Song of A Northern Sorcerer

It took Nox less than a day to decide that he really didn't care for riding horses. In the Empire, almost all travel was done via speeder bikes or speeders or some form of cushioned ride. Riding animals was an extravagance. And while some worlds still depended on using animals for transit, due to world conditions that made them more efficient than mechanical transportation, Nox tended not to use them if he could. He'd never seen the point. But now, after riding for over ten days at the brutal pace Lord Stark had set for them to reach Barrowton quickly, Nox was regretting his decision not to get used to animal transit. His thighs ached and his ass was killing him. The only relief he was able to find were the brief moments when Stark would call a halt in order to rest and water their horses momentarily.

On the eleventh day into their trek, Barrowton came into view. And as it did, Nox found himself shaking his head even as the other men of House Stark began muttering in surprise and outrage. "Sometimes it's almost painful to be right all the time."

In the distance, plumes of smoke were rising from within town of Barrowton. Over a dozen longboats were stationed just outside the harbor that was connected to the river that few into the Saltspear. Each sail of the longboats was decorated with emblems belonging to a House that owed their loyalty to the Greyjoy's of the Pyke. He could almost hear the cries of battle coming from within the town as the defenders within tried to fight back against the pirates that'd stormed their shores.

"It seems that you were right, Master Nox." Lord Stark stated angrily as he brought his horse alongside his own. "The krakens have indeed decided to attack the North as well as the south."

"Yes." Nox nodded as he reached out through the Force, trying to ascertain what was happening within the walls of Barrowton. "And it looks as if Lady Dustin didn't take your words to heart when you told her to ready the defenses of her city. Foolish."

"Aye, I'll be having words with her. A personal vendetta is no reason to neglect one's subjects." Lord Stark muttered, anger lacing his voice. "But that can wait. First, we must liberate Barrowton. The north gate is still open, we can ride in an-"

"No offense, Lord Stark." Nox muttered, sliding easily off his horse and shaking his legs to get the blood flowing to his limbs. "But I work better alone. You and your men should secure the town. The pirates have made it about halfway to the keep, and Lady Dustin has sealed the gates and put her best men on the walls, keeping her safe. But the krakens don't care her or the keep. They're merely raiding the city, taking what they want and killing whoever gets in their way. I'll make for the harbor and cut off their retreat."

Stark looked at him with a look of disbelief, but he nodded none the less. "Very well, I'll leave the harbor to you. But shouldn't you take your horse? You'll be able to cover ground faster if-"

Nox didn't give Stark the chance to finished what he'd been saying before he took off like a shot towards Barrowton. The Force fueling his movements and allowing him to move faster than any human had a right to move. After not using the Force for so long in such a manner, Nox almost felt euphoric as the Force flowed through him, strengthening his body and fueling him. Once he reached the base of the wall surrounding the town he jumped, using the Force to throw himself skywards and sailing clear over the tall wall and onto the roof of a house that was stationed nearby within the confines of the wall.

He could hear the guards that were stationed on the wall behind him shouting at him, but he tuned them all out as he sunk deeply into the Force, feeling out where the fighting was taking place within the town. He could sense multiple small skirmishes all over. But there was one in a heavily populated area that drew his attention. He could sense dozens of Ironborn pirates and…untrained Northmen trying desperately to hold them back. 'Hmph. And the guards of this town are all sitting on their asses protecting the inner keep. How pathetic.'

His course set, Nox turned and ran across the roof, jumping when he reached the edge of the house and landing on the house next to it. Making his way quickly across the town, he homed in on the fight happening in the populated area. The Ironborn were pushing the untrained militia back at a steady pace, the untrained men and boys no match for the hardened pirates. Reaching the edge of the square, Nox jumped off the house he was on, aiming for the thick of the fighting.

Channeling his hatred and his excitement at the prospect of the battle to come, he propelled himself downwards, slamming into the ground directly before an Ironborn pirate who'd just been about to run a fallen northern man through. The force of his impact sent a shockwave through the ground, sending both Ironborn and northern men stumbling backwards away from him.

'That's tough on the knees,' Nox winced, channeling the Force through his body to alleviate the slight pain emanating from his knees. 'Need to reign it in a bit. It's been so long since I've been able to truly let go like this that I'm forgetting the basics. Stupid and amateurish. Ashara would've handed me my ass pulling such an idiotic stunt without compensating for the landing.'

Turning his head to face the northern men behind him, Nox found that the militiamen had yet to recover as most were staring at him in opened mouth shock. "It'd be for the best if you all sit this one out." Nox calmly informed them, "I cannot guarantee that I won't kill you by accident if you get in my way."

"Who the fuck are you?"

Turning the other direction, Nox faced off against the Ironborn. The pirates had been much quicker to reorient themselves. The nearly two dozen pirates had managed to form a shield wall of sorts, leaving three men wearing steel plated armor between himself and them. "Who I am is of no consequence to you." Nox replied calmly, address the Ironborn in the lead, a rather unfortunate looking man who had a scar running across his face from temple to mouth. "After all, my name will do you no good once you're dead."

The unfortunate looking Ironborn grinned as he reaffixed his grip on his axe and brought his shield up. "Ha! Finally, a worthy opponent! Come at me! And let me send you to the Dro-"

The hiss of Nox's lightsaber activating cut the man off as Nox disappeared from his sight, only to reappear behind him. "Pathetically slow," Nox muttered.

The unfortunate looking Ironborn didn't even have time to react as Nox's lightsaber bisected him, putting him to the ground in two pieces. The other two Ironborn fared little better as the sudden death of their leader stunned them, giving Nox more than ample time to cut both men down with his lightsaber.

Shaking his head at just how easy it'd been to dispatch three of the pirates, Nox faced off against the dozen Ironborn making up the shield wall. "Well, who's next?"

Three men separated themselves from the others, shooting war cries, something along the lines of 'what is die may never die' as they charged at him, their swords or axes raised and their shields held slightly off to their sides. "You're full of openings," Nox commented dryly as settled into a sorseu guard. "You're all full of openings."

Three quick steps followed with three equally quick cuts, and Nox felled three more Ironborn before the first even knew what'd happened. "I thought that you Ironborn were supposed to be ruthless pirates who fought with the strength of ten men," Nox lamented as he idly twirled his lightsaber in a slow circle to his side. "I'd actually been looking forward to this. I'd hoped that you lot would prove to be something resembling a challenge. But now I see I was sorely mistaken. Such a pity. I guess I'm just going to have to kill you all for wasting my time like this."

The Ironborn broke their line as they all charged him as one, battle lust and anger clouding their judgement. Keeping his movements to the bare minimum, Nox deftly weaved his way in between the charging Ironborn, his lightsaber a blur of motion around him as he cut them down on by one. Time lost meaning as each death he wrought fed into the dark side flowing through him. All too soon for his tastes, it was over. Over a dozen Ironborn lay dead at his feet, limbs separated from bodies and shields and weapons cut into pieces.

Rolling his neck as he allowed the almost euphoric sensation of the dark side coursing through him to subside, Nox turned his attention to the last two remaining Ironborn. They were young. And scared shitless. Literally by the smell emanating from one of the two. Had this been the Empire, he would peg the two as just barely being old enough to be enlisted into the Imperial Army. But that didn't bother him. He'd killed younger. No, what bothered him was the fact that the fight was all but gone from the two.

"How pathetic." Nox groaned, shaking his head. "You two were so eager to kill, rape and reave just a moment ago. But now that you are facing an opponent of my caliber, you're both shitting yourselves. Pathetic. Did it not occur to you that you both might be putting your lives on the line when you came to pillage this town? Or did you think you'd be able to do as you please and leave without harm?"

Both boys turned towards one another, sharing an unspoken conversation before turning back to him. As one, they dropped their shields and weapons and fell to their knees. "Please…" One of the boys whimpered, "Don't kill us!"

Scoffing, Nox deactivated his lightsaber and clipped it onto his belt. "Pathetic." Turning towards the remaining townsfolk, all of whom were staring at Nox in opened mouth awe, he motioned towards the two kneeling boys. "Bind them and bring them to either Lord Stark, who's just passed by the outer wall, or the leader of this town. Lady Dustin, if my memory is correct. Then create a barricade here to protect you from both directions and hold up as best you can until the fighting is over. Lord Stark should be arriving momentarily with reinforcements to aid you and your people."

Not wanting to give the northerners a chance to argue against his orders, Nox leapt back up onto the roof of a nearby house and began moving towards the harbor. Arriving at the docks, Nox found that the Ironborn ships were relatively undefended. The only pirates visible were those that were loading whatever they could carry onto their longboats. Scanning the rest of the docks, Nox grimaced as he took note of the northern sea vessels. Or rather what was left of them. 'Damn it. I really hate it when I'm right sometimes.'

The Ironborn had obviously made disabling the northern ships a priority before they began to raid the town. Almost all the ships were at the very least partially sunk, and those that weren't were put to the torch. 'Well,' Nox thought, summing his lightsaber hilt into his hand. 'Good thing that we the Ironborn were so nice to provide us with replacements.' Drawing on the Force, Nox leapt off the building he'd been standing on, activating his lightsaber in midair and bringing it down onto an unsuspecting pirate, cutting the man clean in two.

The dying scream of the pirate he'd bisected alerted those nearby to Nox's presence. The men all started yelling as they dropped whatever they were carrying and began to scramble for whatever weapons were nearby. "Well then," Nox smiled beneath his mask as he rolled his shoulders. "Let's have some fun."

Riding through the gates of Barrow Town, Ned felt the familiar rush of the wolf within him howling at the prospect of a fight. In the past he'd always suppressed the wolf within. But this time, this time he did the exact opposite. He didn't suppress the wolf, he let it free. Sights, sounds. Everything was clearer to him as he and his one hundred men rode through the gate with their swords drawn, ready to liberate Barrowton.

The first Ironborn they came across didn't stand a chance, as his back was turned towards Ned and his men. A part of Lord Arryn's teachings screamed at him to give the man a warning, a chance to fight back, but the wolf was louder. This man, this Ironborn, dared to attack the North. His people. Like hells was he about to give him a chance. The thundering of the horse's hooves brought the Ironborn man around, but it was far too late as Ice sliced through the air, cutting clean through the man's neck.

Pulling tightly on the reigns of his horse, Ned brought himself around in tight circle, surveying the town around him. "Jory!" He shouted. "Take twenty men with you to the keep! The rest of you, with me! We liberate Barrowton of the Ironborn and throw the bastards back into the sea!"

"Yes, my lord!" Jory shouted, his sword already bloody and the body of an Ironborn near the hooves of his horse. "You twenty, with me! The rest of you ride with our lord! The Warden of the North! The Quiet Wolf!"

The men of House Stark shouted. Their swords raised as the lust for battle took hold. Ned could almost taste their desire to fight on the tip of his tongue. And for once, the thought didn't disgust him. He wanted to fight. He wanted to throw these bastards back into the sea. He wanted them to bleed for daring to attack his people. And by the old gods, he was going to see that through!

Digging his heels into his horse, Ned set off deeper through the wide streets of Barrowton, the eighty men still with him close behind and forming up. The deeper they went into the town, the more and more Ironborn they encountered, but never more than ten or twenty at a time. And while the Ironborn could never be considered cowards, they were not stupid either. The moment those ten to twenty men found themselves facing eighty heavily armored and mounted adversaries, most turned tail and fled. Or rather, they moved into the town and off of the main roads where the men of the North lost their advantage of being on horse in the tight quarters of the side streets.

"Damn it," Ned growled yet another group of Ironborn turned tail and ran into the narrow backstreets the moment Ned and his men descended upon them. The only silver lining to the Ironborn tactics was that they were slowly being funneled out of the town and towards the harbor. But that raised another concern. If the Ironborn managed to retreat to their ships, they would surely set sail immediately and then they would be gone. And while Nox stated that he would be taking care of the harbor, how much could one man truly do against this many?

Turning towards his men, he raised his voice to shout so all could hear him over the sounds of fighting. "Half of you continue this pace through the town and funnel the Ironborn towards the harbor! The other half will ride with me to the harbor! We'll cut the legs out from these Ironborn cunts and send them to their Drowned God after facing northern justice!"

Riding hard, Ned and the remaining forty of his men rode as fast as they could through the streets, heading for the harbor. As they came upon what Ned knew to be the main market of the town near the harbor, they came upon a curious sight. Near two dozen Ironborn pirates were held up in the middle of the street, by a makeshift barricade that'd obviously been hastily constructed in the middle of the street to cut off any retreat.

Rising in his stirrups, Ned cleared his throat and held Ice aloft. "Ironborn! There is no hope for retreat now! Surrender an-"

A sensation, a warning from the wolfsblood made Ned drop down and roll out of his saddle; just in time for a crossbow bolt to pass right where his chest had been and pierce through the armor of one of the men behind him. Making the man tumble out of his saddle with a cry of pain as he clutched at the bolt sticking out of his shoulder.

Quickly rolling to his feet, Ned brought Ice to bare as he stared down the Ironborn that were quickly trying to arrange themselves into some sort of formation to face off against the north men. As much as Ned wanted to just end this, his time in the Vale and under the tutelage of Jon Arryn demanded that he give the doomed men a chance. "Men of the Iron Islands! This is your last chance, surrender now and you may live the rest of your life at the wall. Do not, and your lives end here and now!"

"What is dead may never die!" One of the Ironborn near the front of the pack shouted, to which several behind echoed.

Shaking his head, Ned motioned for his men to form up. "So be it."

The fight, if it could even be called that, lasted for less than a few minutes. Stuck between the makeshift barricade behind them and the northern cavalry in front of them, the Ironborn stood little chance. Within a single pass, nearly half of the Ironborn were dead and the other half quickly lost their nerve, nearly tripping over themselves in order to surrender to the northern forces.

With the remaining Ironborn either dead or surrendering, Ned picked up a discarded cloak and carefully wiped the blood off of Ice as he watched his men round up the remaining reavers. "Lord…Lord Stark."

Turning his attention off of the gathering of the prisoners, Ned spied one of the residents of Barrowton carefully making his way over the barricade, pausing only for a moment to put the club he'd been using to fight down before stopping a respectful few paces away from Ned. "Aye," Ned nodded, sheathing Ice once he was satisfied, he'd gotten all the blood off of the ancient blade. "And what is your name, good man?"

"Thomas, milord." The man said, bowing his head respectfully. "You…You truly are Lord Stark? You…You came…just like he said you would."

"He?" Ned questioned, giving the smallfolk man his full attention.

The man nodded, "Aye, milord. A strange man he was. Dressed all in black, even had a black hood over his head. And he was wearin a mask dat covered his face from the eye. And he wielded a sword made-"

"-of fire. And said sword cut though anything it encountered, didn't it?" Ned finished for the man, to which Thomas nodded. "Where did he go?"