The Remnant of the Pack - Book 1 - GoT

Little girl

"We can't defeat them in a straight fight." Ylina said, as she stood at the head of the table in her tent, with Ramsay beside her and a few of their men spread around it as well. "The Greyjoys have 30 longships docked in the Bay of Ice. Each of those, can carry 60 men comfortably. I'm sure the Greyjoys and the Ironborn don't particularly care for comfort, especially when there is a possibility of raiding a city they took after a good fight, so each ship carried at least a hundred men, I suppose. Which means, three thousand armed men against 250 of ours. We can't fight them like this. And even if we set free the Glovers and their men. That will give us what? A hundred more men? A hundred and fifty if we're lucky? Even so... They will outnumber us, almost ten to one."

Once she stopped talking, the tent fell silent. Every breath could be heard. The rustling of the leaves in the woods around them, the rest of their men talking outside... Ylina could swear she could almost hear the engines in her mind twisting and turning, trying to come up with a solution, but she knew the numbers and she knew her chances. That small party of Bolton men and her own had a better chance surviving a long winter without fire than actually winning a fight against the Greyjoys at that point.

"But we have to do something, my lady." One of Ramsay's men spoke up. Ser Darran she thought she had heard Ramsay call him once. "Lady Glover and her children are in danger."

"That is, if the fuckers didn't kill them all already." Another scoffed. "I mean no offense, my lady, but everyone knows about the Ironborn and how they deal with mainlanders. They come to our lands, ravish our soil, rape our women and kill our brothers. We can't let them do it again."

"Aye!" The other men in the room agreed, already becoming more and more restless.

"They have done it before, my lady." One of her own said. Ser Crook, he was called, an older soldier that fought for her Father in Robert's rebellion years before. An experienced soldier, no doubt, but as many other men in that tend, far too eager to spill blood and lash out with his sword in hands. "The Greyjoys have lead rebellions against the main lands before and they have lost every single one of those battles, running back home with their tails in between their legs to live again their miserable small lives in the islands where they're from."

"Aye!" Echoed again through the tent.

"You are right, Ser Crook." She nodded, her voice steady and firm, but low, forcing the men around her to calm down in order to listen to what she had to say. "The Ironborn rebelled against the lords of Westeros more than once, and more then once they were defeated. But never before the odds have been so benignant for them. They are attacking the North because they know the North is far less guarded then it used to be, what with Robb away in a war and two third of our forces with him. They know they outnumber us and they know they have a chance this time. If we go head on in a battle with them, we lose. Because there is not a single thing in the world they want more than for us to ride into battle with them. They'll slaughter us, kill us all one by one. And I don't know about you, my lords, but I would much rather stay alive a while longer."

"What would you have us do, then, my lady?" Ramsay spoke up.

Turning her head slightly, Ylina's eyes met Ramsay's. She could see the fire burning behind his green eyes. She could tell he, too, wanted a good, proper fight, but unlike many of the men around him, he seemed to have a little bit more of self-control. At least, for now.

"You are right." She said, turning back around so she was facing the knights and soldiers in her small army. "There is a chance that Lady Glover and her children are alive. There might be a chance that the soldiers of their house are still alive. A small chance, I understand, but still a chance. If we manage to set them free, we can save them."