16 Battle of Fair Isle

We stayed two days on Old Wyk and during that time, Galbart cleansed the island of resistant and unwanted religious people. However, he returned from a visit to Nagga's hill with unexpected news. Apparently, he was fascinated with the monstrous bones and instead of destroying them, he decided to take them back home. I told him none of my ships would serve in his silly endeavour but he was adamant about bringing them back.

Although he disrespected my orders, I couldn't fault the man as the bones were really something out of nature and didn't deserve to be destroyed so I told him that if he really wants to bring all of the bones to Deepwood Motte then I could allow him to use my ships but on the condition of him preparing two wolf pommels for my Valyrian steel swords with the bones of Nagga.

He grumbled a lot but in the end, he accepted it. After all, there were many things he could do with the bones like bows and spears. Hell, he can even build a gate from that monstrosity.

We left the island in the morning but I left some of my men on the island to prevent the Ironborn from retaking it. Most of the men living on the island were killed and the rest were women and children so they would have no hardship keeping it while we handle the rest of the Ironborn navy.

I left Lady Drumm on a fishing village in Harlaw Island. The shock was evident on her face as she expected me to send her off to Ten Towers but I never said I was going to give her to Harlaws, I just said I was going to send her to Harlaw Island. Nevertheless, I fulfilled my promise and we swiftly sailed south from there.

Our destination was the Casterly Rock but we slowed down half the way as I received news from my wargs about Ironmen's main fleet being near the Fair Isle. As far as I remember, Victorian Greyjoy was to clash with Stannis right off the Fair Isle.

To be honest, I like Stannis but I wouldn't risk my neck to reduce his casualties so I planned to enter the fray right in the middle of it. My wargs were watching them carefully as they closed on each other. Arrows rained on both navy. Stannis had more ships as he was fresh for war while the Ironborn fleet suffered defeat after defeat in many battles.

I was good with my sword and commanding at land but sea battle was not my thing so I entrusted the command of the fleet to Hodor's father, Elric Stark. The man was very good at seafaring but he still did not prove his mettle in a real battle so my vassals were wary of him taking the command but their grumbling silenced when I put my foot on the ground.

I was planning to join the fight directly and fight side by side with my men but I was expecting strong resistance because we were coming just behind Victorian. He would have nowhere to escape as to the west was the Westerlands and to the east was the Fair Isle. The only way he could escape was sailing north back to the Iron Islands but I was coming from the northern side so he became a literal fish trapped in the pincer of a lobster.

The ships were burning and a scent of blood was pervading on the air when we arrived at the scene. The battle was still going on and both sides were fighting fiercely. I saw some ships trying to escape but Elric, Hodor's father, sent some ships after them. Northern ships were still pristine and faster than the longships of Ironborn so it did not take long for them to be caught and slaughtered like some cattle.

Honestly, if I had been an Ironborn captain, I would have escaped immediately as this was not a battle they could win but Victorian was stubborn as a donkey and would not listen even to his most experienced captains.

The ship I was on was the first one to crash onto an Ironborn longship from its side. I felt the tremor run through beneath my feet but I stood my ground. All of my men regained their balance as I yelled for them to charge.

The first enemy my sword clashed with was a young man and fear was cloaking his eyes. He tripped against his own foot and fell to the floor. I did not was time or wait for him to stand up and stabbed him from his chest and turned my sword to be sure he was dead.

I pulled out my sword and looked around. From the poop deck to the bow, there were clashes everywhere. Suddenly, I felt a blow to my side and I staggered. I raised my sword to protect myself and saw another young man with a rusty sword trying to attack me. I was lucky his sword was rusty and not sharp because that stab could have killed me right at that moment.

I roared and slashed him with Ice as his head fell to the ground with a shock engraved on it. War was cruel, indeed, as young men who did not even live their life to the fullest were dying in vain.

However, these thoughts were for some other time as my men cleaned this ship quickly I jumped on another that was floating just beside the one I was on. Its sailing mast was broken and was lying on the ship we crashed into so it was rather easy to get to the other ship.

My men followed me swiftly as we engaged the Ironborn who was trying to defeat some men who wore the coat of arms of House Hightower. I quickly stabbed a middle-aged man from his back as the enemy realized our presence.

Just as we were gaining the advantage thanks to our numbers, another ship crashed on this one; a whole group of Ironborn descended onto us. The odds were not good but Wolfsguard was with me and I trusted their skill in arms so I wasn't worried about losing the fight on this ship.

I saw some Ironborn pointing their bow to me and my men. My first reaction was rolling to the side and escaping from an arrow. I quickly climbed to my feet to realize two men surrounding me.

They had fierce faces and experienced men but I wasn't someone they could just kill with a swing of a sword. I did not let them take the initiative as I charged onto one of them aiming to his left side. He dodged my strike barely and frowned at my speed. It was obvious he wasn't expecting such speed from me but he still didn't know that I had Ice in my hand which was lighter than most greatswords.

While I was attacking the man, the other one tried to stab me from my side but I quickly retreated to the front of my direct opponent and took the other one to his companions behind. I slashed downwards to his crotch.

The man probably thought I was trying to slash his chest because he threw his head back but his crotch came forward so my attack sliced his cock into two pieces as he screamed his lungs out while also crying in pain. The other man looked at his companion's wound with horror in his eyes but that was a mistake as I took advantage of his absent mind to stab him on his heart.

His sword fell to the ground as he held his chest and he tumbled down. I quickly turned back to the first man and finished his job swiftly. I looked around to see my men dealing with the rest of the Ironborn but a sight of three Ironborn pressing onto a fallen man with swords pointing to him caught my sight.

[Quest: Save Baelor "Brightsmile" Hightower from certain death

Reward: +3 Random Attribute Points

+2 Trait Points

+10 Bonus Opinion Score with members of House Hightower]

The screen popping on my sight was foreign to me as I hadn't seen it since returning from Robert's Rebellion but I had no time to contemplate or look at the fallen man's status screen because the three men were already preparing to kill him. Thus, I did the first thing I could think of; attack them.

I run to them with my sword at hand while yelling to attract their attention. My voice was engulfed amidst the screams and fight on the ship. Luckily, I arrived before they could kill him and stabbed the man who was holding his sword high in the air to stab the Hightower man. He groaned and nearly let his sword go but I pulled him back to prevent the sword's tip from falling onto the Hightower man.

The other two men looked back to see a sword stinging out of their companion chest. They were quick on me but their skills were not up to me. I quickly slashed my sword and cut one of the man's sword arm. He fell to the ground holding his blood spurting arm while I turned to the last remaining man who looked around for a chance to escape, alas his wishes did not come true as I cut his throat with a quick swing of my sword. I turned back to the last one and stabbed my sword to his heart as he looked at me in fear and begged for his life.

I looked around if an enemy was coming to me but I realized all of the Ironborn were already dead and the last one was being killed by one of my men. I turned back to the Hightower man and extended my hand to help him stand up while looking at his status screen.

[Name: Baelor "Brightsmile" Hightower

Diplomacy: 10

Martial: 20

Stewardship: 13

Intrigue: 8

Learning: 12

Opinion: 45]

As I expected, he was the man the system wanted me to save. As far as I remember, he was the heir to the Oldtown and saving him was certainly a boon. If I had known his identity I would have saved him even if there was no quest because of possible boons this action could get me. However, what surprised me was his opinion of me. I mean I killed his great uncle, Gerold Hightower, at Tower of Joy so I expected him to hate me and saving him shouldn't have brought his opinion this high.

[Congratulations! You have gained 5 Random Attribute Points, 2 Trait Points and +10 Bonus Opinion Score with members of House Hightower]

As I was contemplating my gains and his opinion of me, he took my hand and raised himself with a big smile on his face. "Lord Stark, you have my gratitude for your help. House Hightower owes you for saving its heir."

Just as I was going to answer with a smile on my face, another ship crashed onto ours as I sighed and readied myself.