Crew

"Tok, tok, tok, tok, tok, tok..."

Blake was reading the captain's log, sitting in the cabin.

Across from him was the ship's captain, a small man with black hair and a clean-shaven beard.

The man was sweating profusely despite the cold in the cabin, his eyes fixed on Blake.

Blake turned the page of the journal, he had read the entire contents for at least a couple of hours, and he was getting to the last few pages where the captain was writing about the contract he had signed in Braavos.

"How many galleons of gold does an iron lira equal?"

Blake asked, as his finger tapped the table rhythmically.

"Five iron lira equals one gold galleon."

Said the ship's captain nervously, he had been answering questions for hours to the ghoulish boy.

Blake nodded, going back to reading the journal.

After a few minutes, Blake finally closed the journal, detailing the captain's cabin with his eyes.

It was a small cabin, at least not like what Blake had imagined or seen in any movie.

It was about 4 meters wide and 5 meters long, there was a bed, a desk and a cupboard.

Blake, after searching with his eyes, got up and reached under the bed, pulling out a wooden chest.

The captain did not flinch at his actions, he continued with the same look, as if he had already given up.

Blake placed the chest on the desk, It had an iron padlock locking the chest, but Blake held the lock, turning it hard until it broke, opening the chest and revealing thousands of square iron coins.

Blake detailed the chest, closing it and turning to the capital again.

"Captain Silas, in your journal, it says you received a payment of 25000 lira in exchange for this trip to northern Westeros in the dead of winter, but there may be 10000 lira here at most, Where is the rest?"

Blake asked.

"The rest is in the iron bank, where no one will be able to take it and my children and wife can have it even if I am gone."

The captain had an open wound in his being, for a sword had cut off half his ear when the tribesmen boarded the ship.

Of the ten, only 2 tribesmen died, despite there being twice as many sailors on the galley.

"And your wife and children knew that you worked with mercenaries to get slaves in these lands?"

The captain raised his head with an angry look.

"The men of Braavos do not enslave, the one who hired me was the Sealord himself, Ferrego Antaryon."

Blake shrugged.

"So to the men of Braavos, giants are not considered people?"

Blake asked the question genuinely curious.

"Of course not, they are beast, just like any other primate."

Silas said, shouting.

"So the Sealord wants a giant monkey to adorn his zoo, right?"

Blake said shaking his head.

"How do you know so much about the Sealord? Have they hijacked other ships from Braavos?"

Captain Silas asked somewhat frightened, There were many legends about the lands beyond the great wall, where giants lived, children of the forest, and men ate human flesh. But the men who attacked him didn't look like savages at all, they were well armed, organized, and followed orders without a whimper from this pale and terrifying boy.

Usually, the nobles of Westeros knew something of the culture of the city of Braavos, but in these forgotten lands, this should be impossible.

"That doesn't matter, the only thing you should be worried about is whether you'll keep your life."

Captain Silas pursed his lips as he listened to him, yes, these things mattered little now.

"What do you want to let me and my crew live?"

Captain Silas asked this question with a breath of hope in his chest, from the pale young man's words, it was clear he wanted something from them.

Blake tapped the table 3 times, still thinking about how to use these Braavos sailors.

"Right now I'm short on time, resources, and skilled people."

Blake said, frowning.

"So I'll give you a choice of two options. The first is that you lend me your services, I want you to take me to the lands of eternal winter and back, if you do, I will leave you and your sailors in Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, Ser Denys Mallister has a galley that he regularly trades with the free cities, the Whitecrow, I will ask him to leave you in Braavos, sparing you the beheading for the slave trade."

"No man in Braavos supports slavery!"

Captain Silas said again.

"And why else would a ship sail so far north? The Night's Watch beheads anyone who gives weapons to the wildlings as well, you should know that well, Captain Silas."

Captain Silas hesitated, if they went with the Night's Watch it would be his word against the boy's, and listening as he casually said the name of the commanders among the Night's Watch, he seemed to have a good relationship with them, their signed contract with the Sealord could easily be erased, beheading them without first confirming with Braavos.

Blake took Captain Silas' silence as a nod to his words and continued.

"The second option is to feed the giants with their meat, I will prepare a nice stew for them with your sailors and the mercenaries they hired, I am sure they will enjoy the flesh of those who tried to enslave them or use them as zoo animals."

Captain Silas' face blackened at Blake's words.

His first thought was to escape, but he didn't know if he could beat the boy in front of him, even if he had his hands tied, he had seen him break a thick iron padlock with his bare hands, and even if he succeeded, outside ten armed men were waiting for orders, he couldn't escape.

"Bam, Bam, Bam!"

Someone knocked on the cabin door, catching Blake's attention who shouted in assent.

"Blake, Oswin is here."

"Good, get Captain Silas."

Blake stepped in front of Zafar giving the order, and the latter grabbed the captain by the shoulder, lifting him and walking out of the cabin behind Blake.

"Hahahahaha, damn boy, you caught a big fish!"

"You like it?"

Blake leaned from the railing of the boat, giving his father a playful grin, while Oswin shouted from the ground, in awe of the huge boat.

Down below, in the camp, were all the captured sailors along with the mercenaries.

They were tied up by a campfire, still fearful about what they would do with them.

"Zafar put the captain next to the others."

Captain Silas sat next to his sailors, now seeing all the men fully armed as if they were an elite unit, all the wagons, and most importantly, two huge giants staring at them only a few feet away, he imagined himself being chewed alive by the creatures and closed his eyes in panic.

"Well, Captain Silas, which option will you choose?"

Captain Silas looked up at the boy, saying.

"I'll take you where you want as long as you keep your word!"

Blake bared his white teeth with a smile.

"Free people always keep their word."

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hi guys, well, yesterday I said I would upload this chapter, but I had some problems with the content and I had to rewrite it. The main problem was not getting information about the currency of Braavos, I searched a lot and read all the parts of the novels where they talk about Braavos but I found nothing, only that their coins are iron and square, if someone remembers something about that I can leave it in a comment and then I will fix it. The other was for the name of the men of Braavos, as I had accidentally used English names, when in fact Braavos has more known names of Greek origin. I have always thought this is important, in the Black Axe tribe they use names of English origin, the men of Thenn use names of Norse origin and now I know that the men of Braavos use Greek names, although I should have thought of this earlier because of the obvious similarities between the canals of Braavos and their masquerade festival which references Venice.