The hall was quiet for a moment, and then burst into laughter louder than ever before.
"Fa" Hal felt uneasy, but forced himself to laugh so hard, "Hahahaha, he said the longship is gone."
"Tristan!! How much did you drink, you bastard! Did you drink all the Trident river!!!"
Tristan shook his head silently, his face completely silent. "It's true, Bloody Hair Hal."
The smile on Dagmer's face disappeared. He slowly put down the leg of lamb in his hand, leaned forward, and locked his eyes firmly on Tristan:
"Say it again!"
Tristan gritted his teeth and spoke word by word, "He is the knight of Riverlands!"
"At midnight, they raided us! There was fire everywhere! Everywhere!"
He described the raid incoherently, the roar of torches and horns blaring from the darkness at the same time, the entire fleet being ignited by flames, how the knights rode their horses into the chaotic crowd, chasing them with lances and swords like harvesting wheat.
"Our people didn't have time to react! The boats were rushing! They were so powerful that the river turned red!"
"I wanted to put out the fire! But there was thick smoke and screams everywhere! I... I... was knocked into the river by a knight's horse"'
Dagmer listened quietly, the muscles on his face did not move, but the ferocious cleft in his jaw became more and more terrifying, indicating that his mood was not peaceful. When Tristan finished speaking.
He spoke slowly, his voice was terrifyingly calm. "The place you mentioned is the Bay of Serpents?"
Tristan nodded. "Yes... Captain...
, Dagmer's voice became even lower. "That's the parking spot I personally selected!"
"Except for water snakes, you can't even find any fish in that damn place. Even if they turn Trident upside down, they won't be able to find it anywhere! Find our boat!!"
He stood up and walked towards Tristan step by step. His heavy boots stepped on the mud, making a suppressed sound. The laughter of Ironborn had long since stopped. Everyone held their breath and looked at their commander, walking step by step in front of Tristan. The huge figure completely enveloped the latter.
Dagmer said one word at a time, "You are lying!!"
"This is impossible!!!"
He suddenly reached out his hand, grabbed Tristan's collar, and lifted him up.
Tristan lifted his feet off the ground and struggled desperately. His face turned red from holding it in. In desperation, he used all his strength to shout his final roar, and sprayed spittle all over Dagmer's face:
"I... I swear to Drowned God!"
"Every word I say is true! If there is even half a lie, may my soul sink to the bottom of the sea forever and be eaten by sea monsters!"
These words were like a bolt of lightning, splitting the solid air in the camp. The faces of all Ironborn changed. The ridicule and suspicion instantly faded from their faces, replaced by a kind of primitive and heartfelt panic.
The oath made to Drowned God is supreme in Iron Islands, and no one dares to make fun of his own soul.
Dagmer grabbed Tristan's hand and froze, this is impossible! How is this possible! This is all too weird! The longship is the source of their confidence! As long as the longship is still there! They are the masters of this land! They can come and go as they please! The ship is the foundation for them to control Riverlands!
An icy chill shot straight from the soles of Dagmer's feet to Tianling Gai. He thought that in his whole life of fighting, he had never encountered such an unreasonable thing, and had never experienced such a bone-deep cold. Everything about this cavalry was so wrong. How on earth did they do all this? They seemed to be able to predict all their movements.
He seemed to be able to see someone weaving a large invisible net, then slowly tightening it, and they were the fish in the net.
Dagmer bent down fiercely and let go of his hand. Tristan fell to the ground like a puddle of mud. He coughed violently, and a fishy-sweet liquid surged into his throat, blocking all his words.
Under the horrified gazes of all the captains, a mouthful of crimson blood spattered from the mouth of "Cleftjaw" Dagmer. His eyes turned white and his body fell straight backwards. His heavy body hit the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust.
There was a deathly silence in the camp.
It seems the feast is over.
Riverlands's road is always so muddy. The horses' hooves make a squeaking sound when they step on it. Each step brings out mud and the smell of putrid earth.
Maron. Greyjoy felt that this smell was just like his mood at the moment, which was irritable, depressed, and almost moldy. The war horse he had snatched from the Riverlands people snorted, and he impatiently kicked the horse's belly with his heel.
Young Maron. Greyjoy's voice was so sad and angry. "Serve uncle Victarion as a messenger and reply to Pyke! This is my war?!"
The ship's mate next to him, Harlon, whom his father sent to follow him, remained silent. He just silently tore off a piece of dried meat, put it into his mouth and chewed it hard.
Seeing that the first mate Harlon assigned to him by his father did not respond to him or say anything to comfort him, Maron felt even more sad and angry, and his thoughts and fantasies flew back to Pyke.
Maron. Greyjoy seems to have been able to imagine the hustle and bustle in the banquet hall. His father Balon's eyes will look at Roderick. He will be full of pride, but that pride will never be given to him even a little bit.
People will raise their wine glasses high and shout Roderick's name and his title over and over again! Hammer of the Kraken!! will compose songs for him that will be passed down from generation to generation!!!
The increasingly unfair Maron. Greyjoy roared loudly at the more than fifty tired Ironborn behind him, "Roderick won the glory with swords and axes!"
"And me? I only win the ass mud from the horse's hooves!!!"
Some young Ironborn made a few dry echoes. They were also tired of following little brats like Maron. Greyjoy, doing unprofitable errands. Harlon remained silent, as if the bacon jerky in his mouth was more chewy than the complaints of Iron Islands's second son.
At this moment, Maron. Greyjoy looked over a low hill. In the distance, a thin wisp of smoke rose straight from the horizon. It was a small village.
Maron. Greyjoy sighed, and an idea quickly formed in his mind. He couldn't just go back empty-handed, and he couldn't show up at his brother's celebration banquet like a lost dog after the war was won. Although no matter what he did at this moment, he could no longer match his brother's achievements.
But he needs trophies and achievements, even if they are just a little bit trivial, so that he will not exist in Ironborn's mouth like a clown.
After thinking about this, he tightened the reins fiercely and the team stopped. "We are not going back to the port directly!!"
"Before going home! Let's collect some Iron Price!!"
Maron dismounted, jumped onto a towering rock, faced his crew, and imitated his father's posture when he made a speech when he was king.
"Brothers! We are Ironborn! We are the people of Drowned God!"
"What is our Old Way? It is looting! It is conquest!"
He pointed with his finger in the direction of the wisp of smoke, and his voice became louder and louder.
"There are cowardly Greenlanders out there! There are their women! Wine and gold and silver! Let's take what's ours!"
"Follow me! My team of Maron. Greyjoy! We are definitely not a bunch of cowards who can only run errands!"
The young Ironborns were incited. They tapped their weapons on their shields, making chaotic and excited sounds.
But at this time, Harlon came over, and the scar on his face twitched under the gloomy sky. "Master Maron, now is not the time."
Maron's smile froze on his face, but Harlon ignored his displeasure and continued to speak.
"Recently there is a cavalry unit of Riverlands operating in West Riverlands, with about two hundred people."
"Moreover, their information is accurate and they are as elusive as ghosts. They can always accurately find small groups like us."
Maron felt that his authority had been challenged, and his anger surged up. He pointed at Harlon's nose and spoke mockingly:
"Ha! Have your guts been softened by the greenery?!"
"A team like ours! There are not only 80s but also 50s in the entire West Riverlands! Why are they targeting us? Do we have the name Greyjoy engraved on our foreheads?"
"Besides! We are walking on a lonely road! Could it be that their scouts are clairvoyant?!"
He jumped down from the rock, walked straight to Harlon, and poked the opponent's hard breastplate with his fingers.
"I am the captain! You either obey! Or go back to my father!!!"
Harlon looked at Maron's face that was flushed with excitement, sighed, took a step back slowly, lowered his head, silently expressing his submission.
The team set off on the road again, heading toward the wisp of smoke. The enthusiasm that had just been stirred up quickly boiled over. The Ironborns started talking excitedly, discussing how much wine and beautiful women there were in the village, and who would come first.
As the atmosphere in the team gradually became more and more heated, Harlon suddenly stopped. He took off the wine bag from his waist, and instead of taking a sip, he raised his head and drank the remaining wine in one gulp.
The wine flowed down his messy beard and soaked his collar, but he didn't care. After drinking, he stood up straight and no longer looked at the road ahead, but at the horizon to the side.
Harlon wiped his mouth, let out a sigh of satisfaction and regret, placed his hand firmly on the hilt of the sword at his waist, slowly pulled out his sword, and whispered to himself:
"What a pity.
It looks like this is my last bite."
Maron heard the movement behind him. He turned around sharply and saw Harlon drawing his sword. He was furious, what is this bastard doing!
The moment he opened his mouth to curse, he felt something strange, not something he heard, but something he felt.
An extremely slight vibration came from deep in the soil, and a few pebbles at his feet were beating slightly.
He was stunned, and the anger on his face instantly solidified. Having lived on a shaking deck all year round, he felt extremely unfamiliar and frightened by the vibrations coming from the earth. The vibrations became stronger and stronger, and then, a deep sound penetrated his ears, like distant thunder.
All Ironborn stopped and looked in horror in the direction where Harlon had been looking.
On the ridge of gently rolling hills in the distance, a black spot appeared, followed immediately by the second and third black spots that quickly connected in a line, like a black tide, instantly flowing over the ridge.
A bone-chilling chill rushed from the soles of Maron's feet to the top of his head. His blood seemed to freeze in an instant, and his brain went blank. All the previous heroic words and ambitions had completely disappeared from his mind.
He muttered words in his mouth, and his voice was so hoarse that it didn't sound like his own, "It's really... damn..."
Before he finished speaking, a loud horn pierced the sky.
The black tide began to accelerate.