The effect of the attack on the Sealord and the deaths of three council members from Bravvos was electric on the continent of Essos. The news spread like wildfire from satrap to centers of population. The fact that Essos was under attack by vicious foreigners forced governments that had been uninterested in the war in Westeros to take notice. They all began heavy training of troops, doubling guards, and building ships. Militias became legions and legions became vast standing armies in a few months. The Zonian prisoners were paraded around the whole of Essos and Jiemba, and Welbi became celebrities, giving talks about what the Zonians had done to their homelands and describing the atrocities they committed.
In Volantis, one day 3 of the Zonian prisoners broke free and killed 20 crowd members and guards before they could be subdued. Essos began to understand the power of this enemy truly. Jiemb and Welbi gave full accounts of the voyage of Arya, and these stories inflamed the imagination and fears of Essos. Within a few months, the madness affecting the leaders of Essos began to die down, but the fever to strike back at Zon did not.
Jiemba began to receive many treasures and texts on the various old languages of Essos. Essos wanted this darling from a faraway land to learn as much as possible about them. She began donating the overflow of texts to the Bravvos library and was given the honorary title of patron. The two of them became de facto emissaries of all the captured countries of the far west. In King's Landing, Bran began to receive distinguished guests from all over Essos. They wanted to help fight in any way they could. Bran cautioned them against directly confronting this enemy's technology with their own ships, but encouraged them to build their armies for a time sure to come.
Volunteers flowed into Westeros anyway. Brienne's detachment swelled to over 5000 troops. A train turnaround had to be built at the spot of Brienne's encampment since wind trains couldn't back up, and still reinforcements from Essos kept pouring in. Many from Bravvos were sent to Fort #3 to back up the mercenary band Wicket had hired. These volunteers were a mixed lot, from grizzled veterans to young dandies looking for booty and fame. But troops were troops, and they were put to use by Westeros commanders backing up the forces already on the ground in the north. They unloaded supply trains, dug latrines, and built battlements; they did some of the dirty work of army life. They itched to fight, but the veterans among them said the fighting would come soon enough.
The Bravvos mercenary core had swelled to over 4,000 troops, and the commander at Fort #3 sent them forward. They moved up the train line until they reached a point where Zonians had scavenged the tracks. This was some 10 miles north of the fort. There, they built a small palisade from trees and set up patrols to catch any unwary Zonian scavengers. Their patrols ranged some 10 more miles northward and far to the east and west.
The Tower of Westeros reported movement from the massive slings in the Zonian camp. They had started their journey northward through the clear-cut path the Zonian troops had chewed into the woods. Estimates were that it would take them a week to reach range on Deepwood Motte. This opening salvo of the Zonian invasion was underway, and plans went into action.
Arya stood on the deck of the Sovereign as twenty ships sailed out of the Bay of Ice. Her crew took her solemn visage as a sign of the weight of what lay ahead, but in her heart, she was still shaken by the knowledge of what truly lay ahead. Captain Dirk eyed her with understanding from the wheel. No one had told him anything, but when Tyrion had asked him for the map, young Calancy had drawn a map of the east, and he understood what it meant. The map had been copied and given back to him so quickly that even he felt a shiver run down his spine. He wondered to himself if even he could stomach a return to the far west. "Better think about what's in front of you now, old man," he muttered under his breath.
10 wildling ships joined the 20 Brandon's Rest ships, but before they rounded the Sea Dragon Point, those 10 and the Portsmoth went straight west. Their mission was to intercept the Zonian troop ships that were fishing farther out to sea. 40 ships from King's Landing and the Iron Isles were closing in on the line of Zonian ships south of the Zonian encampment. Their mission was to engage and capture the attention of all those ships so that the mission on the fishing ships could not be aided by these Zonian vessels. The Brandon's Rest fleet was to do the same from the north. They were to sink any enemy ships that engaged them, but to harry and retreat before taking losses.
Jun Wei had ordered 20,000 of his fighters into the march to assault the city of Deepwood Motte. They took archers and mages, engineers and line troops; this was a full effort to take or destroy the city. They marched north and sent heavy patrols all around them. The spirit of the Zonians was high; they would soon capture their first new city in the new world.