Chapter 419: Roles Reversed
Euron's command to retreat rather than pursue left Jaime bewildered. Suspecting some hidden trap, he dared not hesitate; after covering the retreat of the last movable soldier from the shore, he watched as Euron led his men back to the beach. They shoved several longships into the frigid water, leapt aboard, and pulled at the oars, rowing out into the darkness of the Bay of Ice.
He actually retreated?
If Euron's original intent had been merely to disrupt Westwatch's production and burn a few warships and warehouses, it might make sense to quit while he was ahead. But there were still many Ironborn within the fortress who hadn't escaped, and he held a massive advantage. Even if he intended to flee, why do so with such frantic haste?
Jaime didn't have to wait long to discover the reason: Westwatch-by-the-Bridge had been saved by deserters—specifically, the first wave of defenders retreating from the eastern gorge line.
Because the attack on Westwatch had prevented the execution of the established defense protocols, the western quarter of the Great Gorge nearest the harbor had been the first to collapse. Many who had hastily thrown their wildfire and abandoned their posts without a word—their cowardice and perfunctory defense undoubtedly consigning their steadfast brothers to death—ended up providing accidental aid to the embattled fortress. When dozens, then hundreds, of retreating sentries appeared on the eastern mountain roads with torches held high, the Ironborn waiting outside the gates to seize the walls thought the Night's Watch reinforcements had arrived at lightning speed. Their assault was already failing; they immediately dropped their gear and fled the field.
Opening the East Gate, the Westwatch commander gathered the shattered remains of the western gorge squads and replaced their dragonglass weapons with iron steel meant for killing the living. He then led this fresh force of non-reinforcements back toward the harbor. While the combat effectiveness of this motley crew was questionable, their sheer presence and noise terrified Euron Greyjoy, who knew nothing of the gorge's collapse. Fearing he was about to be surrounded, he abandoned the Ironborn still scattered throughout the port and beat a hasty retreat.
The gorge defense protocol had reached a strange, inverted conclusion: the harbor fortress, which was supposed to send reserves to support the gorge, was ultimately saved by the soldiers retreating from the gorge.
The retreat of the King of the Iron Islands left the remaining Ironborn in the harbor without any hope of escape. After burning the remaining longships on the beach, the unified and newly organized Westwatch defenders quickly began assigning squads to clear out the remnants of the enemy hiding within the fortress.
Since there were no civilians, Westwatch suffered no casualties beyond combatants, but the fortress itself was a shambles. More than half the harbor was burning. Of the three new warships, one was a total loss and another was heavily damaged by fire—saved only because it hadn't yet been loaded with much wildfire. Only the flagship Running Wolf survived unscathed, thanks to its veteran crew. Most of the granaries were destroyed, and dozens of tons of seasoned shipbuilding timber—scraped together from across the North—had been reduced to ash. It was only by luck that the primary wildfire magazine was located far from the docks, preventing a much larger catastrophe.
However, the core workshops of the shipyard were preserved. The elite Northern troops stationed there had faithfully carried out the duty entrusted to them by Robb Stark. At the first sign of the attack, they had gathered the shipwrights, technicians, and apprentices recruited from Bear Island and White Harbor into a central area for protection. They had not budged an inch, regardless of the chaos elsewhere, repelling several small squads of Ironborn who had infiltrated the fort to sabotage the shipyard and massacre the technical staff. While the residential areas and storage yards were mostly burned, the tools, equipment, and key personnel vital to the future rebirth of the Northern Navy remained intact—the only good news in the aftermath of the raid.
Of course, not everyone agreed.
To ensure a successful ambush, the number of Ironborn who had crept in via longship was limited; if the garrison had been properly deployed, they wouldn't have suffered so much in the fighting. Jaime's unit had fought several skirmishes and reclaimed most of the harbor, but they had lost nearly half their strength in the clash with Euron. Not only were Gift recruits lost, but even the fifty guards he brought from the West had been whittled down to barely twenty. Having bled and sacrificed to protect the North's military port, only to see the protected Northerners hunker down in the shipyard and refuse to come out when called, the battle-worn Kingslayer exploded in a towering rage, laying the entire bill at the feet of the North.
"I sent men to call for your help! Why did you refuse to come out until the end?" Jaime roared at the Northern commander, his eyes bloodshot and veins bulging. Had he not been so exhausted from the brutal fight, he would have lunged forward to seize the man by the collar. "If the fortress falls, what use is your shipyard?"
"Ser Jaime, please, remain calm. The North has very few men who understand the art of shipbuilding. Houses and grain can be rebuilt and replanted if burned, but once people are gone, replacing them is a task of years."
"Bullshit!" Jaime was incandescent. "Northern lives are lives, but my Westermen's lives aren't? You just wanted to watch me die, so you hid like cowards!"
"Control yourself, my lord. We respect the bravery you and your men showed in battle, but we will not accept such malicious accusations!" The Northern commander had harbored no such ill intent and naturally fired back with a clear conscience. After months of suppressing their mutual distaste for the sake of peace, all the resentment boiled over following the failure against Euron. The two sides erupted into a fierce argument that even the Westwatch commander could not stifle.
...
Fortunately, a second round of long-range attacks from the enemy quickly interrupted the internal strife.
The Ironborn fleet, which had previously acted as bait, had been too wary of wildfire to approach closely, circling at the edge of their catapults' range and firing mostly at random. What had looked like an assault was merely a distraction. However, as the longships successfully infiltrated the fort and the seaside defenses were momentarily silenced, these sailing ships had quietly closed the distance.
In the original plan, had the two groups of Ironborn successfully seized the fortress from within and without, the fleet would have docked to participate in the occupation. Since they hadn't, they were tasked with firing incendiaries from close range to inflict further damage as the landing party retreated.
As Euron signaled with a torch from his retreating longship, the fleet—silent for a long time—resumed their task.
One flaming projectile after another streaked across the sky and crashed into the fortress. Most of Westwatch's defensive towers had either been sabotaged during the infiltration or were out of ammunition and unable to be resupplied amidst the confusion. Only a handful of scorpions and catapults could be brought to bear.
It took another half hour for the Night's Watch forces to reclaim their defenses. Finally, after several exchanges, they relied on their superior firepower to drive off the Ironborn fleet.
The battle against the Ironborn was over, but despite the urgent tasks of handling prisoners, extinguishing fires, and tending to the wounded, the garrison had to face a far greater threat. The retreating soldiers from the gorge had accidentally broken the Ironborn siege, but no one had forgotten: the strategic nature and terrain of the Great Gorge meant that if even one point was breached, the entire line was effectively lost.
After a hasty attempt to suppress the fires and salvage war materiel, the defenders of Westwatch set their grievances aside and began to prepare for the coming trial of the army of the dead.
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