Field of Fire

Aegon the Conqueror had landed at the spot that would become King's Landing and was working his way through kingdom after kingdom.

Two western and southern crowns, the Rock and the Reach, chose to join their banners before the conquest could spread any further.

Loren of the Rock and Mern of the Reach pooled lords, mounted knights, and a tide of freeriders that outnumbered anything Aegon could put in the field several times over. Much of the Targaryen host had served the king they had just helped overthrow, so their loyalty was far from certain.

Jon Mooton, lord of Maidenpool and among the first to bend the knee to the invaders, was given command of that shaky force. The two armies met among ripe wheat fields, and the moment the kings ordered the charge the Targaryen lines began to break almost at once.

That was when Balerion, Vhagar, and Meraxes rose together, something that would never happen again, and set the fields alight while their enemies charged into the wind. Four thousand men burned to death and another thousand fell to steel; ten thousand more were left scarred by burns. The Targaryen side lost barely a hundred men, and the only serious wound was the arrow that struck Visenya's shoulder.

Mern died on the field, and House Gardener died with him. Nothing was left of the combined army of the Rock and the Reach capable of fighting on.

Loren gave up his crown and agreed to become Warden of the West in Aegon's service. At Highgarden, the steward Harlen Tyrell handed over the castle and its forces without a fight.

In return, Aegon gave the Tyrells the whole of the Reach to govern, elevating them from stewards to lords, with the title of Warden of the South added to that of Lord of Highgarden.