As the news of the incoming Ironborn raid spread through the town like fire in a slave pen, I was led through the town's pitiful defenses. The town lacked any structural defenses, even a wooden palisade to deter animals. Unsurprisingly the only defense the town contained was the mountains on the western and southern sides of the town. However, all the mountains could do was delay the Ironborn a mere couple of hours before they returned to the flat ground of the town. By the time the tour of the town's defenses was complete, the town's defenders had all gathered near the longhouse. A rough headcount showed around 90 villagers, it seemed the only ones who had not shown up were the elderly and children under two and ten. As I walked to where the leader was standing, I saw the villagers were in a rough shape. War scythes, hand axes, and wooden pikes filled the ranks; few men had shields and, no sword was seen in sight. Upon seeing my apprehensive look the leader said, "Aye, this is all the able-bodied men and women we could find. All the axes and scythes have been converted to weapons; I trust you have a plan to save us, Arron?"

"Aye, I have a plan although do not know how well it will work. However, it should alleviate some of the issues with not having any palisades to defend the town." The leader motioned for me to continue, "We dig earthworks on the south-western side of the town. However, we need to allow some gaps in the wall for the Ironborn to enter." Before the man could open his mouth to speak, I continued, "This will allow us to generally know where they will advance. Since if were to build a full wall with dirt some may charge over the top but many would just run around the sides. I must admit there are better options for defending the town but, we have neither the time nor the resources to build them."

I could see the grim realization overtake the leader's face as I told him these words before he started to speak, "How would we build these walls and fight, the Ironborn are less than a day away. The men would be exhausted from hard labor and lack of sleep. This seems like an idiot's gamble; we would be more safe packing up and leaving."

My body raged at the man's words; calling my plan an idiot's gamble instead of wanting to run away. I needed this battle to secure my reputation, the town may be barren and insignificant but, it was land. I would never stay here and wither away to become a useless noble, I would use it as a staging ground for my rise to power. I was once a High Noble of Valyria, I understood land and power leveraging more than any of these pathetic peasants. Defending and winning the support of this pathetic town would give me a bargaining chip to unite the other desolate fishing towns along this coast. Therefore, causing the lord of this area to either legitimize me or declare war. While they would most likely win the war, the unrest and loss of reputation would harm them more than a small loss of land. As my rage simmered down, I stared down into the man's eyes. "You want to run, gather all your small things, and RUN? RUN UNTIL THE NEXT ATTACK AND RUN AGAIN?! WE MUST FIGHT, FIGHT AND SECURE A PLACE TO LIVE! WE MUST WIN FOR WINNING IS THE ONLY WAY TO SURVIVE ANOTHER NIGHT!"

The villagers roared in approval of my words. Pikes and scythes were pounded against the ground as axes were held in the sky. I turned to the gathered villagers, "TEN OF THE FASTEN MEN STEP FORWARD" soon eight men and two women stepped forward.

"You ten will be my scouts, divide yourselves into two groups of five. One group will climb the mountain to the south and look for the Ironborn on land. The second group will head east to the coast and look for Ironborn longships. Once one of you sees the squids, you will send one scout to recall the other group and head back to town. Do not fight; you will be outnumbered forty to one, and you will die." The scouts nodded as they split into two groups and gathered supplies before heading to their respective locations.

I turned back to the remaining villagers, "Sadly you have all drawn the short stick, you will be building the town's defenses. You will divide yourselves in half, and work in shifts. Each shift must dig with vigor and passion as your lives depend on finishing these defenses. You will dig three holes along a curved line; each near seventy-five feet long, five feet wide, and ten feet deep with a ten-foot gap in between. The holes will be dug along the southern side of the town favoring the eastern direction. The dirt from the holes will be used to build the wall to protect you, any mistake will lead to your death. The most eastern wall should be straight with the western edge curved outward. While the western wall should be straight with the eastern edge curved outward. Finally, the middle wall should be straight with both edges curved outward. We need to funnel the Ironborn inside these pathways. NOW GO!" I finished speaking once I saw the villagers starting to follow my instructions.

Just as I finished speaking, I met the eyes of the leader. Neither one of us said a single word, eventually, he broke eye contact first and walked off. "May the rider never stand in the flame" I muttered as time started to pass by.

After eight shifts had passed, the earthwork was finally complete. The villagers all seemed exhausted and weary as my words had inspired them to work to exhaustion for, they may never see tomorrow if they did not. I walked to the main gathering spot before yelling, "ATTENTION! ATTENTION! THE WALL IS FINISHED" exhausted cheers ran through the crowd before I could continue, "A SET OF FIVE MEN WILL BE PICKED EVERY HOUR. YOU WILL STAND GUARD WAITING FOR THE SCOUTS TO RETURN OR IF THE IRONBORN IS INSIGHT. YOU WILL WAKE EVERYONE UP IF EITHER OCCURS. I WILL STAND GUARD FOR THE FIRST SHIFT. DISMISSED." A small cheer was heard before the villagers headed to the longhouse to sleep.

As the villagers all went to the longhouse to sleep, two stayed, the leader and Jonjon. I nodded as each one of us headed to a wall to watch. Once I climbed to the top of the wall, all I could do was think of Valyria. I wondered what had happened once the city feel, does Essos still exist? Do the dragons still call the fourteen flames home? Sadly, I could do nothing, all I could do was wait for the Ironborn to attack. As I stared into the abyss of the night, time seemed to drag by until a hand tapped my shoulder. I turned my body to attack the man grabbing me before I saw it belonged to Jonjon. "Milord, an hour has passed. I also wanted to say thank you for helping the town. We may all die soon, but you have given everyone hope they no longer need to run. The leader tried to fight many moons ago from the squids but he lost and managed to escape with a few of us. We have been running every time an Ironborn raid has happened. If we survive this raid, I think I will go to the tournament in Harrenhal next year. They boast the prize for winning melee and jousting is one hundred thousand Golden Dragons. How about you Milord?" he asked as he started walking to the longhouse.

As I followed Jonjon to the longhouse, I thought about his question over and over in my head. I already knew what I needed to do to gain power, however, the tournament seemed like an easy way to gain reputation and capital. The money could be used to buy a boat and crew to sail to Essos and back, and to buy slaves to mine in the mountains. "I think I might just go to that tournament, after all the money needs to go to someone important after all." I sarcastically said to Jonjon before entering the longhouse. "Goodnight my friend," I said before climbing into a haystack and closing my eyes.

A/N: This was meant to be a fighting chapter, however, I kind of got carried away with building the defenses of the town. I was going to add that to this chapter but it would have been like 4k words and some of the time changes would have not made sense. Hope this plot filler of a chapter is enjoyable. Also, he is called Arron because a small fisher isn't going to be able to pronounce Valyrian names right so it was an accident. It's not been brought up because Aerion is smart enough to know when to change it back.

Amaanriyas: He does not want to be a Lord of a shitty town either. Also, to me, Valyria is the Roman Empire at its height while Essos is the shitty knock-off of it called the Byzantine Empire.

soufianeaouad1: +1 now and +1 tomorrow

Robert and 42: Aye its better than my dumb Halo/Spiderman Idea, that will come at some point but I find this more interesting rn.