Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 202 “Gift”

Victarion wondered. Would it be parricide if he did not do it himself?
Victarion feared no one, and several of his captains could easily kill Euron, but the curse of the Drowned God held him back.

Euron had many wizards under his command, and Corren Hamberly had whispered to him that they were all strange and terrible people, working as slaves under the control of the Crow's Eye.

The winds have been in the Iron Fleet's favor ever since they set sail from Old Wyk. There are whispers among the fleet that Euron's wizards had something to do with it, that the Crow's Eye was satisfying the Storm God with blood sacrifices. Otherwise, how could he have dared to sail so far west instead of following the coastline as was customary?
"The sea monsters that surround Euron the godless will never drown the gifts of the gods," Aeron Damphair had said to him on Old Wyk. "We must stop him, brother. We are Balon's blood. Euron is using his evil and heretical powers to steal your Seastone throne! Stop him. I was deceived and placed the driftwood crown on his head. The crown should be on your head. Stand with me against him!"

"I dislike him as much as you do, but he is king," Victarion complained. "Your Kingchoir put him on the throne. The old ways must be followed!"

There was a madness in Aeron's eyes that disturbed him. "That was not the will of the Drowned God. Euron kept magicians and evil sorcerers on his ships. They cast spells so that the Drowned People could not hear the sound of the sea. They made the captains and chiefs obsessed and afraid of his sea monsters, and believed his lies about sea monsters."

"But you also saw his sea monster. Although I hate to say this, in the eyes of many people, he is the chosen one of the Drowned God and represents the will of the Drowned God better than you."

"No, not at all. He is a heretic! He is not one of the Drowned God's chosen. He is ungodly, and the ungodly cannot sit on the Seastone Seat!" He remembered Aeron's furious look. "If you are unwilling to fight the Crow's Eye, I will do it myself."

"How can you do that? You have neither a ship nor a sword."

"I have my voice," he remembered Aeron's reply, "and the support of the gods. My strength comes from the sea."

Victarion never saw his brother Aeron again, and not even the Drowned Men knew where he had gone.

Victarion often thought of the words of Baelor Blacktyse: "Balon is mad, and so is Aeron, and Euron is madder than both of them."

But that was a kingsmoot according to the old ways, and the Crow's Eye had won it with a vengeance, and with gold, silver, gems, enameled armor, Valyrian steel daggers, spices, and silks.

Victarion was born to obey. He grew up in the shadow of his brother, following Balon, and obeying everything. Now that Euron was wearing the driftwood crown, Victarion convinced himself that he should "follow the old ways," even though it was hard to accept.

Victarion thought that he could kill Euron and his Iron Fleet would still be the most powerful force in the Iron Islands.

But regicide is a great sin, and parricide is even worse, and will incur the curse of the Drowned God.

Victarion secretly blamed Asha for having spoken out in his support.

According to his younger brother Aeron, if Euron is a heretic, then can the Sons of the Sea who continue to follow him find the Drowned God’s water palace after dying in battle and drink and feast forever in it?

Euron told him privately that he would promise to lead the captains of the islands to find the sea monster's lair, and let every devout Drowned People receive the blessing of the Drowned God - a sea monster.

He said that the Valyrians ruled the world with the help of dragons they had gotten by chance, but they will rule with sea monsters.

Victarion knew that Euron's destination was not Highgarden, the Reach, Oldtown, or the Arbor.

But deep in the sunset sea.

Even though everyone knows that there is nothing in the depths of the Sunset Sea.

Brandon the Shipwright, King of the North, once sailed west across the Sunset Sea and his whereabouts have been unknown since then.

Alton Greyjoy, also known as the Pious Fool, attempted to claim new lands beyond Lonely Light, but found none.

No one has ever crossed the Sunset Sea, and no one has ever known the other side.

However, the Crow's Eye claimed that he got his sea monster from the Sunset Sea. He claimed that he had been to the depths of the Sunset Sea, returned safely, and brought back the sea monster with him.

Likewise, the Crow's Eye claims to have been to Valyria and escaped unscathed.

But everyone knew that the Doom still loomed over Valyria, where the seas boiled and smoked, and the land was overrun by demons. It was said that any sailor who caught a glimpse of the burning mountains of Valyria rising above the waves would die a horrible death.

But the Crow's Eye has a Valyrian armor, and a sea monster, and he says he has a dragon egg.

Victarion could not deny the first two things. However, when Victarion asked where the dragon egg was, Euron said that he had thrown it into the sea. The Crow's Eye once told Victarion: "I once had a dragon egg. A Myrish wizard promised me that if he was given a year and a lot of gold, it would hatch. But then I got tired of his excuses and killed him. He watched his intestines slip through his fingers and said, 'It's not even a year yet.' Then I got tired of it and threw the egg into the sea. Maybe the Drowned God thought I was offering a gift and told me where the sea monster is. Have you ever listened to the voice of the gods, brother?"

Euron told the story with a hearty laugh.

Victarion believed none of Euron's stories, for his words were full of lies, just as his gifts were always filled with poison.

Talking to Euron was never a pleasant experience.

Victarion felt the urge to kill Euron, the urge growing stronger with every beat of his heart. Euron had stolen his wife, stolen his throne. Victarion had every reason to kill him. But the curse of kinslaying hung over him like a dark cloud, and Euron's words and chuckles seemed unsettling and strange to him.

"When I was a boy I dreamed I could fly," Victarion remembered talking to Euron, his cup filled with a strange dark wine, a slimy, oily liquid that smelled like rotting meat. He told Victarion, "but when I woke I could not fly . . . or so the maester said. What if he was lying?"

"What do you mean?" Victarion asked, suppressing his inner agitation.

"Perhaps we can fly. We all can. How would one know until one leaps from a tower? No man knows his own power until he falls." The thought of Euron's smile still sickened Victarion.

"What exactly do you want to say?"

"Brother, open your eyes. Ironborn, you, me, we can get the whole world. Not just the Iron Islands, the North, the Reach or Westeros. The whole world!" Fire flickered in Euron's eyes, his single black eye. "I brought you the blessing of the Drowned God. Just like the Valyrians got dragons at the Fourteen Fires, we only need to go west to get sea monsters, everyone can. I brought you the opportunity to get the whole world, but you dare not accept it?"

Victarion knew then why the Crow's Eye had sought him out in private. If Euron made his intentions known, his hold on the Seastone Seat would be weakened. The ironborn captains were greedy, ruthless lackeys who would not hesitate to risk their lives for the sake of wealth and women, but they were not fools.

Many of the Ironborn would not be deceived by Euron's talk of sea monsters, nor would they be willing to follow him to the depths of the Sunset Sea to take risks for the so-called "whole world".

"Why should I help you?" Victarion demanded.

"Standing in front of the entire forest, only a coward would cling to a tree." Euron's snickering was still in his ears. "We are brothers. For the sake of family, duty, and your Seastone Seat and even the Iron Throne. You have never thought that if I become the king of the world, the Seastone Seat will be yours, and you can even get the Iron Throne... and one day, your legitimate son will inherit everything from you. You choose, brother, to live with nothing like now, or to die as a king. Do you dare to fly? Unless you jump, you will never know. Or do I expect too much of you? After all, it is a terrible thing to go to the depths of the Sunset Sea, and not everyone in this world has the courage like me."

The Crow's Eye sailed halfway around the world, plundering from Qarth to Tall Trees, stopping at evil ports beyond where only madmen would go. Euron even braved the Smoky Sea and Valyria, and lived to tell about it. All with just one ship. If the Crow's Eye could do it, Victarion thought he might as well.

But the Crow's Eye despised the gods and was evil and mad.

Victarion thought again that if he could defy the gods, he should kill the Crow's Eye, but he knew that the gods hated kinslayers, and Euron would die a thousand deaths by his hands.

"We've arrived at Count Hewitt's town, Commander," a crew member shouted.

Victarion was brought back to reality from his reverie. He stepped onto the deck and passed a headland where Lord Hewitt's castle towered over the harbor.

Twenty longships patrolled the harbor, golden sea monsters billowing from their sails, and hundreds more lay at anchor along the gravel beach, tied to a row of stone pillars at the dock. The harbor reminded him of King's Harbor, but this town was twice as large. Three huge flat-bottomed freighters and a dozen smaller ones, loaded with loot and supplies, towered among the stone piers. Victarion ordered the Iron Victory to drop anchor. "Prepare a boat."

As they neared the town, Victarion found it strangely quiet. Every shop and house had been looted, and the streets were littered with corpses, each of which attracted a flock of carrion crows.

As they drew nearer to the coast, Victarion saw that women and children had been herded onto the deck of a great barge, some with their hands tied behind their backs, all with hemp ropes around their necks.

"What are these?" he asked the man who was helping them tie up the boat.

"Widows and orphans are gifts to the Drowned God."

"Gift?"

"It is the king's order," the other said. "Use these gifts to please the Drowned God and gain the ironborn an army of sea monsters in the palaces of the deep, so that we can rule the world. It is only fair, isn't it?"

Victarion looked at him, and then looked towards the bow along the path of the "gifts" being driven aboard. Sure enough, he saw a "wizard" under Euron who had his tongue cut off on the ship.

(End of this chapter)