01.01.275Tyrosh
On the first day of the 275th year since Aegon's conquest, Lady Fortune finally turned her face to me, and not her buttocks. We found the slaver we needed. Caso Thirdleg was found in one of the cheapest brothels in the city, where he spent almost a week drinking away all the profits from his last raid. His comrades had long since set sail for the Summer Isles in search of new prey, but he...
They had simply forgotten. So he went on a drinking binge out of grief. So when I offered to show me the wall and the sight of the golden Valar spinning between his fingers, he responded entirely positively. That same day, my ships, loaded with iron, cereals, fabrics and other nastiness that is often sold to the wildlings, set off on their way to the distant North.
09.01.275Narrow Sea
Now it became clear why this freak, mistakenly born a man, was called "Thirdleg". He turned out to be such a lustful creature that when all the women on the ship refused him (and some stomped on his balls), he started pestering Sigrid.
An eight-year-old girl!!! When I saw this, I immediately grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to the upper deck, where most of the sailors were, and, having told her what this bastard wanted to do, beat her to a bloody mess. First, he broke her nose. Then he knocked out all her teeth. Then he carefully counted all the bones in her body with his fists.
And then he kicked her, finally crushing the "reason" for his nickname, depriving this world of such rotten seed. Afterwards, with the help of Joen and Robin, they of course cured him - how could he go without a guide - but they forbade him from just walking around the ship.
01/14/275Lands beyond the Wall, the Oleniy Rog River
Lands beyond the Wall... a wild and boundless, legendary place in its own way. Lying north of the Great Ice Wall, they stretch in an endless line to the north and northwest. This gloomy and cold land beyond the edge of the world, where there are no cities, no roads, no lords, no laws, greeted us with snowfall and icy wind.
According to Caso, the territory where we landed was called the Haunted Forest. A huge forest, mostly coniferous, although deciduous trees were also common - weirwood and broadleaf, whose wood is worth its weight in silver in the markets of Essos, in size not inferior to the Wolfswood or the Kingswood. In this forest there were rare settlements of wildlings, living in forest clearings and along the banks of rivers and streams, and its thicket hid the ancient animals living there, long extinct in the rest of Westeros, such as direwolves, polar bears, shadow cats and mammoths.
Kaso himself mainly traded with one of the Wildling settlements living several days' journey from the coast, and knew the route very well. So, leaving the ships under the supervision of half the mountaineers and foresters, who knew the habits of the locals very well, we equipped a caravan and set off.
01/17/275Lands beyond the Wall, settlement of the White Bone clan
Nothing interesting happened during the three days' journey to the settlement of one of the few local tribes that traded with the "worshippers." Fires lit at the campsites easily drove away the local inhabitants, and the picture of two hundred frozen and angry male faces, who did not part with their weapons even at night, spoke very eloquently of what would happen to those foolish enough to decide to attack.
Oberyn, in general, was shaking like the last leaf in the wind, wrapped in all available skins and, having begged me for strong moonshine, was constantly drinking. The Dornishman was not accustomed to such temperatures.
The village of the White Bone clan... was not impressive. Two dozen small houses, around which were sheep and goat pens, several wells and, most surprisingly, latrines. They are not such Wildlings, since they know that you can't shit in your own house (unlike most residents of the cities of the Seven Kingdoms).
The huts themselves were built of unplastered stone, somehow fastened together and covered with turf, and their windows were covered with frayed leather, on which tanning cracks were clearly visible. According to our guide, this settlement is one of the richest in these lands, because most of the locals live in "snowdrifts" or hastily knocked together tents.
The locals did not greet us very friendly. Several times they wanted to provoke us, insulted us in every possible way, but when their leader demanded that we give up all our goods for one direwolf skin, I simply could not stand it. I challenged him to a fight and hacked him to death on the spot. A steel axe and armor against a rusty iron sword, with the seal of the Night's Watch, and leather clothing simply do not count.
The fight was completely official, so there were no claims against me. And the heir of the leader generally became silk, easily agreeing to all my demands. The tribe received the entire cargo of iron tools and instruments, fabrics, grain and other food, in exchange for all the dire wolf and dusky cat skins that were in the village. The new chief also promised to get mammoth skins and tusks, polar bear furs, narwhal horns and "tears of the sun" – the local name for amber – from neighboring tribes. And we must not forget about the hunting parties that went hunting for live goods. All that was left was to wait and pray for their success.
26.01.275Lands beyond the Wall, the Stag's Horn River
The spoils were rich. Although some of the local groups did not return from the dangerous hunt, the rest brought quite a good catch. Three male direwolves, two shadow cats, one polar bear and, most surprisingly, one woolly mammoth. According to the wildlings, almost all of the remaining herds of mammoths have long been herded and guarded by giants, receiving meat, milk, skins and bones from them, from which they make their weapons.
This mammoth was very young and accidentally broke away from its herd, wandering south. Where local hunters found it. The surprise of the northerners, ironborn and the rest of the crew when they first saw this primeval miracle was incredibly great.
Oberyn's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. The most interesting thing is that after this, the number of devout believers on my ships increased sharply. Apparently, having learned that one of the legends turned out to be true, the sailors decided that other myths, such as the Old Gods or the Gray King, were even more true.
Another bonus was a puppy. A simple dog puppy, traded by one of the spear-bearers with a tribe of Pomors moving from the Cold Shore. According to the locals, tribes live on the Cold Shore that ride on walrus-bone sleds, harnessing ferocious dogs the size of a dire wolf, and breed deer that are not inferior in size to bears. Even among the wildlings, they are considered savages, and their women were sometimes more dangerous than men.
And one of these puppies came to me. I will need to visit the Cold Shore in the future. Tame dire wolves... an interesting idea. At the end of the day, finally, having loaded the last "purchases" onto the ships, we sailed south. The deserts of Ghiscar and Slaver's Bay await us, places where my savings will double, maybe even triple.