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A raid on Sherrer occurs before the outbreak of open warfare in the War of the Five Kings. The unsuspecting people of Sherrer are attacked by Ser Gregor Clegane and the Mountain's men.[1]
Prelude
In response to Catelyn Stark's arrest of his son Tyrion Lannister, Lord Tywin Lannister sends Ser Gregor Clegane and the Mountain's men to raid parts of the western riverlands.[1] Tywin hopes to draw out Lord Eddard Stark, Catelyn's husband and the Hand of the King, from King's Landing, but Eddard is wounded in the meantime in the streets of the capital during a confrontation with Ser Jaime Lannister.[2]
Raid
To maintain deniability, the Mountain's men do not display any banners and present themselves as mere brigands.[1] Attacking from the south at night, they set fire to the fields and houses of Sherrer, kill livestock and smallfolk, and rape women. At the alehouse of Joss, the raiders drink their fill of his beer before spilling the rest and setting fire to his roof. When some people of Sherrer seek refuge in their stone holdfast, the Mountain's men consider smoking them out. Gregor, however, decides to travel up the Red Fork to the more weakly-defended Mummer's Ford.[1] Having attacked Sherrer, the Mummer's Ford, and Wendish Town, the raiding party returns to the westerlands before the rivermen can respond.[1]
Aftermath
Survivors from Sherrer are brought to King's Landing by Ser Raymun Darry, Ser Karyl Vance, and Ser Marq Piper to inform the Iron Throne of the attacks. The brewer Joss describes their leader as being an enormous man, and Karyl and Raymun insist he was Gregor Clegane. Lord Stark, holding court as King's Hand while Robert I Baratheon is away hunting in the kingswood, tasks Lord Beric Dondarrion with leading a party to bring the king's justice to Gregor.[1] Beric is ambushed in a battle at the Mummer's Ford, however.[3]
When the brotherhood without banners list the crimes of House Lannister, the Mad Huntsman tells the captive Sandor Clegane, Gregor's brother, that young girls were raped at Sherrer and the Mummer's Ford and that even babies were killed. Sandor denies any involvement in the raids, however, having been serving Prince Joffrey Baratheon as his sworn shield.[4]
Quotes
They burnt us out. Come riding in the dark, up from the south, and fired the fields and the houses alike, killing them as tried to stop them. They weren't no raiders, though, m'lord. They had no mind to steal our stock, not these, they butchered my milk cow where she stood and left her for the flies and the crows.[1]
—Farmer to Eddard Stark
Mad Huntsman: Lions, you call yourselves. At Sherrer and the Mummer's Ford, girls of six and seven years were raped, and babes still on the breast were cut in two while their mothers watched. No lion ever killed so cruel.
Sandor: I was not at Sherrer, nor the Mummer's Ford. Lay your dead children at some other door.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 43, Eddard XI.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 17, Arya III.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 55, Catelyn VIII.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 34, Arya VI.