[Chapter Size: 2300 Words.]
Third Person POV.
Iron Islands.
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...
The Iron Islands were quite calm and silent at this moment, very different from the beginning of the military campaign — it was the second time they had rebelled against the Seven Kingdoms, taking advantage of the moment of fragility while all the kingdoms were at war with several candidates for the throne and others seeking justice.
Balon Greyjoy had not failed to launch his attack when he had the opportunity; he saw his chance to triumph, taking advantage mainly of the fact that the North had its army in the South in search of vengeance and freedom for Lord Stark, sending most of his men led by his sons, while sending another part of his men to the fields and to the West, with Victarion commanding those men.
The ironborn were all taking advantage of the gaps in the war. Everything showed that their rebellion would be much better than their attack more than ten years ago, which in the end failed against King Robert.
And so it was for a time. But soon the West also acted and struck back, even with its army absent; although the ironborn had come out ahead at first, the Reach also reacted better to the attacks. This, however, did not prevent Balon's men from taking some cities, such as Oldtown, which was now almost under the control of his men, the attack and murder of the maesters having weakened the city.
In the North everything was going better than he had planned, his men were practically in control of Bear Island after conquering it almost completely. A good number of troops, more than four thousand, were there only to try to take the Mormont castle, the island's last defense, wanting to kidnap the youngest daughter to have full control with a hostage. Therefore, when his men destroyed the villages and nothing was left but the castle, Balon approved his daughter's efforts, commanding a larger number of men to relocate them on the island until its conquest, which was already guaranteed.
He was quite satisfied with his advance in the North. At that time, they were surrounding Torrhen's Square, putting the Tallhart family under a blade at their necks. Deepwood Motte castle was also about to fall under their siege against the Glovers, and even the seat of the Dustins, Barrowton, was taken by a large number of men, with Lord Harlaw leading them.
Meanwhile, they also maintained the best defense in the North, after conquering Mount Calim, to try to prevent any Northern reinforcement from sending any part of its army from the South back to their lands.
The only problem at that time was the Boltons, who did not even have five thousand soldiers, led by Roose's bastard. Balon could still gather more resources in the North and deal with the Boltons at the same time. Everything seemed quite firm and calm.
When the North was betrayed and attacked from behind, Balon could have seen a guaranteed victory, some of his old enemies all betrayed and killed, he was laughing at that moment.
However, things began to change.
The Bear Island was where the change began, for suddenly, his men stopped communicating. The captains quickly sent ships to check what was happening there, and they were met — according to the survivors — by a white dragon destroying them, while only a few managed to return alive.
Balon, of course, thought it was utter nonsense… until another piece of news arrived: the Wall had fallen a few weeks earlier, and two hundred thousand wildlings had crossed it and were now in the North.
Balon had to admit he even smiled at that, imagining how the North would be devastated by them. But he was wrong.
For he began receiving reports that fifty thousand wildlings had joined Daemon Targaryen, along with a dragon, and they advanced north like a marching army.
They began to take back every point where the Ironborn had advanced. In the end, Balon learned that his troops were fleeing while being attacked, surrounded by the enemy, ambushed at night in uniform fashion.
There was nothing wild about them as he had imagined: their actions were always coordinated, they moved in formation, they obeyed commands. And leading them was the one they called Daemon Targaryen — the same one declared to be Jon Snow, the bastard of Lord Stark, and the same one who had been causing chaos for some time. They even said he was responsible for the death of King Robert Baratheon.
They called him Kingslayer. Blackfyre, like a Targaryen bastard. Even Mad King for his cruelty, or at least that was how the rumors were spreading, perhaps with some Lannister gold…
But Balon would not be a coward before this; the Kraken should not fear, even if the enemy had a dragon.
That, however, did not stop his men from running to the coast. All the efforts of the Ironborn in the North had been destroyed, and his daughter returned home with him, irritated, calling her a coward and incompetent for having fled.
She did not seem to care much about his opinion, saying it was his fault, for now the most powerful enemy was coming after them. He could not deny her condition either: battered all over, her face covered in bandages. She had once had a certain beauty, many men admired her, but now she made any man avert his eyes — not that it mattered.
After all, she was a pirate captain specialized in raiding; beauty was irrelevant. Perhaps she would rule the Iron Islands one day, she would take whatever she wanted.
Or, at least, she would have ruled. For when she said she was leaving, Balon roared at her, becoming even more furious when he saw that most of his men agreed with her. She simply left, saying she would not stay there to be destroyed. She said she had seen the dragon — and that it was not something the Ironborn could fight against.
"The Kraken cannot fly. It was a monster… a demon." Those were her words, leaving Balon outraged that she would speak such things.
In the end, she left the island, and less than half of her ships remained — with five thousand men.
Balon only hoped to hear better news from their campaign in the South: they had nearly taken a city like Oldtown and some ports in the Kingdom of the West.
After dealing with that, he would go after his daughter to put her back in her proper place for disobeying her father, her king. Theon had been broken, according to her; she said he had been tortured and had even lost his penis to the bastard Bolton's torment. Balon only growled, saying he was no longer his son upon hearing that, and she did not care. Then she left in the middle of the night along with her men.
Anyway, today seemed like a quiet day. He was about to send his men on new campaigns. What he did not expect was a man running toward the castle — one of the tower guards.
"King Balon! I need to speak with King Balon!" they shouted at the entrance, making Balon irritated.
"Let him in. Tell me what he wants," Balon roared.
His men let him pass. Before the salt throne, the man nearly ran forward, and the guards beside the Salt King already raised their swords, thinking he might be a threat — but he merely knelt.
"Ships, your majesty! Ships are coming from the North! There are at least sixty of them!" he exclaimed, while Balon raised an eyebrow.
"What could it be?" he murmured, already guessing. It seemed the North had arrived. "What banner is on the ships?" Balon asked.
"It is a three-headed dragon on a black field, your majesty," the man said, nervous.
Everyone in the hall grew restless. This could only mean one thing: the Targaryen had sent his attack to Pyke.
"Sixty ships… Well, we also have sixty ships. Hm… We will massacre them. What is dead may never die!" Balon replied, as everyone began to move.
Quickly, the entire island entered defensive preparation. All concentrated at Pyke's port, waiting for the ships to arrive. Balon did not leave the castle; he placed some captains in command and climbed to the top, to watch from one of the towers the battle that was about to begin. The North had not slowed at any moment — they advanced with determination.
Excited shouts could be heard coming from the ships, but Balon only smiled.
"Let them come. Soon they will meet their destruction." Balon said with a fierce tone, almost as if he had lost his sanity.
What he did not know was about the small white bird flying thousands of meters in the sky, or at least it seemed to be a bird, but if one could see it up close, the gigantic creature clearly would not look like a bird.
The dragon was so high among the clouds that no eye in Pyke could notice it.
Daemon saw, through his wolves on the northern ships, that the fleet was finally close, and then he set out toward it. He left his army still advancing through the Riverlands and wrote a letter for the northern ships, instructing what they should do. It was easy to do this by tying it to a small bird he had brought with him and writing on the dragon itself, sending it to Lord Tallhart, stating that he would take care of the port and they should dock on the other beach of the island.
When he saw that all of Pyke's forces were concentrated at the port, Daemon acted quickly. He guided Winter as the dragon beat her wings forcefully, tilting her body downward and beginning to descend. The creature partially folded her wings, letting her enormous weight do the work against gravity.
Daemon steadied himself on the dragon's back, casting a dragon-skin spell for any impact he might suffer from such a fall, and the dragon would soon glide afterward, for he might be the dragonborn, but he was still a man.
Winter drew closer and closer to Pyke. Her announcement was simple: a roar that shook every ear below.
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR
Balon and all the men of Pyke looked to the sky, stunned, when they saw the creature in free fall, heading straight for the waters near the port.
"Impossible…", Balon paled, seeing for the first time that living thing rapidly approaching the seawater near the main point of the island.
When the right moment came, Winter opened her wings instantly, making a great arc in the air to keep from falling into the water, then diving forward toward the port beside her. In the next moment, she simply began spewing ice over the ships and the men nearby, who tried to flee — but the ice was faster, freezing and destroying the entire area while thousands of soldiers and their vessels were caught by the attacks.
The aligned ships became easy targets for the dragon, who advanced gliding over the port in that straight line, devastating dozens of them.
When Winter left the port, the entire place lay covered in white flames and ice. While most men lay dead, others screamed in agony, breathing the frozen air — when they were not struck directly.
In just a moment, Daemon had killed at least three thousand men with his icy flames, while thousands more suffocated with the freezing wind filling their lungs, killing them slowly.
The ships coming from the North watched everything, impressed by the dragon's power. They already knew the fate Stannis's men's fleet had met, and the Tallharts knew that Daemon had used his dragon to devastate and massacre thousands of Ironborn who had escaped the siege of Torrhen's Square, but none of them had ever seen such destruction so closely.
Even hardened warriors were shocked — the port had become complete chaos. Balon trembled at the top of the castle; the stories and his daughter's warning seemed more real than ever. In a brief moment, most of the ironborn under his command were dead there.
Daemon made Winter take flight again, gaining altitude as he looked toward the island — mainly toward the castle.
"Well... let's deal with that squid once and for all," he muttered, guiding Winter directly toward the fortress, which was supposed to be impenetrable. But nothing could stop the Dragonborn, who was about to descend from his dragon.
The men of the North had been instructed not to use the port — obviously, since the place would be frozen and the air was now fatal to anyone, not distinguishing allies from enemies. They headed straight for the shore.
Balon was still terrified at the top of the tower.
"My lord, we must go inside! The port was destroyed and the Northerners are coming!" an ironborn murmured to the king, trembling, looking at Balon, who only nodded before shrinking back at the sound of a roar. His gaze went to the sky as he saw the dragon approaching the castle.
"This can't be happening..." murmured the salt king, stunned, as Daemon came descending quickly near the castle.
The dragon did not breathe its flames — Daemon needed that entrance intact. Winter beat her wings and landed heavily on the ground, the impact making everyone nearby lose their balance and stare in horror at the creature.
Daemon slid off Winter's back, removing the Leviathan Axe from his dimensional space, letting the weapon materialize in his hand.
"Let's finish this," he said, knowing Balon was inside, running to the salt throne to try to hide. Daemon would put an end to that squid once and for all.
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