Queen of the Iron Islands Chapter 2
This chapter is written from Asha Greyjoy's point-of-view and occurs shortly after her arrival at the Ten Towers, the seat of House Harlaw and the home of her uncle, Rodrik Harlaw. Asha meets Ila and learns that her father Balon's death is not as straight-forward as it seems. I don't own anything. All recognisable ASOIAF characters belong to George R.R. Martin. Feel free to read and review.
Asha's POV
"The way I heard it in Lordsport, there was a blow coming in from the west, rain and thunder, and old King Balon was crossing one of them bridges when the wind got hold of it and just tore the thing to pieces. He washed up two days later, all bloated and broken. Crabs ate his eyes, I hear."
The captain of the Myraham, A Storm of Swords
Several days later…
It was the morning after Asha had arrived at the Ten Towers. She had received news of her father Balon's death from a raven. Throughout Westeros, ravens were used to send messages over long distances. Since the reign of her grandfather Quellon Greyjoy, ravens had become a ubiquitous part of Ironborn society. Barely one day had Balon died, her "black sheep" uncle Euron had landed in Pyke and seated himself on the Seastone Chair. When Lord Sawane Botley, the Lord of Lordsport, objected to this usurpation, Euron had him drowned in a cask of salt water.
In response to Euron's actions, Asha's other uncle Aeron Greyjoy, a Drowned priest, had called for a kingsmoot to elect the new King of the Iron Islands. By all accounts, Euron was an unscrupulous manipulator who delighted in playing elaborate mind games and stirring strife among his brothers. This was someone who should never be allowed to sit on the Seastone Chair.
According to dining room gossip, Euron had either seduced or raped her uncle Victarion's salt wife. In a fit of rage, Victarion had murdered his salt wife and would have done the same to Euron had Balon not intervened. Unwilling to allow any kinslaying within his halls, Balon had banished Euron from the realm. For the past two years, Euron had sailed all over the known world on his ship Silence raping and pillaging any ship or village he came upon. Now, he was back at Pyke and was staking a claim to the Seastone Chair. In foresight, Asha wished Victarion had his way.
Since her return to the Iron Islands, Asha had decided to do something radical: contest the Seastone Chair for herself. According to the old dusty tomes and annals kept by her Uncle Rodrik "the Reader", no woman had ever set on the Seastone Chair since the dawn of time. In her society, Ironborn women were expected to stay at home and produce babies while their husbands and sons went out reaving, pillaging, and warring. Fortunately, her father had been enlightened enough to train her in the arts of war and leadership.
Whereas many other highborn girls only learnt how to look pretty, sing, and sew, Asha had learnt how to wield a sword, run a longship's oars, and how to lead men into battle. In the past year, Asha had commanded thirty longships and seized the castle Deepwood Motte. While Asha was still technically behind her missing younger brother Theon in the line of succession, she had accomplished much more than many women in the Iron Islands could hope to aspire to.
Asha was not going to let tradition or the sneers of her contemporaries hold her back. Women had reigned over other kingdoms in Westeros and the wider Known World. So why should the Iron Islands continue to be an exception? She was a Greyjoy, the Kraken's Daughter and in lieu of Theon's absence, that gave her the right to sit on the Seastone Chair. She was never going to let any of her uncles, whether the pirate or the dull one, or any of the lesser houses sit on it. The Seastone Chair had belonged to her family since the fall of the Black Line of Hoare and it was going to stay that way for the next three hundred years. Finally, Asha vowed that no one would ever force her to marry over her dead body. Tristifer Botley, her old childhood friend and champion, had tried that and he had to be given a painful lesson. But, at least he'll remember that for as long as he lives, she thought.
Asha was now settling down to a hot, sumptuous breakfast of fried muscles and mushrooms cooked in an omelette. She had just cut a slice of the omelette with her knife and was about to lift it on her fork into her mouth when she was interrupted by the hoarse voice of her Uncle Rodrik.
"Sorry to interrupt your breakfast," said Rodrik "We have some unexpected visitors this morning bringing some strange tidings from Pyke."
"Who," sighed Asha, whose stomach was groaning "Can't their business just wait?"
"I'm afraid not," replied Rodrik grimly "You see, it concerns your dear father…"
The Main Hall…
Asha followed Uncle Rodrik into the main hall of the Ten Towers. Rodrik positioned himself into his high seat, which sat between two great scythes of beaten silver that were crossed hanged; the sigil of House Harlaw. The great stony hall was still flanked with the banners of those houses supporting her claim to the Seastone Chair. She recognised the silver-fish of Botley, the stone tree of the Stonetrees, the black leviathan of Vomark, the nooses of the Myres, and the scythes of Harlaw. The hall still reeked of liquor and unwashed bodies from the night before, and now the pungent stench of whale blubber.
Before the throne was a delegation of Ibbenese whalers dressed in thick fur coats and sealskins. The Ibbenese were a heavily-built people with broad chests and shoulders, long arms, and short stumpy legs. Their faces had sloping brows with heavy ridges, small sunken eyes, and massive jaws. They had pale flesh with dark blue veins appearing beneath their skin. The Ibbenese were also very hairy folk with dark wiry hair all over their bodies. According to the dusty tomes in her Nuncle's library, the Ibbenese were a strange folk apart from any other races. While their men could breed with women from other lands, their unions only produced malformed mules. Ibbenese women could not mate with men from other races with such unions only producing hideous stillbirths. Among the Ibbenese was a fair-skinned human girl with blue eyes and strawberry, blonde hair. She was about eight at most, Asha estimated.
"So, you bring tidings for Lady Asha Greyjoy regarding her father King Balon Greyjoy, the Ninth of His Name Since the Grey King," boomed Lord Rodrik "Speak now and truthfully in the name of the Drowned God."
The leading Ibbenese, a plump man with a thick black beard, bowed and led the human girl forward.
"This is Ila, a Wildling servant in the household of the late King Balon,' said the Ibbenese in a thick, guttural accent 'She tells me that she was with your blessed King when he died. And she says that his death was not accidental but that he was murdered at the hands of two of his own servants. She has sworn by all the gods that she is telling the truth."
"My name is Ila and I come from Beyond the Walls. Outsiders call my people Wildlings but we call ourselves the Free Folk,' spoke the girl in a clear high-pitched voice 'I have a mother called Orla. I also had a father called John and a little brother named Tristen. We were driven from our homes by The Others, ice demons who can't be killed by any sword. They also bring back the dead as wrights. Me, my mother, and my brother fled south to escape the Others. My brother died along the way…"
Asha saw drops of tears flowing down the girl's soft cheeks. After taking a few breaths, the girl continued about how she and her mother travelled to a fishing village in the North where they ended up begging in the streets for survival. Following an Ironborn raid led by her brother Theon, Ila and her mother had ended up as thralls in the household of Lord Balon. Balon was a fair master and she accompanied him on his numerous evening walks come rain, wind, or sunshine.
"One night, Lord Balon and I were walking on one of those rope bridges at the great stone castle called Pyke. We came across a hooded bad man who killed him by slashing him in the throat. Two men came, one of them was called 'Left-Hand Codd' and the other wore a shining breastplate. Instead of stopping the bad man, they cut the rope bridge down. I fell into the sea and almost drowned. But, I managed to cling on to a plank. Then, these Ibbenese whalers rescued me."
For a girl so young, Ila spoke with a voice as clear as a clarion. Her testimony had captivated the court so much that everyone had stopped whatever they were doing to listen. The nobles had stopped their quarrels while the servants had taken leave of their menial work to listen to what this thrall child from Beyond the Walls had to say. For those who had served Lord Balon and detested his usurper brother, Ila's testimony had confirmed their suspicious about the untimely nature of his death.
Never trust a Codd, Asha had recalled her father telling her many years ago. The descendants of salt wives and thralls, the Codds were little better than thieves, cowards, and incestuous wantons. Lucas Codd had only found work at Pyke castle because of a promise her father had made to the scoundrel's dying mother that her son not be left begging on the streets. Lucas had repaid Balon's kindness by stabbing him in the back, figuratively. It was also easy to discern Germund Botley's motive for murdering Balon. After Euron had drowned his nephew Sawane, Germund had sworn allegiance to the usurper. As a reward, Germund was awarded half of the Botley lands while the other half had gone to Lord Waldon Wynch, the first man to recognize Euron as King of the Iron islands.
However, on the other side of the coin, this revelation could be used to challenge Euron's legitimacy that is if he had a hand in the assassination of Balon. It could not be a mere coincidence that the two men whom Ila had accused had since been named among Euron's champions for the Seastone Chair. Asha smiled as did Lord Rodrik and several of the other nobles present. They had little love for Euron given his chequered past and were happy to exploit any means of keeping him off the Seastone Chair. The Drowned God must have a divine plan, thought Asha. This little girl could be her ticket to the Seastone Chair provided that she not prattle on with her tales of the White Walkers. The White Walkers were no more real than snarks, grumkins, the Drowned God or the Storm God. But don't repeat that to Uncle Aeron as she was never too old for him to whip the hell out of her.
"The Drowned God must have saved your life for this reason," Lord Rodrik spoke sweetly "But is there any way we can check if you are telling the truth."
The leading Ibbenese whaler motioned to his men who brought an old, windswept wooden plank. It was about five feet long and wide enough to serve as a floorboard of one of Pyke's rope bridges. Two thorn and soaking ropes were still clinging to it. Asha examined the plank and quickly recognized it as coming from the outermost rope bridge from Pyke. The plank had long been weathered by wind, rain, and sun. It came from a weirwood tree due to its bone-white colour.
Aha, thought Asha. This would be compelling evidence should anyone question the girl's testimony. Next, they needed to examine Balon's body in order to corroborate Ila's story. Her father's bloated and broken corpse had been found by fishermen a few days ago. If they found a knife wound in his neck, that would prove to everyone on the Iron Islands that Balon had indeed been murdered. However, finding the assassin and trying to tie Euron to the crime would be much trickier.
Asha gave Ila a warm hug.
"Don't cry little one," whispered Asha "That was a very brave thing you did and don't worry. We will make sure that no bad men will hurt you."
Now, she would have to order her men to make the Black Wind ready to sail for Old Wyk. They had to leave the Ten Towers by noon if they were to thwart Euron's scheme to rule the Iron Islands. What a great start to the day, she thought!