Chapter 91 - Artican Trade in Westeros 18 (Journey to the West 05!).

[Chapter Size: 3300 Words.]

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Thrid Person POV

Westeros, 295 AC.

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The 150 ships continued heading south until reaching the very tip of Dorne before heading west, while the 50 northern ships passed through Stepstone, but not without problems. After all, many opportunists saw a chance to attack the now reduced enormous fleet, what they didn't expect was the defense of that company.

"Captain! We're seeing the fleet and it's as we were informed! 50 ships, mostly commercial!" a pirate said to his captain, who nodded in satisfaction.

"That's good! Let's attack!" He announced, looking at his men in the port, "Prepare all 20 ships, we're going to loot everything they have!" The bearded man spoke in a stern tone.

"Have you heard they have giants on the ships, can you believe that?" said a man.

"Can we handle them?" asked someone cautiously.

"You idiot, we'll knock them down at sea, it will be quite simple!" another spoke.

"I'm going to fuck a female giant if I find one!" another pirate laughed.

They armed all the ships and began to leave a port city that housed many pirates among the Stepstone islands. Setting off to intercept the Artican fleet on its route as it headed north.

"Captain! I'm sighting the ships!" Many days later, the man announced from his mast with a spyglass.

"That's good! Let's grab the oars and catch up to the fragmented fleet!!" The pirate captain shouted and all the men quickly began rowing towards the location, as the 50 ships grew larger and larger from that side.

"Strange... they've stopped sailing... they're not running away..." said the man on the mast.

"Let me see that..." the captain said, moving to the front of the boat and looking at the fleet not seeming to flee but stopping its advance as if it were waiting for them to catch up, which was quite strange.

"Whatever, they're just commercial ships." The pirate murmured and looked at his men. "Let's go, if they want to stop to wait for us, we won't let this chance slip away, get them!" He shouted as his men forced their oars and the 20 ships moved towards the 50 ships.

They were even somewhat thankful for this given the rumor that these strange ships were faster than anything at sea, so they wouldn't miss this chance. Before, with 200 ships it seemed intimidating, but 50 was much easier to attack.

They continued forward and the ships were getting closer and closer, however, it was when they were 300 meters away while their men seemed all excited about the possible loot that something happened.

The pirate captain saw a strange movement from that distance while seeing figures much larger than anything he had seen before, because even at 300 meters away he could see them moving, while these figures were on some type of harpoon aiming at them, making the pirate captain's eyes widen, even never having seen that type of equipment, he had a foreboding of what would happen.

"They can't shoot from this distance, can they?" the captain thought too late, after all, there was an explosive sound from the 10 ships on the side of the small fleet, throwing those harpoons flying towards them.

The pirate captain saw small lines fly from that distance into the sky and start descending in their direction, while 2 harpoons fell into the sea, 8 ships were pierced by the huge pieces of metal in the hull and on a ship, a man being pierced between the deck with the harpoon.

"They can launch these weapons from this distance?!" The pirate captain seemed incredulous, seeing his ship being pierced on the side with the harpoon like many others. "This is madness..." He murmured with some fear, after all this distance could be dangerous, but he was confused, as it would be a good idea to launch objects that would burn their ships and not launch metallic objects.

"Captain! We have a problem! There's a strange object with liquid attached to the iron harpoon!" A pirate shouted, looking at the harpoon stuck in the wood of the ship.

The pirate captain quickly ran to the location to see the object, he saw a cylinder with blue liquid and a fuse burning, at that moment he froze.

"Put it out!" He immediately shouted, but he didn't stay to watch his men attempt to extinguish it, after all, his instincts told him to run as fast as he could from there. While running, it didn't take long for him to hear the explosion, as his men hadn't had the time to put out the fuse, and the wildfire exploded, the explosion emerging from the cylinder spreading in all directions, consuming the ship quickly as it exploded, with the men turning to ashes while they just let out a cry for mercy before being consumed by the green flames.

This happened on all the ships that had the cylinder and even those that missed, after all, the harpoon that fell into the water returned to the surface and as soon as the nearby flames hit it, they too exploded, consuming an entire line of pirate ships with their captain turning to ashes in the main one.

BOOOM!

BOOOM!

BOOOM!

BOOOM!

BOOOM!

BOOOM!

BOOOM!

BOOOM!

BOOOM!

BOOOM!

10 explosions consumed more than 15 ships since even those not hit by the weapon were still caught by the explosion, making 5 of them watch their companions being decimated so easily and starting to turn in despair to avoid the green flames burning on the sea.

"Retreat! Retreat!" The survivors shouted on their ships, but would the Artican ships let this happen?

Harpoons began to be launched, and this was not exclusive to galleys, but even the carracks had this attack system with the giant, the ships began to explode without the fleet needing to chase them, hitting them from 500 meters away, eliminating the last ones, some survivors managed to jump before the sea, knowing they could not escape and saw their ships being exploded from a distance, but this moment of survival did not last long.

Huge tentacles began to grab and lift survivors, as they screamed and were thrown into the sea, leaving those who saw this scene even more desperate, seeing that death had not stopped until it eliminated the last of them, completely finishing off those who moments ago had malicious thoughts towards the small Artican fleet.

"That was a good extermination!" A dwarf shouted, whistling from one of the ships.

"Jol, you owe me money!" A man exclaimed to the dwarf.

"Damn, you beat me this time, you bastard, take these gold coins!" The dwarf spoke grumpily, they still had an attachment to gold, and losing put them in a bad mood.

"It's always good to bet with you, Jol!" The man laughed at the dwarf feeling the sack of coins he won, learning in Dorne a bit more about the concept of exchanging this metal for goods.

They had bet on how long it would last, with the man winning. "You see, they lasted faster than the last ones." The man laughed.

It was the third attack they had suffered since leaving the main fleet, as the pirates began to see them as easy prey. However, no one survived once an attack began, they waited for them to reach 300 meters before starting to attack, after all, even with them fleeing and distancing after the first attack, they still had a margin to attack the ships while they fled. Even if there were some survivors, Serume would eliminate them, as there could be no witnesses always having the element of surprise, and that was something they themselves sought.

The fleet continued its journey finally emerging north out of Step Stone after a week being attacked 3 times while navigating past the place, but with no damage to the fleet after all, now they would sail in open sea until the freezing waters of the north, of course, there would be another attack coming from King's Landing, but that wouldn't be any problem for them as long as they had weapons that could eliminate anyone who attacked them.

2 weeks had passed since Jon had left Dorne, as the 50 ships headed North, Jon faced a storm in the south at sea again, while his ships cut through the massive waves, but staying firm in the face of the sea's challenge.

News about them emerged not only in King's Landing but all over Westeros, with a scroll landing in the hands of the old Queen of Thorns, receiving it in her room as she began to open it to see the news of the kingdom. In the West, the old lion also received the latest news from the south of the Seven Kingdoms. However, the North was not left out, but with a different scroll from the last two, as instead of spy news, something the Starks did not have, there was yet another marriage proposal landing on the crow's tower of the maester.

A moon ago, a scroll arrived from the Manderlys about an unexpected visit from them with quite urgent news. Lord Stark nodded to this and waited until the men from White Harbor finally passed through the gate of Winterfell, as they approached to greet Lord Stark and his family with Arya absent.

Wendel Manderly dismounted his horse and proceeded to greet the Starks, waiting for his arrival along with the retinue of his house.

"Lord Stark," he greeted with due respect.

"Lord Wendel Manderly, it's a pleasure to see you here in Winterfell," Ned spoke with a small smile, despite seeming like a tired man here.

"Always a pleasure, my lord," he said and greeted all the other family members, before turning back to Ned again. "Could we talk in private?" he said, giving a covert look towards Catelyn, after all, he knew how sensitive the woman was to this subject and wanted to talk to Lord Stark first.

"Of course, come to my solar," Ned spoke as he asked the man to follow him after accommodating his men for a stay at the castle for a few days.

They went inside after that and finally reached the room, keeping the same old organization of Lord Stark's from the last time Wendel had appeared here.

"Tell me, my lord, what do I owe your visit, that made you personally come to Winterfell...??" As soon as they entered and closed the door, Lord Stark asked as he settled into his chair.

"For this, my lord..." Wendel said nothing more as he took a piece of cloth out of his pocket, wrapped up, and placed it on the table.

Lord Stark looked a bit suspiciously at it, while calmly picking up the piece of cloth and starting to unwrap it, leaving him stunned, after all, there was a drawing of a ship, but what caught attention was the sail, more specifically its design, one that he knew very well.

"This?!" He asked alarmed, looking at Wendel. "Where was this seen?" He inquired, since his nephew who had cut off communication a long time ago used this flag, a ship seen by sailors from White Harbor could only mean that these ships had emerged from beyond the Wall and sailed south, not that he found it impossible, Jon had shown up with armors never seen before, what was a ship built by him?

"You are mistaken, Lord Stark, it's not a ship, this is just one of them, passing in the open sea in front of White Harbor, seen by many merchant ships coming and going from Essos, what surprises me was that I received the news of these ships and not from any house in the north, which means they passed unseen..." He spoke in a serious tone.

"How many?!" Lord Stark wanted to know the number, even knowing he wouldn't like the answer.

"A fleet of 200 of them," Wendel said. "200 ships passed beyond the Wall without anyone seeing, I remember I was here at that time when your son was hosted and I didn't pay much attention to him saying he was a king of the kingdom beyond the Wall, now I see how blind I was, your son has a gigantic fleet sailing the sea at this moment," Wendel recalled from that time.

"200 ships?! Jon created all this..." Lord Stark was alarmed, unable to imagine that Jon had created such a large fleet of ships in just a few years.

"Do you know their destination and objective?" He turned his attention back to Lord Wendel and asked, hoping he would know.

"No ship dared to approach those ships, Lord Stark, we only know they are heading south..." Lord Wendel said.

"What Jon is planning... 200 ships is not a small thing, the kingdom may see this as a threat and treat him as an enemy... especially after..." Lord Stark was going to finish but stopped, and Wendel completed the sentence for him.

"After he kidnapped your daughter?" He lifted his head.

"He didn't kidnap her, I mean... he could have brought her back instead of returning beyond the Wall, but Jon did no harm to her, of that I am certain," he spoke.

"That's not what everyone thinks, and you know the South does not look kindly upon this after seeing many letters from your wife speaking with her family and even sending letters to King's Landing," Wendel spoke, finally even being a Northerner, there were always merchants arriving at his port and telling stories, and a very famous one was of the bastard stealing his true sister.

"Don't even mention it, I've been arguing with Catelyn about this for years, but she's always talking about Jon and we haven't slept together in moons..." Ned admitted, these last years had not been easy, with Catelyn even blaming him for Jon stealing Arya, but he believed Arya was in good hands, though he preferred her here in Winterfell rather than being away from home for years without seeing her.

"You don't look well..." Wendell spoke cautiously to not offend him after what he had shared.

"You are right, my lord. But now I need to know everything about Jon and this fleet. I want to know if Arya is on those ships and I need Jon to send her home, unfortunately, he cannot set foot in the North, but he can send Arya," Lord Stark spoke with a serious tone, wanting to see his daughter again.

"I will stay informed of any update I receive from them, my lord, but we need to see how the lords will deal with this news, no one is going to like that wildlings have a fleet of ships traveling south, whether it's your son or not, the Lords of the North will not see this with good eyes," he spoke.

"You are right..." Lord Stark already saw a new headache coming for him and the cause was Jon again.

He listened to Lord Wendel as he provided more details, until he left a few days later, days passed and news of the fleet began to spread through the North, letters from all corners of the North fell on Winterfell demanding they prepare for a wildling attack and asking if his son would be attacking the North, Lord Stark had to ask for help from Maester Luwin to reply to all the letters and demands throughout the North.

His headache truly began when Catelyn finally discovered about the fleet. "A fleet!!! The bastard has a fleet of 200 ships!" She seemed hysterical.

"He first takes my daughter, now he plans to attack Dorne and steal Winterfell!" She spoke with evident fear in her voice.

"They could never conquer the North like this..." Lord Stark spoke, after all, the North had the entire army stationed here, it was impossible for an invasion of 200 ships to last very long.

"He's preparing to launch an attack, I'm certain!" Catelyn spoke with her paranoia. "He's got my Arya, he could use her as a hostage!" she murmured as if Jon was really a cunning man using everything to his advantage with no morals.

"For heaven's sake, Cat, listen to yourself for once, you're speaking nonsense!" Ned tried to argue.

"No! It was you thinking like this that he took my Arya!" Catelyn exclaimed.

Ned sighed and let the woman live in her paranoia, when it came to Jon, she became a very difficult woman to deal with.

Days passed and neither of their children except for Bran and a questioning Rickon knew who Jon was, after all, Jon was not an easy topic to discuss within the family, and Catelyn made sure Jon was non-existent to little Rickon, while their other children didn't have much sympathy for Jon, and Theon had a hatred for Jon, after all, every time he looked at his maimed hand, he remembered his nephew with no fondness.

After days, weeks passed until a raven arrived from House Martell. "Lord Stark, this is quite unexpected!" Maester Luwin entered his solar with the scroll bearing the Martell sigil, he hadn't opened it due to it appearing important and not wanting to be bold in looking at the content before his lord saw it.

Ned took the scroll from the maester's hand and looked at the seal of origin, frowning. He expected any news of Jon continuing his journey southward, but seeing a Martell scroll meant that Jon was there and something had transpired between him and the Martell family. He broke the seal and began to read, finding the contents of the letter unexpected. Doran had written about how Jon's son was educated and intelligent at a high level, leading them to forge very fruitful agreements between Dorne and the Arctic, which already surprised Lord Stark. But what came next left him even more stunned, as there was a proposal for a possible betrothal between Arya and his eldest son, Trystane Martell. Doran had not written about any negative events that had arisen; instead, Doran was looking to see if he could secure an alliance with the Starks, as this would bring the Arctic closer to them, noting Jon's care for his younger sister.

"What is this?!" he exclaimed in surprise.

"Is it something I should know, Lord Stark?" Maester Luwin asked curiously.

"See for yourself." Ned handed the paper to the older man, who also frowned after reading its contents.

"This is more unexpected than I thought, the young Jon negotiated with the Martell family their products, which is quite impressive. I wonder how that boy managed to do this... but your daughter being so praised and asked to marry his son, even gaining the status of a princess... after all, the Martells have this princely status along with those they marry," Maester Luwin commented.

"This seems very surreal..." Lord Stark seemed lost. "The last thing I would imagine hearing about Arya in the first news was how she was becoming a rare beauty, intelligent and skilled with bow and sword, coupled with a marriage of this scale. Even Doran says she was an example of a Lady... which makes me wonder if it's really Arya?" Not even Lord Stark could imagine such a thing.

"What should we do...?" Luwin asked, wanting to know what his lord would do.

"First, I must talk to my wife, and it won't be an easy conversation..." he said, not knowing how she would react to such news, hoping that at least she would be proud, after all, a great house like the Martells was so impressed with Arya that they wanted a marriage between the two families.

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