New chapter! Thanks for all the support!
x
Rumble!
More than four thousand heavy cavalrymen in finely made Lannister armor, steel lances in hand, launched a massed charge toward the northern army's camp outside the Neck.
The hundred-odd light cavalrymen Robb had deliberately assigned to patrol outside the camp saw the crushing momentum of the charge. They immediately dropped everything unnecessary, yanked their reins around, and fled toward Moat Cailin.
Bang, bang, bang!
Like heavy siege engines on horseback, the Lannister heavy cavalry entered the northern camp without the slightest obstruction.
The thick tents in the camp were either hooked up by lances or smashed apart by the charging horses.
But inside those overturned tents, there were no northern soldiers and no supplies at all. They were completely empty.
Clatter, clatter!
Several thousand Lannister light cavalry who had circled around the two wings also broke into the northern camp with ease.
Behind those more than ten thousand riders was the main body of the army, nearly thirty thousand elite infantry. At the very rear, Tywin frowned as he watched his cavalry churn the empty camp into chaos and considered where the northern army had gone.
"Lord Tywin, the northmen must have discovered our attack and fled back into the Neck in a panic, abandoning their camp."
Kevan, who had waited at the Twins for Robb in vain and then received Tywin's letter, had brought his hidden troops to join Tywin on the kingsroad. Looking at the empty camp ahead, he offered his judgment.
"Ha! Seeing Lord Tywin's forty thousand men, I imagine they were frightened out of their wits.
"When they flee back to Moat Cailin, an even greater surprise will be waiting for them."
Stevron Frey, Lord Walder's eldest son, had joined the Lannister camp with four thousand men from his house. He laughed as he chimed in.
Tywin, expressionless and thoughtful, suddenly rode past the main body of the army toward the northern camp.
Kevan and Stevron exchanged a look and quickly urged their horses after him. Behind them followed the Lannister commanders of every rank.
After arriving at the flattened northern camp, Tywin dismounted, turned over the remains of a campfire amid the wreckage, and crouched to inspect it.
Then he shot to his feet, his voice tight. "No. They did not abandon this camp in the last two days.
"Damn it. Something must have happened at Moat Cailin."
Splash, splash!
The Iron Victory, flagship of the Iron Fleet, rode at the very front, cutting through the waves. Behind it, more than a hundred ironborn longships followed as if in triumph.
On the voyage from Blazewater Bay to Pyke, every ship that saw the Iron Fleet immediately sped away, afraid of being approached and raided.
Lordsport on Pyke had been placed under martial law after fighting broke out over the forced requisition of harbor ships a few days earlier. The bustle of free trade was gone.
At the mouth of the harbor, dozens of ironborn longships lay across the water in neat rows, blocking the entrance.
An ironborn cleaning a mast looked up and saw the returning Iron Fleet in the distance. Squinting, he could make out ironborn standing on deck along with figures in greenlander mail.
He immediately lowered his head and shouted to the men below, "Lord Victarion's Iron Victory is back, and they have holds full of greenlander thralls.
"Looks like the price of thralls is about to fall!"
"What? We have not even sold the thralls from that passenger ship we robbed, and the price is falling already? Rotten luck."
"Heh. My farm could use more thralls anyway. I will choose a few strong ones when the time comes."
Hearing him, the other ironborn began talking at once, some complaining and some delighted.
Ironborn longships were built for raiding. Their speed was twice that of ordinary flat-bottomed merchant vessels.
Before long, the Iron Victory led the Iron Fleet close to the mouth of Lordsport's harbor.
"Huh? Why are they not lowering sail and slowing down?"
The ironborn on the mast watched the Iron Victory approach at speed and muttered in confusion.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
A faint rush of air sounded. The ironborn on the mast stared blankly as dense black dots filled the sky and swept toward him.
Completely unprepared, he was pierced by the arrow storm until he bristled like a porcupine. Then he fell freely from the high mast and crashed onto the deck.
"Attack! Attack!"
The ironborn on the dozens of longships blocking the harbor mouth screamed their warnings after the sudden strike.
Thud, thud, thud!
The continuous rain of arrows covered the longships at the harbor mouth. Countless sharp arrows stuck into them until the ships looked bristling and thorny.
Some of the unprepared ironborn died outright beneath the dense volley. Others scrambled into the cabins or behind anything that could block arrows.
All of them were pinned down by the covering fire and did not dare move.
The Iron Victory, two hundred feet long, used the force of its high-speed approach and struck first.
Its hard bow ram drove straight into the side of an ironborn longship lying across the harbor mouth.
The impact nearly rolled the longship onto its side.
Bang, bang!
Once the two shaking vessels steadied a little, the northern soldiers aboard the Iron Victory dropped long planks onto the ironborn longship and began boarding.
The ironborn hiding in the cabins and behind cover saw the arrow storm stop and the enemy board. Men who had never feared boarding actions rushed out with weapons in hand.
Although more northern soldiers were boarding, the swaying longship rolled beneath the waves. On that shifting deck, their fighting strength could not match the ironborn.
Rip!
One ironborn with a sharp axe saw a northern soldier lose his footing and seized the chance. He buried the axe in the man's head, shaving away a piece of skull.
Blood splashed from the ruined head, and a spurt landed on the ironborn's mouth.
"Ah, come on, you greenlander whores!"
The ironborn perversely licked the blood from his lips and roared at the sky.
As if blood had stirred his savagery, the fearless man charged back up the boarding plank toward the Iron Victory.
Awooo!
The ironborn had just rushed onto the Iron Victory when his vision blurred. A terrifying giant direwolf bit him at the waist and lifted him sideways.
"Ah, ah, hel..."
The man who had seemed so mad and fearless moments earlier lost all courage once he was in the wolf's jaws. He began to beg for help.
Before he could finish, the wolf's jaws clenched. Saw-toothed fangs bit him clean in half at the waist.
Awooo!
After killing the intruder, Bloodwind stood at the Iron Victory's bow and let out a wolf howl.
Because of his weight, Bloodwind wore no armor this time. After howling, he obeyed Robb's command and leapt from the Iron Victory onto the longship, joining the fight.
The ironborn on that ship, stunned by Bloodwind, had no strength to resist. He slaughtered them without mercy.
"Wolf god, mercy!"
One ironborn, driven to collapse by the bloody killing, saw Bloodwind bite the man beside him in half and then come for him. He threw down his weapon, raised both hands, and knelt, shouting for mercy.
Robb had already given Bloodwind permission to accept surrender. Seeing the man kneel, Bloodwind changed his posture and went for other ironborn.
When the others saw that surrender worked, they scrambled to throw down their weapons and kneel. After Bloodwind finished with that longship, he used the short distance between ships to leap to the next.
With surprise on one side, several times the number of troops on the other, and most importantly Bloodwind in the battle, the fight at the mouth of Lordsport's harbor was over in moments.
The first troops brought by the Iron Fleet were all elite Winterfell soldiers. They obeyed orders strictly, and after victory, they did not immediately search for loot.
Instead, they helped disarm the surrendered ironborn, move the longships blocking the harbor, and clear a path into Lordsport.
Standing on the Iron Victory's deck, Robb turned his head and found Theon looking at the ironborn bitten in two, pity on his face.
Robb spoke directly to him. "I sincerely invited your father to form an alliance, but he wanted to seize the chance to strike the North from behind and cut off our retreat.
"If I had not made preparations in advance, you, I, and thirty thousand northern soldiers would all be dead before Moat Cailin by now."
"Your Grace is right," Ramsay said at the right moment. He had met Robb's army at the Fever River after traveling with Lord Helman. "When I was in the great hall at Pyke, Balon Greyjoy said the same thing.
"As long as he took Moat Cailin, Tywin's thirty or forty thousand men would encircle us. Our northern army would be destroyed."
"Ro... Your Grace, may I ask you for a chance to persuade my father to surrender?"
Theon bit his lower lip hard, then spoke as if he had made a decision.
"Of course. That is what I intended as well. Otherwise, I would not have brought you to Pyke.
"As long as you can persuade your father to surrender and pass the kingship of the Iron Islands to you, we can still be allies."
Robb nodded seriously.
"Thank you, Your Grace!"
Seeing Robb agree, Theon thanked him, excitement written plainly across his face.
Ramsay, standing nearby, felt he was beginning to understand this King in the North better and better. Looking at Theon's simple excitement, he curled his lip in disdain.
The Iron Fleet now belonged to Robb. It had one hundred and ten ships in all. A regular seagoing longship could usually carry more than a hundred men, while a large longship like the Iron Victory could carry around three hundred.
Aside from the several hundred surrendered ironborn responsible for handling sails and steering, this voyage carried fifty-five hundred infantry and one hundred cavalry with their horses.
Among them, forty-five hundred infantry and the hundred cavalry were direct Winterfell troops. The remaining thousand infantry were Dreadfort recruits.
After dealing with the longships blocking the harbor mouth, the Iron Fleet sailed straight into Lordsport.
The moment fighting broke out at the harbor mouth, most of the ironborn in the port had fled toward the square fortress of House Botley, Lordsport's ruling house.
Now Lordsport held only ironborn too old to run and a number of thralls with dull eyes and numb expressions.
Robb's army met no resistance and landed smoothly.
When Robb stepped into Lordsport, he discovered just how harsh life in the Iron Islands was. Even this busy harbor, with ships constantly coming and going, was made almost entirely of low houses with old stone walls and turf roofs.
The only three-story building made of brick and stone appeared, from its sign, to be an inn.
Robb left five hundred northern soldiers to guard the Iron Fleet's return and continue transporting the rest of the northern army. Then he entered the inn and took control of all Lordsport.
Through the captured ironborn, Crey extracted a great deal of information. The forty-six hundred ironborn who had invaded the North were King Balon's entire strength. At most, a few hundred guards remained in Pyke.
So Robb was not worried that they would abandon Pyke and come attack Lordsport.
Anxious, Theon made his request to Robb, then found a thrall in Lordsport who knew the way to Pyke. The two mounted one horse together and galloped toward the castle.
"Lord Ramsay, take your thousand Dreadfort men and attack House Botley."
After Theon left, Robb gave his orders from the comfortable inn.
"As you command, Your Grace. I will present their fortress to you as soon as possible."
Ramsay nodded and declared his loyalty before immediately leaving to gather his men.
"Crey, take two thousand Winterfell infantry and besiege Pyke. Do not storm it. Just surround it.
"And shoot down every raven Pyke releases."
"Yes, Your Grace."
Crey nodded, then hesitated slightly before asking, "Your Grace, are we not attacking because we are waiting for Theon to persuade his father to admit defeat and surrender?"
Robb smiled and shook his head, explaining to this trusted subordinate. "For years, the ironborn have been able to raid the western coast of the North because of their mobility.
"When there are few enemies, they raid. When there are many, they retreat.
"So this time, I spent enough time and built a large enough stage to lure Balon into the trap, then kill them all in one blow.
"Once his Iron Fleet abandoned its ships, stepped onto land, and was destroyed or captured by us, they had already lost."
Seeing Crey grow thoughtful, Robb nodded inwardly and continued.
"As for why we are not attacking Pyke, it is because its position is easy to defend and hard to take. King Robert and my father paid a heavy price to capture it back then.
"Apart from iron ore, the Iron Islands are impoverished and not suitable for long-term occupation.
"Our strategic targets in this war are not the Iron Islands. They are House Lannister in the Westerlands and King's Landing.
"So whether Theon's attempt at persuasion succeeds or not does not matter. What I want... is every ship in the Iron Islands.
"Surround Pyke, and the ships from the other islands will come to us on their own."
After hearing Robb's explanation, Crey nodded in sudden understanding and praised him from the heart. "Your Grace, I understand now. They were truly unwise to make you their enemy."
After a short ride, Theon returned with the thrall's guidance to the castle he had not seen in nearly ten years.
Pyke had already learned of Lordsport's fall and was in a state of readiness.
The gatehouse stood at the very front of Pyke, separated from the main castle by a bridge. Its wall stretched like a crescent of black stone between the cliffs.
A rusty iron portcullis protected the wall from attack. Three square towers stood on each side. Dozens of ironborn archers on those towers now had their bows drawn and aimed at Theon and the thrall.
"I am Theon Greyjoy, only son of Balon Greyjoy, King of the Iron Islands!
"I want to see my father!"
Theon raised both hands, approached Pyke's gatehouse, and shouted.
The archers heard him but did not lower their guard. They sent someone to report, while their bows remained trained on the two men.
After a long wait, King Balon slowly appeared at the gatehouse.
Seeing Theon below, he waved a hand at the archers. Only then did they ease their vigilance and relax their bowstrings.
"What does this little lordling of House Stark want to say?"
Balon looked down at Theon, dressed like a noble young lord, and spoke with mockery.
"Father, I am Theon, your only son. This time, I bring the good faith of the King in the North.
"Let me in so we can speak."
Seeing his father, Theon did not mind the ridicule. Joy appeared on his face as he answered.
"My only child now is Asha. What good faith have you brought? Speak there."
"King Robb promises that as long as you surrender, he will still make an alliance with you."
Hearing Balon's words, Theon spoke directly.
"Surrender? Heh. How could ironborn surrender? Besides, I do not believe that little wolf cub."
"Father, you can be at ease. Robb and I are as close as brothers. Any promise he makes to me will be kept. Asha has already been imprisoned at Deepwood Motte. Since you say you have only one child, you should think of her."
Theon tried hard to persuade his father. Knowing Robb's strength, he did not believe Balon still had any chance to turn the situation around.
"Heh. As close as brothers. Very well. I will consider it. Come in first."
Balon sneered and spoke to Theon, then turned to the ironborn beside him.
"Open the gate. Once he comes in, put him straight in the cells."
x
x
x
If you're enjoying the story so far, consider supporting me on Patreon ❤️
You'll get weekly early access to chapters, along with some exclusive content:
https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheDevotedReader