Hi, I'd say this in the author's note, but nobody reads that – myself included – so I'll say it here instead.
1. I've just deleted a one-star review because the reviewer simply wrote that I should include a warning stating the story contained yuri. First of all, if they said that because, in the 'Lemon' chapter, Valka and Aerea were pleasuring each other whilst her husband was penetrating them, and if that's what you call yuri, then you definitely won't be able to read a story containing a harem – or did you expect one of them to stand there like a statue whilst watching their partners having sex?
2. Today marks my 1,000th day of the Days Streak, coinciding with this chapter which brings Volume 1 to a close.
3. I'm not asking for power stones – I'm not interested in those – but I am asking you to share your comments, thoughts, reactions and criticisms (in a way that makes sense, not like Yuri's) so that I can understand more clearly what I need to change or improve.
And on that note, see you on Sunday for chapter fifty, the start of Volume 2, and the beginning of the Dragon War.
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The Summer Sea, near the Stepstones
1st Moon of 58 AC
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The Summer Sea became a blessing for Xandar's new vessels, a deep-water highway connecting its ports in Xandar with the commercial wealth of the Free Cities to the northeast of Essos. However, it was where the sea narrowed to meet the Narrow Sea that the Stepstones rose like the broken teeth of a stone giant—forks of rocky islands, treacherous currents, and deep reefs that for centuries had served as a refuge for the scum of two continents: pirates, members of noble houses who did not sow, deserters from the fleets of Lys and Tyrosh, and exiles who knew no law other than boarding and plundering.
Five Xandarian merchant brigs advanced in a perfect sailing line, maintaining a distance of two cables from both sides to avoid currents that could carry the ships near the confined waters of the islands. The brigs, though large and of deep draft, were not warships, but their modular design, built with the finest craftsmanship under the guidelines of the High Council, made them faster and more resilient than any merchant galley in Westeros. Their holds were packed with tempered iron ingots, steel agricultural tools, glass of the highest quality, along with wheat and provisions destined for the markets of Braavos.
On the deck of the leading brig, named the HMS Pride of the Xandarian fleet, Captain Joran observed the horizon through his spyglass. The winter wind blew hard from the northeast, swelling the sails of the flotilla, but the sea was unusually choppy, breaking into crests of white foam against the wide bows of his ships.
"There is a lot of current from starboard to port," warned the first officer, a man from Qohor who had adapted to seafaring life following Xandar's maritime expansion. "The currents of Gallows Island are pushing us toward the inner channel. If we do not tack three points to the east, we will be in full view of the reef coves."
"Maintain the course," Joran ordered firmly, without taking his eye off the spyglass. "If we veer east, we will lose the wind advantage and expose our flanks to the deep currents. Minister Ismael's directives are clear: speed is our best defense until we meet the Xandar patrols in the open sea. These ships can outrun any rowed galley trying to emerge from those rocks."
However, Xandarian pragmatism underestimated the desperation and cunning of the lords of the Stepstones this time. For the pirates, Xandar's gleaming ships were no longer a mysterious novelty, but the most coveted booty of the sea: their holds always traveled full of pure metals and riches that required no intermediaries to sell in the markets of the Triarchy.
From the shadows of the cliffs of the Island of Knives, where the afternoon sun created a blinding glare on the water, seven vessels emerged. They were not heavy mercenary warships, but light assault dromonds—ships built for speed, with two rows of oars striking the water with fury and triangular sails of a dirty gray color that blended with the rocks of the islands.
"Sails to port!" the cry of the lookout in the crow's nest broke the monotony of the wind. "Seven dromonds! They carry no colors, Captain! They are pirates from the islands!"
"Action stations!" Joran roared, shutting his spyglass with a sharp snap. "Line up the brigs! Crossbowmen to the bulwarks! Guards, to your defensive posts!"
Any other merchant crew from Westeros or the Free Cities would have panicked at the prospect of a pirate boarding in such confined waters. But the Xandarians operated under a doctrine of absolute efficiency. As the alarm sounded, the hatches of the forecastle and sterncastles opened, and from them emerged the guards assigned to escort the ships.
Unlike ordinary sailors, these soldiers wore full plate armor of a polished, grayish steel that gleamed under the winter sun. At sea, where the weight of armor was usually considered a death sentence if one fell into the water, the Xandar guards wore the metal with confidence, since the potions available to the wearers ensured there was no fear of drowning, turning them into true walking fortresses upon the wooden decks.
The pirates never stood a chance.
When the dromonds tried to close the distance, believing they were facing ordinary merchants, Xandar's repeating crossbows began to sing. A constant and implacable rain of steel bolts pierced the air, sweeping the open decks of the attacking ships. The concentrated fire from the HMS Pride and the HMS Defender battered two of the pirate galleys so severely that their rowing benches were reduced to a pile of splinters and mangled flesh within minutes. The Xandarian projectiles tore through wicker mantlets and leather jerkins as if they were wet paper.
One dromond attempted to approach the HMS Pride, but the plate-armored guards stationed at the bulwarks repelled the few attackers who managed to throw their grappling hooks. The pirates' cutlasses struck uselessly against the tempered steel of the breastplates, drawing barely any sparks, while the heavy short swords of the Xandarians dealt swift, deadly slashes that threw amputated bodies back into the sea, turning the fight into an absolute slaughter on the pirate side. Xandar's military discipline and heavy equipment at sea transformed the boarding attempt into collective suicide.
However, the pirates' desperation caused a serious setback. The largest dromond of the attacking flotilla, commanded by a Tyroshi captain who saw his entire crew decimated by the crossbowmen, lost control of his ship. With a broken rudder and half of its oars on flames after a jar of pitch caught fire, the drifting pirate vessel was dragged by the violent current directly toward the stern of the HMS Vanguard, the Xandarian brig closing the formation.
The impact was brutal. The drifting dromond rammed the hull of the Vanguard with all its inertia. The crunching of wood echoed loudly when the reinforced prow of the dromond shattered the brig's rudder blade and severely cracked the stern frames, allowing water to begin seeping into the lower section of the cargo hold.
The guards of the Vanguard, immutable behind their steel visors, mercilessly finished off the surviving pirates from the collided ship, securing the deck in a few minutes. Not a single Xandarian fell to enemy steel, but the structural damage to the brig was severe. The Vanguard was completely adrift, its steering system destroyed and water flooding the cargo compartments.
Captain Joran observed the scene. Five of the pirate ships floated as burning hulls or sank slowly, while the remaining two fled in all haste toward the shallower coves of the rocky islands, terrified by the devastation they had suffered.
"The Vanguard's deck is secured, Captain," the first officer reported after receiving the flag signals. "We have no fatal casualties among the guard or the crew, but the ship is heavily damaged. The rudder is destroyed, and water is entering the stern hold. They cannot move under their own power."
Joran nodded, his face serious but relieved to know his men were safe.
"Prepare the tow lines on the Pride and the Defender," the captain ordered. "We will tow the Vanguard back to Xandar. But inform the High Council immediately. The pirates have been slaughtered, but the fact that they have heavily damaged one of our brigs is an affront that requires a forceful response."
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Essos, Xandar, The Hall of the High Council
1st Moon of 58 AC
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The news of the attack in the Stepstones and the return of the flotilla with the Vanguard in tow reached the highest echelons of Xandarian power four days later. The news did not bring a defeat, but a wake-up call that the High Council was not willing to ignore. In the shipyards, the damaged brig already rested in the dry docks for repair, but the impact on their pride of seeing one of their jewels battered by the audacity of outlaws sparked debates in the great hall of the High Council.
The room, a circular structure built with polished stone blocks and dark oak beams, was locked in an atmosphere of bubbling silence. In the center of the room, upon a large table, lay a three-dimensional model of the Summer Sea and the Stepstones archipelago.
The High Council met urgently in the Palace. The grand circular hall lacked the presence of King Caspian, who continued the laborious reconstruction of Vaes Dothrak in the far north of Essos. Nor was Ismael, the Minister of Commerce, at the table, detained in the hot ports of Slaver's Bay managing agreements with Astapor. However, in Xandar, the gears of power did not stop in the absence of their leaders.
The members of the High Council took their respective carved leather seats around the large three-dimensional model of the Summer Sea and the Stepstones. Fabian, dressed in a dark gray military doublet, stepped forward and struck the conference table with the pommel of his dagger, pointing to the narrow pass of the Island of Knives on the model.
"The commercial flotilla was ambushed in the inner channel by seven pirate dromonds from the Stepstones," the Minister of Defense declared, his voice echoing firmly in the stone vault. "The response from our deck guard was flawless. Thanks to their plate armor and the technical superiority of our crossbows, they eliminated the entire hostile assault force without suffering a single fatal casualty. Five of the enemy ships were reduced to ashes or sent to the bottom of the sea. However, the pirates' flagship dromond, dragged by the current in its death throes, collided directly into the Vanguard. The impact destroyed its rudder and severely cracked the stern hull. The ship had to be towed to our docks to prevent its loss."
A dense silence gripped the room. Charles, the Minister of the Treasury, laced his fingers over the table, observing the model before speaking.
"The cost of repairing the Vanguard and the delay in delivering the iron ingots to the eastern markets will affect this moon's balance," Charles commented, measuring the financial impact. "But the real danger does not lie in the gold we lost by the fleet's return. It lies in the message this sends. If the powers of Westeros, or the Free Cities, observe that our merchant ships are vulnerable to the attacks of disorganized outlaws, it will open the door to more incursions."
"The commercial pragmatism of sending cargo ships with minimal escorts has reached its limit," intervened Korra, the Minister of Laws. "Our laws guarantee the protection of the Kingdom's properties and the free citizens who operate them. Allowing cargo ships the size of our brigs to sail without an adequate military shield through maritime routes is a negligence we cannot prolong."
"We cannot wait for the Free Cities or the Iron Throne of Westeros to clean their own seas," Fabian stated severely. "Minister Ismael warned us in his last directives before departing for Astapor that the Stepstones route would become more unstable as our commercial presence grew. The defense of Xandar demands that we take absolute control of our security."
Fabian deployed a detailed plan of the new navigation scheme that the Ministry of Defense and the naval chancery had urgently structured following the arrival of the injured flotilla.
"The Ministry of Defense proposes the immediate closed militarization of trade routes," Fabian explained. "Starting next moon, any Xandarian merchant brig is forbidden from crossing the Stepstones independently. Mandatory sailing convoys will be formed. Each group of commercial ships will be permanently escorted by a fleet of deep-draft warships."
Charles, the Minister of the Treasury, nodded slowly after examining the numbers of the plan.
"The treasury will fully assume the cost of these naval escorts and the maintenance of the military crews," Charles declared. "We will not raise a single tariff on our buyers, nor will we burden our partners in Essos or Westeros with this cost. We will demonstrate that the Throne of the Golden Tree does not need to charge for its own security. We will absorb the financial impact and present an impregnable fleet to the world."
The vote of the High Council was unanimous. The ministers stamped their respective wax seals onto the edict ordering the immediate mobilization of the warship armada toward the departure docks. Although the Vanguard had returned safely and the pirates had been slaughtered without taking a single Xandarian life, Xandar refused to leave its destiny to the chance of the currents. With the new order in motion, Xandar would not only protect its brigs, but establish its nascent and formidable military hegemony over the disputed waters of the Summer Sea and the Narrow Sea.