"So they are going through with this, after all, huh?" Merchant Sam sighed as he watched the pirate ships continue on their course towards them.
He had hoped that by prominently displaying the Northern Wolf company's flag, which had already gained a notorious reputation out here on the seas, it would have scared them enough for them to run away, but alas...
'It seems I was overestimating a pirate's ability to keep their wits in front of an 'easy' target,'
"So... what now?" Eddard asked in a grim voice, his hand slowly tightening around the longsword at his waist, unable to deny that he was feeling some trepidation at seeing the large number of pirate ships, "I assume you have a plan in mind..."
He was not as comfortable or familiar with the longsword at his waist as he was with the Valyrian sword, Ice, but he had decided to leave that at home.
After all, there was a lot that could go wrong on a sea-faring journey across the world, and he did not want to be a sinner who lost a family heirloom on a leisurely journey just because of some mishap in a foreign land, but his current sword was also made from good Northern steel and should do just as well against bare-chested pirates.
'Hopefully, it will not come to that.'
"No, My Lord, no plan," Merchant Sam replied with a nonchalant shrug, "We just wait for our... reinforcement," he said with a meaningful look in his eyes, before he turned around and hollered at the lookout standing on top of the mast, "Wave the flag, boy!"
The young sailor looked as if he had just been waiting for that signal, and immediately began energetically waving the small red flag in his hands, which should easily be visible on all three of their ships in the distance.
The reaction to this was almost instant as all the veteran sailors on all four of their ships understood the intended command and began moving with purpose in their steps.
But their actions were contrary to the situation at hand, as instead of preparing their weapons, wearing their armours, or even taking out the stocked arrows like one would to prepare for a battle, they began herding the newcomers, the non-combatants, and all the various deckhands into the lower rooms of their ships, looking as if they were trying to hide something from them.
And the reaction of the ones being flocked into the lower decks was also very strange, as all of them acted as if they had been through this a hundred times, and cooperated wholly with the experienced sailors.
"My Lord," Merchant Sam suddenly called while gesturing with his head towards the other end of the deck where two girls were looking around at the commotion with confused looks on their faces, "I think it is better if the young misses do not see what happens next... because what is going to happen next is not going to be a pretty sight."
Eddard inwardly cursed himself, having almost forgotten the fact that these two were still out and about, so he immediately nodded his head and began making his way towards the two.
"F-Father! What is happening here?!" Sansa asked, looking relieved to have caught sight of her father, and hurriedly approached him with a bewildered look on her face, and Daenerys followed behind her, also staring curiously at the strange happenings on the deck.
"Girls! I need you to go inside to your rooms, right now, and not come out until I call for you. Do you understand?" he said in a grave voice that immediately set off alarms in their brains.
"But, why? What is happening? Is something wrong?" Sansa asked back with a flustered look on her face, unable to comprehend what could have gone wrong in the short while since they had left the city of Volantis, and why he was in such a hurry to force them inside.
"I..." Eddard was lost for words at that, having no clue as to how to explain to his daughter that they were being targeted by pirates, but there was also no need to worry because her brother had some plan in mind: "There's no time to explain, just listen to me for now, I will explain it to you later." He lied without a change in expression.
"But—"
"I think you should listen to him, Sansa."
Daenerys suddenly interjected with a serious look on her face.
With her sharp eyes, the Targaryen girl had already caught sight of the distant dot-sized ships in the distance, and taking into account the absence of Gan and Tweety, she instantly realised what was about to happen, and decided to help the kind Lord out.
"I—fine," Sansa relentled with a sigh, knowing better than to bother him when he got that stoic look on his face, so she just nodded her head and began to head towards their rooms, bringing along a very distracted Daenerys, who kept looking back towards the sea as if she were searching for something.
"And make sure to keep Arya beside you. Do not let her come out here in any condition," Eddard urged from behind as he watched them disappear into the cabin room.And with that, only the most relevant personnel who either had a good idea of what was coming or had already been present during one of the company's earlier excursions were out on the deck.. everyone else had already been forced to go inside.
'Thankfully, Catelyn is already in her room resting to sleep off yesterday's tiredness, and Arya is with her, or else it would have been almost impossible to make them understand the circumstances in detail,' he thought with a dreadful shudder, imagining a panicking wife and rebellious daughter on top of the situation at hand.
'Thought, it's not as if even I fully comprehend what is about to happen...' Eddard thought with a frown as he turned towards the pirate ships that had stopped spreading and were now approaching them at full speed, and then his eyes began roaming over the skies and the seas, searching for what... he wasn't exactly sure, but he just knew that he would recognise his target immediatley if he saw it.
'After all, it must be quite a beast for his son to be so sure of the victory that he didn't even bother to consider changing their course despite having an inclination of the imminent ambush.'
Eddard had always kept a hands-off approach when it came to Jon, and this was especially true after he had revealed to him his ability to warg inside an animal.Having previously only known about wargs from old tattered tomes in the Winterfell library or from the nighttime tales of Old Nan, Eddard had not believed much in the stories that there were some amongst his ancestors who, along with a few other special First men, possessed this mystical power to command beasts.
But then Jon proved him wrong, and not only that, but from what he had seen, the boy was a lot more capable in this art than those ancient who were barely able to go a few minutes inside some ravens to see the surroundings, before they had to leave to protect their sanity.
This was also why he had not resisted the idea of his leaving the North and going out to make it on his own.
Because he knew that with this magical ability of his... the boy could take good care of himself, no matter where he was or what situation he found himself in.
'Though even Eddard hadn't expected that he would make it so big, or become so rich...'