On that very same day, Damian left Lonely Light on four longships with the fourth one carrying a few thralls of northern origin that wished to return to their homeland.
Of course, they didn't just leave without taking any collateral with them. The whole family of House Farwynd staying on the Lonely Light was travelling with them as hostages.
The tower was wiped clean of anything valuable. Damian didn't even leave the metal wares in the kitchen.
Some of it was loaded onto the ships while the rest went straight into his system's warehouse.
Six days later, due to favourable winds, Damian's fleet reached the waters of Great Wyk. He could see the island from the deck of his flagship which he named Iron Bitch.
On the morning of the second day, Ace had found his way back to Damian with the letter from Ned. Lord Stark praised Damian for his accomplishment but also berated him for not waiting for them and going out to face the Ironborn on a single ship. Damian skipped that part and went straight below to read the orders which he was already aware of beforehand.
The orders were simple. Damian would leave Lonely Light for Blacktyde. The island wasn't important and a few important hostages were enough to force Lord Gylbert Farwynd into laying down his arms peacefully and stop supporting the Greyjoys.
Damian would then sail for Blacktyde where he would meet some three thousand men from Manderly, Mormont and the Mallisters. The whole army would be commanded by Lord Wylis Manderly and Damian would also be taking orders from him.
Damian had no problem with that. Their task was to siege Balcktyde's castle and make them surrender as quickly as possible and then move on to Orkmont to do the same.
It's been six days since the letter was written to him and so the Norhten army should have already disembarked on the Blacktyde Island by now. It would at least take him one more day to reach Blacktyde.
Ace was always keeping an eye on the surroundings from the sky, looking for anything that would endanger Damian and his fleet. It was all peaceful until they were about to cross Old Wyk.
When Damian felt a tug in his connection with Ace, so he immediately warged into his companion while standing on the deck. Jory wanted to learn to command a ship so he was on another vessel sailing behind the Iron BItch. Everyone on his ship was a loyal summoned subordinate so Damian had no fear of using his skill out in the open.
Anyway, when Damian looked through the Falcon's eye, he saw a fleet of seven longships heading in the direction of Blactyde. They were sailing ahead of them.
Looking at the banner flying on the ship at the front, Damian was without a doubt it belonged to House Drumm of Old Wyk. There were other banners flying too on other ships but most of them were not known to Damian.
Damian flew a little closer to see who was on the ships and listen to their conversation.
Ace landed on the mast and turned its head in the direction of the man who seemed like the captain of the ship.
Unfortunately, the guy was sitting there quietly and wasn't talking much. So Damian found nothing from him.
Only the snippets he heard from the sailors working on the deck and hoping to three other ships made him aware of their destination and plan.
It seems like the Blacktydes were able to inform their neighbours of their island being invaded by Mainlander forces and asked for reinforcement.
The general idea was to attack the mainlander's ship while they are sieging the castle of Blacktyde. This would leave their enemies stranded on the island and unable to invade other islands even if they managed to take over the Blacktyde keep.
They totalled around 250 spread over the seven longships. Their number was small compared to the Mainlander's army so it was highly unlikely that they help House Blacktide by directly confronting their enemies.
Still, Damian couldn't let these Ironborn destroy the ships of his allies as that would slow down their advancement.
After thinking for a moment, Damian decided it would be best to inform his allies on Blaktyde about the Ironbornfleet heading their way. If they know it beforehand, then it would be easier to save their ships or even set up an ambush for the enemy fleet with him coming from behind.
Damian immediately went to work on his plan and wrote a letter to Lord Wylis Manderly and Lord Jeor Mormont about the danger of Iron born fleet. He wrote about his position and his plan for dealing with the enemy.
Ace flew away with the letter and with his speed, the bird should be able to reach the island in less than an hour's time.
When the flacon arrived above the island, Damian warged into the bird to drive him straight to the camp put up outside Blacktyde's Castle.
Damian was able to spot Ser Wendel overseeing the soldiers building the siege ladder.
Ser Wendel was spooked when he first saw a big Falcon flying in a circle over his head.
"That's one big bird." Ser Wendel frowned when he saw the Falcon landing on a cart a couple of meters away from him and started at him intently before raising one of his legs towards him.
"What's that?" Ser Wendel was stunned when he found a piece of rolled parchment tied to the bird's leg.
"I believe, that's Damian Stark's Falcon." Came the voice of Ser Wylis as he stepped out from a nearby tent with a man and woman following behind him.
"Damian's falcon?" Ser Wendel asked back in surprise.
"Yes, brother. Lord Stark informed me about how Damian passed his achievements to him from Lonely Light. He had mentioned the messenger to be Sky Blue Falcon, so this bird must be Damian's." Sir Wylis explained to his brother before he asked one of his household guards to fetch the letter tied to the bird's leg.
"How was the bird able to locate our camp accurately? Even the trained ravens can't do that and they only deliver messages to places that they have been trained to deliver beforehand," questioned Sir Wendel.
The man standing beside Ser Wylis in Mallister's clothing expressed also the same doubts.
The only one to remain silent and in thought was the fierce-looking warrior woman dressed in patched ringmail. She had started looking intently at the Falcon when Sir Wendel raised his suspicions.
When Damian met her eyes through the Falcon's, he was stunned seeing her suddenly grin at him or the bird, as if she caught onto something.
"I believe you can solve this mystery by asking Damian directly when he arrives. First, let's look at what he has written to us," said Maege Mormont, the She-Bear of Bear Island.
The guard was successful in bringing the letter to Ser Wylis without getting his face ripped by the Falcon's talons.
When the eldest son of Lord Wyman Manderly read the letter his countenance turned serious.
"The letter is indeed sent by Damian Stark. His fleet had crossed Great Wyk and would arrive here in a few hours. He is informing us about an Ironborn fleet numbering seven, heading our way, most likely to attack our ships while we are busy at sieging the Blacktyde's Castle." Ser Wylis relayed what was written in the letter to others.
"Damian is tailing them from behind and asking us to be ready to welcome them when they arrive in a couple of hours. He has asked us to set an ambush around our ship. When The Ironborn attacks, Damian would cut off their retreat from behind."
"A sound plan, Sir Wyllis. The Blacktydes won't go away, so we should deal with this threat first." said the Mallister army commander, Ser Ormund.
"Some of us should still act like we are besieging the Castle so the Ironborn fleet is baited into attacking our ships anchored near the shore," Maege added as she walked up to the Falcon. She slowly raised her hands towards the bird's head and started scratching the bird's neck with her fingers.
Ser Wylis quickly wrote a reply for Damian and saw the Falcon flying away in a direction as if it knew where it would find its master.
"What were you all doing around that bird, Mother?" a young and tall woman asked as she arrived with a retinue of soldiers behind her.
"Did you complete scouting the nearby lands in our surroundings, Dacey?" Maege asked back.
"Yes, I did. There's a small settlement down south, we found it empty. There's another one to its west but that too was empty. Mostly they ran away to the safety of the castle or other minor Lords kept on the island. But what about the bird?" Dacey reported before asking again about the bird she saw flying away.
Maege didn't answer right away but asked for leave from Ser Wylis Manderly and took Dacey along with her to their tent.
"That's Damian Stark's messenger. He seems to have tamed a Falcon that can deliver messages to people it had never met." Maege stated after they entered the safety of their tent.
"Do you mean he's a-" Dacey's eyes widened in surprise as she thought of a term that is famous in the Northern culture and made the connection.
"I'm not sure, my daughter but that is most likely the case. The young man is a Stark and it should not come as a surprise if he has the gift. The others have not realized this yet so we should not reveal it for the time being." Maege said
Dacey nodded in understanding but she was very much intrigued by her mother's words and her interest in the younger brother of Lord Stark was rising.
Damian Stark should only be two years younger than her and she has already heard about him seizing Ironborn ships and capturing the Lonely Light with men less than hundred and fifty.
"I hope he is a good fighter too or else I would be disappointed," Dacey licked her lips as she said her thoughts aloud.
"Haha, I see no reason why he would be different from his elder brothers." Maege chuckled. She then thought of something and said conspiringly, "Well, I heard a rumour. Do want to hear it?"
"What rumour?" Dacey asked curiously.
"I heard from Ser Wylis that Lord Stark intends to give Lordship to his younger brother. The seat is most likely to be Moat Cailin. My dear daughter, I think you should try courting the young man, he's got a bright future," Maege suggested. She hoped her elder daughter would find a capable husband who had a title and land to his name in the north.
"We'll see about that later. There's still a war to fight." Dacey simply replied.
.= = = = = = =
Hey guys I'm back. Sorry for not posting any chapters in the past month. I was busy moving to the UK and settling there. Anyway, here's the 30th chapter. Chapters till 42 are already posted on my Patre_n page if you want to have early access. https://www.patre_n.com/Axelwheel.
Check it out.
The next Chapter will be out by 4th Nov, 18.00 pm UK time. Enjoy!