The Battle by Bloodstone

Commanders| * King Haywin Darkspear
* Lord Daniel Younflower
* Ser Arthur Whent
* Lord Artos Starkwood
* Ser Robb Griften
* Ser Jory Redwater
* Lord Robin Redwater
* Lord Darron Flameheart
* Ser Ian Dayne
* Ser Marq Terrace

Forces| 10,197 Darkspear Forces~* 5000 Darkspear troops
* 2000 Youngflower Troops
* 120 Whent troops
* 2750 Starkwood troops
* 327 Griften troops
* 6500 Redwater troops
* 850 Flameheart Troops
* 55 Unsullied
* 50 Terrace troops

Casualties| 4,500 casualties.* Prince Darron Darkspear badly injured
* Lord Rheagon badly injured

## Prelude

> *Rheagon: Finally got off your high chair to come and meet with me?*
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> *Haywin: Well of course. no better place to drive my spear through you, your blood doesnt deserve to be shed in my throne room.*
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The bloodiest battle of the Rebellion and also the final one was decided on the aptly named Bloodstone. Both sides had amassed rather large hosts, the Sunfyre's and there Redwater allies along with Houses Dayne and Terrace had formed together to make an impressive host of roughly 11 and a half thousand men While many of his vassals were still marshalling there forces after defeats or recovering from injuries, King Haywin himself with the Help of his Northern allies had mustered an army that was a little over 10 thousand men. Haywin's friend Daniel Youngflower was the first to advise they let the fools come at them with siege equipment to wear them down but Haywin refused. Knowing all too well Jory could still afford to wait it out and with his ships controlling the region around them letting themselves be cut off from supplies was a slow death. Plus Rheagon had spread word of Haywin trying to paint him as a coward who did nothing but hide all throughout the war, and Haywin was eager to kill the man for the transgression and to prove his worth in battle again. He was aware of the risks and made that clear to his men but he felt this was something he had to do, as told by every lord on his side in the battle. Arthur Whent even spoke that he very much 'instilled the desire to obey him off words alone'. None protested after this and they marched out to meet the enemy on there own terms.

Ian Dayne tried to find a peaceful solution to the matters and sent his envoys to convince Haywin to meet with them and discuss a peace and hopefully avoid bloodshed, knowing the war had drained all of them and that both sides wanted a swift end to the conflict. the King knew Ian was sincere in his offer and met him ahead of the battle to talk with Rheagon. Unfortunately for Ian no such peace was met and both offered terms the other didnt accept. Haywin offered Rheagon peace and would allow him to leave the island safely, with no reparations placed on him for the bloodshed he caused and he would even arrange a trade deal with wherever he ended up next. Rheagon refused it on the grounds that he wanted the Stepstones and felt he was in a better position so he had no reason to haggle. And naturally because of this Haywin turned down the Sunfyre deal, Haywins surrender of the lands to Rheagon and the exile of House Whent, Haywin had no intention of just giving up his hard earned crown or betraying one of the Houses who served him. Despite people on both sides efforts neither man budged a single inch, wanting the unconditional surrender of the other and all of there terms met and when it became clear it wouldnt come to that both of them turned back. The battle to come inevitable.

## Battle

> *Haywin: The beginning of the end starts here. Everything you have fought for, everything your hard work has earned you will be decided here! Have you come this far to let a Mainlander toady tell you how to live your lives!?*
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> *Darron/Daniel/Arthur and there men: Never!*
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> *Ian: I can feel it..this will be a fight like one I haven't been in for some time.*
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> *Rheagon: Never fear Ser Ian. We have always struggled, but when the final battle comes, we pull through. Today will be no different.*
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Rheagon had opted to land on the island further away from the castle when his men began his march, while he knew he had more men he wasnt looking for a siege, in fact by many in his war council he had planned for Haywin to meet him noting that with all the insults he had sent his way he wouldn't be able to stay in his castle. Plus attempting to take the walls with his numbers would be too much of a risk and would require waiting for more reinforcements, which he didnt want to do either as he didnt want to make it look like he was nothing without the Redwaters. Both Haywin and Rheagon had reasons to stand and fight the way they did, and when they met it wouldnt be a simple battle. Haywin's forces had taken a bit of higher ground and once Rheagon's men got in range started to open fire on them. Rheagon gave Aegor control of his main army and rode out with his Calvary to try and rattle and weaken Haywins forces, Haywin brought out his defensive line of Whent and Darkspear spearmen to the front that kept Rheagon from trying any charge or risk running into the impressive line. Aegor moved his vanguard up as the skirmishers picked at the line of spear men and were met back by arrows of the Stepstone forces. Once Aegor's vanguard, lead by the experienced Marq Terrace got close enough Haywin's own vanguard lead by his Northern Allies the Starkwoods rushed to meet them and keep them from getting close causing a struggle in between the main armies.

Robin took matters into his own hands from there and ordered his vassal, Darron Flameheart to sally out as well and try to work at the right flank of the Darkspears with his men and a few of the Redwater's own. Darron did so but the line wasnt so easily broken controlled by Daniel Youngflower and made up of his men, Daniel would move up just a little bit so as not to fully disturb the line but set up his men for attack on Darron's forces, the fighting was intense but the two lords never met each other directly as Daniel lead from his horse through this part of the fight, while a stray arrow had knocked Darron off his own and he spent the rest of the fight trying to compose himself and reorganize his forces to keep fighting. The rest of the Redwater men sent there men to assist where they could fighting on all the fronts they could but knowing that a fight was not going to be easy but they needed to keep a clear head. Unfortunately the stalemate and the heat of the moment was a bad mix for Rheagon Sunfyre, when it looked like the Whent line was starting to break Rheagon charged thinking he could break it and punch a hole through them assuring they were defeated. Jory from his location knew exactly what was going on and figured Rheagon was being bated, and rushed to try and get him to hold his attack. He didnt get to him in time and Rheagon's attack was thwarted by the sudden reinforced spearmen line as the Whents had only briefly feinted breaking, a risky venture for sure but one that payed off as Rheagon slammed into a wall that was soon backed by infantry to make sure nothing came of it. Except suddenly Prince Darron was also among the fray looking to take Rheagon's head for his transgressions and betrayal of his father and Rheagon appeared to be in trouble but Jory did arrive in time for this and was suddenly hitting the Darkspears back, and many got a firsthand look at why Jory was so fearsome on the battlefield and in the front lines. backed shortly by Ian Dayne and his Unsullied and the tides shifted to a stalemate before soon after turning around to the Rebels favor.

Artos had eventually been able to best Ser Marq but his fight in the vanguard had kept him occupied and unable to help the rest, His vassal Ser Robb tried to slow down or stop the charge but he ended up in a brief duel with Ian that saw the Dayne down him after roughly a few minutes of battle. The King himself pushed in to help his son and ended up in battle with Ian soon after while Darron was caught fighting Jory. Daniel saw the fighting and more importantly saw the Prince struggling with Jory and quickly put command of his men to his brother before riding to save him. Pushing his way through bodies of men to get to Jory, only for Jory's men to eventually knock him off his horse, though they weren't able to finish him thanks to Darkspear men and the determined Lord pushed himself up and kept on fighting through his men with his blade Weedkiller. He arrived and prevented a few killing blows that would have ended Darron though Jory nicked Darron badly at the side and the Prince went down, hurt but alive. This lead to a fight between Jory and Daniel as the two warriors clashed blades, trying to parry, slash and strike each other as no men dared get in between them, with how fiercely they fought. The battle came to a decisive end when Darron rose up and tried to rush Jory from his side with a spear, Jory had just enough time to see it coming and knock the spear away but being forced to lose focus of Daniel for this allowed Daniel the opening to catch him across his chest, the blade cut deep enough to draw blood, but not enough to kill. Still Jory felt the pain well enough, the Hand admitted he felt like his legs were struggling to keep him up and he nearly collapsed. But nearly was enough for his friend Ian who started to see that the moment shifted with the sight, though Jory was up and still trying to fight off the Darkspear men who rushed the blood stained Redwater, Jory's faltering and falling back to avoid being killed had seemed to shock the rest and the tides had once again turned against them, the Vanguard had lost and Artos was falling back to clear out the men who had slipped by his forces, and the losses were piling up. Ian made the final call, they had to retreat or they would lose. His Unsullied pulled away and fought for an opening from the Starkwoods and Jory in his haze followed his friend even as part of his wanted to keep fighting. The holdout was Rheagon who tried to push forward anyway with his men refusing to let his ambitions be stopped here. He tried to turn the tides again but when an arrow first flew by his head, and was followed by one that caught his shoulder and then again narrowly missed his sides, he knew he had lost and death would only follow a push forward. Rheagon began to fall back as well as did Darron Flameheart. An exhausted King haywin watched his enemies flee but as he saw the battlefield before him he did not feel the Joy he expected from this victory.

## Aftermath.

> *Arthur: Your grace..We've won. Rheagon has been defeated, Jory has been forced to retreat if we hold out we will keep winning.*
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> *Haywin: The enemy still outnumbers us, my son is badly hurt and would be dead if not for Daniel. And more of the Redwaters are coming without us having Rheagon's head. How is that a victory for all we've lost to achieve this much.*
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The battle had a devastating affect on both sides, Rheagon was convinced in his abilities and confident that he would ultimately win, many claim that the Sunfyre Lord treated himself with an air of importance destined for greatness. Bloodstone was one instance many recall had shaken him up greatly and disabused him of the notion. It was his first real taste of a defeat and he retreated to his quarters for a few hours. The battle wasnt exactly kind to the rest of the army either as many who survived tended to there wounds or tried to reflect on what to do next now that they were beaten back. Jory knew more Redwater men would come soon, prepared to go at it again with the rest of them while trying to keep morale high, a difficult task given how it had reached an all out low and the thought the war would continue longer didnt help matters.

fortunately for them, or rather unfortunately for the Stepstone Kingdom Haywin didn't feel the joy of victory. He wanted Rheagon's head and failed to take it, all he had done was beat back the enemy and his reward was a devastating loss of men. In fact given how many of his lords were hurt and resting Haywin started to feel helpless, though Some like Arthur and Artos were more optimistic, with Artos even claiming House Kalkuho was soon coming to join them and counter balance The Redwater support, nothing could comfort the King. His men were suffering the most in this war and as there King he took every loss personally. Ultimately before another battle could come to pass and be deadlier then this one he met with Rheagon again and offered peace terms to end the conflict, Rheagon could take Bloodstone and the Stepstones but Haywin would keep his money to pay his men, assuming he'd be a Sellsword again. On the condition that none of his lords be punished or forced to pay for assisting him. Rheagon humbled by the war accepted this, knowing that he was just as likely to lose any upcoming battle as Haywin and wanted something to show for all the losses his Rebellion started. The redwaters added to this, looking to appease many in the Realm that would see this as an injustice and to compensate for there part in this rebellion they offered Haywin land in the Riverlands such as Oldstones to be rebuilt for Haywin, the Darkspear Lord accepted, while he had no desire to live under house Brightflame directly he felt he had put too much into the land to fully leave.

The Stepstone Lords were furious but accepted the terms as well, hating that Rheagon was rewarded for the war he started but honoring Haywin's wishes. Worse still Hollis Pyne was made the second in command of Rheagon which for many felt like Rheagon was more a Redwater plant then he was his own Ruler. This turned the 7 Kingdoms into 8 and Rheagon was made a Lord Paramount of the Stepstones official. Though his reign would not outlast the year He would spend his time trying to make his rule legitimized and respected, while he lead his men successfully in The Sack of Tyrosh to beat back the leaders who tried to encroach on his land when he tried to take Last Refuge completely against the Tyroshi Remnants he didn't succeed and his efforts would fall apart completely in the Stepstones Coup