Chapter 68: Helene Pyke's Plan

"Iron Bitch" Helene Pyke was captured beneath Abyss Keep, and the dozen or so longships she had left by the sea also met their doom.

Lord Marlon Manderly of White Harbor detected the Ironborn landing to raid Abyss Keep from the sea; since the number of Ironborn left on the ships was small, he sent White Harbor vessels to attack. The Ironborn left guarding the longships were either captured or killed, and some fled into the deep mountains. All the longships fell into the hands of the North.

In the dim dungeon, Helene Pyke, wearing shackles, curled up in a corner.

A torch illuminated everything around her. Helene Pyke looked up, facing the blinding firelight. Eddard walked in and stuck the torch into the torch holder.

Helene Pyke squeezed out a smile, "Lord Eddard, do you intend to release me? Or will you use House Stark's ancestral Valyrian steel greatsword, Ice, to sever this beautiful head of mine?"

"Helene, you are very young." Eddard's tone was filled with helplessness, "But you led Ironborn Pirates to raid the east coast of the North and incited the Rockborn to rebel; your crimes are too grave to be forgiven."

Helene Pyke was neither humble nor pushy, "Lord Eddard, I admit that I led Ironborn Pirates to burn, kill, and loot, and to abduct women and children. But inciting the Rockborn to rebel? When I arrived at Skagos, Samlo Crowl had already donned the Stone Crown. Since ancient times, the Rockborn have governed themselves on Skagos and done as they pleased; you know very well that Winterfell has had little influence there."

Eddard said coldly, "Even if the charge of inciting rebellion were removed, the single act of raiding the east coast of the North is enough to convict you. Whether by the laws of the Iron Islands, the North, or anywhere else in the Seven Kingdoms, you must be executed. Many of my vassals have demanded that I execute you, along with the pirates under your command."

Greatjon Umber clamored to have Helene Pyke beheaded and the other pirates sent to The Wall; Roose Bolton suggested torturing the Iron Bitch and her pirates before executing them; Lord Rickard Karstark of Karhold suggested dragging the Iron Bitch Helene Pyke and her men before a Weirwood Heart Tree to be hanged; Billy Stane, Lord of Floating Driftwood Hall of the Rockborn, suggested using the blood of the Ironborn to blood-sacrifice to the Old Gods.

Helene Pyke stroked Eddard's chest with her hand, her sea-blue eyes flickering with seduction. Even covered in dirt and straw, the Iron Bitch remained full of charm, "I am willing to kneel and submit, and lead the Ironborn under my command to serve Winterfell. I am even willing to let Lord Eddard do as he pleases with me; I am willing to become, Lord Eddard's, salt wife."

In the Iron Islands, Ironborn raiders use captured male prisoners as bondmen for physical labor like mining and rowing. Women captured are taken by the Ironborn as salt wives. An Ironborn man can have multiple salt wives, but only one rock wife. A rock wife must be a free folk Ironborn of the Iron Islands, while salt wives come from women raided from the Seven Kingdoms and even all over the world to the Iron Islands.

The status of a salt wife is far inferior to that of a rock wife, but the children of a salt wife also have rights of inheritance, ranking after the children of the rock wife. The Targaryen Dynasty once demanded that the Iron Islands abolish the salt wife system, but hundreds of years have passed, and the salt wife system still exists in the Iron Islands.

King Balon, who now rules the Iron Islands, even encourages the Ironborn to take more salt wives for the sake of population growth in the Iron Islands; for this, King Balon did not hesitate to exempt Ironborn men from taxes on taking salt wives.

Helene Pyke wanted to be Eddard's salt wife, but Eddard pushed Helene Pyke's hand away. "Salt wife? Helene, we in the North are not the Iron Islands; we do not permit the taking of salt wives."

Helene Pyke made eyes at him, "I certainly didn't mean for Lord Eddard to take me as a salt wife in the proper sense; I meant that I could be your mistress. When I was in the Stepstones, many pirates pursued me. The Lysene pirate Salladhor Saan even threatened to sell me to the most expensive brothel in Lys!"

Eddard said coldly, "My wife Catelyn and I are very devoted to each other. I have five children; I do not need a mistress, and I would never betray my wife for a woman."

Helene Pyke laughed in spite of herself, "Heh! Lord Eddard is truly a gentleman. But I have heard that you have a bastard named Jon Snow. If you have never betrayed Catelyn Stark, what is the story with this bastard?"

Eddard shrugged, "People make mistakes when they are young. I do have a bastard, but I have taken my bastard in to be raised by my side. I give Jon Snow the same treatment as my trueborn sons; I have fulfilled my duty to my son. Helene, you are a bastard of the Iron Islands; did your parents ever look after you?"

Helene Pyke's eyes dimmed instantly, "My mother was a fisherwoman in King's Port. I don't know who my father is; I reckon he was likely a sailor or a pirate of some sort! Lord Eddard, I was born low-born and a bastard; there was no place for me in this world from birth, so if I wanted to get what I wanted, I had to take it."

"I was an apprentice on a ship at twelve, killed for the first time during a raid at fourteen, and became a captain at sixteen. I competed with pirates from Lys, Tyrosh, Myr, and even the Summer Islands in the Stepstones. After King Balon's rebellion was suppressed, many Ironborn were disappointed in King Balon on the Seastone Chair and chose to go to the Stepstones to pursue the Old Way and live by raiding. Many Ironborn Pirates threw their lot in with me."

"I was once the Pirate Queen, until that damned Lysene pirate Salladhor Saan began targeting me. This Lysene pirate is wealthy and powerful; he couldn't defeat my fleet of Ironborn longships, so he spent money to unite with pirate ships from Tyrosh and Myr to besiege me. Salladhor Saan also obtained supplies and warships from Dragonstone through his friend, the Onion Knight Davos Seaworth."

Eddard was somewhat surprised, "You had to face the combined assault of pirates from Lys, Tyrosh, Myr, the 'Kingdom of the Three Daughters', and Dragonstone?"

Helene Pyke lamented, "No pirate could gain a foothold in the Stepstones with so many enemies, so I had no choice but to take my people and flee to the North, to Skagos."

Eddard questioned, "Since you were determined to raid in the Seven Kingdoms, why did you choose the North alone? Why did you choose Skagos?"

Helene Pyke gave a wicked smile, "Because the North's naval power is too weak, and Skagos is more like a land without a master. Ever since Brandon the Shipwright, the North has had no fleet, and the coastline of the North is truly too long. This land is so vast, with black soil everywhere. Although it is a bit cold, it is not bad as my pirate kingdom."

This was exactly what Eddard was worried about. The weakness of naval power had invited "Iron Bitch" Helene Pyke and her pirate fleet. Hunters always look for weak prey to strike and dare not easily provoke powerful enemies; the law of the jungle is never wrong.

Eddard said, "You intended to rely on Skagos to build your pirate kingdom?"

Helene Pyke said apologetically, "I intended to rely on Skagos to unite with the Rockborn and raid the North and Beyond the Wall. I even planned to sell Wildlings from Beyond the Wall, and after accumulating wealth, build a more powerful fleet of longships. At the necessary moment, I could unite with the King-Beyond-the-Wall Mance Rayder to attack the North together."

(End of chapter)