4 Days Later
Godswood of Winterfell
Torrhen was once again seated under the Godswood, Ice in hand, he had long since scrubbed any trace of blood or sinew from the greatsword, but he was a diligent man and saw to his ancestral weapon near every day.
His peace was disturbed by his Justiciar, portly Lord Robin Locke of Oldcastle, who approached rather uncertainty.
‘’Ser Wendels and Lord Warrick's bodies has been returned?’’ Torrhen asked.
The Justiciar nodded ‘’Aye they were sent this morning…but there is ill news.’’
‘’Go on.’’ Torrhen said, still wiping the rag over Ice.
‘’Damon Manderly has called his banners and demanded his old High Lordship back from Lord Warrick's brother Ondrew, who refused the demand, both House Manderly and House Wells have called their banners….war has broken out.’’ Lord Robin responded.
That caused Torrhen to stop what he was doing, he faced his Justiciar ‘’ Send a raven to White Harbor, demand them to send their banners home and end this nonsense, I revoked the High Lordship for a reason, House Manderly had grown too powerful and opposed the King, remind lord Damon that his son Garth is my ward here, he is in no position to refuse.’’
Robin Locke hesitated running a hand through his short red hair ‘’Lord Stark…Garth Manderly was spirited away from his chambers last night, no doubt by Manderly agents, he is surely on his way to White Harbor as we speak.’’
Torrhen was silent for a moment, collecting himself before speaking ‘’I was merciful…..I chose not to punish Damon Manderly for his fathers crimes…I removed his overlordship from a few castles and villages yes, but I allowed him to keep his ancestral home and his principle vassals….send the raven nonetheless, make it clear that any further action on their part will be considered treason.’’
The situation was made even more frustrating due to the fact that Damon and Torrhen were cousins, Torrhen's mother had been a Manderly and the Lord Willem Manderly who had fled to Volantis along with his Kingsguard son was the Lord Paramounts own uncle.
The message was sent and promptly ignored by the Manderlys, who had begun to make a habit of ignoring commands from their liege lords.
Following this, Torrhen Stark sent a company of Heavy Northern Lancers to the gates of White Harbor to demand Lord Manderly’s capitulation, the Manderlys who had manned the walls loosed several bolts on the men, with one of the Stark men taking a quarrel to the throat and dying, with several others wounded.
Upon their arrival back in Winterfell and reporting the situation, Torrhen Stark called his banners to Winterfell to deal with the Manderly rebellion.
Seven Months Later, 8001
Plains outside Ramsgate Castle
Torrhen Stark sat upon his horse, wearing a suit of heavy boiled leather armor and a bearskin cloak. On his shoulders were pieces of dark plate armor, the Direwolf of house Stark etched onto them. He wore the same dark plate upon his wrists.
The Warden of the North examined the frozen tundra ahead of him, with the dark waves of the Rams Coast visible in the distance, they had pursued the rebels all the way to the coast.
Torrhen had sent Robin Locke and Maester Harmon to negotiate with his cousin, the rebel Damon Manderly, both men had been present at the negotiations with the Dragon King Aegon and he hoped they could avoid conflict once again, justice demanded his cousin be punished, but he did not want to kill hundreds of Manderly men upon the tundra of Ramsgate.
Their cornering of the Manderly host had been a master stroke by the Warden of the North, with his plan to separate the Manderlys from their warships working to perfection.
Torrhen had called around half of his banners to deal with the Manderlys, amounting to some 17,000 men, including some 500 heavy horse and 2200 light cavalry, more than enough to deal with the Manderlys host of 4000 men. He had led the army personally to siege Castle Hornwood, which swore allegiance to Damon Manderly.
Torrhens bastard brother Brandon had urged him to go straight for White Harbor and Damons force, but Torrhen knew if he immediately went to give battle, the Manderlys would have ample time to escape on their warships into the sea where they could continue the fight and Damon would escape, a prospect Torrhen would not suffer, it was bad enough his Uncle Willem and cousin Ser Warrick had evaded justice.
The Manderlys had the largest fleet in the north and Torrhen would be hard pressed to deal with them without either hiring mercenaries or requesting aid from King Aegon, Torrhen was a proud man and preferred to deal with the threat himself.
His plan had been to siege Castle Hornwood and the surrounding lands, making the Manderlys believe this would be a long conflict of sieges as opposed to battle, and lure them into a sense of false security away from their fleet.
The plan had worked, though it meant that the castle of Blackpool, seat of house Slate, was sacrificed to the rebels, though the Manderlys did not harass the surrounding village or lands, likely knowing their only chance of a favorable outcome in the war was to take all the castles on the coast as swiftly as possible, starving the North of trade and giving the Manderlys good prospects of lenient peace terms.
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Following the fall of Blackpool, Damon Manderly ordered his host to the neighboring Ramsgate, seat of house Woolfield away from the safety of their ships, it was then Torrhen made his move.
In the dead of night, he had ordered all of his horse, some 2700 men, to steal a march on Ramsgate, and keep the Manderlys pinned near the coast until the main host arrived. He entrusted this task to Lord Beron Reed, a Crannogmen,who was big for his people and one of Torrhen's best commanders.
The plan had worked and the Manderlys found themself cut off from escape. If Damon had any sense he would have ordered his host to attack the Calvary force and break free, it would have been bloody but they had some 200 heavy horse of their own and could likely breach the lines long enough for the Lord of Wite Harbor to flee to his ships and go into exile in Essos.
Damon had made his biggest blunder then, instead of attempting to break through before the Starks main force arrived, he had his ravens sent to White Harbor, instructing his fleet to sail to Ramsgate's coast and save them.
The Manderlys decision to only leave a garrison at the castle of Blackpool and leave the village untaken had been their downfall. Beron had sent scouts to warn the villagers of Coldhouse that Lord Manderly would likely send ravens that way, and the villagers had shot down every one of Lord Manderly's ravens, though this was unknown to Damon, who had assumed his message had gone through and rescue was on the way…it was not and days later, instead of a rescue fleet, the Manderly host was met with the sight of 15,000 Stark Infantry.
Torrhen then saw his Justiciar and chief diplomat, Lord Robin Locke riding back, alongside Maester Harmon.
Before Torrhen could speak, Lord Robin shook his head ‘’The proud fool will not surrender, not even to save his own men….there will be battle.’’
Torrhen sighed, though in truth he was not surprised, he knew Damon well enough to know that his cousin would always put his own interests ahead of his mens.
He turned to Beron Reed ‘’He will try to escape in the chaos, I want light cavalry in reserve to cut him off when he does….put a man you trust in command and go to the center, prepare the men to attack.’’
The old Crannogmen nodded ‘’Ill lead the attack myself.’’
The attack was launched soon after, Torrhen took command of the left flank and sent his light cavalry to harass the Manderly lines, meanwhile Beron Reed had ordered his heavy infantry forward to break the Manderly lines.
The battle was short as one might expect, the Manderly troops knew they had no chance and many either fled or threw down their weapons, Torrhen allowed them to flee, his fight was not with them, though after the battle there were rumors that some Manderlys that attempted to flee on the right flank towards Widows watch were pursued and slaughtered by one of Torrhen's more ruthless commanders.
By the end of it, nearly 2500 Manderlys were dead, wounded, and captured, with most of that number being captured, losses for the Starks were very light, with only around 5 dozen men being killed or wounded.
It came at a heavy cost however, Beron Reed, the brave old Crannogmen had insisted on fighting in the front rank on foot alongside his men, and had taken an ax to the skull, with the old man dying of his wounds not long after.
True to Tohhrens prediction, his cousin Damon used the confusion of the battle to slip away, predictably riding towards White Harbor, his flight did not last long as two days later Torrhen's riders captured him and brought him to Ramsgate, where Torrhen was awaiting him.
Damon had attempted to use his kinship to Torrhen to his own ends, but Torrhen knew what must be done and had sentenced Damon Manderly to death in the name of King Aegon. Damon had died better than the screaming Lord Warrick Wells, accepting his fate in the end and asking that his son Garth not be held responsible for his crimes, before Torrhen beheaded him with Ice.
The Warden of the North had released the Manderly prisoners, though the dozens of White Harbor Knights captured at Ramsgate had to ransom themselves. Torrhen had also not held Garth Manderly responsible for his fathers crimes, he had fostered the boy for some months in WInterfell and thought the boy to be a good lad, and not the sort to begin any trouble, with those factors in mind, he allowed House Manderly to keep White Harbor, though he made it clear they would not regain their past vassals. Torrhen hoped that with the boy's ascension to rulership, the period of Manderly defiance and the bloodletting in the region would be ended.
