Great rises and great falls.
That was how Ser Jacelyn Bywater, the Ironhand, summarized the course of his life.
Born into a minor branch of a declining house, his family's downfall left him in poverty. Though of noble birth, he was so destitute that he could not afford a horse, weapons, or armor. Unable to equip himself to fulfill his duties, he could not find a noble willing to knight him in his youth. It was not until middle age, when he enlisted as a common soldier in King Robert Baratheon's campaign to suppress the Greyjoy Rebellion, that he fought bravely and lost his right hand in battle. For his service, he was knighted by King Robert and appointed an officer in the City Watch of King's Landing.
Honest and upright, he was neither skilled at flattering his superiors nor currying favor with subordinates. As a result, he was never favored by those above him. Fortunately, protected by the honor of being knighted by the king and being a man who never left himself open to reproach, he endured and gained seniority. In time, he became the commander of the Mud Gate, also known as the River Gate garrison, earning a modest position and reputation.
For a minor figure with no powerful background and only a measure of luck, he might have remained in that unremarkable post until retiring honorably. Yet by chance, when his hair had begun to gray, he became entangled in the open struggle between the Night's Watch industry and the then Commander of the City Watch, Janos Slynt.
On the night of chaos in King's Landing, Aegor West, pursued by men sent by Slynt to silence him, fled into the River Gate barracks seeking help. Ser Jacelyn Bywater, who had long endured that pig-headed man, made a decisive choice and placed all his stakes on the side of the Night's Watch and the Lannisters. Abandoning his usual caution and obedience, he committed an act of defiance that still made his blood boil when he recalled it. He sealed the camp, led his trusted men in armed confrontation against Lord Commander Slynt, who had arrived with an imposing force, and resolutely protected the young brother of the Night's Watch who had fled to him in panic, showing a willingness to fight.
In the end, relying on that bold pledge of loyalty, he won unanimous support from both soldiers and civilians, including the financial backers behind the Night's Watch industry and the officers throughout the City Watch. He successfully replaced the superior he had helped bring down and became Commander of the City Watch of King's Landing.
Commander of the king's direct forces, highest military officer in the Crownlands, guardian of the Seven Kingdoms.
That was the most glorious moment of his life. It would not be an exaggeration to say he had restored his family's honor. Unfortunately, the glory did not last.
After King Robert died of his wounds, Bywater transferred his loyalty to the Hand of the King, Eddard Stark, and to the lawful heir, Stannis Baratheon. For a man of modest background, it was the most sensible choice. Yet in the ensuing war between Stannis and Renly Baratheon, Renly swept in with the forces of the Stormlands and the Reach, launching a massive assault on King's Landing in an attempt to seize the throne.
Holding the city and representing the lawful side, it should have been a defensive battle with strong odds. Bywater had even hoped to display his abilities in this war to win the new king's trust. Instead, rebels emerged within the City Watch. Stannis, who had initially held the advantage, somehow lost the city in confusion and inexplicably surrendered the Iron Throne.
The North Gate that had been opened by traitors was not under Bywater's direct authority, and the betrayal had been instigated by Crownlands nobles. The matter had little to do with him.
Yet it left him in the worst possible position.
To Renly, he was a former official who had once served his brother. Even without personal enmity, he could not be trusted or retained in a powerful post within the City Watch.
To Stannis, the loss of King's Landing had resulted from his failure as commander to properly manage his subordinates and detect internal unrest in time.
Thus, after briefly serving a month as City Watch Commander, Bywater was stripped of his post by Renly and reduced in rank. Even when the situation reversed again, when Renly died suddenly and Stannis returned to King's Landing without bloodshed, Bywater only regained his former duty at the Mud Gate along the Blackwater, filling the role due to a shortage of officers. Since then, he had remained a mere gate commander.
And now, once more, he stood at a crossroads between great rise and total ruin.
The young brother of the Night's Watch he had saved years ago in a moment of impulse was now leading a vast army, returning from the distant North with the Mad King's daughter.
"Lord, you once saved the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. If you can find a way to reconnect with him now and open the River Gate at the critical moment of the Queen's siege, with both old ties and fresh merit, you might not only reclaim the position of City Watch Commander. You might even be granted lands and a title, raising House Bywater among the great lords."
This had been the quiet advice of a trusted subordinate a week ago. At the time, Ser Jacelyn Bywater rejected it without hesitation and sternly reprimanded him.
To take the king's pay is to bear the king's burdens. Even if King Stannis had not restored him to the office of City Watch Commander, he had at least given him back his livelihood. In the past two years, no matter how strained the treasury, his wages and allowances had never been withheld as they were under Slynt. He, Ser Jacelyn Bywater, had lived an upright life. How could he commit such a dishonorable act?
Yet lying in bed at night, staring at the ceiling in the darkness, a faint sense of unwillingness gnawed at him.
Power is intoxicating.
He had once been Commander of the City Watch. He knew what it felt like to stand beneath only the king and the Hand. Having tasted that authority, how could he willingly return to obscurity, guarding a single gate until the end of his days?
Perhaps sensing his thoughts, or perhaps having learned from past betrayal, Stannis soon sent trusted generals with guards to each gate after the Gift Army arrived outside the city. They took over the authority of opening and closing the gates and assumed wartime command.
It was a sign of distrust, yet Bywater, though displeased, secretly felt relief. Without the opportunity, he would not fall into temptation or become the sort of man he once despised.
"Lord, we must surrender. If we reveal our identities and rely on your past ties with Aegor West, at worst we will be spared execution. The worst outcome is being sent to the Wall. With the Lord Commander's care, you might even hold an officer's post at Castle Black."
The same subordinate who had once urged betrayal now spoke again.
Unlike before, he spoke in public, before countless brothers. Both speaker and listener were covered in dust, their faces filled with fear and despair.
This time, Bywater nearly nodded.
They had just endured a battle they could not win.
It was an overwhelming siege. Arrows and projectiles filled the air, denser and more powerful than their own. Enemy soldiers advanced toward the walls without pause, as if they had committed all their strength at once. A dragon circled above, out of range of the scorpions, dropping strings of explosive objects that struck sections of the wall and sent soldiers screaming. Filling the air was not only the clash of steel and cries of pain, but the relentless rumble of artillery.
When iron balls struck the walls, they gouged deep craters and blasted stone into fragments. When they hit the gates, they tore straight through. As for those struck directly, he did not wish to remember.
If he survived this day, he would record in his memoirs that watching cannons devastate the Golden Company and the Iron Fleet from afar on the Blackwater was nothing like standing beneath their fire and becoming the target.
They had summoned their courage and fought desperately. One by one they fell. Though they resisted with all their might, they were driven back toward the inner defenses by overwhelming firepower. In a siege, such setbacks were expected. Bywater had believed they could repel the enemy several times and endure brutal hand to hand combat before retreating from the walls due to exhaustion or collapsing morale.
Then came a deafening explosion that nearly stopped his heart.
The weapon that had sunk the Iron Fleet's flagship in the bay could also be used on land, and against city gates.
They had feared the possibility, but without knowing what weapon the enemy used, how could they devise a countermeasure?
The Mud Gate, which Bywater had guarded for nearly ten years, whose bolts and nails he knew by heart, collapsed inward after that blast. The reinforcing beams and stone supports behind it offered no resistance.
What was overwhelming force? What was unstoppable? What was striking while the iron was hot? What was sweeping away resistance like autumn wind scattering fallen leaves?
Ser Jacelyn Bywater understood today.
The enemy had no intention of probing or wearing them down. They attacked with full force from the outset, as if to crush them in a single blow.
The last stronghold of House Baratheon, the defensive line personally arranged by King Stannis, the foremost general of the Seven Kingdoms. The River Gate under his command was breached in less than an hour after Daenerys's army, having dispatched the Riverlands and Iron Islands forces, launched its full assault at dawn. Another decisive victory was added to their record, strengthening the legend of the Targaryen return.
(To be continued.)
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