(Cregan’s POV)
The rush of wind over feathers, the weightless glide high above the land, was a thrill that never dulled. Every time I took to the sky through Rian’s eyes, I felt a primal joy, a sense of freedom that mere human movement couldn’t rival. But I couldn’t indulge in the sensation now; my purpose was to observe, to keep a close eye on the chaos brewing below.
I could have used one of the gulls circling the coast for this reconnaissance, but Rian’s distaste for such lowly birds was always palpable if he happened to be nearby. Besides, there was something distinctly satisfying about sharing the mind of a fellow predator. Rian was sharp, his instincts honed, unlike the dull, almost mindless gulls that seemed barely aware of their own existence. When guiding Rian, all I needed was a slight nudge, a subtle direction, and he understood. The gulls, in contrast, required constant redirection, their limited focus waning quickly. I’d have to fly them back to a location, their simple minds struggling to hold even the faintest memory of their path.
Below me, the island of Redwater spread like a jagged tooth in the ocean, and the Red Kraken cut its way north along the coast, my body resting in my cabin with Edric and Trystane nearby, deep in meditation. Our fleet clung to the shore, seeking shelter against the cliffs as it made its way toward Allerion’s easternmost port. Despite the northern port’s allure, it was all but certain Allerion had men stationed at the headland, keeping an eye out for any approach from Rakakz’s side.
Once I’d finished surveying the island’s western shores, I would send one of the gulls to scout that area, a lowly but useful tool. If there was a lookout point, I could use the gulls in much the same way I’d toppled the watchtower between Rakakz’s ports. Hundreds of gulls flitted around this isolated island, each serving as an unintentional guide to the scattered settlements below. Rian, though, provided me with an experience as close to flight as my own skin could feel, a merging of instinct and purpose that even the magic of my world could rarely replicate.
When Rian had taken flight, through his eyes I’d spotted four of the six galleys in Allerion’s Easternmost port heading out to sea. No doubt they were a raiding party that, like my forces, had set sail as soon as the storms had passed over the island. While that raiding fleet was moving north-east, bearing for open waters between Redwater, Misthaven, The Coral Isle, and The Disputed Lands, and thus would be too far away to protect their port once my fleet came into sight, I knew they wouldn’t have a successful hunt.
Heading in the same general direction were two cogs that, while they would normally be easy pickings for pirates. However, these cogs had four galleys with them as escorts. Thanks to the sharpness of Rian’s eyes, even at several hundred leagues, the distinctive green that marked them as belonging to Salladhor Saan was visible. Since the galleys were moving in formation with the cogs, it was clear that they were escorting the trade vessels; something that once I held more of the Steps, I planned to do.
Raiding was profitable, but the stronger the raiders became, the less likely traders would be to sail near the areas the raiders patrolled. It was more sustainable to have the traders pay for safe passage and escort through the waters I controlled, which was clearly how Saan felt as well. Seeing his ships escorting traders made me certain of my intent to send a missive to Saan once I’d defeated Allerion and had his men, ships, and bounty under my control.
Even if every possible man that Allerion had currently bent the knee without a fight, I knew I didn’t have the manpower to take islands like The Shrouded Isle, Bloodstone, or The Coral Isle, never mind the entire Steps. While Sann and the Lotus Prince were far from where I intended my next move to take place, they apparently had ideals that aligned with many of mine. That meant there was the potential for if not a full alliance, then an agreement to stay out of each other’s territory. Of course, the problem was that while I should by the end of the moon, have more men than the Lotus Prince, Saan had me outnumbered in men and ships.
I had not scouted the entirely to The Coral Isle, but from the five ports I had seen, it held an equal number of vessels to everything currently around Redwater. And several were the size of the Kraken. Thus, any agreement with Saan would have to wait until I could match his strength as I would not negotiate with any pirate, even one about as noble as a pirate like Saan appeared to be, from weaker ground.
The port my fleet was heading toward because its raiding party was at sea, was now at half strength. Yes, only three vessels remained, but one of those was a war galley similar to the Kraken and the Howl. Based on that, the presence of the two other galleys, and the expectations the port held a decent number of men to protect it if all ships were at sea, I figured my fleet had the pirates unnumbered by a nearly two-to-one margin. If the four galleys at sea turned back now, it would cause me issues and mean altering my plans – including moving to trap Allerion before he could reach the supply port to the west of my current target – but as things stood that wouldn’t be happening.
A gentle nudge from Rian brought my attention back to where I currently was, high above the western side of Allerion’s holdings. Cayde and Rakakz had secured the bay port, though not without a few moments of concern. Allerion had dispatched a large force – somewhere north of a hundred men – to counter the attack in the bay. They had moved quicker than I had expected as I had somehow missed a watchtower that lay between Allerion’s command and bay ports.
A signal for the bay port had been sent to the watchtower, as a runner had left for the command port as the first of Cadye and Rakakz’s ships beached into the port. That meant the reinforcements moved out quicker than had been expected and were at the port before it had fallen, though the battle had shifted almost decisively in Cadye’s favour.
In an unexpected move, the commander of the reinforcements had pushed forward, clashing with my men on the edges of the port. That had pushed my men back for a while, but numbers began to tell, and eventually, the reinforcements withdrew, surrendering the port to Cadye.
From what Rian saw, including stragglers from the port who managed to escape the battle, the reinforcements were returning with only sixty to seventy men. While that would mean more men had fallen in taking the port than I would have preferred, it would make Allerion’s choice between staying to fight in his command port or bugging out for another base easier to determine. Especially once Daemon’s strike force came into view and displayed their sails, which bore Vaegon’s and Rakakz’s sigils.
Turning my focus to Daemon’s fleet, I saw them moving slowly northward. Much like my fleet, Daemon had his forces hugging as close to the coast as they could manage to delay their target being alerted to their arrival. While the coast they were moving up didn’t have the sharp point as in the east, their target seemed less prepared for an assault from the south. I hadn’t seen a watchtower along the coast, and the walls of the port were, to be blunt, almost non-existent. What was there appeared to be designed for nothing more than keeping out any beast in the forest than stopping attackers.
Even without me having delivered that intelligence to Daemon, he had deployed men to the forest. Or I assumed so as I could sense Ymir down there instead of upon one of the galleys. More than likely Bronn was leading a force of men – at a guess, around fifty – who would strike the port from behind while they focused on Daemon’s fleet, which given their situation, they most certainly would.
At full strength – with a war galley and five galleys – the port had the strength to make any battle very costly for Daemon. However, like with my target, the pirates here had sent out a raiding party. A group of three ships, led by the war galley, were heading toward Grey Gallows. They wouldn’t be attacking the island, but as I could see around a dozen trade non-warships moving around in the open waters of the Steps, the odds were good they would find a target to chase and potentially capture.
Three galleys in the port, adding in men to secure it if all ships were gone, meant a force of two to two hundred and fifty men. Daemon’s nine galleys carried nearly double that number. Even with a strike element in the forest, the fleet would be able to overwhelm the port if they decided to attack.
That choice to do so, or simply wait and blockade it was up to Daemon, but knowing it would help his decision-making, I gave Rian an order to head to the galleys. He could rest there while I wrote a short missive detailing the pirate positions and then sent it via gull to Daemon. After that, I would leave the decision in Daemon’s hands.
… …
Several hours later, with the missive delivered to Daemon detailing the actions taken by the pirates he was targeting, I found myself in Ymir. As I’d suspected, he was moving with a force of men through the forest near the westernmost port. Rian was still with Daemon, enjoying some fish Jekar had given him, and when he returned to the skies, I’d return to his mind, watching events from far above. Until then, I was enjoying moving silently through the forest with Ymir.
Not far behind the massive, but incredibly quiet-moving direwolf was Bronn. The experienced sellsword commanding the strike force. He and the men with him were moving very cautiously through the forest as unlike with the woods near Vaegon’s ports, here it was much denser and less travelled by humans.
If it weren’t for the need to move slowly and quietly, the men could cut a path through the woods and undergrowth. However, with no hint of where, if anywhere the pirates had hunting camps, they couldn’t take the risk. Ymir wasn’t a great use here either as the wind was blowing north-westerly, so he could catch the scents of humans ahead of him. He had, rather interestingly, caught hints of what I thought were deer or a similar beast somewhere inland, but that wasn’t important to his current intentions.
Also, unlike before, Ymir wasn’t yet wearing his armour. The mail of it would catch easily on the undergrowth, and that would be an issue. Two of Bronn’s men had it with them, and the sellsword would, provided Ymir allowed him, attach it before any attack on the port took place.
I didn’t know Daemon’s intentions on the matter, but in his place with the intelligence I’d given him, I would make a move to take the port. Overwhelming force against pirates would have most choosing to either surrender or run. With Ymir and Bronn in the woods, those who ran in panic would meet quick and, for those Ymir directly took out, painful ends.
… …
As the sun slowly set on the day, and after a handful of hours using a gull to watch the behaviour of the raiding fleet from Allerion’s easternmost port, I was once more back in Rian’s mind. Below me was the western edge of Allerion’s holding, with ships moving in the water, men upon them and the land looking little better than ants scurrying around some giant board they didn’t realise they were part of.
The bay port was secured, men there moving in groups as they searched the buildings, carrying anything and everything of value to the docks. As the first light of a new day dawned upon Redwater, Cayde would send half his men toward Allerion’s command port, with orders for those men to hold position about halfway there. Amusingly, that would be close to the watchtower that I had missed.
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They would stay there until Daemon led an element of his fleet toward the port and unfurled their sails, revealing they weren’t Allerion’s ships coming to support his position. The issue with that was that currently, Daemon’s forces were attacking Allerion’s westernmost port. As I’d expected, using the intel I’d provided, he had chosen to attack, and from high above the battlefield I watched the chaos unfold.
Seven galleys had committed to the assault, the final two moving further to the north, acting as watchers for the pirate raiding fleet. They weren’t needed, as I could see those three ships far to the northwest, bearing down upon a long cog that had fallen behind a group of four who’d been racing through the open waters of the Stepstones. From the way the galleys were closing, it was only a matter of time until the cog was run down, and I was curious if the pirates would simply take the cargo as bounty, or if they might press the ship and crew into their service.
Either way, those pirates would be of no help to their brethren in their home port, and when they returned, if Daemon was smart, he might well be able to capture one or two if they could be coaxed into sailing into the port before they learnt the truth.
Returning my focus to the battle below, it was obvious even with the battle being barely an hour old, that it wouldn’t last much longer. Daemon’s men were pouring out of their ships, smashing into the weak defensive line the pirates had formed near the docks. They might well be able to hold the line long enough that some of Daemon’s men might waver, however, at the southeastern edge of the port I could see men emerging from the forest. The large shape of Ymir joining them confirmed that Bronn and his team were about to strike from the rear, which would crush the pirate’s will to resist.
The challenge that awaited my friends was securing the port without the loss of too many men; both in those attacking and those defending. Three more galleys for my fleet were helpful, but I needed the men to crew them back to Northpoint.
The faint echo of Ymir’s howl lingered in my mind, though my ears had not heard it. I’d watched through Rian’s eyes as Ymir’s stance shifted, a predator in motion, and saw the fear ripple through the ranks of the pirates, the sound scattering their resolve. The line wavered, men fleeing both from Daemon’s forces and the unseen predator in the distance. The battle was all but decided, the chaos tipping in our favour.
Knowing the time for my own fight was drawing near, I began to withdraw from Rian’s mind, willing him to remain vigilant over Daemon’s skirmish. I nudged him to stay nearby and land there once the field was clear. If all went well, I could slip back into his senses when my fight was done and gather a clear view of the western situation, which would play a crucial role in my plans for the supply port and the ambush on Allerion.
My eyes snapped open, and the familiar haze of human sight returned, narrow and comparatively dull. The shift from Rian’s heightened perception to my own always required a moment’s adjustment, a recalibration of focus. In time, I hoped the bond between us would deepen enough to bring even greater clarity to my vision, though for now, I was back to the simple reality of human senses.
Sitting up, I swung my legs over the side of the bed, feeling the coarse rug beneath my feet. I strapped on my sabatons and glanced around, noticing Edric and Trystane were no longer in the cabin. With my greaves secured over my shins, I moved to the desk where my gear lay – Red Rain and my axe, polished and deadly, rested beside my shield. Fastening them to my belt, I lifted the helm – styled like a Viking helm from my old world – from the desk, the steel gleaming, barely marked – a testament to the care I’d put into maintaining it. The rounded dome and Y-shaped guard left my lower face exposed, allowing the cool breeze to brush against my skin even as the helmet settled over my head. Turning I grabbed my bow and quiver as I moved to leave the cabin.
Ready for battle, I stepped out of the cabin, the ship’s timbers creaking underfoot as I joined the crew in the wake of the coming clash.
I gave the man outside, Jeffary, a nod as I passed, and I took in the sights that greeted me. Most of the men were manning the oars, powering us forward, toward Allerion’s port. The rest were preparing for battle with a dozen archers on the foredeck along with the crews for the scorpions. Beyond them, the port was coming into view, and all three vessels were facing toward land, meaning any scorpions they had – unless they could be quickly moved to the quarterdecks – wouldn’t be usable during the upcoming assault.
The raiding force was far away, and while they had turned back to port – their pursuit of the cogs protected by Saan’s vessels proving as fruitless as I expected – they wouldn’t arrive back until tomorrow at best. That meant I had time to take the port and then move out with a smaller force to spring the trap intended for Allerion, or if he failed to fall into it, take over the supply port.
Turning, I took the short flight of steps to the Kraken’s quarterdeck in two bounds. “Glad you could join us,” Miltar called out from the wheel as he guided the ship toward the port. “Fleet’s in position to attack, though because we’ve taken our sweet time about it, they’ll know we’re coming.”
“Good.” The pirates would understand they were going to lose and would have three options. Fight to the death, surrender after some skirmishing, or turn tail and run into the forest. The first was the least likely, and while the latter was what I wanted to avoid, Jaeronos would have enough men left with him to hunt down any who ran. Such men, to make a point, would be put to death for not having the courage to stand and fight, even if just for a few minutes. “Have the orders been distributed?” I asked Edric, who was standing near Miltar, already in his armour.
“Yes, My Lord,” he replied with a nod. Turning at the sound of footsteps approaching, I saw Trystane racing up the steps.
“Ser Jaeronos reports his men ready, My Lord,” He said slightly breathlessly.
I smiled widely. “Excellent. Signal him to begin the assault.” Both squires nodded. Trystane leapt down the steps to the main deck while Edric turned and moved to the stern so they could signal the ships around us.
Normally I would place the Kraken at the centre of my lines. However, with my intent being to break as soon as the battle was over and head west with two escorts, Jaeronos would be leading the assault, and as such the Howl held the centre position. His orders were to take the port as cleanly as possible, and with as little damage to the ships docked there as was manageable. Above all, I wanted the war galley intact, as it would grant me a third flagship for my forces, making it easier for when the fleet had to split apart.
While simply blockading the port until Allerion was an option, with the Howl and four galleys, Jaeronos would’ve been outnumbered and flanked by the pirates once their raiding party returned. Thus, I had determined it was wiser to take the port. With that done, he could turn his focus to finding a way to get the returning galleys to either run away or surrender without any major fighting. I doubted the latter would happen, and if the raiders turned, I didn’t want them turning west, which was why the Kraken and her escorts would set sail before the sun could set. With luck, we’d be out of sight before the returning pirates realised what had happened to their base.
While I wasn’t intending for the Kraken to enter the thick of the fighting, part of me wished we would. After watching Cayde and Daemon have their fun to the west, the urge to jump into the fray, to hear my blood pump and my heart sing in the chaos and carnage of battle was growing strong. I knew I would get the chance for Red Rain to taste flesh when I confronted Allerion, but that would be at least two days and the desire for battle was growing stronger with each passing minute.
What I had to be mindful of was not losing myself to that desire, and remembering the bigger picture. Still, I could hold out hope that some dumb pirates decided to assault the Kraken and let me lessen some of my bloodlust.
… …
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… …
(Daemon’s POV)
Looking east through his Myrish Eye, Daemon was just able to make out Allerion’s port, which had him smiling. The four ships under his command had made good time since leaving port this morning, and while they had yet to unfurl their sails, when they did Allerion would understand these ships were not reinforcements, but part of the same element that had attacked and captured his bay port.
What made Daemon’s smile widen was knowing Allerion would think Vaegon and Rakakz had allied to attack him when the former was dead – Daemon taking his head – while the latter had, like most of the pirates on the island, bent the knee to Cregan. By the time the last so-called pirate lord of Redwater fell, he might still be unaware of the truth.
Lowering the Eye, Daemon turned and looked behind him; toward the port he had sailed from this morn.
The battle for Allerion’s port the previous evening had gone about as well as he could have hoped. Nine galleys carrying nearly three hundred and fifty men, plus the small flanking force Bronn and Ymir had led in the forest had overwhelmed the pirates in the port. Before the sun had set, the port was theirs, and nearly a hundred and forty men had bent the knee in servitude. Like many that followed Cregan’s banner, Daemon trusted this lot about half as far as his page Morsh could throw them, but given their former and future battlefields, he could see why Cregan was taking all this scum into his service. Quantity had its uses when what quality you had was extremely limited. That opinion was why Daemon was not concerned about the loss of all but two of the men lost in taking the port. Twenty-three former pirates were barely worth the death of two half-decent sellswords.
Bronn remained behind with most of the enlarged fleet, working to strip the port bare of anything of value. That, as with each port Daemon had entered, included slaves. The only upside to those he had personally freed from their chains was that most of those here were not as transited by their capture and might be able to be free and productive members of whichever settlement they moved to once rescued from this accursed island, and if all went well, they would not be the only ones freed from captivity.
Daemon had known that half the pirate force from the port to his stern had been at sea when he attacked, and during the night he and Bronn had worked on a plan to trap the others when they returned. A gull-delivered missive from Cregan had confirmed the pirates were returning, along with a captured cog.
He shook his head, still trying to come to terms with the fact Cregan could use gulls and Rian to deliver missives in the same way Maesters and Lords used ravens. It had helped them plan out the three-pronged strike against Allerion – something Cregan had termed a ‘lightning strike’ – but having to wonder if any gull he saw might be Cregan watching him unnerved Daemon. He knew Cregan had no reason to do such a thing, bar perhaps the chance that they might soon be cousins through marriage, but there was always a nibbling voice at the back of his thoughts that wondered if any of the dozens of gulls that he even now could see were more than they appeared.
Turning his thoughts back to matters he had more control over, Daemon wondered how Bronn’s preparations for luring in, and then trapping the returning pirates and their bounty.
The three new galleys had remained in port while the other five that Daemon had attacked with had moved south. While there was no inlet on the coast where they could easily hide the vessels, if they stayed close to the coast, they should remain unsighted by the returning pirates.
Most of the crews of those vessels would return to the port via the coast and forest, but the majority would remain hidden. At least once the pirate fleet was sighted. Until then, they would work with the others there to clean up the port to hide the fact a battle had just been fought in it.
To limit how many of Allerion’s former men had the chance to turn their coats, most had been removed from the port. About thirty were spread through the four ships Daemon had, the rest who were not staying at the port to sell the appearance that everything was well had gone with the galleys.
Those men would be on the island now, their hands bound, and their mouths gagged to ensure they could not betray Bronn, Ymir, and the men there. Hells, if Daemon knew Bronn, he would have ensured one man stepped out of line for Ymir to deal with. The direwolf might be on their side and could come across as far more docile than one would expect for a predator, but that was a ruse brought on by his bond to Cregan. When angered, neither he, Bronn, or anyone else wished to face the massive hulking form of the direwolf, and if one pirate tried their luck, their remains would be a useful warning to others to stay in line.
Some of Allerion’s men would remain in the port, to help sell that it had not fallen, but with the majority of the men under Bronn’s command having no loyalty to the pirate lord, Daemon felt the trap should snag at least one of the approaching pirate vessels. Once the battle for them began, the galleys waiting to the south would move, in the hope they could catch at least one of any pirates that escaped the port. However, even if they failed to do that, it would be enough to have those pirates turn and run, and if they moved in the direction Daemon was currently sailing, they would find themselves sailing into another trap.
Turning back around, Daemon gazed towards the island, south of where Allerion port was located. With the run of hills rising into mountains that ran almost the length of the northern section of Redwater – all of which was, until yesterday under the control of Allerion – he could not see Cayde, but Cregan’s missives had said the sellsword would lead a force through a mountain path.
Combining those men with those Daemon had with him, Allerion, with perhaps two hundred men at his disposal, would have to either fight on two fronts or abandon the port. According to Cregan, via intelligence from Rakakz, the port Daemon was heading toward was where Allerion kept the majority of his ill-gotten gains and most treasured slaves. Abandoning that would be a dangerous move for Allerion as it would show weakness, but choosing to stand and fight on two fronts against a numerically superior force only ever worked for the defenders on the rarest of occasions.
The only odd order Cregan had given regarding Allerion if he chose to stand and fight, was that like with Vaegon, his head was to be removed from the body and kept. The body, along with any who died in the fight, after the ports were taken, were to be burnt; an order Cregan had insisted upon before the fleet had moved out from Vaegon’s ports and one Daemon suspected would be enacted in Allerion’s ports before they sailed back to Redwater.
It was odd that Cregan insisted on burning the bodies of the dead, and when asked about it, Cregan had yet to explain his reasoning. At least when sober. There had been one night in Sunspear, not long after the taking of Dustspear when a very drunk Cregan had mentioned, if Daemon recalled the night clearly, that there were forces that could raise the dead. The idea of such an act sent shivers to Daemon’s very core, but knowing that magic existed and having seen it in action, Daemon was willing to go along with the body burning. As well as keeping the slowly rotting skull of Vaegon in a sealed cask.
Remembering Dustspear, Daemon suspected that Cregan intended to have the skulls of the defeated pirate lords burnt clean of flesh and then polished. Cregan had presented the Grim Prince’s skull to Prince Doran, and if Cregan intended to continue that practice, it was one Daemon could accept. Even if to Daemon it seemed an unnecessary waste of time and effort.
… …