Chapter 16

|Catelyn Stark - Fish in the North|

I place tea on my husband's table and say.

"Husband, can I ask the reason why you let Umber and Karstark take care of this problem? I know you, you will always do what you think is right, but in this meeting, you make a weird decision."

"Because I think it was the right decision. Stark house is not very stable as many think it was. Our house has many enemies in and out of the north. Many houses decide to side with the Bolton, and right now, I cannot let them have Umber and Karstark by agreeing with the Skagos. As much as it hurts my honor, Umber and Karstark are stronger than the Skagos."

"What will happen when they beat them both and bring you the money for their freedom? You need to give one million to the king for the title and lose a large sea territory to the northeast as it will come under Skagos rule."

"If they win this battle and bring me the three million gold coins? I will give them their independence. They deserve it."

"Hmmmm. Even then, I think it is impossible to get three million gold coins."

I can see my husband hum at my words, but I can see that he doubts his and my words in his eyes. I don't know how Skagos was able to gather that amount of money in a matter of two years.

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|Gordar - Sailor from Umber|

I never in my life saw this ship at once. I don't know what Lord Karstark is thinking of sending this much ship to fight against a group of barbarians. At least fifty ships are sailing toward Skagos Island.

Twenty-five from the Karhold and twenty-five from Last Hearth.

There are at least a hundred soldiers on each ship ready to fight the barbarian. Five thousand elite soldiers are prepared to fight against a barbarian when we arrive on land. Right now, we are in the Shivering Sea on our way to Skagos Island, but we decide to stop when a dense fog decides to appear around us.

This is what makes the Shivering Sea very dangerous to navigate. Dense fog will always appear without notice, and everyone who decides to force move forward will always damage their ship because they cannot see an iceberg in front of them.

We decide to stop for the night and wait for the fog to disappear.

"I fucking hate this sea."

I look at my friend sitting on the ship ledge, holding a mug of beer in his hand.

"Why?"

"This sea always gives me the creeps. The constant fog, the chilling air and sound that make me go insane."

"Sound? What kind of sound are you talking about?"

"The wind. If you listen to it closely, it sounds like a whisper."

I try to focus and hear the wind. To my surprise, I can hear a whisper coming to my ear. It was like a whisper of a young woman but instead a pleasant sound; it was like hearing a curse being whispered into my ear. I shiver a little and decide not to listen to the wind.

"Wait. Do you hear that?!"

I look at my friend, who is getting down from the ledge, and look around.

"What? Another whisper?"

"No! It was like… music."

"Music? Are you going crazy? Who wants to play music in the middle of the night?"

"Just listen! Shhh"

I roll my eyes and decide to humor him. I stayed for a few seconds, and true to his words, I could hear lute-playing in the distance. Slowly but surely, the lute sound starts to get bigger. I look to the north, the location of the sound before saying.

"Yeah, I hear it. What do you think it was?"

"I don't fucking know! I know this sea is haunted!"

Before I could calm him down, my eyes caught something coming out from the fog near us. It was a ship! I look at the flag and see a symbol of a massive tree drawn on the flag. It was the flag of Skagos.

I try to wake the other, but I cannot say anything to my surprise. I look at my mouth and see a faint light around my mouth. I try to shout, but no sound comes out. I quickly run toward a nearby bell, but before I can reach it, I can feel my body stop as if an unseen hand grabs me.

I look at my friend and see him fall asleep next to me. I widen my eyes when a figure appears in front of me from nothing. He looks at me and says,

"Let this be a lesson. Never attack Skagos. May the Holy One forgive you because I will not."

The man takes out his sword, and the last thing I see is the cold fury in the man's eyes.