Push Through Red River

Combatants| Kingdom of the Stepstones~* House Youngflower
* House Whent
* House Flameheart
* House Greywinde

Commanders| * Lord Daniel Youngflower
* Lord Arthur Whent
* Lord Darron Flameheart
* Ser Rickard Greywinde

Forces| 2600 Kingdom of the Stepstones~* 2500 Youngflower forces (500 Calvary, 1000 infantry, 1000 archers)
* 100 Whent troops ( 50 men at arms, 50 archers)
* 50 Greywinde forces (20 cavalry, 30 men at arms)
* 2000 Mallery soldiers ( 800 infantry, 800 archers, 400 Calvary)

## Prelude

> *Arthur: Sunstone was a complete failure..If we lose here Bloodstone wont be able to hold out under a constant attack*
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> *Daniel: We wont fail. I promised Haywin we would spill blood and blood will be shed.*
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> *Marq: We'll push the Whents out again and this time make sure they stay out of Westeros*
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> *Darron: While I understand your eagerness, lets not allow our issues with the Whents go over the mission at hand.*
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After the Betrayal at Sunstone caused the capture of three major lords of The Stepstones the Kingdom was looking to be in dire shape with the Redwaters now ready to attack. Marq Mallery was leading the vassals of House Redwater to the Skulls and the Castle of House Youngflower, taking the skulls and using it as a base for one of the angles that they attack Bloodstone from to force Haywin to surrender. Backing up as Darron Flameheart and Rickard Greywinde backed him up, there combined forces surpassing that of House Youngflowers. Thankfully Daniel Youngflower wasnt alone as he was backed by Ser Arthur Whent and his forces, though there was some tension between them following the death of Jon Youngflower at Arthur's hands in the Siege of Hen Hill. and the bad blood hadn't fully washed away, but the chance to take down the Redwater's was too good for him to pass up, and they both understood protecting Haywin's kingdom was more important then whatever issues they had with each other

## Battle

> *Rickard: Daniel..you know the Redwaters cant be beaten, stand down and prevent more loss of blood.*
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> *Daniel: Ive beaten them before. And Ill never just allow you to walk all over the man who gave me everything.*
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Landing on the Red River The Redwater army found themselves met by the Stepstone lords, Arthur and Daniel wanting to stop this campaign before it could really get started, and trying to work with less men they had made sure to start wearing the army down before they could even land. Archers firing on them as they moved in and pushing against them on the water. Ser Rickard though lead the initial army trying to push up and keep the battle going, his charge forcing The Stepstones to back up to avoid there line being broken through and allowing the allies some breathing room for the Rebels and continuing to start a fight and clashing of swords. Arthur fought Darron and Rickard fought Daniel, both men trying to convince the other to give up and save lives but neither men was willing to listen. Arthur knew the Redwaters would not show his house mercy if they had to surrender unconditionally, and Daniel was too loyal to Haywin to even consider the option. Fighting to defend his home both men kept them at bay while Marq Mallery tried to lead what he could to win.

The fight remained at a stalemate for a few minutes before a shift in the tides happened when part of the Mallery line started to falter, too many men exhausted from enduring the arrow fire and push just to get on sold ground started to break and the right side would be moved back more and more under Youngflower pressure. Marq realized this quickly enough and knowing there numbers advantage wasnt wide enough to justify a push upward he rallied his men and regrettably ordered a retreat. They would serve the war better preserving there forces now and fighting another day then fighting with there all here and rendering any potential victory moot. His men started to fall back keeping themselves from a potential slaughter and returning to there boats. A controversial decision saw Daniel likewise fall back even though Arthur wanted to press the attack and take out the vassals. Daniel measured the risks and deciding that simply harassing the men with archers until they were out of range was better as they hadn't broken the enemy and trying to attack would cost them men, and he knew or at least felt that the Stepstones needed every man more then Redwaters needed there's.

## Aftermath

> *Rickard: You made the right call. That was not our battle...*
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> *Marq: Maybe but that hinders the plan. We need to be ready next time, I will not fail again.*
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> *Darron: We wont, believe me, the struggle is never easy but the end result will not change.*
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The battle was a needed victory for the Stepstones, had they lost Red River Haywin would be open to attack from two islands and it put a stop on the way he could fight back, even more so had Daniel and Arthur been captured or killed. On top of that this caused the Redwater to rely on there naval power to continue the offense which opened them up to attack from Kian's attack on the coasts and there ships giving the Stepstones a needed advantage that would allow them to keep fighting. The Redwater vassal were still in good shape and they knew that there part in the war was far from done as there ships made it back to Sunstone without much harassment. Rheagon was frustrated as he had hoped to overhwhelm King's forces and be on Bloodstone relatively fast with a long siege being the expected result but he still felt confident they could salvage the matter quickly especially since he had hostages that he could try and persuade the other houses to back down and listen to him. But Kian and Darron Darkspear had a plan for that as well.