This chapter was edited by Gdiusx.

  26th day of the 7th Moon.

  Onboard the Silver Lady.

  “How are you holding up, son?”

  “Well enough.”

  Percy hummed as he y on a hammock and gazed at the stars. He was never one for astronomy, but he could still instinctively recognize the consteltions whenever he was out at sea.

  That was back on Earth, for here, he could not recognize any of the foreign celestial bodies in the skies. They did not have Aqui or Centaurus or the more recent Zo? the Huntress. From what he remembered from Sansa’s study sessions and the navigation maps he went over, that cluster of stars was known as the Galley. It looked nothing like a boat and more of Dorito if you asked him, but it was an important navigation mark for those sailing the Narrow Sea.

  Percy couldn’t imagine how difficult it was for regur mortals to navigate by the stars, for even with his reduced navigation powers, he could easily tell the cardinal directions and sense the sea for miles away.

  “I know something is bothering you, Percy. You can talk to me about it.”

  A sigh rolled off his tongue as he closed his eyes and found himself on the rocky isnd in his mind. The sea was still rough, and the sky overcast, but it was no longer stormy, and he could not sense the eldritch beings that his father warned. Poseidon smiled from his seat on the edge of the cliff, looking healthier and five years younger than before as he held his fishing rod. Percy plopped down next to him with a groan.

  “So, having girl problems?”

  “Huh?”

  The demigod looked in confusion as his father burst out ughing. “It’s been three weeks since the girl began her clumsy attempt at courting. She wants you, my boy. You know that, right?”

  “Naturally, but I don't think it would work out.”

  “How come? She's your age, beautiful, and intelligent. While she has a mean streak, the princess has shown she is capable of kindness and compassion. Any man would be ecstatic to have such a woman by his side.”

  “Yeah, but…”

  Poseidon pced his fishing rod on the ground and turned to him fully. “What is it, Percy? What burdens your mind, my son?”

  “…You never mentioned how I could return.”

  His father's face fell, and he looked like a tired old man with sad eyes again. “You already know why, Percy.”

  “We can't go back, huh?” The words were like poison upon his tongue. He had suspected it would be the case for some time but didn’t dare voice it out, for it would make it real.

  And judging by his father’s sad face, it was real. Percy was not going home.

  “Indeed, we cannot. Believe me, my son, I've spent the past few weeks searching for a way back to no avail.” The demigod just hid his face in his hands, trying to disappear.

  “Are you sure?” Percy croaked out. “Nothing at all?”

  “Sadly, yes. I want to return myself. The things I’ve learned here could greatly help my main self… but as,” Poseidon’s words broke his heart. He would never get to see his mother, Grover, Chiron, Rachel, Annabeth, Nico, or even the Stoll twins. Percy expected this, yet the blow was still hard, and tears began pooling in his eyes as his father’s hand patted his shoulder. “Was that holding you back from reciprocating the girl's advances?”

  “Yeah.” His voice was hoarse as he wiped away tears. All the crying in the world wouldn’t help him, “It would be a shitty move to give her hope, then abandon her when the chance to go home appeared.”

  “So, is there anything stopping you now?” Poseidon prodded again.

  “Dunno?” Percy picked up a ft pebble and hurled it into the sea. To his chagrin, it skipped only thrice.

  His father chuckled. “Are you asking me, or are you telling me?”

  “I have no idea what to do with a girl, alright?”

  “Not knowing has never stopped you from learning before,” Poseidon clicked his tongue. “Especially when you wanted it. Do you like the girl or not?”

  “Well, yeah,” Percy shrugged. “She’s pretty hot, and smart. I like the fire in her. But I don’t think a princess is exactly looking for a boyfriend.”

  The demigod stood and stretched, feeling a weight removed from his shoulders. Saying the words was liberating in an odd way. He liked Sansa Stark, and the words sounded right in his mind. Percy was never one for lying to himself.

  Poseidon tugged on his line, pulling out a pale crab. With a frown, he tossed it back into the sea before casting his line again. “You can always bed her and leave. I did it plenty of times, and it worked quite well!”

  “What? No!”

  “You can leave without bedding her, then,” his father chortled.

  “I promised to get her home,” Percy protested. “Maybe I’ll leave afterward.”

  “And do what?” The demigod had no reply. “Perhaps you’d want to leave and not to watch her get married, I suppose. Seeing a woman you like in the arms of another man–”

  “Just stop, Dad,” Percy groaned, covering his face with his hands. “I know what you’re doing.”

  “Just telling you the truth, son,” Poseidon hummed. “I am not the best parent, but I can give you some advice on this. You have three options. Leave, fuck her and leave, or wed her and stay. Everything else will be lying to yourself.”

  The demigod frowned, “That’s… drastic.”

  “Well, I could lie to you and say some bullshit about eternal friendship and the like, but why would I?”

  “I don’t like either option,” Percy confessed. “I don’t want to leave Sansa, but I’m not exactly ready for marriage either!”

  “Nobody is ever ready for marriage, but if the girl doesn’t wed you, she’ll be married to someone else.” The god’s stormy words made his insides twist into a knot. “It’s the fate of mortal princesses.”

  What would his mom say? For once, he wasn’t sure. Percy couldn’t ask her either because she was in another freaking world!

  “I don’t like this,” he muttered again.

  “Fate is rarely kind enough to give us options we like.” His father shook his head. “My advice would be to make the choice that would leave you the least regrets. Believe me, I know plenty about regrets.”

  “I am not ready to be a husband or a father yet.”

  Poseidon ughed, “That is not something you can ever prepare or learn for. Being one… it’s a learning experience. Besides, first shall be a betrothal - you’ve neither bedded the ss nor agreed to wed her.”

  “I want her,” Percy admitted.

  “Badly enough to never see her in the arms of another man?” His father asked knowingly.

  “… Yes. I want her to be mine and mine alone.”

  “The sea is jealous and cannot be restrained. Besides, marrying a Princess is not without benefits. If half the things your girl said were true, House Stark is older than us gods. Unbroken martial lineage for eight thousand years! This is the highest prestige the mortal world could offer, and I have no doubt there would be other profound benefits by marrying into that house. As for power, you do not need others to give you any when you can grasp it all with your own two hands!”

  Percy groaned, “I never thought about that stuff.”

  “When you marry, you must think of all the benefits, my son,” Poseidon chuckled. “The parents are traditionally the ones who do that, so it is for me to advise you! Then there is this pesky mortal war, of course. I doubt you will have much woe with it!”

  “I don’t like killing.”

  “And that’s what makes you a good man, Percy. Yet the world is cruel, and sometimes peace can only be achieved at the tip of the trident… or sword, in your case. Some battles must be fought, and some men must be killed, or it will be your people who die instead.”

  “I am not one to shy away from a fight,” Percy shrugged, tiredly running a hand through his messy hair. “But I won’t go around flooding cities or colpsing mountains.”

  “Like you accidentally did with that volcanic isnd?”

  “Hey, you're the one who told me to see if my earthquake powers awakened.”

  “I didn't tell you to try it in your sleep, though.”

  “Yeah, well, they didn't awaken. It was the same as in Saint Helens, and… nobody got hurt this time?” Even Percy felt awkward at his father's disappointed gaze.

  “Ah, whatever,” Poseidon waved his hand as if shooing away some fly. “Let me tell you some words of wisdom. War… the more it drags on, the more men die. The quicker you end it, the lesser the cost.”

  “Yeah, whatever,” he groaned, tired of the topic. “Any news from the divine side of things?”

  His father continued to gaze at him until Percy looked down in embarrassment. “Surprisingly little. I could feel a few gazes on you, but nothing hostile. More curious than anything. You should still be wary of that Storm God. I have no doubt that was the one we saw on that first day.”

  “Yeah, there are too many conflicting tales about him. Sea God, Drowned God, Storm God, or whatnot.”

  “Mortals tend to confuse the divine and lump them together,” Poseidon clicked his tongue, “Who knows? Perhaps the Storm God of the Ironborn is actually the Sea God of the Stormnds. There could even be more. Gods have many domains, after all.”

  “True. Any idea why they aren't watching us anymore?”

  “Most likely, we are out of range of the nds where they settled. Even the monstrosity lurking deep under the waves seemed to change to something far more quiet. Or perhaps there simply isn't a sea deity in this sea. The further we travel North, the more… chill the divine side of things seems to be.”

  “Huh, so Sansa’s gods are the cool kind?”

  His father did not seem amused by his joke. In fact, Poseidon’s face turned stern. “Absolutely not. I can sense misery, death, and an extreme amount of bloodlust from them.” Percy gulped in worry. “Yet they are also far more neutral than any deity I've met. Almost as if they care not one whit what would happen to their followers or nds.”

  Before he could reply, something tugged on his senses in the real world, and his father also stood up straight.

  “You should wake up and investigate.”

  Nodding seriously, Percy focused and woke up in his hammock, finding the rising sun peeking from the clouds behind him.

  They had entered the Bite st night, and the shores of the Vale could barely be seen on their south. If the maps were right, he estimated they were three days away from White Harbor. At first gnce, nothing seemed amiss, the Seaswift and the Crimson Gale zily following the Silver Lady’s wake, but he knew better. Bckjack looked at him curiously when he jumped out of the top of the mast, Ice in hand, and descended the ropes and the rigging to the deck.

  “What’s wrong, Boss? Not like you to wake up so early.”

  “Something doesn’t feel right, Jack.” Percy frowned as he continued looking around the ship, running from one end to the other, trying to find what was tickling his senses. “Stay in your stall and y down on the straw in case of a fight.”

  “Come on, Boss. I haven’t had a decent scuffle since you stole me from the stinking city.” The stallion snorted and shook his head, “I can take on a cunt or three eas–”

  The ship shook all of a sudden, and Percy turned to the port side swiftly. His eyes widened as he found a massive dark shape swimming under the ship and surfacing a few hundred feet away with a rge spsh that caused waves to rattle the ship.

  It was a sea monster, a massive serpent easily over a hundred feet long with dull green scales and spikes on its back. Its head had two beady red eyes and a mouth full of sword-sized fangs. The monster roared when its eyes settled on him, the maw rge enough to swallow a horse, and its roar echoed along the sea for miles as it gred at him challengingly.

  “… On second thought, you can take this particur cunt, Boss. I’ll take a nap.”

  The door to the galley smmed open, and Sansa hurried onto the deck, still in her sleepwear. “What happened?”

  He didn't have to answer as the red-haired princess gawked at the monster in the distance. She stepped back and bumped into the blonde twins - because no matter how much they denied it, Percy would insist they were twins.

  “Stay inside and hold on to something. Don’t come out until I tell you to.”

  Whatever Sansa was about to say was lost as the monster roared once more and dove into the water. Percy could not allow it to capsize their ships and unsheathed Ice, dropping its sheath on the deck and leaping into the waves.

  The sea serpent froze for a heartbeat as Percy appeared in front of it. Focusing, he gred at it with as much authority as he could muster. “Halt! I know you can understand me, serpent. Stop this now, and no one will get hurt.”

  Looking closer at the monster, its green scale was a result of many, many corals, algae, seaweed, and barnacles forming over its original skin. The creature must have been sleeping for a long time, and he wagered his presence awakened it.

  “Usurper! Invader! Food!”

  The son of Poseidon sighed as the monster was far too gone in its madness… or maybe it was just dumb and hungry.

  He dodged out of the snake's lunging maws and swam away from the ships. The angry beast chased after him relentlessly.

  Percy had no idea if it had any friends, but just in case, he would fight it away from his own. Gauging the capabilities of monsters here was also important.

  By Hades, the beast was slow. He had to slow down, or the beast would give up on the chase.

  They must have swum for an hour before Percy turned around and dodged another lunge, barreling beneath its belly. Testily, the demigod sshed at the serpent as it passed him. He gritted his teeth when Ice’s incredibly sharp edge cut a rge swath of the monster's scale… only it was all reef, and it felt like Percy was giving the beast a shave.

  “Alright danger noodle. If I'm gonna be your barber for the day, you better behave and let me give you a proper buzzcut!”

  The sea serpent roared, the sound echoing loud and clear in the water. It tried to bite him again, but Percy easily dodged sideways and gave it a come-hither motion. The monster narrowed its baleful red eyes and lunged at him again, with Percy dodging with ease. This continued for several moments, and the demigod of the sea noticed a few interesting things.

  The monster was completely mundane. It had no magical abilities and relied utterly on its muscles and tail to navigate the sea. He wagered that a few fins could have helped it maneuver better, but if it had any, they were buried under the mounds of reef and coral that gave it a mighty defense and made it appear rger than it actually was.

  Noticing that they were near the bottom of the sea and entering a valley of sorts, Percy decided he had had enough of pying with his food. He dodged one st feral bite before stabbing the serpent on its side.

  Ice dug deeply into the coral armor, and Percy pushed with all his might as he held on for dear life as the monster screamed and thrashed in pain. Halfway through, the bde inexplicably stopped, as if hitting something unbreakable. The son of Poseidon’s eyes widened, and before he could do anything, the serpent twisted straight into an underwater cliff and crashed.

  The feeling of sharp rocks grinding over his back had Perseus roaring in agony and fury. This fucking eel dared! His eyes glowed with power as his divine power exploded and commanded the sea to obey him. The Bite was easier to control than the Narrow Sea, and within a few heartbeats, the serpent ceased thrashing as the very sea held it in pce.

  As the serpent sank to the bottom of the valley like an anchor, Perseus withdrew Ice and swam to its head. He sshed away the reefs and coral encrusting its skull until he reached the skin, stabbed the Valyrian Steel bde to the hilt, and punctured its brain.

  The monster immediately went sck and colpsed, raising a cloud of murky sand from the bottom of the sea. Percy heaved heavily, gulping in more and more seawater.

  The sea was already healing his back, and he ripped his ruined shirt from his body and hurried to pull out the rocks still stuck. The son of Poseidon stared down at his defeated foe and withdrew Ice, allowing red blood to flow out. Gncing around him, he noticed many schools of fish and a few sharks and whales staring at him with subdued hostility.

  Percy gred at them, and they quickly swam away in fear, causing him to scoff.

  He dropped from the corpse to the seafloor, feeling something crack underneath. Looking down, he found it was a piece of pottery. Inspecting his surroundings, Percy's eyes widened in shock as he realized that what he thought was a simple valley was an underwater city!

  He could see, thanks to the glow of algae and his heritage, even in the darkness of the depths. There were the remains of houses and other buildings, but his eyes settled on a rge pace built on a hill in the center of the city.

  ‘Percy. There is something in there. Something…familiar.’

  Despite his burning curiosity, Percy was loath to stay away from the ships for so long.

  ‘Don’t worry, my son. I have made sure all three ships continued on their course.’

  Surprised, he quickly focused on the ships, finding them nearly a hundred miles away and steadily sailing toward him. Percy must not have realized how far he had swum, for he was already halfway to their destination.

  “Thanks, Dad.” Throwing one st gnce at the dead serpent, Percy swam deeper into the city. He found many interesting things, such as bronze tools and weapons, intricate frescoes of mermen that still looked beautiful after carefully wiping the grime away, and many more. By far, however, what grabbed his attention the most were the skeletons. Whoever the inhabitants of this city, no, kingdom, were not human. They looked almost like–

  ‘Mermen.’

  He nodded in agreement. There were two clearly distinctive species that he found skeletons of.

  Mermen, with their human upper body and fishtail, and some other strange being that had ten flexible limbs stretching from a torso but no lower body. Percy shuddered as he tried to imagine what manner of creature would look like that.

  There must have been a massive battle here, for the signs of damage were evident, yet he did not feel any magic from the city. Except in what he assumed was the royal pace, where he had just entered through a massive entrance that did not have a door. Walking through a hallway, he found many rooms blocked with debris or led to other rooms that he had no desire to explore. The magic signal called to him from further in.

  Percy inspected the skeletons and found more of the same; bronze arms and armor, mermen protecting their home against the tentacled invader, until he swam under an archway and arrived at a throne room.

  More signs of fighting, but his eyes were on the rge figure sitting on a throne of bck marble. As if in a trance, Percy swam closer to it and found it was a rge merman who still retained parts of his skin, but it was undoubtedly dead. It had several spears and tridents stabbed in its torso, pinning it to its throne, but Percy had eyes only on what it held in its hands. It was a brilliant nce, nearly twenty feet long that even now emitted a soft magical hum that the grime and algae couldn't hide.

  ‘Take it, Percy. There's a spark of divinity in that spear that must have belonged to this dead god.’

  “Dead god?!” Percy couldn't hide his shock even if he wanted to. “Gods can die? I thought they would reform or fade instead!”

  ‘I am as lost as you are, my dear boy, yet my senses do not lie. This merman had divinity in him at one point, perhaps a demigod that ascended, but it's now gone. Devoured, I would assume.’

  “Devoured? Could it be by that same thing you sensed when we first awakened?”

  ‘I do not know. The Trident definitely has a spark of divinity from that god in it. Take it, and perhaps we shall learn more ter on.’

  Trident? It was clearly a spear, or a nce, but Percy shrugged as he grabbed it and ripped it out of the dead god’s surprisingly firm grip.

  Even dead, it would not easily relinquish its symbol of power, and the moment it left its grasp, the merman turned to ash that floated away in the water.

  Percy wiped away the algae and grime to inspect the divine weapon. He stared in awe as the moment he wiped enough of the algae for his skin to touch the weapon, it vibrated and all the grime floated away, revealing a silver spear with a long bde made of a dark metal. It had two simir bdes pointing downwards like the wings of a hawk as it dived after a rabbit.

  Absentmindedly, his powers sank into the dark metal, and the bdes sprang up to form a cross spear. With another thought, the two bdes bent in the middle and pointed upwards, turning the spear into a trident. The weapon was taller than he could comfortably use, and before he could even finish his thoughts, it shrank from twenty feet to a more usable eight feet for the shaft and two feet for the bde.

  Percy grinned as he willed the spear to stretch as far as it could go. He nearly dropped the heavy weapon as it sprang up into the vaulted ceiling, which was over thirty feet away. A feeling of lethargy hit him heavily, and Percy willed the spear back to its comfortable ten feet.

  “This is so damn cool! Too bad I can't keep changing its size. It just tires me out so much.”

  ‘Don't forget you are also in the embrace of the sea. If it tires you here, I would not recommend pying around too much with it on the surface.’

  Grimacing at the reminder, Percy grabbed some seaweed to strap Ice on his back. Then, he willed the spear to shrink even more and was delighted when it turned about a foot long, looking like a dagger rather than a spear. He would have tried to shrink it further, but his exhaustion quickly settled in, so he strapped it to his belt.

  “Alright. I would love to explore this city more, but perhaps ter when I don't have a couple of princesses to escort.”

  His father just hummed, seemingly distracted by something, and Percy shrugged. He swam out of the pace, ignoring the itch to search for treasure, but stopped once he was back at the serpent’s corpse. None of the marine life had dared to approach it for fear of provoking him, and Percy found himself facing a dilemma. What to do with what would surely be a treasure trove of parts and meat. He was unused to monsters not dissipating after death and sighed as he realized he would need to butcher it if he wanted a trophy. Not to mention, he had gotten tired of eating fish and salted meat for the past three weeks.

  Hades, the things Percy would do for a juicy burger… or a pizza.

  Shaking his head, he grabbed the several-ton heavy beast by its tail and dragged it to the surface. His body was tired, but his powers aided him along. His muscles bulged as he swam to where the ships were sailing toward his position. He estimated the sunken city was about half a mile under the sea. The Bite was not particurly deep, but he still ended up swimming nearly forty miles for nearly an hour. A distance he could have swum in minutes if not for his heavy load.

  Something nudged his senses, and Percy frowned. A small boat, most likely a dinghy or a fishing boat, approached the Silver Lady. The boat stopped next to his ship, even as they continued to move, and he scowled as he realized the row boat’s occupants must have grappled with his ship. His gut twisted with worry for Sansa and the rest.

  Percy dropped the serpent, willing the sea to keep it buoyant and float it the rest of the way while he barreled to the surface.

  Finally, he neared the ships but decided against making an entrance. There was a risk of whoever was on board taking the girls hostage, and Percy would need the element of surprise then. Surfacing at the bow of the Silver Lady, he peeked around the wooden hull to find the skiff empty. It had a single triangle sail and room for a few oars but by no means a ship with barely room for a dozen occupants.

  “Stop resisting, you Northern cunt! We only need your head to get the bounty, but we might use you for–”

  Too many things happened at once. A shout of pain took the breath off Sansa's assaint, a horse’s angry neigh, a fleshy smack, and then another one, followed by a feminine yelp that was cut off by a hawk screeching and a man screaming in pain. Percy was confused as he quickly climbed the ship and jumped on deck to find a strange scene.

  A man was moaning in pain as he bled out on the ground courtesy of a knife in his belly. Sansa stood over him, her hands bloody, as she repeatedly kicked him in the groin, her face twisted into a furious scowl as she tried to adjust her ruined dress.

  Another man was crying in a fetal position as he tried to cover his head with his webbed hands. Myrcel and Rosamund, each holding a pan and a rolling pin, respectively, blindly wailed on his pitiful form with vicious strikes. Bckjack stood nearby, his hoof raised as if poised to strike the man if he tried to resist the girls’ punishment. Lastly, a final man was fighting off a rge bird as it tried to peck his eyes out; his face was already a bloody mess, and the screaming was coming from him.

  “Get it off me! Please, have mercy. I'm just a fisherman. Get it off me!!”

  “That's enough, all of you!”

  Everyone froze. The blonde twins opened their eyes as they stared at him warily, their weapons still raised. The rge bird, easily the size of a condor from home but with the regal features of a hawk, gnced at him before flying off to nd on Sansa's shoulders. The girl didn't seem to care as the massive, razor-sharp talons sank into her flesh but did not draw blood, preferring to kick her assaint one st vicious time in the groin, which had Percy wince.

  Sansa Stark turned to him, her furious grimace melting into a beautiful smile that would have made anyone believe she could never brutally beat a man to death.

  “Percy, you're back!”

  .

  .

  .

  “So, you had a dream from a divine that warned you of this attack; a divine who somehow knows the name of a woman I knew. You hurried to warn me, but too te, as the monster was already here. While I was fighting said monster, you obediently stayed inside the ship, making breakfast with the girls, and got blindsided by those suckers. Did I miss anything?”

  The three girls, plus horse and hawk, shook their heads in unison.

  He had tossed the dead pirate overboard, tied up the other two to the mast, and spoke with girls near the stern-castle. Percy was surprised by how utterly calm Sansa was despite having her first kill, but he shrugged it off. People in the Middle Ages were clearly all crazy, and who was he to judge?

  “Alright, then, what happened? Where did the bird come from?”

  “It’s the gift, of course,” Sansa smiled with a shrug. “I survived the ordeal and received the boon I was promised from the goddess, Calypso. And this is no mere bird, but a Moon Hawk.” The girl stroked the massive bird’s feathers lovingly, earning herself a happy chirp from the bloodied beak.

  Percy pinched the bridge of his nose, how the hell did some deity know about Calypso of all people? He ignored the pang in his heart as he thought about the beautiful maiden and focused inwardly on his father.

  ‘I did say some curious beings had their eyes on you. I can’t really block everything out there, and they seemed benign enough.’

  “Excuse me, but what are you talking about?” Both of them turned to Myrcel, who shuffled her feet. “It almost sounds like you are communicating with the gods. That’s a beautiful bird.” The blonde girl added hastily when the proud hawk gred at her.

  Percy looked at Sansa, who returned his gaze with a raised eyebrow.

  “Don’t look at me.” Her giggle did things to his stomach. “You’re the one who knows these things.”

  “We’ll expin ter,” Percy grunted, not feeling like having a theological talk now. Or, well, ever. Expining stuff was not his forte! “For now, I am gd that you are all okay.”

  The blonde princess did not look satisfied, but a pointed look from Sansa had her shrink with a nod. Percy had also forgotten that she was a hostage.

  “Come, Rosamund. I’m sure they will tell us in due time.”

  Percy gawked at the other blonde girl, only now realizing he was speaking to the wrong twin. Sansa’s groan told him she didn’t realize it either, while the blondes giggled at their mistake. Coughing to recover his dignity, he moved towards their captives and gred coldly at them.

  “Anyway, what do you want us to do with these two?”

  The two bound pirates shivered. One of them was a massive bck and blue bruise, while the other was still bleeding from sporting the test in hawk handshake scars. It looked like someone had tried to make a lump of minced meat with a knife but failed.

  Scarface stuttered out first, “M-My lord, I-I swear to you, I’m just a humble fisherman from Old Castle! I had no clue at all what those two were pnning.”

  “You liar! He’s a smuggler milord, I swear it. He even deals with Essosi svers.”

  “Fuck you, Cayn! You damn Sistermen are the ones known for being smugglers and pirates. I should have never agreed to ferry you to that pile of rocks you call home.”

  “Oh, fuck off, Shadd. You are the one who told us about the Stark girl’s location and the bounty.” The man with webbed hands turned to Percy, gncing at Sansa beside him warily. “The Lion Queen has a price on your head, midy. I swear, I didn’t know that Jorah would try to…I-I mean, yer obviously a pretty ss and–”

  If gres could kill, then Sansa’s would have burned the Sisterman to ashes.

  “What I am confused about is why you attacked the princess over here?” Percy pointed at Myrcel with his chin, the girl still holding onto a pan and gring at her potential abductor. “Surely, that lion queen would have a reward for saving her daughter.”

  “… Daughter?”

  The man looked catatonic as his eyes widened, and gazed at the blonde princess standing next to her friend. The ‘fisherman’ chuckled uproariously before flinching when his wounds opened. Percy was far too tired to deal with this shit and turned to Sansa and whispered, “What should we do with them?”

  “They are hiding something, but I have no idea how to make them sing.” Sansa’s frown made her face look even more beautiful, and Percy gulped as he noticed her gray dress had tears in it, showing ample amounts of pale, unblemished skin. After the talk with his father, he was all too aware that he wanted her, and it took him all of his willpower to tear his gaze away. “We shall take them to White Harbor and have Lord Manderly work on them instead.”

  “Fine by me. Anyway, make sure they are tied up and don’t release them no matter what.” He raised his voice so everyone could hear him, “Even if they are thirsty or starving or need to take a shit, they shall remain here, tied to the mast. We’re only a day away from White Harbor. I’m sure they can survive.”

  Percy waited until the girls nodded, and Bckjack snorted in agreement as he eyed the kidnappers with malice before stomping his hoof. Satisfied, he walked to the edge of the boat and raised his hands, bringing the corpse of the sea serpent to the surface.

  “Oh my, I almost forgot.” Sansa quickly joined him; her hawk flew up to roost at the top of the mast. “Where did that leviathan go?”

  “It’s here,” Percy chuckled. “It was one oversized weakling, and I honestly expected more, you know? At least there’s a lot of meat in it, I suppose!”

  The golden-haired girls looked queasy, but Sansa nodded warmly, looking at him like he had hung the stars in the sky.

  Hades, he didn’t want to deal with that right now. He didn’t even know how!

  Shaking his head, Percy focused on positioning the Seaswift in a way that allowed him to drag the titanic carcass onboard the deck.

  Percy clicked his tongue as the hull was scratched from dragging the coral-encrusted serpent along it, and he wondered if he should have used the sea to raise it and drop it on the deck. Most likely a terrible idea, considering how tired he was and the risk of capsizing the ship. Thankfully, the monster weighed less than twenty tons, and the ship’s deck could comfortably hold ten times that amount.

  “So, what do you think?” The boast left his mouth before he could stop it. “First time you’ve ever seen a real monster, huh?”

  He had stopped the three ships close enough and the three girls were still stunned at the sight of the beast. The tied pirates, however, had gone deathly pale.

  Sansa was the first to gather her bearing, “How did you kill that thing?”

  “I am a professional monster hunter, and stabbing it with the pointy end usually works well.” The son of Poseidon grinned as he pulled out the dagger from his belt and inspected the bde. It was pitch bck, with straight lines of gold, different from Valyrian Steel's smokey ripples, yet Percy could tell it was just as sharp, if not sharper, but not particurly light. He moved towards where he had stabbed the serpent the first time, his curiosity peaking on why he could not stab further than half of Ice’s length. Valyrian Steel could cut through regur steel and even stone.

  Clearing away the corals and grime with the dagger, Percy was impressed with how sharp and solid the bde was. Even the silver grip was comfortable and stable, almost fusing with his hand and negating any problems with bance. Continuing his work, he could feel the rest of the girls watching him patiently, until his bde scraped against something metallic, and Percy froze. Clearing the crusts more carefully, he managed to yank away what had stopped Ice.

  “This is…” Sansa’s voice was shocked as Percy showed her what he found. “I didn’t know they made them like that!”

  “Well, I doubt you would be expected to know all about Valyrian Steel artifacts, Sansa.” Percy grinned as he held onto the rge round shield made from smokey dark metal. “I do wonder who it belonged to?”

  P*O*D

  Dragonstone,

  The Crown Princess of the Narrow Sea.

  Shireen Baratheon stood in the Great Hall with her mother and the castle’s household as they listened to maester Pylos reading a raven about the capture of Storm’s End. She ignored the excited chatter as her thoughts drifted to Cressen.

  The old maester’s absence was like an emptiness nothing could fill. As, Cressen was old and had cimed his time was short. Yet that fact did not quench her dislike for the red priestess.

  At least life on Dragonstone had become dull and peaceful ever since her kingly father departed for war and took with him the Red Woman. While fervor for R’hllor did not die, it had been toned down significantly in the castle or the surrounding vilges, as most of the zealots were gone. Then, there was her mother. Selyse Baratheon was greatly obsessed with the foreign god and his fire and was wroth when Shireen had been caught praying to a small statue of the Maiden in her room. Shireen herself wasn’t particurly pious, not when her father and uncles all gave lip service to the Faith.

  Before the Red Witch burned the castle’s Sept, Septon Barre refused to allow her in the Sept in fear of her greyscale. Not that she ever truly tried to enter, for the Septon could scarcely bar the Lord’s daughter if she desired entry.

  Her father, Stannis Baratheon, was a hard and dutiful man, but few saw the warmth beneath the steel. While he couldn’t express it well, Shireen knew her father loved her in his own way. It took Shireen a couple of years to notice, but her father loved her greatly… even more so than her mother. Regardless, she would never be able to visit the Sept now, and there was no weirwood on Dragonstone. The small polished statue was a gift from the kindly Lord Guncer Sungss - who remained in the dungeon with the septon and Lord Rambton’s sons.

  “Is there anything else in the raven, maester?” Her great uncle Axel, the castle’s casteln, asked once the chatter died.

  “His Grace is sending Melisandre back to Dragonstone.” Shireen’s face fell; she had hoped the woman would stay as far away from here as possible. Mayhaps her father had tired of her and sent her away.

  Would all the zealots come back, too?

  “Has there been any news from the miners?” Selyse turned to Ser Cyton Bckberry, the knight of the Windwyrm Tower.

  “Yes, Your Grace. They have finished excavating part of the new cave system formed in the Dragonmont.”

  Shireen shivered as she remembered that day. The terrible shaking, the stormy clouds, the crashing of the waves, and the smell of sulfur had become unbearable when the volcano spewed its wrath. Thankfully, no one was hurt in the castle, for Dragonstone was built to withstand such eruptions. Yet, the castle was filled with unease ever since.

  “Under the waves,” Patchface often sang about, singing while his motley face twisted as if in pain under his tin bucket for a helm. “The sky and sea fight and everything else burns!”

  Her heart went out for the fool, for he cried in pain when he wasn’t singing. Something was wrong with him, and it had taken a lot for her to beg and plead to prevent her mother and Uncle Axel from burning him alive.

  Selyse had agreed but fed Shireen’s statue of the Maiden to the fmes instead.

  “And? Have you discovered anything of note?”

  The Bckberry knight nodded rapidly, his pointed beard nearly reaching his colrbone as he wiped the sweat on his pudgy face with a rag. “We discovered an iron ore vein and more obsidian in different colors. Yet, the heat was unbearable, and the fumes caused several men to be sick and were forced to retire back to the town. I had more men digging through one st cave before I hastened for the meeting.”

  “Obsidian is worthless, but the iron could be valuable depending on–”

  Shireen ignored the chatter about establishing an iron mine and sighed despondently. She was well-read about her home, and this wasn’t the first vein to appear in the Dragonmont. Yet there was a reason Dragonstone remained a poor isnd with no prospects of wealth. Ser Bckberry's words were familiar, for no miner would survive in the mountain long enough to make any mining mission worth it's time.

  Hurried footsteps came from the hallway, and a whispered conversation with the guards was heard through the open doors. A guard entered and whispered to Ser Cyton Bckberry, whose eyes widened as he nodded quickly and coughed for attention.

  “Your Grace, my lords. I have important news from the Dragonmont.”

  That silenced the chatter as the knight of The Windwyrm motioned for two miners in dirty and smudged clothes to enter through the hall's heavy red doors, holding a wooden chest. They shrank under Selyse’s scrutiny, but a hurried wave from Ser Bckberry had them hasten through the dragon's maw.

  They stopped in the middle of the hall.

  The pin-looking chest was deposited before her mother and quickly tched open.

  Shireen gulped as everyone else was staring at the contents.

  “Are those…” Pylos’s soft voice had gone hoarse.

  The knight was saying something, but Shireen’s whole attention was on the two rge gem-like stones in the chest. Both looked identical, covered in shiny dark amethysts with streaks and swirls of bck.

  Dragon Eggs!

  Bub3loka