A song of Fire and Blood

Chapter 29: The Battle of the Narrow Sea (Part 1)

The False Prize

The Stormdoe, Renly Baratheon's flagship, cut through the waves, leading forty Stormlander warships toward the nine isolated Targaryen vessels.

The ships bore black sails, but they did not turn to fight. They merely drifted, like ships without purpose.

Renly stood at the bow, dressed in polished green plate, the crowned stag of Baratheon on his chest. Behind him stood his bannermen—Lord Fell, Ser Gawen Mertyns, heir to his house, and Ser Eldon Estermont, one of his father's best knights.

"They're abandoned," Fell observed, narrowing his eyes. "Or they surrender."

Renly smirked. "Then the battle is half-won already."

He turned to his knights. "Board them. Take prisoners."

The Stormlanders cheered, and grappling lines were thrown. The first men leapt onto the ships, swords drawn, expecting a fight.

But there was none.

Instead, they found corpses—slavers, merchants, and Lyseni nobles, bound in chains. The stench of death was thick in the air.

Ser Eldon frowned. "Something is wrong."

Then—a sound.

A faint hiss, like escaping steam.

Lord Fell turned toward the hatch leading below deck. His eyes widened. "Gods save us—"

Flames erupted.

A wall of fire and black smoke burst from the lower decks, swallowing men whole.

Then, as if the gods themselves struck down from the heavens—

The ships exploded.

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Fire and Blood

A thunderous roar tore through the sea as the nine ships became fireballs, throwing bodies and shattered wood into the sky.

Renly had only a second to react before the fire consumed him.

The heat was unbearable. Wood splintered, metal melted, men screamed.

Ser Gawen Mertyns was thrown overboard, his armor dragging him beneath the waves. Ser Eldon Estermont, his body burning, stumbled toward Renly, reaching for help—

But Renly himself was ablaze.

He screamed as the flames devoured his flesh, his green cloak turning to ash.

And then—he was gone.

---

The Stormlander Fleet in Chaos

From the Fury, Stannis watched as the front of his fleet turned into an inferno.

The Stormlander ships closest to the blast were incinerated, men jumping overboard to escape the fire.

One of Stannis' captains, Ser Durran Buckler, stared in horror. "What… what was that?"

Stannis' jaw tightened. He could already see it.

A trap. A carefully laid trap.

Aerion Targaryen had lured Renly in with ships full of already-dead men. Then, they had been rigged with wildfire or some Lyseni alchemy.

And now half of the Stormlander vanguard was burning, Renly dead with them.

Stannis exhaled slowly, pushing down the anger.

"Sound the warhorns," he commanded. "We're not finished yet."

Even as the flames raged, the true battle was about to begin.

The Dragon Company's fleet—300 strong—was now closing in.

The second phase of the battle was about to begin.