-Chapter 88-
-10th day of the 7th moon of the Year 299 AC-
-POV MC-
I raised my arms for Mycah to finish helping me into my new Valyrian steel armor, reforged by Tobho Mott from the armor Euron had retrieved from Valyria only to have it stolen by Connor some time later, and then I said, "Once the battle starts, you'll need to stay close to Ser Clegane."
He nodded, and then I took a deep breath, knowing this might be his last day on this earth, "I know I've somewhat neglected you as your knight instructor, but if you survive this battle and do everything Sandor tells you to do, then I'll teach you to fight. This is your first test as a squire."
He looked up, surprised and shocked, and before he could say anything, the door opened and Viserys entered, clad in dark armor with dragon wings on the sides and red-dyed horsehair attached to his helmet, almost jubilant, and said excitedly:
"We will arrive at Pyke in less than an hour."
I smiled, grabbed my helmet, and then said, "Let's show these squids what happens when they wake the dragon."
---
-POV Qhoren Pyke-
As every morning since my sons left, I woke up early at dawn with the goal of taking my grandsons fishing with me so they would know how to move as well at sea as on land, I found myself frozen because I saw in the distance...an armada of several hundred ships charging straight for Pyke.
'We're doomed, they're less than 10 minutes from the harbor,' I thought as I quickly turned back.
I screamed at the top of my lungs as I returned home to wake my grandsons who were sleeping soundly, "WE ARE ATTACKED, WE ARE ATTACKED!"
"WAKE UP!" I yelled, shaking my grandsons.
"What's going on, grandfather?" asked my eldest grandson, Rodrik.
"WAKE UP IMMEDIATELY, WE ARE ATTACKED!"
Hearing that we were attacked and seeing my serious and probably a bit panicked look, they all got up, and I said, "Grab some clothes and follow me, we're fleeing this island until your father returns."
I quickly took the hand of my two grandsons, and then we ran towards the boat, but just as we were about to leave the harbor, a shadow covered us, and I felt myself thrown to the ground, unable to get up.
I looked up and saw a man sitting on a giant wolf, who I could only imagine to be the King of the Seven Kingdoms, Aegon VI, looking at me indifferently and said:
"Dracarys."
Thinking my last moment had come, I hadn't yet understood what was happening, at least not until I heard Rodrik's screams.
An intense rage took over me, and I yelled, trying to free myself from the heavy wolf paw that prevented me from moving.
"The Ironborn, you are a nuisance that I have wrongly tolerated for too long. It's time for you and your culture to return to dust," he said, drawing a bow and aiming at me.
'Is this how I'm going to die, unable to do anything against this monster?'
When he released his arrow, I felt a pain in my chest, and then darkness slowly took me before I could curse him one last time.
---
-POV MC-
I said to Corian, who landed a few moments after me, "Free all the slaves and kill all the Ironborn; anyone here is either yesterday's enemy or tomorrow's. Have no mercy on them, spare none of them."
"Yes, My King," he said with a dark look. I had already explained to all my officers why we had to do what we were going to do, but I wanted it to be clear that we weren't here to wage war; we were committing genocide.
I nodded and then watched the massacre, shutting off any empathy. No one had dared to do it, but it was what these islands needed...a complete and utter purge.
Uprooting the noble houses from these islands, trying to replace the faith, and preventing them from living according to their culture would do nothing but stanch the problem; it would never fully solve it.
I considered eliminating their faith, but honestly, it wasn't a good idea because it would give even more power to the Faith of the Seven, which I didn't yet control. Killing their leaders, I would simply be doing the same as my ancestor Aegon the Conqueror.
So I chose to eliminate everything, even the title of Ironborn.
I did consider at one point making the Ironborn into privateers and gradually redirecting their rage and piracy needs against my enemies, but ultimately, they chose their own fate by attacking the North and allying with Aegon (Griff), who wanted to see my downfall to reclaim everything that was mine.
I stopped the bile that was ready to come out at any moment and forced myself to open my eyes wide because what was happening was entirely my fault.
I could have acted more swiftly and subjugated them directly, but I had chosen the easier option, thinking they would be too afraid to attack my territories.
'Now I have to clean up my mess by becoming a damn butcher,' I thought as I watched my men mercilessly slaughter all the Ironborn, regardless of their age.