The Fair Isle strait had become a killing ground.
Redwyne ships, Oldtown galleys, and the royal fleet had closed the trap from north and south. War horns rolled across the water, deep and savage, like the voice of something hungry.
The Iron Fleet was boxed in. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.
Victarion Greyjoy felt the cold settle in his bones.
He had wanted to be a hero for his people. Instead he had led them straight into slaughter. The ironborn longships were big and fast, built for raiding, but the loyalist warships were heavier, better armed, and far more numerous. Once the noose tightened, mobility meant nothing.
"Long live King Robert!"
The cheers rolled from the loyalist decks. Stannis and Paxter Redwyne gave the ironborn no time to breathe. The fleets turned like millstones, grinding everything between them to splinters.
Stannis's flagship Fury cut through the chaos, golden sails bright with the crowned stag. Three hundred oars drove her forward. Scorpions lined her rails. Catapults on bow and stern hurled burning pitch barrels in high, smoking arcs. She was fast for her size, built for war at sea, not for carrying knights.
Stannis stood on the sterncastle, face like carved stone.
"I'll smash these dogs into the sea."
He had spent years chasing smugglers and pirates. This was the real thing. The battle that would make his name.
Paxter Redwyne's flagship, the Arbor Queen, rammed straight through a longship and split it in half. The Redwyne lord was lean and balding, with only a few tufts of orange hair left on his head. He had spent a year staring at Storm's End's walls and come away empty-handed. Today he meant to collect.
"Ser Desmond," Paxter called to his cousin. "Pass the word. Flip their ships if you can. Burn them with pitch. Use the crossbows. No boarding fights unless we have to. These bastards aren't worth good sailors."
Desmond nodded and turned to the signalmen.
On the decks, burning pitch rained down. Crossbow bolts hissed through the smoke. The loyalist ships used their weight and numbers like hammers. Longships cracked and broke. Few ironborn ever got close enough to board.
When they did, they fought like madmen, axes and swords rising and falling. But the loyalist crews simply swarmed them with fresh men until the boarders were cut down or thrown overboard.
Smoke climbed into the sky. The sea was full of wreckage and screaming men.
Stannis watched another longship go under and gave the order to ram again. He still hadn't seen Victarion's flagship. He wanted that one most of all.
On a listing longship called the Yellow Rainstorm, a captain named Yren Greyjoy screamed as Fury came at them like a charging bull. The impact threw half his crew off their feet. The bigger warship's ram tore deep. Water poured in. Crossbowmen on Fury's deck methodically shot the men struggling in the water.
Yren hit the sea. Salt filled his mouth. He watched Lord Harlaw's flagship capsize nearby, the man's sons bristling with arrows like hedgehogs.
Balon's grand plan was drowning with them.
Victarion's own flagship had already smashed one royal warship, but the battle was lost. His barber, Newt, grabbed his arm.
"Run, my lord. There's smoke and confusion. Redwyne's line has gaps to the north. Don't let Stannis take you."
Victarion's face twisted. A warrior's death was one thing. Throwing his life away for nothing was another. He gave the order. A handful of longships sacrificed themselves to cover his escape. Invincible Ironborn slipped through the gap and ran for open water.
From that day on, Victarion Greyjoy would flinch at the sound of war horns and the sight of narrow straits.
The loyalist fleets linked up and began the bloody work of finishing the fight. Captured ironborn were lashed to the prows and questioned. Euron Greyjoy had never truly answered to his brother. He had sailed his own course from the start.
Stannis stared at the burning wreckage and the empty stretch of sea where Victarion's flagship had been.
"Ravens," he said. "Send them now. Tell the king the Iron Fleet is gone. We're ready to put his army ashore."