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Ch 67 Tell me... Everything. Part 2
🕑 Added 2024-07-14 14:41:09 +0000 UTCThere were many big and small islands in the chain of rocky islands that make up the Stepstones. But only a few of them were famous and big enough for people other than pirates to know of their names.
The biggest and most famous one was of course Bloodstone Island having previously been a host for not only half a dozen petty Pirate kings but also the infamous, Daemon Targaryen, self-declared King of the Stepstones and the Narrow Sea, who lived here for a short time during the height of Targaryen power in Westeros.
And now this island came under the rule of the infamous Lysene pirate and sell-sail with the most number of ships in Stepstones, Salladhor Saan.
But the second most famous island was called Grey Gallows and that is where the Ravager Fleet has made their base over the last decade or so.
Even after so many years, the pirates still hadn't made any permanent homes here instead they just used the centuries-old broken-down castles and buildings scattered across the island as shelters because after all their 'jobs' as pirates meant that they spent far more time at sea than at land.
On the top floor of the centermost castle on that Island, the Advisor exited the meeting room with a tired and irritable expression on his face.
The meeting had been a completely useless one just like all the others that had been called for the last week.
Ever since they had arrived back at their base the Pirate King Ravager had begun the long gruelling process of recalling all of his pirates who were scattered across Essos.
It was foolish and wasteful to keep a large number of ships in a single place without them doing anything, so most of Ravager's subordinate pirates had been sprinkled all over Essos in different numbers and they were free to traverse the waters surrounding different free cities looting and killing rich Merchant ships whenever they wanted. And they only came back to the base every few months to share information or sell their loot... both living and non-living kind.
And as for the reasons he was now recalling all his forces, well, there were mainly two of them.
Firstly, to share a very small portion of the massive wealth that he had looted from the Merchants that the Braavosi ships were protecting, which was a must in his position if he wanted to continue using them as cannon fodder in the future.
Secondly, he wanted them present near him and to consolidate his fleet's strength so that in case Braavos was stupid enough to underestimate him and send a weak force as revenge then he could decide at the drop of a hat if it was profitable to stay and fight them off. And if Braavos' retaliation was more fierce than expected he could also make the quick decision of leaving this part of Essos for a while to sail in seas out of Braavos' influence such as the Slaver's Bay.
Because no matter how much he made fun of them in front of his pirates, his actions still showed that he was quite scared of their retaliation.
But this meeting hadn't been about that, no, this meeting had been about the loyal lackeys of Ravager who had been sent to Braavos for that— very important task.
But after sending a short letter two weeks ago that said that they had been successful in their task and had captured a man who could have the information about the whereabouts of Northern Wolf Captain, they had gone completely silent.
So the Ravager had called upon his most trusted and competent pirates to ask them what their opinions were on this situation and what they thought happened to those two.
Most of them decided to go for the ass-licking route and suggested that they were probably on their way back with good news and that the only reason they weren't able to send any letters was that they were on a ship which Ravager somewhat agreed with from the pleased look on his face.
But a few also suggested that maybe they had gotten captured by Braavos while they were on the Island and while the Captain didn't like that he agreed that it was a possibility so he declared that they would only wait for them for four more weeks before deciding on their next course of action.
One of them, a reckless drunk fool, had even dared to suggest while whispering that maybe they had already gotten that secret method of Sea travel from the Northerner but had gotten greedy and decided to keep it a secret for their own use or sell it to the highest bidder...
Obviously, that man didn't survive the meeting for even suggesting something as insulting as Ravager being weak enough to lose control over his own men...
But the Advisor's instincts were telling him something else... that those two were already dead.
After all, the man they were targeting was not a normal human... because if what he had felt back then was right then he may just be a...
"Ah! Advisor! Do you want to partake in some girls? We got some nice goods from those Braavosi Merchants, hehe..." As the former Volantis noble turned pirate was on his way back to his room he was blocked by an ugly pirate with a lewd look on his face. He was one of the smaller pirate captains with barely more than three ships under him.
The screams coming from the nearby room told him that the girls were obviously not very willing in the... partaking.
"No," The advisor replied with a cold expression on his face barely stopping in his path, "Now get your ugly mug out of my face," he continued while looking at the pirate as if he were a cockroach before shoving him aside and moving on.
"You—" The Captain's face flushed in humiliation but just as he was about to do something stupid in his drunkenness, his fellow pirate stopped him.
"Oi! Leave him alone," The man said holding his friend's shoulder back, "You know how much the captain treasures him... Don't you remember what happened to the last Captain who crossed him?"
A hint of fear appeared on his face at the mention of that incident... before he spat on the floor to save his dignity and went back to the room to vent.
Advisor didn't care for what the creatures who were worth less than trash were doing as he was already in the next corridor.
He wanted to get to his room as fast as he could so that he could take a rest... which raised a few questions as the windows he was passing by clearly showed that it was barely noon at the moment which meant that the night had only passed a few hours ago.
But the reason his body was craving so much sleep was very simple... he hadn't slept for more than a few hours over the whole last few weeks.
And the reason for that was the same man that was giving Ravager so many headaches... Jon Snow, The Captain of the Northern Wolf.
Ever since he learned that they were going to target that company only one thing kept revolving around his mind again and again... those dark grey eyes looking straight at him from an impossible distance through the other end of his far-eye...
The way they had lost their last battle against the Northern company had just been bizarre.
The rest of the pirates had thought that it was just a coincidence that their ships had suddenly lost their sails just as they were about to chase enemy ships... That there just happened to be a mad group of seagulls flying around waiting to tear through their sails...
Those stupid pirates were satisfied with that explanation and just decided to drink a few to forget about it.
But Advisor didn't forget... because he couldn't forget about it even if he wanted to.
After all, he wasn't like the others.
He knew things...
He had grown up in Volantis as the third son of one of the highest-ranking nobles before he was forced to become a pirate, so obviously he knew a lot more about magic than an average pirate...
He knew that magic was a real tangible thing...
He had seen a few different forms of magic being performed in front of his very own eyes... he knew what it could be used for, he knew the things it could do...
He knew that it wasn't gone from the world like everyone else believed... instead it was just weakened, in hiding, waiting for a chance to come out...
And he knew that what he saw that day... was magic.
Of course, he had kept this discovery of his to himself, because why would he tell them... why would he try and save those worthless trash from the wrath of a being who was much more than a man...
Because even after so long, he didn't forget that he was just a prisoner and not a real pirate...
So he did not care whether they lived or died... the only thing he cared about was him and his son, his blood... The one person he wouldn't let be killed even if the enemy knew magic...
But on the other hand, if he could somehow use this to his advantage... then maybe...
"Wait! What if..." The Advisor abruptly stopped in the middle of the corridor as his eyes widened in sudden enlightenment and then without waiting a single moment he suddenly turned back and began moving away from his room towards the lower parts of the castle.
He passed by room after room as he went deeper into the castle before finally ten minutes later he stood outside a small blackened room at the very end of the corridor.
"Are you in here?" he asked while knocking on the door.
There was mad scrambling and loud clattering from the other side for a few moments before a sixty-year-old man wearing a blacksmith apron opened the door with a surprised expression on his face, "Ah! Ser Advisor! What can I do for you? Do you need your weapon repaired?"
The advisor didn't care about the man calling him a Ser as he knew that it was something ingrained in his blood as a former smallfolk to call all the people higher than them Ser.
"You're from Westeros right?"
"Eh? Ah! Y-Yes I am— I mean, I was. I lived there in Riverlands for about twenty years before I left for Essos to run away from a petty crime and then felt that it was much easier to make money here as a pirate than anything else, hehe..."
"So you must know about the place called North..."
"Huh? Um, yes, I do know a few things from here and there but not much... because even though we were the closest Kingdom to North, people rarely ever travel out from there," The part-time Blacksmith replied while scratching his head, "Ah! But I had an old man from the North who lived in my village so even though I have never been there I do know a bit..."
"Then do you know about their legends, their folk stories, their myths..." The Advisor asked with a serious look on his face, "Things from their history that people believe are just made up to scare children..."
"Huh? Do you mean like Snarks and Grumpkins... or do you mean legends like Bran the Builder..."
"Everything!" he whispered as his eyes narrowed in intense focus, "I want you to tell me everything..."
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Comments
yogesh sankhla
Thanks for the suggestion! I did what you asked for. You can check out the collections now.
Platyperry
love reading your stories, just wish they were organized into collections to make it easier to re-read
