Coercing Jorah

With their plans settled, Liu Qian headed straight for the sea-cave prison deep within Torturer's Deep.

The damp, chilly air reeked of mold and brine, and torches cast wavering shadows across the stone walls.

Several days had passed since Jorah Mormont's capture.

Although Liu Qian appeared to have brought over a thousand pirates under his command through last night's fierce battle, few were actually fit for any serious purpose.

Rollo commanded five hundred pirates.

Janice and Jelena had a thousand elite Dragon Spirit Guardians under their command, along with fifteen hundred newly surrendered pirates.

But Janice had devoted herself entirely to the difficulties of cultivating ghost grass, leaving almost the whole burden of command on Jelena's shoulders.

According to Jelena, those pirates were abysmal fighters, incapable of handling a tough battle.

Faced with the tangled chaos of the Stepstones and the powerful enemies that might await him, he urgently needed an instructor who truly knew how to forge a rabble into an army of steel.

The only candidate at hand was the prisoner behind these bars-Jorah Mormont.

As the Earl of Bear Island, Jorah Mormont had fought in the Battle of the Trident and the campaign to crush the Iron Islands rebellion, earning considerable distinction. During the capture of Pyke in particular, he had been the second man over the walls, behind only Thoros, the Red Priest from Myr. He undoubtedly possessed extensive combat experience.

Behind the iron bars, the flickering torchlight outlined a desolate, slumped figure, like a great bear stripped of its claws and trapped in a cage.

"Ser Jorah," Liu Qian said evenly, his voice unusually clear in the confined space. "Have these few days of rest left you feeling any better?"

Jorah Mormont jerked his head up, defiant anger and deep humiliation churning in his clouded eyes. "Who exactly are you? You have an eastern face, yet you know the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms inside out... And what have you done to my Lynesse?"

His voice was hoarse, strained with anxiety he could not suppress.

Liu Qian chuckled, a hint of amusement in his voice. "Don't be impatient, 'Lord' Mormont."

He deliberately stressed the mocking title. "Lady Mormont is enjoying our 'warm hospitality.' Please trust my character. I have always held the noble lineages of the Seven Kingdoms in the highest regard."

Except the Lannisters, he added coldly to himself.

That "lord" struck Jorah's face like a whip. His face darkened with fury, veins bulging across his forehead. "Boy! If you dare touch a hair on Lynesse's head, I swear..."

"Naturally," Liu Qian cut off his threat, his tone one of feigned sincerity. "I hold the sanctity of guest right close to my heart and would never dare defile it. If any harm befell Lady Lynesse, it would hurt me more than death itself. It's just..."

His tone shifted as he surveyed the crude, damp sea-cave prison with its musty smell. "This place is a pirate den in the Stepstones. It has none of those luxurious amusements that might bring a smile to your lady wife's face. She will have to bear with it for now. Surely you, ser, can best appreciate my 'difficulties'?"

His words all but dripped with mockery.

Jorah's heart sank, and bitterness spread through his throat like bile.

How could he fail to hear what Liu Qian was implying?

Several days in prison had given him a clearer understanding of his former self.

Lynesse's arrogant, extravagant nature, and his own endless indulgence of her, had been the source of all his suffering.

To let her enjoy the luxuries of Oldtown even on cold, barren Bear Island, he had exhausted the island's already meager savings and squeezed his subjects dry, until he had finally been driven to take the desperate risk of selling slaves...

He closed his eyes in anguish. Only after a moment did he force his roiling emotions down and look at Liu Qian again.

Only then did he truly notice how young the man before him was, and the depth of calculation that belied his age.

"That sword at your waist..." Jorah's gaze settled on Liu Qian's sword, appraising it with a warrior's instinct. "Is it Valyrian steel?"

With a clear ring like a dragon's cry, the longsword slid from its sheath.

A cold gleam instantly filled the cell, and the ripples flowing along the blade shimmered mysteriously in the torchlight.

Jorah held his breath.

"How did you come by a Valyrian steel sword of such quality?" Jorah's brows knotted, and the young easterner before him seemed more mysterious than ever.

"Is this sword really so fine?" An inscrutable smile curved Liu Qian's lips. "What if I told you that the red copper armor worn by the soldiers who fought the pirates that day, and the steel swords in their hands, were all forged from Valyrian steel?"

Jorah's pupils abruptly contracted.

During the sea battle that day, the silent warriors' unusually strong armor with its distinctive sheen, and their exceptionally sharp weapons, had shocked him.

He instinctively rejected the absurd claim. "Impossible. How could there be so much Valyrian steel in this world? Unless you plundered the Valyrian Ruins."

Jorah had no idea that he had stumbled upon the truth.

"Ser Jorah," Liu Qian abruptly changed the subject, his voice carrying a strange, penetrating force. "Have you ever experienced a change that overturned your entire life? I don't mean your slave trading being exposed, or your imprisonment here. I mean waking one day to find yourself in an utterly unfamiliar world, governed by entirely different rules."

Jorah froze, then shook his head in bewilderment.

"Then your experiences have been merely a matter of 'chance.'" Liu Qian's smile was meaningful. "This world is far beyond your imagining..." He spoke as though expounding a universal truth.

"But what does that have to do with Valyrian steel..." Jorah pressed eagerly.

"Enough idle talk."

With a turn of his wrist, Liu Qian slid the longsword precisely into its sheath, the crisp movement cutting Jorah short.

"It's time to discuss business, ser. As my prisoner, you must already have wondered-why did I capture you? Why did I spare your life?"

Jorah fell silent for a moment, then said grimly, "For ransom, of course. That's all there is to a pirate's schemes."

Liu Qian nearly laughed aloud. Restraining himself, he shook his head. "Completely wrong. Apart from black bears and frozen soil, what does your Bear Island have that I could possibly want? What I want..."

He stared into Jorah's eyes and enunciated each word. "Is for you to serve me."

Jorah's expression changed sharply, as though he had suffered an enormous insult. He sneered, "You would have a knight anointed with the sacred oils of the Seven serve a foreigner of unknown origins? If I truly betrayed my knightly vows like that, there would be no need for Eddard Star-

k to execute me with his sword, Ice. My father would cleave me in two himself with our ancestral sword, Longclaw."

"Don't you even want to hear what I need you to do?" Liu Qian asked calmly.

"Whatever you want me to do, you might as well kill me now," Jorah said flatly.

The mildness vanished from Liu Qian's face in an instant, replaced by icy coldness. "You should have said so earlier. Then I wouldn't have needed to be quite so 'courteous' to Lady Lynesse."

"If you lay a finger on Lynesse, I'll kill you!" Like an enraged caged beast, Jorah lunged at the bars, his eyes bloodshot and his clenched fists cracking.

Liu Qian laughed inwardly. He had known it: Jorah's weakness was women.

"Tsk, tsk." He shook his head slightly, his tone amused. "Ser Jorah, your love for Lady Lynesse would move the gods. Why don't we make a bargain?"

He stepped forward, his voice low but filled with unquestionable force through the iron bars. "I pledge on my honor that Lady Lynesse will remain perfectly safe and comfortable here, so long as she behaves herself. In return, you will serve me as a hired knight. I'll also pay you generously, so you can provide for your wife in a manner befitting her station. After all..."

He paused deliberately, his gaze piercing Jorah's heart like an icicle. "You wouldn't want your wife-the noble Lady Lynesse Hightower-to suffer even the slightest 'hardship' in this pirate den, would you?"

Liu Qian's words sounded like a proposal, but even more like a threat.

Jorah's face twisted with extreme rage and humiliation, veins throbbing at his temples.

Words of refusal surged to his lips, only to be strangled by an invisible hand.

Lynesse's frightened, tearful face, and the terrible things she might suffer in this savage place-countless images churned through his mind.

He glared fiercely at Liu Qian, his chest heaving as though he were struggling against invisible shackles.

Only the crackle of the torches and his labored breathing remained in the prison.

At last, as though he had exhausted every ounce of strength, Jorah bowed his head in defeat and let out a sigh as heavy as a boulder crashing to the ground. "As long as you can guarantee Lynesse's safety... I... will serve you."

Each word seemed forced through clenched teeth, laden with resentment and bitterness.

"A wise choice." That smile of complete control returned to Liu Qian's face, and he clapped his hands lightly. "Rest assured, I keep my word. Provided, of course, that the other party doesn't break our agreement first."

Jorah heard the warning concealed in his words perfectly clearly.

"I need you to train an army for me. A real army, fit for conquest." Liu Qian turned to the matter at hand, his tone serious. "You've seen it yourself. My men took this place and captured many prisoners. But how to forge this rabble of pirates into a useful blade, how to command them in battle... I need your experience and ability."

Jorah abruptly raised his head, his eyes flashing with shock and a barely perceptible hint of wariness. "Train an army? What are you planning? To annex the entire Stepstones? The land here is as barren as a bone picked clean by dogs. It's not worth ruling. Or..."

His piercing gaze seemed to bore through Liu Qian. "Do you intend to follow the example of those 'Ninepenny Kings,' using this place as a springboard to lay hands on Westeros and fulfill some greater ambition?"

With his fine noble education, he had instantly grasped something.

Liu Qian shook his head, a contemptuous smile curving his lips. "The Ninepenny Kings? Nothing but a joke mocked by history."

He said no more and turned toward the prison door, the dim light stretching his retreating shadow.

"What exactly are you planning?" Jorah demanded behind him, unwilling to let the matter drop.

Liu Qian did not pause. He left only a single sentence echoing in the damp air:

"You'll find out in time."

The heavy prison door slowly closed, locking Jorah Mormont's face, etched with humiliation, anger, and worry, back amid the flickering torchlight and deep darkness.