291 AC, Near Shield Islands
It has been a month since we had our first victory at sea, the royal fleet had destroyed more than 80 ships of Iron born and sent them scurrying back to Iron Islands. Though we are all in good spirits due to the victory, I know that it wouldn't last, Lord Stannis got a raven from a certain 'spider' in King's Landing bearing both good and bad news. The good news is that Mallisters defeated a small army of Iron born with Jason Mallister killing Rodrik Greyjoy, this was a big blow to Balon Greyjoy as he lost his eldest. The bad news is that Victorian Greyjoy is preparing a fleet of 100 ships, Victorian is not some nameless commander like we encountered in our first battle, he was a skilled sailor and warrior but so was our commander Lord Stannis. The real problem came with reports that nearly half of the Greyjoy fleet is of long ships, the long ships can holster only 40 people instead of usual 60 but they are many times faster than our ships. The very thought of a fleet that strong under the command of a sailor like Victorian is terrifying. Now that's the reason I am in the command room with Lord Stannis, Ser Davos, Lord Beric Dondarrion and other higher ups.
"So the Greyjoy fleet under Victorian is currently just ahead of shield islands and they are forming a blockade. How do we get past them?" Said Lord Stannis.
"Why can't we just smash past the blockade? The sea is way too vast for them to arrange a proper blockade with 100 ships, it will be too thin." Said Lord Beric
I was watching the discussion between the lords when Ser Davos struck down Lord Beric's idea. "I am afraid it won't be possible my lord, if what we hear about their long ships is true, then the moment we break past their blockade their longs ships will surround us and we will be trapped." Said Ser Davos.
The lords started throwing around ideas for our current obstacle with each one worse than the previous one, there someone who even suggested we use wildfire to break the blockade. Gods, how dumb are these people, Wild fire is too unpredictable and it should be used only when the enemies are grouped together in a confined space, like how Tyrion used it in battle of black water. It seems even Lord Stannis is losing his patience with these ridiculous ideas and was about to burst. Thankfully, I interjected the Lords at the right moment.
"Why should we even fight them?" I said to them. All the lords turned towards me and couple of them found my statement insulting.
"What do you mean boy? Do you want us to turn back with our tails tuck between our legs?" Responded a couple of Lords with fury, whose names I didn't bother to remember.
I simply raised both my arms to placate them and explained my answer, "My lords, I didn't mean that when I said why should we fight. I meant why should we fight Iron born on the waters? If we take them head on their long ships will demolish our fleets, If we play the waiting game for them to attack us, we will not be able to assist King Robert on time."
"Then what should we do?" asked Lord Stannis.
"The water is currently their turf, whether we strike them head on or wait around we will lose eventually. So, we bring them to our turf, the land. Iron born were said to be the best in naval warfare but their only feats on the land are pillaging and raiding villages. We are better than them in the land, So we bring them in and crush them."
"But how do we get them to the land?" questioned Ser Davos.
"So here is what we are going to do…." with that I explained my planned to them and Ser Davos assisted me in regards to any logistics and technicalities of my plan. Lord Stannis finally approved of our plan after explaining to him in detail.
3 days later, Grey shield Island
I am currently near the coast of Grey shield island with our army and our fleet on standby near the eastern shore of the grey shiel island. We are currently waiting for the signal from the ships we sent towards the Iron fleet blockade. The plan is quite simple, we sent a small fleet of 30 warships, fitted with all the war horns of our fleet in them, all lined up and spread across the sea towards the Iron born fleet in the middle of the night all while blowing all war horns we have. In the dark the enemy has no way identifying our ships apart from our war horns, which are ordered to be sounded at once to create a feeling that the entire fleet is attacking them. When our fleet is in close proximity of Iron fleet, they will fire their scorpions at once along with flaming arrows to the Iron born ships and their sails respectively. After the initial attack, our ships will turn back and sail towards our current location, grey shield island, all the while blowing the horns. The enraged Iron fleet will follow the horn sounds and that will lead them towards our army at the Grey shield Island.
As I was checking my gear and loading my quiver with arrows, I heard the sound of trumpets coming from the sea, which is the signal we have been waiting for. A quarter of our men are used to control our hidden fleet with Ser Davos leading them and the rest took up positions along the coast of the island with archers at high altitudes like watch towers and hill, foot soldiers on the ground with Lord Stannis commanding them.
Our decoy ships quickly anchored at strategic points along the shore to act as archer points to take down the Iron born ships. Our men are ready and now we are waiting for the Iron fleet to arrive.
Slowly the Iron born ships entered the channel between green shield and grey shield island where we anchored our decoy ships and our army is at standby on the coast. The Iron born are the dumbest shits you will ever encounter. Period. Our ships and coast are in complete darkness of night which helped our forces be invisible in the dark, while the Iron fleet is entering our trap all the being lighten up like a Christmas tree. The archers and I are waiting for signal of Lord Stannis, as is our original fleet under Ser Davos command.
When the Iron fleet are almost upon our shore, I heard the sound of bells from watch towers which is our signal to attack from lord Stannis. All archer along the coast and decoy ships aimed their lit arrows and fired at the sails of Iron fleet, the scorpions of decoy ships also fired their bolts at the Iron born ships. The archers at high altitude like watch towers and hills fired flame arrows at the farther end of the fleet. With this attack the frontline ships and the ships at the back of the Iron fleet are immobilized, the Original Royal fleet which is in hiding along the coast came up and blocked the sides of Iron fleet. The famed long ships of Iron fleet are trapped by their very own Iron born ships whose sails are burned and the Royal fleet which is making quick work of the Immobilized ships.
With no option to retreat or press forward, the Iron born under Victorian's command took their forces to the shore where our army is waiting.
I am in a foreign position right now, instead of raining death from watch towers and hills like other archers, I am on the frontlines with my bastard sword on my right hand. Standing beside me is Ser Meryn Trant who was assigned by Lord Stannis to 'protect' me, heh what a joke, If an enemy has to go through Ser Meryn to get to me he might as well attack me directly, makes no difference. I had the pleasure of watching Ser Meryn fight during our first battle, if this world is a video game instead of being real, then the apt title for Ser Meryn is 'Kill Stealer'. That man literally robs away other people's kills, hell he even stabbed an Iron born that I already shot at the throat once. How low the Kingsguard had fallen since the death of my Uncle Arthur.
When I was done with my musing, Ser Meryn shook me and pointed ahead of us, the first wave Iron born are 100 yards away from us. I took a deep breath and cleared my mind of any distractions. I kept a relaxed but firm hold on my sword and I took my personal one sword stance, my left foot in front of my right foot with feet being shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, left arm outstretched at shoulder level with palm facing the enemy, my sword hand over my head pointing towards the enemy.
With moments the first Iron born came within my striking zone and unleased a wild thrust at my abdomen, I side stepped his attack and thrust my sword towards his unprotected throat, ending his life. I didn't have much time to think as another Iron born slashed at my neck from the side, I used my left arm vambrace to block the strike and lashed out at a kick on his chest and I had the distinct pleasure of hearing a sound of 'crack' from him. He seems to be surprised in the strength behind the hit, but I didn't give him time to think and stomped at his knee and crushed it, then I put him out of his misery by slitting his throat. I mentally called out Draig and I heard a howl and saw Draig running towards me all the while ripping out the throats of any unfortunate Iron born on his way. Draig appeared before me and I climbed on his back, using his fur as saddle. We began charging at areas where our men seemed to be on back foot against Iron born and provided them back up in form of my sword or Draig's fangs.
The battle has been raging on for more than an hour, Draig and I are all around the coast taking down any Iron born we can find, Sure some Iron born tried to attack Draig but those losers are too slow to keep up with him. I sheathed my sword and started raining arrows at our enemies all while Draig is running around, making me a difficult target for Iron born archers.
I had been searching for Victorian Greyjoy for about 15 minutes, but I haven't even had a glance of him even with Draig literally carrying me around the battlefield. When I returned to the Watch towers to take down enemies from altitude, I finally found Victorian Greyjoy, Wow, when Lord Stannis described him as 'big, strong and dumb' I didn't believe him. But, man the scene in front of me is proving me wrong. 'Esteemed' sailor and commander Lord Victorian is on his flag ship Iron Victory fighting our Royal fleet while trapped by his own fleet instead of leading his men on the coast. He looks like Iron Islands version of Hound in terms of size. I searched around for Lord Stannis and found him while he was finishing off an Iron born. I went to him and informed him of the info.
"Lord Stannis, Victorian Greyjoy was spotted on his flag ship Iron Victory."
"So that's where he is, I was afraid he escaped when I didn't find him on the battle field." Said Lord Stannis.
"Assemble 50 men and take Victorian as a prisoner on his own ship. I will clear things over here." Ordered Stannis.
I was a bit surprised when he told me lead the men, but maybe he thought I was capable after my first battle and surviving in direct conflict in this battle.
With that I went away to fulfil his orders and was able to procure 50 men quite easily as most of them already finished their battles. I assembled them and we marched to our ship and made our way towards Iron Victory.
We made it to Victorians ships and found out he was not alone, they about 30 men with him and they noticed our approach. We boarded their ship and clashed our steel with Victorian's men.
I blocked a sword swing from an Iron born and he using his weight to overpower me, but I held on with my strength, we were in stalemate. I pulled the dagger in my right vambrace with my free left hand and stabbed into his eye. After he was down, I went to the next Iron born. This process continued for a while until I saw Victorian armed with a sword and an axe fending of our men who are surrounding him.
I quickly made my way towards and engage him. He was swinging around his axe like it weighed nothing and tried to stab me when he got an opening. I deflected his strikes with my sword and vambraces, though there are a few which I missed, giving me a couple of superficial wounds, deep enough to bleed but not enough to make a scar.
While I was stepping back blocking a swing from his sword, my back hit the railing of the ship. He swung both his sword and axe at the same time, I was barely in time to stop the dual strike, a second late and I wound have been down for count. I tried to push him away, but his gigantic stature made it almost impossible to overpower him. With each passing second my sword is nearing my throat, just when it is a couple of inches from my throat, I made the ballsiest decision that I have ever made. I removed my left hand from the sword and used it grip the handle of Dawn near my left shoulder and made at wild desperate swing at Victorian Greyjoy.
The result of the swing is shocking to say the least. Dawn cut through Victorian Greyjoy's plate armour like a hot knife through butter, the plate armour of Victorian which is possibly the thickest plate armour I have ever seen. Victorian released his weapons and I was quick to knock him out. And I removed his plate armour to see his wound, man was it deep. He is going to have an ugly deep scar from his right shoulder to left hip.
Most of the Iron born surrendered immediately after their commander's defeat and capture, while there a couple of Iron born who rebelled, but they were put to sword immediately, which made other Iron born cooperate as prisoners.
All our men have boarded our ships and are recuperating. The Iron born ships are taken by our men. I ordered the men under my command to bring Victorian to The Fury, the flag ships of Lord Stannis. It is a triple decked war galley of 300 oars used for sailing it.
Victorian is treated for his wounds as he is a valuable prisoner and we cannot let him bleed to death. He is currently on the deck of our ship bound in chains, Lord Stannis and I are walking towards him. Our men surround Victorian and are ready to kill him.
"Hello Greyjoy, had a nice sleep." I greeted Victorian.
"Why are you here boy? Lost on your way to Wet Nurse" Said Victorian in a mocking tone. One of our men punched him in the face, "Shut it you Squid."
"Maybe if that wet nurse happens to be your wife." I shot back at him. That comment seemed to hit him at a sore spot as started cussing at me, "You think you are tough, you little shit, I will split you into two if not for these chains."
"Maybe you seem to be forgetting in your old age, this 'little shit' as you put it, is the reason why you are in chains, By the way My name is Ryan Arthur Stark, son of Lord Eddard Stark" I said to him,
"Take him below and put him in shackles" I ordered to our men. And they started dragging Victorian. And Victorian Started shouting at me.
"This isn't over! Stark You hear me! What is dead may never die!"
I motioned our men to stop and walked towards him, I bent down until I was looking in the eye and started talking,
"Winter is Coming, Greyjoy, Winter is coming for your House, when it comes no one will be left behind."
After I said my piece, I felt a sudden urge to speak to our men.
"Do you know what we just did?
Our men looked around as no one answered, "We took down the mightiest of Greyjoys! Balon Greyjoy thinks he can do whatever he wants, he would kill, raid and rape any one dear to us, He proclaimed himself the Salt King and feels he is invincible with his ships. But we have proven him wrong!"
"YEAAH!" shouted our men with vigour.
"We destroyed his fleet, killed his men, took his brother hostage! This is just beginning, For everything Balon and his men have done to our people, WE WILL PAY HIM BACK TEN TIMES OVER!" I shouted and our men cheered.
"Strike down their banners, ready our ships, we shall sail and take down every Iron Island until Balon Greyjoy kneels at our King's feet. After we have done with Balon and his men, history will remember two rebellions forever, Robert's Rebellion for toppling down the mighty Targaryen Dynasty and Greyjoy Rebellion for being pathetically crushed by us." I roared at our men and they roared back, even men at other ships did the same.
"The Dawn Wolf" "The Dawn Wolf" "The Dawn Wolf" "The Dawn Wolf" "The Dawn Wolf". The men cheered over and over as I looked at Ser Davos and Lord Stannis who gave me a smile and a nod respectively. I raised my sword up in the air and relished the moment. I wonder how father will react to this news.
291 AC, Seagard, Author's POV
Robert Baratheon, Ned Stark and their vassals have organised at Seagard and used ships from North and the ones saved at Seagard are used to invade Harlaw, one of the Iron Islands. With a massive force they smashed through any kind of defence Balon had setup, this was only possible due to Stannis occupying Victorian Greyjoy's fleet. With back up forces distracted, Robert and his forces were able to storm the Island. There was resistance as expected and Iron born fought as fierce as it was expected of them, but it didn't do them any good in the face of overwhelming numbers and experienced soldiers and leaders.
Robert's forces occupied all the harbors and moved to all towns and villages and wiped out any resistance. The travel was slow due to the terrain but eventually it was done and Robert was ready to move to other islands. Tywin and his men would invade Blacktyde and Orkmont while Robert and Ned would try to take the Islands of Old Wyk and Great Wyk. Robert was in the main tent talking with Ned alongside Ser Barristan, Greatjon Umber, Rickard Karstark, Mace Tyrell, Randyll Tarly, Tywin Lannister and Leo Lefford along with other heads of houses and armies to talk about strategies and suppliers when a messenger walked in.
"Your grace, forgive the interruption" The messenger said.
"What, boy?" asked Robert, as the man handed him a scroll.
"Raven from Winterfell for Lord Stark" The messenger said. Robert looked at it and saw the seal of House Stark.
"Here Ned" said Robert and handed the scroll to Ned who had a surprised looked on his face.
Just when Ned was about to open the scroll another messenger came in and bowed. "Your Grace, ships are nearing the harbor and they bear the royal sigil."
"It seems that Lord Stannis has defeated Victorian Greyjoy at the sea." Said Mace Tyrell.
"But he would have sent a word, Lets go see my brother and ready the ships. My Warhammer needs blood." Robert said as he and everyone else followed him to see the ships arrive at the harbor.
Robert and his group arrived to see a lot of men had come to see the Royal fleet arrive which had come to aid them. First the injured and the dead were escorted of the ship first and after that, they saw a boy no older than one and ten arrive with his party.
They saw Ryan carrying a sword at his left hip and a sword at his left shoulder on his back, a quiver of arrows on his back with some boiled leather armour on his chest with the Sigil of dire wolf in grey and a sigil of a shooting star crossed with a sword in violet. Ryan face resembled that of a seasoned warrior who have experienced combat with speckles of blood and scorched oil on his face and brown/black hair. The heir of Winterfell walked down the ramp with Ser Meryn Trant by his side followed by Lord Stannis, Ser Davos, Lord Dandarrion and the men fought alongside him. The North men who recognised their heir kneeled and the Southerners were watching with interest as Ryan walked pass them to greet the king.
"My Lords" Ryan and his party bowed. "Your Grace, sorry we were late the trip took longer than expected."
"Son, I didn't expect to see you here, although now I can imagine what the letter from Winterfell is about." Said Ned while pocketing the scroll, "I believe I gave you specific instructions to not leave Winterfell."
"I actually I believe I said that I will fight alongside you when I am ready," said Ryan with a cheeky smile on his face as some of the lords chuckled, even Ned had an almost invisible smile on his face.
"Your Grace, I believe it is the first time we are meeting each other, allow me to introduce myself, I am Ryan Arthur Stark, son of Lord Eddard Stark, heir apparent of Winterfell." Ryan introduced himself turning towards King Robert who had a wide smile on his face.
"Hah! So you are the Ryan that Ned can't stop himself from talking about, Well met boy." Said Robert and he turned towards Ned, "Why don't you try to foster your son at Kingslanding Ned? At least this way you and I can meet a lot this way."
Ned was a bit surprised by the question, but quickly composed himself and answered his friend, "We will talk about it later Robert."
"Ryan, you know what I meant when I said you should stay at Winterfell. You are too young to experience war." Ned said in a serious tone.
"I understand, father but as the son of Lord Paramount my priority is the protection of the people of North, which the Iron born are threatening." Seeing that his father still wasn't convinced, "But we didn't come empty handed, We destroyed the Iron fleet and came with a lot of prisoners, along with one extra special."
Ryan spoke to Lord Beric who nodded to his men on the ship and they brought down Victorian Greyjoy from the ship, bound in chains as he was shoved towards Ryan. Ryan turned towards Ryan and said,
"Your Grace, Let me present you Victorian Greyjoy." The men shoved him in front of Robert.
Ned and the other lords were impressed with the capture as it is another serious blow to Balon and it also showed that Ryan and his men defeated Victorian at sea. Victorian looked up at the armoured men surrounding him and snarled with disgust and anger.
"Baratheon, forgive me if I don't look presentable" Victorian said mockingly while looking at the large force assembled. "You have an army which outnumbers Iron born by nearly ten times over! But you send the snot nosed brat of your friend Ned. I am insulted."
One of Ryan's men punched Victorian across the face. "Shut up Squid" he said but Victorian smirked at the men in front of him.
"Don't think you have won, Iron born will tear you apart and your lands. What is dead may never die." Victorian stated proudly
"Well, it seems you Greyjoys are not even capable of killing properly, if that is your house words." Said Ryan and kicked Victorian in the back of his head and knocked him out.
"Get him to a cell and watch him" ordered Robert.
The men followed Robert's orders and took Victorian away, Robert called a small celebration for Ryan's victory over Victorian Greyjoy and all the lords followed him except Ned who stayed behind. Now it was only Ryan and Ned present at the moment.
"You are not going to stop are you?" asked Ned.
Ryan shook his head and Ned groaned at this, "Gods you are stubborn just like your mother, Now I understand how Jon felt whenever Robert rebelled against him,"
"Come on father, I even proved myself that I am capable, It is not too much to ask to just continue to fight with you." Said Ryan.
"But you will lose your child hood if you went even further." Said Ned still trying to stop Ryan.
"Father, you know I was never normal and I already nine years of childhood in Winterfell." Said Ryan
"Whatever, just be careful" said Ned finally resigning to the fact that his son is grown up and walked to join Robert.
3 Weeks later, Pyke
It has been three weeks since the Royal fleet joined King Robert and things couldn't have gone any better, Lord Tywin and his men took down Blacktyde and Orkmont without much trouble while King Robert and my father wiped out Great Wyk which is a major blow to Balon Greyjoy. I have been tasked with taking down Old Wyk under the command of Ser Barristan. It was relatively an easier task compared to the other islands, Old Wyk is more of a religious and moral support island than a military island with no more than thousand men at the Drumm Castle. Working with Ser Barristan is like a dream come true, even though I am still young Ser Barristan treated me with proper respect and took my suggestions into consideration.
I got an unexpected boon while we were invading Drumm Castle, With Drumm men taken care of I was searching for Lord Dunstan Drumm and I found him in his personal chambers. I was expecting a good fight when I found him, But I was disappointed, I can't fault Lord Drumm as he is nearly eighty years old, I put him out of his misery in a quick clash of blades. While I was searching his room for anything important, I found a sheathed blade, When I unsheathed it from its scabbard, I got a minor heart attack. It is the Valyrian Sword Red Rain, It appeared to be a hand and half sword, a smaller end bastard sword. It had a smooth leather handle his steel tip pommel. The guard was about 8 inches longs and was edged out similar to wings of a bird, with colour of steel being blood red and a small intricate ripple pattern which is present in all Valyrian swords. I spoke to Ser Barristan about the blade and surprisingly Ser Barristan said that it belongs to me since I defeated the wielder in combat. I placed Red Rain at my left hip and placed my bastard sword at my right hip. Unlike Dawn I didn't have any hesitance in using Red Rain due to being worthy or something, I won it fair and square, So I have no qualms.
I just woke up in my cabin in Black Beth, Yeah I know being the son of Lord Paramount gets me a cabin, Yay! Noble blood for the win! And I got dressed in black and grey sleeveless t shirt with black leather pants and armour. I can't even imagine what I would wear if I didn't set up those cotton & textile mills, fucking breeches and tunics that's what! Don't get me wrong, tunics are made of good material, but they are not my style, I am trendsetter not a trend follower. I put on my combat gear i.e; vambraces, twin daggers, Red Rain at left hip, Dawn and quiver at the back, bow slinged over my shoulder and my bastard sword at right hip.
I walked to the deck and I heard the sound of a battle, I looked out and saw dozens of Northern ships laying siege to the remaining dozen or so ships belonging to the Iron Born as well as harbor town of Lordsport.
"Good morning, Ryan" Ser Davos said as he walked over and I nodded back at him, It took him awhile to speak to me without any titles.
"Morning Ser Davos. It would seem Lord Stannis wanted to draw first blood this morning."
"Aye, that he did, Lord Stannis wanted to finish up thing quickly, Word has reached my ear that King Robert wants this Rebellion over quickly and to get back to Kings Landing to see her grace, Queen Cersei." Ser Davos Said.
"First part of that is probably true, But his grace has more than Queen Cersei to look forward to, namely a certain Baelish Establishments." I said to Ser Davos.
"So when does the invasion begin?" I asked Ser Davos.
"Once the last Iron born ship is sunk, half the combined navy already layed the siege lines. All we have to do is wait and storm the Pyke." said Ser Davos
"Good, this rebellion has gone long enough already" I said to Ser Davos while sitting on the deck and started meditating.
I took nearly an hour for all the Iron born ships to be sunk and Ser Davos gave his orders when we reached the port of Pyke, "Lower the sails, release the anchors." The men did as they were asked and within a couple of minutes, we made landfall and all the men were readying their weapons for the oncoming battle.
Ser Davos turned towards me and said, "Why don't you speak few words, Ryan? Your last speech raised the morale of our men a lot and it would also be useful for you in future."
I took a deep breath and looked around, even with our superior numbers, some of our men are still tenses. I cleared my throat and spoke with my best charismatic voice.
"Men, brave warriors and my brothers of battle, They say that a person lives on forever as long as people remember him, Warriors worthy of legends of the old and we shall make our today. Tales will be told and songs will be sung of our feats this day as we bring Balon Greyjoy to heel along with his men."
All men are riled up and pounding spears at his point and are shouting with confidence. "YEAAH!" I pointed at the horizon and said, "Do you know what's there, Waiting beyond the beach? IT IS IMMORTALITY! TAKE IT! ITS YOURS!".
The men are all fired up due to my speech, which made me feel a bit smug, Until I realized that I am lagging behind in the lines. We quickly made our way past beach and to the road leading to the Pyke. Our men carried a battering Ram and marched to the castle. The ships continued to lay siege while our land group is sweeping through towns and villages alike, the Iron born were haphazardly getting themselves to fight. I looked around and saw a group of archers shooting arrows at us, I called for Draig and rode atop him after giving orders to our men, "Archers! Shield Wall".
Our men raised their shields and defended themselves against the rain of arrows while Draig out ran them all and made our way towards the archers. It didn't take much time with Draig tearing them apart while I swung Red Rain at enemies who are too close to us. After the archers are dead, Draig and I joined our men back to the castle.
As we are nearing the Castle my father Ned and our Northern army joined us along with King Slayer and the army Western lands. We stormed that castle and started taking down any Iron born in our sights. I kept riding Draig through the massive courtyard killing any Iron with my arrows or using Red Rain.
The invasion has been going on for half an hour and I got down from Draig and ordered him to kill anyone Iron born he could find. As I was going through the rooms of the castle, I hit two jackpots at same time, there are two paths in front of me, one side is Balon Greyjoy who is fighting against some of our men with some Iron born backing him up. The Other side his Harras Harlaw who is holding himself pretty well even though he is out numbered with his Valyrian Steel Sword Nightfall. I know that which ever side I help is going to have upper hand, If I fight Balon I will get credit for finishing the rebellion, If I fight Harass I can claim his sword Nightfall. Glory or Treasure, Duty or Self-interest.
Fuck Glory, I already have enough from this war, with this thought I made my way towards the Harlaw knight. He was about bring his sword upon his enemy, a southerner from the looks of it, I rushed towards the battle and put myself between Harras and the downed southerner blocking the strike of Nightfall with my Red Rain. He disengaged from the clash after seeing the sword in my hand. While I sent away the defeated southerner to get some treatment.
"Where did you get that sword? It belongs to House Drumm." Harras said to me while eyeing me varily.
"Wrong, it used to belong to House Drumm, I got it by killing the previous wielder." I clarified him. Though that him only more eager to attack me.
"Then I will take it back, from your CORPSE" he roared as he charged at me.
He made a wild slash at my neck, I ducked from the strike and tried to sweep his feet but Harras stepped back before I could. We both took some distance before facing each other and clashed our blades again.
This continued for about 15 minutes. In this time Harras and I had multiple clashes, With neither gaining upper foot, Harras is now sporting a bruised cheek due to a hit from pommel of my sword. I didn't come unscathed either, There a couple of rips on my leather armour courtesy of my opponent.
Honestly, I am getting tired of fighting him, truth to be told, While I might have strength of a grown man and peak human speed, Fighting for months and travelling at sea can be exhausting. I want to pick up the pace of the fight, So I unsheathed Dawn and held in my right hand while using Red Rain in my left.
Here is when Ser Harras Harlaw made a fatal mistake, instead just using his sword Nightfall to fight me, he picked up a castle forged steel sword to mimic my dual wielding. And we prepared for the final clash.
I lunged at Ser Harras this time instead of the other way around, with in few seconds I noticed that Ser Harras doesn't know dual wielding as his balance and form is completely off. I started unleashing series of slashes from both Red Rain and Dawn, Whenever Nightfall and Red Rain clashed there is no difference, but When I hacked at his second sword with Dawn, it started chipping away with each strike and even Ser Harras seems to be slowing down due to exhaustion and the unpredictability of dual wielding, When I found an opening after Ser Harras over extended a slash from his right hand, I dropped Red Rain in my left and dropped a two handed over headed strike at him with Dawn. He put a feeble defence with his chipped away castle forged steel sword with his left hand, but Dawn sliced through the sword as if it were a paper and embedded into Ser Harras chest. I looked at his face and saw the life leaving from his eyes.
I removed Dawn from his chest and cleaned the blood on the blade and sheathed it back, I picked up Red Rain which I dropped earlier and put it back at my left hip. I took the Nightfall in his hand and attached it at my right hip with my custom sword.
When I turned around there seems to a small audience for my fight and there seems to be no sounds of fighting, which means Balon is captured. At the exact same moment Lord Beric Dondarrion came to the scene and sent a message, "Ryan, King Robert has Balon Greyjoy". Speak of the Devil and he arrives.
We followed Lord Dondarrion across the castle towards Balon Greyjoy's throne room. When we entered the room, it was filled with our soldiers and their respective lords. The Northerners and the men I fought with at sea gave me a bow or a nod. At the centre of the room is an ugly wooden throne and a Sigil of Greyjoy, kneeling in front of my father and King Robert is Balon Greyjoy, who is bound in chains.
At the sound my foot steps my father and King Robert turned towards me
"Ryan" my father greeted me with a small smile and I returned it, "Father."
"Your Grace, It would seem the Greyjoy rebellion is all but done and it will be remembered as the least successful rebellion." I said and joked at the end, which caused a couple of Lords to chuckle while King Robert is laughing out loud.
I heard a growl and I turned to see a huge black blur colliding into my chest. I looked up to see Draig licking my face and I scratched behind his ear, "There boy, you had fun ripping Iron born into shreds."
Draig replied with a whine, I guess none of them posed a challenge to him. I looked around and saw various reactions from the Lords, while my father and northern lords are amused by our interaction. The southern lords are either curious like Tywin or terrified like Mace Tyrell.
Robert cleared his throat and spoke with a booming voice," So the rebellion is over, Balon Greyjoy may keep his life."
This decision has no effect on me as I simply didn't care. If Balon is alive he will try the same shit he tried in canon, then I will just kill him. If he is not alive, then Victorian will be Lord of Isles and he is not as stupid as Balon, So interference from me.
"And Balon's son Maron Greyjoy will be taken as a ward by Lord Stark." Said Robert and I was shocked, I looked at my father who nodded back at me. Man, this changes things a lot, What should I do? At the same moment Ser Jaime Lannister came forward and spoke.
"I am afraid it won't be possible Your Grace, Maron Greyjoy perished due to collapse of a tower during the Siege."
Oof! I was panicked for nothing, I really should have much patience in these scenarios, Something to work on later. Robert a troubled look on his face and started speaking, "Very well, the last son Theon will have to do".
After Robert's judgement our men took Balon away. Now that the Rebellion is officially over, father and I can go home with our men. When we are about to leave King Robert's voice stopped us.
"Jorah of House Mormont, step forward" Robert said as the heir of Bear Island did as he was told. "You have demonstrated immense strength, fortitude and skill today in the battle of Pyke. And on this day, I honour you."
Robert laid his sword on Jorah's shoulder and knighted him, this process continued for a while and nearly half a dozen squires are knighted in this manner.
"Ser Jorah and the others showed strength and character worthy to be knighted today, But after speaking to my brother Stannis and Onion knight Ser Davos, there was another who showed the fortitude and chivalry of a knight even though he dwarfs all of us in both age and experience." I was searching around the room about whom the King is speaking until I felt the gaze of King on me along with other.
"Ryan Arthur of House Stark, Kneel" said King Robert and I looked towards my father who gave me a nod. I kneeled in front of the King and I felt his sword on my shoulder.
"In the name of Warrior I charge you to be brave." I left the sword tap my right shoulder.
"In the name of the Father I charge you to be just." The sword tapped my left shoulder.
"In the name of Mother I charge you to defend the young and innocent." My right shoulder.
"In the name of the Maid I charge you to protect the women" My left shoulder.
"I knight you, Ryan Arthur of House Stark. Rise Ser Ryan Arthur Stark." King Robert said and I raised from my kneeling position.
All of the Lords around me are clapping and congratulating me for becoming the youngest knight in Westeros by a fair margin. I honestly didn't expect to be knighted at the end of war.
There is one thing to be sure, Future sure is going to be interesting from now on.
(A/N): What up guys, So here is the fourth chapter of Dawn wolf and there is nothing much left to say. Any queries you have, leave a PM and please review guys.
Stay tuned.
Signing Out,
Arashi Uzumaki Uchiha