Chapter Fifty Two

Thirtieth, Second Moon, 253 AC (+42 days)

It was another day of travelling along, and today I was on horseback, as opposed to riding in the wagon. After these months of travelling, I had mastered the art of dozing while in the saddle. At first, I had taken to doing what work I could or even talking with everyone in the group. But eventually, it became too repetitive. You can only ask, 'How are you today?' so many times to the people you spend all day, every day with before it becomes ridiculous. And we passed that limit only a few days into the trip.

An elbow in my side shook me from my rest, as Donovar pointed ahead of me to a guard returning to the party. During our travels, we had two guards keep ahead of the party to scout out any trouble, but it was not uncommon for one to return every so often.

A glance at Donovar showed he clearly saw something in the guard's posture, though I couldn't make out anything. The guard wasn't rushing and didn't seem frantic, so I wasn't worried.

As the man approached, he said, "Master Michael! We've sighted Stonefisk! We are about ten minutes away!"

I thanked the man with a smile on my face, and we sped our group, who had all heard the good news, and we hastened our way to the village.

A few minutes later we came around a hill and finally saw Stonefisk laid out before us. The village itself was nestled between two slight hills on either side, with a larger hill behind it, opposite of the shore. The village itself consisted of small, rough houses – shacks, really – made up mostly of stone, the type that was commonly found strewn across the landscape. However, even from here I could spot a few wooden houses that sported what looked like planks, probably from my sawmill. The village itself was somewhat dreary, the stone houses blended into the stone landscape, and there was little in the way of vegetation – other than a few spots of grass. The only real color in the village was that some of the roofs and doors were painted in bright colors, but it was hard to detract from the bleakness of the stone.

From my vantage point, I could see people and animals moving throughout the village as they had been alerted to my party's presence by one of my guards. I grimaced as I saw the animals freely mixing in the village and could only fathom at the diseases that must run rampant in such a place. From here, I could also see what looked to be the ruins of the old castle on the top of the hill behind Stonefisk. Not much remained, but I could see the rubble from where I stood.

We continued to make our way to the village, and I could see more and more people gathering, with some people even coming back to the shore. It looked like I would have a good-sized audience for a speech this time. I was lucky in that I had never feared public speaking; I never enjoyed it, but I also never hated it, and over this trip, my experience with it had grown by leaps and bounds. I had also planned this speech, as it would be different than the speeches I gave to other, smaller, villages. Usually, I would introduce myself, talk about how I planned to make their lives better and defend them from all threats. It was an uplifting speech if I did say so myself, and everything I said and planned was in a general sense.

This speech, on the other hand, was targeted towards the people here, as well as their history. This village was going to be a focal point in my lands, and I wanted these people to know it.

As the party wound our way into town, we made towards the open docks, where we had space for our audience to listen to us. I checked in with my group while we waited for our audience to assemble.

After about ten minutes, I hopped back onto my horse to make sure the crowd could see me.

I cleared my throat, then began speaking. "Greetings, people of The Fishing Town! I am Master Michael Ragnar, and I was recently elevated by Lord Edwyle Stark and put in charge of this land! After a raid by the despicable Ironborn upon my village, my family and I took up arms against them and together with the help of our fellow villagers, we were able to kill and capture the miserable dogs!"

I paused for a moment while the crowd cheered. "That's right! Together we were able to take back our village and our pride! We decided to no longer live in fear of them, and to do so, we became strong! We have built up our village and are raising a castle to defend its people so that we will never have to fear the Ironborn again! Now, we have been going across this land to tell the people of our success and how we plan to defend them!"

"Most of these people live in tiny villages – collections of just a few houses – where they live far apart from each other as to hide from the Ironborn. They have been denied the ability to live with their families and fellow Northerners! But I tell you – we won't be denied any longer!"

The crowd cheered loudly at that, as their excitement grew so too did their focus on my speech. "Now, I come to this fine village! I see that its people are not scattered! Not broken!" Another cheer rippled through the crowd. "I see the proud history of this village before me – in its people! I come to you today to tell you that things will be better! The castle will be raised again! Guards will protect you! You have stood strong, and now, together, we will stand stronger!"

Cheers and the stomping of feet erupted from the crowd. Nyra looked on with pride, and my children were paying rapt attention. I signaled for Donovar to join me on horseback. Once he was on, I continued my speech. "This is Master Donovar Armstrong. He is one of my vassals and will be the one who will raise and defend this castle! He is a skilled man-at-arms who has served Lord Stark loyally and with great skill in many fights, including the fight against Redbeard!"

Another slight cheer came from the crowd, with many looking appreciative of the man. These people had never been threatened by Redbeard's rampage, but the King-Beyond-The-Wall was a story that was widespread. "For today, my group will be looking at the castle up on the hill, but we plan to begin meeting with some of the village elders and other people tomorrow, and I look forward to seeing what your village has to offer in the coming days!"

With a final cheer, my party began moving out of the village and starting the climb to the castle ruins. The hill it was located on wasn't particularly steep or tall, but it offered an excellent view of the surroundings and offered a defensive advantage. The hillside was bared rock, except for a few weeds and flowers that seemed to grow in the cracks of the rock. If there had ever been any dirt on the hillside, it had been washed away many years ago. Between the storms and lack of plant life, there was nothing to hold the soil down, even though the slope of this hill was not as steep as a bare rock hill ought to be. My current theory was that when the Ironborn had started raiding and occupying this land so many years ago, the trees had all been cut down for ships. That combined with fierce winds and extreme water downpours washed away the soil. Poor farming practices probably exacerbated the conditions until it resulted in the current status of the land.

The ruins themselves were – well – ruinous. I could see the outline of where the castle walls used to be, but they had been destroyed in the age's past, and the stones likely reclaimed by the villagers for their own homes. The keep was in similar condition, and any wooden structures had long since rotted away. It reminded me of that scene in Lord of the Rings, where Frodo finds the statue of the Gondorian King in the wilderness that was decapitated. Not only were the manmade structures, which were once beautiful, destroyed, but the area was bleak and ruined as well.

Ryden startled me from my thoughts. "Dad? Can Arthur and I go exploring?"

"Not too far and take a guard with you. Be careful too; we don't yet know what is stable."

Ryden smiled and thanked me, then ran off with Arthur to cajole a guard into accompanying them. After they ran off, Nyra and I walked around the area, hand in hand. Donovar and his family went their own way and started to look around as well.

On closer inspection, my opinion of the castle didn't go up. It lacked any sort of underground storage, though it was unclear if that was because the previous owners didn't want to dig through stone, or if there were other issues, like flooding. We discovered another ruin of a large building within the walls that might have been an above-ground storage area or possibly a barracks of some sort. There was a lot of potential here, but also a lot of work.

Eventually, we were interrupted from our wanderings when Rodrick, Koryn's goodfather, made his way over to us.

"Hello, Rodrick! It is good to see you again. How are you?" Nyra asked, warmly.

"Ah, Nyra! You look lovely as ever! I'm good, as is my wife." He looked to me, and we shook hands. "Michael. Good to see you!"

"You as well," I replied. "I was expecting you to come by sooner."

"Aye! But your speech roused up everyone, 'n they had a lot of questions for me."

"Took it well, did they?"

"Certainly! Just what they wanted to hear! Everyone's all excited and the like! Proud even, that their new Master was like them, and the new local Master served Lord Stark!"

"Excellent! That's what I was going for. There's a lot of work to be done, and I'll need their help."

"Aye, word of warning though. As hopeful as everyone is, some o' the elders are a bit nervous. Don't quite think what you want is possible. Don't worry though; you can make 'em do as you say."

Nyra patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks for the warning, but we've been sweet-talking people the whole way. We can get them to change their minds."

"Good, good! I've told enough stories about Michael, that they know he's a good man, they just worry for the village."

"Understandable," I replied. "Do you think they will be up for a name change? Or will they resist that?"

He shrugged. "A new name ought to be good. What were you thinking?"

"Stonefisk. It suits the village I think and doesn't erase its past name of Fisher's Village, or it's current name The Fishing Village."

Rodrick grinned. "Easier to say than The Fishing Village, that's for sure! Bring it up with the elders tomorrow, but it shouldn't be a problem. Now, where is my daughter and her family?"

Nyra chuckled. "Don't worry; they should be by in a few days. They are coming by boat, and we planned to have them arrive sometime around the end of this month."

"Excellent! The wife has been looking forward to seeing her grandchildren! Claims it's been too long."

Nyra smiled wryly. "Are you sure you're not looking forward to it yourself?"

Rodrick's cheeks reddened a bit and let out a cough to clear his throat. "Ah, well, I suppose it has been a while. I need to make sure my goodson is taking proper care of his family!"

Nyra and I both laughed at his antics. "Of course," Nyra said, reassuringly. "I would never assume otherwise.

"Thanks, my Lady. Anyways, I should be off! I'll let the village folk know your keen to start talking to them tomorrow."

"Thanks, Rodrick. Have a good night."

He gave a quick doff of his hat and began his trek back down the hill.

I looked over to Nyra and said, "It looks like we have our work cut out for us here."

"At least they seem willing," she replied.

"At least they seem willing," I echoed.

It was time to get to work.