Battle of the Kingsroad

After Queen Rhaenyra died, King Aegon II demanded loyalty from everyone who had fought for his sister. The reply came from the North and the Vale, where hosts gathered to crown the dead queen's last surviving son, the young prince Aegon. Of all those armies, the river lords' host marched closest to the capital, coming down the Kingsroad from the north.

Command first belonged to Lord Elmo Tully, who died after drinking tainted water; leadership then passed to his son Kermit, joined by his twin brother Ser Oscar Tully, by Lord Benjicot Blackwood, and by other lords of the Trident.

Near King's Landing, Lord Borros Baratheon saw no danger in that army: word reached him that women and children rode at its head, and he had his own stormlander troops, men from Hayford, Rosby, Stokeworth and Darklyn's lands, plus two thousand Flea Bottom folk he had hastily armored. He failed to notice that his enemies were war-hardened.

Borros underestimated his rivals and charged without hesitation. But along one stretch of road heavy rain had turned the ground to mud, and there the stormlander cavalry lost its footing: the formation broke apart under arrows from the river archers. Even so, Borros's men reached the wall of spears the Blacks had formed, later reinforced by Baratheon infantry, and the fighting turned brutal. When the river line was about to give way, an attack on the flank tore the stormlander order apart.

Borros called for his reserves, but the Hayford, Rosby and Stokeworth men refused to join the fight, the armed mob from King's Landing fled the field, and the knights of Duskendale switched sides and struck the stormlanders from behind. With no way to retreat, Borros kept fighting: he cut down a dozen knights and killed Lord Darry and Lord Mallister, but took wound after wound.

When young Kermit Tully found him and asked him to yield, Borros charged him instead. Kermit killed him with a blow from his morningstar, and the battle was over.

Victory belonged to the Blacks, and the Greens were left with little to defend the capital. Other black armies kept advancing, among them Lord Cregan Stark's and forces coming down from the Vale. King Aegon II refused to surrender, even after Lord Corlys Velaryon told him his only choice left was to give up the crown and take the black at the Wall.

Instead, on his mother's counsel, Aegon II had his nephew's severed ear sent as a warning. He then withdrew to his chambers and asked for a litter to pray at the city's sept; along the way he drank wine to dull the pain. When his guards drew back the litter's curtains to tell him they had arrived, they found the king already dead, blood on his lips.