Chapter 103: The sea Prince
"Finally..." Doran sighed.
The last days were very stressful and frankly exhausting. After leaving Braavos he had to find an excuse to moor the fleet less than a hundred miles from the city so he could fly there at night and continue the charade of the mysterious black market information seller.
Doing it was much more difficult than he initially thought, creating the identity of "Draco of Lys" was easy, it only required a few glamor spells, the hard part was getting enough credibility to be able to sell information to the relevant people- The black market has been around for so long no one remembers when it was created, contacting the important people is not difficult if you have the necessary information (thanks to his spies Doran has all the relevant information about the Black Market in Braavos), what is difficult is to get the necessary credibility to create contacts.
Not everyone can walk into that part of town and shout out loud "I'm selling top-secret information that I stole from the supposedly safest bank in the world." Doran had to jump through many hoops and if it wasn't for his magic (more specifically his legilimency) he would have failed. With great care he managed to create a reputation for himself and made several transactions.
To a silk merchant, one of the wealthiest in the city, he sold information on the contacts of his fiercest business rival.
To the son of a Norvos magister he sold information about the secret lover of an enemy's wife.
He sold information to a captain of the city guard about a drug smuggling ring (marijuana, which is illegal in Braavos).
The last transaction was a city guard trap to arrest him but Doran played along to give "Draco of Lys" more fame, after making the transaction he gave the guards the slip escaping through the roofs, jumping from one to another like a true parkour professional, after which he disappeared.
All of this took four days, and he had to repeat the farce at both Kings Landing and Pentos.
Doran purposely sabotaged the mast of his ship to force the fleet to stop at a port to repair it. While the fleet was moored at Stonedance he flew to Kings Landing and then to Pentos, in both cities he sold information to certain people.
Given how impossible it would be for "Draco" to be in so many places at once, he created other identities, "Pansy of Lys" and "Theo of Lys".
At Kings Landing he also caught up with the latest court gossip. Apparently the rumor of a royal marriage has been circulating in the city for months and recently the king announced that Aerys Targaryen is going to marry Aerea Velaryon, daughter of Lord Velaryon. The king's choice seemed to Doran very wise. None of the Great Houses have daughters Aerys's age.
House Stark has two girls who are the daughters of Lord Stark's uncle, but since southerners view northerners as savages no one wants a Stark as future queen, let alone someone who isn't even part of the main family. House Tyrell has two daughters, Janna and Mina, but both are several years younger than Prince Aerys and apparently the Crown don't want to wait a few years. Although Doran thinks that Aegon most likely does not want to marry his grandson to a daughter of Olenna Tyrell as she offended the Crown by canceling her betrothal to Prince Daeron and marrying Lord Tyrell immediately afterwards. Those kinds of offenses are not easily forgotten.
`Though who could blame her? Daeron Targaryen's sexual preferences were an open secret, no one dared to say it out loud but everyone knew that he preferred men. A marriage like this is not so bad, Olenna would have had more freedom but there is a bif problem with marring a gay man: children. Here people marry to have heirs and if a couple does not have children within a few years of marriage, the blame always falls on the woman.
These people don't even stop to think that maybe the man is the problem, look at the case of Jon Arryn, two wives and no children, and no one dares to think that maybe the problem is him. Or there is also the case of my grandfather, that man was married several times and none of his wives gave him children, it was not until he married my grandmother, Lady Asha Blackmont, that he finally had my dad, uncle and aunt. Hahaha, I think I'm the only one who knows that secret, although more people may suspect it. Jason Dayne is the perfect case of a man too proud to see what's in front of him. Well my grandmother is very smart and choose the perfect candidate, a Dayne bastard who has all the physical characteristics of a full blooded Dayne.`
Doran shakes his head and looks ahead. They are two days away from Sunspear, two days that look like they will become three or maybe four. The wind is practically non-existent and that is not good for a small fleet of boats without oars.
Luckily Doran had sent most of the ships of his fleet home when they stopped at Stonedance, leaving only Helios and four caravels to escort him home. The other ships carried perishable products, more precisely he bought exotic fruits that will be sold at a very good price in Westeros. Those ships will cruise the coast of Dorne, Reach, Westerlands and Riverlands selling those fruits for five times the price he bought them for.
`IfI had not ordered them to leave, the fruit would spoil before reaching the last port of the trade route that I created for this endeavor, Seagard is several weeks away. Several weeks... If Lord Mallister was smart he would invest in building a canal to connect the Blue Fork to Ironman's Bay. There are not even a hundred miles between the end of the river and the coast, it would cost him a lot of gold to build the channel but in exchange he would earn millions. The flow of ships would make all the Lords of Riverlands rich as no one would want to circumnavigate the continent to reach the west coast of Westeros. But again it's good that no one thought to build a chanel in that part of the continent, that would be a major blow to the economy of my kingdom.`
All ships heading to the Reach, Westerlands, Iron Islands, or the west coasts of the Riverlands and the North stop at Dornish ports to rest and buy supplies, which generates plenty of gold for Dorne. The existence of a canal would be very detrimental to them.
"Captain!" Shouted the Crow's Nest watchman from above. "I see 7 ships!"
Arthur quickly took out his Myrish eye and looked in the direction indicated by the watchman, he saw several points slowly getting bigger.
"Can you distinguish their sails?" Lothar asked.
"No, they're too far away." The captain frowns. "We took a detour through the Sea of Dorne to avoid the Nine Eyes fleet but-"
"-that doesn't guarantee that we won't run into other pirates." Doran interrupts. "They're still far away, change direction and try to give them the slip, it's better not to risk it."
"Aye, but in this damn weather..." Arthur looks up at the sky and swears.
"Without wind the rowed boats could catch up." Lothar looks at him with concern.
Doran nods and goes into his cabin, opens the box where he has kept the Valyrian candle and takes it.
The prince closes his eyes and concentrates, soon seeing the seven ships as if they were in front of him. As he suspected they are pirate ships, he doesn't recognize the flag but there is no doubt that they are not friendly, pirates harldly ever are. Scanning the surroundings the situation doesn't look better, in the distance he sees more pirate ships. They are separate groups but too many for it to be a coincidence.
"Either they were forced to flee the Stepstones because someone took over the islands or they are working under someone's orders to patrol these waters. I don't know which is worse." He mutters under his breath.
The Nine Eyes fleet trying to ambush him and his grandmother is a clear sign that the Band of the Nine have already started making their first moves and conquering the Stepstones is a logical step. They could trap the Royal Fleet in the Narrow Sea, which would leave the west coast of the continent quite unprotected. Of course several houses have fleets but-
"-if the other fleets of the Band joined forces with the Ironborn..."
***
It seemed that luck was not on their side and after several hours the pirate ships caught up with them. Doran used various strategies to mislead them, he pretended to change ships and command each one to go in a different direction. That got two of the seven pirate ships going in different directions chasing the caravels, but five still followed Helios.
"Helios is twice as big as any of them but against five... Things don't look good." The captain complained.
"I have an idea!" Doran ran to the helm and commanded the navigator to stand aside. "I'll take the helm!"
"But-" The navigator tries to protest but a glare from the prince silences him.
"What are you trying to do?" Lothar followed close behind.
"I've seen some rocks just three feet under water in that direction." Doran whispers to him. "I'll try to run the pirate ships aground."
"How are you going to maneuver the boat without wind?"
Doran smirks and moves his right hand in a few patterns and soon a breeze appears out of nowhere.
"The gods are smiling on us!"
"Blessed be the Father!"
As the sailors thank the gods for the miraculous wind, Doran turns north and sails straight for the submerged rocks below the surface. He has to be very careful not to run his own ship aground, if he gets too close he could damage the hull of his own ship. To avoid such a catastrophe he uses the Valyrian Candle to watch over the surroundings.
Using the Valyrian Candle, sailing the ship, and keeping the wind spell. He does all three at the same time and it soon takes its toll on him. Within two minutes he begins to sweat, within five minutes thick beads of sweat are running down his face, and within ten minutes his complexion begins to pale.
"Doran!" Lothar looks at him with concern.
"Almost there!" growls the prince.
With a skill acquired after spending half his life sailing Doran changes direction just a few meters from the rocks, he turns the rudder as much as possible and the wooden wheel spins at full speed.
"Came on!" The ship doesn't turn fast enough and Doran casts a spell to strengthen Helios's hull and another wind spell to force the ship to change direction faster. The ship lists so much to the right that most of the sailors fall to the ground and grab what they can to keep from falling into the sea.
Soon the ship stabilizes and they pass between the rocks without running aground. The same could not be said of their pursuers, two of the pirate ships crash directly into the rocks and the noise of the hull of the ships crashing on the rocks is clearly heard.
The Helios sailors see what happened and start cheering.
"It's too early to celebrate, we still have three ships following us."
"My prince." Lothar looks at him with concern. Doran is all sweaty and as pale as a ghost. "If you keep using `that` you're going to faint. Helios is a titan of the seas, we'll be able to beat the damn pirates."
Doran wants to protest but he knows Lothar is right.
`In the last few days I used more magic than in the last two months combined, my mana reserves haven't fully developed yet. According to my calculations, I will reach magical maturity at fifteen, 2 more years`
"Arthur come here!"
"Yes my prince!" The captain runs to the prince.
"Prepare men for combat!"
"Aye!"
"While I prepare a little surprise for our pursuers, take the helm, keep them as far away as possible. Give me as much time as possible." Without waiting for an answer, Doran runs to the cellar.
He opens several boxes with a crowbar and begins to mix various ingredients in some barrels.
"-add quicklime, mix well and then some naphtha. Increase pressure with-" Doran mutters as he works hastily.
What Doran is creating is something commonly known as Greek fire, an extremely dangerous mixture of various chemical ingredients. It is highly flammable and its flames cannot be extinguished even with water, in fact water feeds the fire as if it were gasoline. Greek fire is more stable than wildfire which is why Doran trusts it more, the temperature of the flames is very similar only differentiating in color, wildfire is poisonous green while greek fire is light blue.
Doran has never used greek fire in naval combat before but he knows the theory behind how to do it.
"Hopefully those Greek scrolls haven't exaggerated its effectiveness." He mutters as he closes the last barrel.
He calls several sailors and orders them to take the four barrels on deck.
"What's that?" asks the captain.
"Greek Fire."
"Gikfyre?"
"No, greek fire." Doran corrects him. "Lothar take one barrel, you take the others and follow me."
Helios has two catapults and several scorpions on deck. Doran orders the load the catapult with one barrel each.
"When the pirate ships are close, shoot the barrels, aim well, I only managed to make four. Once the barrels hit the ships shoot them with flaming arrows. Lothar I will leave this to you."
The knight nods solemnly.
Doran takes the helm again, when the pirate ships are very close, he turns the ship giving them a clean shot.
The first shot misses but the other three hit two of the pirate ships. The barrels crash against different parts of the ships and break into a thousand pieces, a blue liquid soaks the enemy ships.
"Archers! Shoot!" Lothar yells. A shower of incendiary arrows rain down on the pirates. As soon as the fire reaches the blue liquid, it catches fire and consumes everything around it as if it were a demon.
The pirates scream in panic and jump into the water, only to see that not even the water can put out the flames that are consuming them, in fact water was feeding it. The remaining pirate ship crashes into the other two and the Greek fire reaches it and begins to consume the ship.
Doran looks wide-eyed at the massacre, more than a hundred men die consumed by the blue fire, their screams are heard in the Helios. The prince's stomach turns and he has to look away to keep from throwing up.
His own men seem unaffected by the massacre and cheer and clap as if they are watching a show.
Lothar places a hand on Doran's shoulder and looks at him sympathetically.
"You did the right thing."
Doran nods.
"I am going to rest." He walks over to his cabin, the men parting ways in his wake and praising and clapping, some even patting him on the back.
The prince only smiles weakly, upon reaching his cabin he closes the door and leans on it. He drops to the ground and runs a hand through his hair.
He doesn't say anything, he just sits there staring off into space.
"Not Greek fire, hellfyre."
***
NOTE: Killing at least a hundred people is not an easy thing to swallow, let alone killing them in such a gruesome way. From my point of view dying burned alive is the worst death.
The reason why greek fire was not already prepared is because it is extremely dangerous, just a few barrels could consume a ship in moments. An accident would be fatal, so Doran had the ingredients ready to mix but in separate boxes.
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