The King of Winters

Chapter-88

Asha

They crossed the Sea of Dorne in two long weeks and the better part of another one, never stopping anywhere in fear that the pirates of Euron come chasing after them. It was a lonely time for Asha, having lost her brother and almost all of her friends. Of those close to her only her crew remained, even at that she had lost Erik and Loren and Darkon and Fenris in the fight against Euron's creatures. The rest of her crew and companions were all that's left for her from the twenty five strong ships who had accompanied the start of the voyage.

Asha missed her brother most of them all. Rodrik Greyjoy had been a good brother as much as a brother could be. He helped her face her fears, taught her to swim, put the axes in her hands when she finally let go of her mother's hand and saved her life from a certain death even though it cost him his life. She never knew how Euron managed to find them there at the right time. Someone must have told them that they were there, otherwise how could the Crow's Eye have known that they were taking that route the very same day he returned back from his voyages in the east.

She missed her family too, more than she ever would have thought. Asha had never thought that she would come to miss them ever in her life. But in that moment she did miss them. She was Lord Balon's daughter as much as she was the captain of her ship. She had to alert them of the return of Euron Greyjoy. Asha didn't know why her uncle had come back from the east now, but she knew that it was not for anything good.

The cost of his return had already been dear. Rodrik dead, half the ships who had come with them destroyed with all their crews dead, while the other half is captured. Her lord father had given her twenty five longships to accompany her in the voyage. Two remained, counting her own Black Wind, and the Salty Wench which belonged to Quentyn Greyjoy, who had joined her when all the other men were dying or fleeing to take Euron's side. No. That is not just. They were just saving their skin. If anyone fled, it was me. The memory still shamed her. The Black Wind and Salty Wench had been the only ones to escape the clutches of her uncle that day. Even still the damage had been done. Her men had fallen in the fight as well, friends and companions and confidants who had been with her for many long years.

She was more than glad to have escaped unscathed with most of her crew. Still she hoped at times that she should have died with her brother fighting alongside him. If Rodrik had not pushed her off his ship at the last instant, she would have done that after all. Another dead kraken in the waters without much use to anyone.

She said as much to Qarl the Maid that night, as they ran away from Silence. “Be careful what you pray for, my lady,” he replied. “You might just get your wish fulfilled. If your uncle doesn't care a fig about your brother, then he would care even lesser about you.”

“Or I might finally put him down for what he did to my brother,” Asha said “Euron Greyjoy is a man as well, and I have killed a lot of men in my life.”

“Is that what your uncle is? A man?” Qarl grimaced, his smooth cheeks shining in the light of the torch. On the isles he was known as Qarl the Maid, in part to distinguish him from Qarl Shepherd, Queer Qarl Kenning, Qarl Quickaxe, and Qarl the Thrall, but more for his smooth cheeks. When Asha had first met him, Qarl had been trying to raise a beard. "Peach fuzz," she had called it, laughing. Qarl confessed that he had never seen a peach, so she told him he must join her on her next voyage south.

She brought him to the Arbor, where the peaches were always the best to be had. "You see," she'd said, the first time she'd held one up against Qarl's cheek. When she made him try a bite, the juice ran down his chin, and she had to kiss it clean.

That night they'd spent devouring peaches and each other, and by the time daylight returned Asha was sated and sticky and as happy as she'd ever been. Was that six years ago, or seven? It had been three years since Asha last enjoyed a peach. She still enjoyed Qarl, though. Qarl wanted her for what she was, not what he wanted her to be.