27 The Defiance of Duskendale final

The Narrow Sea, Westeros, 6th moon of 277 AC

The arrival of winter made the narrow sea a lot colder than it should've been; although not as cold as the Shivering Sea, it was still cold. For Ragnar and his crew, it was just a cool breeze; the men, although foreign, adapted surprisingly fast to the Northern climate. The men in the ships were trying their best to impress Ragnar; he gave them their freedom back, he fed them, he gave them and their families home and dignity, and they wanted to show he wasn't wrong in doing all that. So when Davos told them they were going south to fight with their lord, no man complained; they all took their swords and axes and prepared the ships.

" My Lord. We should be arriving in the crownlands in about a fortnight. We have enough supplies to sigil Duskendale for almost a year without having to resupply." said a man to Ragnar.

" Good. Captain Arne, is it? Tell the man I'm impressed with the professionalism and efficiency of my fleet; that's mainly on you and the other captains. Once we get to Duskendale, the whole realm will see and marvel at a small part of our fleet; they will see our men are not uncoordinated like the Ironborn and not soft like those flowers of House Redwine." Ragnar replied, and he could see the glint in the man's eyes.

" Aye, my lord. I'll tell the men about your praises and what is expected of them in Duskendale." Captain Arne said, and Ragnar just nodded. The man, although not northern, had a northern accent due to having learned the language through Ragnar's "magic." These men abandoned their own culture to embrace the north's culture; they worshipped the old gods, styled their hairs and beards like the skagossi, and most of them married a skagossi woman. And with the woman was the same thing; they worshipped the old gods, they styled their hairs like the skagossi woman, and most married Skagossi men.

Their integration into Skagos was a success, and due to the foreign's respect and devotion to their culture, the Skagossi simply loved them. The only way to buy your way into a proud person's heart is to make them even prouder of what they are, and that's how the former slaves made their way into Skagos society.

" Davos, do you know why I'm going to Duskendale? Do you know why I'll save the King" Ragnar asked

" Because you are loyal to the crown?" Davos replied, unsure of what to think.

" No, my loyalty lies with House Stark as I gave THEM my oath, and I am a man of my word. The Starks are worthy; Rickard Stark remembers me of the only man I respected and followed in my land, Balgrulf, The Greater. I'll save the king so that I can get a charter for my town to make it a city officially. I will call it Winterhold, for it will be where my successors and I will hold the winter from breaking the North." Ragnar replied calmly

" So… if should lord Stark rebel against the Iron Throne and declare himself the King in the North, would you set your Dragons against the south?" asked Davos

" If needed be, then yes, not against their cities or towns, but their armies would never cross the neck, should they attack the north, no man would return alive to their homes. I don't like people who break my peace for greedy reasons. The same thing could be said about the faith of the seven. No Septon will be allowed to spread their dreadful religion on my lands." Ragnar replied.

"I guess I understand your reasoning, milord. I admire your honor and the responsibility you have to your people and your oaths." Davos said

" A man whose word is trusted is a man with good allies and few enemies." Replied Ragnar.

As foretold, Ragnar and his fleet arrived in Duskendale in a fortnight. The blackwater bay was full of ships blockading the port of Duskendale; a large army could be seen sieging the town, and banners of Targaryen, Lannister, and Arryn could be seen all around. Once the Lords saw House Dovahkiin's sigil on the ships, they were surprised to see that the north had a fleet, a large one at that; the Redwynes themselves brought 150 Warships, 50 more than House Dovahkiin, and the Redwyne had the second-largest fleet in Westeros. The North having a large fleet was a serious prospect; the only way one could attack the north was through the water as no south invasion would be able to cross the neck; they had never been able to and probably would never be able to.

Ragnar's ship was given passage by the Royal and Redwyne fleet as instructed by Lord Tywin. Once he got out of the ship, the lords who hadn't seen him in the tournament in Lannisport were all waiting to greet him, every single one of them wanted to see the greatest warrior in Westeros, the only man capable of forging Valyrian steel.

Ragnar wore his Valyrian Steel armor and had Wuuthrad strapped on his back. Many of the lords who wanted to talk to him were intimidated by the vision of a 7'2 tall man wearing unbreakable armor and gave up the idea. The ones who welcomed Ragnar to the camp were Ser Arthur Dayne and The Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. This made many lords wonder what kind of relationship the prince held with Lord Dovahkiin.

" Greetings, Lord Dovahkiin. I find it unfortunate that we must meet under such circumstances. While in Lannisport, I had hoped our next meeting would be on better terms," Said Rhaegar, his voice tired and his eyes black from the lack of sleep.

" Greetings, Prince Rhaegar, I also had hoped for the same, but unfortunately, the reality is often disappointing. Let's get in. I want to know what is Lord Tywin's plan and what would be my part in that." Ragnar said, and Rhaegar nodded. They walked into the Lannister tent; the only person inside was Tywin Lannister himself; he was reading a parchment and had a surprisingly sour face.

" Lord Tywin, Lord Dovahkiin has arrived. I think it is time for us to summon the Lords and explain our plan to them." Rhaegar said; his voice was firm, and so were his eyes.

"Yes, your grace, I shall summon the lords," Tywin said to Rhaegar, then he turned to Ragnar and said, " Lord Dovahkiin, it's good that honored the call; your presence here will be essential if my plans work," Tywin said as he walked out of the tent to talk to a servant, who immediately ran away as soon as Tywin finished talking to him.

A few minutes later, a bunch of Lords entered the tent, the most important ones being Jon Arryn, Paxter Redwyne, Mace Tyrell, and Layton Hightower. They waited for Tywin or Rhaegar to speak about their plan.

The plan was as simple as they come; Ragnar was supposed to sneak inside Duskendale, make the king wear his armor, and smuggle him out of the town as swiftly as possible as no man would cross his way fearing the anger of the greatest swordsman of Westeros. Ragnar realized Tywin wanted the king dead and would use him as a scapegoat as this mission was almost impossible for normal people. The thing intrigued Ragnar the most was that no lord seemed to disagree with Tywin, they said they wouldn't want to cross him on the battlefield and his frame alone would make the completely unprepared men of Duskendale run for their lives, Ragnar would only need to kill three or four men and the other would run. They didn't see to be laying, it was then Ragnar understood why Tywin Lannister wanted to keep the mountain alive so much. Fear was a powerful weapon In Westeros.

With that on his mind, Ragnar offered a second approach,

To do so, Ragnar asked for a convicted rapist to be brought to him. Once they did so, Ragnar brought the man to the gates of Duskendale.

" Denys Darklyn, come out and look at me, face me as your ancestors would in a time like this," Ragnar said, and a few minutes later, Denys Darklyn and his wife appeared on the walls of Duskendale.

" Hah, they called the greatest warrior on the realm to kill me? I told Tywin that if something happened to my wife or me, I would kill the king. You are useless here, Barbarian; get back to your wasteland of an Island and die in the cold. And it's Lord Darklyn for you." He said; his voice sounded shallow as if he was reading a script of sorts; his face was worried. His wife, on the other hand, had a devious smile on her face; her eyes shone with malice.

" You are a Lord no more. There's no outcome in this situation that you come out as the winner. If Lord Tywin agrees with your demands and you free the king, the moment he is out, he will overrule Tywin and kill you all. If you Kill the King, you lose your hostage, and then we're going storm into the city and kill you all. You will die anyways, but your family doesn't need to die with you; your young son doesn't need to die. If you surrender right now, I promise no child of yours will die… if you don't surrender, I will have even worse news for you. If you don't surrender, the one who will pass your sentence will be me." Ragnar said as he smirked and pointed at the criminal by his side. " You see this man, he is a convicted rapist, and I will use him to demonstrate what will happen to you, your children, and your soldiers. This punishment will be the new punishment for rapists in Skagos; it's called The Blood Eagle. I recommend you all to observe. You as well, soldiers, for this will be your punishment should you stand behind this man who is no longer your lord." Ragnar shouted as he proceeded to apply the Blood Eagle on the criminal masterfully. Ragnar did it so carefully that it would take the criminal 2 hours to die, and before that, the men of Duskendale gave up on their former lord and surrendered the city. Ragnar himself went to the dungeons to free the king.

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The Lords of the realm couldn't understand what had just happened; Lord Dovahkiin made the town of Duskendale submit without killing anyone but the criminal he used as an example. Tywin Lannister himself was speechless; what Lord Dovahkiin did was something never seen before; the grotesque thing he did to that man was brutally efficient. Tywin vowed to ask Ragnar the specifics of the punishment; he would reserve it to the worse of his enemies should they dare go against him.

The King was bathed and dressed; he would pass his sentence to Denys Darklyn personally. He would also concede a boon to Lord Dovahkiin.

" Please, my King, have mercy on me. I-I didn't mean to do that; I was desperate; my city suffered this winter. Please mercy.." Denys Darklyn pleaded as he was tied to a pyre.

" Burn him!" The king said, his voice as cold as the water of the shivering sea.

Every Darklyn but a boy, who was too young to be involved in all this, was burned alive by the king. The king asked Ragnar to perform the blood Eagle on former Lady Darklyn, who was the one who humiliated the king the most; he then burned her agonizing body.

"Lord Dovahkiin, you have freed me from these captors on the first day of your arrival; you instigated fear in their hearts as only a fellow dragon could." the king said, "I'll grant you a boon, ask me anything, and I shall be yours."

" My King, the only thing I wish of for a charter for my town. It's already the biggest town in the North, and it's hard to keep order without a charter." Ragnar said, and the King nodded

" It shall be done then. I will take care of that as soon as I get to Kingslanding." Aerys said, and Ragnar nodded.

" Please tell your maester to record the specifics of your city, such as the population and its name." Said Maester Pycelle, who had come to attend to the king's wounds.

"I'll think about it, maester." Ragnar said calmly.

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A/N: Fist Chapter of the day.

About the last chapter's pool:

Dacey Mormont won by far, and as some of you asked, Ragnar will give House Stark a form of lycanthropy. They will be able to transform into 8 ft tall direwolves ( not werewolves), and they will also have direwolves companions.

Here are the pictures of:

Winterhold( In the future)

Castle Volkihar, which will be renamed Icehold lately.

Thank you 🙏