The Eminence in GOT-Chapter 16: Notes of the Captain of the Beast King, Part 1 - The Beginning of the Wanderings

Chapter 16 - Notes of the Captain of the Beast King, Part 1 - The Beginning of the Wanderings

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10.08.274

Orange Coast

Hello, dear diary. This is my first entry addressed to you and future me. Into you I will record all the events that happen and write about all the places I've been to. I hope, in the future, I will be glad to read these records to my descendants, telling about my wanderings.

Yesterday we left the hospitable Volantis. The voyage went well, even the cries and pleas of Oberyn tied to the mast did not disturb us.

14.08.274

Peace

Mir. The city, located on the western coast of Essos, by the Sea of Myrtle, greeted us in a friendly manner. After selling the fruit and oils I had bought in Volantis, I ordered us to buy iron goods like needles, fibulae, axes, horseshoes and nails. This city, famous for its world-famous artisans, easily provided everything I ordered at the lowest prices. I even stayed on the plus side after all my purchases.

I never let Oberyn go ashore again. After that set-up with Taragos, he won't see any women for another three months.

19.08.274

Narrow Sea

The fifth day of my voyage differed from the rest only by one thing - my ships met pirates for the first time. I don't know what those fools were thinking when they decided to attack the "Purple Rhino", which had fallen behind and was at the end of the column, but the foresters pelted them with arrows like hedgehogs with needles, and the Highlanders finished off the rest. No one was even seriously injured.

The spoils were a small pirate schooner, 30 surviving crewmen, and 13 golden dragons.

Not only were the pirates stupid, but they were poor. I'll sell them to the first Free Cities ship I see (Except for Braavos, the Braavosians could easily punch me in the eye for such an offer).

Volkan, who had been shamelessly snoozing while on duty, got a good peck on the cheek. But it's clear that one werewolf isn't enough for my ships. We need to find another one. Surely our new destination will have them.

01.09.274

Skagos

At last we have arrived at our destination. Skagos is a large island in the North, at the mouth of Seal Bay, not far from East Watch-u-Sea, the only port of the ancient Order of the Night Watch.

It was a massive mountainous island with pale gray cliffs protruding above the salty waters-a harsh and unfriendly land inhabited by savages not far removed from the wildlings beyond the great Wall of Ice. The waters around the island were rife with dangerous currents and underwater rocks, so we could only survive and dock thanks to the skill of Victarion and Hoar, who were used to such places in their homeland. According to them this place is not much different from the Iron Islands.

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This island confirmed its notoriety immediately. As soon as the northerners landed on the shore for reconnaissance, they were shot with flint arrows and attacked by a crowd of ragged locals armed with shitty wooden shields and simple wooden clubs. The locals didn't know iron from the word "absolutely". The result was obvious - the mountaineers slaughtered them like pigs in a slaughterhouse.

Having lost most of their hotheads, the Skagos became much more open to negotiations. In the end, hundreds of seal skins, sealskins, whale whiskers and gallons of ambergris were purchased for all the iron trifle I had acquired back in Myr. Plus my cabin was now filled to the brim with amber, a transparent gold that was almost as valuable as the above items.

But the most important acquisition was unicorns. Big and shaggy animals with a horn on their heads were impressive by their mere appearance. Like mammoths and direwolves, these beasts from ancient times, almost extinct and surviving only on the northern fringes of Westeros, were the most valuable resource of Skagos, where there were only a few thousand of them. It's a good thing that the locals realize the value of these animals and breed them themselves, keeping them from going extinct.

I got them cheap. Just ten simple and uncomplicated swords that I forged at my leisure. What was worth at most 1000-1500 silver deer was exchanged for beasts that would be paid for in full gold in Braavos.

As one old worldly wisdom said, "Business is not bad as long as there are suckers."

Oberyn did it again. He managed to get into the house of the local Lord Magnar and had a threesome with his wife and daughters. According to him, they were the only women on the island he could get a hard-on for. I was in complete solidarity with him, though I beat him up for violating the punishment. Of course I thought of leaving him on the island in his mother's clothes and sailing away, but the understanding that the Dornish prince, whom you had already saved several times, was a rare and irreplaceable resource, stopped me from rash actions.

The local lord of course tried to resent such arbitrary behavior, but a good blow with the blunt side of my axe sent him into unconsciousness. And his "retinue", who had already assessed their chances against professional warriors bristling with arrows and spears, slipped off into the sunset.

There was good news. Another warg had been found. A little girl, about eight years old, named Sigrid, could control a small gull and watch it with her eyes. The girl had been sold by her own parents for a small roll of cheap canvas cloth.

I later showed up at their house and personally beat up the head of the family. To treat your children like that... such creatures should be castrated at birth.

I ended up with a new ward.

09.09.274

Braavos

Braavos... the Venice of Essos... the richest and most powerful of the Free Cities, rivaled only by Volantis.

This land of mists, mudflats, and brackish waters impressed me the most. It's incredibly rich. The sea is rich in fish and shellfish, and the mainland nearby produces slate, iron, tin, and lead, which have always been in short supply in the rest of the Free Cities. It is not surrounded by any walls or fortifications other than the natural rocky ridge separating the lagoon from the sea. This city doesn't need them; the strongest and largest fleet in the entire western oikumene replaces them.

I only came here for two places. The main branch of the Iron Bank and the Great Purple Arsenal, the shipyards considered the finest in the world.

The only reason I went to the Iron Bank was to get rid of the extra cargo. After all, 60000 gold dragons are a very tasty target for most pirates and similar personalities. Unfortunately, I didn't have any good acquaintances like in Lannisport, so the deposit was opened at only 2% interest. An acceptable result.

The great purple arsenal I needed to order a ship. I had long ago decided to follow the path of Corlis Velarion, who had made his fortune with just one large fleet, rather than several small ones, as other merchants preferred to do. And I needed a flagship like the famous Sea Serpent.

Of course, there is always a risk when putting all your eggs in one basket, but it is justified.

So in eight months, the ship whose blueprints I found and stole from the Citadel will be launched at the local shipyards. It, built in the likeness of Earth's New Age sailing ships, will surpass its local counterparts in every way, dominating the sea.

Though it came at a high price. The eight thousand gold was gone.

24.09.274

Not far from the Valyrian Archipelago.

Having sailed past Volantis, where Oberyn, still remembering what Taragos promised to do to him for seducing his daughter, begged me on his knees not to look, I was finally able to see one of the most legendary places in the world.

The ruins of Valyrian Freehold.

All that remained after his Doom.

"The simultaneous eruption of the Fourteen Fires, earthquakes and tsunamis that washed away entire islands... The flames of Doom that embraced Valyria were so fierce that even dragons burned in the sky" - I remembered the lines of one of the historical treatises authored by Archmaester Vagrano when I saw this place today. He wrote that priests of various religions preached that the Valyrians had angered the gods, and some scribes who believed in magic - that the dragon lords had used spells to control the volcanoes for centuries, and when those spells weakened, disaster struck.

Even from a few dozen miles offshore, you could see the sky as red as fresh blood, the columns of ash and dust rising from the volcanoes, the endless flashes of maroon lightning, and the ever-boiling and smoking sea.

After that, it's hard not to believe in magic.

Soon my ships would face the most dangerous part of the journey - to cross the "strait" between Valyria and the Basilisk Islands without burning in the waters of the former and without getting caught by the pirates of the latter.

All hope was in young Volkan and Sigrid, thanks to whose efforts, my ships escaped almost all the storms of the Narrow Sea and bypassed all the pirates of the Steps.

05.10.274

Qarth

The oldest and richest port city in the east of Essos, welcomed us with an open port and open arms. Situated in a strategic location on the shores of the Jade Gate Strait, connecting the Summer and Jade Seas, it was the gateway between East and West. This city of great wealth and luxury, itself considered a wonder of the world, promised me good profits and new acquaintances.

Oberyn was delighted. After spending a whole month on the ship, in the company of harsh men, who promised to stick their hands up their asses for molesting him, he almost kissed the ground with joy. And when he saw the local women with beautiful skin, the color of milk, dressed in silks and tiger fur and leaving one breast exposed, he, like most of my sailors, was completely blown away.

The next three days the Prince of Dorne, in my not very resistant company, spent at the villa of one of the local aristocrats, a member of the Pureblood Council. I will only write that in bed, the Quartians cease to be those arrogant, well-mannered and pampered snobs, turning into predators, their lust not inferior to the Dornish. That, at least, was what Oberyn said.

The locals were delighted with the goods they brought. The people of Qarth, who love to flaunt their wealth, surround themselves with luxury, and have lost their sense of moderation from birth, almost ripped off all the leather and amber I had brought, paying five times as much as I had expected.

But that was nothing compared to the excitement when short-cropped unicorns, more or less well-feeling in the hot climate of Kvarta, were brought out of the bowels of the ships. In the end, four of them were given away for free to the four major factions of the city-the Sanguine Council, the Tourmaline Brotherhood, the Spice Guild, and the Thirty. That gave me and my descendants the right to be guests of Qarth and its vassals for the rest of eternity, to pass through the Jade Gate freely, paying the standard fee rather than the higher one, and to trade freely in Qarth without joining any of the guilds.

What could be done... the locals were too proud, greedy, and loved luxury and various curiosities. For them, for the sake of these beasts, it was not worth it to give a few papers (which could be easily canceled) to a lonely merchant who visited the city for the first time and brought such a unique product.

Surely in a month's time, half of the hides and amber brought back would end up in the I-T Empire, sold for a much higher price than mine.

But that's all right. As an old merchant friend of mine used to say, "A successful deal is when both sides think they've fucked each other over."

For the other six unicorns, all three ships were packed to the brim with spices, silks, ivory, gold and gems. My first visit to Qarth ended with a profit of forty thousand dragons in the holds of my ships.

A week later, my ships, with their sides completely scraped clean of all sorts of nastiness and new sails, were on their way to their new destination.

The local Africa was waiting for me.

07.11.274

Pearl Palace, Kodge Island, Summer Islands.

The Summer Isles greeted me with tropical sunshine, a sea as green as emerald, and hospitable islanders rejoicing at the arrival of ships more than their crews after nearly a month at sea.

The books in the Citadel didn't lie on a dime. The locals were strong, tall, and handsome men, with skin as anthracite as tar. With black curly hair and dark eyes, believing mostly in the goddess of love and fertility, whose name was unknown to anyone, the Letnians welcomed us as most welcome guests. The local ruler, a descendant of the great local discoverer Malthar Xak, even met and talked to me.

We stayed here for a whole week instead of the planned three days. Most of the sailors liked the hospitality of the local women and the opportunity to visit the local Temples of Love too much. Oberyn was thinking of staying longer and staying in one of the temples. But seeing me calmly sharpening my axe and looking at them with a VERY telling look, most of them decided to return to the ships. We were even asked to join us by a few local young men who had long wanted to see the world beyond the islands.

As a result of the trade, half of the ships' holdings of silk, spices and elephant tusks were missing. But the void was quickly filled with sacks of colorful feathers, barrels of emerald wine, pearls, and skins of spotted panthers and red wolves bought from the locals.

And the locker in my cabin was replenished with several more bags of gold.

Now our journey lay to the north. First to Staromest and then to Lannisport.

24.11.274

Old Town

I didn't stay long in the city. I just had to send word to Lannisport and pick up some maps from one of the schoolboys at the Citadel. He had found a copy of a very rare book, The Nine Journeys, describing the most important journeys of Corliss Velarion, by Maester Mathis, and made some notes and sketches.

I needed information about the northern coast of Essos and the culture and life of the people east of Lorath. A century and a half had passed since the Sea Serpent's demise, but I doubt the ethnic makeup there had changed much.

Oberyn wanted to stay in the city longer. He said there was a whore who lived here that he liked a lot, but I didn't want to waste any time. I promised to go to the most elite brothel in Lannisport together.

30.11.274

Lannisport

The town below the Utes hadn't changed much in three years. Still the same high gray walls, still the same wide streets, still the same low stone houses with the usual thatched roofs of Westeros, still the same people going about their daily business.

The only thing that was noticeable was the decrease in the number of ships in the harbor. Rumor has it that the ironborn are getting crowded on their islands, so they've started robbing passing ships more and more often. And nothing could be done about it - the Golden Lion was far away in the capital, leading the state instead of Aerys, and Quellon Greyjoy, despite his authority, was a supporter of the New Law, which most of the islanders did not recognize and were not going to follow.

So the local merchants greeted the three ships full of exotic goods with applause. Some of them were even bought by the Lannisters themselves (local merchants, of course) and paid for them in full gold, enriching me by a good twenty thousand dragons.

At times like this, I simply adored the local system of sea trade, where merchants had used only one trade route for generations without risking to ship outside their sphere. The same spices, silks, and ivory from Qarth are brought here by re-buying them first in Volantis, then Pentos, King's Harbor, and then Lannisport. That alone makes the markup almost five times as much. And now it has quietly migrated into my pocket.

At the end of the trip, my expenditures on iron in Mir, which cost 3000 silver deer, turned out to be a profit of 60000 gold dragons. Even with all the costs of customs, bribes, lodging, and sailor wages, the net profit was 4200% of the original cost!

I love medieval trade!

Even Oberyn, when he saw the columns of numbers in the ledger, quietly sank to the floor. According to him, in one cycle I made a profit equal to the entire income of the House of Martell for a year.

The main thing is not to stop pleasing the rich with new trinkets and such ventures will always end in success.

So, having bought from the best city craftsmen, in a week I set out on the road.

Distant Ibben awaits its guests.

17.12.274

Lorath

The poorest, most sparsely populated and backward of all the Free Cities, almost completely isolated from all the others, met us not too friendly. The current city leaders, the Prince of Harvest, the Prince of Fishers, and the Prince of Streets, have had a policy of tightening their isolation from the rest of the world for several years now.

The only thing that allowed my ships to safely enter the port and begin unloading was a trade license acquired back in Braavos, allowing free trade in Lorath and Pentos, which had been almost vassal dependent on him for years.

But all these emotions were instantly gone when I saw the Labyrinth.

Labyrinths of hewn stone blocks, long structures of marvelous complexity, created by unknown builders, were the hallmark of this city. If my memory serves me correctly, Lorassion, the second largest island in the archipelago, is home to the largest labyrinth in existence, which took up the area of two Volantis. With four subterranean levels, and in some places nearly 500 feet deep, this monument of ancient civilization has so far excited the minds of scholars from all over the world.

Unfortunately, my future plans to sail to Ibben had to be postponed. According to local fishermen who frequent Morosh, Lorath's only colony to the east, on business, a white death epidemic has broken out on the islands, and going there would be a big mistake. My ships, if we survived the journey there, would be burned in the first port.

So I had to change my plans and sell the jewelry and steel implements I had bought in Lannisport, like harpoons, nets, and more, here instead of on Ibben, where there were always big problems with metal.

At the end of the day there was almost no profit - all the proceeds went to buy whale skin, ambergris, walrus tusks and other junk actively harvested by the local whalers.

17.12.274

Braavos

This time the visit to this city was entirely routine, with no particular purpose. It was necessary to put into the deep vaults of the Iron Bank those fifty-eight thousand gold pieces that had long ago been lying dead weight in the secret chest of my cabin. I kept the other two thousand for everyday expenses, such as bribes to customs officers, officials and guards to keep the tariffs down when entering the port, salaries for the crew, captains and navigators, and lastly, to provide for Oberyn's every whim.

Back in the Summer Isles, one of the Dornish traders then visiting Codge gave me a letter from Doran Martell, very politely "asking" me to keep an eye on his obnoxious and foolish younger brother. He didn't promise any reward, but it's clear to an idiot that for such requests in the future, the Martells will have a lot to ask of him... and I even know what.

Finally, the arsenal was inspected, where the foundation of the ship had already been laid and the hull had already appeared, slowly growing planks.

28.12.274

Tiroš

Tyrosh, a city of slave traders, adventurers, and blue hair, did not appeal to me at first - it was the first time I'd seen such a concentration of people who only thought of slaughtering their neighbors for the sake of a purse hanging from their belt.

Oberyn, on the other hand, was delighted. As soon as we stepped ashore, he took off in the company of some of the sailors and a crowd of Northerners and ran toward the center of town, shouting something like "blue-haired beauties, I'm running" at the top of his voice. Looking for him in a place as big as Mir or King's Landing was thankless and frankly useless. Sam returned a few days later when the money ran out.

I sold the contents of the holds, which added a few more bags of gold to my stock, and then I did what I had come to Tyrosh for - to find a slave trader.

Tyroshian mercenary soldiers and merchants can be found anywhere in the known world. Including beyond the Wall.

Yes, yes, my dear diary, my next target was the beasts of the Outlands - the famous direwolves, several times the size of their brethren, the dusky cats that ruled the snowy forests under the cover of night, and the polar bears that could scare the crap out of any hardened warrior. In the Free Cities, the Bay of Traders, or the I-T Empire, they'd be ripped off and asked for more.

Now I had to find at least one of those crazy slave traders who sailed to those lands for live goods and had connections among the wildling tribes.

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