89 An island of witchcraft I

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This is the last one I will upload until next week, although I'm getting into the rhythm of translating from my cell phone, it's a lot of wasted time, I prefer to write and then translate when I can repair my pc.

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POV of Lothar Von Ruppin, fifth moon,284AC

There was a good loot, the Tyroshi ships were carrying plenty of canned food for their long voyage in search of slaves, now they will serve a higher purpose.

After taking control over the other three tyrosh war galleys we had nine ships, which made a sizeable fleet and we still had enough men to be able to control the ships well, plus we can now call on the survivors

The Tyroshi replaced some of our oarsmen, a spoonful of their own medicine, now they were the ones condemned to row for the rest of their lives, while the salt water slowly tore their skin to shreds.

The slaves led on paddling, we were not going to waste the arms of the men and women who had been paddling for days.

Something cut through the air, and then a piercing scream filled the air.

''Keep rowing, scum,'' shouted a Finn with a whip in his hand to a group of the Tyroshi who were enjoying their new rings around their wrists and ankles.

I wiped some of the blood still dripping down my armor and approached the Finn to ask about our plans.

''Hey... Finn... what's our plan for Skagos, surprise attack, a direct attack on the only port on the island or do you have something else planned?'', I asked with interest.

''We have very little information about the island, very little communication between them and the North men, it is difficult to come up with a plan'' Aleksanteri answered while looking at his compass.

''Well what about the men you sent to the island?...'' I asked about the mapping operations that have been carried out in the seven kingdoms.

''I only sent a small group of men to the north, we have problems with the amount of men we have and I only have basic information, there are three noble houses which we must crush quickly to prevent them from trying to communicate with the mainland in search, help, speed will be key, but we also need to get the information to know where and when to strike'' Aleksanteri said pulling some maps out of his clothes

''The magnar house is the first we will face, they control the only natural port there is on the island of Skagos all the other places are too difficult to attack ships, if we control the port we have cut off all possibility of getting resources into the island, but the problem is about if they have Maester and ravens, most likely yes, I don't think they will refuse the help of the chained and we are back to the problem we faced in the conquest of the reach if a raven flies in asking for help our mission fails'' Aleksanteri said showing me the maps

''The Stark's would respond by sending their men and we will have to escape, we have neither the numbers nor the equipment to fight a war for the island'' I said looking at the map.

''Yes ideally, although dangerous, we should try to get some of our men in to try to find the castles or wherever the Skagos lived and kill the Maester, cutting off any communication with the outside and then enter with force'' said Aleksanteri

I suppose you will do it to make sure that everything goes perfectly while I wait for the signal to attack the port?", I said staring at the Finn.

''Yes... we'll do that I'll get on a Tyroshi galley that is more conditioned to the cold of the area and try to get to Skagos first, I'll send a signal that should be quite obvious'' said Aleksanteri as he put the maps away.

''When you attack don't, make a massacre, we need those people alive... if we control the port, we control all those who inhabit the islands, we just confiscate any ship they have and they will be our prisoners for life, so avoid necessary deaths'' Aleksanteri said before leaving

Aleksanteri climbed into the war galley and took several of his men with him and with great speed, they were disappearing over the horizon while we continued at a steady pace.

The cold seemed to be beginning to affect everyone present, the clothes of the Finns protected them completely from the inclement cold, but our prisoners and freed slaves were already shivering with cold and every hour that passed the weather was getting worse

We began to have problems with the ropes which began to freeze and the sails of the galley also suffered the same fate, which made it almost impossible to maneuver the sail and get the push of the wind.

The next day we found that several had died from the cold and others were already in advanced stages of hypothermia and as we had no time to try to help the slavers and slaves, we prevented them from spreading disease by simply throwing both the dead and the living overboard.

Boy did I enjoy seeing the terrified eyes of the heathens as I threw them into the cold waters.

''Herr lothar...aren't you cold?'', asked a Finn showing me some furs.

''The inclement weather has never affected me my body is very resistant so don't worry offer it to the prisoners, they will all die from the cold before we get to Skagos and Aleksanteri might get angry if I have to keep throwing valuable prisoners overboard'' I said looking at the prisoners without much importance.

''At your orders Herr lothar'' replied the soldier

We continued on towards our destination without any inconvenience except for some very aggressive rain, but nothing to worry about, only the occasional death of the prisoners.

When we were about to reach the island of Skagos something caught my attention, an eagle had been following us for several hours while fluttering around the area.

'We have no food in sight, no carrion, why is the eagle right here?'

''Soldier, can you shoot down that eagle?'', I asked the Finnish soldier who was walking around with his whip, reminding him of his duty to the prisoners

The soldier looked at the eagle and pulled out his strings and armed his bow.

''Sure... I just have to wait for it to come down a little and I'll shoot it down, Herr lothar'' replied the soldier watching attentively.

At the moment the eagle descended an arrow flew towards her and hit her directly

When it fell, I could see nothing to indicate that it was a trained eagle or a wild one

But my doubts increased again when another eagle began to fly around us.

'How strange, there is no reason for birds to fly around the area'.

At the end of the day, we shot down two more eagles until they stopped arriving.

Finally, we arrived at the island and met Aleksanteri's men.

A quick conversation and discovered that Aleksanteri had the same suspicions as I did, that the eagles were watching us but we just had to wait.

We waited for three days knocking down every bird that came near us, no longer knowing what it was, until a fire began to burn in one of the steep mountains on the coast and we immediately began to row into the magnar harbor.

The Finns were ready and were bringing the war dogs out of the holds for battle.

As we approached I realized that they were waiting for us....

We were greeted by arrows and throwing axes from the local defenders

''Shit they were waiting for us undercover you guys'' I shouted to the Finns who immediately took cover

Just like the heathen savages we faced in the vale, they use bronze as a metal for warfare.

''Lead the ship against the harbor and prepare for the clash, we don't have time for a landing or we will be the biggest target shot in Skagos!'', I shouted to the Finn who had the helm.

''At your orders Herr lothar'' replied the Finn.

The constant metallic sound produced by the arrows hitting against my armor kept me alert while waiting for us to approach the harbor, when finally what we were expecting happened

The galley crashed into the harbor, destroying some parts while our ship suffered a lot of damage from the hit

The moment we stopped, I threw myself into combat against the savages so that the arrows would concentrate on me and not on the other ships that must have been overwhelmed by the incessant harassment.

The skagosi presented before me a shield wall while shouting at me

I charged with all my might using my arm as a battering ram I easily broke through the weak defense that had been presented.

I turned quickly to deliver a heavy blow with my mace to one of the defenders' legs

Hearing the enemy's bones crunching, I used my other available arm to grab another of the surprised enemies to throw against his comrades

Knocking down several with the corpulent body I had thrown.

I kept moving to cause as much chaos as possible in the defense organization, shattering bones from right to left, while the skagosi jumped on me in hopes of knocking me down

Which they failed to do, it only made it easier for me to smash their skulls with my feet when I managed to shake them off.

''HAKKAA PÄÄLLE''I heard the war cry of the Finns, followed by the barking of their war dogs.

''Stop bothering me'', I said as I grabbed two skagosi in front of me and destroyed their skulls against each other.

I was crushing the few remaining defenders in my area when I heard something very heavy charging at me.

It was a huge bear that was moving through the streets of the port, ignoring the retreating skagosi

'But what the fuck... a trained bear'.

The bear tried to bite me and at the same time push me to the ground, I managed to move in time before either of those events happened

The bear quickly turned around and got up on its paws and tried to crush me.

I caught its paws and we began to struggle with each other, while we fought, I released one of my arms and hit the animal's chest with my shoulder.

The animal fell from its pose, and I jumped violently against the bear as it fell.

Placing myself on top of the bear I used my hands to break its skull while inserting my thumbs into its eye sockets.

The beast struggles with the ferocity expected of this animal, desperately trying to bite me or hit me with its claws that were tearing apart the furs the Finns had given me to cover my armor.

''AHHHHHHHH DIE DAMN BEAST'' I screamed as I slowly crunched the skull of the animal

Until finally the skull exploded

The skagosi around me looked at me in surprise, but between their gazes I heard an agonizing scream of a man writhing on the floor in pain while holding his head.

I found myself surrounded by enemies, who had begun to encircle me when they saw me struggling against the bear.

But the war dogs of the Finns began to arrive to bite and tear apart the Skagosi, while their masters followed close behind them.

Seeing that they were starting to retreat quickly I ran against the first ones fleeing ignoring the rest to give them a quick kill and discourage the idea of running away.

Throwing a skagosi to the ground and quickly breaking his neck I turned and looked at the skagosi who were staring at me in terror

''Surrender or I will kill you all!'', I said in the language of the pagans as I lifted the lifeless body of their companion.

The skagosi looked at each other and began to obey.

The battle was ending, but we had to see our casualties, considering that we acted very boldly with the attack on the harbor, we must have lost several of our men.

The agonizing screams of the man writhing on the floor caught my attention.

'What happened to that weirdo, I didn't even touch him'.

I grabbed a skagosi by his clothes.

''What's wrong with him?'', I said pointing to the man who was still screaming.

''It's...it's...it's normal you killed his animal while controlling it'' said the skagosi

''Define controlling it'' I said as I lifted him up until he was close to my face.

''he can see through animals and control them at his will'' said the pagan skagosi

'that explains a lot... that's why they knew we were coming... controlled by witchcraft'

'we must purge this island'

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