Ranma waited until after he was given the glass, lifting it to his mouth with a shaky hand. Some of it ran down his shirt, but he got most of it into his mouth. He smiled however at the two girls. "Had to do it that way. You don't think that some Lannister scout is going to be able to get past whatever defenses are down by the Ruby Ford? By this time I've no doubt the Lannisters could've made a few small coracles or something to send scouts or even a single messenger forward over the Blue Fork, then they could make their way further north. They'll eventually be able to travel up to the Twins. I want them to see what happened to the Twins, the way I did it rather than the normal fire or siege damage. They'll have to wonder if we have some kind of secret weapon or something, and that kind of thing might force Tywin to change tactics."
"It might make him leery of fighting any kind of siege battle," Daenerys murmured. "It's a long shot, but one that might prove worth it I suppose. It also showed the army that your powers and abilities do have a personal cost. According to Domeric and Alayaya many of the men were taking it for granted, that you could practically do anything or could simply go on all the time with those techniques of yours, even a few of your friends thought that." Edd, Smalljon and Hathan had all been astonished when Ranma collapsed, though Jon had quickly reassured them, filling them in on what had happened.
Myrcella frowned noncommittally while Daenerys continued. "It also shows that you're still human to those who might have been a little worried about it." That of course hadn't counted any of the wolfsworn among their number, but when news of the destruction of the Water Tower had spread throughout the Army there had been some mutterings that Ranma might not even be human, simply a creature conjured up by the old gods to be their champion. The knights of House Manderly in particular had become wary of that, their faith in the Seven making them concerned.
Those murmurs had since disappeared, and the men's belief in Ranma's humanity had returned fivefold. Not just because of his collapse, but because of the way he and Daenerys had dealt with the children they had 'captured' and the women and common armsmen as well. In fact morale in the army was incredibly high over the two nearly bloodless victories they had won so far.
"Where are we now?" Ranma asked. "I hope you didn't let the army stay near the Twins while I was out of it."
"No I didn't," Daenerys said her lips twisted slightly in a frown. She had to convince Rickard of that. With Jon and the other wolfsworn backing her it had been a simple enough task, just an irritating one since Lord Karstark wasn't willing to simply take her word for it. Not that Daenerys really thought she was up to the task of leading the army or anything, but everyone knew their short-term plans, and there shouldn't have been any question of moving on. "We've been making our way straight down to Seagard. The road isn't very good here, but it at least is better than moving through brush and woodland. According to Domeric, we'll enter House Charlton lands soon, though what our welcome will be he doesn't know. He says they were Frey supporters, their lord might even have married a daughter of Old Walder. Hopefully they are intelligent enough to not fight a pointless battle, but I don't know."
Ranma nodded. They were heading to Seagard not just to meet up with Lord Mallister and receive any news he had, they also needed to pick up pack horses and food there. Ranma had sent much of the armies own store further south with the rest of the Army on the other side of the Green Fork. They had taken from the Twins is much as they needed to reach the city, leaving what remained to be used for the prisoners sent north and for the men they had left there to defend the barbicans on either side of the bridge.
Because of its design the Twins had never really needed to stock as many supplies as a normal castle would, considering it was almost impossible to siege since the bridge connected the two parts of the Twins across the powerful river. Any army truly besieging it would have to do so from both sides of the Green Fork, which the Twins of course would have ample warning off. Still, the supplies there would get the army to Seagard, especially with Meera and her hunters adding to the pot.
"After we reach Seagard, do you have any idea of our long-term plans?" Daenerys asked, abruptly changing the subject.
"We need to push the Lannisters out of the Riverlands and secure the border with the Westerlands. I'm not gonna try to plan anything further than that until we get some real up-to-date intelligence, which probably won't happen until we reach Fairmarket, but that's our goal fer now .For a short term plan I'd like some food, how's that?" Ranma asked barely a millisecond before his stomach began to growl.
The two girls laughed and Myrcella stood up to go and get him some food from the fires, dropping a small hairbrush on the folding table. Ranma realized she must have been doing Daenerys' hair or vice versa, which would explain the humming. As the younger girl left Daenerys leaned over kissing Ranma lovingly on the lips for a moment before pulling back, one eyebrow cocked. "You worried me tremendously when you collapsed you know. Please don't make a habit of that."
"Try not to." Ranma said chuckling a little before Daenerys once more leaned forward kissing him on the lips.
OOOOOOO
"Keep your shield up!" Arya said, her sword flicking out to tag Cley in the upper arm to show why. "Don't let it falter no matter how tired you are!" She dodged Cley's almost frantic return swing negligently, using her free arm to tap his inner arm, adding more momentum to it then bringing up her other arm and elbowing him in the chest with enough force to throw the slightly younger boy to the ground. 'Don't over extend either, and never put so much strength into a blow you lose your balance. That's one mistake I made a lot of times at first: you don't have to put all your strength and every blow Cley, just enough to do the job." She said reaching down to help him stand up again.
Cley scowled a little, not liking how Arya was throwing him around. Didn't she know the girls were supposed to be weaker than boys? Of course he should've known better after seeing Dacey in action, but some things were harder to beat out of a boy his age than others.
He glared over at where Nymeria was lounging, her eyes seemingly laughing at him. "Your wolf's laughing at me again."
"She does that when she sees something funny." Arya said laughing as well. "More endurance lessons for you I think. Keep doing the exercises that Ranma showed for another week, then we'll try sparring again."
She shook her head as Cley went off, seeing Myrcella leave her brothers tent and joining her quickly. She and the other wolfsworn had played rock-parchment-bladeto see who would oversee Cley's training until her brother was up and about, and Arya had unfortunately lost. She wasn't a very good teacher frankly: she was much too hard on him, much too eager to go beyond overseeing his exercises to get to the actual sword fighting, which she had just seen he wasn't quite ready for.
Out of the corner of her eye Arya saw Daenerys leaving her brothers tent as well, and moved over to her quickly. "Is he awake?"
Daenerys nodded, looking over to where Nymeria was watching her little ones. Sunfyre and Rhaegon were wary of the Nymeria for some reason, but not trying to object to her presence. One of the direwolves was always around them when Daenerys was busy with something else and couldn't have them by her side for one reason or another. Fenris of course was their favorite, but he and Ghost were out with Jon and Meera scouting out the path of the army.
Turning back she addressed Arya's question in greater detail. "He's awake, though he'll probably fall asleep again after eating something. He's not going to be 100% he says for another few days."
Arya nodded taking that in stride and Daenerys asked the question she had been meaning to ever since the battle. "How are you feeling by the way?" Arya cocked her head on not understanding the question, and Daenerys elaborated. "I mean after the fight in the Twins. I don't mean to sound insulting, but you are the youngest of the wolfsworn, and you all did most of the fighting there. Yet for all of that it doesn't seem to bother you."
"It doesn't, not really." Arya said shrugging her shoulders. "What I prefer not to have to kill people, to fight like that, I suppose so. But they were threats to my family, and had proven themselves dishonorable so…" She shrugged. "It doesn't bother me much." Or at all really.
Daenerys frowned a little at that. She knew it had bothered Ranma after the battle, having likened it to fighting so many children, not a single man among the Freys had been able to put up a decent fight. Jon and a few of the others also had problems with it. But Arya was much more wolf-like than her older siblings and she didn't try to analyze it overmuch. They were enemies of the pack, therefore they had to die.
After a moment she spoke, choosing her words carefully. "I suppose they were. Just don't make the mistake of seeing enemies where there aren't any. Eventually we will be talking to families that have yet to choose a side or families that had no choice but to follow the Lannisters and we can't deal with them as we did the Frey. Don't be so quick to use your Fang in other words."
Arya shrugged again. "So long as I don't face them in actual battle I won't, I'll leave the decision-making of who to aim my Fang towards to others." She looked around, having spotted Meera of the corner of her eye returning with a few other hunters. She nodded farewell to Daenerys then hurried over to join her friend.
The next day the march continued. With Ranma still unable to run or ride Fenris, being in one of the few carts this portion of the northern army still had with them. He slept most of the day, waking up to eat before going back to sleep, rebuilding his ki reserves. He stayed that way for three days, even as the army moved west leaving the Green Fork behind as they followed a small dirt road toward Seagard.
This left it to Rickard and Jon to address the Charlton knight who was waiting for them a few hours travel inside that house's land. His lance was couched in his saddle holder to stand straight up with a white flag on the end of it in token of parley.
With Daenerys and the two dragons hiding at the back of the army for now Rickard and Jon made their way forward a ways from the army, though it kept moving behind them. As soon as they were close enough to hear the man bellowed his challenge, raising his visor to show a youngish face. "I am Ser Jeremy Charlton. I am here to speak for my uncle, Lord Charlton. Who are you to try to march and army over my house's land unannounced and unasked?"
"I am Jon Stark and this is Lord Karstark." Jon said motioning to the older man but beside him. "We speak for our Lord, Lord Stark, who is in command of this Army. We go south to aid the rest of the Riverlands against the invading Lannisters, doing our familial duty in helping Lord Tully, our grandfather." Well, the man wasn't Jon's actual grandfather, but he wasn't about to go into that kind of detail here.
"I note that you have come by way of the Twins, but I don't see any Frey banners with your men. Might I ask how this is come to be?"
"The Twins are no more." Rickard said grimly, though he was enjoying the look up the young knight's face at that news. "House Frey tried to raise its banners for the Lannisters rather than stick to their oath of fealty to their Lord Paramount. As such we, under orders from the voice of Lord Tully captured the Twins, destroyed the castle and the House. The Frey name is no more."
Of course there were Freys still out there, and they wouldn't be affected by that declaration until they were either beaten or taken captive, but without the Twins and the power of their family, there was nothing they could do about it, and what allies they had made would no longer be willing to put up with them if they acted anything like those from the Twins.
The younger man's eyes widened further, hearing the destruction of his House's patrons. The Charlton's were a minor House in all but name, and had long since given their fealty to the Freys, something that was well known in the Riverlands. To hear of their destruction stated so casually, and especially to see what looked like a rather small army having done it… "I take it the victory was not entirely one sided?" He asked, trying to fish for information.
"Actually it was almost entirely one sided, we took only a few fatalities taking the Twins." Jon replied. "The Frey was rather foolish. If you keep acting in a certain manner, people will start to assume that is the only way you will act correct?"
Jeremy nodded, wondering where the other young man was going with this.
"We used that against them. We went forward into the Twins under a flag of parley, and when Old Walder tried to take us captive despite that, we were ready for them." He was not going to say how they were ready however, or that it'd been only the wolfsworn who had taken part in that counter-ambush. That tale would of course spread once they reach Seagard and the prisoners and the rest of the army were able to rest, but for now it wasn't necessary.
"I see." Jeremy said, wondering how his uncle was going to react to this. "Will you call upon my House for our men? I have to tell you that most of up our forces is already committed to defend the smallfolk in the Cape of Eagles from raids by the Ironborn."
"Have those begun already?" Rickard asked sharply, moving his horse closer.
Jeremy flicked his eyes over to him and nodded grimly. "Yes, my lord. There've only been a few, but with the speed of their longships they have a significant advantage against any response force we try to send. They've burned out one hamlet I know of and some farmsteads as well as four fishing communities. They've also carried off at least twenty women from the last report. They'll get bolder if they aren't challenged soon of course, and when they do we might have a better opportunity to catch them."
"Has Lord Mallister also sent men into the Cape?" Jon asked.
"Some my lord, about seven or eight hundred light cavalry I believe. They've also sent in several cartloads worth of weapons to arm the smallfolk there from the smiths of Seagard. With his need to keep a defensive force at Seagard itself and having already sent men down to help defend Fairmarket against the Lannisters, that was probably all Lord Mallister could send." Jeremy thought himself well-informed about such matters having been to Seagard several times, and having rotated back up to patrolling the Frey/Charlton border due to a bad fall he had taken several weeks ago when his horse came up lame. Still, he didn't realize that Jason had also sent four hundred heavy cavalry into the Cape as well.
Jon frowned, but Rickard laid a hand on his shoulder. "Priorities lad, we can't be strong everywhere. I know it hurts, but it would take our entire army to try and patrol the cape effectively against the Ironborn, and the Lannisters are a much more potent threat."
After nodding reluctant agreement Jon turned back to Jeremy. "We won't require you to add more men to our army. Instead inform your Lord to simply keep protecting his charges." Of course Jon knew Ranma would be unwilling to have had a former Frey ally as part of his army in the first place, but at least House Charlton was doing something the house was obligated to do, defending the smallfolk of the cape.
The young knight nodded before moving off the road, standing his horse to one side as the army marched on. For just a moment Jeremy thought he caught a glimpse of some kind of lizard on one of the few carts he saw, and a flash of silver somewhere nearby. Shaking his head at what obviously was simply a trick of the light he turned away and began the day's long trek towards his house's keep, wondering how his uncle would react to the fall of their patron.
That reaction was to follow the winner. Lord Charlton was not in fact married to a Frey woman, and he was a canny enough fellow to realize who had a winning hand. With the Freys no longer having any power to speak of, the ones connected to his family became a liability. The two squires were informed of their change in status, and the women, one married to his castellan and the other to his third son were told as well . They didn't like the fact that their own House had no power any longer, and the squires were furious that their last name had been erased from the rolls of nobility, but all four were easily contained by the rest of the House.
OOOOOOO
Lord Charlton was not the only one who could see the way the wind was blowing after the two battles the northern expedition had fought already. The majordomo of House Haigh could also see it as he looked at the army camping outside the holdfast of the house that he was pledged to defend. It seemed vast to his untrained eye, not that it needed to be since his lord had only left a dozen men to defend his holdfast.
"I see, my lord." he said nodding his head to Brynden Tully. Everyone knew his personal sigil, a black trout swimming above wavy lines of red and blue, even if he had never met the man personally. "Ser Haigh only left a single babe of barely a year here, and his wife died recently in childbirth." He did not mention that the woman had had three miscarriages before giving birth to the young boy, who was sickly and pale, unlikely to live for many years. Or that Ser Haigh had kept her pregnant as much as possible following Old Walder's example. "If he and his brothers and their men are indeed gone, there is no reason for myself and the other servants to put up any kind of resistance."
"That's good. You show much more intelligence than your previous Lord." Brynden said nodding. "We won't harm the boy, though he will be known as a Rivers from now on rather than Haigh. House Haigh is no more, and that banner up there should be taken down and burned."
Looking past Brynden at that large violent looking giant on an even larger warhorse the man gulped a little and nodded. "I'll just go see to that right now my Lord."
The moment the other the man left Greatjon laughed. "Was there something on my face?"
"Yes your great bushy beard and those bushy eyebrows. How do you see out of that shaggy carpet you call a face anyway?" Brynden said scoffing at the other man. "And don't tell me you haven't gone out of your way to cultivate that image of a Northern barbarian."
"It does help at times." Greatjon laughed. "When merchants come to deal with my family I always make a point to let them wait, then my servants spread rumors about how I tend to pull arms out of sockets and beat merchants to death with them if they become too argumentative."
Brynden laughed as well, shaking his head. House Erenford had fallen much the same way. With their head of house dead along with all of his men, there was no one at home who was willing to lay down their life for a knightly house with no members left. That man hadn't even been married, and his castellan had been almost desperate to not fight the victorious 'northern horde'.
After a moment Greatjon went on much more seriously. "How much longer before we're on to the lands of one of the major Riverlands houses we're supposed to treat with?"
"At the rate our army moves, two days to get off House Haigh's lands then we'll be on House Wayn's. It won't be long before old man Wayn knows we're there, but he won't be in any hurry to come out and meet us. Another four days, and two hamlets before we're near his keep if we keep following the Kingsroad."
"And what do you think his and the other's reactions will be?"
"I honestly don't know." Brynden shook his head, lips twisted in a rueful smirk. "I realize I'm supposed to handle the diplomatic talks here, but we just don't know how these houses see the Lannisters, or the rumors about what happened in King's Landing. I can make guesses based on the fact that some of their heirs were friends with my nephew, but how much of that will influence their father's reactions I don't know." He did have some idea, but wasn't about to get his hopes up.
Greatjon nodded, smirking a little as he saw that the banner over the former Haigh holdfast was already being pulled down. "That's fine I suppose, we'll just have to be ready for anything. I wonder how the rest of the army is doing though."
The next day as the majority of the northern army prepared to march they received a messenger who informed them of the successful attack on the twins, and further reiterating Ranma's orders. What neither man realized was that Ranma had sent them south knowing that they probably wouldn't be able to talk the houses there into joining them. Not until he and Daenerys joined them at any rate. No, what they were was a visible sign of the North's march, which he hoped would take the attention of any Tywin's spies.
OOOOOOO
The Ironborn's scouting of the shorelines did not produce very good results, which won Asha some points with some of the more thoughtful captains, though it enraged others. The shore around the Rills and in particular the river mouths were patrolled heavily by light cavalry. Instead of rushing to battle those patrols retreated, no doubt to whistle up heavier forces through use of a series of watch fires that could be seen following the path of the rivers deeper inland. Instead of waiting there for those forces to arrive, the Ironborn pulled back moving further up the coast. Even the most iron-headed captain wasn't going to fight a battle like that with no plunder to gain from it.
They found that the Stony Shore was as much a disappointment but in a very different way, as was Sea Dragon Point. There several ships anchored, angered at not the results of scouting out the Rills. They landed their full complements near a tiny fishing village they saw perched on the rocky, almost barren ground of the shore. To their dismay however that hamlet was empty. Further scouting produced no people, and few goods for them to carry off.
That had angered Lord Stonehouse so much he and his family's ships remained there and marched inland with the intention of heading as they could in search of something to raid. Asha didn't learn about that until after it had occurred, having taken Black Wind to Deepwood Motte for a trading expedition. That was normal enough she hadn't aroused any suspicion: ships of course always needed fresh food and most particularly meats and potable water.
She traded silks and linens taken in her last raid before coming back to her ship, frowning heavily at how well defended the town was. It hadn't been reinforced, the wall around the town was still wooden and the keep in its center was still run down, but there was no lessening in the defender's numbers. So whatever muster had occurred in the North hadn't included House Glover.
Asha had also taken the time to ask very obliquely about the wolfsworn and Theon. The wolfsworn sounded fascinating, the idea of a fighting force that good was interesting, if true. Theon's place, as one of the wolfsworn but sort of to the side in some ways, was also interesting, as was the news he was acting as admiral of a fleet in the Bite and further north along that side of the North. The newest rumors were even more interesting, saying that Theon was leading a naval assault on the Three Sisters. She wanted some time to think about those, and what it might mean that Theon apparently was so trusted, and what that could mean in the long term for her as well.
When all the ships once more gathered off Sea Dragon Point, Ralf Kenning told her what had occurred. She ordered the fleet to head down to the Stonehouse's landing spot immediately, coming within sight of the place they had made landing the next day. Instead of finding their ships left there under guard, Asha and the others saw five burned-out husks, along with several heads stuck on the ends of spears sticking out of the rocky shore.
"The Northerners somehow realized that we were going to try to take advantage of the current unrest." Asha said shaking her head and staring at the sight, while a few other captains had joined her, pulling their ships alongside and coming across to stand with her.
"How'd they do that then?" Ralf muttered, scratching at his beard as he looked at Dustan and Harren, wondering if they knew, ignoring Asha almost automatically.
Both men grimaced, though it was Dustan Drumm who replied, rubbing at his craggy face, his eyes bloodshot with drink but still thoughtful. "Small attacks over time on our men as they marched deeper in land, no food to be found maybe. They pulled their smallfolk back all along their shores, fucking Northern pussies!"
Despite his words, his tone was actually respectful. "I hadn't expected it, but that kind of defense in depth is one we can't deal with. None of us're used to fightin'in forests which make up most of the North and we don't have enough stores to march overland, plus no experience livin' off it. And the fucking cold up here's another damn enemy we need to deal with!"
Protected as they were by the Flint Cliffs of Flint's Finger and the rest of the North, the Iron Islands had mostly mild weather year-round. Oh for certain they had their share of storms and more, but it was much colder up here than most were used to. They'd prepared for it, but not so well as to be able to march overland to take targets weeks inland, nor did they have any skills in living off the land.
"Are we just going to let this slide!" said the Sparr. He pointed angrily at the five burned-out ships. "Five good crews dead with nothing to show for it!? We need to march inland, find the people who did this and gut them for fish bait!"
Asha wanted to say that those crews had paid the ultimate Iron Price for a poor return, but she refrained. Instead she shook her head. "No, we won't win any battles trying to fight our enemy on their terms. Besides, all of this was a sideshow. And as I said, they can't be strong everywhere. If they've reinforced Deepwood Motte, and have men enough to wipe out five ships crews near here, it might mean our main objective is still doable."
That ended the grumbling for now, and the ships slowly began to turn away from the shore.
OOOOOOO
In one of the houses of the small fishing village Lord Hornwood looked out a window cautiously, staring out to sea at the ships there, not even using the spyglass Eddard had given him for fear the sun would reflect on it and give away his position. Around him four armsmen waited nervously, not liking the fact that their Lord had come forward off their main army like this. Their horses also stamped their feet, uncomfortable in the small enclosed area but they had been tied down securely, and the sound of their stamping feet wouldn't carry to the ships out there.
Asha was incorrect in assuming that the crews of the five Stonehouse ships had already been wiped out. The heads out there weren't of anyone special, simply taken from the dead after a nighttime raid in order to make this little show for the rest of the Ironborn that much more potent. Those crews were still trying to make their way through Sea Dragon Point towards something, anything that they could target. They weren't having much luck of course, since Eddard Stark had decided to adopt a defense in depth against any Ironborn incursion, and ordered his people in the Stony Shore and Sea Dragon Point deeper inland.
When Lord Glover or Lord Hornwood came in person as his representatives along with men to enforce that rule, even the most recalcitrant smallfolk family had obeyed. The population of Torrhen's Square, Deepwood Motte, and the winter town around Winterfell had doubled because of this, but those people were at least safe for now. Then Eddard had placed Lord Hornwood in command of the defense of Sea Dragon Point, and asked Lord Cerwyn to place his remaining cavalry and archers, about seven hundred men, under Lord Ryswell's command to help defend the rivers in and out of the Rills. Hornwood had near to a thousand men from House Stark and his own, plus a hundred men from the mountain clans, and days' worth of scrubland, hills and forests to play with.
Every night the mountain clansmen under his command came out, and once or twice Eddard and his men had also joined in, either in daytime or nighttime raids on their camps or their line of advance. It couldn't be called a march after all, not nearly organized enough. The Ironborn had started their march in land with around seven hundred and fifty men all told. That number was down to a bare four hundred at this point, but their captains were still around and still determined to find something to attack. They wouldn't be able to. Even if they got past Halys, forces from Ryswell and Cerwyn were already prepared down where the Point met the mainland. The moment they came out of the rough terrain of Sea Dragon Point, the Ironborn invaders would be slaughtered in the open.
For now however Halys concentrated on watching the ships out there, wondering what the Ironborn commander would do about the loss of five ships. His musing were interrupted by a young but determined voice speaking up behind him. "My Lord, with respect I have to say again this was ill-advised. We should pull back immediately"
"And let them see us?" Halys said, amused as he turned to one of his guards, a young man named Lester. Lester was an inexperienced youngster from House Bole, one of the minor Houses that looked to Glover. He was eager to prove himself and had jumped at the chance to join Halys' forces, only belatedly realizing that far from being a mere honor, this might place him in a very dangerous position with no chance to shine in front of girls. As he had manifestly hoped for when informed they were not going to be staying in Deepwood Motte. "No we'll keep watch until they are out of sight before moving on."
Halys was still watching an hour later after the ships pulled up anchor and moved away from the shoreline. "A cautious commander among the Ironborn." he murmured. "Interesting. Does that mean that they are done trying to attack the North, or are they going for some other target?" He turned away, moving towards the horses. "Come, I want to send messages to House Glover and House Ryswell, oh and Reed as well, just in case. Then I think our current crop of… guests should be dealt with."
OOOOOOO
The grumbling among the captains started up once more when she ordered the rest of the ships to wait at the mouth of the Fever river as she and Black Wind made their way upriver towards Moat Cailin. What she saw there made Asha shake her head in dismay. Around her, her crew was also muttering as they poled the longship forward in the dark, not even a single lamp visible as they nosed through the river towards their target. Even without light of their own they could make the tower that defended the moat from this direction.
That tower wasn't supposed to be there! It was supposed to be a ruin, not lit up so bright with what looked like at least 20 men on patrol up top, and what looked like a catapult of some kind up there as well. And there certainly wasn't supposed to be a wall defending the area around it, nor what looked like a dozen more men on those walls. Not according to her father, who never thought the North would repair the Moat, but it did match what the Sparr had called salt wives tales.
"The rumors were correct." she said, her voice like lead. "The moat's been repaired to defend it from this flank. Attacking that would be suicide."
"Are you sure about that captain?" said Qarl. Despite his name of The Maid, given to him because he couldn't grow even a hint of a beard, he was known as one of the fiercest warriors among the Ironborn. Yet even he quailed at the idea of attacking the prepared defense they saw further down the Fever. Still he had other things to worry about. "I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just wondering how the other captains will react."
"I want every man among you to take a turn up top to look at that." She ordered looking around at the men around her, which was most of her crew. She had been prepared to order an attack immediately with only her own crew if she by saw an opening to do it, but this was beyond her worse nightmares. "That way every one of you can be a witness to why we won't be attacking this place. I'd rather have you all alive to be of use elsewhere rather than throw your lives way here for no gain." she said. Paying the Iron Price only matters if we actually get something for our iron.
Back with the rest of the fleet that news and her opinion of what it meant did indeed cause trouble. "We should still attack!" said the Sparr, slamming his hand on the tabletop. He made no move to rise or challenge Asha however, not yet, there was no need right now. If Asha kept on telling the others they shouldn't attack, then there would be no need to directly challenge her, and possibly anger her family. "We're reavers damn it, not puling landsmen who retreat when the going gets tough!"
"And faced with that defense, what would we do? No, I realize my father wanted us to attack the moat so that we can hold that against the North so we could attack the Riverlands without fear of the North coming to their aid, but the rumors should've suggested to him that that was a fool's errand. Now that we know the rumors were true, I'm not going to throw away anyone's lives there."
There were some sneers at that, her show of compassion for her men not being in keeping with the normal Ironborn way of command, but she went on quickly before anyone else spoke up. "No, we'll head further south instead, to a much richer prize."
"Seagard!" said one the captains eagerly.
Two others however shook their heads reflexively remembering the disaster of the battle there during the first rebellion before. "If the North was ready for us there's no doubt House Mallister is as well, we'd receive hard knocks and little treasure for our steel. And other captains have already been sent to the Cape of Eagles and Ironman's Bay. The pickings are slim enough there, we'll end up fighting one another to get anything good." Dunstan said, shaking his head. But his eyes were hard as he stared at Asha, wondering if she really was unworthy of this command if she was willing to ignore her father's orders to attack the North, and seeing an opportunity.
"There are other, better targets further south than Seagard anyway." Asha tapped her map, her finger on a castle on an island off the Westerlands coast that many of the older captains recognized. "Here. If the attack on Lannisport has gone in, they no doubt either be screaming for the ships assigned to Faircastle to retake it, or screaming for aid to stop Lord Orkwood's attack. That means Faircastle itself might be open to attack."
Some of the captains murmured excitement at that idea. After all, the Westerlands were a much richer land than the North, and there was a certain symbolism to raiding Faircastle. After all, it had been the sight of the battle that broke the Iron Fleet during Balon's first attempt at rebellion.
"I know that my opinion on the idiocy of attacking the North isn't popular, and I know that it flies in the face of my father's orders." Asha emphasized the word 'father', forcing the captains around her to remember that she wasn't just a woman she was the only child of the King of the Iron Islands that apparently was still loyal. "So instead of simply trying to order you all around like you were landlubbers, we should settle this the Ironborn way!"
Asha stood up, throwing back her stein of mead before turning the stein over in midair to slam it down top first on the table to show there wasn't a drop left. Then she reached down, pulling out a small throwing ax from beside the table before twirling it in her hand.
That caused the watchers to shout in delight. Even the captains laughed, wondering where she was going with this, even the Sparr and those like him were silent for now. She smiled grimly internally, though on the surface she allowed a devil-may-care grin appear on her face as she began to throw the small ax up in the air, catching it on the down turn. "Who else here has ideas of where we should strike?"
"Me!" said the Sparr slamming his hand down on the table. In response to Asha's challenge he too drained his mug, turning it around in midair before slamming it down as well. "Bear Island! Their women haven't felt the iron shafts of the islands for far too long! And they can't get reinforcements to it without passing through the ocean, our ocean! I'd take a single Ironborn ship against an entire fleet o' northern wolf-fuckers!" That won him a roar of approval, and six or seven other captains all shouted their agreement.
"I." said Ralf, though he didn't bother draining his stein of mead, having already done so. He pointed down at the map on the table instead, tapping the inland Lake. "There's a town here, Torrhen's Square. We take it, strip the town to the ground and then leave by the river. Strike fast, strike hard, then leave before they can mobilize against us before hitting somewhere else."
That too one some murmurs of approval, though not the roars that the Sparr's more 'eloquent' speech did. Still some of the more thoughtful captains, Dunstan Drumm among them, nodded agreement. The plunder would be better from a town than from Bear Island after all, if they could get past the watch fires at the mouth of the Rys.
Asha was startled to see that the other two captains from House Kenning however didn't. Those two had voiced approval of her plan. Now, while inter-house disagreements weren't exactly unusual among the Ironborn, in point of fact they were the norm, but House Kenning normally moved in lockstep. House Harlaw also moved like that, so it hadn't surprised her that the five ships that they had sent north with Asha were willing to follow her.
She had excellent relations with the Harlaws, and most particularly their Lord, Rodrick. Asha really liked that old man, even if he wasn't really seen as a true follower of the Old Way thanks to how much reading he did and the fact he had brought in a maester to take care of his collection after septons were no longer allowed in the Iron Islands. Rodrick, Asha remembered now, had spoken out against the resumption of war with Westeros. He had in fact said they should have looked to the Stepstones or even the Summer Islands instead, but Balon had overruled him, and Rodrick would follow House Greyjoy whatever happened. I know he sent most of his house's strength with Victarion, but he stayed behind with a decent portion of it. I might wish to stop in to talk to him before moving further south.
"Me." said it a third voice, also reaching for to tap the map, jarring Asha out of her thoughts. Hector Sunderly had taken over command of the Sunderly ships since his cousin's untimely death, and he glared hard at Asha. Not, as most mainland lords would expect, because she had killed his cousin. No, House loyalty mattered very little among most of the Ironborn. He glared at her because Asha was a woman, that was all. "Deepwood Motte might be well defended, but it's a smaller House than most Northern ones and it's a richer prize then the Square town. You said der defenses were still there, but if'n we 'it someat nearby, they'll send der armsmen out ta deal with 'at. Then we can hop in our ships, and get back ta Deepwood Motte afore der defenders ken backtrack."
That was actually a much more intelligent suggestion from him then Asha was expecting, but that was alright. The main objective of this little discussion after all was to make certain that her fleet didn't fall into infighting. Anything else was secondary.
"All right," Asha said aloud, catching her axe by the shaft at the highest point of its flight. "That means we've got four people here who think they know what our fleet should do, so here's what I propose. We'll face one another in the finger dance, the first to lose a finger loses their right to say what the fleet should do! The last one standing gets her plans adopted!"
That won a roar of approval from everyone, as well as some good natured jeering at her assumption of victory. All Ironborn liked the finger dance, the bloodier the better, so long as it wasn't your blood. One captain however bellowed, "Not enough! Give 'em a twirl!"
Asha found herself grabbed from behind then quickly spun around in place as the Sparr and the others were forced to endure the same. Then they were pushed away from the table into a quickly opening area of the deck, as her crew bellowed encouragement. The noise of the commotion reaching them over the distance between them, a few other longships began to make their way over, and one or two of Asha's crew turned to shout out what was going on.
Finally released from the hands who had grabbed her, Asha stood in one place, feeling a little dizzy as she stopped spinning. She was still able to grip the mug of mead that was pushed into one hand, throwing it back easily. She lowered it, and exchanged a subtle wink with Qarl, you hadn't been the one to pass her the mug, but he did pass the mug to the person who in turn passed it to her. Un-Ironborn it might be, but Asha meant to win this, not lose her fingers.
Two other men, both Harlaw men from her crew, were seeing to the other participants giving them mugs as well, but those were not watered down. They weren't added to very much, just enough to give it a little more kick but not enough for anyone to notice the taste. If you're not cheating you're not trying, Asha thought to herself, having heard that line from some merchant or other. It was true in business it was true in life, and that was precisely what she wanted to do, keep on living.
She wobbled forward, her ax held loosely in one hand. "Alright you flotsam of the main!" She said tossing the ax into the air and catching it easily. "Who's ready to dance!?"A few of her crewmen pulled out instruments and began to play a very fast jig as the Sparr moved forward to take her his place across from her.
Their axes flashed as one through the air between them, and Asha caught the one tossed her easily, twirling in place and doing a little dance. The Sparr caught his, and tried to dance but he had never been really that good at dancing in the first place and the ale he had drunk since coming aboard ship hadn't helped matters. Particularly since he hadn't drunk them on a full stomach, he put some ale in it first.
Again and again the two of them exchanges their axes and again and again they danced. The song got faster and faster the throws faster and faster, and after every fourth throw they would have to stop to be twirled around by the crowd and forced to drink some more ale. Eventually of course this proved too much, and the Sparr missed his attempt to catch the axe thrown to him, losing the tip of one finger from the whirling ax head as it passed by. There was a roar of delight from most of the crowd but a few of his own crewmen, who had clambered aboard ship during this engagement, booed and hissed, as they began to help him away.
Asha raised her hand and victory, grinning happily. One down. She took her place in the crowd, watching as Ralf and Hector had their own dance, and it was Ralf who won this round.
By then several other dances were going on throughout the fleet on other ships and even one at the other end of the ship. The sight of blood, song and free-flowing ale had done its work, but Asha still had one person she had to beat. She shook herself, now feeling the effect of even the water-downed ale, and made to move forward.
But Ralf shook his head. "It's done!" he shouted aloud, holding his ax up in the air with one hand and a mug of ale and the other. "Asha's plan to hit Faircastle is good! But we came to the North to raid it, and I'm not going back south without some booty! You all now have two choices to choose from, go south to raid Faircastle with Asha, or stay here and raid Torrhen's Square with me! Think of it, and tomorrow this fleet will split, those with Asha will go with her, and those who want to stay here in the north and teach these northern pussies what the Iron Born can do will stay with me!"
Asha frowned at the way he had so easily taken control of the fleet, making it appear as if he was the leader. But she noticed how Dunstan Drumm was whispering in his ear, and realized that she hadn't been the only one to be planning ahead here. Still, she thought to herself as the crowd roared their approval, at least this way we won't be fighting one another.
So instead of pointlessly protesting Asha nodded her head and raised her own voice. "That's fine, if even half of this fleet can't get some plunder from some damn townies, then we're not real Ironborn. Make them pay the Iron Price here, and I'll go to Faircastle and we'll join the rest of our men there in showing the Westerlands pussies that it's the Ironborn who rule the sea!" That won some cheers of course, and the impromptu party went on from there.
The next day the fleet split. Of the twenty remaining ships, it astonished Asha that twelve ships agreed to go with her. It was a decent enough force, more than enough to take Faircastle if used correctly. The other eight ships, led by Ralf and including both Dunstan and the Sparr, removing all of the more dangerous remaining captains, decided to stay here in the North. That was well beyond what Asha had hoped for, and she led her now much reduced fleet back down south happily.