"All of them," Ned answered, smirking slightly. "The North now possesses around forty five longboats. However, I'm going to need skilled sailors to man them. Given your regular trade with Bear Island, I had hoped you could provide them."
"Of course, my lord," he nodded. "I'll find however many you need."
"In addition to that, we captured many prisoners, both here and at the shore," Ned continued. "If I might impose on you once more, we need a place to keep them."
"Of course, my lord," Galbert nodded. "Our stockpiles of food were barely affected by this siege; holding some prisoners for a time will be no trouble."
"I'm pleased to hear that," Ned nodded, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "Though, I only require you to hold the ship's captains and the nobles. The common rabble should be given the usual choice."
"The Wall, or the block," Galbert nodded with a satisfied smirk. "Do you intend to give justice?"
"Hmm. No, I think not," Ned shook his head. "I will be busy with the ships we captured. Given that these are your lands and your people these… pirates have attacked, perhaps you should handle that matter?"
"It would be my pleasure, my lord."
"You have a report for me?" Wendel Manderly aske the outrider.
"Yes, milord. We saw fires burning in the courtyard, and some of the windows in the towers were lit," the man replied. "When we tried to get a closer look, we were spotted and archers started shooting at us. Two of our number were hit and fell from their horses."
"Did you see any banners?" the robust man asked. "Any at all?"
"No, milord," the man shook his head.
"What about their numbers? Can you tell me anything about that?"
"At least a few hundred," the man shrugged. "Could be more."
'Damn,' Wendel thought. 'This complicates matters.'
When Lord Stark had called the banners, most of the North was instructed to bring whatever troops they could quickly gather to Winterfell. The houses along the western coast such as the Flints of Flint's Finger, the Ryswells, the Tallharts in Torrhen's Square, and the Dustins in Barrowton were, of course, instructed to defend their lands and to report via raven any sightings of Ironborn longships. Given the fact that Bear Island and Deepwood Motte had been attacked and besieged, Lord Stark hadn't called those houses; rather, he had set out to free them as soon as possible.
House Manderly, on the other hand, was commanded to take whatever troops they could gather within a sennight and march on Moat Cailin. In addition, they were also commanded to prepare their fleet; while it was impractical to sail it all the way around Westeros to the western coast on their own, Lord Stark had said that if the King called on the North, the Manderly fleet would have to sail with the Royal Fleet. Wendel's father, Wyman, had given command of the fleet to Wylis, but the task of holding Moat Cailin had fallen to him.
'Yet it seems the Ironborn have already beaten me here,' he thought, pursing his lips as if he had just bitten into a lemon. 'Moat Cailin may be a ruin, but it is still a formidable defense…'
Still, while portions of the southern and western walls still stood, the north and east were vulnerable. And those directions just happened to be the direction he was marching from. On the other hand, despite the broken fortifications, if the defenders numbered even a third of his own nearly three thousand men, the assault would be risky. Even a victory would be a costly one under those circumstances; the courtyard was small enough that not all his troops could enter it at once, and any attempt to wade through the lizard-lion infested swamp and moat to get to the far side of the castle would likely fail.
'I may have to siege them out,' he sourly thought. Lord Reed was supposed to be sending a force from the south to help hold the ruined castle, but Wendel had received no word from them yet. 'But if their numbers were small enough, I might be able to risk an assault…'
"Get some food and some rest," Wendel commanded the outrider. "On the morrow, you and your fellow scouts will ride to the headwaters of the Fever River. Find the Ironborn's ships and count how many they have; that'll let us know how many defenders we're facing."
"Yes, milord."
"Off with you, lad," he chortled, putting on an air of good cheer as he waved the man off. "I'm told the cooks are preparing a hare stew this evening; it's sure to be a delight!"
"Yes milord!" the man replied with much cheer.
Wendel held his smile until the man left his tent, then returned to his brooding. 'Yes. I need more information. And maybe…' he mused. 'Hmm. What if…? Oh yes, I could make use of those ships… Yes, now that is a delicious thought…'
"A letter has arrived, milady," Maester Luwin informed me shortly after I'd received the news about the liberation of Deepwood Motte. "It's from King's Landing."
"Thank you," I murmured, still occupied with ledgers and sums. Though rather than focusing on my business, these ledgers recorded the various larders and storehouses where we kept our food. I was preparing rations, both for the men Ned had taken to fight the Ironborn and for the troops on their way from the east.
The responsibility of managing supply and reinforcement shipments was no small task, though thankfully I'd had at least some experience in managing said affairs shortly after I'd become Catelyn Stark. However, despite the importance of the task, my mind was on other things. Not weapons or equipment; that project was coming along well, and Artos Snow was seeing to the expansion of the trip hammers. And Jonelle Cerwyn was managing the household at least as well as I could have done, so there was nothing from that angle that needed my attention. No, my thoughts were on my health; I'd been feeling ill all day, and I was worried I was coming down with something.
The smell of pickled or roast vegetables turned my stomach, and even bread seemed to be giving me heartburn. About all I had been able to eat all day had been smoked fish or roasted meat. I'd been sick a few times since I'd come to live at Winterfell, so this was nothing new. Still, I was expecting my moon blood any day now, and my emotions were all out of sorts because of it; adding this illness on top of that was only exasperating matters.
"It bears the King's seal," Luwin stressed after a few moments of silence.
At his words, I set the ledgers down and finally looked up. "I suppose it must be important, then. Give it here, if you please."
The letter, couched in much flowery language, was essentially a call to arms from the King.
"What does it say, my lady?" Luwin asked after a few minutes.
"It seems that Balon Greyjoy has declared himself King of the Iron Islands and has declared independence," I told Luwin, shaking my head. "Aside from his attacks here in the North, it seems he's attacked the Westerlands."
"He has?" Luwin asked. "How did the Lannisters fare, my lady?"
"Poorly. It seems the Iron Fleet caught the Lannister fleet in port and burned or captured all of their ships, then sacked the city." Frowning, I looked over at the large map of the Seven Kingdoms hanging from the wall of Ned's solar. "Hmm. Lannisport, Bear Island, and Deepwood Motte… Do you think they've attacked Seaguard as well?"
"Given their other attacks along the coast, I think it is likely, my lady," Luwin agreed.
"I should write to my father, then," I hummed. Setting that thought aside, I continued. "It would seem the King received the news of their attack on Lannisport before he got Ned's letter."
Ned had, of course, sent a letter to the King before he'd rode off with his army. Even with the strained relationship, the North was still part of the Seven Kingdoms. If the King had refused to defend us, well, we'd have much bigger problems to worry about.
"It takes a long time for letters to get from here to King's Landing, my lady," Luwin gently reminded me. "Even by raven. Lannisport is much closer than Winterfell."
"I know," I sighed. "Anyway, he has called the banners; all loyal vassals of the Crown are commanded to raise their forces and march to a designated meeting point. Ned is, apparently, supposed to march for Riverrun to meet with armies from the Vale, the Crownlands, and the Stormlands."
"What of Dorne and the Reach?" Luwin asked.
"The letter didn't say," I replied. "Most likely, they'll take the Ocean Road to Lannisport."
"Sensible," Luwin said, but he seemed to be mildly frowning.
"In addition, the King wants any naval forces we have along the eastern coast to sail to Dragonstone and put themselves under command of Prince Stannis," I said. "I'll have to write the Manderlys."
"Then, shall we pen the letters, my lady?"
I sighed and pushed the ledgers to the side. Managing the food stores and supply shipments would have to wait for a time. And I could use another strip of fish jerky while I was at it. "I suppose so."
Notes:
Here are the first battles in the Greyjoy Rebellion.
The Greyjoys were working with out-of-date information. They didn't know that the paved roads could help the North move from Winterfell to Deepwood Motte so quickly. Even if only a section of the road was paved, it certainly helped the Northern army save time. In addition, they expected the North to wait until more of their army had been gathered. Per canon, it would take a couple months just to gather everyone to Winterfell, and nearly 6 months from the day the banners were called to get to the Riverlands. The Greyjoys were expecting a quick assault on an unsuspecting Bear Island and Deepwood Motte, neatly eliminating any resistance in the area, then at least a good two, possibly three moons of time to harvest timber and to ravage the countryside before a force large enough to actually threaten them would arrive. Then, if the numbers were close, they'd risk battle. If not, they'd jump on their ships and sail away with whatever they had managed to load onto them.
While the crucial timber harvest was ongoing along the western coast, a smaller force was sent to take and hold Moat Cailin, to cut off the North from any reinforcements. They Greyjoys, given their attacks along the western coast, did not anticipate the North sending troops to secure the ruin; they reasoned that the North would seek to defend its own territory before it sent troops abroad.
The fleet at Moat Cailin, at Bear Island, and at Deepwood Motte combined number about 130 ships, and somewhere around 10,000 men. Another 150 or so ships, and about 12,000 men, attacked Lannisport and have other objectives in the South.
Given the 7k or so Stark troops, and the 1.5k cavalry, it was inevitable that the forces around Deepwood Motte would lose; they didn't expect resistance so soon, weren't being as careful about patrols and long-range scouting as they should have been, and were distracted by the unexpected sieges they found themselves in. The strategic quickness (relatively speaking) with which the North moved is what caught them with their pants down. The Ironborn were hoping that Ned would wait until the forces from his eastern Houses made it to Winterfell before he marched on Deepwood Motte. Assumptions, based on old, outdated, and bad information was what cost them this defeat.
Hope you all enjoy!