Chapter 38 Chapter 38 Theon

Theon wiped the spittle from his cheek with the back of his hand. "Robb will goug out your heart, Greyjoy!" cried Benford Tallhart. "He'll feed your chameleon's heart and lungs to his wolf, sheep dung!" Cutting cheese like a sword, Aeron Damphair choked off the insult, "Kill him." "I have to ask the question first," Theon said. "Fucking questions!" Benford was held between Stigi and Willagger, blood streaming down his face, dying. "Let your ghost questions choke you! Coward! Chameleon!" Uncle Aeron continued grimly, "He spit on you, and all of us. He dared to spit on the holy Drowned God. There is no mercy."

"Father made me direct, Uncle." "And let me assist you." Come spy on me.Theon dared not offend his uncle.He had command, it was true, but his men believed in the Drowned God rather than him, and they were all afraid of Aeron Damphair.To use them, you have to follow them. "You'll be dead, Greyjoy. The crows will peck out your rotten eyeballs." Benford tried to spit again, but only a few streaks of blood came out. "Warrior catch your dank stinking god!" Now you're going to spit your life out, Tawhart, thought Theon. "Stege, kill him," he said.

They pinned Benford to the ground.Verrager tore off his rabbit-skin belt and stuffed it into his mouth to stop shouting.Sturgi swung the axe. "No," announced Aeron Damphair. "He must be offered to the Drowned God. Follow the old ways." What's the difference?Die anyway. "Okay, I'll give him to you." "You also want to come. You are the commander here, and according to the old way, you should make sacrifices." This was too much for Theon. "You are a pastor, uncle, and I entrust all the affairs of the gods to you. You also show kindness and let me just focus on fighting." He waved his hand, and Sturgis and Willag dragged the captives to the beach.Aeron Damphair gave his nephew a reproachful look, and followed.They would walk down the pebbly beachhead and drown Benford Tallhar in the salt water.This is the old way.

Maybe this is kindness, Theon thought, turning and walking straight away.Sturgi was not a neat executioner, and Benford's neck was as thick as a pig's neck, fat and fat.I used to tease him about it, just to make him angry, Theon recalled.Oh, when did that happen?three years ago?When Eddard Stark went to Torrhen's Square to visit Ser Herman, Theon went with him, and Benford's companion for two weeks. He heard rude cheers from the bend in the road, where the battle was going on...if that was a battle at all.In fact, it was the slaughter of sheep.A sheep in iron is still a sheep.

Theon climbed up a rocky hill, looking down at the corpses and dead horses below.The horses were treated better, and the Taymor brothers rounded up all the horses that were not wounded in the battle, while Uzi and Black Loren chopped down the badly wounded horses one by one.His other minions looted the corpses for their loot.Given Harlow knelt before the dead man's chest and sawed off the dead man's finger to snatch the ring.That's the iron money, that's the way my father approves.Xi En planned to search for the two people he had killed, to see if there was anything valuable to take, but when he thought about it, a faint bitter taste suddenly formed in his mouth.He seemed to hear Eddard Stark's comments.This imagining made him very angry.Stark is dead and rotten, he's nothing, Theon reminded himself.

Old Pottery, "Fishbeard," as he was called, sat sullenly on top of his hill of loot, while his three sons kept bringing in the plunder.One of them shoved the fat Todrik.Holding a horn cup in one hand and an ax in the other, Todrik swayed on the pile of dead people. The white fox fur cloak he was wearing was fluttering in the wind. The pure white leather was only stained with a few drops of the old master's blood.He was drunk, Theon understood, the way he growled.Legend has it that the ancient ironborn would drink blood before going to battle, and the resulting rage would leave them painless and fearless, but this man had just had too much ale.

"Weeks, give me the bow and arrow." The boy ran over and offered the bow.Theon bent his bow and nocked his arrow, watching in silence as Todrik knocked the Portree boy down and poured wine into his eyes.Fishbeard swore and jumped on it, but Theon was faster.His aim was to take the hand of the horn so they could sit down and negotiate, but when he made it Todrik wobbled and slipped.Unbiased, the sharp arrow passed through the chamber. Everyone stopped and stared at him.Theon lowered his bow and arrow, "I said, I don't want a drunkard, and I don't want to argue about spoils." Todrik knelt down on the ground, uttering a dying howl. "Portree, kill him." Fishbeard and his sons stepped forward immediately, suppressed Todrik's feeble kick, slit his throat, and stripped off his cloak, ring and weapon before he died .

Now they know I walk the talk.Although King Balon gave him command, Theon knew that in the eyes of his men he was just a weak boy from the green land. "Who else wants to try?" No one answered. "Very good." He kicked away Benford's fallen flag, and the flag bearer still held the flagpole tightly with his cold palm.A piece of rabbit skin is tied under the banner.Why tie the rabbit fur?He wanted to ask, but being spit on made him forget about it.He threw the bow and arrow back to Weeks, and strode away, thinking about how proud he was after the battle in the Whispering Wood, wondering why he wasn't happy this time.Taoha, you stupid and proud idiot, you don't send a single scout.

When they came, they laughed and even sang loudly, the three-tree banner of the Tallha family was flying high, and ridiculous rabbit skins were tied to their spears.But the song was interrupted by a hail of arrows from behind the gorse bushes, and Theon himself rushed up with the footmen to finish the slaughter with daggers, axes, and warhammers.He ordered that only the enemy leader be left for interrogation of intelligence. Unexpectedly, the leader of the enemy was Benford Tallhar. Theon made his way to his Sea Bitch, whose swollen body was being swept up on the beach.The longships under his command are lined up along the cobblestone shore, with their masts standing straight in the sky.Nothing remains of the fishing village but a cold ash that will stink in the monsoons.All the men were hunted down, but only a few survivors were deliberately let go by Theon to pass the news back to Torren's square city.Their wives and daughters are taken as salt concubines. Of course, this is the treatment of the young and beautiful lucky ones. The old women and ugly women are killed after they are finished, unless they are obedient and skilled, then they can be kept as slaves.

This sneak attack was also Theon's plan.It was he who led the longship to land on the beach in the biting cold before dawn, and it was he who, with a long-handled battle ax in hand, was the first to jump off the bow and lead the troops to kill the sleeping village.He doesn't like it all, but does he have a choice? At this moment, his elder sister, who has suffered a thousand swords, is driving the Black Wind to the north, and will win a castle for herself.Her chances were great, Lord Balon had kept the news of the Iron Islands gathering an army secret, and what he, Theon, had done on the Stony Coast would undoubtedly make people think it was just another plundering attempt by the ancient pirates.The northerners will not realize the real danger until Deepwood Motte and Moat Cailin are taken.But when the time comes, it's all over, we won, and Asha the bitch will be sung forever, and my deeds will never be remembered.If I just do nothing, that's how things will end up.

Cleftjaw Dagmer stood atop the tall, carved prow of his longship The Drinking Drink.Theon had assigned him the job of tending the ships: otherwise others would have called today's victory Dagmer's, not Theon's.A sensitive person might have taken Theon's arrangement as an insult, but Dagmer only smiled. "Today is the day of victory," Dagmer called from above, "but there is no smile on your face, boy. The living should laugh, because the dead cannot." He smiled himself, to demonstrate.Terrible.Under the long snow-white hair, Dagmer the Cleftjaw had the scariest scar Theon had ever seen in his life.It is said that Dagmer was almost killed by a long ax when he was a child. The blow shattered his jaw and knocked out his front teeth. Therefore, ordinary people have two lips, but he has four.A messy beard covered his face and neck, only around the scar, nothing grew, only a wrinkled and shiny scar rolled over the flesh on his face, like a torn canyon on a glacier. "I can hear them singing right here," said the old soldier. "It's a good song, and it's a brave song." "Singing is better than acting. They should carry harps instead of spears." "How many died?" "Us?" Theon shrugged. "Only Todrik. He drank and wounded for the spoils, and I killed him." "Some people are born to be killed." Others may hesitate to show such a terrifying smile in front of others, but Dagmer is fearless even in front of King Balon, and he always laughs. Although the smile is ugly, it brings back countless memories of Theon.It had been with him as a boy, whenever he steered his ponies over mossy low walls, whenever he threw throwing axes at standing targets, whenever he parried Dagmer's blows, whenever he Shot a gull on the wing, and that smile never left his side as he steered the tiller through the tangle of reefs.He gave me more smiles than my father, or Eddard Stark, or even Robb... the day he saved Bran from the wildlings, he should have won a smile, but instead he scolded, as if he Instigator. "We need to talk, Uncle," Theon said.In fact, Dagmer was not his real uncle, but his father's subordinate. Four or five generations ago, there seemed to be a little bit of Greyjoy's blood, which was obtained through fornication.Even so, Theon kept calling him uncle. "Okay, then go to my deck." From Dagmer's mouth, you don't want to hear the address of a lord, especially when he is stepping on his own deck.As has always been the tradition in the Iron Islands, each captain is the king of his own ship. He hopped on the planks and onto the four-span deck of the Drinking Drink, where Dagmer led him to the narrow aft cabin, where he poured himself and Theon a dime of sour ale.Theon declined. "We didn't get enough horses. We got a few, but...well, I guess we'll have to get by. The fewer people, the more glory to share." "What are we going to do with horses?" Like most ironmen, Dagmer preferred fighting on foot or on deck. "Horses will only shit and piss on the boat and get in the way." "Yeah, sailing on a ship, of course," Theon admitted. "But I have other plans." He stared at the other party carefully, calculating the timing to tell the truth.He can't do anything without Cleftjaw.Whether he was a commander or not, if Aeron and Dagmer opposed him, he might not be able to command a single person, and he obviously couldn't win the favor of the gloomy priest. "Your lord father ordered us to plunder the coast, that's all." Under the shaggy white eyebrows, those pale eyes as pale as sea foam looked back at Theon.Did he see denial, or a spark of interest?The latter, he thought...hoped so... "You belong to my father." "The best man he has ever had." Pride, Theon thought, he's proud, I have to use that, his pride is the difference between success and failure. "Yes, no one in the Iron Islands can match your mastery of sword and spear." "You've been away too long, boy. When you were gone, it was true, but I've grown old in the service of Lord Balon year after year. The singers say the strong man now is Adric , they call him 'Adric the unsmiling.' The fellow is a giant, and serves for the Drum Chief of Old Wake. Black Loren and Cole the Maiden are only half as bad as him." "This Adric may be a good fighter, but no one is as afraid of him as they are of you." "Ah, that's right." Dagmer said.On the fingers he held the horn were heavy rings, gold, silver, and bronze, set with sapphires, rubies, and dragonglass.Each one was paid for, Theon knew. "If I have a talent like you under my command, I will never waste him doing these burning and looting pediatric jobs. How can such a thing let the best of King Balon's men go..." Dagmer laughed, his twisted lips showing scorched teeth. "Shouldn't it be done to his own son?" He scoffed. "I know you too well, Theon. I watched you learn to walk, and I taught you to bow and bow. You are sorry." "By right, my sister's mission should have been given to me," he admitted, uncomfortably aware of the irascibility in his voice. "You think too much, kid, and it's all because your father doesn't know you very well. Ever since your brothers died and you were taken away by wolves, your sister has been his only comfort. He can't Don't learn to rely on her, and she never lets him down." "Me neither! The Stark family knows my value. I am one of the elite scouts under Brandon the Blackfish. In the Whispering Forest, I was at the forefront. I was so close to confront the Kingslayer head-on." Eun gestured for a distance of two feet. "But Dalynn Hornwood rushed between us, and then fell to the knife." "What do you tell me?" asked Dagmer. "It was I who put into your hands the first sword of your life. I know you are not a coward." "My father knows too?" The grey-haired old soldier had a bitter look on his face, as if he had bitten something unpleasant. "It's just... Theon, that Young Wolf Lord is your friend, and the Stark family has kept you for ten years." "I'm not a Stark." Duke Eddard stared at him. "I'm Greyjoy, and I want to be my father's successor. If I don't do some great things and prove it to others, how can I do it?" "You are still young, there are many opportunities for war, and you can make a lot of achievements. But this time, our mission is to rob the Rocky Coast." "Let Uncle Aeron take charge of this task. Except for the booze and the sea whore, I give him all the remaining six boats. He can burn, kill and drown at will for his godly desire." "But the mission is for you, not Aeron Damphair." "It's enough to achieve the purpose of looting and harassment. It doesn't matter who executes it? The priest can't think of what I plan, let alone do what I want you to do. I have a task that only a man like Dagmer Cleftjaw can complete. " Dagmer raised his horn and took a deep breath. "tell me." He's impressed, Theon thought, and he's as uninterested in this brigand's work as I am. "If my sister can take down a castle, so can I." "Asha's manpower is four or five times that of ours." Theon smiled slyly. "And we have four times her wit and five times her courage." "Your father—" "—will thank me when I give up a whole kingdom. The deeds I plan will be sung by singers for a thousand years." He expected that to make Dagmer hesitate.A singer once wrote a song about his smashed jaws and axes, and the old man loved it.When he got drunk, he would drink and sing the songs of the ancient marauders--the loud and fierce songs of dead heroes and savage valor.His hair may be gray, his teeth may be loose, but his lust for glory remains unabated. "What part will I play in your plans, boy?" said Cleftjaw Dagmer after a long silence.Theon knew he had won. "Your name alone can fill the hearts of the enemy with fear. You will lead most of your men against Torrhen's Square. Herman Tallhart has taken the best of his men south, and Benford and those Man's son died here too. The castle is supposed to be guarded by Benford's uncle Lambard, but I guess he has only a small guard left." If I could interrogate Benford, I'd know how many there were. "You don't need to hide your whereabouts all the way. You can sing any battle song you like. I hope they will close their doors early and guard." "Is this Torren square city strong?" "Very strong. The wall is of stone, thirty feet high, with a square tower at each corner, and a square blockhouse in the center." "Stone walls cannot be burned with fire. How can we fight? Even if it is to deal with the simplest castle, our manpower is not enough." "Just set up camp outside the city, and start building trebuchets and siege machines." "This is not the ancient way! Have you forgotten? The ironborn fight with sword and axe, not by throwing stones. What honor is there in starving an enemy?" "It's Rambard who doesn't know this. The old man sees you building siege towers, and he'll turn cold and beg for help. Take care of your archers, uncle, and let those ravens fly away. Winterfell His garrison was a brave man, but he was old, and the years had dulled his wits as much as his body. When he heard that his king's vassals were besieged by the dreaded Dagmar Cleftjaw, he would call Troops, come to the rescue. That is his duty. Ser Rodrik's only creed is duty." "The army he has raised is vastly superior to ours anyway," said Dagmer, "and these old knights are much more cunning than you can imagine in battle, or they would never live to grow gray hair. You will Drag us into an unwinnable battle, Theon. This Torrhen's Square cannot be taken." Theon smiled, "My goal is not Torun's Square City."