Queen of the Iron Islands Chapter 9
The Battle of Great Wyk breaks out and the usurper Euron throws everything in his arsenal against his political opponents, including several warlocks from Qarth who unleash a storm of torrential rain and darkness. Asha finds the unlikeliest ally while Ila runs into straight into the talons of the Crow's Eye. All recognisable ASOIAF characters, locations, and concepts rightfully belong to George R. R. Martin. This is just a work of fan fiction meant to explore an alternate history. As always, feel free to read and review.
Asha: The Unlikeliest Ally
Asha along with her uncles Aeron Damphair and Rodrik the Reader fought their way through the chaotic battlefield, accompanied by the sailor Harmund Pyke and Euron's estranged salt-wife Jaya. This was no pitched battle between two armies. It was a total sight of chaos and pandemonium on Nagga's hill and the sacred shores of Old Wyk.
Euron's henchmen had descended on the unsuspecting masses like a pack of wolves ravaging a herd of sheep. Euron's forces were not solely foreign mercenaries and thralls he had seized during his three-year maritime exile. His forces included Ironborn who had agreed to turn on their brothers for silver, gold, and treasure. Ironborn slew Ironborn. Servants slew their masters. Men at arms slew their liege-lords. Neighbours slew neighbours. Brothers slew brothers. Even women, children, and babes were not spared the slaughter. Euron had intended to smash all of his opponents, their spouses, and offspring in one single strike.
To make a bad situation worse, the heavens had opened up with a deluge of torrential rain and lightning. Soon, the sandy shores of Old Wyk had turned into a bog of mud, blood, and corpses. The sky had also darkened.
"The Storm God is working with the Crow's Eye," shouted Aeron, amidst the pattering of rain drops and the roar of the battlefield "This is no ordinary downpour. Euron's wizards must be hard at work."
Armed with an axe in her right hand and a flaming torch in the other, Asha led the way forward.
"Where's Ila and Victarion," she shouted.
"Look out," cried Rodrik, who was nursing a bleeding arm from the assassination attempt.
Asha turned to see a great Sothoryi berserker charging at her with a machete. She saw her opponent's huge square teeth and great pink tongue. The berserker was coming closer and closer by the second. Suddenly, a man with crew-cut hair and dressed in linen rags appeared to the left of the Sothoryi and smashed his head with a great tomahawk. The Sothoryi's burst open like some great turnip; splattering blood and brain everywhere. Some blood splattered Asha's leather jerkin and green tunic.
Asha and her companions approached their rescuer. It was a familiar face but someone whom she did not count as her friend. It was Lucas Codd, the reaver who had conspired with the Crow's Eye to murder her father, Balon. He held the bloody tomahawk in his left hand. After finishing off the dying Sothoryi with a few more blows to the head, Lucas turned to face his old enemies.
Asha still had an axe in her hand while both her uncles and Pyke had raised their swords.
"I don't come as a foe," cried Lucas "I have abandoned the Crow's Eye. I will like to atone for my crimes by fighting one last time with the Greyjoys."
"How can we trust you, a kingslayer," growled Aeron. His great grey beard was soaked with rain.
"I know how Euron created this storm," replied Lucas "He has several Qarthian warlocks working for him. They are hiding at his golden tent guarded by a ring of Unsullied. I may be a Codd but not all of us are thieves and cowards. Let me redeem my name through blood and iron."
For all the hate and anger she had harboured towards Lucas, she hated the Crow's Eye even more for killing her dear father so that he could sit his arse on the Seastone Chair. Now, Euron had unleashed a bloodbath in order to purge all those who were standing in his way to realizing his vision of ruling the Iron Isles and the Green Lands. Now, all that hate and anger towards Lucas was washed away by the wet realization that this man had saved her life. She no longer desired to strike the man down with her sword. Instead, she decided to focus on the greater battle: one that would determine the history of her people.
"Lead us there," said Asha "And we will pardon you and restore you name."
Ila: In the Talons of the Crow's Eye
"Rally to me, to me," bellowed Victarion amidst the clash of blades and the roar of the battlefield.
With his heavy plated suit of armour and helm forged in the shape of a kraken, the Lord Captain of the Iron Fleet was a recognisable sight in the battlefield. Already, the other Ironborn had begun to rally for a counter-attack against Euron's horde of mutes, foreign mongrels, and turncoats. Several men had begun raising the banners of House Greyjoy: a golden kraken on a black field. A masked turncoat attempted to charge at Victarion with an axe but one of Asha's men – a tall imposing man called Ralf the Dwarf – impaled the scoundrel through the chest with a great javelin.
Other men had begun blowing horns.
"Let's stand and fight against the usurper and his minions," roared Victarion "Reinforcements are coming any moment now from Nagga's Bay. So, let's write our names in iron, blood, and song."
Victarion's men cheered and they began forming a circle around the Lord Captain. Together, they fought their way through the battlefield. Ralf the Limper, Tristifer Botley, and Red Ralf had begun evacuating the women, children and elderly from the battlefield.
"Go, get out now Ila," shouted Victarion "The battlefield is no place for a child."
"I want to see you kill the Crow's Eye," shouted back Ila
"He'll kill you first than me," retorted Victarion "Now, go."
Ila carried a wailing babe and led two frightened young brothers, one three and the other five, out of the fray. They tried to keep up with the other women and children. Several warriors escorted them; protecting them from the blades and axes of Euron's henchmen.
After a gruelling trek through mud and blood, the civilians finally made it to the sandy beaches of Nagga's Bay. Several of Euron's reinforcements had just disembarked in their longboats and helped to evacuate the children. A great Sothoryi footman with brindled brown-and-white-skin and great long arms helped Ila to life the wailing babe and the two brothers onto the longboat. Asha then helped a frail old woman up onto the longboat.
With the boat almost full, Red Ralf ordered his crew to set sail. The Sothoryi turned to pull Ila aboard but she refused to go.
"No, I must find my mummy and daddy," she lied.
"They must be dead," replied the Brindle Man. "Captain Ralf says all women and children must go."
Rather than scream and argue, Ila turned and ran back to the battlefield. Her linen frock was soaked with rain and seawater. Behind her, Ila heard the cries and shouts of the crew and passengers but she ignored them. She ran as fast as a deer fleeing a ravenous wolf back into the battlefield. The rain was getting heavier and the sky was turning darker.
Running through the thick of battle, she dived several times to avoid being crushed by a tomahawk or speared by a sword. She also found herself leaping over the bodies of the dead and dying. Amidst the darkness, it was hard to tell who was friend and who was foe. Suddenly, Ila tripped over a fallen shield.
The impact of the fall threw her onto the ground like a hard rock. Ila spat out a loose tooth and felt blood trickling down her right knee. Before she could stand up, Ila found herself staring into a familiar face. Someone she did not want to meet. She found herself staring into the handsome, pale angular face of Euron Greyjoy himself. She recognised the eyepatch covering his left eye and his ice-blue right eye. He had a lone handsome mane the colour of black ink and a neatly cropped beard.
"Well, well. What have we hear," said the Crow's Eye in a snake-like voice. "It's the little Wildling bitch who created all this trouble."
Ila tried to run but he grabbed her with her long blonde hair. The Crow's Eye grabbed her with both his arms. When she tried to bite his left hand, he flashed a knife at her with his right.
"Now, you will behave, little girl," said the Crow's Eye "Or I will be forced to kill you."
Endnotes
To give full gravity to the Battle at Old Wyk, I decided to spread it out over two chapters. It's too action-packed to be packed into one chapter especially because there are two point-of-view characters. Will Asha & company succeed in their quest to defeat Euron's warlocks and turn the tide of the battle? Will Ila survive the talons of the Crow's Eye? See the next chapters.