As the last Ironborn to resist fell onto the deck, the fighting stopped completely. The woman wearing Mormont's crest on her shield took off her helmet and looked towards Selena with interest.
"My name is Dacey Mormont. I saw how you fought. May I have your name?"
"Selena. You fought well, too." The ever-unsmiling woman answered with a broken common tongue as she cleaned her sword with a cloth before sheathing it inside the scabbard.
"Well met, Selena. I would like to have a spar with a fellow female warrior in the near future if that is not an issue" said Dacey with a smile.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. But I'm currently working under Damian Stark, so I will have to ask his permission before promising anything to you." She answered again.
"Damian Stark? Is he on that ship?" Dacey asked while pointing at the two ships engaged in battle far away in the north of Blacktyde Island.
"Yes. My lady." Jory answered as he walked closer to the two women.
"My name is Jory Cassel, my lady," he introduced and said, "Now that we have won, we should go and help the others,"
Dacey turned back to see the state of the other two Ironborn ships and noticed that Ser Wendel Manderly has managed to subjugate them too.
Dacey agreed with a nod.
. . .
Towards the west, Arslen had just now chopped off two Ironborn heads with a swing of his axe and killed another by lodging his weapon into the Ironborn's fully plated chest. This caused the rest of the remaining Ironborn to withdraw in fear and some even threw away their weapon, signalling their surrender.
"Ha ha, who wants to fight me, come forward ya pussies," Arslen said with arms wide open. But none came forward to fight the madman. "Tch, I expected more from you all. Cowards, that's all you are. Men, take their weapons away, strip their armour and bind them to the mast."
"What's your name, warrior?" Lady Maege walked up to the men, over the dead bodies of the Ironborn and asked.
"The name is Arslen. May I have the pleasure of knowing your name, warrior woman?" Arsen answered proudly and asked back politely, showing respect to the woman who had taken down almost the same number of Ironborn men as him with her mace.
Maege beamed and said, "Maege Mormont. I wish to have a drink with you, Arsen. Once we are free of course."
"It would be an honour, Lady Mormont," Arseln replied with his most charming smile.
"Maege. You can call me by my name, Arslen." The She-bear whispered to Arslen, with a predatory smile on her face.
"As you wish, Lady Maege."
. . .
Back on Donnel's ship. The Ironborn were getting killed one by one as they couldn't contend with the disciplined warriors holding shields and a sword. Donel was also backed to the mast by three such warriors. He had managed to kill one and injure another in exchange for four of his own men but it was getting harder and harder to fight them.
"Give up and accept your defeat," Damian's voice rang on the ship, attracting Donnel's attention and whoever was still fighting.
Donnel saw a grey-eyed young man, younger than him and covered in blood, looking at him with the eyes of a victor.
"And who are you, bastard?" Donnels shouted back with hatred but still kept his guard on as he faced three armed men.
"Damian Stark. Brother to Lord Eddard Stark, Warden of the North. Look around you. You have already lost. So stand down if you don't want to die."
Donnel did just that and saw how few of his men were left alive. But he didn't want to surrender. If Donnel did surrender, he would never be able to match his elder brother in the eyes of his father again. He would never be able to rise up after falling into a trap and suffering such a disgraceful defeat.
"I won't surrender to you, fucking bitches. If you are a man, come fight me one on one," Donnel demanded.
"I'm a man alright, but why would I fight you, who had already lost the battle and is cornered with no hopes of victory? There's no gain in showing honour to the like of you, scums. I will say it one last time, surrender or die!" Damian said.
After seeing that, Donnel was still hesitating to put away his sword, he signalled to the guards standing behind him holding arrows to aim at Donnel and almost ordered, "Kill-"
"Wait, I surrender, I surrender, alright," Donnel interrupted Damian from speaking and put away his guard as a show of surrender. He was then subdued and put to his knees, though his eyes still followed Damian's figure hatefully.
Damian decided to ignore the gaze of the loser and then saw through the process of the other eleven Ironborn being put in chains which also included Donnel.
The fight was bloody, at least, bloodier than what he had faced until now. Four of his men lost their lives and a couple of men had grave injuries like a loss of limb. Damian found that he could replace the dead men with new recruits summoned from the system after a week.
Still, Damian couldn't allow himself to let the gravely injured system recruits die and get fresh ones. If the gravely injured soldiers survive, they could still help him in educating and training new real recruits when he has land holdings.
"Captain, It seems Jory and Selena are successful. they are coming towards us with another ship tailing behind them.
"They are. . . flying House Mormont's flag," Damian squinted his eyes and saw a flag, depicting a black bear in a green wood, flying on top of the mast.
"Well, signal them to turn around and head for the coast. We will all meet there." Damian said.
"Aye, Captain," Sirius answered respectfully.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Chapters until 46 are already posted on my Patre_n page. If you want to have early access visit the link p_atre_n.com/Axelwheel. Your support there helps me make a living out of my hobby and motivates me to write more. Even if it is the lowest Tier, please consider joining. Also, a big thank you to all my old and new patrons who subscribed to my page.
Check it out.
The next Chapter will be out by 8th Nov, around 18.00 pm UK time. Enjoy!