"My lord Eddard, it's a fleet, plain and simple!"
Eddard sat on the stone Direwolf throne passed down by the Kings of the North. Maester Luwin, Clare the Master of Coin, and Robb were at the long table. Dominic Bolton, heir to the Dreadfort, and Theon Greyjoy, both wards of Winterfell, stood on either side of Eddard, clad in chainmail and holding longswords.
Sansa, Bran, and Arya stood beside Catelyn, while Maidana held little Rickon. Jon Snow was present, keeping his distance from Catelyn.
The Greatjon, Lord of Last Hearth, had a scar on his forehead and dried blood in his hair. His armor was stained with blood, and the imposing warrior looked furious.
"I've lived a long life, and I've never seen so many Skagosi. Damn cannibals."
The Skagosi were what the people of the North contemptuously called the people of Skagos. They called themselves Rock-born and lived on Skagos Island, just across Seal Bay from the Greatjon's lands. Recently, Rock-born pirates had been wreaking havoc in the lands of House Umber, House Karstark, and House Bolton. They destroyed watchtowers near salt towns, attacked fishing villages, kidnapped children and women, and killed everyone else.
Maester Luwin said, "Lord Greatjon, how many of them were there exactly?"
The Greatjon spat on the ground. "When I arrived at the coast with the Umber cavalry, there was an entire pirate army before me. Over five hundred men, all of them cannibals wielding sharp axes and swords, clad in leather and chainmail."
Maester Luwin frowned. "Unlikely. According to the Citadel's records, the Rock-born, like the wildlings beyond The Wall, lack blacksmiths and rarely smelt steel to forge weapons."
Lord Roose Bolton of the Dreadfort, cloaked in crimson, spoke. "May I ask, Maester Luwin, how old are your records on the Rock-born?"
Maester Luwin pondered for a moment. "Approximately five hundred years."
Roose Bolton's voice, soft and insinuating, dripped with sarcasm. "Outdated information from five hundred years ago? Five hundred years ago, Aegon the Conqueror hadn't even brought his dragons to Westeros. Now, the dragons are extinct, and the Targaryen dynasty is in the grave. Yet, you use obsolete historical records to judge the current Rock-born?"
"Let me tell you, when I clashed with these barbarians with the Dreadfort's cavalry, their equipment was no worse than the castle's soldiers, and far superior to the peasant levies I cobbled together. The peasant soldiers had to fight with hammers and sickles, while the enemy wielded finely crafted steel axes."
Such equipment seemed excessive for the Rock-born. The fact that Skagos Island, a desolate place, possessed so much armor and sharp weaponry was baffling to Eddard.
Could it be that Mance Rayder, the King-beyond-the-Wall, had indeed infiltrated Skagos Island as Eddard suggested? The cunning King-beyond-the-Wall might have struck a deal with the Rock-born's chieftain. However, this wouldn't explain the sheer quantity of weapons and armor in their possession. After all, the wildlings beyond The Wall also lacked blacksmiths. If they had good weapons and equipment, Mance Rayder wouldn't have given them away so generously to the Rock-born.
Or perhaps some hostile force within the Seven Kingdoms was transporting weapons and equipment to the Rock-born by sea.
The possibility was high, as the Seal Bay route west of Skagos Island was frequently used. Many ships from the Seven Kingdoms and the Free Cities passed through here to trade with the Night's Watch at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, and even with the wildlings. Some slave ships even considered the lawless lands beyond The Wall to be a paradise for capturing slaves.
Due to the North's lack of naval power, if a force hostile to Winterfell within the Seven Kingdoms infiltrated Skagos Island and made a deal with the savage Rock-born in the deep mountains, providing them with weapons and equipment to attack the North, it wouldn't be difficult at all. Eddard couldn't help but start to speculate who the mastermind was.
Eddard's first suspect was Tywin Lannister of Casterly Rock. Bribing the enemy's enemy to serve one's own purposes was very much like Tywin's style. Casterly Rock had more gold than they knew what to do with, and they certainly had the financial resources to support the Rock-born against Winterfell. But what benefit would this bring Tywin?
The direwolves of the North and the lions of The Westerlands had always looked down on each other. During Robert's Rebellion, Robert killed Rhaegar at the Trident, laying the foundation for the rebel victory, but it was the Lannisters who delivered the final blow to the Targaryen family.
Tywin used Grand Maester Pycelle to trick the gates of King's Landing open, and in Robert's name, they burned, killed, and plundered, seizing a large fortune from King's Landing. His son, the "Kingslayer" Jaime Lannister, used a golden sword to kill the Mad King, Aerys.
After Robert was crowned king, he married Tywin's daughter, Cersei. The Lannisters put their daughter on the Queen's throne, and Robert's confidant, Jon Arryn, became the Hand of the King. The Lannisters and Robert's rebels divided the spoils of victory.
If Tywin was truly the mastermind behind the Rock-born's attack on the North, the only reason would be that Tywin was trying to overthrow Robert's rule. Eddard was a close friend of Robert, and once the Rock-born's rebellion tied down the Northern army, Tywin could leisurely play the game of power in the south, plotting to take the Iron Throne.
Thinking of this, Eddard couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine. Was winter really coming?
Besides Tywin, supporters of the Targaryen royal family who had fled across the Narrow Sea could also be the masterminds. Viserys was the only surviving son of the Mad King Aerys, Rhaegar's brother, and he also had a sister, Daenerys. Both Viserys and Daenerys were too young to pose a threat, but who knew if the schemers behind them would use the Targaryen name to incite rebellion in the kingdom?
There was no shortage of ambitious merchants, governors, and grandees across the Narrow Sea. The Golden Company even harbored many descendants of the Blackfyre Rebellion. Eddard had no doubt that there were Northmen among them. Could someone across the Narrow Sea have planned this attack?
Of course, the enemy could also be from within the North.
Eddard thought of the spiteful widow Barbrey Dustin, Lord Rodrik Ryswell of The Neck, and Roose Bolton, who was currently in the hall.
Lady Dustin had never gotten along with Eddard. She had never forgiven him for burying her husband's remains in distant Dorne. Before her marriage, Barbrey had been Eddard's brother Brandon's lover. Her father had once wanted to marry Barbrey to Brandon, but Eddard's father, Lord Rickard, had refused. After Brandon's death, Barbrey always felt that Eddard had stolen Winterfell from her.
Barbrey was the daughter of the Neck, and Roose Bolton was her brother-in-law.
The alliance of House Dustin of Barrowton, the Neck, and the Dreadfort, with Lady Dustin at its core, was too powerful in the North. To keep his vassals in line, Eddard had taken Dominic Bolton, the heir to the Dreadfort, as his foster son, keeping him at Winterfell to ensure the loyalty of his vassals.
Could it be that this move had instead angered Lady Dustin and Roose Bolton? Eddard believed that Lord Rodrik Ryswell of the Neck would not rebel. However, Lord Ryswell was old. Could he restrain the ambitions of his daughter, Lady Dustin, and his former son-in-law, Roose Bolton?
Eddard looked at Roose Bolton's ice-cold eyes in the hall. He had come to Winterfell with Greatjon Umber and Lord Rickard Karstark to petition for Winterfell's help in fighting the Rock-born pirates. Roose Bolton's fiefdom was located on the east coast of the North and was close to Skagos Island. The Dreadfort held rich and vast lands in the Lonely Hills and the Weeping Water basin, boasting a large population. The Dreadfort was powerful and not lacking in ambition.
Could Roose Bolton have orchestrated all of this himself, then come to Winterfell with a soft voice to petition? The more Eddard thought about it, the more he felt as if a pack of direwolves were howling in his head, causing him immense frustration.
....
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