Cider Hall

The loyalist army arrived at Cider Hall without incident, and made camp beneath the walls. Scores of banners fly above the army, which numbers more than 6,700, but none more prominent than banner of Ser Maekar of Dragonstone, whose coat of arms is flown below only the King's arms. Close to a thousand knights are among the ranks of the host, and the baggage train alone was close to a mile long when on the march; wagons loaded with salted and dried meat and hard black bread, veritable herds of horses and cattle, sheep, and pigs. Mobile smithies and forges, the sounds of which can be heard constantly when the army is stationary. Farriers and squires and grooms and whores, as well as blacksmiths, washerwomen, butchers, and artisans of all kinds trail behind the army

The host was extensive, however, but well prepared and provisioned, for the two years spent at Bitterbridge had not been spent idle. Great siege machines; ballistae and scorpions as well as rams and siege towers had been constructed and then deconstructed, over and over until the engineering teams had discovered exactly which parts could be dislocated and which could remain intact when moving the machines. The result was a large number of siege engines disassembled into sections that could be transported with relative ease, and put back together easily and quickly, but which most importantly would require no timber once they reached Oldtown, and the crew who were trained to do so could likely do it blindfolded and backward. The soldiers had also drilled extensively; this was no common army of conscripted peasants stiffened by mounted knights and a few household guardsmen. Every man in Maekar's army was a veteran of one conflict or another in this war, and the men often joked that they could perform many of the maneuvers they had drilled for in their sleep by this time.

Ser Maekar took up residence in the castle itself, and ample room is made for Cyrax in the bailey, and waits for word from the capital, planning the long march south to Highgarden, and then to Oldtown.