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A Game of Thrones: Fury and Flame by JMIII

Avatar: Last Airbender & A Song of Ice and Fire Xover Rated: M, English, Fantasy & Drama, Mai, Azula, Stannis B., Eddard S./Ned, Words: 253k+, Favs: 822, Follows: 776, Published: Sep 2, 2016 Updated: Dec 17, 2020

455Chapter 6: (Bay of Ice) Dagmer

(Bay of Ice: 7/1/297 AC) Dagmer

"Damn this accursed cold," said the man with the snowy white beard, teeth chattering beneath his split lips. "There is nothing but shriveled cock and balls to be found on this damned wasteland of a coast." He heard grumbles and halfhearted acknowledgments from the crew, most of which had been too busy bundling up to muster anything more than that as a response. His longship, the Foamdrinker, had surprisingly survived King Balon's short-lived rebellion. 'Even after that damned 'Storm Queen' gave the rest of the Iron Fleet a sound thrashing,' he thought.

Pyke (289 AC)

"Once Rodrik returns from Seagard, and joins his fleet with Victarion's we will have the forces necessary to sink the remaining fleets of Westeros. White Harbor, Gulltown, all of them, shall find a 'home' with the Drowned God! Their women, their children, will be ours! Their men dead! WE DO NOT SOW!" he said, to the roar of the gathered Ironmen. "Stannis' bitch rid us of the Redwynes. Ensuring that they, and those wilted flowers, can do nothing but cower in fear of the Iron Fleet! I will take the damned Butcher of Shipbreaker as my salt wife. I will kill Stannis and his son, and 'feed' their daughter to my most loyal Ironborn!" he continued, the fervor and energy of the gathered men growing in intensity. "None shall EVER question who rules the seas!" finished proclaiming, King Balon, confidently. His king, now and always. Dagmer stood there, grinning, taking it all in. He was Ironborn, and they would take a kingdom for their king, or die trying! But first, they needed to rid themselves of the other man who held the title of 'King.'

"That fool King Robert," the king spat, "is no king worth following, his rule is weak, his kingdoms are splintered, and his forces are…" before his disparagement of Robert had been completed, a messenger barged into the throne room.

"My king!" the small man stated, with a spine only the strongest of Ironmen could bear.

"What is it!?" demanded his liege.

"The Lord Captain. His Fleet. Your son. Seagard…" he began, eyes staring directly towards the cold eyes of his monarch, "they were lost."

And like that, this rebellion died. Unceremoniously and with only a scant few weeks to be noted in a history book. 'There was no recovering from this humiliation,' Dagmer said to himself. 'To be bested was one thing. To be bested on the seas, another, but to be bested on the seas by a woman?! The tales of the Butcher of Shipbreaker Bay, earning her title, had not been exaggerated it seems. How could it be? That the entirety of the Redwyne fleet, was destroyed in a single night? To the last man?! It was Madness! But there it was. The Kraken had placed itself on the butcher's platter, expecting to strangle her with its flailing arms. Hopelessly useless out of the water, she contemptuously placed her hand over its thrashing appendages, cut, cooked, and consumed it, without even a second glance.' He had noticed that Euron, King Balon's younger brother had not been mention as having been lost.

"WHAT?! How!? What of Euron?!" commanded the Lord Reaper of Pyke, his mind likely going through the same thoughts but ultimately choosing denial at all the tales and rumors of the Butcher.

"The Butcher…my King. She came upon the Lord Captain's fleet after the burning and sack of Lannisport."

"Impossible! No ship is that fast, it can't be!" he interrupted. "Her ship is of Iron and steel, she came from Dragonstone! That is on the other side of the damned continent! It simply cannot be! It can not!"

"But it is, my king, and as for the whereabouts of your brother, Euron, they are still unknown." resumed the man, even before the King's glare.

'He had stones, that one,' he thought.

"She overtook the Lord Captain's fleet with her Iron Ship, and destroyed them, before turning towards Lannisport to assist in calming the fires. A smaller Iron vessel, accompanying the Butcher's ship, was being captained by Lord Stannis and entered Ironman's bay. While the Butcher focused on assisting Lannisport, with a handful of royal ships, Lord Stannis and the remainder of the Royal fleet cut off the Ironfleet in Ironman's bay, and Lord Mallister routed the Ironborn storming Seagard. Your son, Rodrik, is dead."

"What is dead may never die," responded his king, eyes glazed over in hate, slowly building their fury.

"But rises again harder and stronger!" responded the gathered Ironmen in the throne room, before the Salt Throne.

King Balon shot a glance at Dagmer, before demanding, "Cleftjaw! Rally what ships and men you can from our forces on the Island's, and ready them for a counter attack!"

'A counterattack? With what? Most of our power had been with Rodrik and Victarion!' thought Dagmer, what short-lived confidence his king had had, seemingly evaporated into madness.

(Bay of Ice: 7/1/297 AC) Dagmer

He had been prowling the bay of ice and the parts of the frozen shore he could make it through, for several weeks now, with no luck. 'Reduced to raiding north of the wall! That damned rebellion! That damned woman! She had cut off the Ironborn's balls and had demanded Balon's head as well, only to be denied by King Robert.' He had been there, as Balon had been forced to kneel, as the woman had made her thoughts known, and if she could not have Balon's head, she would have his son.

Pyke (289 AC)

He looked on in defeat and humiliation, as his King, King Balon, had been dragged before the usurper in chains. They had all been present, Robert and Stannis Baratheon, Eddard Stark, Tywin Lannister, all of them. However, only one amongst the Greenlanders had stood out, only one, and he had immediately refused to believe that that small wisp of a woman was the one who had inflicted so much destruction, and shame upon the Iron Islands. 'The Butcher' had not been the large monster he had imagined, she was small of frame and appeared as if the slightest strike of a hand would break her. Then, as if reading his mind, she regarded him. A bored expression lined her face, while her lips were pouted in annoyance. She held her arms crossed over her chest, and had let her left finger tap her right arm impatiently. For what seemed like an eternity, her eyes remained fixed on his, and he thought 'Those were not the eyes of a weakling. Those were the eyes of a monster,' and they would brook no failure, suffer no enemies. Just as quickly as she had glanced at him, her attention had snapped back to Robert Baratheon and Balon Greyjoy.

"You may take my head, but you cannot name me traitor. No Greyjoy ever swore fealty to a Baratheon," his king said in defiance, glancing every so often at the small woman, who wore a smirk on her face.

"Swear one now or lose that stubborn head of yours," responded King Robert.

The oaths of fealty uttered by his king had been painful and strained, from what he recalled, but all sound had been lost to him at that point. He only acknowledged the woman, now, and how her face grew a sneer at the mercy Robert had shown. When she spoke after Balon had finished his oath, and Robert had commanded that Theon be given to House Stark, the silence in his mind had been shattered. Her words made the room seem smaller and had made the great men, gathered, seem like children.

"Your grace, I beg your pardon, but you're wasting your time," she began, half looking towards Balon and Robert "Balon Greyjoy will rebel again, once the sting of this defeat washes away."

"What would you have me do? Take his head after he has sworn to me, I am not the mad king!" Robert responded, his anger rising.

"No, I suggest a compromise and a solution to another problem we face."

"Which is?" Robert queried.

"Iron, for the ships you have commanded me to build. The Iron Islands have much of the ore needed to make your 'Crowned Fleet.' I propose you give Stannis, and I, Theon Greyjoy. Lord Greyjoy hates us most of all, but in his hate is a begrudging feeling of respect," she stated, before being interrupted.

"You know nothing of me whore!" shouted his former king. Lord Stannis gripped his sword before his lady wife placed a calming hand on his shoulder. He tilted his head towards his lady wife and they remained gazing into one another's eyes, silently discussing what was to be done of that outburst. After a few tense moments, Lord Stannis nodded his head and relaxed his grip on the weapon at his side.

"I know more about you than you know about yourself, Greyjoy," she spat, "How do I know this? It's because I'm a people person, and your intent is written all over your face. However, one truth will never slip your mind and that is, that you know we, my Lord Husband and I, smashed your fleet. We cast down your walls, killed your brothers, and we paid the iron price to have to your son," His king hurled withering gazes towards her, while trying to futilely conceive a reply. The woman smirked, at his failure, and spun around to address King Robert and Lord Eddard directly, "While I respect and acknowledge Lord Eddard's honor and sense of justice, if he raises Theon, he will raise him as his own. This may cause him to hesitate to do what is necessary when Lord Greyjoy ultimately rebels again, we will not suffer the same sense mercy. Of course, Lord Stark, it is possible I have misjudged you. If I have, then you have my apologies," she said, casting an apologetic glance towards the Warden of the North, to which he responded.

"Aye. You cannot ask me to raise a child, your grace, not one that I may need to kill if the time comes."

Robert Baratheon regarded his friend and spoke in jest, "Gods damn you and your honor Ned!" before turning towards the sole lady in the room. "Continue."

"As I was saying, we will, in fact, raise Theon, to be the greatest Ironborn the world would ever see. And if Balon ever decides to rebel again, Theon will be the one to take your head," she declared, focusing her gaze fully on his Lord and brief king, "and in so doing he would have paid the iron price for lordship of your Islands," she continued, as the Lord Reaper of Pyke glared at her with revulsion bubbling up beneath his eyes, "When that happens, not only will we have the assured fealty of the next Lord of the Iron Islands, your grace, but we will have complete access to enough ore to build a thousand iron ships!"

'A thousand? Of those monsters? Was there enough Iron ore on the Islands for such a fleet? Possibly? It could be an exaggeration,' he thought.

"Well, bloody hell! Why didn't you say that in the first place! You women and your longwinded explanations!" he said jokingly, while his brother, Lord Stannis, frowned.

(Bay of Ice: 7/1/297 AC) Dagmer

There had been a few wildling camps he had seen, several pillars of black smoke indicating habitation, deeper inland, but when he came to investigate, there were only a handful of weakened wildling families or an empty camp. The wildling families he had encountered had fought back briefly before succumbing and being slain. Several of the wildling women had willingly gone with his Ironmen crew, mumbling about escaping the demons of ice.

"Demons of ice?" shouted one of the ironmen, in jest, mimicking a terrified woman, as they began their second round at scouring the very dead, very cold, coast. "No! Keep them away! Come save me with your big strong cocks, Ironmen!" exclaimed another. All began laughing, even Dagmer himself, the whole idea of 'Demons of ice' was absurd to him. He had heard tales of the dreaded 'Others' and paid them no mind, 'they had all been destroyed eight thousand years ago if they had even existed, and if they were returning they had certainly taken their bloody time!' The ship slightly shifted side to side, in response to some errant waves.

"Captain!" shouted a crewman.

"What is it, you pig fucker?!" he said to a roar of laughs between chattering teeth.

"A wildling camp, a large one!"

"Well let us have a look!" he drew out his Myrish far-eye, and saw in the distance, near the shore, a large camp of wildlings. All had their backs towards the sea, no fires, but certainly many fine women, from what he could tell at any rate. If the various heads of long hair buffeting in the cold winds, were any indication, they were fine indeed! 'Even one with red hair!' he thought, "Kissed by fire? That one's mine!" He truly had no way of knowing from this distance, of course, but maybe he was just getting desperate? "Ready yourselves men," he commanded, "we are going ashore!"

Chapter 954 - 6