Chapter 91

Setting up the Blockade of King's Landing was probably the easiest part of the opening phase of the War. With over a thousand ships, it damned well ought to have been. It helped that what few ships the Lannisters had that could challenge the Blockade were on the wrong side of the Continent to do so. By the time my task force sailed for Cracklaw Point, we'd already turned back a number of ships from Myr and Tyrosh full of grain, salted fish, and other produce.

Mind you, those captains were pretty angry about the whole situation, but I offered to buy their cargoes from them should they divert to Bloodstone, which they seemed willing to do. That was actually a two-fold stratagem on my part. On the one hand, it kept Myr and Tyrosh happy, since they wouldn't be wasting trade trips while on the other hand, it bolstered my supply situation even further. It was a good tactic, and I wasn't the only one who thought so.

Stannis must have taken note of how it had worked because he had ordered his captains to start doing the same thing before departing with his own force of Thirty Thousand Troops, Seventy-Five Guns, and One Hundred Ships for the Stormlands to challenge Renly. It was almost enough to make me pity the firestorm that Renly would be riding into, almost. Unfortunately, the fact that he'd let Tyrell promises sway him into making a stupid move dampened any pity I might have for him. Hopefully, he'd survive long enough to surrender and be sent to the Wall or something. I doubted Stannis would execute his only living brother, estranged or not.

Regardless, I sailed to Cracklaw Point with a war fleet of Sixty-five Naus, Sixty-five War Galleys, and One-hundred-twenty Fully-Rigged Naval Pinnaces, led by the Galleon White Rat. A total of two-hundred-fifty-one ships bearing thirty-thousand troops and ninety field guns. The plan was simple. Hit Brownhollow on the tip of Cracklaw Point while Lord Rupert Crabb took his own forces North to besiege Dyre Den.

Both branches of House Brune had declared for the Lannisters at the outset, you see, likely thanks to Littlefinger's Influence. Taking them out early would send a statement to the other houses of the Point that they should declare for Stannis or be similarly deprived of their seats and lands. Lord Rupert Crabb had, at last count, mustered a force of one-thousand-eight-hundred men, a thousand of which were equipped in Arsenal Steel Gear, though he only had around three Hundred Musketeers, along with forty-five guns. Given that Dyre Den could muster only slightly more than that, and they were worse equipped and drilled, though, I had faith he could defeat them in the field and invest the castle.

Of course, my beautiful, warrior of a Wife hadn't wanted to be left out. She'd taken a smaller force of Thirty Naus, Thirty War Galleys, and Sixty-five Fully-Rigged Naval Pinnaces, along with fifteen thousand men and ninety guns to Duskendale. She was planning to seize the City and the Dun Fort with a Naval Assault, as the Rykkers had also declared for the Lannisters. With Brownhollow and Duskendale taken and King's Landing under blockade, the Lannisters would have no way to import food from the Free Cities to feed the teeming masses of the Capital. It was hoped that would cause an uprising among the more belligerent Urban Population of the Capital, forcing the Lannisters to spend blood and treasure putting it down.

That part of the plan wasn't mine. I had to give the credit there to Vizimir, who would have the Gangs under our control in the City start agitating for such an uprising. Hopefully, by the time that we showed up to besiege King's Landing, the City would be ready to fall within a few days of our arrival from the lack of food and internal strife.

As Brownhollow heaved into view, however, I could see it wouldn't be as easy as I'd thought it would be. Littlefinger's backing had beefed up the Castle significantly. The walls had been rebuilt thicker to better resist cannon fire and now extended around the town, Furthermore, there was a fleet of warships sailing for us out of the harbor. Smaller than ours, I counted one-hundred-twenty-five ships, and built entirely out of War Galleys armed with Four-Pounder Guns, but still a threat.

"The Brunes don't have that many ships. This has to be Baelish's doing." I growled as I peered at them through my Myrish Spyglass.

"Orders, Signore?" Questioned the Captain of the White Rat, a former Braavosi Pirate Hunter named Antonyo Gangylezzo. He'd been forcibly retired from the Braavosi Navy due to his advanced age, at sixty he was an old salt, to say the least, and the Iron Bank had recommended his services.

"Battle formation. If they want a Naval Battle, we'll give them one." I intoned.

"At once, Signore." Nodded Antonyo.

He turned and began shouting orders as the drummers began to beat to quarters and our ships began to form up in a battle formation. As the pounding of drums echoed out over the water, I peered back out through my Myrish Spyglass and saw that we weren't the only ones to take up battle formation. The Enemy War Galleys had stowed their oars and were turning to port to present their own broadsides. I frowned at that. A slugging match didn't favor them, just what were they up to?

"Signalman, send to our Pinnaces. Skirmish order, sally forth. They may be trying something with fireships. If they are, I want our pinnaces to screen us and sink any fireships before they can break up our line of battle!" I ordered.

The White Rat's Semaphore Man got to work with an affirmative shout and soon we had a screen of Fully-Rigged Naval Pinnaces out in front of us. It was a good thing too, because no sooner had the Pinnaces advanced than a number of smaller longboats were launched from the depths of the enemy fleet, packed full of musketeers and swordsmen with matchlocks and boarding cutlasses. These longboats were escorting smaller rafts full of combustible materials. Apparently, the enemy was mixing up their tactics. That was clever of them. The Pinnaces got most of the fireship rafts but several were bogged down repelling boarders, which let a few of the rafts through on the right of our line of battle.

Our right wing was commanded by the Jade Pig, one of the first Naus that I'd had built. As the fireship rafts that had gotten through ignited, its captain ordered the right wing to disperse into skirmish order. Most of them managed it without incident. Some of them didn't. The Fire Ships plowed into a number of our war galleys and Naus on the right, setting them ablaze and igniting powder stores. We lost three Naus and six War Galleys to the conflagration, including the Dolphin, another of the first few Naus I'd had built. It wouldn't be enough to save the enemy fleet from our wrath.

"All ships, load rune shot, and open fire! Avenge our fallen comrades!" I commanded.

Our six-pounders and eight-pounders outranged the enemy's four-pounders by a decent margin and as the order went out, the broadsides of the fleet belched out fire, thunder, and smoke like the wrath of an angry God. From the extreme range, though, only some of the shots hit. However, the shots that hit, having been inscribed with heating runes, were effectively ship-killers in a single shot. Cannonballs glowing cherry red, smashed into oaken timbers, catching rigging and boards alight. Our first salvo mostly missed, but we still sunk nine enemy ships and set five more alight from fire at extreme range.

I snarled as the enemy kept coming forward, burning ships foundering and falling out of their battle line. Another salvo from our own battle line hit more, sinking another twelve and setting a further six alight, effectively taking out a quarter of the enemy fleet in the first two salvos. Then the enemy came in range and began to fire back at us. A combination of chain-shot and shot heated in braziers on deck.

Baelish was clever, he must have known that his four-pounders wouldn't be very effective against our Naus. It'd take them multiple shots just to do any significant damage, whereas we could sink them far more easily. He'd figured out how to improve his chances of at least disabling us with chain shot and heated shot, though. It was a reminder that human beings were adaptable to circumstances and that I wouldn't be able to enjoy my uncontested dominance forever.

Fires began to spread on various ships of my fleet from heated shot, while chain shot tore up sails and split ropes. Twelve of our ships fell out of formation, disabled from fires or the destruction of their rigging, while five others' efforts to fight fires couldn't stop the flames from reaching their powder magazines, explosions ripping them apart. I snarled at that as another volley rippled out from our fleet's broadsides. This sank another sixteen enemy ships and set four more alight.

That seemed to be the breaking point for Baelish's Ships, they broke their lines, put out the oars, and raced for the harbor of Brownhollow, firing a few parting shots from four-pounders mounted on the stern of their ships. There were only two stern guns on each War Galley, though, and they only managed to set a trio of Naval Pinnaces alight. The skirmishing Pinnaces fired at the enemy as they passed, sinking a further five of their ships and setting two alight, but the rest made it clear of the battle.

Unfortunately, four of our Skirmishing Naval Pinnaces had been lost to boarders, and they opened fire on their fellows, sinking five more, before turning tail. I couldn't allow Baelish to capture any of my Fully-Rigged Naval Pinnaces. He'd just shown he was capable of adaptation to circumstances and I couldn't run the risk that he'd be able to reverse engineer the ships. Fortunately, it seemed the unfamiliar sail plan to Baelish's boarding crews meant that they were escaping more slowly than they otherwise would be,

"Full sails! We're going to recapture those ships!" I ordered.

My crew hastened to obey, as I drew my Valyrian Steel blade. The sail plans of several nearby ships ballooned out and filled with wind, while I dredged up mystical power and concentrated on the ocean currents, using Rhoynar Water Magic to add extra speed. The enemy had a head start on our pursuit, but with full sails, and magical aid in the form of mystically directed currents, we caught up with them.

As we pulled alongside, I released my hold on the ocean currents, headache building, and jumped over the side, landing on the deck of a captured Pinnace, the Jackdaw. Almost immediately, I was forced to shunt the brewing headache from using so much Water Magic aside and parry an incoming strike from a Boarding Axe by a bearded, leather-clad, enemy. As I did so, my Valyrian Steel Blade sheared through the oaken haft and cut the head off the boarding axe. The Enemy looked surprised at that and I used the opening that gave me to boot him over the side and into the ocean.

Nearby, an enemy leveled a Matchlock at me, and I swiftly drew a dagger from my side and tossed it at him. I wasn't the greatest with throwing blades, and the dagger struck the Musketeer pommel-first in the forehead. That wound up spoiling his aim, however, and his ball went wide, embedding itself in the Goldenwood Hull of the White Rat partially before falling into the drink. I charged him and he turned his Matchlock around to swing it at my head like a cutlass, only for me to drop into a stoccata thrust, crouching down and thrusting upward in a lunge, one hand against the deck. My thrust took him through the heart while his swing sailed harmlessly overhead.

As I stood, a third enemy charged me, cutting out with a cutlass for my neck. I parried the cut and we engaged in winding and binding, each trying to gain leverage over the other to attempt another cut or thrust. He elbowed me in the face to make space, smashing my nose crooked and sending me staggering backward. With a cry of triumph, he lunged for me in a lunging cut that would have taken my head off, only for me to duck on instinct. While there, I grabbed his legs, then hauled up sending him up and over my shoulders and the side of the ship.

Then the rest of my crew began to board and the boarding action of the Jackdaw became a foregone conclusion. We pressed the remaining enemy boarders back away from the beachhead I'd cleared out near the side of the ship, carving our way through the remaining dozen men. I took two more with my blade before they surrendered, officially reclaiming one of our three captured Pinnaces. To our right, the Lucky Groat managed to do likewise, recapturing a second of our lost Pinnaces. To our left, the third attempt didn't go so well. The boarders that had captured the Kestrel were sore losers it seemed. Just as it looked like we would recapture the ship, one of the boarders raced below to the powder magazine and set it alight, killing everyone on the ship and rocking the Shooting Star back in the water from the force.

We lost a dozen sailors to the explosion of the Kestrel and another two were sent overboard from the Shooting Star as it rocked sideways in the water, of which, one drowned before he could be fished out, knocked unconscious by debris from the Kestrel's explosion. They were the last casualties of the Naval Battle off Brownhollow. All told Baelish and his Brune Puppets had lost forty-seven percent of the fleet they'd committed to the defense of Brownhollow, all destroyed. We'd lost a mere fourteen percent of ours crippled or destroyed, though some would be able to be repaired easily enough by having new rigging put in.

As we began to establish a blockade of Brownhollow and disgorge our troops to begin setting up siege lines, I couldn't help but think that if this was just the opening battle of the war, this was going to be far bloodier than I'd thought. If Baelish could adapt, could Tywin Lannister? Would his Pride even allow him to do so? What of Renly? He was generally more charismatic than he was smart, but Randyll Tarly would at least try to get him to adapt his tactics. Had me introducing new technologies and methods to Westeros actually made it so that fewer people would be alive to fight the Others? I had no answers.

I would just have to wrap this up quickly so that things didn't escalate further. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, here we see the first battle of the War and it's a Naval Battle. Littlefinger pretty much figured that some sort of attack was coming in Cracklaw Point and moved to fortify the holdings of his Brune Puppets, having them declare for the Lannisters as an excuse to shore up the defenses of Brownhollow and Dyre Den. Hence the Fleet that was present here.

Of course, he's also not stupid. Not as clever as he thinks, maybe, but still pretty smart. He's figured that in any naval confrontation with Ricasso, his ships don't have the punch to do a whole lot of damage quickly enough to avoid destruction. He invented chain shot and heated shot to help augment the lacking firepower of his four-pound guns. It still wasn't enough, but that, plus boarding skiffs mixed with fireships at the start let his fleet punch well above its weight.

At any rate, the next chapter will be the taking of Brownhollow, then we'll switch POVs to Brienne for the Assault on Duskendale, followed by a POV of Stannis at Storm's End.

Stay tuned. . .