The Battle of Widows

The Battle of Widows was a clash fought between the Kingdom of the Three Daughters and the Iron Throne-backed Lyseni forces. It is remembered as the most devastating engagement in the War of Unification.

## Events

Seeing their opportunity as the joint Targaryen, Myrish and Tyroshi forces retreated from the disastrous campaign on the Lysene island, the Iron Throne-backed Lyseni began their pursuit of the withdrawing armies.

They first caught up with the men of the Kingdom of the Three Daughters just before they could reach their outpost upon the Disputed Lands' Peninsula, and the fleets once again exchanged arrows and flame. Commanding his men to push for the relative safety of the shore, Tregos Hestys, Captain of the Myrish fleet after Nyesso's death at the Skirmish on Redwater Coast, steered his burning vessel, *Sirina,* headlong into the Lyseni flagship *Vermithor.* The action resulted in the death of both Captains, but bought his men valuable time to prepare for the enemy approach.

Having ordered a legion of men to remain in the outpost to further stall the Lyseni advance, Brynden Rivers began to prepare battle-plans for the impeding clash. His naval strength weakened by the flight from the Battle at Canahs, he decided it most favourable to force the Lyseni forces into a battle in the sand and dust of the Disputed Lands. He sets up a defensive line due west of the smaller of the two great lakes nestled amongst the dunes and plains, and awaits the enemy force.

His fleet, meanwhile, is split in two uneven groups, the larger portion commanded to return to the Stepstones to prevent Lyseni advance through the islands, forcing them across the peninsula instead, and the smaller group to sail wide around the Lyseni fleet, in order to harass merchant ships bringing supplies to the men and horses, as well as a secret ploy in an attempt to break the enemy lines.

In the meanwhile, reinforcements arrive from Westeros, significantly supplementing those lost in the skirmishes and battles between primarily Free City forces. Sailing down the Dornish coast and then eastward towards Lys, Daena Blackfyre and her Hand, Lord Hightower, bring with them provisions, weapons and near forty thousand footmen, including near three thousand knights and five thousand cavalry units. Amongst them travelled five of the seven Queensguard, and the much respected battle commander Lord Ryman Tarly, whom had served the throne faithfully during the War of the Wicked two decades prior.

As tensions grew over the coming moon and a half, with each side consolidating their strength, positions and supply chains, a catalyst would ultimately trigger the conflict. Having captured a number of Lyseni merchant cogs under the direction of Bloodraven, Aenys Targaryen lands a force of two thousand men behind the Lyseni lines, and begins to steal everything he can reach, burning what he could not, before fleeing back to the stolen vessels. Enraged, the Lord Commander of the Queensguard, Ser Jaime Bettley pushes for an immediate counterattack before the Targaryen forces could make use of the stolen supplies. Setting Lord Ryman Tarly to formulating their approach, the Royal-Lyseni forces march north, distancing themselves from the coast, and prepare to engage their foe.

The subsequent engagement has since been recalled as The Battle of Widows by maesters and singers alike, for never in recent memory has such devastation and loss of life been wrought by man alone, and it is said that the wail of widows could be heard across the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and the Free Cities for years to come.

The Royal-Lyseni approach was slow, but unyielding, and quickly overran the numerous small outposts that stood in between them and the Targaryen-Tyroshi-Myrish host, claiming provisions and weapons at each. Daena Blackfyre commands each be further fortified, in case the need for a retreat arises. Leaving a quarter of her strength to secure the encampments, the Warrior Queen continues her march north in pursuit of the Targaryen forces.

Bloodraven springs his trap, and ignites the wildfire stores hidden within the forward outposts that had fallen into Lyseni hands. The riders, sent forth during the night to slide past the Lyseni patrols and into the heart of their encampment, are engulfed in the flames, but their sacrifice proves to be justified, as the Royal-Lyseni forces find themselves trapped between wildfire to the south, the expanse of water known as the Shaded Lake to the east and Targaryen swords, Tyroshi spears and Myrish crossbowmen to the north. Knowing that their only chance is to break the shieldwall protecting the ranged divisions, allowing them to force the Kingdom's forces to routing, Daena Blackfyre orders the division of her strength. Two-thirds would remain, marching north to engage the bulk of the Targaryen-Tyroshi-Myrish force, seeking to distract from their approach, whilst the other third sought to break the eastern formation, aiming to sweep through behind their fortifications.

The distraction force, numbering near forty thousand, pressed their advantage in numbers, but found themselves balked by the spears of their foes. With ever decreasing numbers and strength, the men of Lys and Westeros charged the defences again and again, until finally, on the seventh approach, the cavalry, joint-led by the Lord Commander of the Queensguard, Ser Jaime Bettley and the Commander of the Lyseni forces, Medraro Rogare, broke through, forcing a vanguard of just over a thousand past the spears. Success was short lived however, as, cut off from the main force, they found themselves quickly encircled, and riddled with arrows from the yet unassailed ranged units. Ser Jaime died after being thrown from his horse when a crossbow bolt pierced his glimmering white-gold plate, and found himself ran through by a sellsword blade as he fumbled for his steel to defend himself, whereas Medraro was slain by a sellsword Captain whom claimed the Rogare's Valyrian Steel sword *Truth* for his own. Ever since, the Captain of the Silver Guild has carried the blade and songs still boast of the duel that took place in the plains of the Disputed Lands.

Daena Blackfyre found her force under similar strain, pummelled by round after round of projectiles by the Myrish crossbowman, still hidden safe behind a wall of Unsullied shields. Returning fire with arrows and bolts of their own, the Lyseni archers retaliated in kind, and for a short while the battle turned into little more than flurries of steel-tipped shafts, striking heavily into shields, armour and flesh. Knowing they were, despite their losses at the captured encampments, better provisioned than the Kingdom of the Three Daughter's forces, The Warrior Queen commands the continuation of bombardment, but is forced to move otherwise as the Targaryen catapults launch a deadly volley of the substance that had brought the Royal-Lyseni army so much misery already. As the emerald flames began to erupt around them, engulfing battalions of footmen and cavalry alike, Daena orders a full retreat to the west, although her army takes heavy losses as they move across the Targaryen front-lines.