Battle of the Rose Water

Following the brutal occupation and sack of Highgarden The Lannister army was able to loot the Reach with ease. They where helped in this by the absence of Reach forces, but also by the betrayal by Lord Gorman Fossoway who enabled Lannister forces to pass by to Highgarden from the North unmolested.

Angered by this national humiliation and by his duplicitous fathers actions, noted jouster Ser Damion Fossoway (who had not marched with the Reach army at his fathers insistence) slipped out of New Barrel and raised a considerable guerrilla force from his vassals (like the Kidwells) and from other houses who's lands had been looted ny Lannister outriders.

Seeking vengence but unable to fight the Lannisters in the field, they took their anger out on "collaborating" houses, small Lannister garrisons and won several skirmishes against Lannister bands who strayed too far on looting expeditions.

Eventually the Lannister forces decided to retreat from Highgarden loot in tow, with most making it home safety, though Damions riders shadowed and harassed at every opportunity.

The biggest opportunity came as the slow moving Lannister rearguard got caught by sudden rains that swelled several key crossing points over the Mander, and the loot train got stuck in the Rose Ford. Local peasants tipped off Ser Damion, who swiftly merged his band with Ser Joffry Kidwells and rode hell for leather to the ford. En route they where met by volunteer from House Chester (including all 3 of Lord Chesters heirs, all friends of Damion) as well as some guerrilla fighters from house Oakheart.

**The Charge**

Ser Damion and around 500 riders arrived at the ford late afternoon to find most of the rearguard safely across the ford, save for several thousand inexperienced Lannisport levies and some tarrying mercenaries who had stayed behind to loot a septry (the latter is disputed by several Maesters and Westerlanders.)

With a forested mount hiding their approach, theReach forces had the advantage of surprise. Ser Kidwell (according to the few surviving officers) advised caution, believing the Lannister forces too many. But Damion and others overruled him and decided to charge, scatter the rearguard and reclaim part of the Highgarden loot. Kidwell would stay behind with a 100 man rearguard, whilst the other 400 would charge in two groups from both flanks.

What happened next is highly disputed, with the Reach and Westerlander accounts differing massively. Both agree that Ser Damion charged "recklessly" at the head of a "vast" line of knights whilst startled Lannister forces formed a flimsy spearwall. According to Reach forces the Lannisport levies broke whilst the mercenaries fought on, almost holding the Reach charge, until Ser Damion cut down their commander Ser Ossifer Broom, thereapon they too broke and a "vast, uncontrolled rout" ensued (Lannister writers claim it was the mercenaries who broke first.) Hundreds where cut down in this retreat, including (it is alleged) surrendering Lannister levies (the Reach ballads omit this if this indeed happened.) Ironically, the rout helped the Lannisters in that Reach horses where unable to ride through a mass of fleeing footmen, and the whole charge was bogged down as some of Damions men fought on foot to reach to loot trains.

Recognizing the danger, Ser Joffry Kidwell high up on the mount blew the withdraw horn three times, but was ignored. By the time Ser Damion reacted, it was too late

**The Lannister counter attack and Kidwell's sacrifice**

Seeing the Reach attack, an unknown Lannister cavalry commander rallied the Horsemen assigned to screen the rearguard and launched a furious counter-charge against the now disorginised Reach forces. Encumbered by recaptured loot and exhausted (with many now on foot) hundreds of Reach forces where swept away by the charge and killed. Ser Damion's horse as killed and he would have been run down had his friends not saved him. In a largely forgotten act of bravery, Ser Joffry Kidwell charged his reserves against a cavalry force five times as large, halting its advance and allowing the Reach lines to reform and withdraw in good order. It came at a cost however; Ser Joffry was pierced by several lances and killed whilst riding at the Lannister commander. His body was later found horrifically mutilated.

**Duel of brothers and last stand**

What happened next may well be legend. Given room to maneuver by the last charge by Reach reserves, Damion (now remounted) rallied his scattered forces and ordered a general retreat, he himself holding the ford at it's narrowest point as a rearguard. He himself was about to retreat when suddenly the forces parted and a knight "in the brightest of Red and Yellow" rode forth and challenged him. Damion accepted, and the two charged each other three times, all three scoring strikes but none falling. On the fourth pass, the Lion knight yelled an insult (what it was is unknown to history) and Damion angrily charged, smashing therider of his horse and both fell. A scuffle ensued, ending with Damion rising up, blood in hand in tears. For the knight who's eye he had just tabbed with a knife was his own renegade brother, Tywald Fossoway of Lannisport.

Damion, now inconsolable on the floor and badly winded from the fall , was charged by Lannister horsemen , only for around 100 of his core friends and attendants-the three Chester brothers, Kidwells cousins, the Oakhearts and more to form a protective ring around him, refusing to retreat whilst Damon was there, and refused entreaties to surrender. They also raised the Green Apple quartered with the Highgarden Rose-Damions personal banner made to remember the tourney of Highgarden several years before, and it stood in defiance of the Lannister forces. Fierce fighting lasted for another hour it was said, the band of Reachmen desperately fighting on surrounded in smaller numbers around the banner. Yet they held out, though almost all where killed. Only nightfall stopped the fighting, thereupon the Lannisters withdrew, leaving only crows, corpses and a muddly, bloody ford behind them. The water was toxic to drink downriver was weeks, and some peasants claim the water ran blood red. The Ford as renamed the Red water thereafter, and the bodies of the Reachmen where buried quickly in a mass pit in a nearby town of Lavender to avoid infection. A memorial was later built there, and the mound called "the mound of heroes."

A poet later wrote; "Together in death, highborn and lowborn knights where united in bravery, a brotherhood of steel, forevermore"

**Aftermath and popular legend**

Despite being a defeat, reach poets looking for good out of the disastrous Durrans defiance turned the battle into a heroic last stand, and all the dead Reachmen become the epitome of the values of Chivalry, brotherhood, bravery against overwhelming odds and loyalty to the Reach, even unto death. "They failed to reclaim the gold" wrote Lommy of Grassy Vale "but they succeeded in far more. For they had reclaimed the Reaches honor."

Lannister sources by contrast barely mention the battle. It is not in any official accounts of the war, nor is is mentioned much outside of the Reach. Those historians who do dismiss it as "an overly large cavalry skirmish, whose brief brutality and bravery was only matched by its pointlessness." Ser Damion Fossoway is also a divisive figure; either a heroic fallen hero, or a blundering fool who failed to control his force and listen to warnings from his deputies. That said, he has several songs, ballads and memorials in his name. Ser Joffry Kidwell has none-save a mysterious Kidwell shield left at the battle site every year. By whom is unknown, for the Kidwell name is virtually extinct.

**The fate of Damion Fossoway and the missing banner**

Two great mysteries derive from the battle that as of 380 AC have yet to be resolved. The first is the fate of the legendary Ser Damion Fossoway, whom despite his notable blond hair and distinctive armor was not found among the dead. Several Lannister solders claimed the credit for slaying him years later. Eyewitnesses (all Lannister, for few Reachmen survived the last stand) claim he fell with the Apple banner, whilst more claim he was in fact killed in the Lannister counter attack, though this contradicts why the Reach would hen form a last stand. Most intriguing is a local legend that Damion was seen later that night riding from the battlefield badly wounded, last seen going north to New Barrel. This of course, seems very unlikely as he's not been confirmed seen since, though rumors persist that he lives on as a hedgeknight. Most likely, he was killed in the stream, looted of his armor and his body washed down river and submerged. The only thing all sources agree on is that Ser Damion fought until the end bravely despite his bad wounds, raving and striking "like a mad thing" after his brothers death and leaving a pile of Lannister dead at his feet.

The other mystery of the battle is the fate of Ser Damions battle banner. It was not taken or looted by Lannister solders, nor found on the battlefield. It was last seen in the hands of Ser Alton Chester, whom Damion (allegedly) told to run to safety. Like Damion himself, neither was seen again, though Reach sources claim they saw Altons horse go down and Alton himself fall from a heavy blow. Most likely, he and the banner are forever lost to the river, or mayhaps he was quietly buried with his brothers in the "mound of heroes" and the flag hidden.