The King of Winters

Chapter-131

Edric

The road was little more than two ruts through the weeds and red stones.

The good part was that it hadn't been used by anyone for ages, not since King Theoden Dayne had sealed the path off and destroyed the retreating army of a coalition of four Kings who had invaded his kingdom against it, taking all three Kings of Dryland, Fowler and Manwoody as captives and slaying the Vulture King. It had long since been forgotten by everyone, only rarely used by the goatherders who sought to go around the Torrentine. That was the good thing. There’d be no one to see them coming and come ahead of them on their march. There wasn't even a trickle of men here like he had predicted. And once those slavers and their unsullied ravaged the countryside and chased any people away there was no one to even point out the way to them.

The road wound back and forth like a snake hugging through the eastern slopes of the hills, tangling with even smaller trails and sometimes seeming to vanish entirely only to reappear half a league farther on when they had all but given up hope. The Winged Knights and the horses hated it as they had to cross it in long files of single column. But Edric loved it. He hadn't seen these lands for a long time, not since he had left Starfall for Blackhaven in order to squire for Lord Beric and serve him in the North. Now he was back, this time to save his own land and people.

The lands closer to the coast had been gentle enough, vast plains which gently rose up the muddy dunes. The Hightower fleet had landed them over there after overcoming the long journey from Maidenpool.

The voyage had been long and rough, but by the grace of the Seven at least there had been a happy ending to it. That was Edric's solace. He didn't think so while they were still crossing the Narrow Sea. At Maidenpool they had started off the long voyage under clear blue skies and the calm evening wind. Edric even took a great pleasure watching the gulls racing above them and the dolphins swimming ahead of them and the sweep of the oars. The way they all moved together was somehow beautiful to behold, and it was far better than looking at the countless remains of the battlefield he had witnessed before. When he was small his lord father had taken him on a ship once, when they went to Sunspear to meet Prince Doran. His father's fleet had been small, compared to the mighty fleet of Lord Hightower led by his son Gunthor. And the waters of the Narrow Sea at autumn reminded Edric of Shipbreaker bay when he had visited Storm's End with Lord Beric.

The Narrow Sea was not so friendly as they had originally thought it to be. Its autumn waters were grey and green and choppy, and they could hardly see the wooded shore due to the autumn rain and storms. The longer they spent at the sea, the colder and deeper it got and the storms only got worse.

The Greenflame upon which Edric was staying was a strong and large ship, a good choice for the rough waters of the narrow sea. The first ten days were calm enough, as Greenflame crept across the sea, never out of sight of land. It was cold when the wind was blowing, but there was something bracing about the smell of salt in the air.

Beneath grey skies they sailed, east and south and east again taking to the deeper waters for speed, as the narrow sea widened about them. Ser Gunthor was mindful not to give away their position or their mission to the royalists, keeping well off the coast as soon as they rounded off Crackclaw Point and turned south from the Bay of Crabs. They steered away from Dragonstone and the waters of the Blackwater Bay and sweeping back west only when they were safely past Massey's Hook.

Sailing in the first line leading with all the movements in the water, the captain of the Greenflame was one of most experienced sailors Edric had ever met, a grizzled man tall and straight as a lance who wore clothes so stained and faded He seldom said a word. His mate made up for him, blistering the salt air with curses whenever the wind died or the oarsmen seemed to flag. They ate oaten porridge in the mornings, pease porridge in the afternoons, and salt beef, salt cod, and salt mutton at night, and washed it down with ale.