c38: A Fire in the Storm
Not far away,
on the black, churning waters of Shipbreaker Bay, the fleet sworn to Dragonstone rode beneath a raging storm, much like the tempests that once battered the walls during the days of Stannis Baratheon's grim defiance.
The terrible weather hindered their progress, yet as in the wars of the Five Kings, it also concealed their movements from prying eyes and distant watchfires.
Splash!
The warships, their hulls reinforced in the fashion of royal vessels first commissioned under King Robert's reign and later maintained by Stannis, cleaved through the towering waves, vanishing and reappearing within the storm. Heavy rain lashed down relentlessly, great drops hammering against the decks like arrows in a siege.
The sky was oppressively dark, the kind of unnatural gloom often whispered of in tales of Melisandre's prophecies, and countless warships emerged in disciplined formation from the thick mist blanketing the sea.
Appearing and disappearing like phantoms, as if summoned from the depths like the drowned fleets of old legends, they seemed to rise from nothing itself, their presence barely perceptible to the watchful yet overwhelmed sentries of Storm's End.
A Baratheon soldier stood upon the watchtower, his cloak soaked through, rubbing his eyes hard against the stinging rain as he strained to see. Before him, the massive fleet loomed, advancing rapidly through the storm as though guided by unseen hands.
"This…"
"This is…"
He could scarcely believe what he saw. Then, as dread realization struck him like the sudden understanding of wildfire igniting beneath King's Landing, he lunged for the bell and rang the alarm with frantic urgency.
But it was already too late.
The fleet had sailed straight toward the vulnerable approaches of Storm's End.
Storm's End, long regarded as one of the most impregnable fortresses in all the Seven Kingdoms, stood defiant against land and sea alike, just as it had endured sieges from both mortal armies and raging gods. Its massive curtain walls, said to have been raised by Brandon the Builder with ancient magic, loomed over the coastline.
The thickest sections rose nearly one hundred feet high and forty feet thick, while the seaward face battered endlessly by wind and wave remained about eighty feet thick, unyielding and immensely strong. The walls were constructed with two layers of dressed stone, filled between with tightly packed sand and gravel, a design that absorbed both impact and storm alike.
Their curved, seamless surfaces allowed neither ladder nor wind to find purchase; the stones were set so precisely that even the fiercest gale could not slip through their joints.
Legends told that Storm's End had been raised in defiance of the Storm God himself, its magic binding it against the fury of Shipbreaker Bay, where countless ships had met their end upon the rocks below.
The castle itself possessed no true harbor, standing atop sheer cliffs that plunged into the sea. Only a narrow, controlled waterway led inward, barred by a heavy gate that could be sealed in times of danger.
The harbor nearby, however, had been constructed during Stannis Baratheon's tenure to train and house the royal fleet, reflecting his rigid discipline and obsession with naval strength.
Thanks to the deep waters close to shore, the construction had been swift and effective. Not far from the castle, the royal navy now lay anchored, their vessels clustered tightly together.
The newly built warships, modeled after the sturdy designs used during the Battle of the Blackwater, were secured with thick ropes and covered in heavy tarpaulins, every precaution taken against the storm's fury.
Stannis, who had endured starvation and siege within these very walls during Robert's Rebellion, knew better than any man the wrath of Shipbreaker Bay.
Moreover, he had received word from the Citadel whose maesters rarely spoke without cause that an unprecedented storm was gathering strength along the eastern coast of Westeros.
Though Shipbreaker Bay would not lie directly in the storm's eye and might suffer only torrential rain rather than total devastation, the ever-cautious commander like Sir William in the lessons of earlier chapters had ensured that every preparation was made, leaving nothing to chance in the face of approaching danger.
Therefore, Stannis Baratheon ever the stern and unyielding commander shaped by the Siege of Storm's End during Robert's Rebellion had long ago ordered all warships to remain in port. Naval drills, once as relentless as his sense of duty, were suspended, and all soldiers were confined to their barracks, forbidden from boarding ships without direct command, much as he had enforced discipline before the Battle of the Blackwater.
Thus, before the storm arrived, not even the smallest fishing skiff nor smuggler's boat—like those once used by Davos Seaworth in his daring runs could be found in the waters near Storm's End, making it impossible to detect the silently approaching Targaryen fleet.
Now, the Targaryen fleet, concealed within the gathering storm like the fleets that once slipped through Blackwater Bay under cover of darkness, sailed straight toward Storm's End's harbor.
Although the fleet had suffered some losses to the violent waves and treacherous currents of Shipbreaker Bay long feared even more than the Narrow Sea those losses remained within acceptable limits, as seasoned captains understood such risks well.
After all, the straight-line distance from here to the storm's greater force near Blackwater Bay was over six hundred nautical miles; this was merely the storm's outer edge, not unlike the tempests Daenerys Targaryen would later brave on her long journey westward.
It was only because the storm itself was constantly shifting like the unpredictable tides of war in Westeros that Storm's End fell under its influence.
The arrival of the Targaryen fleet was as sudden as the wildfire explosion that once consumed Stannis's fleet during the Battle of the Blackwater, catching the Baratheon soldiers completely off guard.
No one had expected an attack to come with the storm. The royal navy of Storm's End had not launched a single ship; their sails were furled, their decks deserted, leaving them utterly unprepared for battle.
And so this newly constructed fleet, which had yet to taste real combat or prove itself in war, suffered a devastating and immediate blow.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The catapults mounted upon the flagship Black Death, a vessel rivaling the war galleys once used by Stannis himself, thundered to life. Great stones tore through the air with heavy, ominous force, slamming directly into the tightly packed Baratheon fleet clustered within the harbor.
Many of these projectiles were wrapped in oil-soaked cloth and set ablaze—an echo of the destructive ingenuity seen in the use of wildfire, though far more crude. Despite the torrential rain, the burning oil clung stubbornly, igniting upon impact as the flaming stones crashed into the Baratheon ships.
Had this battle taken place in open waters, where ships maneuvered freely as they had during the Battle of the Blackwater, such siege weapons might have lacked precision. However, the Baratheon fleet was packed tightly within the harbor,
anchored firmly and bound together with thick ropes. The ships had been secured side by side to prevent them from smashing against one another in the storm, a precaution born of hard-earned experience.
Stannis's orders had been entirely sound; this method had preserved fleets before and was the most effective way to endure the brutal storms of Shipbreaker Bay.
The warships could not be dragged onto land nor sheltered within the castle's walls. They had to rely on their construction strong hulls and disciplined preparation to survive the raging sea. Binding them together increased their collective resistance against the waves.
Yet now, under sudden assault, this very strategy turned against them. The linked ships became a single, massive target.
The Targaryen crews operating the catapults and ballistae required little effort to aim. Like seasoned artillerymen trained in the tactics once used against King's Landing, they merely adjusted their angles and released, confident their shots would strike true.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Baratheon fleet, newly forged and untested, cried out under the assault. Stones smashed through decks, splintering wood and bone alike, while flames spread rapidly as oil ignited tarpaulins and rigging.
Whoosh!
Fire, carried by fierce winds, surged below deck into the holds, consuming provisions meant to sustain long campaigns. The blaze climbed higher, devouring everything in its path.
The great wooden beams supporting the decks caught fire, weakened, and finally gave way with thunderous crashes. Entire ships were swallowed in crimson flames before breaking apart and sinking beneath the dark, churning sea.
Still, the destruction did not end. More warships were struck again and again by burning projectiles. Soon, barrels of oil were launched directly from the catapults, shattering upon impact and feeding the inferno further, much like wildfire once spread uncontrollably across Blackwater Bay.
In mere moments,
the harbor below Storm's End was transformed.
A vast and furious fire roared amidst the relentless rain, engulfing the Baratheon fleet entirely. Thick black smoke billowed upward into the storm-dark sky, while the flames cast a hellish glow that illuminated the heavens themselves.
Meanwhile,
upon the second deck of the distant Black Death,
Viserys Targaryen stood exposed to the storm, refusing the safety of the cabin. Like his sister Daenerys in later years, he sought to understand war not from behind walls, but in its raw and terrible truth.
The young prince was drenched to the bone, his long silver-gold hair plastered against his pale face as rain streamed down in unending rivulets.
Yet his pale violet eyes burned with intensity, reflecting the blazing destruction across the sea.
"This fire," he said softly, his voice nearly lost to the wind and thunder, "will burn away the usurper's ambition just as Blackwater burned my father's enemies ensuring they will not dare to strike Dragonstone again for years to come."
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