Fortunately, for Donnel's ship, they hadn't gotten close enough to throw in the ropes or place a ramp in between the ships to cross over or let the enemy come on their own.
It took some time and a few casualties among the Ironborn that had to grab the handles to row making it hard for them to save their heads from being pierced by an arrow, before, Donnel could get his ship to crate some distance from the enemy.
The other ironborn ship wasn't lucky enough as the enemy ship that they were attacking was able to hold them in place and launch their own counterattacks.
As Doneel created some distance, he gave a sigh of relief after seeing that the enemy ship wasn't pursuing them instead they moved to block the second Ironborn ship that was engaged with another.
The same scene happened with the Ironborn Ship in pursuit of the Greenlander's vessel acting to escape east and west. Towards the east, Donnel saw another small fleet appearing from around the island and one ship sailing from the north surrounding the three Ironborn longships he had sent that way. They had no hope of escaping after being surrounded and engaged by seven ships.
Only the two longships that were pursuing the Greenlanders escaping in the western direction, were facing each other in equal numbers. Perhaps, the men on those ships had the chance to come out on top and escape before the rest of the enemy ships caught up to them. At least, Donnel hoped so.
But Donnel's hope didn't last for long, as he saw another Longship making its way towards them from a north-western direction.
At first, when Donnel made out the type of vessel similar to his own, he thought they were Ironborn longships that like him were coming to help the Blacktydes. But his hopes were dashed as soon as the supposed ally came to attack the Ironborn ships instead of their enemy.
The same thing happened with Donnel as he saw a bigger Longship that would normally be built for the Iron fleet, coming to block his escape route.
It was definitely an enemy, flying the banner of the Starks.
Donnel tried to get past them by manoeuvring the ship in another direction but his efforts became unsuccessful when the enemy caught up to him and rammed straight into his ship.
The impact threw a few unprepared ironborn off the ship.
The enemy threw hooks with ropes attached at the end to get their ships locked together and come on board. Donnel knew he couldn't get away without cutting the ropes and untangling themselves from the enemy ship. The only way left to come out alive was through combat and defeating them as quickly as possible, getting the hell out of this place before the other ships started to come after him.
Therefore, Donnel shouted at his men to fight back and kill the fucking Greenlanders.
"Don't let them come over. Kill them, push them out into the sea. Do whatever it takes to kill these fuckers."
The Ironborn were wearing armour of some kind like chainmail, steel or iron armour as that was how they fought on ships. They expected their enemies to be wearing light armour or maybe only just clothes to safeguard themselves in case they fell into the sea. Wearing heavy armour would be a death sentence in that kind of situation but the Ironborn didn't fear drowning.
Oh no, they drowned too if they were armoured heavily but it's just in their culture and religion to overlook that. It was one of the reasons that made it hard for any force to triumph over Ironborn when it came to sea battles.
Unfortunately, the enemy that Donnel encountered was also wearing armour and that seemed better and newer than their own.
Damian issued the same orders to his men and rushed to jump onto the Ironborn ships with his loyal crew.
Raymond took care of his left while Sirius protected his back with two other loyal warriors with shields and spears staying nearby, ready to come in between in case Damian life was threatened.
With a roar, the soldiers charged into the melee, their swords flashing in the sunlight.
The clashing of steel filled the air as they engaged their enemies in combat.
An Ironborn came screaming at Damian, who deftly parried the attack thrown his way. He sidestepped quickly and let the Ironborn stumble before thrusting his sword into the attacker's neck.
Raymond, being an elite Knight, made full use of his skills to cut through any Ironborn that came running at him or tried to get past to attack his Lord. He dispatched the enemies with the ease and grace of a true Knight.
...
The longship that Damian sent east, had Jory and Selena on it.
"Miss Selena, please take care. The Ironborn fight cheaply. But don't worry, I will stay beside you the-" Jory warned and tried to assure her. He had never seen the young woman in action but he had spared with Raymond and Arslen during their free time back in Lonely Light and on the ship.
Therefore, Jory was aware of their skills, which he admitted were better than his own and Damian's too, but he wasn't aware of how well Selena could fight since he hadn't seen her in action or taking part in the usual sparring, at least not when he was around.
Raymond and Arslen treated her as equals but Jory thought it was due to her talent in administration and logistics and it had little to do with sword fighting even if the woman carried a weapon with herself.
After all, Damian kept her beside him most of the time back in Lonely Light most probably after seeing her capabilities in those fields.
Selena didn't bother to reply and rushed ahead with a sword in hand, leaving the well-wishing Northerner behind.
They managed to board one of the three Ironborn ships together with another ally bearing the Mormont Banners that too had some female warriors among them. They quickly got into fighting the Ironborn.
Just after Jory managed to take down an Ironborn he saw a scene which made him aware of how wrong his previous thoughts were about the woman warrior.
The quick slicing of a sword left an Ironborn torso shredded into a neat row of bloody ribbons. Selena didn't even look back at the bloody work she left in her wake but went on to cut down another Ironborn who thought he could easily contend with a woman.
Jory was left in awe when he saw Selena killing men that were bigger in size than her, with ease. The skill she showed with her sword put him to shame. There was another woman on the ship who was fighting with the same ferocity and cutting through Ironborn flesh one after another.
'By the Old Gods, get a hold of yourself,' Jory took in a deep breath. He was deeply surprised after seeing two women with such fighting capabilities. He never thought that women were capable of having such skills.
The battle didn't last for long as Ironborn were getting killed after being outnumbered three to one.
Jory saw a man, that looked like the leader coming to face Selena thinking he could take down a woman. He started by feinting a high attack, then quickly switched to a low strike, showing that he had the skill and cunningness of a Captain of an Ironborn ship.
But it was useless, Selena saw through the attack and parried it with her sword. The Ironborn captain tried again and again but his sword was always deflected by the woman.
"Damn you woman, I will cut you in half," yelled the Ironborn Captain in anger, slashing his sword at her from above.
Clang!
"Wha-" Unfortunately, Selena's riposte was so swift and precise that the Ironborn Captain barely had time to recover from her parry. Selena found the gap and sliced off the ironborn's neck, causing him to fall on his knees with a thud and bleed to his death.
A few Ironborn standing nearby shouted surrender and threw away their weapons after seeing their captain dying at the hands of a woman. No one came to take revenge.
The fighting was then quickly concluded when another woman bearing a Bear's crest on her armour slew the last remaining Ironborn that refused to surrender.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Chapters until 45 are already posted on my Patre_n page. If you want to have early access visit the link p_atre_n.com/Axelwheel.
Check it out.
The next Chapter will be out by 6th Nov, around 18.00 pm UK time. Enjoy!