(Location: Salladhors Hideout)
(Time: Morning)
(1 week left till Full Moon)
(3rd person)
Jon had woken up early and had already stoked the fire outside of the tent he slept in, he was contemplating what he would do when all this was over.
'Will anyone in Winterfell be happy to see me' Jon thought to himself as he poked at the fire, he looked into the flames focusing on the movement, it seemed to sway to the left and right before forming something.
He saw the city that they were in, everyone was fighting, but they were losing, he couldn't make out who the enemy was but he could make out one person, the king was standing on the Toad statue with his arms thrust out at his sides, he seemed to be laughing maniacally as the whole island was being swallowed up by the sea.
A hand on Jon's shoulder seems to bring him out of what he was seeing, he snaps his head around to see Joy standing there, she had a dreamy smile as she looked at Jon.
"I did try to call you but it seems your mind was in another place, don't worry happens to me all the time" She says lightly as she sits next to Jon already cuddling up to him. They sit there in a comfortable silence for a bit before Jon decides to try and get to know her Better.
"Have you thought about what you'll do once we get back to Westeros" Jon asks as he looks at the girl leaning on his shoulder. Joy doesn't answer for a minute before leaning up straight and looking at Jon.
"As silly as it may sound being taken by slavers was the best thing that's happened to me" she says bluntly completely surprising Jon.
Before Jon can say anything she keeps talking "I'm not stupid Jon I know how badly things could've turned out, but they didn't and I got to meet you and Sansa" she continues with a large smile.
"I care about my parents but it's hard to say I love them, they're both so involved in themselves they don't really see anyone else" She says with a sad smile.
"I was hoping I could stay with you" she says looking down at the fire no longer facing Jon.
Shocked at seeing vulnerability for the first time from the blonde girl Jon can't help but smile.
"If that's what you want you're welcome to stay with us" Jon says simply as he holds onto Joys hand, this cheers Joy up immensely as she snaps her head up and gives Jon a huge smile.
"That's marvellous" she says before hugging him.
"You also need to take responsibility... since you bought my body and it has yet to be used" she whispers in his ear before biting it drawing a blush from the young lad as well as sending a pulse straight down to his groin.
Nervously laughing Jon just decides to play it off, before Joy takes her hands and uses them to turn his face.
"Jon be careful when you go to the keep" Joy says snapping into a serious demeanour.
"Joy it'll be fine I can handle stealing something" Jon says waving her off.
"It's not that Jon..." Joy says quietly.
"It's the statue, it concerns me" she continues.
"Why it's just a statue" Jon says confused at why it would concern her.
"Jon how much do you know about black stone" Joy asks
"Not much, it's close to unbreakable, some places in Sothoryos were built out of it, it also seems to absorb magic" Jon replies surprising Joy as she hadn't known the last two hits of information.
"You're right about it being close to unbreakable which is what concerns me, that statue is 40 feet tall, it would be next to impossible to carve black stone let alone something that big" Joy says seriously.
"What're you trying to say" Jon asks as he looks at her.
"Nothing I just thing you should be careful" Joy says holding Jon's hand.
"Don't worry I will be" he says giving her a reassuring smile, they continue to sit there for a bit enjoying each others company.
"You know it's a shame" Jon suddenly says out loud snapping Joy out of her thoughts.
"Hmm?" Joy hums.
"I found a book in Sothoryos about the Toad statue, though I could never figure out what language it was in" Jon says with a helpless smile.
Though Joys eyes light up at the mention of such a rare book "Do you have it, can I see it, let me see it!" She replies quickly shaking Jon a bit.
Laughing a bit a grabs her by the arms "it's on the ship when you get there be my guest" Jon simply says.
Due to the loud noises that came from the both of them it managed to wake up Sansa who had just came out of the tent rubbing her eyes.
She didn't say anything and just sat down next to Jon and put her head on his lap seemingly going back to sleep. Jon just looked at her with a smile and started running his fingers through her soft red hair, she started moaning a bit as she felt his fingers run across her scalp.
"Good Morning my Friends!"
They are all snapped out of their little moment by the booming voice of the pirate captain Salladhor Saan.
"I did not want to interrupt your intimate moment but I'm afraid now is the best time for us to get your girls to the ship" Salladhor says apologetically.
Jon nods and shakes Sansa softly waking her up, she looks at Jon above her blushing at the position they were in before sitting up straight.
"Sorry for waking you Sansa but you and Joy have to leave" Jon says causing Sansa to frown as she remembers the plan.
Sansa decides not to say anything and just nods and both her and Joy start to get ready to head towards the ship.
(Jon's Ship)
Arthur was currently drinking from a bottle of Dornish red from the old captains personal collection, he struggled to sleep last night and had to stop himself a few times from getting back in the row boat to look for Jon, the only thing stopping him is that Rhaenys would most likely jump in the sea to follow.
Hearing a noise he turns and sees Rhaenys coming up from below deck, he can tell from the look on her face she's still not happy with him, it seems to have festered as Jon didn't come back last night.
Siding up to Arthur he can feel her eyes on him, he hands her the bottle of Dornish red, for a minute she doesn't say anything before sighing and taking it, taking a big sip she wipes her mouth though it only takes a minute before she throws up over the side of the ship, surprising Arthur.
Patting her on the back "Are you okay Rhaenys" Arthur says with a bit of concern, he takes the bottle back and sniffs it but it smells fine.
"I'm fine just not feeling well this morning" Rhaneys says trying to reassure Arthur.
"We'll head out at noon, it'll give you some time to rest" Arthur says simply to Rhaneys who nods her head back.
They stand there for longer just enjoying the ocean breeze and the wind hitting their face, in the distance coming around the right side of the island is a small boat, Rhaenys nudges Arthur who picks his sword up from leaning on a barrel and prepares himself.
"Red hair... It's Sansa!" Rhaenys shouts as she squints her eyes in order to see the occupants of the ship.
"I don't see Jon..." Arthur says concern growing slightly concerned at his absence.
Eventually the ship sides up to them and Arthur throws down a ladder, Sansa comes up first and is immediately tackled by Rhaenys.
"Are you okay! What happened! Where's Jon! Is he dead!" Rhaenys starts rapid firing questions at Sansa who seems to be getting overwhelmed with questions.
"Give her some air Rhaenys" Arthur says pulling her back, by this point the next occupant of the boat had come up.
Sansa and Arthur were surprised at the young blonde girl that had come onto the ship, her hair was long and curled with a bright blonde colour, her face looks as if it had recently transformed from being cute to being beautiful and her budding chest was on the way to catching up with Rhaenys.
"Sansa, who's your friend?" Arthur asks confused at why a girl like her would be joining them.
"Greetings my name is Joy Hill, I'm Jon's new bed slave" Joy says with a smile as she hugs Rhaneys and then clasps Arthur by the forearm.
"New bed slave..." Rhaneys simply says her eyebrow twitching a bit as she comes close to start throwing fire at something.
"Joy! Don't worry she's not his bed slave but she is a slave we purchased, I just didn't want to leave her to the people here" Sansa cries out in order to calm Rhaneys down.
"Yes she's right I'm afraid I've been such a bad slave... master is going to have to discipline me when he comes back" Joy says wistfully, though Arthur mainly tunes out most of what she says only focusing on the part when Jon would be returning.
"Why isn't Jon with you?" Arthur asks to the duo, Sansa begins to form a reply but before she can get the words out she's interrupted.
"I believe I can answer that my friend!" A booming voice calls out as he comes onto deck in a stylish fashion.
"Before you ask... I am Salladhor Saan the best pirate to have ever set sail on the sea, some say that even in death Salladhor Saan will sail into the afterlife and right back out to become the next generations pirate king" Salladhor says as he makes wild gestures with his arms.
'I was just gonna ask where Jon was' Rhaenys/Arthur think to themselves as they have bored expressions on their face.
"Your young friend Jon struck a bargain with me, in order to sail you anywhere you want to go he would acquire an important box for me" Salladhor states.
"Jon sent us back here because to be honest we'd slow him down" Sansa admits sadly but Rhaenys pulls her into a hug.
"Don't worry I think Arthur is the only one here that could've been a help" Rhaneys says to Sansa trying to cheer her up, though the group hears a noise so they turn around and are greeted with the stumbling mess that is Thoros.
"What's with all the noise it's still the middle of the night!" He says belligerently making Arthur and Rhaneys begin to question the wisdom in bringing him along.
"It's morning Thoros" Arthur says clenching the bridge of his nose with his fingers.
Thoros then notices the large dark skinned man who had a smile on his face.
"Bloody Salladhor Saan, I thought you were dead" Thoros says in disbelief as he approaches the man and grabs him in a big hug.
"I'm afraid the only death that will suit me will be returning to the sea" Salladhor says back as he hugs the drunken priest back, after releasing each other Thoros then looks to the girls.
"Thoros, this is Sansa Stark and Joy Hill" Rhaneys states clearly surprising Salladhor as he had heard of the famous family from Westeros.
"Ah Lady Stark, I fought with your father in the rebellion, a good man he is" Thoros says as he slightly bows his head towards her.
Though when he turns to see the second girl his eyes do widen a bit, but before he can say anything Sansa speaks.
"This is Joy Hill, she's our new companion me and Jon managed to rescue" Sansa says with a smile.
"Joy... a nice name" Thoros simply says before deciding to head back to below deck.
"I think I'm gonna go and sleep off whatever it is I drunk last night, it was good to see you Salladhor" He says before heading back below deck.
"What's wrong with him?" Sansa asks confused.
"Do you know him Joy" Sansa asks as she turns to the blonde girl.
"No" she simply says not adding anything else.
"Well my friends, it is time for me to take my leave I must return to my crew and let Jon know that you're all safe" Salladhor concludes before climbing off the boat and getting back into his own.
"My thanks for bringing Sansa and her new companion back" Arthur shouts out at the man who was currently rowing himself away.
"All part of the bargain, no need to thank me my friend" he shouts back. Arthur then turns back facing the girls, he's a bit cautious about the new addition but she doesn't seem to have any Ill intention.
'Sansa would mention if she was dangerous' Arthur thought to himself.
"Joy this is Arthur Dayne and Rhaenys Targaryen" Sansa introduces her as she points at said people.
Joy doesn't say anything for a minute though she does burst out laughing almost toppling over, she has to hold herself on Sansa in order to not fall.
"I'm not joking Joy, I know it's said they both died but it's really them" Sansa says trying to get through to the girl.
"Oh please excuse me, I do believe you, I was laughing at something else" Joy says ambiguously as she straightens herself up.
"Wow, another Targaryen you are as rare as the dragons you ride nowadays, only three left now though I suppose it's better than two" Joy says as she closes in on Rhaenys looking at her, her emerald eyes shining in disbelief.
"Actually there are four" Sansa says automatically, though Rhaenys and Arthur look at her sternly at her slip up.
"Four? You mean Jon?" Joy says before she starts mumbling to herself what she's saying can't be heard but eventually she stops and looks up.
"So he's not the Bastard of Eddard Stark" Joy says having figured out the meaning behind what Sansa said.
"How did you even know he was fathers bastard" Sansa said confused.
"I knew who both of you were as soon as you told me your names, though seeing someone missing show up in a place like this was a surprise" Joy says with a smile.
"How did you know it was them"Arthur adds in a little suspicious.
"I've heard a lot about them so it would be hard not to recognise them from first names alone" Joy simply says.
"Though I am glad it turned out Jon didn't kidnap you, I would've been quite jealous" Joy says with a small blush.
"Kidnap!" All three of them shouted out.
"Why didn't you mention this before!" Sansa shouted out.
"You didn't ask... and we had other things to worry about" Joy says simply, though they are both cut off when Rhaenys throws up again other the side of the ship.
"Rhaenys!" Sansa panics as she quickly runs next to her and holds her hair back asking if she's okay.
"I'm fine Sansa don't worry" She weakly says as she stands up straight from leaning again.
Joy stares at Rhaneys for a bit and then walks straight up to her, Rhaneys turns and sees the shorter girl right in front of her, Joy places both hands on Rhaenys breasts and gives them a soft and gentle squeeze.
Rhaenys yelps in surprise and a bit of pain as she slaps the girls hands of her breasts.
"What are you doing!" She asks the girl who just looks at her with a smirk.
"I'm off to Jon's room to find the book he said I could read, I'll see you all later" Joy says as she skips down to the staircase that goes to the lower decks.
"Also congratulations Rhaneys" she says before disappearing.
(Salladhors cove)
"They have been delivered safe and soundly my friend" Salladhor states to Jon who is a little more relaxed at the news.
Jon nods his head in thanks at the pirates news "I'm gonna need a knapsack of supplies, I'm going to leave today" Jon says to the pirate confusing him.
"Why leave, this is the safest place and the window of opportunity won't present itself for another week" Salladhor says to him.
"I know, but I'm lacking in information about where I'm going, I need to take this time to prepare" Jon states resolutely as Salladhor just sighs.
"Very well, but be careful my friend, no one you meet outside of here is your friend" He warned.
"I'll keep that in mind" Jon replies as he straps his weapons to his sword belt.
"This will probably be the last time I see you until I return with your treasure" Jon says as he clasps the man's forearm.
(3 days later)
Currently Jon was prone on a building near the slave markets, he had just barely escaped another patrol that he had accidentally run into, this whole island was locked down tightly he has yet to see any of the pirates that aren't wearing guards armour.
'Where are all the pirates' Jon thinks to himself as he gets frustrated, he hasn't been able to infiltrate or scout out any part of the keep it seems as if any time he tries some part of it is guarded, he still hasn't tried using the tunnels in case he tips off the guards and they secure them but perhaps there is another way he can do it.
Looking up in the sky Jon sees a murder of crows, he reaches out in his mind and attempts to form a connection with one of them, but is immediately rebuffed.
'That's never happened before…' Jon thinks to himself confused before trying to find something else.
Jon finds a lone hawk circling the crows and manages to warg into it. The world suddenly changes as Jon is now hundreds of meters up in the air and can see for miles, he almost falls out of the sky due to how jarring it is but manages to regain his wits.
Swooping down low Jon goes into the pit that contains the toad statue and the residents of toad island, though what he sees terrifies him. All of the pirates that are missing have been chained up and are surrounding the toad statue but there is something wrong with them, the ones closet to the statue have lost all their hair from their body, their ears have started to point and their skin has become so pale it's almost translucent, some have begun to develop webbed hands with claws though those ones are closer to the statue than the others.
'Seven hells, what are they doing to these people' Jon thinks to himself before he flies back out of the pit and heads to the keep, the keep is dark and intimidating, there are no lights on in the keep luckily a hawks vision is sharper than most even if it can't see in the dark the light from the setting sun should help.
Jon lands on a open window to what looks like a great hall, the castle is completely dark though there seems to be a gathering in the hall between the king and the men in the different coloured robes.
"Why can't we do it now, I'm tired of waiting" The man Jon recognised as the king speaks.
All the men in the different coloured robes look to the one that is wearing a blood red robe, for a minute they say nothing before the man speaks.
"Your grace these things are very delicate, we need them to turn before the ritual then once the full moon arrives we can complete it" The red robed man says in a voice that made Jon shiver.
"You better not be lying to me otherwise you will all be pinned to the outside of my ship" The king says in mild annoyance.
"This is the original version of the ritual your grace, once the sacrifice of kin has been accomplished under the light of the full moon there won't be any stopping it and by the new moon when the world has been covered in darkness and there is no light the drowned one shall rise" The slimy priest says as he smiles revealing a mouth mostly empty of teeth, the king puts his hand up to stop the man talking, he then looks around.
"We're being watched" He says simply causing Jon to panic, he goes to fly off but the king has already seen him and the last thing he witness is the king removing his eye patch before he is thrown back into his own body forcefully, he can only crawl back to the hatch before he is rendered unconscious from the trauma.
(3 days later)
Jon had woken up a few days after the event that had rendered him unconscious, tonight was the night he woild infiltrate the castle though he was less than enthusiastic about heading through the pits due to what he had seen.
Vhagar had still not arrived so he couldn't count on back up from him so he would just have to rely on his own skills and power.
Heading through the tunnel following the route that Salladhor has laid out for him he reaches the entrance to the pit.
'Here we go'
(AN: So here we go, hope you enjoyed the chapter, I might just make the next one extra long and finally finish this arc, let me know what ya think.)