Lynd left the ice cave and sat on the Lava Dragon. As he ordered Nessario to take off, he couldn't help but look behind him, a hint of sadness in his eyes, knowing that it would be difficult for him to trust Willas again in the future.
Although Willas had explained many things just now, he had also hidden a lot. For example, when Lynd asked him about the purpose of destroying the black stones that had the power to imprison gods, he deliberately changed the subject, shifting the focus to the ancient survivor.
Another example was how he had hidden what he, the ancient survivor, and the Three-Eyed Raven were planning from beginning to end.
However, these were not the reasons Lynd felt Willas was untrustworthy. After all, even Lynd had hidden many things from Willas, such as the experiments in Black Hollow, so he could understand Willas's actions in concealing some things from him.
The real reason Lynd felt Willas was completely untrustworthy was that Willas's methods had no bottom line; he was becoming more and more like the Three-Eyed Raven, willing to use and sacrifice anyone to achieve his goals.
If Lynd continued to trust him as before, he would sooner or later be used by Willas again, putting himself in danger to deal with the Others. Although his and Willas's goals were the same, he was not magnanimous enough to be a pawn to be manipulated at will.
He was unsure what Willas's plan was. For now, he could only proceed step by step according to his own plan. As for whether there would be a conflict with Willas, that was a matter for later.
Although he was equally concerned about the Others and very wary of the Long Night and Eternal Winter to come, and was willing to participate in the fight against the Others, all of this could only be based on the safety of himself and those around him. He did not possess the spirit of self-sacrifice.
Thinking of this, Lynd changed his flight direction and flew towards Bear Island. Since he could no longer trust Willas, some plans needed to be altered. Daisy was currently in the Riverlands and unable to manage Bear Island, so he had to personally go to Bear Island to meet with the acting lord, Maege Mormont, and explain the details of the adjusted plans.
He also needed to make a trip to the Iron Islands to see Asha and the others, to tell them to stop investigating Euron's whereabouts and to focus all their ships and energy on Beyond the Wall.
For this, Lynd spent over ten days adjusting the previous plans on Bear Island and Pyke respectively. Only after everything was completely settled and nothing was overlooked did he depart and return to Summerhall.
During this time, he also sent news of Asshai via raven to the Miracle Fleet and the Miracle Merchant Guild, asking them to try and find ships familiar with the Asshai route to go there and gather information. However, he did not order the Miracle Fleet to forcefully send ships to Asshai, but rather to stick to their original plan, proceed steadily, and not risk entering the Jade Sea and Blood Sea to the east.
Just as Lynd had returned to Summerhall and hadn't even settled down, Jon, who had been waiting in the Hall of Affairs, hurriedly pulled out a recent intelligence report concerning King's Landing.
"If you're in such a hurry, just tell me! What happened?" Lynd didn't look at the report but asked Jon directly.
"Winterfell has been captured," Jon said in a deep voice.
Lynd paused, then quickly thought of a possibility and said, "Was it Theon Greyjoy who did it?"
"You already knew about this?" Jon looked at Lynd with surprise, seemingly misunderstanding him, and said, "Were you in the Iron Islands these past few days for this matter? Are you planning to make a move on the North?"
"What do you mean I'm planning to make a move on the North? What nonsense are you talking about?" Lynd glared at Jon, displeased, and said, "I was in the Iron Islands for completely different matters and had no idea that Theon Greyjoy attacked the North and occupied Winterfell."
"Then why did you guess so accurately that it was Theon Greyjoy who did it?" Jon clearly didn't believe Lynd and said with considerable dissatisfaction, "My Lord, if you're planning such a major move, please inform us, your subordinates, beforehand, so we don't receive such intelligence and..."
"Shut up! I told you, I have no intention of moving on the North. Theon Greyjoy's actions have nothing to do with me." Lynd interrupted Jon directly and urgently asked, "Where did Theon get the men to attack the North?"
Jon didn't answer, only looked at Lynd with a strange expression.
Seeing Jon's expression, Lynd immediately had a bad hunch and said, "His men wouldn't happen to be Ironborn from the Iron Islands, would they?"
Jon nodded and said, "Not just Ironborn, and quite a lot of them, over five thousand men and more than a hundred longships."
"So many people?" Lynd was stunned. He then picked up the report he had just put down and read it carefully, his expression turning much grimmer.
From the intelligence, the people who followed Theon were all drowned god worshippers among the Ironborn, and also devout followers of the Old Way, considered to be the group on the Iron Islands most unwilling to accept Asha's rule.
When Asha ruled the Iron Islands, she changed the Ironborn custom of acquiring wealth through reaving, instead relying on trade. Although this brought considerable benefits to the Iron Islands, this change in custom still displeased many. These people still longed for the days of unrestrained reaving, but facing Asha's strength, they had no room for resistance.
Furthermore, for ease of rule, Asha also introduced the storm god faith to the Iron Islands, directly opposing the drowned god faith. Due to the privileges granted and the storm god faith's importance to sailors and captains, many Ironborn converted.
This made many devout followers of the drowned god extremely hostile towards Asha and led to numerous assassination attempts against her. However, Asha, by following the clues, found their secretly organized groups and wiped them out. Those who escaped hid even deeper, not daring to make any moves.
It was not until the appearance of Theon Greyjoy that these Iron Islands rebels saw an opportunity. They then rallied behind Theon Greyjoy as their leader, gathered all available ships and men, and launched a surprise attack on the North. This was both a means to escape Asha's control and an opportunity to plunder a large sum of money from the North. Theon Greyjoy, whom they put forward, was more likely a hostage kept in the dark than a true leader.
As for Asha, she probably had a premeditated plan. Although it seemed she had suffered a betrayal, and from her own brother no less, losing a good number of men and ships, her actual losses were not as severe as they appeared on the surface. Instead, she gained many benefits, such as using this betrayal as an excuse to legitimately seize the lands of some people, and thoroughly clearing out opposing forces within the Iron Islands, thereby achieving true and complete control of the Iron Islands.
Lynd did not think there was anything wrong with Asha's actions. What truly displeased him was that she had not told him about this, especially when he was actually on the Iron Islands.
The matter of Theon leading a rebellion and attacking the North happened on the very day Lynd left the Wall. By the time he finished his business on Bear Island and arrived at the Iron Islands, several days had passed. At that time, Theon should have already landed on the North's coastline. Given Asha's personality, it was impossible for her not to have someone monitoring, so she definitely knew Theon was attacking the North.
Yet, Lynd stayed at Sea Hag Castle for about ten days, and no one in the entire castle, neither soldiers nor servants, mentioned this matter. Clearly, Asha must have instructed her subordinates to deliberately keep it from him, which made Lynd feel betrayed.
However, after his emotions calmed down, he looked at the intelligence report in his hand again and asked Jon, "Where did this intelligence come from?"
Jon thought for a moment and said, "It seems it came from Asha's side."
"This fellow," Lynd said with a smile upon hearing this, "I know about this. You may leave! Send word to the Iron Islands that Asha Greyjoy is to be confined to the Storm God Temple for three months, and Bale Blackteas will handle all affairs for those three months."
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