Chapter 5

Outside Lordsport, 289 AC, Harry's POV

The army of the Iron Throne had sailed towards the seat of the upstart Balon Greyjoy, the so called King of the Iron Islands. King Robert had tasked his brother Stannis with capturing the island of Great Wyk, the largest of the Iron Islands. Stannis had sailed to Great Wyk with 40000 men with him. Ser Barristan Selmy, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard was sent to subjugate Old Wyk with 20000 men. Another 40000 were dispatched to the various smaller islands under the lords of the Reach and Westerlands.

King Robert had saved Pyke, and Lordsport, the seat of the pretender king for himself and his best friend, Ned Stark. He had planned to burn Lordsport to the ground with over a hundred thousand men with him Harry had trained since the time he had reached Lannisport. His endurance training would raise eyes from other verteran warriors as while they had always strived to remain fit, they had not seen such a routine before.

Harry had religiously practised his swordplay. After he had attained magic, he had assumed that he could use magic in a more destructive manner if he chose to. But with the limitations and the blocks he faced in practicing magic efficiently, Harry had come to realise that he could not apply magic to steel. This had greatly frustrated him as he could not enchant his weapons to be more deadly. Nor could he use it to reinforce armour made of steel.

While his magic always trying to protect him would tell him where the strike was coming from, which Harry had further honed to almost pinpoint accuracy due to his advanced mental shields and Occlumency, he was susceptible to attacks if he could not parry, block or evade the strike in time. His magic did give him an advantage, he had theorized maybe it being a form or latent legilimency, which told him the strikes to make and which ones to block, parry, evade or counter.

Harry looked down at his armour which was mostly leather with steel plate and ringmail in strategic locations to offer maximum protection. He could apply charms to leather after stabilizing the magic and had proceeded to layer his armour with enchantments and spells. He had applied comfort charms to ensure he could stay in armor under most weather conditions. He had engraved the leather armour with runes to replicate the unbreakable charm and had put steel plates for added protection. He had covered the rest of his torso with ringmail.

His legs were covered in enchanted leather as strips of steel plate were around his thigh and nether regions. His boots, bracer and gauntlets were all fortified to increase his maneuverability. In a pitched battle, his charms would wear out eventually and his leather armour would be susceptible to a lot of attacks, but Harry did not believe that it would come to that. 'We outnumber them 10 to 1' Harry thought, amazed at the stupidity of Balon Greyjoy.

They had reached the shores of Lordsport and a small battle had ensued. The Ironborn were excellent sailors and reavers and a large fleet could do a lot of damage in sea. But in land, they were merely unorganized savages who fought fiercely. 'Fierce the may be' Harry thought as he parried a blow with his short short before thrusting his right arm with his longsword into the chest of the Ironborn, killing him instantly. But against better equipped, well armored and disciplined men who outnumbered them, the Ironborn stood no chance.

They had quickly drawn up the siege engines , the catapults and the trebuchets had been fired and a large part of the southern wall of the town had been reduced to rubble, allowing the vanguard to initiate the assault. They were followed by the rest of the army of the Iron Throne.

The town of Lordsport was in total chaos. Ironborn were fighting and small skirmishes were occurring across the town. As there were many narrow alleys and roads, it somewhat created a bottleneck for the huge Iron Throne army. They overtook the walls and battlements of the town and soon there was fierce fighting in the streets.

The Ironborn were fierce and they put up a strong resistance despite their disadvantageous number. They used cheap and dirty tactics to land lethal blows on their opponents. Harry dodged an axe thrown at him by one of the Finger Dancers, some of the elite Ironborn warriors. As he neared his opponent, dodging and ducking with his swords drawn, the Finger Dancer rushed at Harry with his two axes charging at him. Harry sidestepped the charge as he parried the blows with his shortsword. His longsword came crashing on the neck of the Ironborn, decapitating him as Harry moved ahead as he dispatched two more opponents in quick succession.

His father fighting close by was dispatching opponents with his greatsword Ice with ease. His father did not make flamboyant moves but used the length of the greatsword to lethal advantage. The lightness of Valyrian steel made the swingers faster, quicker and more deadly. Harry watched with sight admiration as he stabbed his sword in the guts of another Ironborn while his father with a single swift movement decapitated his opponent.

He saw King Robert, in his berserker epitome as the towering man slayed all that approached or challenged him, felling Ironborn with his huge war hammer. The king slammed his hammer onto an opponent's head, crushing his head before swinging it hard at another man's torso, caving in his chest. As the king dispatched his opponents ruthlessly and in such a brutal fashion, many of the Ironborn were hesitant to approach him in one on one combat.

Robert was an exceptional military commander and had great charisma and strength. He rallied the men as they fought through the day on the streets of Lordsport, often shoulder to shoulder as the fighting spilled into the narrow lanes and streets of the town. The day wore on and the army under King Robert's command was pushing back the Ironborn resistance, slaughtering more and more of the reavers slowly as the fighting continued.

Harry slew another three Ironborn as they came charging at him, the Winter wolves and other north men around him fighting as ferociously. As they killed the Ironborn and proceeded toward the gate of Castle Pyke, he saw more fighting in front of him. The Ironborn had outnumbered the small group who was fighting them, mostly the soldiers from the Crownlands. A knight in plated armor, who carried the sigil of a scythe and a peacock on his shield was fighting and leading a group of Ironborn and attacking the soldiers from one end. The other flank was assaulted by Ironborn with Victarion Greyjoy himself leading the assault with his Iron Kraken helmet. Armored in plate armor and his signature Iron Kraken helm.

Harry and his men attacked the Ironborn with the sudden reinforcement of soldiers pushing the Ironborn on the backfoot. The knight who was fighting quite fiercely, wielded a valyrian steel sword which was elegant as well as deadly. The knight cut through five of the crownland soldiers as Harry engaged him.

Harry made an upwards slash towards the knight's neck as the knight easily parried the slash and thrust his sword toward Harry's abdomen. Harry sidestepped and parried the slash before immediately whirling around and slashing towards his opponent's torso with both his swords hard. The knight staggered slightly as Harry pushed his advantage as he rained blows on his opponent.

The knight parried his blows and tried to dodge a few as Harry managed to land a few minor cuts and bruises on his opponent. Harry blocked an overhead strike with his short sword as with his right hand he swung the longsword hard as the knight. The shield which had taken considerable damage under Harry's assault broke, disbalancing the knight. He hastily swung his sword as Harry stepped back to move out of the way.

Harry kept relentlessly pushing his advantage and kept attacking the knight with his longsword, making use of his shortsword to only parry some of the attacks. The knight could was well trained as he matched Harry for blow by blow as he parried Harry's attacks with his valyrian steel sword.

Harry spun around and slashed at him again as the knight blocked the blows but had staggered again. Harry lunged forward and made to cleave the knight from collarbone to hip, left to right as he slashed diagonally down from the left. As the knight moved to block the blow with a two handed grip, his eyes widened as he saw Harry's left arm and his shortsword had followed moments after his initial strike. Just as the two longswords barely clashed together, the shortsword sunk into the knight's unprotected throat.

The knight coughed out blood as the sword pierced his neck, his longsword falling from his hands. He did not have much time to react as with momentum Harry spun around, his right arm making a horizontal backhand slash with his longsword, cleanly decapitating the knight.

Harry felt drained as he felt the last fight had taken a lot of energy out of him. While he wasn't injured, he was beginning to slow. He really wanted the battle to be over soon. He saw as the soldiers around him fought and slaughtered the Ironborn. As he turned he got hit by a facefull of dust and sand. Choking and blinded by the sudden sneak attack, he could not defend himself properly in time as Victarion Greyjoy plunged a spear directly at Harry's chest.

Winterfell, Catelyn's POV

It had been close to a couple of moons since her husband and son had gone to put down the rebellion of the Ironborn. Couple of moons since she had restless nights as nightmares and fears plagued her. Catelyn knew that in their world, war was inevitable. Whether it be for a justified reason or a selfish cause, wars happened all the time.

They were all seated in the great hall as the children Bran, Arya and Sansa came and sat with them as they finished some of their assigned work from morning. Septa Mordane and Maester Luwin had informed her that the children were learning quite well.

Sansa, her 8 year old daughter had taken after her. She would excel at the work that was given to her, be it reading, writing or learning sewing and stitching. Sansa had grown up on tales of the North and the South, of the harsh winter and the barren land, of tales of knights and chivalry. Sansa had also adopted her silent disapproval of Jon as she rarely used to speak with the boy. She was still young and Catelyn had great hopes of her.

Her 5 year old daughter Arya had almost nothing in common with her sister. Arya used to be attracted by the armor, swords and such of the warrior and her father and brothers. Arya was especially close to Harry and Jon could often be seen with those two whenever they were in Winterfell. Catelyn had told Ned about her worries, that no lord would accept a wife that wilful. Ned had been amused, pointing out how adamant and rigid she could be when she brought up her own children.

Catelyn had blushed in embarrassment. She had been worrying too much. Her Arya would be a strong and proud woman. She could also tell that Arya reminded Ned of Lyanna and her distaste for the trappings of being a lady were similar to what Lyanna had felt about her own life.

The poor and sad fate of her good sister had also made Catelyn be more careful with Arya as she had realised that Arya did possess much of what Ned used to call as 'Wolfsblood'.

Her son Bran was a shy and quiet boy who would be happy when he was with his brothers. The baby Rickon was in her hand as she sat on the table as her children came to the hall to break their fast.

Her eldest Robb sat at the Lord's seat as he read through several reports as he broke his fast. Robb had gone and dispatched patrols on the entire North. As he had surmised, bandits had increased but they were put down by the patrols. They had received reports that Ironborn had attacked Stony Shore. As per the reports, around 1500 Ironborn had landed onto their western shores, more of them unable to reinforce these men as the Iron Fleet was destroyed by the Roal and the Redwyne fleets.

Catelyn knew that Robb was nervous for Jon. She had tried to assuage his fears. Even before the creation of the Winterwolves, the people from the regions of Stony Shore had become hardy and unyielding as they had faced repeated onslaughts of Ironborn raiders.

Catelyn was broken out of her reverie as Maester Luwin walked into the hall with a scroll in his hand. Robb was looking at the Maester expectantly as he approached them and said, "We received a raven from the wolves. They had initiated the fight against the Ironborn. There is no cause for concern as they have reported that they have slowly managed to encircle the ironborn and would be striking any day. They are sticking to guerilla tactics to frustrate the Ironborn." Maester Luwin said.

"Are the Winter Wolves so powerful?" piped up Arya.

Maester Luwin and the Master at arms Rodrick Cassel smiled. They knew about the little girl's fascination with arms and war. Maester Luwin answered, "They are indeed powerful. They are highly disciplined, conditioned to survive in the harshest conditions. They are also excellent hunters and scouts and excellent fighters. Their commander Cregan is a veteran and has trained his men well."

"But doesnt Harry own the wolves? Shouldn't he train them?"

"Lord Harry is busy with several projects. He wouldn't have the time or the patience to sit and train young and green boys" Ser Rodrick said , "That is why he has given that responsibility to me and Commander Cregan."

"Maester Luwin," Robb said, "I read through the reports of the wolves. The scouts have reported mines in the Northern Mountains?"

"Indeed." Maester Luwin stated. "Lord Harry always suspected that the northern mountains had a lot of natural minerals which we could put to good use. He has plans to speak to the mountain clans to negotiate on this."

Robb nodded. He had read through the journals that Harry had left him and he was impressed at the detailed manner in which his brother had planned on making the North strong. He had plans to build roads, villages, better housing, more jobs, more trade and such.

"We will discuss the allocation of funds for each of these projects. Once father and Harry are back, we can have this approved by Father. It would speed up some of the things."

Maester Luwin nodded, "Lord Harry had meant to involve you as he was going to put his plans in action. We can certainly discuss these projects and we can even possibly begin a few of these within a fortnight."

Arya was a little unhappy with the way the conversation changed to grown up talk. She wanted to know. One of the stable boys had told her a tale of her brother and she needed to know if it was true.

"Are the tales they say about Harry are true?" she asked, filled with curiosity. She had read the stories of legendary knights like Ser Arthur Dayne and Ser Aemon the Dragonknight. The stable boy was full of awe when he had told her the story. She had to know if her brother was a hero.

"Obviously they are true" said Sansa, "The people in Winterfell tell such tales of him. Even Old Nan has a few stories about him". Sansa often used to dream of the knights of the south, with their chivalry and their customs. She used to dream of marrying a prince and being a princess. However, she did realise that her brother while no knight was as loved by their people as her knights were loved in her stories. The reverence with which they spoke about her brother did make her feel special. If it was okay for Harry to act like a knight without being one, maybe it was not okay to be a princess, as long as she acted like one.

Cateyn saw her children and her family talking and exchanging stories. It brought a smile to her face. Her children were beautiful, brothers and sisters who loved each other. They were boisterous and could be a handful times but she could never be prouder of her children, the way they stayed together and had each other's back. Robb nodded to her as she, Maester Luwin and Ser Rodrick Cassel retired to her husband's solar to discuss more on the plans that Harry had made.

Catelyn prayed that night again to the Old Gods for her family to be safe.

Stony Shore, 289 AC, Dunstan Drumm's POV

Lord Drumm was frustrated. He could scream. He had led dozens of raids on the shores of the North. He had taken the iron price from these lands and its people for years. He knew that the people in these lands were tough unyielding people who would fight fiercely to protect themselves. He used to be happy at this as it gave him the challenge of claiming what was his right.

Never had he come across such a resistance. His initial band of 300 men had split up into bands of 50 as he waited for more 1200 men to reach the shores. However, several of the parties returned with diminished numbers, claiming that they were routed by patrols. Many did not return. Thinking that a large force was coming, he had decided to move south and ambush the army, he sent a few scouts to scout the incoming army. They did not return.

His southern flank was harassed by arrows as he tried to back out the approaching army. Finally he had raided a small settlement which did not have many people to begin with and had fled upon seeing the Ironborn. He has set up their camp. After a few days during which they feasted on the foodstocks left by the fleeing peasants, during the night the foodstores of the settlement had caught fire burning everything to ash.

This had forced him to send out men to forage for food or to hunt. The men sent were hunted and killed and from the initial force of 1500 men that had arrived to plunder the North, 1200 men remained.

This morning he saw that the army of which he was hearing reports of had arrived. 400 men of the North were awaiting them a few hundred yards away from the settlement's back gate as the 600 men stood in front of the village in mounted cavalry.

They were forcing a confrontation and a battle as the days went by, the food shortage became a serious problem. He had decided to kill these northerners and once he was done with them he could raise the rest of the western shore.

He sent 300 Ironborn to skirmish and stop the 400 men at the rear gate to flank them as he led the rest 900 Ironborn to battle with the larger host of Northmen.

He was confident from his years of reaving and taking out bigger amies. What Lord Drumm did not consider was the fact that he had never fought a battle with such a strategic disadvantage. He had his men trained to ensure that they could throw axes quickly at the mounted units, to fell their horse. Dislodged from their horses and disoriented, his men would make short work of the Northmen.

Lord Drumm was confident that the men were mostly fresh levies trained in a rush and hastily gathered by a northern lord to repel the Ironborn. He was going to teach these Northmen who had harassed him for such a long time a lesson. He would make each of them beg for death.

Lord Drumm would not be in a position to reflect on his poorly thought out decisions as he was slaughtered the very next day by the bastard Jon Snow in single combat.

Lordsport, 289 AC, Harry's POV

Harry felt the impact on his chest as the iron spear pierced the metal plate with brute force. The protection on his armor and the steel plate had ensured that it was not a fatal blow as it would have been for any other person.

Harry felt winded at the force with which he had been hit with. His chest hurt immensely as he did suffer some of the blunt force which had generated on impact. He rolled across the ground getting up as he picked up his swords which had fallen when he was hit. He spat out a bit of blood.

Victarion Greyjoy was standing and almost towering over Harry. While Harry was tall, Victarion was a bull of a man with broad shoulders and he was armored in plate and mail. In his hand was a heavy axe and on his other lay a shield. He wore a helm of Iron in the shape of a Kraken, the helm only exposed his eyes and the bottom part of his face, which had a vicious smirk.

"I thought I killed you", he said as Harry swung his sword at him. Victarion blocked it easily with his shield, responding with a strong downward slash with his axe. Harry pushed back against the shield to gain some distance as he evaded the blows coming his way.

"Silent one, I see." Victarion snarled, " I will make you scream!" as he charged at him.

Victarion was a fearsome fighter and would make unconventional strikes and moves which forced Harry to be defensive, the pain in his chest flaring up often Harry was quickly at a disadvantage against the elder Ironborn, one of the most experienced fighters of the Iron Islands.

Harry spun and tried to slash at Victarion's neck as he parried it with ease. Victarion moved in to attack Harry and as Harry moved to block, Victarion managed to hook his longsword with his axe as he quickly smashed his shield onto Harry's longsword. The sword shattered. Victarion smiled as he hacked at Harry as he tried to block his attacks with his shortsword. Victarion suddenly closed his distance and bashed Harry with the shield and hit him a few times and finally kicked him in the chest.

Harry was tired and exhausted. His body hurt and ached. He could feel his muscles groaning due to the accumulated stress and strain from battle. He could see the fighting going on and he tried to see where his opponent was. Victarion was approaching him. He saw the valyrian steel blade of the knight he had slain a few minutes back fallen on the ground. He needed a longsword. He parried Victarion's slash with his shortsword as he rolled away from and toward the sword. He picked it up.

Warmth developed his fingers. Warmth that was so strange, yet so familiar. It was a sensation he had not felt in his lifetime as a Harlan Stark. He picked up the sword and titled it in his arms as he blocked a blow from Victarion Greyjoy. He remembered as Harry Potter his first time as he picked a wand and it had chosen him. The feeling of magic.

Harry could feel that his magic was responding to the sword he held in his hand. He began to be energised as his magic added to his vitality. He began to block and parry the attacks. As he kept fighting, his thrust and strikes became stronger. The sword was lighter so it caused him a little discomfort in timing his blows initially. As he grew more confident, he started to make more counter attacks and started to put Victarion on the defensive.

Sensing an opening, Harry slash diagonally from the left toward Victarion who threw up his shield to absorb the blow. The valyrian steel, infused with magic cut though the shield like butter. Victarion took out his other axe to start a dual handed assault.

Victarion was very strong and he would have overwhelmed Harry. Harry who was tired and fatigued from the entire day's fight. However, with Harry getting back much of his strength and stamina as magic sustained him, Victarion did not stand much of a chance.

Harry parried his blows with the longsword as he slashed hard at Victarion's hand. The blow connected as Victarion yelled out in pain. Harry, not leaving the opportunity, crouched and lunged as he thrusted both his swords into his opponents thighs before kicking him hard in the chest.

Victarion was thrown on his back as Harry approached him. Injured and trying to get up hastily, Victarion only managed to get to a kneeling position and raise one of his axes in front of him as defense as Harry's right arm, armed with the valyrian sword descended on him. The sword cut through the wooden shaft of the axe as Victarion felt the sword slash half his face. He screamed in pain before reeling from the shock of the blow.

Harry noticed as he kicked Victarion in the chest as many of the Ironborn around him had begun to retreat with fear in their eyes. He picked up Victarion by his tentacled helm as he made him face the Ironborn, towards Pyke. He thrusted the valyrian sword into his back as it came out from the middle of Greyjoy's chest. Some of the Ironborn started to run towards Pyke as he then removed the kraken helm of the reaver lord.

The helm had been badly damaged when Harry had struck his blow. His left eye was badly damaged and bloody and there was a missing chunk in the lower part of his face where the sword had cleaved him. His mouth was dripping with blood as the wound from his chest kept bleeding. Harry pulled out the sword with a heave as Victarion knelt there, senseless. Many of the Ironborn had begun to retreat which led to many of them being killed as they were attacked mercilessly by the army of the Iron Throne.

It seemed that almost every eye was on Harry as he grabbed Victarion's head by the hair as he raised the valyrian steel sword Nightfall in his other arm. With a swift move, he separated Victarion's head from his shoulders as he held up the head of the dead Greyjoy as he shouted, "For the North, and for Westeros!"

Men around him roared as they began to slaughter the rest of the Ironborn. Lordsport was burned to the ground that day.

Author's Note: Thank you all for the love and support. So the attack on the Iron Islands begin. Please do follow, favourite and review if you like my work. Until next time!