'Do I command the winds?' the Crow's Eye asked his pets.
'No, Your Grace,' said Orkwood of Orkmont.
'No man commands the winds,' said Germund Botley.
'Would that you did,' the Red Oarsman said. 'You would sail wherever you liked, and never be becalmed.'
'There you have it, from the mouths of three brave men,' Euron said. 'The Silence was at sea when Balon died. If you doubt an uncle's word, I give you leave to ask my crew.'
'A crew of mutes? Aye, that would serve me well.'
'A husband would serve you well.' Euron turned to his followers again. 'Torwold, I misremember, do you have a wife?'
'Only the one.' Torwold Browntooth grinned, and showed how he had won his name.
'I am unwed,' announced Left-Hand Lucas Codd.
'And for good reason,' Asha said, 'All women do despise the Codds as well. Don't look at me so mournful, Lucas. You still have your famous hand.' She made a pumping motion with her fist.
Codd cursed, till the Crow's Eye put a hand upon his chest. 'Was that courteous, Asha? You have wounded Lucas to the quick.'
'Easier than wounding him in the prick. I throw an axe as well as any man, but when the target is so small…'
'This girl forgets herself,' snarled Pinchface Jon Myre. 'Balon let her believe she was a man.'
'Your father made the same mistake with you' said Asha.
'Give her to me, Euron,' suggested the Red Oarsman. 'I'll spank her till her arse is as red as my hair.'
'Come try,' said Asha, 'and hereafter we can call you the Red Eunuch.' A throwing axe was in her hand. She tossed it in the air and caught it deftly 'Here is my husband, nuncle. Any man who wants me should take it up with him.'
Victarion slammed his fist upon the table. 'Til have no blood shed here. Euron, take your… pets… and go.'
'I had looked for a warmer welcome from you, brother. I am your elder… and soon, your rightful king.'
Victarion's face darkened. 'When the kingsmoot speaks, we shall see who wears the driftwood crown.'
'On that we can agree.' Euron lifted two fingers to the patch that covered his left eye, and took his leave. The others followed at his heels like mongrel dogs. Silence lingered behind them, till Little Lenwood Tawney took up his fiddle. The wine and ale began to flow again, but several guests had lost their thirst. Eldred Codd slipped out, cradling his bloody hand. Then Will Humble, Hotho Harlaw, a goodly lot of Goodbrothers.
'Nuncle.' Asha put a hand upon his shoulder. 'Walk with me, if you would.'
Outside the tent the wind was rising. Clouds raced across the moon's pale face. They looked a bit like galleys, stroking hard to ram. The stars were few and faint. All along the strand the tongships rested, tall masts rising like a forest from the surf. Victarion could hear their hulls creaking as they settled on the sand. He heard the keening of their lines, the sound of banners flapping. Beyond, in the deeper waters of the bay, larger ships bobbed at anchor, grim shadows wreathed in mist.
They walked along the strand together just above the surf, far from the camps and the cookfires. 'Tell me true, nuncle,' Asha said, 'why did Euron go away so suddenly'
'The Crow's Eye oft went reaving'
'Never for so long.'
'He took the Silence east. A lengthy voyage.'
'I asked why he went, not where.' When he did not answer, Asha said, 'I was away when Silence sailed. I had taken Black Wind around the Arbor tothe Stepstones, to steal a few trinkets from the Lyseni pirates. When I came home, Euron was gone and your new wife was dead.'
'She was only a salt wife.' He had not touched another woman since he gave her to the crabs. / will need to take a wife when I am king. A true wife, to be my queen and bear me sons. A king must have an heir.
'My father refused to speak of her,' said Asha.
'It does no good to speak of things no man can change.' He was weary of the subject. 'I saw the Reader's longship.'
'It took all my charm to winkle him out of his Book Tower.'
She has the Harlaws, then. Victarion's frown grew deeper. 'You cannot hope to rule. You are a woman.'
'Is that why I always lose the pissing contests?' Asha laughed. 'Nuncle, it grieves me to admit it, but it may be that you are right. For four days and four nights, I have been talking with the captains and the kings, listening to what they say… and what they will not say. Mine own are with me, and many Harlaws. I have Tris Botley too, and some few others. Not enough.' She kicked a rock, and sent it splashing into the water between two longships, 'I am of a mind to shout my nuncle's name.'
'Which uncle' he demanded. 'You have three.'
'Four,' she said. 'Nuncle, hear me out. No king can rule alone. Even when the dragons sat the Iron Throne, they had men to help them. They called them Hands. I will place the driftwood crown upon your brow myself… if you will name me your Hand.'
No King of the Isles had ever had a Hand, much less one who was a woman. The notion made Victarion uncomfortable. Men would mock me in their cups, 'Why would you wish this?'
'To end this war, before this war ends us. We have won all that we are like to win… and will lose all just as quick, unless we make a peace. I have shown Lady Bolton every courtesy, and she swears her lord will treat with me. If we yield Deepwood Motte, Torrhen's Square, and Moat Cailin, she says, the northmen will cede us Sea Dragon Point and all the Stony Shore between there and Flint's Finger. Those lands are thinly peopled, yet ten times larger than all the isles put together. An exchange of hostages to seal the pact, and each side agrees to make common cause with the other should the Iron Throne-'
Victarion chuckled. 'This Lady Bolton plays you for a fool, niece. Sea Dragon Point and the Stony Shore are ours… as are Deepwood, Moat Cailin, and all the rest. Winterfell is burnt and broken, and the Young Wolf rots headless in the earth. We will have all the north, as your ford father dreamed.'
'When longships learn to row through trees, we will. A fisherman may hook a grey leviathan, but if he does not cut it loose it will drag him down to death. The north is too large for us to hold, and too full of northmen.'
'Go back to your dolls, niece. Leave the winning of wars to men.' Victarion made two fists, and showed them to her. 'I have two hands. No man needs three.'
'I know a man who needs House Harlaw, though.'
'Hotho Humpback has offered me his daughter for my queen. If I take her, I will have the Harlaws.'
That seemed to take the girl aback. 'Rodrik is Lord Harlaw. Hotho's liege lord.'
'Rodrik has no daughters, only books. Hotho will be his heir, and I will be the king.' Once he had said the words aloud, they sounded true. 'The Crow's Eye has been too long away.'
'Some men look larger at a distance,' Asha warned. 'Walk amongst the cook-fires if you dare, and listen. They are not telling tales of your strength, nor of my famous beauty. They talk only of the Crow's Eye… the far places he has seen, the women he has bedded and the men he's killed, the cities he has sacked, the way he burnt Lord Tywin's fleet at Lannisport…'
'I burnt the lion's fleet,' Victarion insisted. 'With mine own hands I flung the first torch onto his flagship.'
'The Crow's Eye hatched the scheme.' Asha put her hand upon his arm. 'And killed your wife as well… did he not?'
Balon had commanded them not to speak of it, but Balon was dead. 'He put a baby in her belly and made me do the killing. I would have killed him too, but Balon would have no kinslaying in his hall. He sent Euron into exile, never to return…'
'… so long as Balon lived.' Asha frowned.
Victarion looked at his fists. 'She gave me horns. I had no choice.' Had it been known men would have laughed at me, as The Crow's Eye laughed when I confronted him. 'She came to me wet and willing, ' he boasted. 'It seems Victarion is big everywhere but where it matters.' But he could not fell her that.
'I am sorry for you,' said Asha, 'and sorrier for her… but you leave me small choice but to claim the Seastone Chair myself.'
You cannot.'Your breath is yours to waste, woman.'
'It is,' she said, and left him.
