Old Wyk

"Be quick and carry the crates, you lazy arses!!"

"Did you put off the fire at the camp?"

"Hey, did you see my sword?!"

The camp we set near the shore of Sea Dragon Point was lively. The soldiers were carrying the supplies to the ships and the ships were being readied for sailing. I called the banners as soon as I received news of Ironborn attacks on both Flint's Finger and Sea Dragon Point so it wasn't only my men who were on Sea Dragon Point.

Houses of Mormont, Glover, Ryswell, cadet branch of Sea Dragon Point, mountain clans and direct vassals of Winterfell were going to sail with me. The other houses were being led by my brother, Benjen, on land as I was planning to set sail and take the action to the islands directly before meeting with Robert in Casterly Rock for the final assault.

The Iron Islands was a poor land but the people living on it were anything but poor because of their constant plundering of wealth from all over the world. Rare trinkets that could be found only in Essos was something that could be easily obtained by Ironborn by paying their iron price.

The biggest example of it was the Valyrian steel sword that was stolen by Hilmar Drumm. The sword came into the possession of House Drumm when Hilmar Drumm took the blade from an armoured knight with nothing but his wits and a wooden cudgel. From then on he was called "Hilmar the Cunning".

That was one of my aims in this war. Either I was going to siege and invade Harlaw Island or Old Wyk. Harlaw Island was really big and Harlaws had many direct vassals which could be a great obstacle for my plans. On the other hand, Old Wyk was a small island that carried great importance for Ironborn as it was the first island colonized by them and considered a holy place for Drowned Men.

Of course, all of this planning was on the conditions of the sword staying in the castle during the war but that was something I already confirmed with my spy network, or in other words my wargs. However, the use of the wargs was not only limited to that as those who had control of sea animals were sailing with me on the ship. Thinking about a whale taking down a ship amidst the battle was exciting to me.

Despite the full mobilization of the Northern army and navy, I told my vassals to hold back a third of their levies as I did not want to spend manpower in this senseless war. However, this move could be seen as a slight by the South so I ordered them to man the castles on the Eastern shores as an additional garrison and patrol the lands against any attempts of Ironborn.

I did not bring any giants because I didn't want any of them dying before I can hammer them into war machines. Their armours were still being prepared and they only knew how to senselessly swing their cubs. I needed them trained and disciplined for war and that was something that required time. Besides, the time was not right for their reveal as their existence was still a rumour in the South and many considered them a myth.

Finally, the ships were ready to sail and men were already climbing onto it. I boarded the biggest ships which had a red wolf as its figurehead. It was the main ship of the western navy.

The banners of different houses were fluttering in the air as the sails were opened full and ships began moving. Our first destination was the Old Wyk but that could change as I was receiving news about a sizable fleet close to the Cape Kraken and Seagard.

It took us one and half weeks to sail from Sea Dragon Point to below the Cape Kraken. We were left to deal with the remnants of the Ironmen fleet as their attempt of invasion of Seagard failed. They were retreating to the Iron Islands while trying to avoid the shores of Westerlands when we caught them. They were decimated rather quickly and it was a good exercise for the first battle of our western navy.

Wolfguards were especially pretty good in their first battle. Although they were fighting raiders who were not as disciplined as them, their lack of experience was going to be filled in time.

We have avoided Blacktyde and swiftly sailed onto the Old Wyk. The island was one of the smallest ones amongst the islands but it had a keep and many priests on it because of its holy status. Of course, there was going to be some casualties during the invasion of the island and none would mind seeing some dead priests of a foreign religion except the inhabitants of the island.

It took us nearly a day to arrive and it was night when we saw the shores. I, immediately, ordered my men to attack the only real keep on the small island. It was a rather small and lightly manned keep but they were able to close the gates before we could arrive at the walls. Though its gates were closed, they were wooden and had no stone walls. It was more like a big encampment with wooden spikes. At its highest point was a banner showing a bone hand, white on red. And the soldiers standing behind those walls were nothing more than some white-haired and toothless old men.

I was amongst the first wave of attack as I charged with my Wolfsguard beside me. Arrows were raining upon us as we ran to the gates. I raised my shield as one arrow knocked onto it. My men began hacking the wooden door as arrows were fired upon them from above but the shields stopped those arrows as they were doing what they were trained for in the mountains.

It did not take long for a small gap to open on the gate amidst hackings of axes and swords. Before they could block our advancement, the gate began splintering and, finally, it fell. War cries sounded as I and my men fell upon the old men of Old Wyk.

I hacked a man from his mouth to his heart as another tried to stab from my side but my shield was already there, blocking his attack. I headbutted him with my steel helm as his nose was broken and blood was spilt to my helm. I turned my head searching for another enemy and I saw Galbart Glover being pressured by three men. He was hard-pressed to defend as he was getting overwhelmed.

I threw my shield to the ground and took the axe of the man I killed and threw it with all my strength to one of the men who was attacking Galbart. The man died instantly as the two of them were shocked by the sudden death of their companion. They roared in rage and they kept attacking Galbart while their roars alerted another man who charged at me with the intent of killing me. It was surely a foolish mistake.

I readied myself and raised Ice. The man had thick arms and was the literal description of bulking mass. He was looking very big and powerful. His height was nearing two and a half meters. He had a constant angry look on his face. Before he could reach me, I quickly looked at his stats, remembering my cheat ability.

[Name: Andrik "The Unsmiling"

Diplomacy: 2

Martial: 28

Stewardship: 1

Intrigue: 0

Learning: 3

Opinion: -70]

I received his first blow with my Valyrian steel sword but the shock spread through my arms. I was quick to realize that this was not an opponent I could defeat with pure strength so my first move was distancing myself from him and using my light weight as my advantage to attack. He swung his big sword as a man possessed but I dodged it rather easily and countered with a slash at his belly.

Surprisingly, he dodged my attack despite his bulking and slow body. I continued with another slash but this time I attacked his legs. I cut him right below his knee as he screamed in pain. However, he raised his greatsword and slashed downwards ignoring all the pain. I threw myself to the side and escaped from the deadly strike.

I quickly rose to my feet and saw another strike coming towards me. However, this time I did not escape. I put my feet on the ground and parried his sword with all the strength I have and quickly counterattacked using the weight of my sword. I opened his chest from his bowels to the neck.

The man lost his grip on his sword and screamed his lungs out. With another swing of my sword, I beheaded him and turned to other enemies.

The keep fell in the second wave of attack. More than half of the old man that fought in the defence of the keep was killed and the rest surrendered after the fall of their lord. Of the Drumms only Lady Drumm and her second son were in the keep. Despite being an Ironborn, her son was fierce as he only fell after killing four of my men in the hall.

Recently, I was getting cruel but my cruelty still did not extend to unnecessary violence. Thus, I did not harm the grief-stricken mother who was crying over her dead son.

I sat myself in the lordly seat and cleaned Ice with a rag given to me. I looked around to see Galbart Glover entering inside with Ethan Glover by his side.

"Galbart, Ethan, good to see you both still breathing!" I raised my voice with a smile greeting my face. Galbart was in a dangerous situation just before I began fighting Anrik and Ethan was nowhere to see.

Galbart laughed at my words, "If not for you, I would be lying amidst the dead already! You have my gratitude, my lord." His face went serious as he uttered these words and his already high score of opinion was raised to the max and became 100.

Amongst those who sailed with me, the one who had the lowest opinion of me was Lord Ryswell who had only a 40 opinion score. I mean it was expected, after all, it was Brandon, my dead brother, who took his daughter's maidenhood. However, even that was a good score as I remember Lord Bolton having -10 opinion score.

Opinion score aside, I still had many things to do in Old Wyk as this keep was not the only settlement on the island. "Then do me a favor, Galbart."

Galbart raised an eyebrow as we just came out of a battle and he was expecting rest a little bit but I had other plans for him.

"Take your men and cleanse the island of resistance. Also, visit Nagga's hill and destroy the bones of Nagga. Let no king ever rise in the islands. We had enough of these raiders declaring kingship with their nonexistent right."

Galbart welcomed my first order as something that must be done in a way but the second one was a surprise to him but the smile on his face was showing that he liked this order. Nagga's hill was a site which the ironborn once chose their High Kings through kingsmoots and it was a place where Euron Greyjoy would have been chosen king if not for my current actions. Besides, the kingship of the Iron Islands was nothing more than the glorified position of a pirate captain.

Galbart left the hall swiftly after taking my orders and my eyes turned to the woman who was still crying. "Lady Drumm, your son is dead and he is not coming back but you still have another son…" My words stilled her crying sounds as her red eyes turned to me.

"You can send off your son per your customs and after that, I could send you to Harlaw Island without any conditions," Her eyes glittered with sadness but a sliver of hope, "but, you need to tell me something."

"What is it?" she frowned and asked.

"Where is Red Rain?" I asked. The sword Hilmar the Cunning won with his wits. A red blade with the magic of Valyria.

She turned her head back to her son. "My lord took it with him to battle," she said.

I rolled my eyes. Does this woman really think she could deceive me? "My lady, I could find the sword by ordering my men to scourge the keep and you would be my guest until the end of the war. Also, do I need to remind you, this is a war that could cause the death of your only remaining son. Don't you want to see your son? All you need to do is just say its place and go to Harlaws."

The woman kept looking at her dead son but, in the end, she was a mother. She raised her head and looked at me. "It is in the kitchen, hidden in a barrel of rotten fish."

I looked at one of the Wolfguards and tilted my head. He quickly rushed to take the sword. I was really a cruel bastard to threaten a mother like this but still, I got what I wanted.

It did not take long for the Wolfguard to return with a sword that looked like it was washed in the blood and then kept in cold. He presented me the sword as I sheathed Ice into its scabbard. I took the sword and admired its beauty. It was glittering with red like blood vessels of the human body. However, its pommel was very ugly as it was in the shape of a webbed white bony hand. This pommel needs to be changed into a silver wolf...

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This was my first battle scene. Although I kept it short, I still would like to hear your opinions...