The Arms of the Kraken (song of ice and fire) Read online

  And when it seemed the sound would never end, it did.

  The hornblower's breath failed at last. He staggered and almost fell. The priest saw Orkwood of Orkmont catch him by one arm to hold him up, whilst Left-Hand Lucas Codd took the twisted black horn from his hands. A thin wisp of smoke was rising from the horn, and the priest saw blood and blisters upon the lips of the man who'd sounded it. The bird on his chest was bleeding too. Euron Greyjoy climbed the hill slowly, with every eye upon him. Above the gull screamed and screamed again. No godless man may sit the Seastone Chair, Aeron thought, but he knew that he must let his brother speak. His lips moved silently in prayer.

  Asha's champions stepped aside, and Victarion's as well. The priest took a step backward, and put one hand upon the cold rough stone of Nagga's ribs. The Crow's Eye stopped atop the steps, at The doors of the Grey King's hall, and turned his smiling eye upon the captains and the kings, but Aeron could feel his other eye as well, the one that he kept hidden.

  "IRONMEN,"said Euron Greyjoy, "you have heard my horn. Now hear my words. I am Balon's brother, Quellon's eldest living son. Lord Vickon's blood is in my veins, and the blood of the Old Kraken. Yet I have sailed further than any of them. Only one living kraken has never known defeat. Only one has never bent his knee. Only one has sailed to Asshai by the Shadow, and seen wonders and terrors beyond imagining. .."

  "If you liked the Shadow so well, go back there," called out bar-cheeked Qarl the Maid, one of Asha's champions.

  The Crow's Eye ignored him, "My little brother would finish Balon's war, and claim the north. My sweet niece would give us peace and pinecones." His blue lips twisted in a smile. "Asha prefers victory to defeat. Victarion wants a kingdom, not a few scant yards of earth. From me, you shall have both.

  "Crow's Eye, you call me. Well, who has a keener eye than the crow? After every battle the crows come in their hundreds and their thousands to feast upon the fallen. A crow can espy death from afar. And I say that all of Westeros is dying. Those who follow me will feast until the end of their days.

  "We are the ironborn, and once we were conquerers. Our writ ran everywhere the sound of the waves was heard. My brother would have you be content with the cold and dismal north, my niece with even less.. . but I shall give you Lannisport. Highgarden. The Arbor. Oldtown. The riverlands and the Reach, the kingswood and the rainwood, Dome and the marches, the Mountains of the Moon and the Vale of Arryn, Tarth and the Stepstones. I say we take it all! I say, we take Westeros." He glanced at the priest. "All for the greater glory of our Drowned God, to be sure."

  For half a heartbeat even Aeron was swept away by the boldness of his words. The priest had dreamed the same dream, when first he'd seen the red comet in the sky. We shall sweep over the green lands with fire and sword, root out the seven gods of he septons and the white trees of the northmen…

  "Crow's Eye," Asha called, "did you leave your wits at Asshai? If we cannot hold the north and we cannot -how can we win the whole of the Seven Kingdoms?"

  "Why, it has been done before. Did Balon teach his girl so little of the ways of war? Victarion, our brother's daughter has never heard of Aegon the Conquerer, it would seem."

  "Aegon?" Victarion crossed his arms against his armored chest. "What has the Conquerer to do with us?"

  "I know as much of war as you do, Crow's Eye," Asha said. "Aegon Targaryen conquered Westeros with dragons."

  "And so shall we," Euron Greyjoy promised. "That horn you heard I found amongst the smoking ruins that were Valyria, where no man has dared to walk but me. You heard its call, and felt its power. It is a dragon horn, bound with bands of red gold and Valyrian steel graven with enchantments. The dragonlords of old sounded such horns, before the Doom devoured them. With this horn, ironmen, I can bind dragons to my will."

  Asha laughed aloud. "A horn to bind goats to your will would be of more use. Crow's Eye. There are no more dragons."

  "Again, girl, you are wrong. There are three, and I know where to find them. Surely that is worth a driftwood crown."

  "EURON!"shouted Left-Hand Lucas Codd.

  "EURON! CROWS EYE! EURON!"cried the Red Oarsman.

  But then it was Hotho Harlaw the priest heard, and Gorold Goodbrother, and Erik Anvi-Breaker. "EURON! EURON! EURON!' 'The cry spread and swelled, became a roar. "EURON! EURON! CROW'S EYE! EURON KING!" As loud as thunder, it rolled up Nagga's hill, like the Storm God rattling the clouds. "EURON! EURON! EURON! EURON! EURON! EURON! EURON! EURON!"

  Even a priest may doubt. Even a prophet may know terror. Aeron Damphair reached within himself for his god, and discovered only silence. As a thousand voices shouted out his brother's name, all he could hear was the scream of a rusted iron hinge. "

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  George R R Martin, The Arms of the Kraken (song of ice and fire)

 

 

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