Chereads / .The King. / Chapter 22 - Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter 22 - Chapter Twenty-Two

A strong storm was created out of nowhere. 

Euron Greyjoy was already used to sailing in a storm, but this one was very different; several ships of his fleet sank, and some lightning struck very close to the ships that moved from one side to the other, due to the waves created by the storm. Some men fell into the sea and were surely already dead. 

This storm was very dangerous, but Euron was not going to lose; he was going to win this battle. He had a much better plan. He realized that they would not be able to win this war, so he was going to escape. He was going to get more men and more ships, and he would return not only to conquer the Iron Islands but all of Westeros. He was sure of that, and he was much more sure because he was at the helm, and he was going to get his ship out of this storm. 

At that precise second, he could see a large ship, which was in front of them. Lightning was also striking their sides, but unlike their ships that were constantly rocking, this one was still there, as if this storm was nothing to it. A whirlpool of water was created out of nowhere.

When Euron realized this, he tried to get out, but another ship from his fleet hit him, so now he only had to hold on; only the most experienced captains can say that they were able to save their ship from a whirlpool of water. Euron was going to get his ship out of this place; he was not only going to defeat this storm but also the whirlpool that had been created, even if he lost his entire fleet in the process. 

Euron was so focused on keeping his ship balanced that he didn't pay attention to the large ship that also entered the whirlpool, and he only realized when he heard a shocking noise. 

Cannon shot after cannon shot, the ships began to fall, and the huge ship was slowly approaching his ship, causing desperation to take over his body, he could not move the rudder, because the whirlpool was forcing the ship to go to the center of everything, the soldiers were also desperate, they saw how ship after ship fell because of the cannon shots of that huge ship, or because they were swallowed by the whirlpool, it was as if death itself came to look for them, it was terrifying, some prayed to the drowned God, to save them, a request in vain, because death had arrived.

Artemisia went to the edge of the ship, unlike Euron, she was not intimidated by the storm and not even the whirlpool, she had Barbossa at the helm, she could see Euron's eyes full of rage and fear, a woman was going to defeat him, it was noticeable that this was going to hurt him a lot. 

But she was not going to get her hands dirty with Euron, and next to Artemisia, a redhead appeared, ready to jump towards Euron's ship. Artemisia looked one last time at Euron, to return to her place, and automatically all the Persians and Vikings pounced on Euron's ship, all of them confident that they were going to reach the ship, Barbossa at the helm inspired much greater confidence than Jack and Jones, that is why they were not afraid to fight in a water tornado so to speak. 

Barbossa instead looked, every man is afraid of something, death being one of them – Barbossa, again hit the Greyjoy ship, and moved his sword so that the ropes go to look for his men, Tormund must have already captured Euron, so his work in this place had to be finished, when the last man of his crew got on the pearl, Barbossa removed his sword, and the ruby that was in it shone, Harry's magic made its presence felt, and the ship began to emerge from the whirlpool. 

– "You know, if this sword could do those things every time I move it, it would be unstoppable. My brother is not crazy enough to give him that power" – Artemisia saw how Barbossa laughed at that, the sword had certain magical factors, you could do some useful things, but not move the sea at your whim, they were lucky that this storm neutralized the movement of these ships, and that whirlpool, it was undoubtedly luck, too much luck – or perhaps, he could influence this, the sword gives you an advantage in certain aspects, such as being able to get out of risky situations like the one now.

- "It may be that your brother thinks differently, which makes him someone to be feared." – Barbossa headed towards the iron island, where the meeting point was to be; they were not going to step on that island; they were only going to leave their prisoner.

- "Here is the girl, she shit herself a little because she thought he was going to cut her head off – Tormund, threw a badly wounded Euron to the ground, you were not going to be able to compare a large Viking with a man like Euron, Tormund loved to leave the people who fought against him badly wounded, it is not strange that Euron comes back with a broken nose as well as his lips – "There was no one left alive... the sea swallowed them, isn't that how it is."

- "That kind of ship was not going to be able to get out of that whirlpool, not even with the best captain." – Barbossa left the helm and went to the side of the ship, to see, if there was even a trace of the ship or a person, but the sea swallowed them completely – "They are now part of the sea. Artemisia, it was strange that she didn't want to fight, there are some stories about him, that there was nothing in the world that could scare him, Artemisia swore that she would defeat him, destroy him and she would see the fear in his face, so why wasn't she the first to jump off the ship towards Euron and capture him."

- "That wasn't the man they praised so much, I saw fear in his eyes." – Artemisia stood next to her mentor, who only went further to the left, hitting the Greyjoy ship so that it would get closer to the center of the whirlpool – "It's a shame that Lord Lannister can't see the spectacle." - Artemisia looked at the door of the dressing room where the Lannisters were, Artemisia kindly asked them to wait until Euron Greyjoy was captured, it helped a lot that anyone who doesn't have northern blood was influenced by the magic of the ship to follow the captain's orders – "I would like to know if the great golden lion is afraid of water."

.

Dutchman

Everything in his path was destruction, the Dutchman was sailing on the remains of ships that were placed in his path, with no survivors, if before the Dutch crew were more bloodthirsty, and this time they went to extremes, the water that surrounded the ship was stained with the blood of their enemies, the ship itself was stained with blood. As if it fed on the blood spilled in the sea. 

But Jones knew that it was only the beginning; since another fleet of ships was approaching, he, as a good captain, was waiting for them to be the first to attack, giving them the first move to know how to counterattack; it was unnecessary. But that was Jones' way of playing, making his enemies think they had the upper hand, but it was totally out of touch with reality, Jones knew that these ships were commanded by Victarion, sending ten ships at a certain period, to weaken a ship superior to his fleet, an interesting move, sacrificing his soldiers, but useless against the power of the Dutch, fifty ships were sent, all fifty ships were destroyed, the Dutch force had 25 wounded, and not a single dead, nor were there any seriously wounded. 

- "Captain, we prepared the frontal guns." - The Dutch second in command went with Jones, who looked at the ships that were approaching, ten ships in front and another ten behind them to give them a surprise attack, an interesting move, and adding other ships they were going to surround them.

- "Turn the ship 180 degrees to port." - Were Jones' orders, the plan was simple, they would try to surround them, and with the movement of the ship, they would be attacking the sides and not the front, which gave them the advantage of being able to fire the cannons – "Prepare cannons…" – the men loaded all the cannons, and only waited for the orders of their captain who was watching the ships approach, although the cannons were powerful, they were at a distance - "Fire!"

Jones was calm, it was incredible how calm he was, very different from what he showed; this was the day he had been waiting years for; he was finally going to get revenge, but unlike other times, he was very calm. 

The cannons, as expected, did their thing, destroying the enemy ships before Jones' eyes who only waited for the attack, for years he waited for this moment because he did not attack like a man because he did not attack head-on like he did when he attacked his family. That was why he was calm because he was realizing that Victarion Greyjoy was not a Kraken as they called themselves, but a small fish, who did not want to face him face to face.

With each cannon shot that the Dutchman fired, the screams of the enemy soldiers could be heard, some threw themselves into the sea a real stupidity because there was no way out. If they threw themselves into the sea, the sharks would devour them. 

Jones went to the helm and turned the ship back to its previous position, he had found Victarion, apparently, he was abandoning his troops in a boat, without a doubt the most cowardly escape he could choose, but he was not going to escape his eyes, his falcon always found its prey, and now he was going to chase him. 

- "Let no voice of joy be heard, let none of those men look to heaven or pray to their God for a pinch of scatter." – Jones spoke calmly, so calmly that the men understood what they had to do, and they went to a large rudder that was practically behind the sails and began to turn it, making a wooden bar stick out – "may they curse us for the rest of our lives, for the great sin we will commit" – Jones saw how the bar was reaching its limit - "wake the Kraken." 

When the bar was lowered, a loud noise was heard, but even with that noise, the waters were very calm, Jones knew what was going to happen, Harry, himself gave him the necessary information, the Kraken would attack everyone who gets in, the Dutchman's way, until he removes his sword and it goes back to sleep. 

The only one of all the creatures that Harry made grow faster, it was time to see what it was capable of, and the Dutchman's men saw how the enormous tentacles made their presence known and attacked the ships. Now the screams were of fear and desperation, some screams of pleading; they could hear them so clearly that it was not easy to ignore them. They wondered if it was necessary; they were not to blame for anything in themselves; they were completely innocent, but there was no turning back; they freed the beast, and all that was left was to watch as it feasted. 

Even when they passed near the ships that were attacked, the monster did not attack them, only the ships and men who were begging for them to help it. But it was too late, the Dutchman didn't stop, and his next objective was to capture the small boat where Victarion Greyjoy was escaping.

.

Vengance.

Unlike the previous ones named, Jack captured Aeron Greyjoy first, and placed him at the top of the mast, so he could see from an extremely good point, how his men died. Jack was keeping him company as the good host he was, without a doubt the view was beautiful, the sea was what he loved the most, unfortunately, the noise didn't help much, the cannons, the swords clashing against each other, the screams made it impossible to admire the landscape very well. 

Aeron looked on as his force was being destroyed, he didn't understand how the hell this ship was able to destroy everyone if it was completely surrounded. There were many more men who were in favor of the Greyjoys than those on this ship, the number of ships was a hundred times greater than this one, he could not find any answer, these northerners were winning over the most powerful naval force of all, it was impossible, impossible to admit, impossible to believe.

Aeron tried to free himself, but he was tied up very well, he couldn't scream either, because his mouth was covered, he could only make noises, which bothered Jack who was tasting a green apple.

- "Quantity did not mean quality, this ship is a thousand times better than a hundred of your ships combined." – Jack took another bite of his apple as he watched a Persian man or woman decapitate a man, with those clothes he no longer knew if it was a woman or a man, then his gaze went to a Viking who was forcing a man to put his knife in his eye – "these men train every day... how many of your men are well trained" – Jack spoke the truth, the preparation these men had was intense, and the North had not yet used all its strength, the other elite units were missing, and of course the standard-bearers of each house – "You messed with the wrong person…" 

Jack watched as the Vikings and Persians worked as a team, strength, speed, agility, brutality, everything combined to something unstoppable, that had to be added, to the division that was believed to be the most powerful of all, the Spartans, an impenetrable wall, the Mongol cavalry, they never get off their horses, and they could use any weapon even when they were on the move, the best-organized ones were the Romans, and finally the Templars, the only unit they couldn't see, to that had to be added the Immaculates that were bought, to give them freedom and of course each house had its own army. 

The army of the north was vast. 

And he was sure that once everything was revealed it would be the most feared of all, by land, by sea, or by air, everything would be dominated by the north. Jack was sure of that, and he was willing to do anything so that Harry Stark would get what he wanted, he looked for him and turned him into this, he was grateful because he earned the respect of the people, Harry gave him the opportunity and he was not going to waste it, he was one of his most important captains at the naval level, he was not going to fail. 

- "Fire!" - Jack muttered, so that instantly, the flamethrowers that the ship had, were activated, the Vengeance did not have frontal cannons like the Dutchman, but it did have special cannons that could throw fire, without a doubt a genius of Harry, that the Vengeance could have such a peculiar weapon, Jack liked it, it was a unique addition to the ship, who would have thought that a ship could spit fire. - "I always thought that the Greyjoys were the most powerful captains on the high seas... Krakens that no one could stop, not even the sea itself." - Jack removed his sword, and pointed it forward, so that the ship began to move, without needing anything. - "I am a benevolent person, I capture you and decimate more than half of your fleet... the few that are still standing will live until we meet again."

The revenge already had a fixed course, perhaps it was going to be a mistake to leave these people alive, there were very few men still standing or alive, but Jack this was enough, they captured their victim and were going to deliver him to Harry who was doing his thing on some iron island. 

He was disappointed, one ship destroyed more than half of a hundred ships created by the islanders, the difference in size was incredible, and the difference in power was much greater. 

The cannons caused an extremely incredible advantage at sea, he never thought there was a person who could create or think that this type of weapon could be created. Without a doubt, the best decision he had in his entire damn life was to join the North. 

Jack whistled as the sun was setting on the horizon, and behind revenge, only some intact ships could be seen, but they were burning, by the flames they threw.

.

Orkmon Island

Total chaos, as far as anyone could see they would only see enemy bodies. The houses that lived on the first island that was attacked by the north were massacred, there were no survivors. 

The houses of Orkwood, Tawney, and Goodbrother were annihilated. 

Every soldier who stood in front of the northern troops was beheaded, the entire island was worshiped with spears where the tip adorned the heads of all the soldiers that were killed. But the only ones who died in this place were soldiers, no outside person who did not have a weapon was touched unless they attacked, and most of those people entered their homes and did not come out. 

A wise warning from Harry before attacking the island, if one of them was outside their homes, they would be killed. And he fulfilled it, the northern leaders that accompanied Harry knew they failed, they had to keep their lord at bay, it was their job, but Harry's fury was uncontrollable and they could not stop him. 

But more than ever they came to see Harry as a true Stark, the lack of compassion, he did not even hesitate to cut off the head of the lord of a house when he asked for mercy, now everyone saw how the last castle of the ancient three houses that lived on this island was burned. 

Harry turned around, this island was conquered, the lords who followed him also followed, they were going to attack island by island until they reached the island where the Greyjoys lived, that was the attack routine, what happened today, on this island was only a message for all of them. 

Either they knelt or they were going to follow the same fate as these houses, in the same way, some soldiers, by Harry's orders, kept each flag with the symbol of the houses that had fallen to take it to the north. 

Apparently, Harry was planning to send a message with these flags, like the Lannisters send a bard to calm or discipline the rebellious vassals. Harry was going to send the flag of one of these houses, to show who they were messing with, it was a real wolf. 

The lords who were looking at Harry were a little worried about what could happen on the next island they were going to attack. 

Night came, and now the Persians were going to start with stealth attacks, their black and silver armor hid them, so if Harry wanted to extinguish something else on the next island, there was no way to stop the Persians. 

- "The warning is sent, if the next island does not understand that they have to kneel, they will suffer the same fate." – Harry gave the total order, but he was sure that this was going to be up for debate. They all got on the Silent Mary and left for the next destination. Now it was time to start more calmly – "You are upset by what happened."

- "I'm not Ned, to tell you that what you did was wrong, they hadn't given up until we got to the castle." – Ben was the first to speak, unlike his brother, he didn't show so much compassion, that's why he was called the black wolf, but going to an extreme, was it necessary, they exterminated three houses of great history for the Iron Islands, was it necessary or did they do it to send a clear warning - "The Iron Islanders always attacked us, taking advantage of our kindness... I think it was a good idea for the wolf to show its fangs."

- "Although I agree, I don't think it's necessary to go to the extreme with the next island." - Lady Mormont spoke, she wasn't going to deny it, Harry at 18 years old, was much scarier than any other lord she could have met, he was terrifying without a doubt, and he showed the two faces of a wolf, the good part with his allies and the bloodthirsty one with his enemies, as it should be - "I'm sure they understood the message and they're not going to get up when we arrive."

Harry didn't say another word, the silence said it all, they just hoped that none of the next islands to attack were so stupid to try to think that they were going to be able to stop the Persians, especially now that they were going to be in what they called their natural habitat. 

The masters of the night, the immortal Persians, and perhaps the other island were prepared for a frontal attack, but they could easily send votes or swim to the island, from a nearby point and infiltrate the island, there were thousands of possibilities, only Harry had to give the idea and the order and the attack would take place, it was lucky that the Scorpions had not finished yet. 

Obviously, this weapon was going to be easily copied by the other kingdoms since it was a giant crossbow, but when they managed to create this weapon, they were going to have another one, always several steps ahead of the other kingdoms and they could even sell some weapons, which do not affect the north as much. It was something that was being considered, but Harry was very hesitant to use that kind of business, and of course, creating firearms, in his world those things were the cause of chaos. 

The cannons were going to be the closest thing to a firearm that was going to touch this world, any sign of creating a gun or a bomb was going to be controlled instantly, the use of gunpowder had to be rigorous, it was one of the most dangerous things in the world and that he could access it for the creation of the cannons did not mean that other kingdoms or people did not have access. 

For now, they did not think about that kind of advances, gunpowder was a double-edged sword. But now was not the time to think about that, but to end this war, before the army of the other kingdoms reached the iron island. 

They were a few meters from their next island when an Owl arrived, the other group had conquered Black Tide and were on their way to Old Wyk, while they were going to Harlaw. Harry had the idea of dividing his force, attacking two islands simultaneously, in order to cover more ground and be able to end the attack as soon as possible and be able to meet in Pyke where the settlement of the Greyjoy House was, the point where the troops from the West were surely going to arrive, to end this war. That if it were up to Harry he would end it in five damn days, but that was impossible.

- "My Lord, we are 30 minutes from touching the port, any indication before the attack." - Lord Manderly looked at Harry who was looking at the next island, which they were going to attack, there was no doubt that they were not going to lower their weapons and surrender, they were waiting for them, apparently what he did was not enough to end the unbreakable will of the islanders. 

- "Prepare the archers." - Said Harry as he watched the men of the enemy side prepare for his arrival, he could see them, apparently the information about what he did in Monte Orca did not arrive as quickly as expected, so he was going to show again that the North was not to be trifled with – "For Houses of Harlaw, Volmark, Stonetree and Kenning... to realize that winter has arrived."

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