The King

Chapter Twenty-Three

Eddard GreyStark looked at the soldiers from other kingdoms; they were worried.

The discomfort in each person's eyes when they looked at him was evident. He wasn't going to deny that he felt uncomfortable, but how could he avoid it? Not long ago, they passed through what he would consider a ship graveyard, adorned with floating corpses.

It was obvious that this was the north, but Ned was contemplating who among them could have done this, who had the route where they were going to pass. The Pearl was out of the question since they had pursued Euron, leaving Jack or Jones in this small group.

Another thing that was unsettling people was the weather. Since they departed, the sun had never come out, the sky was covered with black clouds and adorned with lightning. But what was most frightening was that the sea was very calm. With weather like this, anyone would think that a devastating storm was going to hit at any moment, but it was quite the opposite. The sea was calm, which put everyone on edge, including the captains who were navigation experts.

The cold weather was also a problem. The Southerners were not used to this climate. He didn't feel cold because he had endured worse in his time. This breeze was nothing, not even the fog was a problem for him because he was used to it. Maybe it was bad, but his northern side was happy with what he was seeing, very happy.

And then the unexpected happened—a deafening sound was heard, not just once, but several times.

Ned only stood up from where he was. The fog made it difficult to see. On each of the ships, all the men heading to the Iron Island took up their weapons as if that was going to help them.

Ned knew it was the cannons that the North had created. He just heard the shots until a huge curtain of fire became visible.

Pyke, the main island of the Iron Islands, was practically ablaze as if they were arriving in hell itself. All the flanks of the island were being bombarded by cannons. The northern ships were monstrous, and the screams of people could be heard even from this distance.

This was no longer a war; it was a total massacre.

Ned looked over the edge of the ship, where he could see a significant number of floating corpses. It seemed the Greyjoys had concentrated much of their military force, but they were overwhelmed by the fury of the northern military force.

Ned began to search with his eyes until he saw a crowd of people on the island. They were all on their knees, surrounded by Persians. Just by seeing this, he instantly knew these people were innocent. The Persians wouldn't do such things without an order from Harry.

On one hand, he felt relieved that innocents weren't dying on the battlefield. It was inevitable that they would die, he knew that perfectly well. Many wished to defend their home, but at least not killing them all was like showing that they didn't kill for the sake of killing like the Lannisters did when they entered King's Landing and massacred, raped, and committed many atrocities against those who stood in their way.

Not even the boats were prepared to go to the island to see what was happening. Only when the cannons stopped firing did people react and start to act, but Ned didn't take his eyes off the island.

.

Castle Pyke of the Greyjoys.

In all its splendor, Harry Stark was seated on the throne of the Iron Islands. For any islander, this was undoubtedly an insult, and Harry knew it perfectly well.