Jon's movements were swift and precise as he sprang into action. Without wasting a moment, he grabbed a rope with a hook attached to it and swung it a few times before flinging it. The hook would have made a loud sound normally but it didn't this time since Jon threw the hook just above him, and Frost darted through the air, effortlessly grabbing the hook and sticking it to the ship before flicking away. The whole process took less than a second, and they did it with the ease of seasoned professionals.
With the hook secured, Jon wasted no time in starting his ascent. Despite carrying a bow, a quiver, a sword, and four ropes tied around his chest, Jon climbed with agility and silence, reaching the ship in mere seconds.
Upon reaching the target ship, Jon quickly began attaching the other ropes he was carrying to the ship, securing their hooks with the same deftness as before. Once he finished, he made his way to the ship's only source of light and carefully removed the torch from its stand. He shook it in the air according to a specific pattern for a few seconds before replacing it.
Back on the rowboats, Dacey immediately caught Jon's signal, "Let's go," she said, taking charge of her boat and leading the others toward the side of the ship where the ropes were.
As the boats aligned in a straight line with a rope just above them, the northerners began to climb with skill and precision. Two people remained behind to look after the boats while the rest made their way onto the ship.
As the last person climbed aboard, Jon emerged from his resting place, standing tall and taking charge. "We're in luck," he said after closing his eyes briefly, "There are about 25 people on board, excluding the three that just died, and every one of them is asleep."
Addressing Dacey directly, he continued, "I want you to take 10 warriors and head to the common area on the lower deck. You'll find 15 people sleeping on hammocks - take them out," Dacey nodded and immediately moved toward the door, ready to carry out Jon's orders.
"The rest of you will be going to the rooms on the upper deck," Jon instructed the remaining team members. "The doors are already opened from the inside, so you shouldn't have any problems." With a nod of understanding, the team members moved inside without asking a single question, leaving Jon behind to keep watch.
Jon wasn't alone for long as he looked down to find his new friend who had arrived from inside the deck. It quickly climbed his legs and scurried up his waist to Jon's shoulder. He patted it gently with a smile and said, "Good job, Gan. You're getting better at opening doors," Jon said, as he walked towards the ship's deck and he squeaked excitedly in response.
Gan was a small mouse that he had befriended recently on one of his excursions, to assist him in his endeavours and he was a really feisty and intelligent mouse, capable of doing many things that a normal mouse couldn't.
The small mouse suddenly started to chirp and squeak with its whiskers quivering furiously, "What! Frost was ruff with you again," Jon asked, his brow furrowing as he listened to Gan complain to him about how when Frost brought him to this ship to scout she wasn't gentle with him at all and even squeezed him tightly and how he almost died when she threw on board.
Jon looked up at the dark night sky where Frost was slowly circling and even though it wasn't possible for a human eye to see the sky, he was able to see as Frost haughtily turned her heady away at his reproaching gaze. Frost was always indignant when he made her do something as mundane as being a Chauffeur for his mouse, Gan, an animal that she wouldn't even consider eating for a snack.
Knowing that it was a losing game, Jon turned back to Gan and said in a soothing voice, "Sorry, Gan. I'll try and reason with her so that she's more gentle with you next time and as an apology, I'll treat you to the feast of cheese when we get back, Alright," and Gan immediately started squeaking in delight at the suggestion.
About 15 minutes later as Jon was feeding his mouse he saw his team of Northerners coming out of the door which meant that the fighting or rather the slaughter have been completed, some of them had blood on them while the others were looking clean.
"Looks like it was an easy one, eh?" Jon asked and Dacey nodded with a proud smile before she turned and whistled loudly. The ship that bought them here got the signal and started approaching them for the rest of the crew to join them.
"Well then! Let's if the bastards looted something before we looted them," Jon smirked before moving inside.
...
A few hours later, Jon was holed up in the Captain's quarters, poring over a diary in search of clues as to which Ironborn house the ship they had just looted belonged to. Since almost all of their so-called nobles had a fleet or two of their own be it a small one or a big one. This was a familiar ritual for him, as he had made a habit of reading through the Captain's logbook after each successful raid.
Even though most Ironborn were illiterate, there had to be at least one person on the crew who could read and write whether he be the captain or the first mate since it was he who needed to keep track of the number of days they'd been sailing or when was last time they stocked on food or how many days till they reach the next port and stuff like that. He needed to keep track of every single day as it passes by if he doesn't want to end up in the middle of nowhere without any food or water.
As he read through the diary, an interesting piece of information caught his attention. It appeared that the Ironborn crew had originally consisted of three ships, but they had recently raided a few vessels from the Reach. However, their targets had fought back more fiercely than expected, resulting in the loss of almost half of their crew and two of their ships sinking.
Suddenly the door creaked as Dacey entered the room with a serious look on her face and said, "We found people down there,"
"And..." Jon asked calmly, "You know what to do. Just get someone to care for them until we reach the next port and then we'll leave them with enough gold so that they can take a trip home wherever that is,"
Even though it was disgusting, Jon had gotten used to this by now, since their targets Ironborn, had a habit of bringing back Women as the so-called Salt wives and Men as thralls when they return home. And since Dacey's Orca Cory, their scout, only picks up ships that are returning to the Iron Islands they almost always have the displeasure of seeing up close the cruelty of the Ironborn.
"Since this one's a little special," Dacey said with a shrug, "I thought you'll want to know,"
"What is it," Jon said, finally looking up from the Diary toward Dacey in curiosity, "Are they a noble or something?"
"Yes, she's a young girl," Dacey nodded, "From the Reach,"
"Which Noble?"
"Apparently she's a Tyrell,"
"What? A Tyrell!" Jon exclaimed, his heart skipping a beat.
He tried to recall if there was any mention of a Tyrell girl being kidnapped in the original timeline, but his mind drew a blank. and the only Tyrell girl he knew of in the original timeline was the most famous one and he hoped with all his might that it wasn't her because if it was then it would mean that he had derailed from the Cannon a lot more than he expected.