'Twelve,' said Hotho. 'Fair and fertile, newly flowered, with hair the color of honey. Her breasts are small as yet, but she has good hips. She takes after her mother, more than me.'
Victarion knew that to mean the girl did not have a hump. Yet when he tried to picture her, he only saw the wife he'd killed. He had sobbed each time he struck her, and afterward carried her down to the rocks to give her to the crabs. 'I will gladly look at the girl once I am crowned,' he said. That was as much as Hotho dared hope for, and he shambled off content.
Baelor Blacktyde was more difficult to please. He sat by Vicfarion's elbow in his lambswool tunic of black and green vairy and plush sable cloak, looking more a green land lord than an ironman. 'Balon was mad, Aeron is madder, and Euron is maddest of them all,' he said. 'What of you, Lord Captain? If I shout your name will you make an end of this mad war?'
Victarion frowned. 'Would you have me bend the knee?'
'If need be. We cannot stand alone against all Westerns. King Robert proved that, to our grief. Balon would pay the iron price for freedom, he said, but our women bought Salon's crowns with empty beds. My mother was one such. The Old Way is dead.'
'What is dead can never die, but rises harder and stronger. In a hundred years men will sing of Balon the Bold.'
'Balon the Widowmaker, call him. I will gladly trade his freedom for a father. Have you one to give me?'
When Victarion did not answer, Blacktyde snorted and moved off.
The tent grew hot and smoky. Two of Gorold Goodbrother's sons knocked a table over fighting; Will Humble lost a wager and had to eat his boot; Little Lenwood Tawney fiddled whilst Romny Weaver sang 'The Bloody Cup' and 'Steel Rain' and the other old reaving songs. Qarl the Maid and Eldred Codd danced the finger dance. A roar of laughter went up when one of Eldred's fingers landed in Ralf the Limper's wine cup.
A woman was amongst those laughing. Victarion rose and saw her by the tent flap, whispering something in the ear of Qarl the Maid that made him laugh as well. He had hoped she would not be fool enough to come here, yet the sight of her made him smile all the same. 'Asha, 'he called in a commanding voice. 'Niece.'
She made her way to his side, lean and lithe in high boots of salt-stained leather, green woolen breeches and brown quilted tunic, a sleeveless leather jerkin half unlaced. 'Nuncle.' Asha Greyjoy was tall for a woman, yet she had to stand on her toes to kiss his cheek. 'I am pleased to see you at my queensmoot.'
'Queensmoot?' Victarron had to laugh. 'Are you drunk, niece? Sit. I did not spy your Black Wind on the strand.'
'I beached her beneath Nome Goodbrother's castle and rode across the island.' She sat upon a stool, and helped herself unasked to Nute the Barber's wine. Nute raised no objection he had passed out drunk some time ago. 'Who holds the Moat?'
'Ralf Kenning. With the Young Wolf dead, only the bog devils remain to plague us.'
'The Starks were not the only northmen. The Iron Throne has named the Lord of the Dreadfort as Warden of the North.'
'Would you lesson me in warfare? I was fighting battles when you were sucking mother's milk.'
'And losing battles too.' Asha took a drink of wine.
Victarion did not like to be reminded of Fair Isle. 'Every man should lose a battle in his youth, so he does not lose a war when he is old. You have not come to make a claim, I hope'
She teased him with a smile. 'And if I have?'
'There are men who remember when you were a little girf, swimming naked in the sea and playing with your dolt.'
'I played with axes too'
'You did,' he had to grant, 'but a woman wants a husband, nor a crown. When I am king I'll give you one.'
'My nuncle is so good to me. Shall I find a pretty wife for you, when I am queen?'
'I have no luck with wives. How long have you been here?'
'Long enough to see that Uncle Damphair has woken more than he intended. The Drumm means to make a claim, and Tarle the Thrice-Drowned was heard to say that Maron Volmark is the true heir of the black line.'
'The king must be a kraken,' 'The Crow's Eye is a kraken. The elder brother comes before the younger.' Asha leaned close. 'But I am the child of King Balon's body, so I come before you both. Hear me, nuncle…'
But then a sudden silence fell. The singing died, Little Lenwood Tawney lowered his fiddle, men turned their heads. Even the clatter of plates and knives was hushed.
A dozen newcomers had entered the feast tent. Victarion saw Pinchface Jon Myre, Torwold Browntooth, Left- Hand Lucas Codd. Germund Botley crossed his arms against the gilded breastplate he had taken off a Lannister captain during Balon's first rebellion. Orkwood of Orkmont stood beside him. Behind them were Stonehand, Quellon Humble, and the Red Oarsman with his fiery hair in braids. Rafe the Shepherd too, and Rate of Lordsport, and Qarl the Thrall.
And the Crow's Eye, Euron Greyjoy.
He looks unchanged, Victarion thought. He looks the same as he did the day he laughed at me, and left. Euron had always been the most comely of Lord Quellon's sons, and the years had scarcely seemed to touch his beauty. His hair was still as black as a midnight sea, with never a whitecap to be seen, and his face was still smooth and pale beneath his neat dark beard. A black leather patch covered Euron's left eye, but his right was blue as a summer sky. His smiling eye, thought Victarion.
'Crow's Eye,' he said.
'King Crow's Eye, brother.' Euron smiled. There was something odd about his lips. They looked very dark in the lamplight, bruised and blue.
'We shall have no king but from the kingsmoot.' The Damphair stood. 'No godless man-'
'may sit the Seastone Chair, aye.' Euron glanced about the tent. 'As it happens I have oft sat upon the Seastone Chair of late. It raises no objections.' His smiling eye was glittering. 'I ask you, friends, who knows more of gods than me? Horse gods and fire gods, gods made of gold with gemstone eyes, gods carved of cedar wood, gods chiseled into mountains, gods of empty air… I know every god there is. I have seen their peoples garland them with flowers, and shed the blood of goats and bulls and children in their names. And I have heard their people's prayers. All over this wide world in half a hundred tongues, they pray the same. Cure my withered leg, make the maiden love me, grant me a healthy son. Save me, succor me, make me wealthy. .. protect me! Protect me from mine enemies, protect me from the darkness, protect me from the crabs inside my belly, from the horselords, from the slavers, from the sellswords at my door. Protect me from the Silence.' He laughed. 'Godless? Why, Aeron, I am the godliest man ever to raise sail! You serve one god, Damphair, but I have served ten thousand. From Ib to Asshai, when men see my sails, they pray.'
The priest was shaking, Victarion could see. He raised a boney finger. 'They pray to trees and golden idols and goat-headed abominations. False gods…'
'Just so,' said Euron, 'and for that sin I kill them all. I spill their blood upon the sea and sow their screaming women with my seed. Their little gods cannot stop me, so plainly they are false gods. I am more devout than even you, Aeron. Perhaps it should be you who kneels to me for blessing.'
The Red Oarsman laughed loudly at that, and the others took their lead from him.
'Fools,'said the priest, 'fools and thralls and blind men, that is what you are. Do you not see what stands before you?'
'A king,' said Quellon Humble.
The Damphair spat, and strode out into the night.
When he was gone, the Crow's Eye turned his smiling eye upon Victarion. 'Lord Captain, have you no greeting for a brother long away? Nor you, Asha? How fares your lady mother?'
'Poorly.' Asha's tone was clipped and cold. 'Some man made her a widow.'
Euron shrugged. 'I had heard the Storm God swept Balon to his death. Who is this man who slew him? Tell me his name, niece, so I might revenge myself on him.'
Asha got to her feet. 'You know his name as well as I. Three years you were gone from us, and yet Silence returns within a day of my lord father's death.'
'Do you accuse me?' Euron asked mildly.
'Should I?' The sharpness in Asha's voice made Victarion frown. It was dangerous to speak so to the Crow's Eye, even when his smiling eye was shining with amusement.
