Chapter 26: Chapter Twenty-Six: Sasha

"Dad, will the old raven fly to Winterfell?" Sasha Pochi asked. That raven was too old. It was said that it was originally pure black, with a whole body of shiny black feathers, but as far as she could remember, its tail feathers were always gray and white. Regardless, although it had grown old, it was still very healthy, and it often stole food in the Oak Hall and liked to quack loudly.

"Don't speak!" her father said dully.

When he was doing things, he never liked answering questions. If anyone disturbed him, he would mostly get angry, and that raven understood too.

Sasha was quiet for a while, watching her father's movements. Her father stayed on the boat with them, sitting in the corner of the boat, patiently sharpening his sword with the whetstone he brought. That sword was so big, standing up it was much taller than her, and its width was comparable to her thigh. One sword could easily chop the entire prey into two halves. It was said that it was sent by some large tribe on the Northern land. She just didn't understand why her father always sharpened the sword; that sword was clearly already very sharp. And sharpening the sword could also be left to Uncle Lynx, why did he always have to sharpen it himself?

"Dad, the Seal Bay is so wide, can the raven fly across?" Sasha asked.

Sasha often saw the sea, but this was the first time she had gone to sea. She had long wanted to know what the sea looked like on the other side. But the seawater was very cold, she felt she couldn't swim across, if it were all like the warm pool, she would consider it. She liked the warm pool under the wooden keep at home, which was large and warm. According to Old Man Pumpkin, the water in this warm pool flowed from inside a large volcano, and the molten rock burned the water in the underground river, which then emerged through the cracks in the stones between the mountains. It had been there since at least Old Man Pumpkin's grandfather's time. Actually, that old raven occasionally soaked in the warm pool, and no other bird had ever done so. Red-nosed Moye had said many times that it was a demon bird and swore to roast the stinking bird and eat it, but he could never catch it. Actually, Sasha felt that her father knew Red-nosed couldn't catch it, so he allowed him to talk nonsense. Her father himself liked that bird very much. If it were usual, he would answer all questions about that bird.

"Shut up!" her father said.

If someone else disturbed him, he would be furious and beat that person severely. But Sasha disturbing him would never be a problem. She just wanted to know about that bird too much.

Sasha stood up, leaned on the side of the boat, watching the boat break through pieces of floating ice, listening to them make crisp shattering sounds. The wind blew on her face, and she felt a bit cold. She hurriedly squatted down again, hiding under the deck.

"Dad, are ravens also afraid of the cold?" Sasha asked. She felt they were, otherwise the old raven wouldn't soak in the hot spring. But now the wind at sea was so strong and so cold, what should the raven do?

Her father finally finished sharpening the sword, then carefully wiped it clean with fur and stuffed it into the sword sheath. That wasn't actually a sword sheath, but a piece of broken skin wrapped up.

"Ravens are more afraid of the cold than people," he answered.

She wanted to ask why, but her father had already walked into the cabin. He was going to discuss countermeasures with people like Axe Jieao, Cavalry Ivan, Gunner Sita, and Uncle Lynx. The content was nothing more than about Bolton and about Stark. She didn't care at all.

She also left the deck, returned to the cabin under the deck, and then went to the bottom of the boat to see her treasure, that brownish-red unicorn. It had a lightning-shaped white mark on its forehead, which she especially liked. No other unicorn had such a symbol.

It was said that the unicorn was a unique animal on Skagos Island, and nowhere else had it. And the horn on the unicorn's head could be made into crystal-clear knives and swords, even sharper than knives and swords. According to her father, it was harder than dragon bone, just not as elastic as dragon bone.

Sasha took the lettuce and onions to the manger of her little treasure, carefully avoiding the sharp horn on its head, and touched the velvet hair on its long face.

"Eat well," she said. "When we go ashore, I'll catch fish for you."

"Moo..." the unicorn made a happy sound.

Two larger unicorns beside it seemed not to see her at all, lying proudly in their cabin. They were at least twice as big as her little unicorn, but they belonged to her father and Ivan, and Sasha would never dare to ride them.

Some people always said that the unicorn was the horse of Skagos Island, but they weren't just simple horses. They were also responsible for fighting. If anyone dared to touch the unicorn's horn, they would be shocked and fainted. However, they did look very much like horses on land, but their hair was longer, their teeth were sharper, their hooves were thicker, and their toes were more flexible, able to run quickly on the pebble beach. These were abilities that normal horses didn't possess. Of course, the most unique part still belonged to that horn.

"Eat well, I'm leaving." Sasha said to the unicorn.

She really hoped to reach land, and then ride the unicorn into Winterfell, letting the Northerners see the magical species of Skagos Island. They must all think that the unicorn had gone extinct, right? Her father had told her that no one overseas believed that the unicorn still existed.

It was said that the little boy in Winterfell was paralyzed. Maybe she could let the unicorn carry him around! By then, she would have to give the unicorn a name. Anyway, they had reached the shore, so she could name the animal whatever she wanted.

What should she call it?

She returned to the deck and didn't find anyone. Except for the sailors operating the boat, the others must have all gone to discuss things, she thought. She turned to the bow of the boat and saw dolphins jumping in the sea. When she wanted to take a closer look, they sank to the bottom of the sea and didn't appear again. She hurriedly turned to one side, wanting to rediscover them, but still didn't find them. She had to bypass the stern and come to the other side of the boat, stepping on the deck with a thumping sound.

This time, she saw them. She discovered three, black backs, white bellies, and bifurcated tails. They swam past the side of the boat, sweeping a large splash of water toward where she was, which she narrowly dodged.

Then they jumped out of the sea again.

So big, she thought, but they were all bad seeds.

She really hoped to swim with these animals. You know, she swam in the warm pool, and almost no one could compare to her, but the water in the sea was too cold, and she didn't like it.

At this moment, a group of seabirds passed over her head, making cooing sounds. She jumped up in surprise. This was the first time she had seen seabirds in her three days at sea. If seabirds could fly at sea, then couldn't her old raven do the same? She wanted to fly to her father and tell him this good news.

So she secretly slipped from the deck into the main cabin, but she saw her father and his warrior subordinates discussing. This kind of time was not suitable for asking about the raven, she understood very well. She slipped in lightly and saw her father sitting in the seat of honor, with other warriors sitting along the table. The one speaking at this time was Red Carp Russell, who might be the only one who could swim faster than Sasha, but he was already an adult and a warrior who could hold an axe. Not only that, he also liked swimming in the sea, which was something Asha couldn't compare to, as she was afraid of the cold.

"Get along with them, treat them to wine every day. This will be a good way," Red Carp said.

"But don't feed them meat, and don't say anything about eating meat," her father said.

"That's for sure," Red Carp laughed. His face was deep red and dark, looking very agile. He was the best-looking person Sasha thought.

"That's good. The rest will be done according to Carp Head's statement. When Bolton comes, help him kill the defending guards and open the city gate." She heard her father say.

"Can we eat meat then?" Axe Jieao laughed hehe.

Axe Jieao was the sturdiest person here. His beard was as long as Sasha's hair, and it was tangled with the hair on his head. There were also many colored shells and small finger bones hanging on it. There was also a deep knife scar on his face, but it was covered by his hair. It was said that it was left when he played the axe-throwing game with others.

"Look at Bolton. I will tell him that the gods all need sacrifices. If he agrees, after the sacrifice, it's up to you," her father said.

She secretly slipped away. She hated Axe Jieao because for a period of time, there were no suitable sacrifices caught, and he had offered her unicorn as a sacrifice. Although that unicorn wasn't hers, she was also very sad. There weren't many unicorns on the island to begin with.

By noon, freezing rain and hail fell from the sky. The captain lowered the sails and let the boat drift alone on the sea.

When the hail and freezing rain made everyone unbearable, Captain Laifo threw a sheep onto the deck, so everyone killed the sheep on the deck with axes in the hail and freezing rain, offering it to the Snow God. The blood stained the deck red, and the captain used a bucket of seawater to flush the blood into the sea. Red Carp cut open the sheep's belly, took out all the internal organs, and threw them into the sea, muttering the prayer for the Snow God, "May its hot blood warm your heart, may its flesh and blood fill your limbs." Only the Snow God needed warmth and also needed stable limbs.

Her father quickly chopped the sheep into several portions with that greatsword after these were finished. He threw a portion to each warrior, and even Sasha herself was assigned a portion.

The portion she was assigned was chest bone meat. She drew her dagger, cut flexibly, and soon separated the pieces of bone from the meat.

"May its bones make you stand tall," she prayed silently in her heart, and then gathered the bones together and threw them into the sea.

I did a good job, right? She looked proudly at her father. Her father nodded lightly at her.

When everyone had removed the bones, they stood by the side of the boat and prayed lightly.

When the sacrifice ended, the freezing rain and hail really stopped. They began to cheer, so they set up a bonfire on the deck, skewered the mutton on wooden strips, threw them into the fire to roast, and waited for lunch.

She remembered that along the way, to pray for gentle weather, they had killed three sheep, and to pray for a favorable wind, they had killed a slave. She knew that if they really encountered huge risks, the three unicorns at the bottom of the cabin would also be used as sacrifices, but for this voyage, they had already prepared sufficient sacrifices, so they would definitely not use clansmen to make up the numbers.

After dozens of days of slow sailing, they landed on an unknown coast of the Seal Bay. The boat ran aground on the beach, and they had to jump into the sea and slowly go ashore.

Before going ashore, they killed two female slaves and threw the corpses into the sea. They didn't say the prayer.

After jumping into the sea, she discovered that the water level was even higher than her, so she had to feel sorry for her dry fur coat. Water was never a problem for her. She took the opportunity to swim forward for a while, and by the time she went ashore and was blown by the wind for a while, she couldn't help but shiver. Red Carp and her father laughed loudly when they saw this, and the laughter scared the birds on the beach away.

They cut down dead branches in the forest by the shore, lit a large fire, so Sasha stripped herself naked and roasted her wet fur by the fire. Her father handed his seal-skin cloak to her, so she wrapped herself in the cloak and roasted by the fire. This feeling made her feel extremely comfortable.

Three unicorns, two large and one small, also went ashore, but they hid far away from the fire. Animals were always very afraid of fire, except for that raven.

To ensure the smoothness of the subsequent journey, they tied up the remaining sheep and slaughtered them by the fire. This time they said the prayer. She knew that this time, they were going to sacrifice to another god.

"May its strength entertain you."

This time it was Axe Jieao who did it. He threw the sheep's head into the fire, and Red Carp took the opportunity to cut open the flesh and skin, took out the internal organs, and hung them on the tree beside.

"May its head warn you of enemies."

Her father drew his greatsword at this time and chopped the remaining parts into blocks according to the number of people, just like before. The part she was assigned was still chest bone meat.

She was still the first to finish, and then she threw the bones into the fire. She prayed silently in her heart, "May its bones make you tough and unyielding."

"The Old Gods will like it, it is very healthy, and the sound is very loud," Red Carp said after they had skewered the meat.

Sasha felt panicked and also inexplicably felt cold.

When she had roasted her fur dry, she finally felt comfortable.

Then they began to enjoy dinner. ===== CHAPTER 27 =====

Then they began to enjoy their dinner.