38 Chapter 10.3 Taking Revenge

The Three Sisters are a group of three islands, Sweetsister, Longsister and Littlesister, which lie in Bite, located south of White Harbor and north of the Mountains of the Moon. The Three Sisters are within the domain of the Vale of Arryn and are ruled by House Sunderland The Borrell Houses of Sweetsister, Longthorpe of Longsister and Torrent of Littlesister have sworn allegiance to the Sunderlands. 

The Three Sisters have sworn to belong to House Arryn of the Vale, but the rule of the Eagles Nest over the islands is tenuous at best. Ships go between the Three Sisters and White Harbor all the time. The Sisters sell crab, fish and goat cheese to White Harbor and, in return, the city sells them lumber, wool and furs, but this has been more so in recent years. The history of the Three Sisters has been a bloody one.

The Sisters of old worshipped the Lady of the Waves and the Lord of the Heavens instead of the ancient gods of the children of the forest, who had been adopted by the First Men of mainland Westeros. The Sisters of that time threw dwarves into the sea as an offering to the gods. However, the septons stopped the practice after the arrival of the Andals and the coming of the Faith of the Seven. The Sistermen of old were a free people ruled by local kings. These pirates and raiders sent ships into the Bite, the Narrow Sea and the Trembling Sea to plunder and capture slaves.

In retaliation for the raids, the Maesters say that two thousand years ago the islands were conquered by the north in an invasion known as the Rape of the Three Sisters. The Sisters knelt before the Eagles Nest to drive out the Northmen, ending the era of native kings in the Sisters. The Kings of the Mountain and Vale of House Arryn and the Kings of the North of House Stark fought for the Three Sisters for a thousand years in the War Across the Water, depleting much of the islands' resources. The Three Sisters' largest port, Sisterton, remembers the northern invasion and some Sisters still resent the northerners, but this resentment is mutual; which is why Ser Walder did not hesitate to organize an attack on them.

During Aegon's Conquest, the Sistermen rebelled against Ronnel Arryn, King of the Mountain and Vale, declaring Marla Sunderland as their queen. However, she was deposed when a Braavosi fleet hired by House Stark at the behest of Aegon the Conqueror approached the islands. Lord Steffon Sunderland knelt before House Targaryen and put an end to the Sister Men's Rebellion, while his sister Marla ended her days as a silent sister, and from that moment they are under the wings of the Seven Kingdoms, and House Arryn.

In the town of Sisterton, on the island of Sweetsister, Godric Borrell calmly dined on a bright lobster. His eyes exuded a primal gluttony at such a work of art on his wooden plate.

Godric is a big, meaty man with huge shoulders. His face is direct and brutal with a huge forehead. He is bald on the top of his scalp, though a coarse gray and white hair grows on his cheeks and chin. The black-eyed gentleman has thick lips and his nose is lumpy and streaked with red. The man has all his teeth, though most are yellow and one is blackened.

The afternoon was pleasant for Godric, a nice day as he enjoyed a good meal. From his castle, Breakwater, he watched the entire sea, and it was certainly a beautiful sight, until something made him strain his eyes.

Dozens of figures began to appear in the distance, ships, all bearing the crest of House Manderly. After those 20 or 30 vessels, many other ships, smaller in size, followed from behind. Merchant ships or fishing boats, of all kinds.

Godric didn't think he was seeing correctly, so he rubbed his eyes hard, thinking it was a mere illusion, but it turned out not to be... it was reality.

"Garlick!" shouted Godric, and the commander of his army quickly came forward.

"My lord."

"Prepare all soldiers, the Manderly scum are coming to us."

"The army? Even if they come they can't do anything to us."

"I know idiot, that much is clear to me. We're in the service of House Sunderland, a direct subordinate of Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King, they don't have the balls to touch us. But better safe than sorry, right? Have some lads ready, at least until we give them bread and salt."

"Understood my Lord!"

Godric went to greet the ships, a cocky grin adorning his face. He was trying to recall what he could have done to the fat Wyman Manderly as to make him leave his passivity and come with such force to his territory, but he couldn't really recall.

The ships were getting closer and closer, and Godric Borrell had to admit that he was a little nervous, and that his arrogant smile was slowly fading and waning.

The ships parked quietly in the harbor, Lord Borrell did not hinder them, and out of it came soldiers; all in full armor and uniforms. The strange thing was the crest they carried, it was not one Godric was familiar with, though it bore some similarity to the one he knew of House Dustin; only with other colors and a strange symbol over the axe.

"House Dustin?" he muttered, and saw that the one leading the advancing soldiers was a handsome but rough-faced teenager, wearing dark armor that covered his entire body. His face was not cold or angry, in fact, he was looking at Godric with a smile, which made his nerves dissipate a little. He was calmer. The cocky smile slowly returned to Godric's face.

More ships were parking, while young Dustin walked very slowly to meet Godric. Only a dozen soldiers accompanied him, so Godric, with 150 soldiers behind, did the same, and advanced with a small contingent as well.

"What could possibly motivate you northerners to come to my beautiful island and beautiful territories?".

"I think you should know the answer perfectly well, Lord Borrell" answered Wolfgang, and Godric could see how from the ships another kind of soldiers began to descend, these did belong to House Manderly. The one who commanded them was Ser Walder, a veteran that Godric knew. His look was one of pure hatred, very different from Wolfgang's.

"Should I? Bullshit. You'd better give a good reason, or a single raven to Jon Arryn will have your head handed to me."

"Is that so? I've never seen Jon Arryn in person, he seems a powerful man. Those who serve him must be men of high caliber as well, correct?"

"Are you mocking my bastard? We all know your hands are tied, I can insult your ugly face all I want and you will do nothing, so, as I told you, tell me quickly why you show up with so many faggots on my island" Godric said viciously, and began to scratch his belly.

Wolfgang began to look around, and saw in the distance a man walking hurriedly, he was carrying bread and salt in his hands.

"Bread and salt?" commented young Dustin.

"That's right, even we have those kinds of traditions" commented Godric as he laughed.

"It's kind of absurd, don't you think?".

"What's that, the bread and salt tradition?".

"Not the tradition itself, that's necessary. It's a guarantee of social peace and order. What I'm saying is wasting such valuable resources as bread and salt on this, being that human beings could be fed with such."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"I'm going to do you a favor, that's what I'm talking about" grinned Wolfgang. "Bread and salt won't be necessary" he added, and without giving Godric or his attackers time to react, he quickly drew his sword, delivering a horizontal slash. Godric Borrell's head, as well as those of his two closest companions, flew through the air quite suddenly.

None of the other companions could react when, in a uniform and synchronized manner, Wolfgang's escort thrust their spears into their chests, piercing straight through their hearts.

Beron, who had been called together with the group of soldiers, which in the end were only 1,000, not 5,000, due to the fact that no more fit on the ships, gave the order to advance, and all the forces of House Dustin began their march in a rapid manner, covering all fronts with a shield.

Garlick was slow to react, but in the end he gave the order to his soldiers to charge Wolfgang, but because of the slowness of reaction that all the soldiers had, seeing their lord killed so simply, they could not reach Wolfgang's position before his own army, who simply swallowed Wolfgang in their mass of shields, making him unreachable.

The enemy charged against the Dustin forces, but such a shield wall proved impenetrable, and what little openings there were were simply used to pass firm spears through them, which ended up pinning the enemy.

The soldiers of House Borrell had no discipline whatsoever, and upon seeing that they were next in line to be impaled in the front line, the savages would simply seek to retreat and switch positions with a comrade, who, in turn, to save his life, would end up pushing them straight into the spears. However, such openings were occasional, so not much of a dent was made in their numbers.

"We're moving forward!" shouted Garlick excitedly. He couldn't see what was going on ahead, as the forces were just advancing and clashing shield to shield. He was not such a tall man, and he was in the middle of the mass of soldiers.

The problem was that... without Garlick knowing when or where, it turned out that the advance of his troops all it did was to get them into a pincer that had formed thanks to the enemy's retreat. They were totally trapped.

"Soldiers of House Dustin!" they all heard. "Soldiers of House Manderly!" came the same voice again; it was Wolfgang Dustin's. "Fight as one! Slaughter all the enemy! Slaughter this savage trash! This land rightfully belongs to us! That will be the price you pay for your sins!".

Euphoria filled the battlefield, and the confrontation was an all-out massacre.