The Night's Watch guard on duty at the tunnel through the wall was shocked when 12 dire wolves went running through towards the north of the wall. Nymeria was at the front of the group, and they were moving fast. He was stunned to see small rivulets of golden flame trailing off the lead wolf as she blew through the tunnel. There was little he could do but report it. Something was going on, that much was clear.
Tormund's people made it to the pass; about 500 fighters accompanied them, and they were discussing how best to defend against a larger force in tight quarters. More were on the way from the west, north, and east, though the exact numbers were still anyone's guess. Riders had been sent out to spot enemy movements and to gather as many fighters as possible.
The last of the Zon troops were getting unloaded when gunfire from the sea erupted, leaders ordered them to mount wind sleds and pull the slings away from shore. The general troops began to scatter in small groups. They did not want to be caught defenseless in range of those weapons. The ships that had unloaded had only skeleton crews on them now, but they turned to join the fight.
The Sovereign and the Black Hand turned sideways as they broke out of the fog and into the open, blasting all guns at the five enemy ships. Two of the larger ships went down instantly, and Springer and Dirk were shouting orders on each ship to reload and keep firing. Of the three remaining enemy ships above water, one was on fire, and the other two were badly damaged already. They could see enemy troops scrambling on the shore, and several other ships turning away and heading towards the fight. The enemy ships were sitting ducks no matter what they did, but Dirk wanted to deal damage to the troops on shore as well. A couple of the smaller Westeros ships pulled near the ice with their side guns coming to bear on the ships moving from shore towards them. Their back guns kept pounding the fight at hand. Enemy sailors who ended up in the frigid waters didn't last long, so there was little fear of enemy survivors boarding the ships. A lucky shot from one of the smaller ships hit a ship headed toward them from shore. It killed the wind power, and the ship swirled sideways, blocking the tight channel the ice breaker had made. Four enemy ships backed up behind the wreck, unable to turn around or go forward. The Black Hand and the Sovereign moved in to hammer the beach with their guns, destroying some sleds and slings and killing a few troops. A barrage from the Black Hands' guns took out the logistic shed, and the smaller ships were hammering the other empty troop ships. It was a slaughter on the water as the last of the Zon troop ships went under. Some of their crew members managed to make it to shore, but most didn't. The Zon troops left on shore were hurrying out of range, so they turned towards home.
That's when they all got a distress ping from the Kaiya's telepath, "We've been rammed! Help!" Portsmith had been standing on deck watching the smaller Zon ship they had captured come about. A giant shadow appeared in the fog next to them, and they were rammed. The first blow shattered both hulls of the catamaran, and it threw Portsmith into the icy waters. The last thing he saw before sinking into the depths was two Zon soldiers dropping onto the still floating aft portion of the Kaiya and lifting a gun and ammunition into the enemy ship. The captured Zon ship turned and gathered the crew left on the sinking wreck, the telepath among them. The telepath relayed the story of the stolen gun, powder, and ammunition, and Arya ordered that the ship be hunted down. The captured ship took off to the southwest following the giant Zon ship. The other five ships headed toward them as fast as they could move.
The giant Zon icebreaker was running as fast as it could, but in two days, they were found and boarded. Most of its crew were killed, but the captain and his intel team were wounded and taken alive. The gun was retrieved, but the entire ship was returned to port. While a great blow was struck against the surprise invasion, it was a somber return, as a close friend and many of his crew were lost.
The captured icebreaker was repaired, and their last ten guns were added to it. They named it the Portsmith, adding every upgrade the shipyard could muster. They held a funeral service for the lost crew, and a small monument was erected in the center of town to memorialize the men. After repairing and upgrading the smaller captured ship, the shipyard started building another catamaran to replace the Kaiya.
Tormund watched the pack of dire wolvers enter the pass with wonder in his eye. He yelled Nymeria's name as she went by, telling everyone to leave them be; they would aid the fight as they saw fit. It had been two days since the landing, and they had over 1,000 fighters at the pass, with more arriving every day. The raven had recounted to him the slaughter on the beach and the loss of Portsmith.