They climbed the oak walkways along the cliffs of Fjord and reached the cliff top above Torturer's Deep.
Liu Qian stood on high ground, looking down at this marvel sculpted by nature.
The entrance was a narrow, twisting cleft hundreds of feet high. Its channel barely allowed a single ship through, flanked by slick, sheer walls of black rock riddled with holes and cracks.
After a perilous, almost right-angled turn to the left through the inlet, the view suddenly opened up.
An enormous, fan-shaped natural harbor lay beneath the vertical rock walls, like a hollow gouged out by a giant hammer.
The harbor waters were relatively open and calm. All the vessels were either tied to crude wooden piers or anchored directly in the harbor, including the three larger warships and dozen or so rowing boats Crab Claw had left behind.
Yet even with nearly twenty vessels, only a small patch of the water was occupied. At a glance, the entire harbor could hold at least a hundred ships.
"This is a perfect natural haven," Liu Qian could not help remarking.
Rollo pointed at the harbor and explained proudly, "My lord, you're exactly right. Not only is the harbor a natural formation, but the surrounding cliffs are full of natural sea caves as well. People can live in them, and they can store grain and weapons."
The two walked toward the cliff tops above the sea caves, then followed another walkway down to the bottom.
The harbor's shoreline was not a beach, but an enormous shelf eroded by the sea at the foot of the sheer cliffs, along with a series of sea caves of varying sizes.
These caves were the pirates' lairs.
Living quarters, storerooms, prisons, and even crude forges lay hidden deep within them.
All manner of clutter, fishing nets, and ship-repair materials were piled at the cave entrances. Smoke had blackened the rock walls.
Last night's fighting had left the walkways suspended along the cliffs and some of the wooden huts intact. Most of the caves extending deep into the rock had also retained their basic structure.
Now figures moved about outside the caves. Under the cold watch of the Dragon Spirit Guardians, the surrendered pirates were clearing the wreckage of the battle.
The roar of waves crashing against the cliffs echoed endlessly through the sea-carved abyss, amplified by the enormous natural chamber.
Liu Qian led Rollo into the heart of Crab Claw's domain, the enormous sea cave that served as his "hall."
The moment they stepped inside, a briny reek hit them.
The sheer breadth of the cavern was staggering. Their footsteps on the hard ground actually raised echoes.
Blazing torches lined the rock walls, lighting every jagged corner as brightly as day.
The floor was uneven, scored with countless diagonal grooves of varying depths by some heavy, blunt instrument.
Looking up, they saw stalactites of all shapes hanging from the lofty vault. Cold droplets gathered and fell from time to time, producing a distinct "drip... drip..." in the empty cavern.
Most striking of all was an enormous map carved directly into the rock wall.
Its lines were rough yet precise, covering a broad expanse of stone.
Countless shapes of every size and form dotted its surface.
Rollo Uhoris said respectfully, "My lord, those are the islands, reefs, and sandbanks of the Stepstones and the surrounding seas. Some important points are even marked with charred wood or dyed shells. It took Crab Claw more than ten years to bring it to this level of detail."
Liu Qian's gaze swept over the carved sea chart. "Where are we?"
"Here, my lord." Rollo immediately stepped forward and placed his finger precisely on a spot in the map's southeastern corner.
A shape surrounded by a dense ring of short lines was carved there, with a crooked skull etched beside it.
"This is Torturer's Deep. Look, a ring of natural reefs surrounds it like a moat. Large warships have trouble approaching." Rollo traced a circle on the map, then pointed to several larger shapes. "The large islands around us are all quite far away. But here..."
His finger moved to the eastern edge of the map, near a protrusion at the southwestern corner of Essos. "We're not too far from the Disputed Lands in Essos..."
Liu Qian's gaze did not linger there. Instead, it shifted toward the northwest of the map.
Two shapes there were several times larger than the other islands, like a pair of enormous gates.
"What about these two?"
"Those are Bloodstone Island and Grey Gallows Island." A trace of awe entered Rollo's voice. "They're the two largest islands in the Stepstones, one to the north and one to the south. Like a pair of fangs, they clamp down on the vital passage between Dorne and the Stepstones. Almost every ship heading from the Dornish coast into the Narrow Sea or the Summer Sea has to pass right under their noses."
He seemed to catch some hint of intent in Liu Qian's intent gaze. After a moment's hesitation, he added, "But my lord, that's the territory of Salladhor Saan, the 'Prince of the Narrow Sea.' His fleet has more than twenty triremes, far larger than rowing boats like ours, along with plenty of merchant sailing ships, flatboats, whalers, and swift boats. His influence in those waters is formidable."
"Salladhor Saan?" Liu Qian was no stranger to the name.
He came from a pirate dynasty in Lys and had backed Stannis during the War of the Five Kings. But after Stannis went north to the Wall, the long-overdue payment for his services had gradually eroded his faith in him. While taking Davos, the Onion Knight, to White Harbor, he had abandoned him and returned to the Stepstones to resume his pirate trade.
"Yes, my lord. He comes from the Saan family of Lys. That family has built its power on piracy and smuggling for hundreds of years. They're immensely powerful, and everyone in the Stepstones knows them."
Rollo's tone was full of apprehension toward this overlord of the seas.
Liu Qian nodded slightly, his fingers unconsciously tapping the cold stone map. "Tell me, aside from this 'prince,' what other powers of note are there in the Stepstones?"
Rollo did not dare hesitate. He began pointing out places on the map with the ease of someone reciting a familiar inventory.
He pointed to an island near the center of the map shaped like a shattered jaw:
"This is Cleftjaw Island. A crazed pirate chief called Kago, the 'Shipbreaker,' holds it. The man's completely mad, and all his men are desperate outlaws. His favorite trick is to ram merchant ships straight to the bottom, then fish things out of the wreckage. That's how he earned his nickname. His lair is Cleftjaw Cave on the island, another natural sea cave that's easy to defend and hard to attack."
He studied the map again, then pointed to an area near its center covered in densely clustered dots:
"This is Weeping Reef Island. It's the territory of Mara, the 'Salt Widow.' She's a ruthless woman. They say her husband and all her brothers died at sea, and she gathered their surviving men through sheer ferocity. She's skilled at laying ambushes, using the strange, complicated currents and clusters of reefs around Weeping Reef Island
"to attack from hiding. Few ships she sets her sights on ever escape."
Then Rollo pointed to an island in the northern part of the map shaped like a broken spear:
"This is Broken Spear Island. There's a black market in a village called 'Spearshaft.' Officially, it's a free port where smugglers gather, run by a group of merchants. But everyone knows Tyrosh, one of the nine Free Cities, stands behind it. It's the largest place in the Stepstones for fencing stolen goods and taking on supplies. Weapons, slaves, spices, contraband... if you have the money, there's nothing you can't buy. Its defenses are strong. They say regular Tyroshi troops are stationed there disguised as sellswords."
Liu Qian rubbed his chin, his thoughtful gaze sweeping over the powers marked on the map.
His mind raced as he considered how to break into this fragmented, chaotic sea and bring this "web of pirates" under his control.
Seeing Liu Qian fall silent, Rollo assumed his new master was worried that the other powers might covet the Torturer's Deep he had just acquired. He hastened to reassure him. "My lord, there's no need to worry. The Stepstones have always been like this. Today you rob me, tomorrow I kill you. Lairs change hands all the time."
He pointed to the ring of reefs on the map and continued, "Torturer's Deep is easy to defend, hard to attack, and out of the way. Unless they have a bitter grudge or stand to gain a fortune, those fellows won't come all this way just to crack a tough nut. Their main concern is still plundering passing merchant ships. That's where the endless supply of gold lies."
Liu Qian smiled and shook his head.
He looked at Rollo with piercing eyes, and that smile made Rollo's heart tighten for no reason he could name.
"I'm not worried about them attacking me." Liu Qian drew a circle on the map with his finger, encompassing Bloodstone Island, Grey Gallows Island, Cleftjaw Island, Weeping Reef Island, Broken Spear Island... and even places farther away. "I'm wondering which one I should start with when the time comes to wipe them all out."
Before you continue