Jasper was quick to begin coordinating a defense. He used the mirrors to order all nearby knights and soldiers to assemble in Saltpans, he would rout the Greyjoys before they ever breached the canal. Obara hadn't wasted time either, and her and a contingent of Dornish guardsmen were already armed and ready before he even finished the calls. Her father wasn't far behind them, jogging into the room with Ser Lynderly and a few dozen knights in tow. Jasper couldn't help but chuckle, "It's good to see you back on your feet Ser. I thought the maester said you wouldn't be walking for another week?"

The knight commander merely scoffed, "He was being overly cautious, my Lord."

With a quick flick of his wrist, Jasper's armor flew into place and secured itself. "Whatever you say Ser, I'm just glad to have you with me." He conjured a series of ropes, each long enough so that six people could grab hold. With a few more incantations he turned them into portkeys that would take them straight into the city. Without any type of runic reinforcement, he knew the ropes would dissolve the moment they were used, but he didn't need them to last longer than that.

"Grab hold and don't let go, try to hold your breath at first and make sure to bend your knees when we land." He eyed them all a moment before adding, "Three, two, one… Activate!"

o-O-o

He could hear the bell ringing furiously from some tower nearby and people were screaming and running all over the place. Along the dock, he could already make out three longships anchored and men streaming out of them. Farther up, still in the canal, he could make out at least thirty more still on open water. He shook his head, those he could deal with after they cleared the docks.

He knew Saltpans had forty knights defending it, but they were already spread thin, trying to evacuate all the smallfolk and still hold back the raiders at the docks and wherever else they may have landed.

"Ser Lynderly, take your knights and secure the rest of the city. Oberyn, you and your guards can clear out the left side of the docks, Obara and I will clear the right!"

Without even waiting for confirmation, he started sprinting towards the docks, slipping out his wand as he ran. From somewhere behind him, he could hear Ser Lynderly blowing into his horn, alerting the defenders that help had arrived. Already, he could see raiders had broken through his lines, but he didn't even bother stopping to deal with them. He just cast a few quick cutting curses as he ran, bisecting all four of them without even looking. And then, he was there. Sword and wand flashing amongst the raiders as he tried to reach the defenders.

The knights had tried to form a shield wall, blocking off all access to the docks. But the raiders didn't seem to care about dying and were literally jumping on top of them, overwhelming the knights before they could even swing their swords. All he could hear was the screaming and hollering while they hacked into the shields and armor. Several knights were already dead, and a few were struggling just to block.

He fired off as many spells as he could without hitting his knights. Piercing curse, ribbon curse, knockback curse. Finally, he conjured up an array of spears and launched them into the lightly armored invaders. In seconds, he had killed ten men and injured at least a dozen more. Charging forward, he brought his sword to bare once more. Slicing off someone's head before parrying a strike that was meant for his side. Obara's spear shot over his shoulder, killing the man before he could ever recover.

"Did you really think I'd let you get all the kills?" She asked, laughter clear in her voice.

"Not at all Lady Obara, I was just giving you some room to maneuver."

He lashed out again, stabbing deep into someone's abdomen before pulling it out and removing a pair of hands. Obara twirled beside him, stabbing and kicking as she weaved around the battlefield. The one person who managed to get close to her ended up with a piercing curse to the skull. It wasn't long before his knights joined them again, rushing forward to help push the raiders back into their boats.

It was a short trip. As the few who got there were soon burned alive as Jasper set fire to all of their ships throughout the docks.

He eyed the ones still on the water, they were now far closer than he'd like, probably only minutes from reaching the coast. He started conjuring up as many spears as he could, getting to about fifty before he had to take a break to breathe. He lit them on fire and launched them as hard and as fast as his magic would let him. The spears, large enough to be considered pikes really, streaked towards the longships with the force of a roman ballistae. Several missed, but most found their mark. Absently, he noted that he should consider actually installing ballistae here in the future, and any other major port for that matter. Clearly, he had overlooked the necessity of artillery, particularly for its uses in naval combat. Already he had halved the enemy fleet, and that was with only a single volley.

Before they could even attempt to run, he started launching explosive hexes at the surviving boats. Normally meant to take down castle walls, they turned the longships into nothing more than miniature bombs.

He signaled a nearby knight to come over. "I want you to assemble as many archers and men at arms as you can, place them on boats to sift through the wreckage. Kill any pirate who tries to escape or resist, but you may arrest any who surrender. In the meantime, I want a headcount on our casualties."

"Right away, my Lord."

Jasper knew it would be hours before any of the other garrisons reached the city, and maybe even longer before any transports reached them. He needed to plan out his next move. Reports had said Seaguard was hit much harder than he was here. If he could push them out of the Canal, and secure the city, it was a straight shot into the Iron Islands.

o-O-o

It was tight, being cramped into a boat meant to hold twelve men, now holding thirty. But Jasper didn't say a word, he just eyed the shoreline warily. He had managed to get three hundred men onto the boats, the rest were on horses making their way over land. His scouts had reported heavy fighting in the city, but that Lord Mallister still held the city. At this rate, they were going to end up a day ahead of his cavalry, assuming they didn't encounter any raiders on the way. Already, Jasper had seen several villages burning along the coast, and he heard the occasional fighting off in the distance.

He sighed, as much as he wanted to help them, he needed to stop them from building a foothold at Seaguard. If they took the city, it would be extremely difficult to retake it without heavy losses.

i {o,o}
i /) ')
i -"-"-

AN: Sorry for the short chapter, although I hope to get a second half of this up soon! I really hope you like the edits that I put in. If you didn't see already, I tried to add a lot to Ch17 as well as all previous chapters.