The Kraken and the Lion

Chapter 11

by Technomad

Asha clattered up the stairs to the top of the parapet to find Tyrion already there with his guard detail all around. She nodded her approval. She knew perfectly well that Queen Cersei despised the air her younger brother breathed, and a battlefield was an easy place for "accidents" to happen. Her crew followed her up, spreading out until they held a section of the wall. She saw Jinjur winking, and smiled. She wouldn't put it one bit past Cersei to see that she, too, had an "accident." The Queen considered her a barbarian, and no matter how much she despised Tyrion, Cersei considered any Lannister much too good for a Greyjoy.

King Joffrey was also standing by, with Ser Meryn beside him. The skies had an odd greenish tint, and as she looked out over the harbor, she gasped. She had never seen wildfire in action before, and the idea of fire that burned fiercely on the water's own surface chilled her blood in a way she had never expected. She was very, very glad that she'd had enough forewarning to make sure that Black Wind was out of the harbor. That ship was nearly all she had in the world, and she'd not have been happy at all about losing her. "A Lannister pays his debts," to be sure, but she and the Black Wind had been together long enough for the ship to feel like an extension of her body. Losing her would have been like having a limb amputated.

Other friendly ships were in harbor, though. Joffrey pointed out to the harbor, all but foaming at the mouth. "Uncle!" he howled, sounding like the spoiled, petulant child he was. "They're burning! My beautiful ships are burning! Look! The Seaflower! Loyal Man! Kingslander! And Queen Cersei!" He stamped his foot. "Do something! Why are you burning my ships?"

Tyrion gave his nephew an exasperated look. "We had to lure your uncle's fleet in, and if the harbor had stood empty, even Stannis Baratheon would have suspected a trap. The ships can be replaced, but our heads cannot…and if we lose this fight, our heads will all be up on spikes."

Asha looked around, and noticed someone missing. "My lord, where is Bronn?" She didn't always trust the sellsword, but she knew him to be no coward and by no means averse to getting into a good fight.

Tyrion grinned. "He's down supervising the raising of the chain. You can see it now. Look!" Asha peered out at the green-lit water, and gasped in wonder. She had known of the chain's existence, but somehow had not grasped the sheer size of it. As she watched, some of "King" Stannis' ships made a run at it, hoping to bear over it and break free, but of four, only one made it, and that was at the cost of great damage to her hull. The crew pulled frantically for the open sea, where many of Stannis' ships could be seen. The majority, though, had taken the bait, and were now being destroyed as thoroughly as any ships Asha had ever seen.

If I ever attack Kings Landing, particularly after seeing this, I deserve to burn for being an idiot! ran through her mind. Part of her was delighted that her fiance's plan had worked out so well, but another part couldn't help but empathize with the desperate men struggling to survive, out on the water. Any sailor would have felt the same.

"It didn't work as well as I'd hoped," Tyrion muttered. "The Myrish ships escaped, at least for now, and we've got a landing force down by the gates." As if to emphasize his words, a rhythmic crashing came from the direction of the gates. "Tell Lord Jacelyn to look to the gate," he snapped at a runner, who saluted and ran off to obey his lord's command. "You, tell Ser Arneld to rotate the Three Whores thirty degrees to bombard those ships!"

"Yes! And I want to be up there!" Joffrey swept his arm at some men Asha hadn't noticed before. Naked and shivering, they were all bound, and they had antlers nailed to their heads, with rivulets of blood running down the sides of their heads. "Those traitors, the Antler Men, need to be shot from the catapults, and I want to give the order for it!"

"Go on, Your Majesty." As Joffrey ran off, Tyrion turned to Ser Meryn. "And you…keep him alive, or your head will be on a spike no matter how this battle ends! Do you understand me?" Ser Meryn paled and saluted before going off to follow his king. Tyrion then turned to Asha. "At last, I can direct this battle without worrying about him! My sister will have my skin for a war-flag if anything happens to her precious baby!"

"Really?" Asha gave her fiance a sardonic smirk. "She and her son would be laughed out of the Iron Islands!" Where Asha came from, boys even younger than Joffrey were expected to be able to handle themselves, and not hide behind their mothers. And mothers who encouraged such behavior faced fierce disapproval from their compeers.

"I know." Tyrion grinned his crooked grin at her. Just then, another runner came up, calling for him. Tyrion sighed and beckoned the youngster over.

"My lord! The enemy have landed on the tourney grounds! They're bringing a ram to bear against the Great Gate!"

"Of course they are," Tyrion said in a sardonic voice. "Thank you. You may go." He started down the stairs, his men and Asha's behind him. "Come on, Asha. It's time we saw what dear Stannis has for us to play with." They had horses waiting, and soon were galloping for the gate.

When they got there, they saw something that Asha had never expected. Sandor Clegane had been apparently asked to lead the sortie, but he was refusing. "No. Bugger the crown. Bugger the king. Bugger the white cloak! I'll not do it!" At this, Asha could see the defenders quailing. If Sandor Clegane, of all people, had had enough fighting, their body-language proclaimed, why should they go on with the battle?

Tyrion saw that they were wavering. "Very well! I'll lead the sortie myself!" He rode forward, and turned to face the frightened defenders. "Why are you afraid? This is far more your fight than mine!" He waved his arm at the city behind them. "That city is your city! That's the city Stannis' men will plunder! It's your women his men will rape! It's your houses that will burn! Do you dare follow where a dwarf leads?"

Asha reined up beside him, slim and deadly-looking in her armor. "Make that a dwarf…and a woman! Come on, you ironborn! Let's show these soft folk how to really fight!" Her crew roared their approval, and waved their weapons to show their support.

"There are brave men out there, knocking at our gate! Let's go kill them!" With a howl of pure bloodlust, the Kings Landing defenders swarmed out at the enemy, with Tyrion and Asha, side by side, in the lead. Forming a flying wedge, they charged at the enemy, yelling their various battle cries.

Asha had never been in such an intense fight, and it was everything she could ever have wanted or hoped for in a battle. She stuck close to Tyrion's side, with his squire, Podrick Payne, on the other side. Through the roar of combat, she could hear Tyrion trying to order Podrick to go back, and she saw the shy boy shake his head in refusal, even though he was clearly so scared that he looked like he was seasick. She really respected him for that; she knew how hard it was to conquer one's own fears.

Arrows and spears sang around their heads, and Asha, at the head of her crew, forged ahead into the thick of the fighting, her own sword a swirling arc of steel, destroying all who dared stand against her. Not far away, Jinjur's red hair stood out like a crown of flame under her helmet, as her sword carved a dreadful path through the enemy. The rest of the ironborn were not behindhand, but that was no surprise. She had not ever allowed cowards to sail on the Black Wind.

Rather to her surprise, Tyrion was holding his own. Guards or no guards, the fighting was intense enough that he had to engage the enemy himself, and he was apparently by no means a bad fighter given his limitations. But then, dwarf or no dwarf, he was a Lannister, and the men of that House were renowned as warriors.

After an interval that had felt like hours, but couldn't have been more than minutes, the attackers were put to flight, running for their lives. Tyrion signalled the halt, not wanting his men to get spread out and make themselves vulnerable to a counter-attack. He reined in beside Asha, his eyes sparkling.

"So this is what Jaime lives for," he panted. Asha smiled. She had never meet her good-brother-to-be, but had heard a great deal about him. He was a warrior's warrior, never happier than when in battle or on the tourney field. Of course, Asha thought, those are two places that poisonous sister of his can't follow him!

Astride a lathered horse, Ser Balon rode up. "Look! Look at the river!" He pointed, and when Asha saw what he was pointing at, her blood went cold with fear. Out on the river, the jammed mass of enemy galleys that had escaped Tyrion's wildfire had formed a logjam that could be crossed, and a large body of enemy troops was beginning to cross over, hoping to take Kings Landing at a vulnerable point.

"Oh, Seven save us," Tyrion muttered. "We've got to counter-attack!" Jumping clumsily from his horse, he waddled toward the impromptu bridge, and Asha dismounted and ran after him, yelling to her crew to follow her.

Tyrion led the way onto the bridge, but Asha was right beside him, and so was Podrick Payne. To Asha's surprise, the shy boy had survived all the fighting, despite being in the thick of action as hot as she'd ever seen in her life. For a second, she speculated about what he might have been like if he'd been ironborn. He might not have been so shy, and could have blossomed into a mighty captain in his own right.

Arrows sang around her ears as she and Tyrion led the charge forward. She and her crew, of course, were completely at home on the decks of ships, even half-wrecked galleys of an unfamiliar design. Tyrion was less nimble, and more than once he stumbled, as did his men, but they kept getting right back to their feet and charging forward.

The bridge was inherently unstable, with the current pushing against it relentlessly. Asha could feel the decks swaying as the ships rocked back and forth, and she wondered how long the bridge would hold. As long as it takes, she thought, and she sent a silent prayer to the Drowned God to let it hold, although she normally had the Iron Islands' view of the god: that he was not a good god to call on.

The Drowned God didn't seem to be answering prayers; with a sudden groan and roar of snapping timbers, the ships tore loose from each other, and Asha, Tyrion, Podrick and some of Asha's crew found themselves on a free-floating, slowly-sinking wreck, spinning around as the ships that had been jammed into the logjam worked free and began their journeys downriver. The ship bumped up against another ship, and stopped for a little while. The other ship was securely grounded, and wasn't going anywhere.

"My lord Tyrion! Take my hand!" That was Ser Mandon, on the grounded ship, reaching out…with his left hand? Asha's eyes went wide as she saw the knight's right hand cock back his sword, ready to swing at Tyrion the second the dwarf was securely gripped and in range. With a yell of rage, she threw herself at the treacherous knight, and found herself tackling him along with Podrick Payne.

"You murderous cur!" screamed Asha. "He's mine! I'll kill you!" Ser Mandon swung his sword, but she was in too close, gripping him around the waist and forcing him backward. He fetched up against the ship's railing and overbalanced, going into the water with a howl of despair. Panting, Asha and Podrick watched as he hit the water with a loud splash, going down and not coming up. Asha smiled grimly. He was no ironborn, she thought; he feared drowning!

Meanwhile, Tyrion and most of her surviving crew had managed to join them. Tyrion was looking around them. "Asha…is it my imagination, or have we won a victory today?"

Asha finally managed to tear her eyes away from the water to follow her fiance's pointing finger. From what she could see, it looked like a crushing victory. She was seeing Lannister banners, with their golden rampant lion on a red background, in places she'd have never expected to see them, along with the royal banner and the golden kraken on a black background of her own House. Stannis' Baratheon's colors were nowhere to be seen.

Tyrion sighed, suddenly looking as weary as Asha felt. "Well, my lady…" he said, taking her hand, "let us go ashore, and find out what's happened while our backs were turned."

END Chapter 11