Ronnet Connington SI

-Chapter 78-

-POV Tywin Lannister-

From the top of the walls of the Goldtooth, I watched Ronnet Connington advance slightly, accompanied by his brothers and his staff, clad in his ceremonial armor, standing out somewhat from his army of over 70,000 soldiers, nearly 75,000.

'It's more of a costume than real armor,' I thought, slightly disdainful, as I looked at the number of rubies embedded on his breastplate forming a red griffin.

The formidable fighter, now the self-proclaimed king of the Stormlands and the Riverlands, had stopped just out of range of our arrows as a provocation.

I raised my hand in response to this, and the captain of the archers beside me shouted to his subordinates:

"DRAW YOUR BOWS!"

I heard the sound of thousands of archers pulling their bowstrings to the maximum, which had no effect on my ex-son-in-law, who did not even react.

Then, I lowered my hand to see if he would remain as impassive in the face of a rain of enemy arrows.

"LOOSE!" yelled the captain of the archers, and the archers stationed on the castle walls obeyed instantly.

Some, even at the foot of the walls, shot blindly, wasting more arrows than anything else.

'A measure that will prove necessary once we are besieged since we are nearly four times fewer than them,' I thought.

I had to leave a large part of my soldiers at Casterly Rock, Lannisport, as well as on the main roads of my territory to deter bandits and mercenaries.

Therefore, I had taken only 20,000 soldiers with me to defend the castle of Alysanne Lefford, now Lady of the Goldtooth.

'Now that we are weakened, everyone wants a piece of the pie,' I said to myself, disgusted, because even in the era of my father, whom I despised so much, we had not fallen this low.

'Even vile bandits imagine they can trample and drag the noble lion of House Lannister through the mud,' I thought, glancing at the banner bearing my colors.

The rain of arrows fell on Ronnet, but none touched him; all landed several meters away from him.

'He hasn't moved an inch; he even advanced slightly,' I thought, noticing that he continued to take me lightly.

"Your arrogance will be your downfall," I murmured softly before turning away, for as long as he did not decide to attack, I had no reason to stay.

'If he wants to attack, so be it. Twenty thousand soldiers can hold the Goldtooth for years, if necessary,' I told myself, confident in our ability to withstand a siege for several years, as a secret passage connected us to the interior of my lands, where we could supply ourselves for as long as the siege lasted.

'But does he have the time to wait years?' I thought, smiling slightly, for in a war of attrition, it was we who held the advantage.

We are destroying one by one the bastions he built in the Stepstones.

Of the fourteen islands that make up the Stepstones, we have already taken five.

Once he is completely isolated from the outside world, the Dornish will be forced to join the winning side, that is, ours, and we will descend from all sides to suffocate him as he tries, in vain, to do with the Crownlands.

'Even a superhuman like him eventually tires. If necessary, I'll use ten men against him; if ten aren't enough, then a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand,' I thought, determined to have him executed, as he was far too dangerous to remain alive.

'I will sacrifice as many soldiers as necessary, but I will bury him. That will be my legacy.'

"My lord," said the captain of the archers, calling out to me as I was about to descend the steps connecting the base of the inner walls to the top, where all the archers were stationed.

I turned to him, frowning, and he pointed to where Ronnet and his army were camping: "Look."

I turned in the direction he indicated, and what I saw made my heart jolt violently.

In the distance, a dozen soldiers were carrying banners in the colors of the Reach Houses, which they then set aflame on the spot with torches.

Ronnet remained there for a few moments, and although I couldn't see him clearly, I knew he was sending me a message.

'His true target isn't the Westerlands. This is just a final lure,' I thought, instantly understanding his message, which wasn't difficult to grasp.

'But what's hard to understand is the logic in his actions. Why focus on the Tyrells? That was already the agreement he had with Euron and the plan he had with Cersei.'

'But above all, where would he find the men to fight against House Tyrell?' I thought, finding his stubbornness utterly foolish.

'It makes no sense,' I thought.

'It could be a trap,' I told myself, finding it hard to believe that Ronnet would make such a big mistake.

But I quickly corrected myself, convinced he wanted us to pay for our betrayal.

'He could have killed us all when we were in King's Landing, so what drives him isn't even revenge; he's playing with us,' I said, racking my brain to understand his actions.

'What he desires, what he truly wants, is for us to regret what we did to him, and for that, he wants to defeat us in the most spectacular way possible,' I told myself, trying to connect the dots.

'He wants to leave an indelible mark, make our House an example, and all with flair.'

'But it makes no sense. He could have attacked the Reach while ordering his brother to come here to bait us, as he did last time, to ensure his plan's success.'

'Why come here? To mock me directly? To destabilize me and take the Westerlands, hoping I would make a mistake?'

I took a deep breath to calm all the thoughts that kept racing through my head.

Not understanding Ronnet's intentions, I simply abandoned my reflections, as they served no purpose.

'There's no point in overthinking; all I need to do is prepare for all possible outcomes.'

'In any case, we have more soldiers than him.'