Rhaena's Army

The 3 dragons flew straight for Highgarden, arriving in on the afternoon of the third day. Even from so far above, the destruction this was had wrought upon the Reach was evident. Fields were burnt to ash, whole villages raised, and castles battered into rubble.

Highgarden, once the most beautiful keep in the Seven Kingdoms, was now a sad testament to the horrors of war. It's walls, once white and pure, were blackened from ash. Many of the proud spires that capped its towers were shattered and broken, the casualties of Faith trebuchet. Though the keep remained in loyal Tyrell hands, it was proud no longer. If they survived this war, it would take the Lord Paramounts of the Reach generation to regain their former glory.

The banners of Serrett's army, which Rhaena was to take command of, were not present.

They flew north along the Ocean road for another half a day, looking for signs of the host. Despite the desolation of the land, the sinking of the sun into the Sunset Sea on their west was a beautiful site.

On the morning of the fourth day, a crow nearly took Rhaena's head off, the quick reflexes of the princess saving her from a face full of bird and the harness saving her from falling from the saddle. Then there was another bird...then another...then another.

Before them stretched a cloud of black carrion birds, so numerous they nearly blotted out the light of rising sun.

Valarr flew beside her, cursing at the sheer size of the group. "That's not a good omen," he remarked. "Perhaps a few sharp bursts of flame will frighten them off."

"I don't see the need," she said to valarr, she was happy they could mostly fly over them, but was intrigued to what had drawn so many, "what could have caused so many to group at once?" she asked to two men with her, curious getting the better of her, she almost wondered if they were heading away from something.

"Taht means only one thing," Valarr mused as an ominous feeling filled him. "Crows are ill-omened for good reason. Gods, I hope we have not come too late!"

Tyraxes flew lower, below the cloud of birds, revealing the sea of carnage below that was serving as their feast. To say a battle had taken place here would be a gross injustice; it was a massacre. Hundreds of royal troops littered the road, dead or dying in the red mud formed by their own blood. The smell alone was enough to make the most staunch man retch, rotting flesh and spilled entrails overcoming even the salt smell of the nearby sea. Royal banners lay in the muck, tattered and torn. Far the below the nearby cliffs overlooking the sea, scores of soldiers had been forced over to shatter their skulls and bodies on the jagged rocks below. For every dead soldier of the Faith, there were five corpses of the Crown.

Rhaena could see some survivors milling about aimlessly, either mentally broken from what they had witnessed or looting the corpses of the slain.

Hardened to battle long ago, Valarr kept a straight face despite his shocking view. He flew Ithilgore down until they were near the field, slid off from the saddle and called to his companions "Search for surviving lords and commanders."

He seized one of the royal banners and lifted it, having to slide a corpse off the flag pole first. The banner was torn and bloody and hung limply showing the banner of House Targaryen.

The first man she came upon was missing his right arm from the elbow down and wandering around aimlessly clutching the severed appendage in his remaining hand. His belt was being used as a makeshift tourniquet to slow the bleeding. Considering the unfortunate man did not even react to the princess or the immense dragon looming behind her, it was safe to say he no longer aware where "here" even was.

His eyes, wide with terror, kept going to a spot amid the carnage where the corpses appeared to have been cleared away. In the center was Lord Serrett, only recognizable by the blood-soaked peacock upon his tabard. It appeared he had been drawn and quartered, before being hewn into seven pieces and arranged in a morbid ode to the star of the Faith.

If she expected a reaction from Trajan, she would be sorely mistaken. He was strolling among the corpses, skewering Faith troops he found still breathing, with the canter of a young man cutting summer flowers for a bouquet.

From those reports she was able to gather from those able to speak of it, it was evident that the force had been ambushed along the road. The Faith had known they were coming. It occurred to her that the siege of Cider Hall had only been a diversion, her force of 2,000 the true threat. Though exaggerations abounded, it seemed to be one of the numerous smallfolk ambushes that had come to define this war, though numerous survivors claimed the Dragonbane himself had been present. Half the army had been obliterated and Lord Serrett captured, before his second-in-command Lord Jasper Oakheart ordered the remaining soldier to retreat to Old Oak.

The flight to Old Oak only took a few hours, the tattered and broken banners of Rhaena's remaining forces clear below. Even from the air, the groans of the dead and dying could be heard, along with the occasional scream when a bonesaw was required.

By her count around 1,2000 men had survived, though only 1,000 were still fit to fight. Lord Jasper Oakheart sat outside the medical tent, just listening to the screams of the wounded and dying, bloody bandages wrapped around half of his own face.

"Lord Oakheart" Rhaena greeted, but from the tone it was clear it was just a way of drawing his attention, " I am Rhaena Targaryen, the King sent me to take command of the army." She informed him, trying to sound authoritative rather than a young girl playing around, "it would appear you have met with considerable trouble." She wanted to apologise for them not coming sooner, but until a few days ago they'd not have been coming at all, "What is the situation like here, what happened on the field?" She'd still like to get a proper idea of what happened, who it was who attacked, their numbers comparatively, whether the dragon bane was actually there, which she doubted.