章節 90: It all changed
Brendan was watching as 250 Frigates sailed into the dark night.
13.000 of the bravest men he knew with a sole mission of erasing Old Wyk to the ground.
'No forgiveness, no mercy' were his only orders for Ser Hightower when the man took over the command of 10.000 city guards and 3.000 legionaries.
Brendan watched silently as the 250 ships under Dale's command secretly disappeared outside the Navy port one by one on their way into an unknown to anyone else direction.
Thankfully Rina and her magic made sure of their loyalty.
Secrecy was as important as the mission itself so the burden on the Seaworth oldest boy was overwhelming.
What sounded as a simple mission to deliver and return the men, placed the pressure of unknown upon his shoulders.
The plan was fairly easy, get close during the night, silently transport the men under Ser Gerold and Brienne onto Old Wyk and disappear onto the open sea to continue with their second mission until the request for pick up arrives from Ser Hightower.
A deed impossible for others, but since the army and the fleet had wargs and their falcons, thanks to connection between them it was as simple as eating a cake.
On this cold and dark night Brendan didn't feel anything, not an ounce of respect for life or death, he was just... empty.
Just like few days before when he sent some of his best men to infiltrate Harlaw island, silently just like he did today, his heart raged when his advisors stubbornly denied him the pleasure of leading the attack, but as the new Lord Dustin he admitted they were right.
Anguy, Sandor and Bryce and Rina with her girls were the ones to take his place in an expedition to save his mother.
Yes, they found her rather easily as that cunt Rodrik didn't even have the decency to hide his act, no, he was even boasting his achievements to the seven kingdoms altogether.
The news of his mother state, being chained in a dark, cold dungeon as a common criminal burned the fire of hatred in his heart.
From the wargs the boy knew that the Harlaw's wanted to use her for their means, that was probably the only reason for them to leave her alone after hurting her the first time.
She was starved, beaten and humiliated repeatedly, but she was not broken yet, and by the Old Gods the boy would not let that happen, and if anyone dared to defile her by force, Brendan was ready to drown all the known world in flames leaving only ashes.
Bryce and the others had only one mission. Save, hide and protect their Lady untill they meet with the rest of the army or the Harlaw's cease to exist.
Brendan knew he changed and so did everyone around him, he blamed himself for everything again, even if no one could really tell what the future would bring as the people around him repeatedly reminded him of.
At least no one got in his way.
Like he asked the allied houses on the day they separated, they left a token force at their lands and moved to aid him without asking any questions or trying to gain anything from this.
The boy respected that.
Even without articulating it, hearing the reports of Umbers, Karstarks and all the rest mobilizing their men, faster than any other Lord in the North did, and marching straight to Neverwinter in full force inscribed the debt of gratitude to them in his heart.
The more young Lord Dustin deteriorated in his madness the more Qyburn had to step up keeping his Lord sane, and only Old Gods know it wasn't easy.
The breaking point for the young man was when they received a reply to their raven from Lord Stark.
Qyburn, as the highest ranking advisor in accordance to the standard practice sent a request to the Worden of the North asking for permission to mount a rescue, the request wasn't something uncommon as they already were at war with the Ironborn scum so they expected it to be only formality.
Surprisingly they did not get it.
As per the King's orders, Lord Stark after calling his banners was gathering his lord's at Moat Cailin, after which they were to proceed to Seagard to meet with the King.
Just like that, the Dustin's lost their reinforcements from the east and the center of the Northern lands leaving them only with Ryswell, Glenmore and Mormont men.
No one in Neverwinter castle would forget that day, it was the first time for most of them to see the fury of their Lord.
The usually sweet, funny and approachable Lord almost lost his mind after reading Stark's reply.
At that moment Qyburn made the best thing possible to salvage the situation. By sending Lords Stark a simple reply that the four western Houses will arrive with the Northern fleet and not by land, giving them the space they needed to implement the rescue operation.
"Brendan, you should get some sleep..." Tyene worriedly came up to the boy she came to love, everyone around him felt worried as the man almost didn't sleep the last few days.
Nowhere was the cheerful youth she once knew.
'Life can break anyone' Tyene was determined to be the boy's strength.
Laika came up with her and only after feeling his wolf's wet, cold nose nudge his hand did Brendan came back to himself.
Lord Dustin just nodded, no words were spoken as the group went back to the castle.
- - -
It's been few days since the fleet left, now Brendan with the rest of the Northern houses fleet were on their way to Seagard taking their time and keeping an eye on even small movement from their enemies with the help of wargs.
Lord Dustin mobilized every wargs possible, even going so far as to take them from the civilian fleet.
The war room on Black Betha was probably the most occupied and secretive place in the whole fleet.
Starting from Centurions and finishing on the Lords, everyone who counted for something in the military or Navy was there right now.
"We cannot simply storm the island without the Warden or the King's approval nephew!" Brendan's favorite uncle, and the commander of the Ryswell men, Rickard Ryswell was in a heated argument with Lord Dustin.
"Then what would you like for me to do uncle?! Sit on my arse while they hold my mother and your sister might I remind you!" Brendan slammed his fist at the table.
"I'm not saying that! It's just not wise to storm head on! Hundreds or thousands of ours and our allies men will die!"
"Then let me and my men lead the attack! We can take the brunt of it and not crumble!"
"He's not questioning your bravery child, attacking like that, with their fleet outnumbering ours will be a suicide. I'm sure your mother wouldn't wish for that, right?" Lady Maege came closer to the teen and placed her hand on his shoulder to calm him down.
Only the people in the alliance, which he respected from the bottom of his heart could disregard his status and treat him as the young man he was.
Still not willing to compromise Brendan gritted his teeth.
"So, we only need to dwindle their fleet right?" a quiet voice got everyone's attention.
Lord Seaworth came up to the big table with all forces marked on it. "If we know what they are up to, we might be able to do so."
Davos placed his hands on the table and leaned his body forward taking a better look.
They stood and watched the northern part of the miniature land on the table, with small pieces representing the forces with paper with digits written on it indicating their numbers attached to the figures.
"We know the Lannister's are of the table with their fleet at the bottom of the Lannisport so we have only four fleets that still matter." Davos first recounted what they already knew.
"First the Redwyne fleet. We all know they don't really care about the conflict itself. For a fact we know they committed about half of their fleet, so only 250 ships left the Redwyne Straits under the command of Lord Paxter Redwyne." he walked and took the first piece in his hand.
"The second is the King's fleet from King's Landing, they played their hand with the fiasco at Fair Isle ambush. Under Stannis Baratheon," the words tasted sour coming out of his mouth for how the man repaid the old smuggler for his aid. "at least they managed to make the Ironborn retreat."
"Fucking idiot, how do you even count on such an obvious trap to work? For centuries the Ironborn sailed the seas, what did they not see?" Brendan scoffed at the stupidity of Stannis plan.
Knowing that in the original it was Euron who knowingly convinced Victarion, his brother to take that route to finish the rebellion sooner as there was no chance to win, this time it was the other way around.
The Ironborn first attacked the King's fleet that circled behind them, as the Redwyne got stuck in the bottleneck between the land and the island allowing for a small number of ships cross at the same time, the Ironborn took their sweet time blocking them and in dismantling the King's fleet one at the time.
Even now Brendan could already imagine the old Lady Olenna from the Redwyne House fuming at Stannis.
The Baratheon suffered a tremendous defeat and if the Reach fleet wouldn't come to his rescue, the brother of the King would have his first and last sea battle on the same day.
Whole day and most of the night the fires consumed the ships on both sides, finally when the Ironborn retreated the King's fleet was left with 180 ships and Redwyne with 210.
Everyone gathered felt bad for Lord Redwyne, he had to listen to Stannis command and that cost him 40 of his ships and thousands of men on the bottom of the sea.
Not much more needed to be said about the King's Landing fleet, suffering more than a half of the original numbers leaving them with 180 ships, Brendan already ordered Qyburn to take in the orphans after the conflict ended.
"At least they managed to cut off some of their numbers." Dacey agreed with her friend.
"But at what price? Stannis needs to learn that land battles are different from the ones at the sea." Arthur Glenmore represented his House as his father came down with sickness.
"So now we are left with 180 King's ships from the original 400, the good news is the Ironborn are making their way back with their 360 from the original 570 ships. The Redwyne and what's left of King's fleet is half a day, to one day behind them about 390 in total, but we know some of them are damaged on both sides." Master-of-ships placed the three figurines between The Crag and Banefort. "That leaves us with 105 ships and the Mallister's with 55. The 200 Ironborn still on Pyke are making preparations to move as well, the question is where?" Davos lifted his head.
Looking at all the information at hand, Brendan wasn't sure if they were going to Seagard, it made him feel uncomfortable and hesitant, but he had to say something.
"Seagard or the North." people gathered looked at him curiously. "Look," he continued "There are only us that can threaten them, they won't allow us to combine our forces. If they take us one at a time, the issue is solved. They will be able to rule the sea."
"What if they simply want to raid?" Lord Jorah folded his arms and looked at the new Lord Dustin.
"They shouldn't, the Ironborn are not made for land battles like us. They would prefer to solve it at sea where they have the advantage. Besides we left enough men to take care of our lands. From the other point, if they break through Seagard fleet and take the castle, the King would have to retake it first, even if they simply sale away there will be the problem of supply for all the men gathered, and they take one dangerous piece of the table." Brendan was almost certain that if the squids are smart they would do this.
"That sounds logical, so what now?" Noya stood next to Oro and Amo.
"Now we wait for them to move, if they send the fleet it will take them about 2-3 days to reach Seagard, we have our 35 Frigates with new scorpions so we use them and take them out from the distance, or we can attack at night. We don't have a problem with sailing in the darkness opposite of them." one of the Marines commander said.
"And what of the King and Lord Stark?" Nymeria's dislike for both men was evident from the spite she articulated both titles with.
"After we finish the Pyke fleet we will move to Seagard, I will ask the King to lead the charge on Harlaw then." Brendan glanced at the table where the miniature crown was placed at Red Fork crossing and the other close to the Twins.
'Now it's up to the Dornish' he turned his head and left for his cabin with the wolves, Tyene and Nymeria at his back.
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