19 Journey of the Stormlands (3)

While Renly and Loras were still quite shocked from the events of the last few minutes Galladon leaned his weapons against the table and leisurely sat down. He was very calm in his mind. He didn't care about any turn of events following, because since he started using slaves on a large scale, he was aware that one day the worst situation that Tarth would face was a total invasion from all the forces of Westeros. Offending the young lord of the Stormlands was not even on the same scale.

Why would someone as careful as Galladon, who placed his personal safety as more important than anything else for over a decade, not really care about a potential invasion from Westeros? Well, firstly the Iron Throne simply had no money for a large-scale invasion. If they only used the royal fleet let by Stannis, House Tarth would sink them to the bottom of the sea, never to return. If they used more fleets and landed on the island Galladon was fully prepared for any attacks.

But House Tarth needed to use slaves on a large scale because time was running out. Galladon couldn't trust that the Night King would be defeated by Arya Stark again, like in the TV series. Honestly, the death of the Night King was completely ridiculous. He needed to make sure House Tarth was prepared for a long winter in case the army of the Night King would further invade Westeros.

He was not at all worried that Westeros would pose a large threat to Tarth, even if they miraculously united under one banner and tried to attack Tarth with full force, which was pretty much impossible due to internal strife of the Lord Paramount's, Galladon could use two simply letters to completely break apart any coalition forces.

A simple letter to Oberyn Martell, telling him about the secret of Cersei's children and sending some evidence. Maybe he would send the letter to Jon Arryn himself as well.

And a letter to Robert Baratheon himself, telling him the identity of Jon Snow. What would the grumpy old man in King's Landing think, if his best friend hid a male heir of House Targaryen and son of his only love Lyanna Stark, who he loved and hated at the same time.

With just two letters Westeros would fall apart, turning the whole continent in a large mess. How would they still take care about the comparably small island of Tarth? House Tarth might even make a large profit in arms trade while the rest of the Seven Kingdoms battled themselves to death.

Similarly, the Iron Islands are invading the Westerlands and the Riverlands for centuries. But the Iron Throne only gathered a large-scale army when they openly declared themselves independent and rebelled against the throne. The Iron Islands are even using slaves themselves, calling them thralls. A thrall is an indentured servant, now found in Westeros only in the Iron Islands and beyond the Wall.

Thralls of the ironborn may only be obtained by paying the "iron price" (capturing them by raiding) under the Old Way. They are not slaves since they may not be sold and they may not be obtained by paying the "gold price." Unlike the children of slaves, the children of thralls are free if they are born on the Iron Islands, although some ironborn believe the children must be still dedicated to the Drowned God. The children of thralls cannot be taken from their parents until they are at least seven years old, the age when most ironborn begin an apprenticeship or join a crew. 

Thralls are used for farming and mining, activities which the ironmen consider unsuitable for free men. Educated thralls are valued by the ironborn as stewards, tutors, and scribes, while craftsmen thralls are also highly regarded. Some ironborn priests are known to sacrifice thralls to the Drowned God by slitting their throats and giving their bodies to the sea.

Galladon and House Tarth is treating the slaves acquired from Essos pretty much the same as the Iron Islands are treating a Thrall, while not even calling them slaves openly, rather forced laborers.

Overall, Galladon Tarth felt very comfortable in his position. He was extremely sure that no large-scale invasion of Tarth would happen, and even if they tried it would fail miserably. This gave him confidence to act like that in front of Renly Baratheon, who was desperately gripping the arm of his chair, trying not to break into a fury. Since he was born, he was never once treated with such arrogance, not even by his parents or his two older brothers. Since becoming the young lord of the Stormlands, everybody treated him like a young god, praising him for his character and conduct.

But he did not know how to behave in this situation. He couldn't attack the only heir of House Tarth without consent of his brothers, nor could he just take this shame and blow to his dignity without reacting. Loras Tyrell was very aware of the inner struggle his lover faced right now. Even he himself, trained by the politician Lady Olenna, was overwhelmed by the situation. Slowly, the scent of blood drifted into their nose and the screams of the bowman disturbed their senses.

When the old Maester arrived and looked at the situation he was horrified. The throwing spear was deeply embedded into the wall and not even a group of guards could pull it out. Their attempts caused even more misery to the young bowman, who nearly fainted instantly.

Galladon kept watching the whole scene, quite amused by what was happening. He fought bloody battles since he could wear a weapon and killed countless pirates trying to invade Tarth from the south by himself. Seeing the life slowly disappearing from the eyes of the young bowman didn't bother him at all.

He truly cared about his family and close retainers, but his awe for the life of ordinary small folk had long disappeared in his eighteen years as an heir of a noble family. The moment he aimed his arrow at himself this young man was dead for him. Offending a noble will almost always lead to this result in the world of Westeros.