Chapitre 36: Chapter 36: Iron Islands
Aiden's thoughts on the attacks were spot on, after Euron Greyjoy learned of King Robert turning on the North, Riverlands and Reach, he attacked and killed his brother Balon and took the throne.
He did this to further his own goals, he saw an opportunity. Using the pretense as his brother had bent the knee to the Usurper and that they were for the Targaryens, he took the seat in the only legal way to have all other houses fall under him. He had to take it.
After gaining his brothers rule, Euron sent raiding parties to steal wood and reave the Westerlands. He also sent a raiding band into Dorne, he was a naval warfare genius so he had the captains only focus on swift hit and move tactics.
He also sent a decendant raiding party to Bear Island, the hope was to eliminate House Mormont so that Ned would have no choice but to kill Theon Greyjoy, his nephew who was his brothers last surviving son. Also if the Mormonts were gone, they would earn back control over the island and get all the wood they needed to build ships.
Bear Island originally was owned by the Iron Islands, they killed the original owners House Woodfoot and took control. Legends say that during the Age of Heroes Rodrik Stark won the island after winning a wrestling match against an Ironborn. He then gifted it to the Mormonts who had shown themselves to be loyal vassals.
This harassment of Westerlands and Dorne could make him a lot of money under the banner of the Dragon, when word of another Ironborn rebellion was happening so soon after the last, it surprised no one. The Iron Islands were always opportunists, they always attacked whenever they caught any smell of blood in the water.
"We do not Sow!" Those were their words, their life motto. They don't plant their own crops, or raise livestock for food, they didn't export goods for money. Everything they had was paid for with "the iron price." Thru pillaging and piracy, thru death.
That has been their way for as long as there have been the Ironborn, many have questioned the Iron Throne why they never fully eliminated the Iron Islands, the truth of the matter was they were useful.
They were used as a gauge for the throne, to truly know if their rule is strong or not. Advisers can speak sweetened words all they wish to the throne, but if you have Ironborn attacking, then you know your hold over the kingdom isn't as good as you had been told or thought.
If no Ironborn raids were going on then you knew you had a united front at the very least, the Iron Islands wouldn't attack unless they felt the kingdom was not united.
That was why all the crown did was place restrictions on the amount of ships the Iron Islands could have at once. It wasn't difficult to crush them each time they went on a attack, so they weren't seen as a real threat to the throne.
Aiden wouldn't harrass the Iron Islands, as long as they stayed out of the North he didn't care, although he did wonder why they planned on attacking Dorne, he would figure that out later, now was the time to get to Bear Island to save the Mormonts.
Bear Island was a remote, densely forested, island located on the western side of the main continent of the North. It was within the Bay of Ice, situated between the North and the lands Beyond the Wall, so not only was the island subjected to Ironborn raids, they also were raided by wildlings who avoided the wall by using boats to raid the island. The Mormonts were one of the poorest houses in the North, but they were the heartiest.
The island wasn't named Bear Island for nothing. It was rich in wildlife, so rich in fact that the island produced very large bears, no where else in the world were the bears larger than on this island.
The Mormonts respected the bear and took it as their coat of arms after they were given the island. They were of the First Men so many bonded with the bears, using them in battle and mounts. Sadly thru the ages thanks to constant wars, hunger and no advanced medicine, the population dwindled and the birth of skinchangers died out in most of the houses.
The main issue wasn't that it wasn't in the blood or losing the potential, but unlike the Starks and House Reed, who had written records, the Mormonts passed things down verbally. So much had been lost, they knew of magic and some of what it was capable of but by the time the Mormonts adopted the habit of recording on paper, they had incomplete information so they didn't know how to improve their abilities.
Occasionally one would be born that would show an affinity for training animals, usually becoming kennel or stable masters, but that was as far as it went. They didn't know that was a sign for First Men to be able to become skinchangers, but if you didn't meditate or improve on your ability, like a muscle it will just atrophy or remain as weak as you continue to use it.
Muscles don't get bigger unless you tear it, over use it, the muscle reacts to this and grows as it heals, becoming dense, allowing more strength and endurance than before. So too was warging, once you saw what affinity your animal was, wargs were closer to any k-9 species while skinchangers could have one with any other animal or even multiple, you could then work up from there to build the bond.
On the island itself alarms were blarring, they were piling out of their homes, men, women and children came out of their homes armored. The island didn't shy away from teaching women and children to fight. The men were away most of the day, fishing or hunting, so the women trained to defend their homes and children.
They may have been the poorest of the houses in the North, but the Mormonts and their people were fierce warriors. Accustomed to the harsh winters and constant raids, however this time the Ironborn came much heavier than usual, this time they were after total control of the island rather than just a small raid.
Jorah had yet to return with his small party of warriors, they had just recently arrived at Winterfell and would be remaining due to Ned had called a meeting of the Houses to determine what should be done with Bolton lands.
Many who lived on the island looked at the small fleet in loathing and resolve, they were used to this, but seeing the size of the fleet, they knew this battle would be tough, usually only two to four ships would raid them at a time, now they were facing nine.
This told the inhabitants that this was no normal raid, they knew if they didn't win all the older men would be slain, their wives and daughters would be turned into salt wives, the Ironborn version of a bed slave, and their sons turned into thralls, or slaves used for various things such as ship building or plain cannon fodder on another raid.
The current head and acting regent was Jorah's aunt Maege Mormont, she was a short, stout woman with greying hair. She wore a leather armor patched in ringmail, colored in the black and green of House Mormont, on her side were two spiked maces.
She had five daughters, Dacey her eldest and heir, Alysane, Lyra, Jorelle, and Lyanna Mormont. No one knew who their fathers were, or even if Maege ever married. Rumors on the island was that Mormont women could change into a bear and thus find a strong mate.
Obviously this wasn't true, she was married to a lesser noble, Hartin Mormont, who took his wifes last name after the wedding, he was just an unknown man of little renown at all, he was a hunter and warrior who liked to be isolated, avoiding any renown. Maege respected his wishes and didn't speak about the wedding.
Dacey and her two sisters, Alysane and Lyra, were joing their mother in defending the island.
Dacey was unlike her mother and siblings, she was tall with a lanky yet athletic figure, her long brown hair, icy blue eyes and elegant features gave her a beautiful appearance whether she was in armor or a dress.
Alysane was much like their mother, short and stalky with a muscular build, thick thighs and brown hair, warrior builds. They had all been trained to fight from a young age, they knew what happened to women and girls caught by both the Ironborn and wildlings, so many preferred to die on the battlefield rather than allow themselves to become birthing vessels.
"Girls, I want you defending the ones too young to fight. This frontal assault is just to kill as many as possible to give you all a fighting chance." Maege said sternly to her daughters.
"Aye and Jorelle has Lyanna and is going to the designed area with the children. We know this is a suicide mission mother but we Mormonts stand together. Otherwise our words wouldn't be Here We Stand." Dacey responded with a smile.
"Here We Stand!" The others in the room stated firmly. Athough each knew they were going into certain death, they knew the alternative would be much worse.
"Aye, lets take as many of those squids out as possible before we go meet your father, I am a proud she-bear to have such brave and wonderful cubs." Maege said with a cracked voice, although she didn't like them joining, she couldn't deny that their help would definitely be useful.
Like Maege herself, all of her daughters were fierce fighters, they showed exceptional battle prowess and had very good situational awareness, so they were able to thrive together on a battlefield. The sisters were close, Dacey was 14 whileher sisters were very close in age to her, being about a year apart from each other.
They gave each other a comforting look, knowing most likely this may be the last time they see each other. They were facing insurmountable odds with so many ships to be attacking at once.
One of the guards shouted, "The Ironborn are about to land on our shore, the spear throwers and bowmen are in position my lady. Should we send a negotiator?"
"Nay, the squids don't look like they came for a few trees and women. That is a invasion fleet, they are here for the island as well as wood and women." Maege stated calmly, she knew this wasn't a normal invasion, she just couldn't believe they would do this after all, Theon Greyjoy was a hostage with the Stark family.
But there was no time for them to ponder on something trivial, not with the fate of their family and people under them hung in the balance. So they prepared to fight till the last warrior, hoping to give the others defending those who were too old or too young to help, long enough for them to escape to and receive help from Deepwood Motte.
As the Ironborn landed they began their assault immediately, they were angered by the fact that the men and women had retreated rather than stand and fight. They knew that they were preparing defensive positions since this wasn't their first time raiding the island.
Although the island was poor, the Ironborn ravaged the island many times, the wood and people were what they were after. The boys made great thralls, and the women were more resilient than most. Able to give the men a fun time making them salt wives, whether personal or ship wives.
There were two kinds of salt wives, one the men would take home to have for themselves and ones for the ship and crew, used for prolonged trips out at sea, those rarely lasted but a few voyages before they were completely broken.
The Ironborn didn't rush forward as usual, they only took the beach and began to build a defensive position, they were here to stay, not just raid and leave. So they gathered what little they could, taking down huts and other structures to use the wood as barriers or weapons.
The man leading this excursion was Lord Gorold Goodbrother, he was Lord of Hammerhorn and Head of House Goodbrother. The Goodbrothers were one of the more powerful houses of the Ironborn, they had multiple cadet branches, the Goodbrothers of Corpse Lake, Crow Spike Keep, Downdelving, Shatterstone and Orkmont. So Gorold was chosen to attack Bear Island, while House Harlaw and Greyjoy would attack the Westerlands.
Lord Gorold Goodbrother was an elderly man, with grey hair and short beard, but he still had an athletic build from years of fighting and sailing. He had one of the largest fleets and was richer than most Ironborn since his income came from mining rather that piracy. He had to defend his lands from other Ironborn who wanted his wealth.
Gorold had twelve daughters and three sons so his influence was on par with the Greyjoys thru various marriage agreements.
This was also why Euron sent him to Bear Island, to try to balance his forces, making him have to split his forces amongst his sons, he had just over forty ships so it was split evenly, which would allow Euron to win over Gorold's sons favor.
"Signal the ship that we have maintaining watch over Deepwood, have our ship and one other on stand by in case Deepwood tries to send reinforcements. Have the rest land and begin the assault on Mormont Keep." Gorold ordered from his personal ship, which was the farthest from the shores as he could send signals to his fleet from where he was.
"Make sure they don't go overboard on the killing, we will need men to rebuild a functional dock to begin exporting wood and building ships." Gorold continued issuing orders to which were relayed to the other ships and land.
Getting the order to begin the assault, the Ironborn began to group into squads of men and began assaulting Mormont Keep, this was where Maege had pulled all the people too since it was the most defensive position available.
The downside was that due to their lack of food, they wouldn't be able to take a prolonged seige, and the Ironborn knew this so they waited for the inevitable. Maege and her warriors stormed out of the Keep , they were reducing the mouths that needed to be fed while giving the North time to save the others.
This was typical northern behavior, which was why the Ironborn didn't move to attack right away, they wanted to demoralize the Mormonts forces. Hearing the suffering of their warrior women and children would speed things along, causing those still in the keep to try to reinforce and rescue those they caught.
Once they did that they would be ready, once they had the keep, the island would practically be theirs. The battle raged several yards from the keep, many Ironborn and northmen and women layed dead or dying as the northerners pushed the Ironborn back to the beach.
Little did they know that they were pushing themselves further from assisting the Keep as not all Ironborn followed after, some remained near the keeps gates, waiting for their trap to spring.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone