The Waters of Claw Isle
The blockade was starting to get up faster than Davos had expected.
They are shutting it with the heavy hulls, the southern spurs watched, and Arthor’s four shallow-draught ships sitting in that back channel nobody was supposed to know about.
It was going well, Davos was happy.
But things rarely go well.
Then, on one fine morning, the lookout of Crown Royal Navy came down with two ship sailing to the west.
Davos went up onto the sterncastle with his glass and looked at them for a long time.
Arthor came up beside him.
“How bad?”
“Two galleys. Royal Navy.” Davos handed him the glass.
“Look at the streamers.”
Arthor looked, and swore quietly.
“What in the hells are they doing out here?”
“Regular Patrol, probably. ” Davos lowered the glass.
“They are not looking for us. They do not know there is anything to look for but..”
“They will know in about an hour.”
“Aye, it is quite obvious what we doing and We have too much ships to be not be obvious.”
Davos stood there and thought about it.
The easy thing was to pull the near squadron behind the headland, let them run past, and hope they never came close enough to count masts.
It was tempting.
It cost nothing today.
And it cost everything in a fortnight, when two royal captains walked into the Red Keep and reported a Dragonstone various fleets sitting on Claw Isle.
“They cannot be allowed to sail on,” Davos said.
“If they get away from here, Crown will know the situation of BlackWaters bay and Dragonstone, where every hull of it sits, and how thin we are in the south. ”
Davos turned.
“Signal the flank divisions. I want them out and around, wide, before those two are close enough to understand what they are looking at. No arrows, no rams, nothing thrown. We surround them and we let them do the math themselves.”
Arthor was already moving for the rail.
“Ser.” He stopped.
“You know what this is right. Whatever words you put on it — we are laying hands on the King’s ships.”
“I am aware. You afraid, I am too”
“Aye, A bit but I am not arguing.” Arthor’s face was perfectly steady.
“We will have to fight the Crown eventually. Lord Alric is going to demand his fleet back and Jon Arryn didn’t try to bury it, and that ends one way. If it must begin somewhere, it may as well begin here, in our own waters, on our terms, with eleven hulls against two.”
Davos looked at him for a moment and nodded ” Aye, ”
It took an hour and a half, and it was over before it began.
The two royal galleys came round the headland into a bay with eleven ships in it, and by the time their captains understood, the flanks had already closed behind them. This story is hosted at novelping.com.
Davos had his own hull brought up and stood at the rail with his hands empty.
The royal captain was a hard-faced man of about fifty with grey in his beard and a Crown badge on his chest, and he was very angry indeed.
“Do you know what you are doing whoever you are?” he shouted across the water.
” So have a stag in your flags, I haven’t seen a winged one.
But whoever you are, These are royal ships.
You are surrounding ships of the Iron Throne and interfering with a Crown authority.
That is not a quarrel between lords, ser — that is an act against the King’s own authority.”
“I know what they are.” Davos kept his voice level and carrying.
“I am Ser Davos Seaworth, Master of Arms of House Baratheon of Dragonstone. And these are Dragonstone waters, captain, These ships are of Dragonstone under command of Lord Alric Baratheon and some sworn to Dragonstone. I am have been given a order by Lord Alric Baratheon himself, Lords of these waters to not let a ship go through these waters, There is a matter being settled here between a lord and his vassal. It is not your business, and I would take it kindly if you did not make it your business. So I would appreciate if you could co-operate.”
“It became my business when you put eleven hulls around me! Let us go you folks.”
“It became my business when you sailed into a blockade.” Davos spread his hands.
” Nobody here wants your men dead.
But you are not sailing out of this bay and going anywhere with what you have seen, and I would rather tell you that plainly than have to prove it.”
“You fucking fools, release this blockade. You are restricting Kings Authority. You will be punished harsh for this ” the captain Yelled.
Arthor stepped up beside him.
“That maybe the case but right now You need to co-operate with us and let us temporarily hold you, Captain.
You have no choice besides this.
“We do not mind settling it the other way, captain,” he said.
“Truly. Some of these men would prefer it.” He gestured, unhurried, at the ring of ships.
“But you are inside it already, and you have two hulls, and we have eleven with full crews and no reason at all to be gentle. Count it out before you answer. Nobody up here will think worse of you for doing a logical thing.”
The royal captain stood there and did the math, and everyone on both decks watched him do it.
Two hundred men against thousands .
In a bay with no way out.
“This will be reported,” he said at last.
“It will,” Davos agreed.
“Eventually.”
“You are committing treason, ser.”
“I am obeying my lord in my lord’s waters, and I will let better men than me argue about the difference. But until then I am doing my duty, Capatin.” Davos let that sit.
“Here are my terms, and they are the only ones. You strike your streamers and come aboard. Your ships stay under Dragonstone authority for the duration of this matter — not seized, not taken, held. Your men keep their weapons and their quarters and their rations, which will be the same as my own men’s. Nobody is chained and nobody is harmed. When this is finished, you and your hulls and every one of your crew sail out of here the way you came in, and you can report whatever you like to whoever you like.”
“And if I refuse?”
“We already told you about it. I will be sorry about that for years but you won’t be there for me to regret about it.”
The silence went on a long while. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
Then the royal captain reached up, and the streamer came down.
The Hall of House Chyttering
A small skirmish had been over before midday and had not deserved the name.
Monterys Velaryon had lost four men and killed eleven, and most of the killing had happened because a captain of the household guard had panicked and shut a gate on his own outriders.
Now Monterys stood in the middle of a small, cold hall with his gauntlets tucked under one arm, and looked at a middle-aged lord who had aged five years since breakfast.
“I don’t wish destruction upon your House, my Lord” he said.
“I wish that we can resolve this peacefully through words. We didn’t start a right foot but that is no fault of mine but neither was it yours.”
The lord’s mouth opened and shut.
“Then what do you want? You bringing a thousand men into my lands and saying you want peace?”
“I just want to do the duty that is given by My Lord, Our Lord, Lord Chyttering. Lord of Dragonstone. Lord Alric of House Baratheon.”
“Two things.” Monterys held up a finger.
“First. You and your heir will present yourselves at Dragonstone within the month, in person, in open court, and you will explain your actions to Lord Alric Baratheon yourself and explain why have you taken such actions against Dragonstone.”
“That is—”
“Second, you will bring your accounts. All of them. Every entry touching every payment and every hull that came out of Dragonstone’s treasury during the regency, and you will not have had time to make them tidy, which is rather the point.” Monterys lowered his hand.
“Do those two things and this ends today. Your house keeps its name, its seat, and its lands, and you and my lord will argue about numbers in a warm room with wine on the table.”
“And if I do not?”
“Then there is nothing ahead of you but a battle, my lord, and you have already seen how this morning went.” Monterys said it without any heat whatsoever.
“I have thousand men and more within a day’s sail and you do not have more than 500 hundred and a wall I could take before supper. I am not threatening you. I am telling you what is already true, and offering you the only road out of it.”
He picked up his gauntlets.
“I will need your answer today, right now. I have two more houses to visit and lot more to do rather than discuss this. But here this, Lord Alric Baratheon has given his permission to do whatever the situation required and that includes ..Well that is better remain unspoken. I don’t wish such harsh words to be spoken.”
The lord looked at the floor of his own hall for a long moment.
“I will come to Dragonstone,” he said.
“Thank you, My Lord. It would have been bad impression of me Infront of Lord Alric that I couldn’t even do simple negotiation like this if I didn’t bring you alive after he trusted me to do this.” Monterys inclined his head, and meant it.
But ofcourse Monterys didn’t say it , that Alric Baratheon would have liked that head better.
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