On board a ship that was slowly moving along with the wind, a young teen was standing on the lookout but he was barely doing any looking out.
Tristan had joined the crew under House Codd only recently, (he mentioned joined but the truth was that they were the only ones who would pick him,) and his luck was so good that on his very first trip out of iron islands, they had taken him on the greatest raid in Westeros in decades.
No one had told Tristan that they would be assaulting Lannisport, the jewel under the paw of the mighty Lord Tywin Lannister. So he had gotten the shock of his life when he woke up one day and the captain told him that they were about to attack the port.
Fortunately for him, House Codd was not known for their love of fighting or their fearlessness, No! What they were known for were their thieving ways and cowardly nature, which Tristan agreed with wholeheartedly.
They had been there when the Iron fleet was trying to burn the Lannisport with all their might but instead of helping their fellow ironborns fight, they had been busy looting as much as they could, and before the fighting had even shown the signs of slowing down they sneakily sailed away when no one was looking.
Tristan decided that he liked the way these people ran things, they loot and they run, and while they were labeled as cowards by the rest of the lot, Tristan was fine with that as long as he was alive and richer than them and had more functioning limbs than them.
Or he would be richer if he didn't lose all his share of the loot in gambling with his crewmates, which was compulsory for him to play. He was the youngest and the newest member of the crew which made him the easiest target for everyone and he was deathly scared of the finger dance which meant that he had already lost about half of his spoils before they even reached the coast.
He was hiding on the lookout to keep his remaining wealth safe. Their ships had skipped docking at the iron islands as the captain said he didn't want to explain why they were the first ones to arrive back from the fighting (Tristan thought that his captain was very experienced in these things,). So they decided to head toward the North and try their luck at finding a village.
Tristan was thinking about the food he would get to eat after they reached the coast when he suddenly noticed a small fishing boat in the distance, It had come close enough that he was able to notice it without the need of a far eye.
"A Ship! A Ship! I see a ship!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, and he didn't know if it was a coincidence or if the fishermen also heard him because at that exact same moment the fishing boat started rowing away from them, "We got a Runner!"
His shout had roused all the lazy pirates from their afternoon naps, and when he ran down the lookout, it was to find the captain shouting at the top of his lungs to follow the fishing boat as he knew that a fishing boat also meant a fishing village. He also ordered Tristan, when he noticed him, to signal the other two ships to gather on them.
The three ships kept a certain distance from each other so as to cover a larger distance but they were always close enough that they would be able to notice the flag signals from any ship.
The workers had started rowing enthusiastically the moment they had heard the orders. Everyone was very excited to finally catch the sight of prey after so long, but the captain hadn't ordered them to move at full speed yet, instead, he wanted them to move just fast enough that he could easily keep the fishing boat in his line of sight, which was trying to flee with all its might.
The other two ships caught up with them before long and it was just in time as well as the captain could just make out a village on the coast.
"It looks like we will have warm beds tonight lads!" the captain cried and a cheer went through the crew and they started rowing with all their might.
While the reavers had looted enough gold and treasure for them to last a while at the Lannisport, unfortunately, they didn't stop there long enough for the men to sate their other desires. It was also one of the main reasons they were here hunting for a village in the North even though the Captain knew that there wouldn't be a chance of good loot here, he was hoping for everyone on his crew to get a salt wife or two which would keep them happy for a while.
"Look at that Greenlander running," The captain guffawed and the crew laughed loudly in response, Tristan also joined them as he could see the fisherman as he half-jumped and half-fell off his boat as he ran toward the village hollering about the Ironborn raid.
But alas it was bound to be useless because the iron born's prowess at sea wasn't just for a show, as the three ships docked just a minute after the fisherman's and the iron islanders started jumping one after the other while shouting at the top of their lungs and running toward the village in the distance.
The fisherman's cries had roused the villagers at this point as the Ironborn saw some people run out of the house toward the forest in the distance. The sight of their prey fleeing from them invigorated their sadistic desires even more as the reavers started excitedly shouting obscenities at the runners.
Tristan was a little confused as he wasn't able to make out any woman amidst the villagers as they were running away. But he just assumed that all these northerners were cowards who would leave their wives and daughters behind, which was all the better for him so he didn't really think about it that much.
"Run! Greenlanders Run!" "HAHA"
Tristan also started laughing along with his crewmates but his laughter didn't last very long as he started hearing cursing and swearing from the front as they stopped abruptly. Tristan jumped to get a view of the front and what he saw made him both confused and scared.
The reavers who had been leading them had unknowingly fallen into a mud trap while they were chasing after the villagers without focusing. And now that Tristan thought about it he remembered that all the Greenlanders had run along the borders while avoiding the center.