The Battle of the Bells

Here's a short story I wrote on the Battle of the Bells, from the POV of Jon Connington.

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Jon knew he had made a mistake as soon as the bells began tolling, its sounds echoing through his skull. He raced up the wooden stairs of the house he was currently in, looking for Robert Baratheon, and he climbed onto the roof made of thatch, his sword still clutched in his right hand.

From the roof he could see the Sept, which appeared to be the source of the cacophony of noise. He heard his men shouting beneath him, regrouping in the narrow alleys and streets, and when Jon saw the first Northerners reach the top of Stoney Sept's walls, he raced down to ground level again, to his men.

He cut his way through the attacking men, trying to reach the gates, as men on either side were dropping like flies. A man appeared before him, wearing armour of silver plait-and-mail, and a red and blue cloak. Depicted on his helmet was a trout, it seemed, coloured silver and bronze.

The man was a worthy opponent, Jon thought, as he blocked yet another strike from the man, whom he thought to be Lord Tully. At last, he managed to trick the Lord of Riverrun by making a feint to his left side, but immediately after striking his right side, cutting the arm holding his sword.

He tried for another strike, but it was blocked by the man's large, oak-and-iron shield. But, as Jon noticed, Lord Tully was tiring, and the Lord of Griffin's Roost knew that his opponent would not be able to defend himself for much longer.

Eventually, Jon had the Lord of Riverrun at his mercy, his helmet fallen of and his sword lying several feet away. As he looked into the man's blue eyes, something, no, someone barreled into him. A man, wearing a winged helmet, and silver armour with a sky blue cloak, splattered with crimson red. It was Denys Arryn, the Darling of the Vale, he realised, recognising the knight from the Tourney at Harrenhal, as he was slammed into a stone wall.

A fight ensued between the heir to the Vale and the Lord of Griffin's Roost, a fight only one would come out of alive.

Jon's strike was parried by Denys, making him lose grip of his sword. It clattered to the ground, and Jon's pale blue eyes met Denys' gray ones. As Denys raised his blade, intending to end his opponent, Jon prepared to dodge the coming strike. And so he did, barely avoiding being cut by Denys' sword.

As he lowered himself to the ground, he saw an axe, from the corner of his eye, lying a couple of feet away. He made a dive, landing in the dirt, and his hand clasped around the handle of the axe.

He swung wildly with the axe as he got back to his feet, hoping to catch the Darling of the Vale by surprise, which seemingly worked, as he struck Denys in his side, causing him to inhale sharply from the sudden pain.

Jon brought down the axe on Denys' arm, making the heir to the Vale drop his sword. As his eyes met Denys' again, he took a step forward and swung the axe once more, landing it in the side of his opponent's neck, splattering both Denys and Jon with crimson red blood, as the former fell to the floor, dead.

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After slaying Denys he picked his sword up from the ground again, and continued on his way through the streets of Stoney Sept, as Lord Tully had seemingly disappeared, probably quickly taken into one of the houses by the damned townsfolk. Eventually, he reached the Sept, where he saw Robert Baratheon himself, wielding his warhammer and wearing his antlered helmet.

When Robert laid eyes upon Jon, he almost immediately charged at the man, as the Lord of Griffin's Roost should've been fighting by his side, as one of his bannermen, but instead he was fighting for Aerys, the Mad King. Robert swung his warhammer, and Jon could only barely dive out of its way.

He stumbled backwards, onto the steps of the Sept, and laid there as Robert rapidly approached, with his warhammer raised above his head, but luckily Jon could roll away just in time as the warhammer landed on the steps, the stone cracking as it impacted.

He crawled up again, and gripped his sword tightly, ducking as Robert swung his hammer again, and tried to strike the Baratheon, but failed as his sword hit the man's armour, having next to no effect.

Jon, realising that this was not a fight he could win, dove out of the way of another one of Robert's strikes, and tried to take as much distance from Robert as he could, retreating into a dank alley.

Once he entered the alley, he started running, hoping to be able to lose Robert Baratheon this way. And surprisingly, it worked, but he did not stop running until he reached the city gates, where he managed to steal a horse, upon which he would ride away, away from Stoney Sept, with its bells, which tolled for men both dead and alive.

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-Ser Manus

#TalesOfTheKnight

#Oakheart

#BoD