[Chapter Size: 3900 Words.]
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Third Person POV
Pyke, 300 AC.
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The mood in Pyke was far from lively or calm.
Balon was shouting at his men, with uncertainty spreading throughout the court. "No ravens? How is that possible?!", he yelled at them.
"The last one we received was from Orkmont... my king. They said they spotted some ships in the distance. Ships with white banners, nothing like our own vessels sailing in our waters," replied one of his men, who had been handling the ravens alongside the maester of Pyke.
The raven activity had become strange. First, the ravens from the North had nearly disappeared completely, with only occasional messages still coming from Moat Cailin and even from Barrowton, but the other ravens from different regions had simply stopped arriving. No one knew what had happened or what was going on there.
And this was beginning to create a certain uncertainty within Balon's court, with him demanding answers every day, but both the maester and the men assisting him—since Balon had simply thrown the maester into a cell accusing him of stealing the correspondence, only to release him a few days later—still, they had received nothing.
And things seemed to be getting worse in the past few days...
"What are you saying?", Balon growled, irritated, as they spoke about the possible ships roaming his waters.
"I am saying, my lord. They were seen by some fishermen, and we have had no communication with Harlaw, Great Wyk, and Blacktyde. None of the three islands are responding anymore."
"What is this now...", Balon could not help but feel frustrated. He had sent letters to Blacktyde, as it had a good concentration of ships to send north, to investigate why his brother and his daughter had stopped sending ravens, always reporting what was happening, with the sieges both on Bear Island and in Deepwood Motte.
"And what about the south?", Balon asked.
The men presented at least three reports from ports.
One spoke of the siege of Oldtown; the harbor had been taken, but the city still showed some resistance.
"Well... that is good, at least," Balon muttered.
There were also other scrolls about raids in the south of the Westerlands and also in the north of the Reach. "We have a strong position... And we are doing very well in terms of resources from those regions...", they reported.
Balon nodded.
"What do you make of this? Do you think there are ships attacking us, coming from the north...?", he asked his advisors, who glanced at one another before turning back to the king.
"I do not know... the lack of communication from the North and now also from the main islands, aside from Pyke, is quite strange, my king. In fact, concerning," the man said cautiously, seeing the look of anger on Balon's face.
Balon was furious. Of course... how could he not be? He had his conquest everywhere. He was taking revenge for what the North had done almost thirteen years ago, and he was also consuming the lands, stealing, raiding, and invading the territories of his enemies.
He had a larger fleet and more power than before. The conquest and the raids were going well, at least for now....
This had already been planned from the moment he received the royal decree, because the foolish cowardly fat stag ran between his legs after two fleets of the Seven Kingdoms — the Redwyne Fleet and the Royal Fleet — were decimated by the arcticans.
The royal decree gave him permission to build a new fleet to serve the king, believing that Balon would obey, with Theon still being a hostage in Winterfell. It might still have been a gamble, but they were more afraid of those ships from beyond the Wall than of the krakens, which was an insult, but also an opportunity, when the taxes on the Iron Islands were reduced.
Balon, when he heard about what the arcticans had done, could not help but feel a bit of envy. One hundred and fifty ships had done what he had not managed with five hundred, in an even more ruthless way.
He could not believe that they had such weapons capable of decimating fleets, using a liquid that he later learned was the same substance that the alchemists of King's Landing were producing. In fact, the ironborn fleet was only one part of the desperate fat king's actions, as he had also authorized the very creation of more wildfire to try to stop the arcticans, attempting to replicate their weapons, as well as the reestablishment of the Faith Militant.
Balon laughed at the desperation of the people of the continent. They had no idea that the ironborn would turn against them. Even with Theon as a hostage, Balon no longer cared, especially because he knew his son would never be a true ironborn, raised by wolves. Especially after he had been injured by the arctican king when the boy visited Winterfell many years ago and broke his hand in a way that it never returned to what it once was.
He was certainly surprised when Theon had actually taken the initiative to flee Winterfell. He came to his feet claiming to be his legitimate heir, and he wanted revenge against the Starks.
That sparked a glimmer in Balon, making him believe that his son might not be useless, but the boy proved pathetic, unable to command men on his ship and barely able to hold a sword properly. His hand had never recovered, and he lived grumbling that it was all the fault of that "Jon Snow", as he used to call the bastard.
And he was somewhat disappointed with his daughter as well, in whom he had hoped would one day take his place. When the wars between the kingdoms began and he declared himself the fifth king, she said they should avoid the North, since the North did not have many resources and that it would possibly anger those people beyond the Wall to the point that we would have no negotiations with them...
A people who had disappeared more than a year ago. No one had any news, none of their ships sailing the seas again.
Balon heard many stories about them. They dominated the entire eastern sea of the continent, between Essos and Westeros. Of course, Balon still felt a certain envy of that, hearing from his men that no pirate ship would come near when they saw Arctic's banner.
Of course, he wanted to have that reputation at sea. He wanted to be known as the Kraken King, the king whom all feared. And he mocked his daughter, because by the time the arcticans arrived there, they would already be prepared to face them, even with their weapons. After all, they would have to sail around the entire continent to reach them, and they would have to pass through many enemies...
His priests foretold victory. They said they saw the kraken wrapping its tentacles around the islands and dragging ships into the sea.
This interpretation was clear: the Greyjoys would already be victorious against whoever was coming near Pyke.
So, ignoring his daughter's warnings, he began the attack on the North anyway. He sought his revenge against the wolves.
He would show the Seven Kingdoms and the entire world that they were unstoppable at sea. Not even the arcticans would be a match for them.
His gaze fell upon the priest. "Tell me, your vision. Interpret it correctly... will the kraken prevail?" he asked.
This drew everyone's attention in the room. The priest, Aeron Damphair, with his staff, wearing old clothes, with long hair and beard, nodded.
"Yes, King Balon. I saw it in my visions. The Drowned God showed me that tentacles rose from the water around Pyke. The tentacles will embrace your enemies and pull them into the sea. The others will look upon it with fear and dread. A sign from the gods that the kraken will prevail," Aeron Damphair declared.
Balon seemed satisfied with that. After all, he was the kraken.
"Did you hear that, my men? This victory is ours, of the ironborn! We will take the iron price and conquer the sea! What is dead may never die!"
"What is dead may never die!", they all repeated at the same time, nodding as they gained confidence.
"Now let us see what is really happening on the three islands. I want ships sent there immediately. I want to find out exactly what is happening and punish anyone for the absence of the ravens!", he said, as the men nodded.
"Did you hear Captain Draven? Go to Blacktyde! Captain Halvar, Harlaw, and Captain Rogar, Old Wyk! Go to each of the islands and find out what is happening, and return to Pyke immediately! Take only one ship each.", one of the fortress commanders said to a group of captains who were waiting for orders and listening to the king's audience.
Quickly, these men began to leave the place. They went to the port, where they found a place filled with ships. There were at least two hundred ships docked at the harbor.
These three captains went after their men scattered across the island. Captain Draven, who had the mission to go to Blacktyde, immediately went to one of the port taverns, where they found their companions laughing, drinking, with prostitutes on their laps showing their breasts.
"You, out! We're setting sail for Blacktyde! Kael, drag our men out!", he said.
"You heard our captain, men! Drink your last mugs and let's get to the ship!", said one of the lieutenants, slapping a prostitute on the backside so she would get off his lap, as he followed his captain.
His men stopped drinking immediately and nodded, beginning to move.
"How was the meeting with the king, captain?", was the first thing the man asked.
"A bit restless. Balon was angry at first, but then there was a prophecy... or a vision from our priest. He seemed to gain confidence. But there's something wrong here," the man said, heading toward their ship.
"And what would be so wrong, captain?"
"It's that the North has lost contact, and now the three islands to the north as well. There are rumors that foreign ships are sailing in our waters, that we are under a silent attack and we know nothing about it..." The man looked at him, confused.
"How is that possible? There's no way to attack the Iron Islands and Pyke not know about it," Kael said.
"That's what's strange. They also heard a boom coming from Harlaw, like thunder in the middle of a sunny day. Some men went to investigate, while others came to report the sound. Those who went there never returned."
The lieutenant fell silent after that, while his captain seemed to think. He stepped onto the ship, climbing the plank, while his men followed, even a bit drunk, to untie it and prepare the ship to depart.
"Only a single ship, captain?" Kael still approached to ask.
"Yes, we have to be quick in seeing and reporting what is happening..." Draven said.
"You seem very tense..." Kael could not help but notice.
"Something is wrong... something is very wrong here," he said.
"Do you believe in the prophecy, captain?", the lieutenant asked curiously.
But the man only shook his head. "Of course not. That's just to boost Balon's ego. Something dangerous... I can feel it in the air. It's the same thing I feel when a storm is coming. Balon speaks only of krakens and is blinded by it... he is just a man. And perhaps Lady Asha was right. We sent too many men to the North... the only thing we can find there is women, because the North is poor by nature."
"You're still thinking about that? Do you fear the arcticans will come to attack us? They would come from the south, not the north, right?", said the lieutenant, recalling the map of Westeros in his mind.
"Yes... or so we hope," he muttered.
They had made some trips to Essos over the last two years, and during that time the arctican ships had been sailing those waters constantly with their active trade, before disappearing completely a year ago. Their reputation there was quite ruthless.
Since they had even gone to ports used by pirates, where they gathered to drink, divide spoils, or even fight and kill each other, it was not a common pirate port... there was fear and tension whenever someone brought up those ships. Pirate activity had decreased greatly on that side of the sea, and their population had dropped by at least half!
No matter how much they tried to band together, entire fleets were wiped out, to the point that pirates began pretending to be merchants, sailing through the waters. If they saw ships that did not carry the arctican banner, they attacked. Otherwise, they were just merchants passing through, since no ship from the arctican fleet attacked other merchant vessels. They only wiped out pirates.
But they also had a certain ability to discover whether there were pirates nearby or not. Even among pirates pretending to be merchant ships... it was said they could see through eagles in the sky. For if you saw an eagle flying in the middle of the sea, it meant the fleet was nearby.
This became a rule that spread among pirates: you should flee as fast as possible, because there was no way to defeat their weapons. Weapons that blew ships apart in green flames, while also being launched from distances no other ship could reach.
There was fear and caution among the pirates. Because of that, no one interfered with them anymore, and the Stepstones began to be abandoned as an area with direct flow of that people's trade routes. No one wanted to take control anymore.
Well... that was until they disappeared completely. Whatever war against monsters everyone had heard they were fighting in the North... even so, Draven knew it would not be their end, and that they would appear again.
Balon might have taken advantage of the chaos of the Seven Kingdoms, but there was no doubt that the king of that people would be enraged to see the land where he was born and spent part of his childhood, the North, being devastated.
Pyke would face a great war. Perhaps Balon was drowning in the false victory he believed he had, but there was no doubt that the arcticans would bring great destruction to the ironborn. And Captain Draven could not imagine how they could defeat the weapons the pirates spoke of and feared so much in the east.
In any case, his men continued to shout. The ropes began to be untied from the port and the sail was lowered, as they started to move away, their ship setting off.
"Come on, we have work to do," the captain said to Kael, who nodded, as the lieutenant began shouting at his men.
"Hold the helm! Eastward! Come on, you idiots, move! Just because you're a bit drunk you think you can be slow? Quick, move those ropes!", Kael kept shouting, while the captain watched the ship begin to leave the harbor of Pyke.
Pyke lay to the right and south of the island. They would not head north, but rather east, intending to sail alongside another captain, Halvar, who was also departing from the port at that moment. Halvar would go to Harlaw, sailing together along the right side, before Captain Draven's ship continued on alone to Blacktyde.
Everything seemed calm as the ship began to gain speed. They moved forward, and the captain had a composed look. A journey to find out what was happening on the islands seemed somewhat concerning, but still, it was a mission he would carry out.
The problem came when, suddenly, the ship seemed to hit something. They had not gone even five hundred meters from the port, and something held the ship and made everyone fall to the ground, some even thrown outward with the sudden stop. The ship of Captain Halvar beside them did the same a few seconds later.
His eyes widened. The men began to get up and shout, asking what was happening, but Captain Draven managed to see the tentacles beginning to wrap around the ship from behind.
"By the gods... what is that?", Draven murmured, filled with fear, as he saw more and more tentacles starting to coil around the ship, and his men with Kael began to scream in terror upon seeing it as well.
The ship of Halvar was also surrounded by other tentacles.
Even from the port they could see the ships being embraced — both those two ships and the third one of Captain Rogar heading to Old Wyk, sailing north.
They had never seen a kraken in their lives, and now they were seeing these mythical creatures, kings of the sea, as Balon used to say when claiming he would rule the seas... embracing their ships.
Draven did not even have time to react when the ship began to be crushed. His men immediately tried to wound the tentacles, but that only made the kraken react even more violently, tightening its grip until everything broke apart.
Draven simply saw and barely felt the ship being dragged down with force, as he was thrown into the water from the impact, the ship sinking and creating an explosion of water, while he was hurled through the air before falling into the sea again, dazed, far away, immediately trying to stay afloat.
But he knew... he knew he would die there, because he could see the massive shadow already circling beneath him, so close to the surface, as if the ship had been dinner — and now the kraken would seek dessert.
He began to see his men, who cried out for him, being pulled one by one into the sea. Some were simply dragged by the tentacles that reached across the surface, screaming.
Draven realized that even the priest had not been wrong... that the krakens' tentacles would appear upon the surface of the waters of Pyke. Only no one had said that the enemies would be the ironborn themselves!
He soon felt the tentacle rising beside him. He only watched as it wrapped around him, almost gently, like a mother embracing her newborn.
In the next moment, he was pulled under, dragged toward the massive monster, which opened its mouth full of teeth before devouring him.
The screams from the port were of pure terror, as they watched their men being devoured by the krakens in the water, dragged under by them.
Balon stood in one of the towers, watching, as the fortress of Pyke faced the sea. He observed everything with stunned eyes, unable to understand what had just happened. Not just one kraken had appeared, but it had devoured the captains who had been sent to check on the islands. It made no sense.
Then his gaze shifted to the horizon. There, he began to see small shapes appearing.
The sound of bells and alarms across the island began to echo. Men ran from one side to the other, as they could see a new fleet emerging on the horizon, heading straight for them.
Eagles echoed in the sky, while Bleufire and Phoenix flew over the island, watching the movements of the ironborn.
The snowflake banner was identified, it was them...
Balon remained there, staring at the fleet now fully in view. One hundred and twenty ships advancing directly toward them, while one of them stood out ahead of all the others.
"Someone is tied to the ship, my lord," said the man with the spyglass beside the king, observing from afar.
"Wait... I know who is there...", the man swallowed hard as he saw the woman bound to the main banner, as if she were crucified, tied by ropes. He just did not know how to explain it to Balon.
Meanwhile, on that same ship, at the top of the mast.
"Look at that... I can see your father watching us right now!" Jon's voice echoed, as he stood atop the mast, on the right side of the yard—the beam that held the main banner on the mast—with Asha tied to the main banner. Crucified with ropes, her hands were bound to the yard and her feet to the mast.
"I curse you! You bastard... I will curse you until the day of your death!", Asha shouted in fury, as tears streamed down her face. She had never imagined such humiliation and terror.
Jon stood there, holding a spyglass in one hand and using the other to keep his balance, gripping the wooden mast as he stood atop the yard.
He was not wearing armor, only simple clothing, and he had made a point of climbing up there to finally observe his ultimate objective: the seat of the ironborn, where the king who called himself a kraken resided.
Jon had deliberately orchestrated the destruction of the ships earlier, guiding the krakens to destroy the ships themselves. He knew nothing of any vision or prophecy... he had only done it to create an impact in the minds of the Greyjoys about what was to come.
Jon looked at the woman crying and cursing him, and allowed himself a small smile.
"Well... it's not every day you return home tied to the mast of a ship, is it?", he said, pausing.
"I want you to truly appreciate the sight of what is to come. Perhaps your father will not be consumed by the kraken as I wished he would be devoured... perhaps he will die along with his own fortress. So that will depend on him. Though I think that option is less terrible than being eaten alive."
"What are you planning?", Asha said, looking at him with hatred and fear.
"Isn't it obvious?", Jon did not even look at her, only staring at the castle. "We are going to bring it down. That castle may have once been a fortress, but it still represents a time for the ironborn that must end. That is why it will be destroyed before we even advance to the port," Jon said in a serious tone, looking at the structure of the castle in the distance before putting away the spyglass.
"You are cruel... far too cruel! You will pay for everything you are doing!", she shouted, crying.
But Jon did not care.
"Well, in any case, I will be preparing for the battle. You had better enjoy the view," Jon said.
With those words, Jon grabbed the rope and quickly untied it from the mast, using it to descend, letting only his weight do the work of gravity while using the rope to slow his fall.
He reached the deck a moment later.
"Prepare the wildfire. We will bring down the fortress once and for all first!", Jon said, with Arya already following him into the ship, as he would need help putting on his Valyrian steel armor. There was little time before the battle.
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