Chapter 356: The "Northern Navy"
Egger actually preferred the idea of recasting Valyrian steel into bullets, bomb fragments, or submunitions... things of that nature. However, the technology was not yet mature, and the enemy would certainly not grant him sufficient time to research and perfect such methods.
Furthermore, Valyrian steel's ability to kill White Walkers relied on the fire-attribute magic within it. If it were cast into N amount of pieces, the magic contained in each piece would naturally be reduced to 1/N of the original. Egger had reason to believe that White Walkers varied in strength; the idea that a speck of dragonsteel the size of a needle could insta-kill the Night King sounded unreliable. Each Lightbringer had to maintain a minimum size to ensure it remained lethal even against the Night King.
Thus, arrows were the safest choice for the time being.
"Harvey, go and fetch the Nightfort's ravenry master to my room. I have orders to give."
Having invoked the name of a divine revelation, Melisandre finally ceased her opposition to Egger's decision. After telling her not to disturb Bran immediately, Egger parted ways with her and returned to his room, where he soon received the acting Maester of the Nightfort. The Citadel had only been willing to send one official Maester to the Night's Watch, and he was still on the road. With twenty fortresses under his command now equipped with raven nests, communication between them could not wait.
Egger sent Bran Stark's application to join the Night's Watch to Winterfell. Simultaneously, he ordered the King's Landing branch of the Night's Watch Industry to find and hire that famous smith in the capital who knew how to recast Valyrian steel.
Issuing those two orders required little thought, but the next one demanded more effort: though the Gift was currently well-populated, those who could be called soldiers were few. Militias formed from Wildlings did not receive full military pay, and most were unwilling to leave their families or tribes for extended military missions. Egger reviewed the rosters several times, planning and calculating carefully before selecting two of the larger and more compliant tribes. Providing compensation, he ordered them to migrate as a whole toward Westwatch-by-the-Bridge and the Shadow Tower. This increased the personnel on the Gorge defensive line to five thousand—a targeted arrangement made after learning of the enemy's latest movements from Bran.
"Don't leave yet. There are additional instructions for Denys Mallister." After a moment of hesitation, Egger finally decided to add one last order.
To minimize losses, he had long ago convinced Commander Mormont to halt patrols beyond the Wall. But now that the enemy was right under their noses, it would be pedantic to prioritize the lives of a few scouts while leaving everyone else in the dangerous position of being blind to the battlefield conditions.
It was time for some necessary risks.
"Order the garrison at Westwatch to allow a controlled opening of the Bridge of Skulls. When weather conditions are favorable, dispatch patrols across the bridge to conduct reconnaissance as deep as possible into the weirwood forests north of the Gorge. They are to depart and return on the same day. The specific depth of the reconnaissance is at the patrol's discretion, with safety as the priority. Most importantly: ensure the bridge can be cut immediately if anything happens!"
The latest instructions from the 998th Lord Commander were carried swiftly by raven to Queenscrown and the Shadow Tower, where they were processed and taken by fast riders to their specific destinations.
Large-scale personnel movements began in a hurried but orderly fashion. After a year of the Wall being closed, the rangers of the Shadow Tower under Qhorin Halfhand were finally about to cross the Bridge of Skulls and begin their long-awaited patrols beyond the Wall.
Notable changes were not limited to the land. While the Gift and the length of the Wall were in a frenzy of activity, the North's maritime conflict centered on Westwatch-by-the-Bridge also broke out in the Bay of Ice for the first time since Aegon's Conquest.
A cold sea breeze laden with heavy moisture lashed against the sailors of the Northern Navy, reborn after centuries. The warship Direwolf set sail once again.
Shipbuilding, after all, was not high-tech. With the full support of personnel and materials from White Harbor and Bear Island, the first warship from the Westwatch shipyard had successfully launched shortly after the fortress was completed, expedited by master craftsmen. It was soon fully crewed.
The sailors and captains came from White Harbor and Bear Island—the only places in the North where people were familiar with ships and the sea. The fighting men were a combined force of Northern soldiers and Night's Watch brothers who did not suffer from seasickness. In principle, the ships built at Westwatch belonged to the Northern Navy, and the personnel provided by the Gift were hired contractors. However, in gratitude for Egger providing the site, and considering the threat the White Walkers posed to the Seven Kingdoms... when necessary, the ships could be lent to the Night's Watch to assist in the defense of the Wall.
The Direwolf was a single-masted sailing ship nearly a hundred feet long with two decks, a relatively small type among warships. Compared to its cousins elsewhere in Westeros, it featured subtle modifications: the height of the fore and aft castles was lowered as much as possible to reduce the impact of the Bay of Ice's strong winds. Additional masts and sails on the forecastle and sterncastle were abandoned in favor of a creative addition: a wooden turntable installed at the center top, upon which a small torsion catapult was mounted. This gave the ship the ability to attack enemies approaching from any direction. By carrying fewer full-time rowers, it could accommodate more soldiers... sacrificing some maneuverability for increased stability, combat power, and firepower.
The Iron Islands wouldn't grow legs and run away. The Northerners didn't intend to enter a shipbuilding race with the Ironborn to contest command of the Sunset Sea. Robb Stark's hope was to land on the enemy's home turf and, like King Robert and his father during the Greyjoy Rebellion, use land superiority to strike at the root of the Ironborn threat.
The Iron Islands were small and sparsely populated with no strategic depth; once a landing was achieved, they would have little power to resist. Robb's plan was highly feasible... with different goals in mind, speed and maneuverability were naturally given a lower priority in ship design.
Compared to counterweight trebuchets, torsion catapults had the advantage of being lighter and taking up less space, though they were slightly less efficient and durable. However, given that the ammunition they fired did not rely on weight or speed for its lethality, they were sufficient. Aside from minor tweaks and innovations, this type of warship possessed little technology beyond its era. Its only obvious advantage was its armament: highly efficient incendiary bombs made from improved wildfire.
The technology was mature and labor was plentiful. Currently, the speed of shipbuilding was determined by the pace of finding, collecting, and processing qualified timber from across the North and the Gift and transporting it to the shipyard. As the first and currently only warship of the Northern West Coast Fleet, the Direwolf had only truly set sail twice. The first was a sea trial to verify performance; the second was a symbolic reconnaissance northward along the coast to allow the crew to build rapport. Since then, it had remained in port, awaiting the launch and commissioning of sister ships.
Today was the ship's third voyage and its first true mission: after successfully evading Ironborn reconnaissance for months, Westwatch—having successfully built its fortress and operationalized its shipyard—had finally been discovered by the enemy.
Establishing the naval port within the northernmost territory of the Night's Watch on the west coast served more than just the purpose of hiding and preventing the enemy from destroying it before it was defensible. It also effectively lowered the cost of war, freeing up large numbers of Northern elite soldiers to protect towns and keeps in the Wolfswood, the Rills, and the Barrowlands, and even to assist allies in the Riverlands.
It would have been ideal to maintain this status quo quietly until the fleet was built for a counter-offensive. However, since the initial goals had been largely achieved, the completed walls, bastions, and the large garrison of Gift troops allowed the defenders to face the threat of the Iron Fleet with confidence.
Of course, being confident in meeting a threat is one thing; allowing enemy warships to freely demonstrate and scout the keep and shipyard within sight of the port is quite another. Logistically, as a stronghold of the neutral Night's Watch, Westwatch should not have initiated an attack before the Ironborn did. In reality, the fact that the Night's Watch and the North were in the same pair of trousers was recognized throughout the Seven Kingdoms; pretending to be innocent while waiting for the enemy to strike was pointless.
For this reason, the newly appointed commander of the Northern Navy—Maege Mormont—ordered the fleet's sole warship to put to sea and drive away two Iron Islands vessels that had been lingering in sight.
Though called enemy warships, they were actually just two common Ironborn longships. Large and boat-like, they were long, narrow, and light, built specifically for speed and flexibility. Ordinarily, they could only handle simple tasks like transporting Ironborn for coastal raids or swarming an enemy vessel to board it through sheer numbers.
Although the Direwolf was only a single-masted sailing ship, it was certainly not something two longships could handle. This was the direct reason Lady Mormont dared to command the mission in person, taking the ship out alone to drive them off.
The bow cut through the chilly waters of the Bay of Ice as the Direwolf plowed through the waves toward the two longships. Unsurprisingly, the Ironborn on both ships did not hesitate; they had their rowers turn about, swapping bow for stern in an instant, and rowed toward the open sea.
The incendiary bombs were not heavy; even a light catapult could easily hurl them three or four hundred meters. However, land tests showed these weapons were only accurate within two hundred meters, and that range narrowed further when accounting for wind and waves. An agile rowing vessel like an Ironborn longship, if it reached full speed, could leave the Direwolf far behind within ten minutes. Although wildfire bombs were plentiful, they couldn't be wasted recklessly. The Northern Navy never intended to catch or sink the enemy; they only sought to drive them out of sight of Westwatch so the enemy could not scout or provoke them at will. The opponent might use their mobility advantage to harass them back and forth, but considering longships were small and couldn't carry much in the way of supplies, Westwatch—thousands of miles from the Iron Islands—was not afraid of psychological warfare.
However, the two longships did not flee at full speed. Instead, they moved at a crawl, alternating between fast and slow, keeping the Direwolf dangling just at the edge of their range.
After following for a moment, the navigator grew wary. He picked up the Myrish lens—the only one on the ship and one of the few in all of Westwatch—and peered carefully through the sea mist ahead.
After a long while, he lowered the lens and shouted: "Lady Mormont, there are ship silhouettes in the mist ahead. It might be a trap. Do you wish to see?"
Maege Mormont was a grey-haired woman, short of stature but strong. She had become the head of Bear Island after Jeor Mormont's son, Jorah, fled overseas in disgrace, earning prestige and respect by restoring family honor and cleaning up the mess her nephew left behind. Because most members of House Manderly—the other house contributing to the naval port—were too corpulent for easy movement, she had been chosen as the commander of the Northern Navy and captain of its first ship.
The armored commander walked to the bow clutching a spiked mace. She shook her head, declining the telescope offered by the first mate. "My eyes aren't what they used to be, and we've chased them far enough. Slow down, turn about, and return to Westwatch."
The order was swiftly passed to the crew. The sailing ship, under the dual influence of the rudder and a few oars, slowed down and turned its heading. With rhythmic shouts, they began the windward return to port.
The response to the Direwolf's cautious choice was the enemy longships instantly braking and turning back in pursuit, accompanied by the piercing sound of horns blown by the Ironborn sailors.
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