The rain poured down heavily. It always rained in the Neck it seemed like. In this godforsaken swamp where no one could possibly want to live.

Ser Balon Swann was making his evening round of the Baratheon camps. He was the commander of the army and he needed everyone to be prepared for the attacks that were to come. Because the attacks always came at night. Those damn swamp dwellers just wouldn't leave them alone. They didn't attack with power, but with stealth. They sneaked up on them, and suddenly men lay dead with arrows through their necks or spears through their stomachs.

That damn girl was the worst of them. The daughter of Lord Reed. He could see her watch them sometimes from the trees outside the camp.

Ser Swann hated this place, and he hated the queen on whose orders he had come here. She who had doomed house Baratheon.

They still proudly flew the Baratheon banners. Bright yellow with a black stag. Even though there was no Baratheon left to serve. These were the men left over from King Robert's army. Many of them had, just like Ser Balon himself, stood beside Robert on the battlefield when he won the crown. Or they were the sons of men who had. Ser Balon had served on Robert's King's guard until the day Robert died. Then he became the commander of the Baratheon armies under first King Joffrey and then King Tommen. Of course, they had all heard the rumors that those boys were not Robert's children, but they had still proudly served them because their name was Baratheon.

But Joffrey and Tommen were gone, along with every other Baratheon. The only one that was left to serve was Queen Cersei. They served her not because they wanted to but because there was no one else left to serve. At least she kept them fed and clothed. But they hated her for what she had done to the house they were loyal to.

All these men knew was fighting and they would fight to the end. For a house that was already gone. Ser Swann knew that the end would probably come soon. He knew the queen had sent them to the Neck because it was a mission they were unlikely to come back from. Even if they survived the constant attacks by the people of the swamp and the diseases that came along with camping out in the swamp surely the Dragon Queen would annihilate them on her march south. They were only there to stall her, to give Queen Cersei a bit longer to prepare for the attack on the capital. They were the ones she had chosen to sacrifice. They were the ones who were expendable.

They would go down, but they would go down under the yellow Baratheon banner. Just like Ser Swann had always known he would.

As he walked up to the north gate to secure it for the night he saw someone approaching. A man on a horse. They always let commoners through the barricades but people usually didn't arrive from the North. And people certainly didn't arrive at this time of night. Ser Balon decided he needed to greet this man himself.

He walked up to the gate as the man got off his horse and walked up to the gate from the other side. There was a small hatch on the gate through which they could talk and see each other.

"Who are you?" Ser Balon asked. "What are you doing here?"

The man's face was covered by a hood to protect him from the rain. This made it hard to hear what he was saying. Or maybe Ser Balon just couldn't believe the name he thought he heard. So he asked the man to repeat himself.

The man took his hood off and Ser Balon let out an audible gasp. The face... it was Robert's face. Like he had looked when he took the throne. The blue eyes, with such a fire in them. Such a fury. The man was shorter than Robert and he didn't seem to possess the magnetic presence of the former king. But the ghost of Robert was definitely in him.

"I'm Lord Gendry Baratheon," the man said. "And I'm here to save you."

Maybe this wasn't the end after all.

***

Gendry followed the man towards a tent in the encampment. The man, who had introduced himself as Ser Swann, was tall and about the same age as Gendry's father would have been, had he still lived. Ser Balon had the marks of a grizzled warrior, he was limping slightly and he had a multitude of scars on his face. He was a survivor, you had to be to live to that age as a knight.

After they had sat down and got something warm to drink Gendry started explaining who he was, and why he had come. He told Ser Balon how he had got legitimized and what the Dragon Queen's plan was.

When he had heard the whole story Ser Swann leaned back and sighed.

"So you are asking me to turn my coat and abandon the queen I follow?" he asked. "To commit treason to the crown? You know I can get beheaded for that?"

"I know it's a lot to ask," Gendry replied. "I'm not my father. You don't know me. I'm just a blacksmith bastard. But I think you can see that I am his son. I want to save you. Because I know the Dragon Queen will show you no mercy. And because I need you. I need you to claim the castle of my father."

Suddenly Ser Swann erupted in a big smile.

"I'm just kidding with you, son," he said and patted Gendry's shoulder. "I'll commit treason for the son of Robert Baratheon any day. It'll be my pleasure. I'd rather be beheaded for something I believe in than be burned for something I don't. And I believe in house Baratheon."

Gendry smiled back and stretched out his hand towards Balon.

"Thank you, Ser Swann," he said and shook the commander's hand.

"I can only decide for myself though. The rest of the men have to make their own decisions. I will address them tomorrow and tell them what I've decided. Then it's up to them to decide for themselves."

As he said that they heard a commotion from the outside. Men running and screaming. A war horn signaling an incoming attack.

"Damn, it's them again," Ser Swann said and sighed. "The damn swamp dwellers won't leave us alone."

***

The sun lit up the horizon the next morning. It peered through the leaves of the trees before rising atop and basking the whole swamp in sunlight. For what felt like the first time since the Baratheon armies got to the Neck. The sunlight hit the yellow stag banners flying in the wind and made them shine brighter than ever before. Almost as if the sun knew what was about to happen.

Ser Swann and Gendry stood in front of the armies to address them. About two thousand men were still there, still fighting for House Baratheon. As they had made their way to the field where the troops were gathered Gendry noticed some of the men looking at him strangely, but no one said anything.

Two thousand men were not a huge army, but it certainly looked like a lot to Gendry when he was standing in front of them. He had been part of an army before but never stood in front of one. It was a weird feeling, having them all look at him. Wondering who he was.

Ser Swann started talking. His voice was loud and commanding. Every single soldier on that field was able to hear him, even the ones in the back.

"My brothers serving under house Baratheon," he said. "The day has come. The day when I declare that I no longer serve Queen Cersei. I will no longer obey her orders. Because I am the commander of the Baratheon army. And last night I found out that there still is someone left for us to fight for. There is still a Baratheon! And he stands here next to me!"

Balon put his hand on Gendry's shoulder and pushed him out in front of him, so he was standing by himself right in front of the troops. They were all waiting for him to speak. Gendry knew what he should say but he still had to find the courage to actually say it. To try to make his voice carry.

"I am Lord Gendry Baratheon," he said.

He saw some gasps from the people in the front rows but he realized that he wasn't speaking loudly enough. The people in the back couldn't hear him.

"I am Lord Gendry Baratheon!" he shouted. "The bastard son of Robert Baratheon. Legitimized by the Dragon Queen. And I've come to ask you to follow me. If you chose to do so we will march towards the Stormlands together. To take back the castle of my father!"

Ser Swann got up next to him and put his hand on Gendry's shoulder.

"It's your choice if you want to follow him or if you want to stay here," he proclaimed. "Following him would be committing treason against the crown, but staying here would probably mean that you will be annihilated by dragon fire. I've made my choice and now it's time for you to make yours. But I can assure you that he is who he says he is. Because he looks just like Robert did back then, when I followed him onto the battlefield to win him the throne. This is Robert Baratheon's son. He is the only hope there is, the only reason we have to keep fighting, the only chance we have to regain the former glory of the house we still serve. We fight for house Baratheon, and the fight is not over!"

Ser Swann raised his sword in the air as he said that, a sign of him choosing to follow Gendry.

It was silent for a little while among the men, Gendry could hear some people mumbling but mostly it was silent. They were all trying to understand what they had just heard and what this meant.

Then one man raised his sword in the air, then another, and another. Until every single sword was raised. And they started chanting. They chanted the words of House Baratheon.

Gendry felt awkward standing there, he didn't really know how to respond. He had never had anyone on his side before, no one to protect him or fight for him. Not even has a child. Now he suddenly had a whole army. But as the chanting grew louder he felt himself getting carried away by it. He became someone else, someone he didn't know he could be, someone who knew how to stand in front of an army. He became the son of Robert Baratheon.

He took the war hammer he had attached to his belt and raised it in the air as well. And he joined in on the chanting.

"Ours is the fury! Ours is the fury! Ours is the fury!"

He was truly the spitting image of his father while standing there. Warhammer in the air. Chanting their war cry.

House Baratheon had risen from the ashes. The men could all feel it. They finally had someone to fight for again. Gendry wasn't his father, but he was someone to believe in. He was a Baratheon.