Capítulo 178: Battle for the seas
this could be sunday's chapter or a gift., depending on my free time.
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-Pov of Stannis Baratheon seventh moon 288AC
This war initiated by the High Septon is incredibly foolish. It's clear that this man is trying to cling to power as much as possible and needed an enemy to unite his "followers, faithful, fanatics, opportunists, or idiots" against someone who would allow him to draw all the attention to himself, which, in itself, has its merit.
This High Septon knows nothing of war and has his head full of the idea that the gods will grant him victory just because he is a devout person. Of all the religions he could have chosen within the Seven Kingdoms to unite his fanatics against and destroy, he chose the strongest of all.
In the North, they have the Neck, and it wouldn't be possible to direct an army there, but if he had chosen them, with the naval superiority of the Crown and other great lords, naval invasions could have been carried out throughout the North simultaneously since the Starks have no fleet, only the Manderlys, and it's not a large one.
He would surely have had the same reaction from all the lords if he had chosen the Ironborn. Although they have openly left behind their raiding and raping customs, the truth is they now do it in secret as if they were common criminals. If he had chosen them for his religious campaign, we would have crushed them in both soldier and ship numbers.
Even the remnants of the Rhoynar religions left in Dorne, facing off against the Dornish, would have been much better than having to fight the Prussians.
The majority think, probably wrongly, that they were an easy target. Surrounded on all sides, they would have to face attacks from all directions, which could put most of the commanders I know in a tight spot or cause a quick collapse.
But they forget that the Prussians have the best commanders in the Seven Kingdoms and the best soldiers too. The love of the Protestants for their lord was obvious when we were at their banquet; it was shouted to the four winds that the Protestants would die for their lord. Considering that he is the great lord with the largest separate army, they seem to forget that the Prussian has thousands of veterans that he could easily recruit again, doubling his numbers, leaving us almost equal in numbers.
And it is precisely in these cases that competent commanders are important, and all the good commanders I know are on the Prussian side. Only my brother Robert and I are the competent ones, and Robert is a good leader when he leads from the front, not caring much about his supply lines or reinforcements; he only cares about the fight. But this time, he didn't seem as motivated when he marched to claim his throne.
This "easy war" that the High Septon mentioned is going to be a bloodbath, where every battle will be bloody. But at least people are flocking to our banners to support the cause and get the Prussian wealth and their advanced knowledge… even me. The idea of studying the Wilhelmshaven arsenal or seeing the dozens of books from the military academy where they train their officers motivates me, though only after fulfilling my duty of loyalty to my brother.
Even the Dornish, who were our sworn enemies, decided to collaborate in the fall of the Prussians by trying to open a battlefront through Oldtown. The Septon fears that the Starry Sept will be burned in retaliation by the Prussians when "the gods grant us victory," and it is completely necessary that Oldtown be protected as soon as possible. My sailors and all the soldiers we can gather from Dorne, with the help of the Martell merchant fleet, since they don't have a military fleet to speak of
And that's what we're going to do now: sail to Plankytown, gather a good force between my men and the Dornish, and first of all, drive the Prussian ruler out of the Stepstones, as he could attack King's Landing if we head directly to Oldtown.
Therefore, it is very important not to engage in combat before we meet with the Dornish, because thanks to the information we have since we contribute to the maintenance costs of the Stepstones fleet under a deal, we know how many ships and men the Prussian admiral had until this war began, and they are very similar.
"Finally, we leave behind the waters of the Stormlands. I always feel that pressure on my back when sailing through these waters, especially at night," said Davos, bringing an oil lamp.
"The most infamous smuggler in the Seven Kingdoms is afraid of the waters he sailed to bring me onions," I said, keeping my gaze on the sea.
"At that time, I had to earn bread for my family, and selling in King's Landing would give me the price of some onions, but delivering them to you, my lord, who was under siege, would give me much more than what I truly wanted," said Davos, touching a pouch around his neck.
"What's bothering the sailors?" I said, pondering why Davos came to me.
"Well, traveling at night and in fog… it's incredibly dangerous, especially in the Stormlands, where a storm could destroy a fleet in a moment," said Davos, standing by my side.
"Yes, I remember perfectly how a storm swallowed the ship my parents were on right before my eyes, but this is necessary. Karl von Rugen has the air of a competent commander, considering that pirates fear him, and he's been the cause of several of their hideouts turning into piles of skulls. If it's daytime, he won't let us near his islands without forcing us to fight… and a battle on equal terms means either side could win. We need to meet with the Dornish, and only then will we attack the Prussian fleet," I responded seriously.
"Ah… well… uh… you're right. If someone earns fame among pirates, it's because they must be formidable… What is an eagle doing here at night?" said Davos, nervously looking up at the sky.
The conversation ended when I noticed a silhouette to the east, and shortly after, we heard shouts and musical instruments in that direction.
"It's the Prussian fleet, everyone prepare for battle!" I shouted, and quickly the bells rang out, alerting all the ships, which began to prepare.
"Wenn hoch vom Himmelsbogen
der Stern zum Meere licht,
dann singen alle Wogen ein wunderbares Lied.
Das ist ein Lied, so traurig,
wir's nie ein Mensch erdacht!
Am felsen tauscht es schaurig
in dunkle Mitternacht." the Prussian sailors were shouting some song.
"We weren't even in sight of the Stepstones. How do they know we're here...? A spy?"
Our position was perfect for the Prussians to tear us apart with their rams.
All the ships began to maneuver to avoid exposing their sides due to this unexpected attack.
The Prussians continued singing even as they rammed us. Several ships were split in half by the rams of the Prussian galleys.
We also rammed them, and hand-to-hand combat began to take control of the ships.
"These Prussians are brave... some are wearing full plate armor at sea," said Davos, watching the combat on some ships.
"Noteworthy, but focus on the fight, Davos, here comes one," I said before our ship was rammed by a Prussian galley.
Fortunately, it was head-on, and only the hulls of the ships suffered while many Prussian sailors jumped onto our ship.
I joined the fight and quickly noticed that the battle was evenly matched; the Prussians were as well-trained as my sailors.
Soon, more of our ships began to arrive and help us overcome the Prussians, but our small victory didn't matter much when the huge Prussian galleons made their appearance, and several of our ships were destroyed by those wooden beasts, or worse, turned into funeral pyres for everyone on board, as the Prussian sailors were throwing orbs filled with a liquid that easily caught fire.
Even so, we put up a tough fight, sinking several Prussian galleys but causing few casualties, as I saw the Prussian sailors quickly shedding their armor and swimming to another ship.
After several minutes of fighting, taking advantage of the calm wind, we slowly began to retreat, leaving us in a more evenly matched battle against the Prussian galleys, until we finally managed to withdraw from the fight and assess our damage.
In just minutes, we lost nearly fifty ships, and I think we sank fewer than twenty of the Prussians'.
But we could still keep fighting, so we reorganized our position, and the sailors rowed quickly against the Prussian fleet, which was busy maneuvering their ships among the wrecked vessels.
And again, the battle began, this time with us taking the initiative.
The Prussian crossbows were lethal, but our archers could keep them at bay long enough to get close.
This time the battle favored us, managing to sink several Prussian galleys and capturing some while losing only a couple of ships.
We were turning the tide of the battle in our favor; we even managed to trap two Prussian galleons that were reorganizing with the rest of their fleet.
Seeing how that gigantic ship was trapped, as there was no wind to move it and completely surrounded by our galleys, I was sure we would capture it.
When several of our sailors managed to board the ship and fight for control of it, finally, with many casualties, we were about to take control of a Prussian galleon.
When the night suddenly lit up, the galleon was consumed by fire, exploding and destroying nearly all the ships nearby in the flames.
Wooden fragments flew in all directions, even injuring sailors on ships that weren't close.
After seeing what had happened, we all turned to the other galleon, where there was fierce fighting as the Prussians defended it. Even several of their galleys were there fighting, but when it seemed we might also capture it, the same thing happened: the ship was consumed by flames, causing it to explode, creating chaos and destroying several ships.
The battle was over, but this victory had turned out to be more destructive than I thought; we had lost nearly fifty ships, most of them trying to capture the Prussian galleons.
But seeing that the Prussians were not retreating from the battle, it was clear that another battle was near.
And the Prussians did not disappoint, especially as the wind turned in their favor again, and their galleons once more shone, splitting our ships and burning them. Seeing that the battle was already lost, I gave the order to retreat because I'm not going to sacrifice our entire naval force trying to force a victory, hoping the wind would trap the Prussian galleons again.
We began to row as far away from the Prussian fleet as possible.
Of the two hundred ships I had managed to gather, I lost nearly one hundred and twenty. At least we caused similar damage to the Prussians... And if it weren't for those giant ships turning into fireballs, victory might have been possible. But to destroy a galleon, I would have to sacrifice fifteen galleys. I'd rather retreat now.
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