10.08.274 Orange Coast Hello, dear diary. This is my first entry addressed to you and the future me. In you I will record all the events that happen and write about all the places I have visited. I hope that in the future, I will be happy to read these entries to my descendants, telling them about my travels. Yesterday we left hospitable Volantis. The voyage went well, not even the cries and pleas of Oberyn tied to the mast interfered.
14.08.274Peace Peace . The city, located on the western coast of Essos, by the Myrtic Sea, greeted us amicably. Having sold the fruits and oils bought back in Volantis, I ordered to buy various iron trifles, like needles, brooches, hatchets, horseshoes and nails.
This city, famous for its artisans throughout the world, easily provided everything ordered at the lowest prices. I even came out on top after all the purchases. I didn't let Oberyn go ashore anymore. After that setup with Tharagos, he wouldn't see women for another three months.
19.08.274 The Narrow Sea The fifth day of my voyage differed from the others in only one thing - my ships encountered pirates for the first time. I don't know what those idiots were thinking when they decided to attack the Purple Rhino, which had fallen behind a bit and was sailing at the end of the column, but the foresters riddled them with arrows like hedgehogs with needles, and the highlanders finished off the rest. No one was even seriously injured.
The loot was a small pirate schooner, 30 surviving crew members, and 13 golden dragons. Not only stupid, but also poor pirates were caught. I'll sell them to the first ship from the Free Cities I come across (with the exception of Braavos, for such an offer the Braavosi can easily punch me in the eye). Volkan, shamelessly sleeping during his duty, got a tasty slap. But it is clear that one werewolf is not enough for my ships. We need to find another one. Surely they will be at our new destination.
01.09 .274 Skagos At last we arrived at our destination. Skagos is a large island in the North, at the mouth of the Bay of Seals, not far from Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, the only port of the ancient order of the Night's Watch. It is a massive, mountainous island with pale grey cliffs jutting out from the salt waters, a harsh and inhospitable land, inhabited by savages not far removed from the wildlings beyond the great icy Wall.
The waters around the island were full of dangerous currents and underwater rocks, so it was only thanks to the skill of Victarion and Hoar, accustomed to such places in their homeland, that we were able to survive and land. According to them, the place was not much different from the Iron Islands. The island lived up to its notoriety at once.
As soon as the northerners landed on the shore for reconnaissance, they were shot at with flint arrows and attacked by a crowd of locals dressed in rags, armed with crappy wooden shields and simple wooden clubs. The locals did not know iron at all. The result was obvious - the mountaineers slaughtered them like pigs in a slaughterhouse. Having lost most of their hotheads, the Skagosians became much more open to negotiations.
As a result, hundreds of seal skins, fur seals, whalebones and gallons of ambergris were received for all the iron trifles acquired back in the World. Plus, in my cabin there was now a whole chest filled to the brim with amber - transparent gold, the value of which was almost as valuable as the above-mentioned goods. But the most important acquisition was the unicorns. Large and shaggy animals with a horn on their head inspired by their appearance alone.
Like mammoths and direwolves, these ancient beasts, practically extinct and surviving only on the northern outskirts of Westeros, were the most valuable resource of Skagos, where only a few thousand of them lived. At least the locals understand the value of these animals and breed them themselves, preventing them from becoming extinct. I got them cheap.
For only ten simple and unpretentious swords that I forged in my spare time. What was worth a maximum of 1000-1500 silver deer was exchanged for animals that would have been sold for solid gold in Braavos.
As one old saying goes, "Things are not bad as long as there are suckers." Oberyn distinguished himself again. He managed to get into the house of the local lord Magnar and arrange a threesome with his wife and daughters.
According to him, these were the only women on the island for whom he got anything up. I was in complete solidarity with him, even though I beat him up for breaking the punishment.
Of course, I thought about leaving him on the island naked and sailing away, but the understanding that the Dornish prince, whose ass you had already saved several times, was a rare and irreplaceable resource, stopped me from rash actions. The local lord, of course, tried to rebel against such tyranny, but a good blow with the blunt side of my axe knocked him unconscious.
And his "squad", having already assessed their chances against professional warriors bristling with arrows and spears, disappeared into the sunset. There was good news, too.Another warg was found. A little girl, about eight years old, named Sigrid, could control a small seagull and calmly look through its eyes.
The girl was sold by her own parents for a small roll of cheap canvas. Later, I showed up at their house and personally beat up the head of the family. To treat your children like that…such creatures should be castrated at birth. So I got a new ward.
09.09 .274Braavos Braavos… the Venice of Essos… the richest and most powerful of the Free Cities, rivaled only by Volantis. This land of fog, mudflats and brackish waters made a strong impression on me.
An incredibly rich land. The sea is rich in fish and shellfish, and the mainland nearby produces slate, iron, tin and lead, which have always been in short supply in the other Free Cities.
It is not surrounded by any walls or fortifications, except for a natural rock ridge separating the lagoon from the sea. After all, this city does not need them - they are perfectly replaced by the strongest and largest navy in the entire western ecumene. I looked here only for two places. The main branch of the Iron Bank and the Great Purple Armory, shipyards considered the best in the world. I dropped by the Iron Bank only to get rid of some extra cargo.
After all, 60,000 gold dragons are a very tasty target for most pirates and the like. Unfortunately, I didn't have any good acquaintances, like in Lannisport, so the deposit was opened at only 2% per annum. An acceptable result. I needed the Great Purple Armory to order a ship.
I had long ago decided to follow the path of Corlys Velaryon, who made his fortune thanks to just one large fleet, and not several small ones, as other merchants prefer to do. And I needed a flagship, like the famous "Sea Serpent". Of course, there is always a risk when you put all your eggs in one basket, but it is justified.
So in 8 months, the local shipyards will launch a ship, the plans for which I found and stole in the Citadel. Built in the likeness of the sailing ships of the earthly New Age, it will surpass its local counterparts in everything, dominating the seaAlthough it turned out to be very expensive. Eight thousand gold pieces vanished.
24.09.274 Not far from the Valyrian Archipelago.
Having sailed past Volantis, where Oberyn begged me on his knees not to look, still remembering what Taragos promised to do to him for seducing his daughter, I was finally able to see one of the most legendary places in the world.
The ruins of the Valyrian Freehold. All that remained after its Doom.
"The simultaneous eruption of the Fourteen Fires, earthquakes and tsunamis, washing away entire islands…
The flames of Doom that engulfed Valyria were so fierce that even dragons burned in the sky" – I recalled the lines of one of the historical treatises authored by Archmaester Vagrano today when I saw this place.
He wrote that priests of different religions preached that the Valyrians had angered the gods, and some scribes who believed in magic - that the dragon lords had been using spells to control volcanoes for centuries, and when these spells weakened, a catastrophe occurred.
Even from a distance of several dozen miles from the shore, the red sky, like fresh blood, columns of ash and dust rising from the volcanoes, endless flashes of maroon lightning and the eternally boiling and smoking sea were clearly visible.
After this, it is hard not to believe in magic. Soon my ships will face the most dangerous part of the journey - to overcome the "strait" between Valyria and the Basilisk Islands, without burning in the waters of the first and without falling into the hands of the pirates of the second.
All hope was on young Volkan and Sigrid, thanks to whose efforts my ships avoided almost all the storms of the Narrow Sea and rounded all the pirates of the Steps.