House Scott

Aryes Targaryan II. would be the Lord of Tree hill following the death of his father Aryes Targaryan I. and he would oversee the complete embarrassment of his House from Lucerne. His reign started simply enough but it took a dramatic and horrifying turn when there was a hostage situation caused by two vassal houses in House June against House Cash. The two houses had been stuck in a battle over some farm land east of the city, and were unable to solve it diplomatically, and some of the more headstrong members of the two families had gotten into a fight at a tavern where two members of House Cash ended up dying alongside several guards for each house. When Aryes went to the estate of house June in order to solve the problem he was accidentally taken hostage by the House June honor guard and during the early part of the captivity he was tortured using a fire pick against his arms. Eventually a member of House June entered the honor guard station and discovered the beaten body of Aryes targaryan, and having never meant for that to happen House June immediately let him go, but the damage was done.

Destruction of House June

When Aryes targaryan returned to tree hill he withdrew himself into the keep of Tree Hill and basically disappeared from the public eye for almost a year. During this time he was tended to through the dropping of food at the door, and only his sister Shaelenia was allowed to come into his room, and even she is said to have been kept at a great distance by the now disturbed Aryes Targaryan. When he finally came out of his office he was completed unkeped and he had nails that were insanely long. He had dropped an immense weight due to the fact that he had eaten so little over the time he was hidden. But on top of the physical change he was emotionally changed as well as he had become unhinged mentally and now saw visions, and heard voices. The once quiet peacemaker ordered the Tree Hill army to march on the House June estate and kill everyone inside. As this was happening and over the year previous the leadership of House Tyrell had been making movements in order to sap the support of House Targaryan, and knowing that the Targaryans would most likely take revenge for the imprisonement of Aryes the Tyrell's would promice both House June, and House Cash that they would come to their aid in the event that the Targaryans attacked them. The Tree Hill army acting under the command of Aryes Targaryan would marshal and besieged the House June where they would surrender themselves only a few days into the siege, as it was clear that outside assistence was not coming in the form of House Tyrell of whom had promiced them they would help them. As this happened the army of the Tyrells would arrive from Highgarden, and they joined the more southern Stormlands houses as the siege continied of the small hold of House June.

Aryes at this point would arrive at the estate and despite hearing the pleas of House June that they had no meant to imprison the Lord of House Targaryan he wouldn't hear it and killed the two June members that had come under the protection of the Guest Right, and following this commanded his army to massacre everyone inside the castle. When many of the houses refused this Aryes turned to his brother Aegon Targaryan of whom led the Targaryan forces into the now opened castle where they killed everyone inside. When the massacre was complete the city was shocked at the near complete destruction of a large noble house (with only the youngest son, and his sister surviving the massacre due to the intervention of Drunten Targaryan), but in this instance the city felt that since house June had started it perhaps this action was necessary. The next retaliation of Aryes targaryan was far beyond the acceptable scenario of tree hill though, and it was finally the moment the large Tyrell at the edge of the city had waited for.

Destruction of House Cash

House cash was the other house involved in what Aryes came to believe was a plot to capture and embarrass him, so Aryes once again ordered the tree hill army to do his bidding through the destruction of House Cash. Unfortunately for Aryes the army wasn't willing to destroy House Cash so Aryes was forced to turn to the House Targaryan honor gaurd who moved quickly in the massacre. The honor gaurd moved throughout the house cash home and murdered nearly the entire house in a three hour battle that spilled into the street and ended up leading to the deaths of almost 200 people. With this kind of death count the people of Tree Hill turned swiftly against House Targaryan and their started to be open resisting against their movements. As this rebellion continued the ire of House Lovie was brought in through the involvement of James Lovie who left Lucerne in a convoy to Tree Hill and would arrive in a week.

The Week

House Targaryan was now in open revolt amongst themselves as well as Aegon Targaryan said they must all stay together but Drunten Targaryan wanted to hand over Aryes Targaryan and try to appease the mobs that were out for blood now. This blood lust was spilling into the streets as the members were being verbally and physically attacked in the streets after the massacre of House Cash of which caused them to have to hide themselves into their estate within the city. The House Targaryan estate was what the current Scott Keep was and thus it was built into the cliffs in the center of the city, and from this it was extremely heavily defended, but by this point the Tyrells had picked their side. The Tyrells would lead the army of Tree Hill in sieging the Targaryan estate, and they were able to kill a large number of the Targaryan honor gaurd during the intial assaults on the keep. In only two days following James Lovie getting the letter and leaving Lucerne the House Targaryan estate became under siege by the citizens of Tree Hill along with House Scott, and House Tyrell. The siege continued for three more days before the gate of the estate was finnally breached, and the city waited with held breath for what the people would do as punishment to House Targaryan. The siegers entered the estate and begin gathering together all of House Targaryn and before House Scott - who didn't want violence done before James Lovie arrived - could stop it the House was marched to the center of Tree Hill where House Tyrell had erected a temporary executioners square. As this was happening several of the more level headed houses joined with House Scott where they massed themselves in a possible belief that they might storm the square and fight the Tyrells over the violence they were doing. Over the course of three hours the members of House Targaryan were brought to stand before the city of Tree Hill, and depending on the wishes of the city they were exectuted. The violence reached its apex as the Tyrells executed Shaelenia Targaryan the young sister of Aryes but before they did a man of House Lonmout would sexually violate her as her head was bound prepared to be killed, and this caused the already insane Aryes to go completely insane. The last to be judged was Aryes Targaryan, and before he could say a word Kraven June the eleven year old surviving member of House June stepped forward and stabbed Aryes Targaryan through the neck killing him. With the trials all done the surviving members of House Targaryan retreated back to their estate where there was full scale looting underway. House Scott moved into the estate and offered House Targaryan protection, and it was this act that basically saved what remained of House Targaryan.

In the end in the four hour trial of House Targaryan thirty two members of the House were dead including its patriarch in Aryes Targaryan II., and the remainder were in the custody of House Scott of whom had taken them alongside the rest of the houses allied to the Scotts and fled outside of the city. By this point the Tyrells had gone completely in on retaking Tree Hill, and trying to gain back what they had lost with the rise of House Lovie, and so they massed their forces and moved towards the Scotts in a movement that if it had more time would have resulted in a battle between the Scott forces, and the Tyrell's. Before the two could fight though the arrival of the vangaurd of the Lovie forces in House Swan would stop any further violence, and as the Swan troops entered the city they would alongside several neutral houses move to stop the rioting in the streets that the Tyrells had incited.

Arrival of James Lovie

See Also : James Lovie

When James Lovie arrived in Tree Hill his worse fears were realized as he walked amongst the ruins of the center of the town and the piles of bodies that he discovered. As he saw the body of Aryes Targaryan he was approached by the leadership of Tree Hill of whome was their to explain to him what had happened to House Targaryan. As each house told him that House Tyrell was responsible he finally came to House Tyrell and prepared to meet their delagation. House Tyrell at the time was led by Mastir Tyrell and he would meet the King of Lucerne at the burnt out remains hobbled together alongside his young son Olenna Tyrell and his other family members. When he met with James Lovie he nearly assumed that House Tyrell was going to be given command, as Mastir didn't see anyone elce who was even possible outside of House Scott, and House June but House June was nearly destroyed. So when James Lovie said to him that he would have to think about what the next step was Mastir became agitated and nearly spoke with hostility towards James, but he was silenced by his brother before he would have been executed.

When James left he went with his gaurd to find House Scott who many had said acted with courage when they saved the remainder of House Targaryan who were now under the protection of House Lovie. With House Scott were the remainder of House Targaryan and the only male of any true age was Aemon Targaryan and when he arrived he wanted to know from Aemon what he thought he should do. When he found Aemon he was gathering together the members of his family, and preparing to leave. James wanted him to stay and continue as the Lord of the city but Aemon knew that their time in Tree Hill was done. No matter what they did, or how they acted their image was tarnished and House Tyrell would kill the rest of them if they wanted. James relented after a time, and accepted that one part of the triumverate that had created the Kingdom of Lucerne was gone, and he attemted to get his advise on who they should pass the lordship too. Aemon thought was that they should pass it to House Scott as they were the only ones who kept their head right when the bad stuff started happening. James Lovie would take this into regard, and also under the advise of Jacob Vorn he would command that the Arch Duke of Tree Hill would be House Scott, and that if the Tyrells made any attempt to remove the Scott's then the Tyrells would be branded enemies of the Kingdom of Lucerne, and hunted to the ends of the Earth.

Getting the element of surprise wasn't the last move that Bill Lovie would do in order to make sure his plan of destroying Tree Hill would succeed though as on top of destroying the Eyes, and luring the Orcs he also lured away most of the Tree Hill army in the moment they were most necessary. In order to do this Bill created a Kings letter in which he ordered Earl Scott to accompany the Tree Hill trade mission to Forks with as many troops as he could possibly spare as Bill believed that an insidious force was preparing to destroy Forks from within. While Earl Scott didn't believe or even understand where this came from he was honor bound to follow the words of his king so he took nearly fifty percent of the Tree Hill army and accompanied the Tree Hill trade mission on its mission to Forks.

With the command of the city falling out of the hands of Earl Scott the vacuum of power fell to the hands of Sayden Nighting of whom was told by Bill Lovie that the Orcs were incoming and was promised the Lordship of Tree Hill for his assistance in destroying Tree Hill. As fate would have it, not only was most of the Tree Hill army not at their post because of the trade meeting in Forks. But the leader of the Army, and Lord of Tree Hill Earl Scott was also not in Tree Hill when the attack was underway. This meant that the city which would have already been in serious trouble due to the surprise attack which was incoming were nearly completely at the mercy of the orcs without the majority of their army in the actual city. While significant number of nobles were in the town as Bill had not made the trip something anyone outside of Earl Scott was even allowed to go the devastation was surely planned to be incredible in the early moments.

The Orcs moved across the plains in as perfect a following of the directions they had been given by the Circle of Magi as the Orcs were probably capable of. Destroying two villages as they moved they overran the out keep that guarded the initial approach to the city. While the out keeps were meant to have been occupied by nearly fifty men each the deployment schedules had been purposely screwed up by Sayden Nighting. With the out keeps not alerting to an attack the Orcs were on the doorstep before anyone knew what had happened, and it was in that moment that the fate of the city was sealed. The Orc army was within 100 feet of the gates when the first guard saw there arrival, and scanning across the field it was a blanket of green as the Orcs were seemingly endless in number. The guard ran the alarm bell, and then the men manning the gate attempted to close it. All the Tree Hill guards that were present in the area swarmed the gate in the hopes they could hold the gate until it could be closed. Traven Goodsbrow, and the Oakheart twins Frasier, and Thomas Oakheart were in the vicinity and would also move in the direction of the fighting at the gate. Traven and the Oakheart twins would be overwhelmed alongside the rest of the guards at the gatehouse and the Orcs swelled into the city from the main gate shattering the cork that held the Orcs at bay. Once they had control of the gate the Orcs quickly destroyed any resistance that managed to form in the outer city, while they began destroying and setting buildings ablaze. The rampaging force of Orcs massacred there way through the packed market which was located near the main gatehouse, and since Tree Hill was so far inside the borders of Lucerne no one was really threatened and thus hadn't fled as the bells had tolled. The massacre continued unabated until southward of the main gatehouse the Orcs would come to the castle of the Typhon's in the form of Typhon's Keep.

Located in the northern section of Tree Hill the estate of House Typhon was a small but secure keep that had long controlled the northern section of the city. A vassal of House Scott they would be within their estate as the city burned and the northern half was completely wiped out. House Typhon would hold off till the very last minute trying to allow more people to flee inside the keep including Lord Robett Highport and three of his men at arms, and it was only when the Orcs begin to reach the gatehouse that Lord Typhon finally commanded it shut. Blocking their gates the Orcs arrived on the scene the males took to the walls and fired upon the Orcs drawing major attention to themselves and slowing the advance as the Orcs attempted to take the Keep. As the Orcs poured all along the walls Lord Typhon would attempt to get people out through the rear of the keep but they discovered that the gatehouse has been sabotaged and couldn't be opened. The front gate was finally bashed down as the defenders on the wall begin to run out of arrows, but the defenders had created enough time that they had been able to place a barricade behind this forcing most of the Orcs to use makeshift ladders, and ropes to climb onto the walls. Getting onto the walls the Orcs would take horrible casualties but there number were unending and they were able to wipe out the defenders including Lord Typhon and two of his sons, and would thus gain entrance into the courtyard within. Lord Robett Highport led a brief counter assault at the main gatehouse attempting to bar the entrance but was killed alongside his men after the walls had been completely overrun. The final son of House Typhon would defend the inner hold nearly alone trying to protect his mother, cousins, and sisters but watched as the Orcs killed the remaining gaurds and the rest of House Typhon were massacred in the inner hallway. With the massacre the Orcs would move forward towards the Scott Keep of which was only real place that any sort of defence could be mounted.

Last stand at the Gryphon Gate

Lucas Scott was in the House Scott Keep when the first Orcs begin piling into the city itself, and when he learned of this he became overcome with fear that Haley, Brooke, or Peyton were stuck out there so he ran throughout the inner keep in an attempt to find them. As he ran out of his room he saw his father sitting at his desk not looking like he was very stressed, and he was surrounded by several men including two from House Nighting. Dan Scott was by this point making sure that all their preperations to abandon the city were in place, but had discovered that the tunnel exits that they had put in place had been sabotaged and thus there was no escape for them. Not realizing who was the cause of this they immediately assumed the cause was Bill Lovie, but in fact the tunnels had been sabatoged by Morrigan of whom hadn't be capable of allowing the tratiors to get away with what they had done. Leaving the inner keep he found Haley and Brooke early on but couldn't manage to find Peyton Sawyer inside the inner courtyard. He went to the personal Scott armory and donned his armor alongside his brother Nathan and prepared to enter the city in search of her, but as he reached the inner gatehouse he saw Peyton screaming his name. Peyton had been able to return to the keep before the massacre and now she was crying so much that Lucas had to hold her up, and he would hand her over sadly to Brooke and Haley of whom he forced to return inside the inner Hold.

With his plan in place he scanned around for Peyton of whom he knew deserved a goodbye with the plan he had in mind. It didn't take long for him to find her in the crowd and when he did he ran to her side leaving time for the other men of his party to also say brief goodbyes if they had ones. By this point the defenses of the eastern bridge were becoming increasingly dire until the distraught Franklin Lee II. arrived from the destroyed part of town with nearly fifty men from House Lee and managed to reinforce the bridge house long enough for them to close the bridge. As they crossed the bridge Frank Lee is said to have in his despair over the death of his wife that he had sat down and allowed himself to be killed by the Orcs.

And with that Lucas kissed her, and the kiss was so intense for her that she couldn't manage the strength to hold onto him as he pulled away and then ran to the bridge. As she attempted to chase after him, she was grabbed by Karen Scott of whom knew that her son was going to do exactly what he was going to do, and she didn't want to lose Peyton as well. Peyton tried desperately to pull away, but Karen held a death grip on her, and it took a minute before she was able to get away and when she did Lucas was already on the bridge, and the guards wouldn't allow her through. Peyton attempted to get onto the wall to see him but the guards forced her back farther into the keep where she eventually met up with Brooke, and Haley who watched with her from the Dragon Tower what they believed was going to be the death of Lucas Scott on the bridge. By this point the other houses of the south west Keep were finding themselves becoming under attack as the Orcs were spreading throughout the city, and the defenses of the southwestern keep were in disrepair and Jimmy James planned to attempt to defend them anyway but the arrival of Hank James changed the plans of Jimmy James and Anakin Oakheart. Hank James would explain to the two lords that the defenses had completely collapsed and that only the defenses of the water could save them alongside telling Anakin about the death of his twin sons and his grandson while telling Jimmy about his wife and child's death. Hank James decided to stay in the James Keep and die defending it while the remainder of the Oakheart, and James households would pull all of their men and women and forces and pull them to the western gate.

As Lucas continued to fight on the bridge, Peyton went to find Nathan and found him ordering around men, and making seemingly no effort to save his brother from the situation he was in. She grabbed Nathan by the collar and punched him in the face for the person he had become, and she kept hitting him until he pushed her off him, and ordered one of his men to escort her back to the tower, and to lock her, Haley, Brooke and his mother on the balcony. By this point Leah, and Lauren Oakheart arrived and told them that they had arrive with their family and people alongside House James and all of their people and they had just barely managed to get through the western gatehouse before the Orcs had overrun the entire route. Han, and Lucas Oakheart they would say were leading the defense of the western gatehouse alongside Jake James.

The Defence of the Bridge

Lucas and his party alongside five men at arms of various houses proceeded to hold the bridge for almost an hour under extremely difficult circumstances. At first he moved far past the bridge as he shouted for people to hurry up and get inside, but after fifteen minutes he started to see the first trickle of Orcs moving forward and it was in this moment that he held the road for a time stopping Orcs with carefully aimed bow shots. Perwyn Guntbold, and Hansal Oakheart were also firing arrows near him, while Deert, and Hank were directing people towards the bridge and making them hurry. He and the rest of the party were slowly pushed back by their numbers as he didn't want to be cornered in the street, so he pushed himself to the first tier of the bridge and thus allowed the people to continue getting inside the Keep. While they were pulling back two of the other men at arms fell to Orcs, and Deert took a horrifying blow to his arm of which when Lucas moved to him they were both very aware that the wound might be fatal, but he refused to retreat and they covered it as best they could. His desperate fight continued as the Orcs begin swarming at him in increasing numbers, and during this time he held the front of the bridge standing side by side with Perwyn Guntbold while the other men at arms, and the party joined the archer fire from the walls as they devastated the incoming Orcs. At times they would be assisted by some of the fleeing soldiers, but they basically held it alone against hundreds of marauding Orcs for nearly a half an hour. Wave after wave failed to get by him and Perwyn Guntbold, and as his success seemed more and more likely guards from the wall joined his defense of the bridge. They continued to hold until finally they were confronted by the largest Orc any of them had ever seen, alongside nearly half a dozen other massive Orcs and hundreds of others that also tried to get by.

Defeating Lugdush

The Orc was Lugdush and was the second highest commander behind Jurden Hardaxe himself, and was perhaps the strongest of the lot and for this reason Jurden had sent him at the vanguard and when watching Lucas murder Orc after Orc he saw his chance to rid himself of Lugdush. The Orc moved up to the lines surviving archer fire from the walls without any pause, and raised his sword before killing the man next to Lucas and sending Lucas, and Perwyn flying to the ground and knocking Perwyn unconscious against the ground. Lucas called out for the other men to retreat, but they refused to leave him and his party stood side by side with him as Lugdush attacked again. Deert would be the first to fall as Lugdush ignored a slash across his chest from Lucas and cleaved Deert Davion nearly in two, and followed by this Lucas ducked underneath another slash from Lugdush and slid behind him engaging two of the other massive Orcs. While Lucas fought them Hansal was slashed across the face by Lugdush and killed, while the three men at arms were killed by the other Orcs with Lugdush with the last Orc dying as it killed the last man at arms leaving Lucas killing the remaining Orcs while Lugdush and Hank James II. battled.

Dodging blow after blow Hank was joined by Oliver Slinde of whom would slash Lugdush badly on the leg knocking him to the ground, but when Hank went for the killing blow Lugdush would grab him and break his neck before throwing him into the moat. Lucas by this point had killed three of the large Orcs, and one of the final was able to overwhelm him and push him to the side, and as it raised its axe to kill him an arrow struck it in the head. Looking to the source of the arrow he saw his brother Nathan on the wall, and the two shared a quick look before Nathan aimed his bow and fired once again into the mass crowd behind them. As Lugdush cornered Oliver against the side of the bridge and prepared to kill him Lucas jumped on his back and was able to stab him through the less armored back part of his neck killing the massive Orc. Now exhausted from that fight and standing alone on the bridge he was finally forced to pull back when nearly 50 Orcs almost surrounded him, causing him to jump into the moat. Oliver was able to get inside the gate but those on the wall believed he had been struck down and killed. The Gryphon gate was then shut but Lucas was stuck on the outside of the wall.

Closing the front door

But Lucas was not dead. He managed to sneak his way around the city, and it was during this time that he would further his fame. He managed to sneak back to the outer city gate, by moving silently through the sewers that ran from the Scott Keep all the way to the front entrance of the market which was just a short run to the gatehouse. Finding none of the Orcs had worked on clearing the sewers he was shocked to find dozens of people hiding themselves in the sewers, and warning them they needed to quickly make their way to the keep he kept moving arriving at the market entrance, and leaving the sewer he looked out and saw the gatehouse. Flowing through the gatehouse were the Orcs, and he knew that unless he stemmed the tide the Gryphon gate would be overwhelmed with little difficulty, and thus he snuck his way along the side of the road and made his way into the tower where he killed the three Orcs guarding the main floor of the gatehouse before making his way upwards into the actual door mechanism room. Once there he wiped out the Orcs who were now holding the gate house. There were dozens of Orcs spread throughout the gatehouse tower but they were in a rampaging mood and thus he was able to ambush them room after room until he had cleared his way to the actual mechanism that would control the portcullis. Once he had control of the gate house he closed the outer gate. By shutting this gate he had managed to stem the flow of Orcs entering the city, and through this act most likely saved the inner city who was having great difficulties holding. Quickly making his way onto the ramparts he was forced to briefly fight his way along the wall before he jumped off the wall onto the roof of a house below. As he jumped off the roof he took an arrow to the shoulder, and then as he was continuing to run away he took a shot to the back which took the air out of him as it struck his lung. Making his way from roof to roof he would get himself all the way back to the keep and seeing the keep wall, he was able to fashion a rope that he used to climb back over the inner wall, where he was found by his brother Nathan passed out on the wall.

Morrigan Enters the City

As the Orcish army swarmed into Tree Hill Morrigan would make her way to a local farm where she had ordered her men for months to burrow a tunnel beneath Tree Hill that would connect directly beneath Gryphon's Gate. Moving her way through the tunnels she would eventually arrive at the entrance which was inside her home in the keep where she was living under the guise of Lady Morrigan Sylne of House Slyne. Leaving her house she heard the screams and could smell all the death around her but her soul brought her to the wall where she found a mortally wounded Lucas Scott. Lucas had two arrows in him of which one had pierced his lung and was too much for him to handle and survive. Holding his head up she would use her Magi to heal him, and as he was healed and she removed the arrows she rested him along the wall and used her Magi to enchant Nathan into sensing where his brother was and coming to find him.

Back in the City

The moment Lucas was pulled back into the keep was the moment that most point to as the moment that the Battle ended for the city itself, and following this the situation was one of a siege except for the incoming relief force. Nathan called out for men to come help him carry Lucas inside, and they carried him into the locked tower overlooking the city, and then called for a doctor. Miraculously Lucas was unhurt, and only had cuts, and bruises to show for the act that saved the city from immediate death. It was in this moment that the first stems of jealously begin from Lucas's brother Nathan. While Nathan had led the defenders in their retreat back to the keep and had maintained order during the battle, all of this was forgotten as the people lot their minds over the return of a living god to them in Lucas Scott.

Nathan Scott would storm out of the room as in his eyes everyone was ignoring him, and as he did he silently walked over to the wall and watched the people stem from the keep, and make their way to see Lucas Scott. As he watched this he saw for the first time that day Haley, and she was running around with a desperate look in her eyes. When he saw this he thought for a moment that she was coming for him and he felt hope, but as he walked towards her, she saw him and for the briefest moment she looked as if she would go to him, but instead she kept moving and pushed her way through the crowds and into the tower where Lucas was.

Massacre at Hyphon's farm

With the city on the verge of utter destruction, and the Orcs massacring the few survivors within the walls and outside the Keep the forces of Lucerne were preparing to gather in Forks for what they assumed would be a massive reinforcement effort. At this time Bill Lovie, and House Lovie's forces would be only a day away from Forks, and he was trying to find a way to make the forces of Lucerne stand down and not assist the city he had planned to destroy. His oppurtunity would come when the main army of Tree Hill which had been ordered by him to Forks on the day of the attack massed alongside hundreds of volunteers and prepared to move inside the city from the eastern gate so to give the defenders more time for the relieving force to arrive. At this point Earl Scott asked for permission for the forces of House Swan, and House Arryn to join with them, and when the raven arrived with Bill Lovie he knew he had his chance.

He sent four ravens in responce to Earl's letter. The first was to Earl Scott himself of whom he told he was going to send the full wieght of House Arryn, and House Swan to the western side of Tree Hill so that the route into Tree Hill would be opened to them. He sent two more ravens to House Swan, and House Arryn which told them that they were to move to the northern end of Tree Hill, and they they were to wait in the forests there for the full force of Lucerne to arrive. With this in mind Earl Scott would assemble his forces, and without checking in with Charlie Swan who was the only one who knew nearbye that he was walking into a trap he moved his forces towards Tree Hill. As his forces were leaving out the gate, it would be Jacob Swan who would follow with Earl Scott alongside several of his bodygaurd, and they would join what would be a doomed effort. The final raven would be the most deadly and had been sent to Alex Kirsh who was located in a small mountain cave north of Tree Hill more then a day ahead of Earl Scott. He would order Alex Kirsh to infiltrate the northern gatehouse and wait there until the arrival of Earl Scott, where upon his arrival he would trap his forces by closing the gate.

Earl's forces would arrive at Tree Hill nearly a day and a half later and were exhausted due to the speed at which they had been marching to Tree Hill. Upon their arrival they saw that the gate was open, and few Orcs were defending the area so they moved quickly into the area believing that the forces of House Swan, and House Arryn had blocked the main army from being able to ambush them. At the same time as they were moving it was the movement of Alex Kirsh in the northern gatehouse that would seal the fate of the army of Earl Scott. Alex Kirsh had waited for Earl's forces to arrive, and once they neared the gatehouse he begin to lower the gate so that they couldn't get inside. Earl's forces now stuck on the outside saw a large force of Worg riders moving towards them from the east, and thus they moved northward, and when the Worgs hit them they were trapped in Hyphon's farm. The Worgs overran their positions all across their lines, and despite attempts by Earl to get the troops under control they were cut down in their hundreds by the rampaging forces of the Orc Worg Riders. As they attempted to shift westward they saw the main Orc force moving towards them and realized they were trapped and doomed. The Worg Riders and the main Orc force would together over the course of several hours massacre the entire force and capture several of the soldiers for slavery.

Second Battle of Tree Hill

Main Article : Second Battle of Tree Hill

As the human/elven alliance destroyed the Orcs that had held the Gondor siege of Minus Ithil for many years, Jurden Hardaxe paid this little heed despite the fact that he was sent word of it from some of his scouts who had been watching that siege for any signs of Mordor weakness. Jurden over the decade of the siege had become obsessed with maintaining his own power, and had basically become uninterested in actually ending the siege through conventional means. Alongside this he also had a growing belief that the humans were completely useless and for all of these reasons Jurden Hardaxe made no effort to double his scouts or anything that might have assisted him in stopping the coming ambush. And if all of this added up wasn't enough he was also still being whispered to by Morrigan who was telling him that it was all a trick and Sauron was only days away. As the Sindar Elven/Human forces moved to the high ground of the area near the bridge of Weidenhouse and from this position they begin planning the method they would use to end the conflict. As the planning begin it became clear that the fight would be started during the night as town they were in described the fact that they noticed very little activity in the Orc camp during the night most likely due to the fact that they had become completely confident in their lack of any kind of threat.

The Night Comes

Waiting for the night to come William would be able to watch for the first and last time the Orcs setting off their massive drums and horns in order to force the defenders to be unable to sleep during the night and thus exhausted during the day. Hearing this many among the attacking army grew even more angry at the fact that the defenders had been forced to endure this for all this time without anyone helping them. William would spend the night with Leven, Jasper, Emmett, and Edward as the Shadow Council as they were not openly to each other calling themselves spent a few last hours with each other before they all knew everything was going to change. Finding themselves greeted throughout the night by every lord who not wanted to speak to William they couldn't help but see how different things had become for the naive group. The Orcs by this point had no contact with their scouts, and yet they still remained completely unaware. Morrigan would at this point make her final step towards sealing the fate of Jurden Hardaxe when she would convince Jurden to host a large party for his Orcs which made them all drunk and even less prepared.

The Massacre

As the night neared the Orcs would begin their party and the loud noise would alert the alliance that this was underway, and also awake most of the defenders of Tree Hill of whom were prepared for what many believed was the final attack. The party continued, and the alliance moved itself completely into position against the now scout less Orcish force, and pushed in many places all the way against the wall with the entire Orcish force within the city itself or dead outside. The night came and the army would move on their predetermined signal of which moved everything forward. The infiltration of House Scarlet into the under tunnels of the city begin as Saiden Scarlet led a large force of hundreds into the tunnels in the goal of reaching the estate of House James and once the attack was underway they would spring upon the already ambushed Orcs. From the west the forces of House Greymane, and House Ordos would move themselves through the broken shattered western gate and encountered hundreds of Orcs in differing stages of drunkenness and the fighting wouldn't spark any concerns from the Orcs as it was all believed still to be a part of the party. Seeing the ambush was underway it was at this moment that Morrigan finally ended the charade and came upon Jurden while he was standing in his residence.

Aftermath

The battle would end with the complete destruction of the Orc army and the liberation of Tree Hill. When the armies of Lucerne and Gondor entered the remains of Tree Hill, they found the sad remnants of a once truly mighty city. Food, aid and supplies were rushed to the city, but before the true rebuild could begin Andrew Lovie would take the reigns of the King of Lucerne following a duel with his father.

Funeral of Earl Scott

Look at the world father. You were born into this land, and you have told me hundreds upon hundreds of times how much you used to love it. Look at everything you have done to it. You destroyed a city for no reason, killed hundreds of good men out of fear. Is this how you want to be remembered father. Is this the world you want to leave behind? I know you were a good person once. I have all the evidence laid out in front of me as to why you are the villain of this world, but I don't fully believe it. Don't end it all here, and be remembered as a monster..

Brooke Scott: Please father I never ask you for a thing...why can't you just do this one thing for me...please father. Dan Scott : Just sit on the ground and remember your place in all this little girl. Brooke Scott : And what is my place father? Dan Scott : The bottom of the food chain.

After saying that he would walk out of the room leaving a broken Brooke lying on the ground for sometime before her brother Nathan returned into the room looking severely disappointed in himself, and perhaps worried about Brooke more then she thought he ever would. Brooke didn't know what to say to her brother so she ran out of their and ran away past the cries of Haley who noticed her running away, and finally made her way to the glades west of Tree Hill where she and her grandfather had spent a lot of time. While she spent the time alone she knew that her grandfather needed to be remembered and if her father wouldn't help her then the only person left to go to was her mother.

When Brooke left the glade she went to the home of Margeary Tonsvale of whome was the matriarch of House Tonsvale, and the women that her mother spent most of her days with filling out the boredom. She barged into the estate being alowed past the gaurds because they knew who she was, and when she reached her mother she grabbed her by the arm and pulled her outside. Outside she tried to make her mother help her, but she quickly discovered that her mother was exactly as far gone as she appeared when her mother not only refused to do this, but also moved to side with her husband against her daughter. This was too much for Brooke and knowing the debate between House Scott was over she knew the only person that could help her was William Lovie III.

Begging a King

With her attempts to get her family to do what she wanted she risked a lot by deciding that she needed to see William. She was able to talk Haley into pretending that Brooke was staying with friends for a while and the sad fact was that no one in her family except for Lucas even noticed her absence. She made her way by carriage to Lucerne and arrived there to the sight of a parade. The carriage driver explained that William Lovie had taken control of the Kingdom and was now the King after he had thrown Bill, and Sean Lovie out of Lucerne. She covered herself in garbs as if she was an Ostrogoth, and made her way to the Keep where she hoped to find Jasper, Edward or Emmett because William had told her that of anyone alive those were the people he trusted next to his sister. She would have gone to Alice but she worried that Alice would be on Bella's side and wouldn't help her. If she had thought that she was given ample proof of that when she arrived at the Keep and wasn't greeted by one of his best friends but instead by Alice Lovie of whom stood in the Gateway staring at her through the garb as if she had somehow known all along that she was coming.

Look at the world father. You were born into this land, and you have told me hundreds upon hundreds of times how much you used to love it. Look at everything you have done to it. You destroyed a city for no reason, killed hundreds of good men out of fear. Is this how you want to be remembered father. Is this the world you want to leave behind? I know you were a good person once. I have all the evidence laid out in front of me as to why you are the villain of this world, but I don't fully believe it. Don't end it all here, and be remembered as a monster..

I could hear her voice from within the tent. I had spent only a few days with Brooke and her voice was like a siren to me and with the siren now within range I left my conversation with Alice without a word and left the tent going towards her. I saw her immeidatly as I left the tent, and she looked to be in an argument with Leven, and Jasper of which Jasper was holding her by the arm in what looked to me as an attempt to stop her from falling over. "Lady Scott." I had reached her and she saw me letting out a smile when our eyes met. She curtsied and I took her by the hand. "My King if it is possible I need a word." There was a desperation in her voice and despite the looks from everyone around me I ignored them. "Of course milady." I turned towards the tent to see an enraged Alice who was glaring at me. "Sister we shall finish our conversation later." "As you say." Alice walked right by me hitting me in the shoulder as she left, and while usually Emmett would have laughed at such a childish display there was no laughter to be found. Without another thought of the stupidity of being so brazen in my behavior I led Brooke into the tent closing the flap behind us. "You couldn't stay away." Turning around from closing the tent I regretted the words as Brooke had tears flowing down her face and rushed into my arms. "Tell me whats happened?" "What is it Will?" "I was talking with Hanna Arryn." "I fear I have been out of the loop for too long. I don't know the name." "She was a friend of mine during school. She came here as a sort of measure of what I would lose if I don't stop moving against Berne. She was a threat of sorts." "Your brother has not realized the end is at hand?" "He still clings to the idea that he can somehow win this." "This threat doesn't change what you have to do." "Its more then just Hanna. She came and told me of Amber Heard." I didn't wait for any recegnition from Brooke as how could she possibky know of Amber. "Your former betrothed?" "How did you?" "I've been doing my research on you my king." "She is in Berne too." "Do you still care for her." "We were children when we were betrothed. We played the married couple, but we were children." "You fear for her?" "Hanna told me that our childish playing has resulted in a child. Amber Heard is locked within the walls of Berne with my firstborne." "She had your child?" "Apparently. And now this poor child lives under constant threat of being discovered. It is not enough that my childish behavior with his mother has led to him now living a life as a base born child. No now I have put his life in danger by not stopping my brother a long time ago."

The Funeral

House Nighting Rebellion

With William Lovie III. now the king of Lucerne the leadership of House Nighting begin to fear for the fate of their businesses which relied heavily on the use of workers in near slave like conditions, but even more dangerous for them was the fact that they sold Lucernians at the slave markets of Paris. House Nighting watched as the regime took control of businesses all around Lucerne and turned them into Kingdom businesses, and when William came to Tree Hill no one in House Nighting had any doubts what was going to happen, and they were not proven wrong. When William arrived one of the first businesses that was told to him was the racket that was run by House Nighting, and thus he met with the leaders of House Nighting and asked them to explain themselves, but House Nighting didn't believe they did anything wrong and as such William became very aggravated with them, and was harsher on their business then most he had dealt with. The members of House Nighting were beyond shocked at what had happened to them, and in this moment they attempted to meet with all the members of their customer base, but they discovered that House Scott had been working behind the scenes and had infiltrated this network, and was now dismantling the criminal enterprise from within. House Nighting would offer William Lovie III. huge segments of their profit base, and they hoped this would assuage him, but instead he sent in the Order of the Red Dragon led by Sawyer Shephard, of whom started a large investigation that finished basically the entire criminal organization.

With their businesses in shambles and the slave trade over, House Nighting became poor very quickly, and all the friends that they once had disappeared overnight it seemed. This caused a lot of resentment and as such there resentment became public knowledge and as such they were met by members of House Jestife who were members of the True Sons of Lucerne. After this communication House Nighting turned to service in the True Sons in order to hopefully regain their authority over the slave trade. During this time of shifting alliegences it would be Rachel Nighting that begin to stray from her family somewhat as she begin to have an emotional affair with Raginald Frightling of whom was the young heir to House Frightling and while married he showed her something that she had never found with Cooper. At first they were silent in their support of the True Sons of Lucerne, as they didn't want further attention, but it would be a single piece of mail sent by a raven that would send the members of House Nighting into a fierce debate of which would decide the future of House NIghting.

Discovery of Betrayal

It was at this point that Edric Nighting would arrive in Forks where he had made the decision to turn against his family and reveal the plans of his family. Edric Nighting had several weeks before this begin hearing talk from his father and older brother that they planned to rise against House Scott and murder the Scotts in the city before taking control of Tree Hill itself. He would watch his brother in secret as his brother James Nighting II. followed Brooke Scott watching her movements, and watching her himself he discovered that she was the mistress of William Lovie III. through listening in on a conversation between Brooke and Haley James. Learning of this relationship between William and Brooke the loyal Edric Nighting would depart Tree Hill by horse with his friend Hanzal Grightling heading towards Forks where they had heard William Lovie III. was meeting with his wife and the leadership of Forks. Arriving at Forks the two would quickly gain an audience with the king of whom was surrounded at the time by Charlie Swan, Leven Martell, and Bella Swan, and seeing how influential the group was Edric would immediately tell the king what he knew which horrified the group of whom had already rallied their forces and was planning to move out the next day to Berne. Realizing the main forces still needed to go to Berne he would command Jasper Hale to lead a secondary force to Tree Hill in order to defend the Scott's once the Nighting's moved against them, and after discussing it was decided that Jasper would move south through the province of Rosten where he would summon a force from that province's lord in House Elric alongside Northern Tree Hill's lordn in House Guntbold and then lead them southward to Tree Hill.

Following the breaking up of the meeting Jasper, Leven, and Bella would follow William back to his tent where Jasper would convinse William to take him with him to Berne and instead send Leven to Tree Hill. Making up excuses about why she needed to go instead of him Leven was left shocked by what Jasper did and thus limply accepted this change of plans, and with a kiss to her forward she and William would say goodnight and following this Jasper and Leven left the tent. Leaving the tent Leven would follow Jasper trying to get him to explain himself, but he refused until she became quite agitated leading to an argument between the long time friends. Fighting loudly forced Jasper to take the argument into his tent where he would reveal that he did not trust her abilities to protect William considering how in love with him she was, and following this she would punch him in the face before returning to her own tent. The next day William, Jasper and the larger force from Forks would leave the city leaving Leven and a few hundred men at arms and knights to move south towards Castle Elric where she would go to defend the mistress of her beloved.

The Battle

Executions

When it came to dividing up the responsibilities of the attack on the lands of the Malfoy's it was House Scott that was obviously a part of the planning of the Invasion of Westbridge as they were a Lord House and Lucas Scott was very popular with the young King of Lucerne in William, despite the fact the two were estranged due to an argument between them when Lucas finally learned of Brooke Scott, and the King. While this planning hinged on several different sections the overall plan back in Lucerne was one that needed to all work together in connection in order to leave the path open for the main army of the King to engage Westbridge itself. Several houses would move against the outskirt castles, and towns south of Westbridge, while House Lovie and its vassals alongside others moved against the southern half of the Westbridge entrance. This meant that House Scott was required to take control over the invasion of the town of Breadin to the south east of Westbridge. The town of Braedin was the ancestral home of the large House Curtley, and as such it was heavily defended by the forces of House Curtley who despite their disloyalty to House Malfoy they were not willing to simply give in to outside pressure. This meant that House Scott when they left for the long trek north they prepared to siege the town, and its keep that the Order of the Green Dragon said was so heavily defended. House Scott left Tree Hill alongside their vassal houses and the sworn houses and made the long trek northward towards the village of Pomer. House Oakheart would send large forces under the command of Anakin Oakheart of whom was joined by his son Lucas Oakheart of whom was increasingly hateful towards his father for continuing to not get revenge for the death of Thomas Oakheart by Dan Scott, and Lucas was using this as a chance to build fame outside of his father in order to start his own cadet branch of the family with his sister Leah Oakheart, but was playing his father into believing he was trying to rebuild their relationship. During the times they were riding Lucas rode his horse beside Marvin Scott a man who despite being his cousin he barely had known and he came to find that the two had a lot in common, and they begin to build a true relationship.

When the Scott's were given command of the taking of Braedin William knew that with all the conflict between himself and the Scott's due to his affair with Brooke he would need someone to watch them, and thus he would recall his cousins from House Tyrell to Lucerne. It was decided that the majority of the forces of House Tyrell would follow the Scotts in the taking of the heavily populated and defended town of Braedin. Alongside assisting in the siege they would be placed in a position of watching Dan Scott in secret and seeing what manner of loyalty he showed during the campaign. Nearly four days into the trek he was greeted by the horse of Loras Tyrell riding up beside him, and the two of them came to ride together the rest of the way talking about random things. When they arrived they didn't join the main camp and instead passed west where they took control over the small village of Pomer where they left portions of House Faust to maintain its control and to make sure no one left the town and warned everyone else.

Scouting the Keep

Lucas Scott, and his cousin Marvin Scott were placed in a leadership role by William Lovie III. for the purposes of this siege and as such they took a small elite group of troops and during the middle of the night they went and surveyed the defenses of Breadin. When they reached the outskirts they were clearly able to see the true extent of the defenses, and realized quite quickly that the town was defended by what appeared to be a large keep that while it didn't surround the entire town it defended what must have been the House Curtley Estate alongside the center of the town. As they returned to camp and all the scouts begin to flood back they attempted to find the most simple way of taking the keep without taking horrendous casualties. Loras Tyrell advised that his scouts reported to him that the northern part of the town appeared to be undergoing some sort of construction and that he believed he could use this too his advantage and attack that section with House Tyrell and his sworn houses. While this was happening the entire castle had been surrounded, and thus Dan Scott would arrange for a parley with the members of House Curtley. Joining Dan in the meeting were the Patriarch's of the other vassals present and many of their heirs, while House Curtley sent their prince in the form of Barister Curtley II. and a few of the defense commanders to meet with them.

As they were leaving for the meeting it was the Tyrell's that revealed to several others the true directive of William Lovie III. through his own writing, but they worked hard to keep that they had revealed this truth so that they could do as William wanted and see if Dan would be loyal. Dan Scott would outline the terms of surrender, and made sure to note that William Lovie had said that they would retain control of Braedin but they would need to swear oaths of loyalty to the Kingdom of Lucerne. Dan Scott though would deviate heavily from the offer made by the King when he lied and said that a demand had also been made to allow a garrison of their castle until the conflict was over, and he did this directly in front of Dylan Tyrell of whom knew the true orders from William but remained silent. The last terms were obviously not acceptable to the prince, and so he regrettably rejected the surrender and prepared to return to the castle. As he was leaving he was told by Loras Tyrell that the Scotts had planned to have him captured and all his men killed. Hearing this just as he was leaving Barrister would return to Braedin with the belief that House Tyrell was on their side more then House Scott, and because of this it would affect the situation with Braedin. When Barrister Curtley II. returned to Braedin he met with the commanders and discussed how House Tyrell had told him that he was in danger and that only they had kept him from being killed.

The leadership of Braedin led by House Curtley became divided under the opinions of though's that wanted to speak to this House Tyrell and get them to accept the surrender of the city, while the other side wanted to basically fight to the death under the leadership of Varin Curtley. Barrister the heir of House Curtley said that he had talked openly with the prince of House Tyrell and that this young man appeared very much to want them to survive. Others would argue that Barrister was being used, and just didn't know that. The argument raged throughout the night, and Barister Curtley the Lord of the city remained passive until finally siding against his heir and deciding to fight hoping relief would come from Westbridge. His son was utterly shocked that his father had turned against him, and fled the room with several of his loyalists for the northern gate. Barrister when he arrived

The Siege

With knowledge of how truly defended the town was they prepared for the siege the next day as they knew that was their time frame that they had to complete the siege and take control of the town. Lucas planned to have House Scott, and its Vassals move against the town from the south, while House Tyrell and its sworn houses moved against the northern side of the town. This plan was coupled with the silent constructions of his cousin Marin Scott who had constructed several secretive devices which he believed would allow the troops to enter the fortress unhindered from any fire that might come their way. These moveable siege towers were something he had devised while drawing and this would be the first time he had a chance to use them. As this was going on House Tyrell was already in position in the north, and thus was sitting waiting for what Mace hoped would be a message from House Curtley. While the north was peaceful the southern side which was defended by Varin Curtley was provoking the actions of House Scott. Varin had his men fire shots into the field in front of where the House Scott men were mobilizing, and blew his horns all night long to try and keep the preperations from being made.

The Tyrells Move

As the forces of House Scott moved their forces into position for an attack the following day, the forces of House Tyrell would move another plan into action. Mace Tyrell devised a plan where he would take control of the town through the relationship that he had built with the leadership of House Curtley, and his son Loras had played the game perfectly to the point that during the morning Barrister Curtley II. would sneak out of the northern gate and meet with the leadership of House Tyrell. The plan was for House Tyrell to enter the northern gate peacefully, and do this before House Scott sacked the city Barrister would lead the front echolons of House Tyrell into the gate, and they would move into the cities northern side at nearly the same time that House Scott made their attack on the southern gate.

The Fall of Braedin

As the forces of House Tyrell moved into Braedin the forces of House Scott moved against the southern gate completely unaware that fighting was happening on the southern wall. The forces of House Scott moved slowly across the field using their siege machines that blocked fire, and thought this was the reason for the lack of firepower against them, but instead it was because the southern gate was falling to House Tyrell. As they reached the gatehouse the gate door opened, and Mace Tyrell II. walked towards the machines letting them know that the battle was over. Dan Scott, and Mace Tyrell II. would nearly come to a duel, but Loras, and Lucas were able to calm the situation down, and losses were minimal outside of the defenders who lost significant numbers in the suprise attack by House Tyrell.

Staying and Leaving