, his horse took injuries too. The animal was dying underneath him, and as it collapsed, he had just enough presence of mind to jump free of it. Then he heard more hoofbeats, and as he turned to look, he saw Corwin leading a new horse from behind the tower. The boy was pale, but clearly determined to do his duty, and with no way to send him back now, Toby took the horse and ordered Corwin to stay close. No sooner had he done that than a lance hit him full on in the shoulder, and Toby turned to see one of the Sons of the Sept readying himself for another blow. Toby turned and fought, but the paladin had not been fighting so hard as him, and though Toby was plenty ready to fight more, his limbs seemed sluggish. The man had dropped the lance and gotten out a morning star, and he swung it. It hit Toby square in the chest, and he could hardly see for the pain. He felt something crumple, felt like he couldn't breathe. He willed himself to move, and managed to stab his opponent, but it was not a killing blow. The man swung the morning star again, but then his horse shied. Corwin ran back away from it, and Toby could see what had happened. The young squire had stabbed the horse in the flank. This gave Toby the time he needed to heft his sword and swing it at the paladin's neck. It struck true, and the man fell, nearly beheaded.

Then, with the world a red mist around him, Tobias saw that the attacking forces were retreating, and being mowed down by archers on the cliffs, which must be Zel's doing. And then he didn't see anything at all.

Florie
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As soon as it was safe to unbar the gates, Florie had men go out and fetch Tobias, her heart pounding. She had seen him slump over his horse, and after the fight she had witnessed, she feared the worst. She got him inside, and found that he was still breathing at least, and she called immediately for Cyril to tend to him. As they carefully took his battered armor off, she saw that where the morningstar had hit his chest, the charm he wore had crushed against his skin, and though he bled, nothing seemed to be broken. The Faith had protected him. Florie got out of Cyril's way as he worked, though she stayed close. At last, Tobias opened his eyes again, and croaked out that he wanted to knight Zel. He would not be persuaded to wait, and when Zel was brought in, he forced himself up and ordered them all outside, so he could anoint Zel in the ways of the new Faith, under the skies and with the blessings of the Seven as he now knew them. With so many changes, it was a little thing to knight Zel as a woman, and to give her a name in place of Flowers. A little stunned, she knelt before Toby, and rose as Dame Drezielle Ivy. Florie ushered her husband back into the tower and into bed, and went about taking stock of what they had. She was worried about a second push against them, with so many of their own wounded or dead, and Tobias injured as he was.

She needn't have worried. In the morning, the remainder of the forces that had amassed against them were gone. They had proven Tynker too defensible. Florie was pleased at this, but now they must use what precious little time they had to try to get into Highgarden. They sent women into the city, to seduce and manipulate important people, to wait for a signal and carry out key assassinations, to open the gates when the army arrived. Zel began working with a handpicked group that would be able to climb the walls and infiltrate secretly into Highgarden when the time came. Florie started writing letters. Their own forces were not enough, not even if they amassed more over another month or two. So she wrote to the Dornish, choosing their royalty and a few important families to send word to. Dorne had never bent the knee, had always remained apart whenever they could, and if anyone was sympathetic to a region trying to break away, it would be them. She entreated them to send their forces, and promised that their rule would mean that The Reach would no longer bow to the king on the Iron Throne. She agreed to acknowledge and help protect Dornish sovereignty. Then, Florie spent a great deal of time working on a letter to Axel Florent. She knew she could not trust him, but she knew too that she needed more than his verbal support. She needed to know that he really would acknowledge her as a Gardener and as the rightful leadership of Highgarden. Florie deliberated, and then in her letter asked for Florent to meet with them in secret, to bend the knee, and to take his place as the Hand of the Gardeners.

They met in Meadowlark, since it was a location they knew well and felt comfortable in, and it would be far away enough from Tynker that Florent would not see just how thin their forces were. It was important that they get his pledge before he could raise doubts. Florent met them, clearly unhappy. Florie began to think, as he talked, that she had lost him. He said it was an insult to be asked to bend his knee before anything had been achieved, and to an Ore, no less. Tobias, showing remarkable restraint, said that Florent would be bending the knee to Florie first and foremost, and he should be willing to do that. Florent challenged that if he was to pledge to Gardener, that they stop the pretense of other names, and take up Gardener in truth. Florie agreed that they would, had been ready to discard what little secrecy they had left already. She asked Zel and Cyril to get the Gardener colors ready. Defeated on that front, Florent turned to Tobias, and said that he would only swear if Tobias made the same oath of loyalty. Florie watched as her husband nearly laughed, and assured that he would gladly swear once again to serve her. Then he sobered, and motioned them outside. They would swear, he said, under the skies. Florent stopped, frowning at this, and Florie blinked at him, and said that it was the way of their Faith. It was clear that Florent thought their belief quaint, but she didn't mind. She didn't need him to believe the same. She just needed him to swear. And so Florent, along with Toby, swore to serve her as Queen. Florie, more thrilled than she liked to admit at hearing the supplication, told him to rise as the Hand of the Gardeners.

She arranged with Florent for his forces to meet hers outside of Highgarden in a month's time. She spent that month making plans, trying to make every small advantage bend to her will.

There was still no word from Dorne.

Cyril
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At last, it was time to make the move on Highgarden. Cyril was as keenly aware of the risks as anyone, but could not permit himself to believe they might fail. The uncertainty might weaken them, and he knew that the others looked to him for guidance. Still, Highgarden was every bit as impressive as memory served, and though their manufactured famine had just started to hit hard enough to worry the city, it was not as weakened as all that. They had to hope that getting easily past the walls would give them the edge they needed. They gathered with Florent's forces, and then lit the bonfire that was their signal to the women inside the walls. They led the battle inside, and fought hard, but Highgarden's forces were no small thing, and the first day, they were driven back outside the walls again, forced to retreat to a safe distance and regroup. From the top of the wall, guards called down until Florie and Tobias came forward, and said that Lord Tyrell offered amnesty for their army if the two of them would turn themselves over to the King's justice. They refused, of course, and that was the end of any talks.

They still had some people on the inside, but it would not be enough, and Cyril could see their forces disheartened by how easy it had seemed for the Tyrells to push them back. Cyril considered, and decided that he would burn a green hand into the hillside, to worry their opponents and give a bit of heart to their own forces. The scope of what he had in mind, though, he could not do alone. He knew that Florie and Toby were talking with Drezielle, getting ready to send her over the wall with her group, to spend the next two days making trouble in the city, stirring up dissent. When Zel finished talking to them, Cyril called her over and drew her aside. He said she would need her and one or two of her most discreet people to help him, and then he risked telling her his secret. He talked about how he had been making the green fires, and watched her expression change. It was a little disappointing, she said, but not surprising. And she would help him. A green hand burned on one side of the city while Zel scaled the wall on the other side.

In the morning, a thin blanket of snow covered the ground. They began preparing for a couple of days of healing and repairs before moving again. The next battle would be the last, Cyril knew. Winter was here, and Florie's resolve was that she would take Highgarden or die in the attempt. And Tobias would protect her, or die trying. Cyril and Zel would do their best to serve them, and they would fail or fall with their lord and lady.

They were assembling, somewhat bleakly in the snow, when there was a noise over the hillside. As they turned to look, they saw hundreds of men, many on fine horses, and at their head was a dark-skinned, handsome young man dressed in clothing entirely unsuitable for the weather. He rode forward, and introduced himself as Prince Elias Martell, son of Dorian Martell, current leader of Dorne. He greeted them with a grin and asked Florie if she truly meant what she had written. She said she did, and Elias grinned more widely, and said there was one more concession they required. Her firstborn, if a boy, would be fostered with the Martells, and if a girl, would be engaged to one. Florie glanced to her husband, then dipped her head and said it would be done. Elias laughed and grabbed her around the waist, kissing her full on the lips, and said they were allied.

Tobias frowned a bit, but he stepped forward to put a hand on Florie's back. "You must be cold," he said.

"No," Elias told him, "For the battle fire runs hot in our veins."

Toby's lips quirked. "Oh. I thought to invite you into Highgarden."

And then Cyril had archers to command, and they gave their signal, and the armies of Dorne flooded into the city with them. Cyril watched the Tyrells fall before them. Luthor Tyrell was killed in battle, and Lady Olenna taken hostage. Florie stepped into the castle and demanded that Olenna be brought before her. She said that Lady Tyrell would be locked away, deep in the dark, and maybe trotted out to see Florie's success. Cyril watched the girl he had seen frightened and uncertain not so long before backhand the Queen of Thorns across the face, and take Toby's hand to walk together to their new thrones.

Cyril stepped over behind them, and Zel did the same. Cyril wasn't certain what his place would be in this new order, but he knew he had what he had promised himself long before. The world would know his name.