Knights of Summer meet the Ironborn
Theon POV
I looked at the seagull on my table. The bird was white with black markings on its head and wings. I have forgotten how to get a connection with an animal to warg into them. I can't recall how I did it with Rocky, the squirrel sitting nearby eating bread. For now, I could only feed it and hope I would get closer to the bird.
"Your Grace, the captain of Iron Victory, Victorion Greyjoy, wishes to board your ship."
A messenger informed me. I wasn't surprised that Victorion had already finished his task, as he wasn't a patient man. My fleet was near the Feastfires that ruled House Preston. Now house Preston was no more. Only Lord Garrison Preston was home, so when we unexpectedly appeared by his door, he didn't have a chance to defend himself when we already took the small castle.
"Let him into my cabin," I told the messenger.
I put the seagull in the cage on a cabinet, giving it some grain. I took a rough map of the Westerlands and the Sunset Sea. Victorion might question me about my deal with Stannis, but if I give him someone to fight, he wouldn't mind why. I will explain my plan in more detail to Asha later.
"Theon, there you are," Victorion was a big man wearing black chain mail and leather. "I mean, your Grace."
"It is fine, especially in private," I told him. "Anyway, it is good you are there. How is your fleet? Is it prepared for a battle?"
"I have acquired minor damages and only lost a few ships to the sea."
"Good, we will be fighting the Redwyne fleet," I quickly explained to him.
"That's what I wanted to talk about. What is Stannis Baratheon doing in Lannisport, and why is he still alive?"
"King Stannis came in first. He secured himself nicely in the city. It would be pointless and cost us too much to drive him away."
"You are the King, so I will listen, but I see no point in letting one of our enemies be."
"For now, we are allies. There is no reason to fight him right now. The Redwyne fleet is something we need to get rid of someday, anyway. After I defeat the Redwyne fleet, no one will contest against me. We will be rulers of the Sunset Sea."
"We?" Victorion asked.
"Yes, the Iron Islands will be the strongest fleet in the Sunset Sea. No one will contest us ever again. Then we can conquer the rest of the seas."
"I would like that," Victorion agreed.
"The Greyjoy name will enter legends and history books for thousands of years."
I could tell that Victorion liked the sound of it. With each house and castle being eliminated on the way to Lannisport, nobody should know that were are anywhere near the Westerlands. Once the Redwyne fleet surrounds Lannisport, I will sail from behind them and eradicate them. I don't think Lannister would be too sad for the Reach to lose their fleet.
…
As days went by, I sent a boat to check with Stannis and see if they knew if the Reach was close. The ground forces were getting closer to the city each day, but there was still no sign of the fleet. The longer we wait for them, the bigger the chance they will find out about my fleet. Still, even if a raven was sent to King's Landing or Arbor, it is challenging to inform moving armies.
It wasn't all bad. Asha had mostly accomplished taking on the western part of the Westerlands. She was quick and, most importantly, discreet. I just got a message that she would join me soon enough if the winds are kind. Everything worked in my favor, and if I didn't fuck up the battle against the Redwyne fleet, I would have nothing to worry about.
"Theon, we have sightings of a fleet approaching," Thoros informed me.
"So, it begins?" I asked.
"It is to you to decide," Thoros replied.
Sometimes I wouldn't say I liked that I had to make all the decisions, but neither Thoros nor Anguy wished to take my position. Both of them trusted me and wanted to accompany me no matter what decision I made. I felt responsible for them, so I try to at least don't make any light decisions and think things through.
"We wait for them to surround the city. One day should be enough for them, and I don't think Stannis would lose in one day," I said. "We will attack tomorrow evening with the sun behind our backs."
"As you wish," Thoros agreed without question.
"Don't you have anything to add?" I asked.
"No, you had not let me down yet," Thoros responded. "By this point, we all believe in your plans and decisions."
"Call for Victorion on the way out and send some small boats to pry into the numbers of the Redwyne fleet."
"It will be done," Thoros nodded and left.
At least he didn't bow or knelt to me. It had become tedious to watch them bend themselves to me. As the battle was close, I wanted to have Victorion fighting by my side and give Bronn some tasks for him to prove himself. The last thing I wanted to do was talk with Alysanne, I took her with me, so I should at least tell my plans to her and listen to what she had to say. It was refreshing to hear from someone who didn't like me.
…
Two hundred warships was an impressive number. Lord Paxter Redwyne didn't hold anything back. Even I didn't have two hundred warships right now. And they still had three to four hundred galleys and merchant carracks. All I had was one hundred sixty warships and about a hundred longships.
"Should we wait for Asha?" Anguy asked.
"What do you think?" I asked him instead of answering.
"I don't know," Anguy replied.
"Tell me your thoughts. To be a lord someday, you need to think for yourself. I may give a fleet to take command of in the future."
"I think we should attack them while we have a surprise element," Anguy replied. "Even with Asha's fleet, we still are outnumbered."
"It is princess Asha to you," Victorion said from behind me. "But I agree with the redhead. They have no idea we are behind them. Let's fuck them in the ass and be done with it."
"If I may, your Grace," I couldn't get used to Bronn being so respectful. "If we take down their leader, the summer knights won't know what to do. Most of them had never seen a battle, unlike the Ironborn with you. We can make quick work out of them if you kill their commander."
"I like your friends, Theon," Victorion laughed. "I mean your Grace. Kill Paxter Redwyne, and the rest will be in a panic. We can pick on them while they have no idea what is happening."
"Were you always so smart, uncle?" I asked. "I will go with your plan."
It wasn't hard to give some credit to Victorion for him to feel happy. He wasn't the most intelligent man. But what he lacked in intelligence, he had in brawn and strength. Someone like him will always be helpful in this kind of world. At least I could trust him not to try to kill me, even if he someday didn't want to serve me.
…
I stood in front of the deck of my ship, looking at the Redwyne fleet in front of me. My destination was the biggest ship in the fleet. The sun was behind me as it was about to set. Victorion, Thoros, Bronn, and Anguy were by my side. The plan was simple: ram into the biggest ship, kill everyone aboard, and go on another ship.
My goal was to kill those in command and then eliminate the rest. As my ship was one of the fastest, it was decided that I would go into the middle of the fleet to target the most significant ship. I didn't know if it was Lord Paxter Redwyne's ship, but it had Redwyne's banner and looked most significant ship out of all the fleet.
When we were noticed, it was already too late for them to form a formation to defend against us. We rammed at their fleet in V formation with me in front. I instructed my crew to weave through the other ships as we neared our target. Just as we were about to ram the ship, I cut my palm with my bastard sword and lit it on fire. I heard some gasps and excited shouts from my crew.
My warship rammed into my targeted ship's side, as it couldn't turn in time to face us. I jump on board their ship, Victorion being close behind me. Victorion and I wore full-plate black armor with golden Kraken embroidered. While Victorion was a bigger man wielding a giant axe, the summer knights feared my fire sword more.
To me, they were summer knights. The first knight in full plate armor rushed at me with a scream. He swung his sword and struck my chest. He only managed to dent my plate before my sword pierced his neck. I didn't rush at them and let the knight fall to his knees before pulling my sword out. I laughed at them and then pointed my sword at rest.
There were few full-plated knights on the ship. The rest wore leather with chainmail shirts beneath. Victorion's ax carved through them like they were made of paper. My burning sword cut their heads off. I made sure their death was as gruesome as possible. Warm blood spilled on me, and before I knew it, I felt alive.
My laugh rang as I stabbed one's chest and let another strike my arm. Again they swung their swords blindly at me, unable to aim at my joints where my armor was the weakest. Even Martyn Lannister, a boy, knew where you needed to stab while fighting a full-plated man. It didn't take long for the ship to be completely taken over when the rest of my crew joined the battle.
"We couldn't find Lord Paxter on the ship," Anguy informed me. I had forgotten entirely about my target as I enjoyed the bloodbath.
"To the next biggest ship we go then," I yelled and returned to my ship.
My crew cried in agreement and soon rowed away from the ship we had just rammed and started to go to the next ship. The ship we left was full of corpses, and its deck was colored red from the blood. While my crew rowed to the gold and white longship, I looked at how the rest of my fleet was doing.
I couldn't see much through fire and smoke, but quite a few of my fleet ships were close to me. I could make out some battles, and it seemed only a few ships were winning against us. There were already quite a few ships sailing away from the battle. It appeared that our surprise attack worked perfectly.
"Arrows," Some yelled.
I turned sideways and put my sword in front of me. Four arrows still managed to hit me, piercing my armor, but they didn't go deep into my flesh. I broke the ends of the arrows and prepared to board the gold and white longship in front of us. This time we didn't ram at them as we sailed to their side and used hooks to lock the longship to ours.
When we got close, Victorion and I jumped first on the ship. Thoros and Bronn followed soon enough, and Anguy covered us with his bow from my ship. This ship had prepared for us better, as when I landed, I was greeted by a shield wall and archers behind that wall. Arrows flew at us, but I ignored them, and while covering my face, I rushed at the shield wall.
I jumped on the shield wall and used my weight and burning sword. I broke through them. Cuts and stabs from their spears and swords didn't slow me down as I cut them down, one after another. There were no great knights with superior skills that could stop. No one could even be compared with the Kingslayer or the Mountain.
"Your Grace," Bronn yelled. "The ship is burning."
"Is it the wrong ship again?" I asked, not concerned with fire spreading on the ship. It probably started from the burning corpses and heads.
"I think Lord Paxter is under your feet," Thoros knelt and took a helm from an old man's head that lay next to my feet. "Aye, I recognize him. It is Lord Paxter Redwyne."
"How disappointing," I said. "Well, let's take his head and return to our ship before it starts to burn too."
When we took off from the burning gold and white ship, I could see more and more retreating ships from the battle. Some crews of the trapped ships started to jump out of their ships into the sea. I had given orders before not to chase those who managed to escape but to get rid of those trapped. The battle ended when the sun fully set, and only dozens of burning ships illuminated the night.