100 Pirates
Second chap of the week. I'm still not 100% back to normal with the story and I don't really want to burn out again so I can guarantee you guys 3 chaps a week for now. Here is (2/3).
The arrows were flying over her head, she felt better after she received the injections of unknown potions while still in that dungeon.
Lady Dustin chose to disregard everything that was happening around her, just feeling the warmth of the man that carried her like a princess while they were running away was enough for now... She was finally free.
"The fire in the harbor is bigger than just few ships!" she heard a familiar woman's voice interwoven with heavy breaths.
"We received a falcon from Captain Dale Seaworth, they were preparing to attack the Harlaw fleet. When I informed them we are moving up the rescue they stormed the port head on for distraction!" Wolffang smiled at their luck.
"Hell of a distraction!" Anguy turned to see the enormous flames over the port.
"What did you expect? We're not the only ones wanting revenge! Counting on the size of our fleet they will not stop until they finish all the Scorpions bolts!" Rina added while running in the middle of the Whisperers from the castle.
"Watch out!" Anguy grabbed his bow, but before he could do anything the last man that followed them was shot by one of the hidden Rangers. "Uff" he nodded his head to the darkness like he was thanking someone. "That was the last one, take the Lady to the cave, we will take care of your trail." just as he said it, few men emerged from the darkness, kneeled before Lady Dustin and moved to the killed Ironborn bodies.
The whole time Bryce didn't even look back, his gaze stayed on his Lady's wounds.
The moment he saw her in the dungeon his heart broke, he almost stormed the Lords chamber in fury.
Thankfully Sandor's fist brought him back from his anger.
They run for half of the night, just stopping for the medic to check on Lady Barbrey's wounds, and then they continued their escape.
After rowing the boats inside the cave they could finally relax.
"My Lady!" The Neverwinter doctor inspected her body, seeing the bruises and wounds he kept the anger deep inside and checked his Lady's condition.
The severe malnutrition, broken wrists and wounds all over weren't the worst, it was her cold, empty eyes that worried him.
"The bath is ready my Lady..." Raina came up and helped Barbrey get up, seeing how she had problems standing, Bryce came up and gently carried her where the rest of the girls took care of undressing her and washing her body.
Only soft sobs were herd from behind the rock where the bathtub was prepared.
Every man gripped their fists tighter hearing this, they will pretend like nothing happened later, but for now anger overtook their emotions.
There was just silence and tears...
"How is my son..." a weak voice reached Raina's ears.
Standing behind the bathtub like a loyal servant she observed how the rest of the girls gently cleaned Lady Barbrey's body.
'Would I be able to hold for so long?' she wandered watching all the wounds of her Lady.
"After hearing of your situation my Lady, Lord Dustin left Winterfell and mobilized all our forces." She hesitated for a moment if she should tell her Lady everything.
"Stark didn't agree to help right?" Lady Barbrey asked.
"Yes my Lady... Young Lord mobilized the 1st Legion and the guards to attack Old Wyk as per Harlaw demands to buy time, the force was greater than the ones in the ambush so there shouldn't be any problem, he sent us here in secret to rescue you, my Lady, and Captains Dale and Allard Seaworth to attack the Harlaw port after they transported the army, while Lord Dustin with Lord Seaworth, Houses Mormont, Ryswell and Glenmore and the rest of the fleet moved to intercept the Ironborn near Seagard." The Master of Whisperers finished her report.
"Is he alright?" Barbrey asked with trembling voice, no one ever saw her so vulnerable and fragile... ever.
"Last we heard he killed Rodrik Greyjoy my Lady, he should be close to Seagard by now." Lady Barbrey relaxed a bit after hearing this.
"My Lady if I may..." came a voice from behind the rock.
"Wolffang." Barbrey acknowledged the man.
"Yes my Lady, after we started your rescue our Wargs received a word from Captain Seaworth, Lord Dustin was ambushed by the rest of the Ironborn fleet" Lady Dustin breathing hastened "He is alright my Lady, don't worry!" how could he say to her now that her child was heavily wounded... he couldn't and wouldn't. "Lord Dustin captured Victarion Greyjoy and after destroying the rest of Ironborn fleet he retreated to Seagard. We will still have to wait for them, leaving with the fleet is impossible as the whole island is on guard." Hearing the news for the first time everyone had smile on their faces.
Lady Barbrey continued the bath and asked questions about the situation.
After she finished, she put on a clean dress and joined the rest in their meal.
When she felt bette she was again inspected by the doctor.
Barbrey was afraid of asking the question that was on her mind and allowed her to hold on for so long even during the torture.
Seeing his Lady hesitant look the doctor looked into her eyes.
"The baby is fine my Lady..." hearing the man, quiet tears strolled down her face as she placed her hands on her stomach...
=== White Harbor ===
The East side of Westeros was calm and the only thing that the people talked about was the Ironborn Rebellion.
Few guards from the garrison left by the Lords enjoyed the leisure time that they experienced now that most of their superiors went with their Lords to war.
"Luckily we didn't have to go, now we can just play around all day, did you see the tits of that new girl? I could lay to rest on one and cover meself with the other!" the guard had to scratch his crotch from the arousal just thinking about the girl.
"It's just a shame that the Dustin's changed the port to Karhold, so much gold lost..." the other said miserable.
"What can you do? The Lord got greedy more than we did." the first one was disgruntled as he said that.
They started remembering the days when they could steal, extort or simply confiscate the cargo for some trivial reasons.
They watched the fog on the White Knife River.
"Hey, did you hear that?" One of them cautiously asked making the other tense up.
They listened for a moment, but only silence surrounded them.
"It's you fucking imagination again! You scared the shit of m-" he couldn't finish what he was saying as an arrow came directly from the side of his head.
The other guard trembled for a second but managed to duck down just in time.
"Sound the alarm we are under attack! Sound the fucking alarm!" he shouted while crawling to the bell tower while arrows swished over his head.
On his way he could see other guards dead or crying hidden behind the wall, terrified from what they experienced in the last few moments.
The guard finally arrived at the tower and started ringing the alarm bell while watching different types of ships with pirate flags slowly making their way to the White Harbor.
As the fog started to lift slowly he saw hundreds of different ships closing in.
That wasn't the most terrifying thing though, far away on the horizon, black smoke was rising from where the Three Sisters should be.
"May the Old Gods save us..." he looked down only to see the first ship already at the port and a masked swordsman jumping down and killing the closest guards with his two swords...
In the next few days similar situation happened all around east Westeros.
The pirate fleet came like ghost, burned and robbed what they could, but didn't kill or ra*pe mindlessly everyone they saw. If you attacked them you died, if not, you would just get robbed.
Of course there were exceptions.
Three Sisters lost every Noble they had, the lair of piracy in the North ended up being almost raised to the ground.
White Harbor and Dreadfort weren't any better then the Three Sister islands.
Karhold was burning as well but managed to repel the pirates.
Few smaller places in The Vale were raided with the hardest attack on House Waxley's Wickenden where the fighting was ongoing until the rest of the Vale Lords came with reinforcements.
Crownlands were in a miserable condition when bandit cavalry burned every farm they could find while moving in the direction of the Riverlands where the attacks continued.
Then there was Stormlands where the already meager amount of crops got destroyed.
The Lords tried to mount a counterattack, but the bandits were elusive like ghosts and if by chance they were caught, the one catching them cursed aloud as the riders felt like they were born in the saddle.
Then there was Dorne where sporadic castles burned, but not too excessive.
The Reach was hurt as well where only some Lords lost their wealth and finally the Westerlands where all farms were burned and cattle stolen, even Lannisport got sacked again.
Each day the Lords prayed to the Seven for a miracle as the fleet with spears wielding pirates stormed castle after castle just to, disappear after without any trace, not even leaving their dead behind.
=== Seagard ===
Lord Karstark was on his way to the Seagard castle as all Lords were summoned by the King.
In his hand the two parchments weighted heavy like iron.
He again read the first one informing him about the pirates attack, the bizarre thing was, that no one died during the attack and only the part of the city that was scheduled to be destroyed to build new houses was burned.
From what his men told him, the attackers even fought the fire if it threatened to spread on to the new buildings, shoulder to shoulder with his own men.
He shook his head and read again the second parchment in which Lord Dustin asked for the contract to rebuild the same part of the burned city for minimum wage.
Lord Karstark smiled to himself thinking how good of a choice he made for joining the alliance.
He still didn't know what was in Lord Dustin head, but he only had to present the third parchment that was in his pocket to the King.
