Chapter 170

The canopy of stars hung low; the silver moon was sharp as a blade. Pale moonlight lay across the cold earth.

After a full day of fierce fighting both sides had at last drawn back and fallen silent. The host of Nestor Royce, High Steward of the Vale, had made camp upon a mountain road. For five entire days they had been locked in struggle with the highland clans. Lady Lysa of the Eyrie had refused to send reinforcements, and so Nestor had been forced to take the field with only the five hundred men of his own command against the mountain folk who held Eastvale.

Fortunately the highlanders, though numerous—fully three thousand strong—were poorly equipped, loosely disciplined and weak in open combat. Against the well-armed, heavily armoured knights of the Vale they seemed little better than a rabble. In the fighting of recent days Nestor’s force had even held the upper hand. If the present course continued he might yet retake Eastvale and drive the highlanders back into the Mountains of the Moon.