The dragons bastard

Chapter 50: the bloody siege of Oldtown

Ragnar had an arrived with his fleet of ships he was ready to kill anyone in his path from stopping from grabbing revenge.

From the upper galleries of the Hightower, where the wind blew cold and clean above the city and the beacon's great stone crown cast its shadow across Battle Isle, watchers stood shoulder to shoulder gazing westward, while below them bells began to ring throughout the harbor districts, their voices carrying over the Honeywine and through crowded streets where merchants hurried to shutter warehouses, apprentices abandoned market stalls, and laborers strained to drag carts laden with grain, salted fish, lamp oil, and barrels of fresh water toward more secure storehouses deeper within the city, every man and woman understanding that the sight of Ironborn sails upon the horizon was never merely a warning but the beginning of a question whose answer would be written in blood.

Oldtown had survived for thousands of years, longer than the Iron Throne itself, longer than the Conquest, longer even than many kingdoms whose names had been forgotten by all save the oldest maesters poring over dusty records beneath the Citadel, and throughout those centuries it had endured wars, plagues, famines, religious upheavals, and dragonfire, yet the city's greatest strength had always been the same as its greatest vulnerability, for Oldtown was not built around a single wall or a single castle but around a collection of institutions whose roots stretched deep into the foundations of Westeros itself, with the Hightower commanding loyalty through wealth and ancient prestige, the Citadel through knowledge, the Starry Sept through faith, and the harbor through trade, all bound together by necessity and tradition, yet never entirely united beneath one will.

Ragnar observed the city from the deck of his flagship as the fleet drifted into formation beyond the range of the harbor defenses, his eyes moving not toward the crowded docks or merchant vessels scrambling for safety but instead toward the immense pale tower rising from Battle Isle, for even at this distance the Hightower dominated everything around it, its upper reaches appearing almost silver beneath the afternoon sun, so vast that lesser towers seemed little more than children's toys scattered at its feet, and for a moment he understood why kings, conquerors, and dragonlords alike had coveted the city throughout history, because Oldtown was not merely rich or populous but symbolic, a place whose fall would echo throughout the Seven Kingdoms as loudly as the collapse of a dynasty.

The commanders gathered around him spoke eagerly of assaults, fires, and plunder, but Ragnar remained silent for some time, studying the flow of ships entering the harbor, the placement of patrol vessels along the river mouth, the movement of banners upon the walls, and the manner in which signals passed from tower to tower, because while other men looked upon a city and saw buildings, he saw systems, and where systems existed weaknesses inevitably followed, hidden beneath routines so familiar that those who relied upon them ceased to notice them altogether.

When at last he spoke, his voice carried little emotion.

"We will not begin with a siege."

Several captains exchanged confused looks, for among the Ironborn a swift attack promised glory and a prolonged siege promised frustration, yet none interrupted him.

"We will begin with questions."

One of the older captains frowned.

"And how does a man ask questions of stone walls?"

Ragnar's gaze never left the city.

"By striking them and listening to what answers."

Before sunset the first wave advanced, not in sufficient strength to threaten the city itself but with enough force to compel a response, dozens of longships breaking formation and surging toward the outer docks while archers loosed volleys toward guard towers and raiding parties prepared torches and axes, the attack possessing all the appearance of reckless Ironborn aggression even though every movement had been carefully measured beforehand.