"Damn it! We don't even need to rob them — they're pirates themselves, and now they're coming to rob us!" Captain Groleo cursed loudly.
"How do you know it's a pirate ship?" Daenerys Targaryen asked in confusion. "They're not flying the pirate skull flag."
Indeed, even in this fantasy world, pirate ships commonly used skull-and-crossbones flags.
"The skull flag is for ordinary pirates," Blackbeard said darkly, shaking his head. "If a pirate king has his own sigil, there's no need to use the generic skull flag."
After saying that, he ignored Daenerys and began rapidly shouting orders to the sailors.
Daenerys observed the ship again carefully. Besides the black sails emblazoned with an unusually eye-catching golden kraken, she also saw the words "Silence" painted in black across the dark red hull when the ship turned sideways.
"Heavens — Westerosi!" Daenerys exclaimed. "How did people from Westeros end up becoming pirates in the Summer Sea?"
The name "Silence" was written in the Common Tongue rather than Valyrian, the dominant language of Essos.
"Ser, do you know the Silence?" Daenerys turned and asked Jorah Mormont, who was standing on tiptoe peering into the distance.
Aside from the captain, first mate, and lookout, no one else had a spyglass.
"The Silence?" Jorah frowned. "Sounds familiar. I can't remember where I heard it."
"That ship came from Westeros. There's a huge golden squid on its sails. Come to think of it, it looks somewhat like House Greyjoy's kraken," Daenerys explained.
"Seven hells!" Jorah suddenly slapped his forehead and shouted as though he had seen a ghost. "Is the hull dark red?"
"Yes," Daenerys replied curiously. "Someone you know?"
"Euron Greyjoy — the villain known as Crow's Eye!" Jorah said through gritted teeth, clearly harboring deep hatred toward the man.
"But that squid… well, even if it's a kraken, it's reversed. The Greyjoy kraken faces downward, while this one faces upward, and the tentacles are different too," Daenerys said in confusion.
This was no trivial matter. Noble sigils were treated very seriously. Reversing the direction was practically equivalent to creating a different coat of arms.
Think of modern national flags on Earth — Russia, France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Ordinary people might confuse them, but they are indeed distinct flags with important differences.
"That actually explains why Euron Greyjoy is here," Whitebeard Astan said with sudden realization.
Jorah nodded as well. "He must have done something that caused Lord Balon to exile him from House Greyjoy. Exiles are often ashamed and unwilling to disgrace their house — or driven by resentment — so they slightly alter the family sigil, such as reversing its direction."
Daenerys glanced at the upright black bear on Jorah's chest. Her mouth opened and closed several times as she resisted the urge to ask:
"So you feel neither shame nor resentment? Why not make your bear lie down too?"
Jorah wore a black wool shirt beneath brown leather armor. On the chest was the roaring black bear of House Mormont standing upright, perfectly matching the house words: "Here We Stand."
According to the "traditions everyone knows" in Westeros, if he truly felt shame, he should imitate Euron and make the bear kneel or lie down.
Jorah noticed Daenerys's gaze, blushed slightly, and muttered awkwardly:
"I don't resent my family."
Whitebeard coolly replied, "So you don't feel ashamed either?"
Jorah became angry. "I serve my queen — that is my honor! Besides, no matter what I've done, I'm still better than someone like you who doesn't even dare reveal his own sigil."
"You—" Whitebeard said furiously. He opened his mouth to argue, but after glancing at Daenerys, he forcibly swallowed his words.
Only nobles possessed heraldic sigils.
In Westeros, the noble hierarchy consisted of knights, earls, marquesses, dukes, and kings. A knight — also called "Ser" — ranked at the bottom, more like nobility in training.
Jorah Mormont held two titles: the hereditary lordship of Bear Island and the knighthood granted by King Robert Baratheon ten years earlier for suppressing the Greyjoy Rebellion.
But because Jorah had sold slaves, Eddard Stark intended to judge him personally — even bringing Ice, which meant execution was certain.
Afraid of death, Jorah abandoned his lordship and exiled himself.
However, because he escaped before trial, his knighthood granted by Robert was never revoked.
Thus, Daenerys and the others still addressed him as "Ser Jorah" or "Ser Mormont."
Both Daenerys and Jorah knew Whitebeard was hiding his identity.
His knowledge, experience, and bearing surpassed even Jorah's. Someone without a formal noble upbringing could hardly possess such refined qualities.
Yet Whitebeard wore only a simple linen robe and carried a walking stick, never displaying any sigil or proof of status.
Whitebeard clearly realized his identity was being suspected, which was why Jorah's retort left him speechless.
And speaking of that, it was worth noting that Daenerys herself — despite being the most legitimate royal heir — also did not display a family sigil.
Technically, she was practically illiterate as well, having never received a proper noble education.
"That kraken ship is so fast — it's really chasing us!" the lookout shouted, breaking the awkward silence on the bridge.
After coughing lightly, Daenerys asked:
"Why is Euron Greyjoy pursuing us? Could it be we guessed wrong — perhaps his exploration of Valyria failed too, and he suffered heavy losses, so now he needs to rob us to recover?"
"That's possible," Jorah said thoughtfully after glancing at Whitebeard. "We only saw the Silence struggling inside the storm wall. Perhaps he remained trapped in the storm the whole time and never entered the ruins. Even dragons got lost there."
"If we reveal our identities, will he spare us out of consideration for fellow countrymen?" Daenerys asked with an odd smile.
Whitebeard paused before understanding, then asked:
"Are you confident of victory? Greyjoy is not easy to deal with. During Balon's rebellion, Euron displayed extraordinary cunning and cruelty. Lannisport nearly fell to the ironborn fleet he commanded. If he wasn't confident in defeating our fleet, he wouldn't be chasing us so aggressively."
"I have dragons. We're not an ordinary fleet," Daenerys said confidently.
The old man looked up at the white and green dragons circling overhead and said solemnly:
"He saw your dragons."
Daenerys burst into laughter.
"You don't think I'm going to send them to burn his ship, do you?"
"I'm their mother. I treasure their lives more than anyone else. The hatchlings can't even withstand arrows yet. If I sent them above enemy ships to breathe fire, it would be murdering my own children."
Then she ordered the bloodrider beside her:
"Call all the warriors out from the cabins. Bring bows and iron shields."
The Dothraki hated the sea. Unless necessary, they preferred remaining below deck with the horses.
"What tactics do you think the enemy will use?" she asked Blackbeard Groleo.
The old sailor frowned deeply, as if confronted with something incomprehensible.
"Under normal circumstances, a pirate without a large fleet wouldn't dare attack us. We have three ships to his one. If he boards us, the other two ships can attack his flagship from the sides and rear.
"We have more than six hundred sailors altogether. His longship can hold at most three hundred pirates. With such a numerical disadvantage, how could Euron possibly win?"
"Unless he has a trump card," Whitebeard said grimly.
Daenerys thought for a moment before asking:
"What kind of person is Euron? Is he the sort to suddenly go mad? Also, why exactly was he exiled?"
"The Iron Islands are rather isolated, and Euron wasn't King Balon, so few people paid attention to him. I didn't even know he'd been exiled," Whitebeard shook his head. "But I'm certain he's not insane. That man is cunning and unpredictable."
Then he looked toward Jorah.
"Perhaps Ser Mormont understands him better."
The ironborn frequently raided the western coasts of Westeros, especially the poorly protected North, and the people of Bear Island often fought ironborn disguised as pirates.
Jorah sighed.
"I wish he'd suddenly become stupid. Unfortunately… we should prepare for battle."
With that, he headed below deck to change into full armor.
Gunpowder existed in this fantasy world, but it was weak and mostly used by pyromancers for tricks and performances. There were no cannons, so naval warfare still revolved primarily around boarding actions, with archery as support. Armor greatly improved survival odds.
Of course, that assumed you didn't fall into the sea.
Besides Jorah, Daenerys's Dothraki and sailors also busily equipped themselves.
The Dothraki wore matching dark red leather armor with bronze helmets, small bronze round shields strapped to their left wrists, arakhs at their waists, and longbows in hand. They were beginning to resemble a proper army.
Unlike the uniformly equipped Dothraki, the sailors' armor was a complete mess: rusty plate armor, ill-fitting chainmail, battered leather jerkins, and even people carrying pot lids as shields.
Drogon had entered the storm around nine in the morning and returned at eleven. Around noon, the Silence began pursuing the fleet from less than thirty kilometers away.
By three-thirty in the afternoon, the two sides had entered combat range.
One kilometer.
Although the world lacked cannons — even the Age of Sail cannons on Earth only had effective ranges of a few hundred meters — ships still mounted catapults and scorpions on their decks.
The catapults hurled not stones but oil-soaked bundles of linen and cotton wrapped into large burning projectiles.
Hitting a moving target with them was extremely difficult. They were mainly useful against stationary targets, such as ports or besieged coastal fortifications.
The Saduleon was a pure merchant vessel with no mounted weapons. But the oared warships Summer Sun and Jesting Yoso also served as escort vessels, carrying more sailors and a total of six catapults and eighteen scorpions.
Blackbeard's original plan had been to stall for time. Once night fell, the Silence might lose them.
But he had severely underestimated the longship's speed.
Not only were its sails enormous relative to the hull, but once it approached the Saduleon, two hundred long oars dropped from both sides of the ship.
The heavy beat of drums echoed across the sea like blows hammering directly against everyone's hearts.
-----------------------
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