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Sunlight streamed through the window, bathing Jon in its warm glow. In the single bed across from him, Pyat Pree knelt in a posture of total submission, carefully weighing every word he spoke. He was terrified of displeasing the young Duke before him.
After all, regardless of Jon's temperament, the fact that he had single-handedly boarded Euron's ship and driven the Crow's Eye away was something no ordinary man could achieve.
"If one wishes to employ blood sacrifice magic, the offering must meet certain requirements," Pyat Pree explained, choosing his words with extreme caution. "The ideal sacrifice is the blood of a Valyrian Dragonlord—the Dragonlords themselves were creations of magic. Next best are sorcerers or what the pyromancers often call 'king's blood.' Last are we warlocks, who carry a measure of magic within our own veins—"
Pyat Pree did his best to lay out exactly how blood sacrifice magic worked for Jon.
Right now, Euron already had perfect sacrificial material close at hand: Balon, Balon's daughter, Aeron, and Victarion.
Since Euron was sailing to attack Winterfell together with his brother Victarion, his intended sacrifice was painfully obvious.
"What is the final effect of a blood sacrifice?" Jon asked, following his own logic. For an attacking army, the greatest obstacle would naturally be the high walls of the castle.
Perhaps Euron would sacrifice Victarion to trigger an earthquake that would collapse Winterfell's walls? To Jon, that kind of magic sounded terrifying.
"It depends entirely on the caster's desire. I don't know the specifics. Among the four warlocks you rescued, the one named Xaro—the one who had his eyes gouged out and tongue cut off—he was the expert in blood sacrifice magic. Unfortunately, he can no longer communicate with you. Even if you wished to learn it, it would take at least half a year. To maximize the power of a blood sacrifice, one would need years of dedicated study."
Pyat Pree remained extremely respectful, even as his kneeling body began to tremble from the strain.
For Jon, learning blood sacrifice magic wouldn't be difficult. All he had to do was kill the warlock named Xaro.
But there was still one thing he needed to understand—why had Pyat Pree asked him to kill him the moment they first met?
Jon asked about that day and warned him not to lie, or he would kill him on the spot.
"It was like this, my lord… we warlocks can extend our lives by draining the life force of those with Valyrian Dragonlord blood, or king's blood, or even our fellow warlocks. I feared that once you learned the magic, you would take my life for yourself."
So there was magic like this! Jon's mind reeled, and a deep disgust rose in his heart.
At the same time, he finally understood why the warlocks in Qarth had lured Daenerys into the House of the Undying—they wanted to drain her life force.
Sure enough, Pyat Pree honestly explained the danger of the practice: the constant craving for life, the endless draining of it, would eventually overwhelm everything else until the practitioner lost their very self!
It was similar to resurrection magic—driven by obsession, a person could keep reviving with an intact body, but at the cost of their memories and emotions. Once the obsession vanished, the magic would fail.
In short, it was not proper magic, and Jon had no intention of learning it.
In the month since returning to Casterly Rock, Jon had made time whenever possible to question the warlocks about magic. Now that he understood enough, it was time to let them die.
He would kill the one who knew blood sacrifice magic, then use Pyat Pree and the others as sacrificial material.
Soon, Jon left the room where the warlock named Xaro was held, a blood-stained dagger in his hand.
Blood Sacrifice Magic [White]
Remaining Upgrade Points: 2
"My lord, setting out in three days is far too rushed. We won't be able to muster many troops, and more importantly, we have far too few ships. Two thousand men is the absolute limit we can transport."
In Jon's study at Casterly Rock, Brynden voiced his deep concerns.
Jon had just told him that the Iron Islands were preparing to attack Winterfell and that he intended to lead a relief force personally.
Brynden was moved by the sentiment, but with Casterly Rock's current naval strength, they had no hope of matching the Ironborn. This was tantamount to throwing eggs against a rock.
Especially once he learned that the Iron Islands were mobilizing eight thousand warriors, it became even more impossible.
Brynden estimated that by the time they arrived, Winterfell would already have fallen.
"Ser Brynden, your concerns are valid, but according to my information, the Iron Islands may possess some method to breach Winterfell rapidly. At that point, even Robb won't arrive in time. My—no, our family could be captured. The only way is to locate where they plan to anchor their ships and cut off their retreat!"
"Rapidly breach Winterfell?" Brynden couldn't imagine how ironborn pirates could quickly take Winterfell.
Even if Winterfell's defenses were currently weakened because Robb had marched north, it still wasn't something a few thousand men could crack in a short time.
But since this was information Jon had provided, Brynden had no choice but to believe it.
Whether it came from spies or dark magic didn't matter. What mattered was getting troops moving immediately!
News of Jon mobilizing troops and ships quickly reached Alester Florent. He practically rushed to confront Jon the moment he heard.
But Jon had no interest in arguing with him. Before becoming Duke, he had fought tooth and nail with Roose Bolton for command. Now that he was Duke, he refused to waste time fighting over it again.
Besides, Jon knew exactly what he wanted: to absorb the Iron Islands completely and form a Sunset Sea alliance based on the West, the North, the Riverlands, and the Reach through his "triangular trade" system.
This would allow him to accumulate supplies and strength more effectively to face the coming Long Night and the terrible Others. Naturally, such power would threaten Stannis's rule.
Stannis would inevitably try to suppress him sooner or later.
Since that was the case, there was no need for politeness. Jon directly stated that the Reach armies were still mustering and the Redwyne fleet was still preparing—the real war hadn't even begun yet. As the "future commander," his orders didn't apply to the current situation!
Moreover, his reason for going to save them was perfectly justified. If Stannis insisted on making an issue of it, he would only lose the hearts of the people.
Fortunately, when they had taken Casterly Rock, the castle's supplies had barely been touched and were essentially intact.
The war materials were ready. Although time was tight, they still had the strength to fight.