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.
Before they could comprehend anything and try to bring out the ones who were stuck in the mud, the cowardly villagers who were running away suddenly turned around and the pirates were quick to notice the bows in their hands that weren't there before.
The ironborn culture and the old way was based around the concept of ambushing and stealing but they were rarely at the mercy of an ambush as they almost always chose their targets at random which meant that it was a rare moment for them and they all reacted very haphazardly, as would be expected from someone who had never faced an ambush in there lives.
Some of them panicked and tried running back, some got angry and ran toward the one holding the bows, while others stood just there frozen in shock. All in all, they presented a very appetizing target for the archers who didn't miss the chance and peppered the pirates from the front mercilessly.
The ones who rushed at the villagers were the first ones to go down as without any semblance of a shield they weren't able to come very close. The ironborns at the back who had mostly escaped the mud through luck and using the one trapped in the mud as a shield turned around and ran back to find a cover and after that think about a way to F**k the archers.
But before they could try to put those thoughts to fruition, they suddenly heard a sound that sent a chill down their spines and drained all blood from their faces.
All of them turned around simultaneously toward the sound and what they found was an iron born's worst nightmare coming towards them at a very fast speed from the direction of the forest.
A horde of horses was galloping toward them, neighing and scattering dust clouds in their stampede. It was not possible to estimate their number at a glance but roughly they seemed to be somewhere between 50 and 70 which was too many for them and riding on horse's back, were fully armored knights, which was even more terrifying.
"Come at me, You F**king Greenlanders!" the captain shouted and some of the veterans echoed him, and the rising chorus of shouts roused their morals and their blood started boiling as they raised their weapons and started getting into a rough formation.
"We will show them!" "F**k them!" "What is dead may never die!" "What is dead may never die!"
Tristan had thought that he was lucky when he didn't get trapped in the Mud trap as he was at the back but he wasn't so sure now as he somehow ended up in the front of the pile of reavers.
"W-What is dead may never die!"
He tried to take up the chant, hoping that it would instill some courage in him but it didn't seem to help him much. And the only thing he wanted to do, looking at the approaching shiny armor and sharp weapons of the knights, was run away but the f**kers behind weren't letting him move an inch.
As the cavalry was approaching, Tristan started shitting and pissing at the sight of the sharp lances coming ever closer. He closed his eyes at the last moment and swung his axe while screaming wildly, hoping to take the f**ker down with him.
"AHHhh—"
But he only hit the air and what he heard was the sound of horses miraculously galloping away, and when he opened his eyes, he was delighted to find that the cavalry had skipped them for some reason and didn't crash in them at all. Tristan didn't know the cause of why they behaved so stupidly but he was just happy to be alive and didn't want to think about it any further.
"Maybe the fu**ers got scared," A man beside him guffawed in disbelief but alas before they could celebrate any further, they suddenly heard a sound from behind them accompanied by dying screams.
*Thump**Thump**Thump*
The last thing you should do when under an archer is to stand still and that was what they did as they forgot about the archers from the beginning who were done with the reavers stuck in the mud and turned their arrows toward them.
*Run!**Run!**Run!*
All of them started running toward the ships erratically, having lost all thoughts of fighting back. But it seems the northerners weren't keen on giving them any breathing space as they heard the cavalry coming back toward them and this time no one stopped to make a formation to resist which meant that they were slim pickings for them.
Tristan ran toward the ships with all his might and even though he had an arrow running through his arm, he still somehow made it, which made him one of the lucky few who did.
They were about 150 ironborn, of which they left behind about 15 behind when they went for the raid, 5 on each ship. They lost about 30 in the mud trap and almost double that in the second arrow fire when they stood still, while the rest of them were easily picked by the cavalry so only twenty of them made it on the ships.
"MOVE! THE SHIP!" Tristan shouted at the people, who messing with the ropes and the oars while sliding down the wall and trying to stem the flow of blood in his wounds.
"You think I was not trying that already! F**ker!" a crewmate shouted while anxiously pulling on the ropes, "The ship is not moving for some reason—or did you think I was waiting for you,"
'He is right,' Tristan thought as he noticed that none of the three ships had been able to escape and were all standing still at the place where they had decked.
Before he could think on it any further he heard the sound of fighting suddenly stop and after a minute or so of silence, he heard a loud bellow from below, "Surrender!—and You may take the Black,"
There was silence for a moment as everyone stopped what they were doing before one of his crueler crewmates shouted back before anyone could stop him, "Get Lost! You F**kers!"
Tristan knew what was coming so he immediately took cover and sure enough he started hearing thumping and dying screams a moment later. He just closed his eyes, covered his ears, and prayed to the drowned god.
About a minute later the arrows stopped and Tristan slowly opened his eyes, and when he looked around he found out that he was the last one alive on this ship.
"I surrender!" "I surrender!" He started shouting at the top of his lungs.
There was a few moments of pause when he thought that he was going to die after all but someone shouted back, "Come out! then,"
Tristan got up and slowly walked out of the ship and the line of archers standing behind a stout man with whiskers scared any thoughts of running away from his mind.
"Rope him," The stout man told a soldier beside him who immediately moved to obey, "Check if there are any survivors on any ships," he said to the armored men beside him and everyone started moving to obey in an organized manner.
While the soldier was tying the rope on his hands without any mercy for the arrow wound, Tristan couldn't help but ask him the one burning question in his mind, "Why did our ship not move?"
The soldier looked at him for a moment before he jerked his toward the ship's bottom and when he looked there he found dozens of people coming out of the water from beside the ship with ropes and pick axes in their hands, "They are the villagers you were just supposed to raid," the Northern soldier supplied helpfully.
This ambush was too elaborate to be a simple one so Tristan wanted to ask further about how they knew where they were but the soldier wasn't in the mood to entertain any more questions.
As they were taking him away the only thought on Tristan's mind was, 'I hope they didn't cut off my cock at the Wall,'
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