Chapter 2 Chapter 2 Prophet

Aeron Damphair was drowning on Great Wyk when they brought the news of the king's death. It was a cold morning, and the sea was as black as the sky.The first three gave their lives fearlessly to the Drowned God, but the fourth was not so firm in his faith, and his lungs longed for air, and his body struggled with it.Aeron stood in the waist-deep water, holding tightly to the naked boy's shoulders. Although the boy struggled to breathe, he pushed his head back into the water again and again. "Be brave," he said, "we came from the sea, and we shall return to the sea. Open your mouth and drink the blessing of the gods. Let the sea fill your lungs, and the dead shall not die, but shall rise again. Resist not."

But whether the boy was buried beneath the waves and could not hear, or if he had lost all faith, he kicked and struck so frantically that Aeron had to call for help.Four Drowned Men waded out and seized the poor wretch, and held him firmly under the water. "God drowned for us," the priest prayed with a voice as deep as the sea, "let your servant Emond be born again from the sea like you. Give him the blessing of sea salt, give him the blessing of stone." Bless, give him the blessing of steel." everything is over.The boy no longer had bubbles coming out of his mouth, and his limbs no longer moved.Edmund was floating head-down in the shallow sea, pale, cold and calm.

Damphair noticed then that the three men on horseback were on the pebble beach with his Drowned Man.Aeron knew De Spar, a thin-faced old man with watery eyes and a quivering voice that was the law of this part of Great Wyk, with his son Staffalon beside him and a man in a The boy in the dark red fur cloak, the gorgeous brooch on the boy's shoulder is the black gold horn of the Gubler family.He was one of Gord's sons, the priest recognized at a glance.Gubler's wife belatedly gave him three tall sons after giving birth to a dozen daughters.It was said that the three sons were indistinguishable in appearance, and Aeron Damphair did not want to.Regardless of Graydon, Gormond or Green, the pastor had no time to answer.

He growled and ordered roughly, and the drowned men grabbed the boy's body limb by limb and lifted him out of the water.The pastor followed closely behind, naked, with only a sealskin wrapping his private parts. When he climbed ashore, his body was already wet, and he couldn't help but get goose bumps.As he strode across the wet sand and sea-polished pebbles, the Drowned Men handed him a heavy robe, dyed gray, blue and green, the color of the sea, the color of the Drowned God.Aeron fastened his robes and flung back his long, black hair that dripped—he hadn't cut it since the sea brought him back.The hair fell over the shoulders like a cloak of rough rope and fell to the waist.Aeron's hair and untrimmed beard were woven with seaweed.

The drowned people gathered around the dead man and began to pray.Nogin used his hands, and Russ used his straddled body to squeeze the boy's chest desperately, and then Aeron stepped forward, and the Drowned men backed away.The priest parted the boy's cold lips with his fingers, and gave Emond the kiss of life, one kiss after another, until the sea water gushed from his mouth.The boy started coughing and vomiting, his eyes were blank and full of fear. Another born again, a testament to the Drowned God's favor.Every priest has had failures, even Thaler the Three Drowned, holy enough to crown a king.But he—Aeron Greyjoy—never missed.He is wet-haired, he has traveled to the palace of flowing water of the gods, and passed on its splendor to the world, "Get up," he shouted to the boy who was spitting water, slapping his bare back, "you are drowned , and returned among us. The dead never die."

"It will definitely rise again." The boy coughed violently, spewing out more sea water. "Rise again." There was pain in every word he uttered, but it was the law of the world: man must struggle to live. "Again," Emond stood up staggeringly, "it's more powerful." "From now on, you belong to the gods," Aeron told him.The other Drowned men gathered and each gave him a punch and a kiss as a gift for joining.Someone else dressed him in a rough robe of mottled gray, blue and green, and someone else handed him a stick of driftwood. "From now on, you belong to the sea, and the sea will protect you from all enemies," Aeron said. "We pray that you will wield your club fiercely and face the old enemy of the gods bravely."

Only then did the priest look at the three riders, who were watching him motionless. "Come to be flooded, my lords?" Spar coughed a few times. "I got it as a kid," he said, "and my son got it on his name day." Aeron snorted.Yes, Staphalen Spa was dedicated to the Drowned God at birth, but he knew the trick, the baby was just a quick dip in a tub of seawater, maybe headless wet.No wonder the Ironborn were defeated and conquered, for they ruled all the lands where the waves came. "That's not true flooding," he told the chief. "The dead rise again. Well, instead of proving your faith, what do you want to do?"

"The son of Lord Goold has something to tell you." Spar pointed at the red-robed boy. The boy did not appear to be more than sixteen. "Ah, who are you?" Aeron demanded. "Gormond. Gormond Gubler, please Your Excellency." "We shall please the Drowned God. Have you ever been drowned, Gormond Gubler?" "I did it on my name day, Mr. Damphair. My father sent me especially for you, he was anxious to see you." "I don't want to change my name or my surname. The leader of Goold just comes here." Aeron took a leather bag from Russ, which was filled with fresh sea water.The priest pulled out the cork and took a swig.

"I have come to take you to the castle," insisted young Gormond on horseback. He was afraid to dismount lest he wet his boots. "I'm here to fulfill my holy duties." Aeron Greyjoy was a prophet, and he couldn't stand the little lords who were living in poverty and setting him up like slave labor. "There's a bird from Gord," said Spar. "The maester's bird, come from Pike," Gormond confirmed. Black wings, bring black messages. "The crow flies over sea salt and rock. If the news concerns me, tell it now." "Only to you, Damphair," said Spard, "not in front of outsiders."

"These 'outsiders' are my drowned brothers, servants of the gods, no different from me. I have no secrets from them, any more than I have secrets from our gods, from the holy sea." The riders exchanged glances. "Speak." Spa urged, so the red-robed boy summoned up his courage. "The king is dead." His tone was flat, with only four words, but in an instant, it seemed that even the sea trembled. There were four kings in Westeros, but Aeron knew who he was referring to without asking—Balon Greyjoy, who ruled the Iron Islands.The king is dead.How is this possible?Aeron had seen his elder brother in the last moon, when he returned to the Iron Islands laden with plunder from the Stony Shore.Balon's gray hair had turned half gray in the days he had been gone, and his shoulders creaked much louder when he bent over, but the king was by no means ill.

Aeron Greyjoy's life was built on two giant pillars, and now one is knocked down in just four words.All I have left is the Drowned God, may he make me as tough and tenacious as the sea. "How did my brother die?" "His Majesty fell off the bridge on Pike Island and hit the rocks." House Greyjoy's fortress was built on Broken Point, and the fort and towers were built on huge rocks jutting out of the sea. Bridges connected the various parts of Pyke City. The rope bridge... "So it was a very windy time?" Aeron demanded. "Well," the boy replied, "that's right." "The Storm God swept him away," the priest announced.For thousands of years, the sea and the sky have waged a never-ending war.The sea bred the ironborn and supported them through the winter with fish, and the storms brought nothing but pain and sorrow. "My elder brother, King Balon, made us strong again, and thus drew the wrath of the Storm God. Now, he feasts in the watery palace of the Drowned God, and the mermaid will satisfy all his needs, and we shall stay This dry and bleak place, to continue his great work." He plugged it. "I will talk to your lord father, how far is it from here to Warhammer Point?" "Six leagues. You can sit behind me." "One rides faster than two. Give me the horse, and the Drowned God will bless you." "Ride my horse, wet hair," Staphalon Spah offered. "No. His horse is better. Give it to me, boy." The boy hesitated for a while, and finally dismounted and handed the reins to the prophet.Aeron stepped his black bare feet into the stirrups and rolled onto the horse's back.He didn't like horses—they were creatures of the Green Land, and they made men weak—but it was urgent, and he had to go.Black wings, bring black messages.There was no time to wait, a great storm was brewing, he could hear it in the sound of the waves, and there was nothing but evil in the storm. "Meet me at Cobblestone, below Lord Merlin's Tower Castle," he told his Drowned men, turning their horses. The road was rough, over hills and woods and passes, followed by a narrow track that often disappeared under the hooves of the horses, and stretched and stretched.Great Wyk is the largest island in the Iron Islands, so huge that the fortresses of many lords on the island do not even see the sacred sea. Gerold Gubler was one of them.His dwelling was in Stone Mountain, the farthest point in all the Isle from the realm of the Drowned God.The subjects of Gorde worked in the mines, and in the dark caves below the surface, many people had never seen the vast sea from their lives to their deaths.No wonder they live poorly and have perverse temperaments. Aeron thought as he rode, and his thoughts drifted to his brothers. Coron Greyjoy, Lord of the Iron Islands, had nine sons.Harlon, Quinton, and Donnel were born to King Cologne's first wife, a Stonetree woman; Balon, Euron, Victarion, Urgon, and Aeron were born to his second wife. She came from the Sandley family on Salt Cliff Island; the third wife of Coron was the girl he plundered from the green land, and she gave him a weak and stupid Robin, a brother who should be forgotten .The pastor has no memory of Quinton and Donnel, who died in their infancy; he also has a vague memory of Haron, only remembering his gray face, sitting quietly in a windowless room all day long, muttering to himself, His voice grew weaker as the greyscale spread to his tongue and lips.No, someday our brethren will reunite and feast on fresh fish in the Drowned God's watery palace, the four of us plus Ur. Coron Greyjoy had nine sons in his lifetime, but only four became men.This is the law of this cold world, men fish from the sea to till the land and die, women lie on the bed of blood and pain to squeeze out short-lived children.Aeron is the smallest and most inconspicuous of the four sea monsters, while Balon is the largest and most powerful. This fierce and fearless man, all the purpose of his existence is to restore the ancient glory of the Ironborn. .At the age of ten, he climbed the cliff of Flint and entered the ghost tower of the blind lord; at the age of thirteen, his skills in manipulating a longboat and performing finger dances had reached the level of the top players on the island; Cleftjaw Dagmer goes to the Stepstones to join in the summer raids.There he killed first and brought back his first two salt wives; at seventeen, Balon had his own longship.He was everything an older brother should be, though he only scolded Aeron.I am a weak man, covered in sin, and I deserve contempt.But it was better to be scolded by Balon the Brave than to be Euron the Crow's Eye's lackey.Though age and grief tormented Balon, it also made him more determined than any man.Born a lord's son, he died crowned, murdered by jealous gods, Aeron thought, and now comes the storm, a storm like the Isles have never seen before. Riding late into the night, the priest had just glimpsed the sharp iron battlements of Warhammer Horn under the new moon.Goold's castle is clumsy and strong. The huge stones for the city were quarried from the cliff behind the city. Under the city wall, countless caves and ancient mines are like toothless black mouths.The iron gates at Warhammer Horn were closed and locked at night.Aeron picked up stones and struck at the door, until the clanging woke the guards. The boy who came to meet him looked very much like Gormond, the boy from whom he had taken the horse. "Who are you?" Aeron asked. "Ge Lan. My father is waiting for you." The hall was cold and drafty, with shadows everywhere.One of Gerold's daughters handed him a horn of beer, and another stirred the fire, which brought more smoke than the heat.Gerold Gubler himself was whispering to a slender man in an exquisite gray robe, with chains of various metals around his neck, indicating that he was a maester from the Academy. "Where's Gormond?" Goude asked face to face. "He walks. Drives women away, my lord, and maesters." He doesn't like maesters.Their ravens are the storm god's pets, and since the events of Ur he no longer trusts their healers.A real man should never choose the fate of slavery, never forge a slave collar around his throat. "Jesila, Jewin, get out of here," Gubler said curtly, "and you too, Grem. Maester Morenmore stay." "He must go," Aeron insisted. "This is my hall, Damphair, don't overwhelm the host. The bachelor stays." He was too far from the sea, Aeron told himself. "Then I'll go." He said to Gubler, and then he turned his head and strode away, the calluses on his dark bare feet rubbed against the dry straw mat, making a rustling sound.The half-day ride seemed to be in vain. Aeron walked to the door, and the maester cleared his throat suddenly. "Euron Greyjoy has taken the Seastone Seat." Damphair turned around abruptly.The cold air in the hall increased sharply.The Crow's Eye was half a world away.Balon exiled him two years ago, and swore he would kill him if he returned. "Say." He said hoarsely. "The day after the king's death he returned to King's Harbor and claimed Balon's castle and crown as Balon's second brother," said Gerold Gubler. The leader of the island, go to Pike City to kneel before him and honor him as king." "No." Aeron Damphair didn't bother to weigh his words. "The Seastone Seat is for the godly. The Crow's Eye cares only for his own glory." "Soon, you will also be called to Pike to meet the king." Gubler said, "Has Baron talked to you about the heir recently?" Yes.They'd talked on the Tower in the Sea, the tower with the wind howling outside the windows and the waves crashing beneath their feet.When Aeron reported the condition of his only remaining son, Balon shook his head in despair. "The wolf cub has made him vulnerable, just as I feared," said the king. They killed him to teach him not to stand in Asha's way." On this point, Baron was ignorant, seeing in his daughter the fierceness and wildness of his past, he thought she could inherit his career.But he was wrong, Aeron tried to convince him. "Women can't rule the Ironborn, not even a woman like Asha," he urged repeatedly, but Balon always played deaf and dumb about what he didn't want to hear. Before the priest could reply to Gerold Gubler, the maester spoke again. "The seat of the seastone belongs to Theon. If the prince really dies, it should pass to Asha. This is the law." "The law of the Green Lands," Aeron said scornfully, "has nothing to do with us? We are born ironborn, sons of the sea, chosen people of the Drowned God. Women will never rule over us, let alone the godless. .” "And Victarion?" asked Gerold Gubler. "He commands the Iron Fleet. Will Victarion ask, Damphair?" "Euron is brother..." the maester interrupted. Aeron's glance stopped him.On the Iron Islands, no matter a small fishing village or a large castle, a glance of wet hair is enough to make a virgin faint, and to teach a baby to shut up is enough to calm a chained slave. "Euron is the older brother," said the priest, "but Victarion is more pious." "Will there be war between them?" the maester asked. "The ironborn shall not be stained with the blood of the ironborn." "You are pious, Damphair," said Gubler. "Your brother is not like you. He drowned Savon Botley for claiming that the Seastone should belong to Theon by right." "If he's drowned, there's no blood," Aeron said. The maester and the lord exchanged glances. "I must give Pike an answer as soon as possible," Gerold Gubler said, "Damphair, I want to hear your suggestion. How should I say, surrender or resist?" Aeron twirled his beard, lost in thought.I have seen the storm, and its name is Euron Crow's Eye. "Be quiet now and answer nothing," he told the lord. "I must pray for this." "Pray what you will," said the maester, "and it will not change the law. Theon is heir apparent, with Asha next in line." "Quiet!" Aeron roared. "Ironborn are fed up with your collared maesters chirping compliments on the Green Lands and the laws of the Green Lands. It's time we heeded the call of the sea, and it's time we heeded the gods." It is time for your guidance." His words echoed in the smoky hall with such force that both Gerold Gubler and his maesters were afraid to speak.The Drowned God is with me, Aeron thought, and he guides me. Gubler invited him to spend the night in the city, but the priest declined.He seldom slept under the eaves of a castle, much less far from the sea. "I've been to the most comfortable place in the world, the watery palace of the Drowned God under the waves. We are born to suffer, and suffering makes us strong. All I want is a good horse that will carry me to Pebble." Gubler was happy to offer horses, and casually sent his son Graydon to guide the priest so that he could cross the mountains to the sea as quickly as possible.It was at least an hour before dawn when they set out, but their mounts were strong, steady horses, and they encountered no trouble in spite of the darkness.Aeron closed his eyes, prayed silently, and soon dozed off in the saddle. The sound came quietly, the scream of the rusted iron chain. "Ur." With the whisper, he woke up suddenly, full of fear.There are no chains here, no gates, no Ur.The throwing ax cut off half of Ur's hand. He was only fourteen years old when he was practicing finger dancing at home while his father and brothers were out fighting.The third wife of the Duke of Cologne came from the Piper family in Pink City, with huge soft breasts and brown eyes like elk.She did not use the ancient ways to heal Ur, she forsook the fire and the sea, and summoned the maester of the Green Land, and the maester swore he could sew the severed finger back on.He did that, and poultices and potions and herbs, but the palms were still festering, and Ur had a high fever.By the time the maester sawed off Ur's hand, it was too late. King Cologne did not survive the voyage, and the merciful Drowned God let him die at sea.Then came Balon, and his brothers Euron and Victarion.When Balon heard what had happened to Ur, he immediately chopped off three of the maester's fingers with a cleaver, and ordered his father's third wife to sew them back on.Herbs and Potions replayed what happened to Ur to the bachelor. The bachelor died in confusion, and then the third wife also passed away due to dystocia when she gave birth to the king's daughter. Death.Secretly thankful it was Aeron.As Ur's best friend and brother, they practice finger dancing together.It was his ax that cut off Ur's hand. Looking back on the years since Ur's death, he still feels ashamed.At the age of sixteen he began to call himself a man, but in fact he was often too drunk to walk.He sang, danced (of course not finger dancing, never!), told jokes, cross-talked, taunted people; he played the flute, juggled, raced horses; Or over half the Harlows.The Drowned God had given everyone a gift, not even him—no one had pissed farther or longer than Aeron Greyjoy, and he had proved it at every feast.He once bet a herd of goats on his new longboat that he could put out a hall fire with his cock alone.As a result, Aeron ate the sheep for a whole year and named his ship "Yellow Rainstorm", but when Balon knew what kind of ram his brother planned to put on the bow, he threatened to hang Aeron on the mast. When Balon first raised the rebel flag, the Rainstorm sank in the Battle of Fair Isle, and Stannis Baratheon led Victarion into a trap, destroying the Iron Fleet, and she was killed by a The gigantic galley known as the Fury crashed in two.But the gods did not abandon him, and sent him back to the shore, where fishermen caught him alive.He was sent to Lannisport in chains, and spent the rest of the war in the dungeons of Casterly Rock, proving that the sea monster pissed farther and longer than lions, boars, and chickens. That person is dead.Aeron was drowned by the sea and reborn from the sea. He is the prophet of the gods. Mortals cannot frighten him any more than evil can strike him...not even memories—the bones of the soul.The sound of the door opening... the screech of the rusted chains... Euron is back.It doesn't matter.He is the priest with wet hair, God's favorite, afraid of nothing. "Will there be a war?" Grayton Gubler asked him as the sun began to light up the mountains. "A brother's war?" "As long as it is the Drowned God's will. An ungodly man shall never sit on the Seastone Seat." The Crow's Eye would fight without hesitation.Women couldn't beat him, not even Asha, their battle was in the delivery bed.And Theon, even if he was alive, was hopeless, he was just a moody kid.At Winterfell he had proved his worth, but that was all. The Crow's Eye was by no means equal to the crippled Stark boy.Euron's ship is painted red to hide more blood.Victarion, Victarion must be king, or the storm will consume us all. When the sun rose, Graydon left the priest to report the news of Balon's death to his relatives in the strongholds of Deep Drill Hall, Crowthorn Keep, and Lake of Corpses.Aeron continued on alone, along the stone path uphill and down the valley. As the sea approached, the road surface became wider and clearer.Whenever he came across a village, he stopped to preach, and he also stopped in the courtyard of the little lord. "We come from the sea, and we will return to the sea." His voice has the depth of the sea and the power of huge waves. "The wrath of the Storm God rolled Balon out of the castle and killed him, and now he feasts beneath the waves in the Drowned God's watery palace." He held up his hands. "Balon is dead! The king is dead! But a new king will come back among us! The dead will not die, but will rise again, and stronger! A new king will rise!" Those who listened to his sermon dropped their hoes and plows and followed him. When the sound of the waves came, there were more than a dozen men on foot behind the horse. They were moved by the gods and longed to be drowned immediately. Pebble Town is home to thousands of fishermen. There is a square tower in the town, with turrets on all four corners. The dilapidated houses of the fishermen are crowded around the tower.Aeron's forty Drowned Men were waiting for him in the town, their sealskin tents and driftwood huts on the gray sand.Their hands are rough with salt water, worn with netting, calloused with oars, hoes and axes, but driftwood clubs are as unstoppable in their hands as steel weapons. The magical weapons made for them by the arsenal. The Drowned people built a hut for the priest by the tideline.Relieved, he crawled inside after drowning out his new followers.God, he prays, speak to me with rumbling waves, guide me!tell me what to doThe chiefs and captains are awaiting your will.Who will replace Balon as king?Sing to me in the language of the sea beasts, and I will listen carefully.tell me!O god-king under the waves, who has strength against the storm of Pyke? Though weary from his trip to Warhammer Point, Aeron Damphair could not sleep in his driftwood hut.He stared blankly at the roof of black seaweed.Rolling dark clouds covered the moon and stars, and the deep darkness on the sea seemed to hang over his soul.Balon doted on Asha, and the child was in his shadow, but a woman must never rule an Ironborn.It must be Victarion.Of Coron Greyjoy's nine sons, Victarion was the strongest of them all, brave and faithful as a bull.The trouble was his devotion to duty.Brothers were supposed to obey older brothers, and Victarion was not one to break convention.But he hated Euron, since the woman died... Outside the door, beneath the snoring of drowned men and the wailing of the sea wind, he could hear the lapping of the waves, and the hammer of the gods calling him to battle.So Aeron crawled out of the hut and out into the freezing night.He came out naked, pale and thin and tall, and stepped naked again into the great black brine.The sea water is like black ice, but he will never shrink back under the caress of the true god.One wave hit his chest and he staggered, and the next wave hit his head and he tasted sea salt.Gods surrounded him, and songs of glory rang in his ears.Of the nine sons Collen Greyjoy had in his life, I was the worst of them all, incompetent and weak as a little girl...not anymore.That man has been drowned, God made me strong.The cold salt water surrounded him, embraced him, pierced his limp flesh and stinged his bones.Bones, he thought, bones of the soul.The bones of Balon, the bones of Ur.The truth lies in the bones, and the flesh will rot, but the bones will live forever.On the hills of the Naga, the skeletons of the Hall of the Gray King... Aeron Damphair struggled back to the shore, still thin and pale, trembling, but wiser than when he walked into the sea.Because he found the answer in the bones, the way to the future is clearly in front of him.The cold night was so cold that when he strode back to the hut, his whole body was steaming, but there was a burning fire in his heart.This time, he fell asleep in an instant, and even the screaming of the iron gate chain couldn't wake him up. When I awoke, it was broad daylight and windy.Aeron ate clam and seaweed soup by the driftwood campfire.As soon as he finished drinking, Merlin came down from the tower castle with six or seven guards. He came here specially to find Aeron. "The king is dead," Damphair told him. "Yeah. I've had a bird here before. Now there's another one," said Merlin, bald and chubby, who had actually dubbed himself "Earl" in velvet and Fur dress. "One called me to Pike, and the other to Ten Towers. You sea monsters have too many arms, trying to tear people apart or what? Come on, what do you say, Priest? Me and my longship Where should I go?" Aeron frowned. "You mean Ten Towers? Which sea monster summoned you to go there?" Ten Towers City is Lord Harlow's home castle. "Princess Asha. She has come back with her ship, and the Bookman unleashes the crow and summons all her friends to the Harlaw's house, claiming that Balon means to seat her on the Seastone Seat." "The Drowned God decides who sits on the Seastone Seat," said the priest. "Kneel down and accept my blessing." Merlin "Lord" plopped to his knees, and Aeron opened the waterskin and poured seawater on his bare face. overhead. "O supreme god who was drowned for us! Raise your servant Medred from the sea. Give him the blessing of sea salt, give him the blessing of rock, give him the blessing of steel." Merlin's plump cheeks soaked his beard and fox fur cloak. "The dead never die," Aeron said after completing the ceremony, "and will rise again, stronger." After Merlin stood up, Aeron told him, "Don't move, listen to me, you have the honor to spread the will of God." Aeron "Damphair" was standing on the shore right now, three feet away was the huge granite rock against which the waves beat relentlessly day and night. He stood firmly so that the gods could watch him and listen to his words. "We came from the sea, and we shall return to the sea," he began to call, as he had done a thousand times before. "The angry Storm God rolled Balon out of the castle and killed him, and now he feasts beneath the waves." He held up his arms. "The Iron King is dead! But a new King will return to us! The dead never die, but will rise again, stronger!" "A new king will rise again!" cried the Drowned in unison. "He will definitely. He will definitely. But who is he?" Damphair paused for a while, and only Wave responded. "Who will be our king?" The drowned men struck each other with sticks of driftwood. "Damphair!" they cried. "King Damphair! King Aeron! We want Damphair!" Aeron shook his head. "If a father had two sons, and he gave one an ax and the other a fishing net, who would he want to be a warrior?" "Axes for the warriors," Russ roared back, "Nets for the fishermen." "Yes," said Aeron, "the gods took me into the deep sea beneath the waves, and drowned my useless things. When I returned, he gave me clear eyes, keen ears, and The mouth of his message, I am his prophet, and I tell the decrees of the true God to those who have forgotten him. I cannot sit on the Seastone Seat... neither can Euron the Raven's Eye. For I have heard the word of God , he said: Those who do not worship God will never sit on the Seastone Seat!" Merlin crossed his arms. "So, is it Asha? Is it Victarion? Tell us, Priest!" "The Drowned God will tell you, but not here." Aeron pointed to Merlin's fat, white face. "Don't look at me, and don't think of the laws of men, but listen to the sound of the sea. Hoist and row, my lord, to Old Wyk, you, and all the chiefs and captains. The destination is not Pike, don't Bow your knees to the godless, and don't befriend the women at Harlow's. Go straight to Old Wyk, to where the Gray King's halls stand. By holy Drowned God I call you, call you all People! Leave the halls and houses, leave the castles and towers, and go to the Naga hills for a kingsmoot!" Merlin was tongue-tied. "The Kingsmoot! The Kingsmoot already..." "...It hasn't been held for countless centuries!" Aeron yelled through gritted teeth, "but in the Age of Dawn, the Ironborn chose their own king and elected the most powerful man. It's time to return to the ancient ways, so that Great again. Remember, it was the Kingsmoter who put the driftwood crown on our High King Ullas 'Ironfoot'. Silas the Flatnose, Haraj Hall, The Old Kraken, All are chosen by the Kingsmoot. From the Kingsmoot, we will find the real king to complete Balon’s unfinished business and regain our freedom. I repeat, don’t go to Pike, don’t go to Harlow’s Ten Towers, Go to Old Wyck and find the hill of the naga and the bones of the hall of the Gray King. In that holy place, when the moon is flooded and full again, we shall decide the true king, the God-worshiping king!" hands raised up. "Listen! Hear the voice of the waves! Hear the call of the god! He is speaking to us, and he says: From the Kingsmoot we shall have the true King!" There was a roar, and the drowned men beat each other with sticks. "Kingshoot!" roared Nogin, "Kingshoot, Kingshoot. The Kingshoot is the real King!" Their clamor was like thunder, and Euron on Pyke must have heard it, and the storm in the Palace of Dark Clouds The evil gods must be able to hear it too.Aeron Damphair knew he had done a good job.