Teams of Zonian soldiers sweated as they pulled stumps from the pathway of the slings. Normally, it would be slaves doing that sort of labor, but they had few enslaved people here. They had only captured two people so far, both older women who died under questioning and torture. 40-man teams pulled like beasts to uproot the stumps left from cutting the path. The giant platforms of the slings barely moved forward on the soft earth of the northern forest. It would take over a month to make the trip to Deepwood Motte. That name was the only thing they had learned from the two old women, and Jun Wei's intel people were silently angry that others had tortured the women to death. They desperately needed to learn the language that was spoken in this barbarian land, and they needed captives to do that.
Jun Wei had a plan to solve that issue, and it took place a few nights later. Along the southern side of Sea Dragon Point, the cliffs were mostly sheer, but in one place, they had worn down, and a sharp slope led to the top. 4 Zonian assault ships full of some of the best Zonian troops and mages were assaulting that spot, while there was only slight moonlight for the enemy to see.
By sheer luck, the spy eye in the tower of Westeros happened to be watching that area when a glimmer of moonlight shone off a shiny helmet on board one of those ships. The warning was sent to Drena's task force, and the camp was alerted. The balloon was sent back aloft with full ammunition. They rarely flew it at night, but this was a special case. Drena sent a patrol team to watch over the sloped area. She ordered all awake and gave special instructions to her archers. Both the patrol and balloon quickly reported back with the affirmative news of 4 assault ships approaching the sloped area. Drena shouted to load the cart with explosive kegs, and the 1000 men marched off to the sloped shore. While the explosives at the point where the Zonians had overrun it before had been burnt, a supply ship several days ago had unloaded food for the men and explosives for the balloon. The storage building for the explosives had been mostly destroyed, but a tarp and some cut logs sufficed for a new storage area. Drena shouted at the balloon, "Fire when you have a shot in range and try to set the ships on fire before they land."
The Zonian captain leading the assault felt his heart sink when he saw four flaming rockets spew from a balloon that they hadn't expected to be waiting for them. Two of them hit the forecastle of one of their ships and set it ablaze. As the flames caught in its sails, it lit up the whole area. Archers from Drena's task force on the top edge of the slope started firing down on the few troops that had unloaded already. Some were firing flame arrows, and some were firing regular ammunition. The balloon fired a few more volleys of rockets, but the angle of the slope blocked them at last.
The Zonians began unloading under fire and managed to get themselves into some order, and their captain shouted orders to charge up the slope. He knew he still had a tactical advantage in fighters if he could secure the top. But getting them up there alive was quickly becoming more difficult, and he understood the harsh reality might be a total loss. As more of his troops disembarked, he sent them in staggered waves to avoid being targeted all at once. It wasn't working out very well, as the Westorosi were flinging down explosive kegs that were impossible to dodge while climbing. Within an hour, it became an unmitigated disaster instead of an assault. The few Zonians still alive on the hill had hunkered down in low places to avoid being picked off, and their ships were now burning.
Drena was happy they had shredded the enemy force, but began wondering what her troops would do if the 60 or so enemy below began surrendering. They had no place to take that many enemy troops and imprison them. Not long after that, one of the pinned-down Zonians stood with his hands in the air to do just that, but a previously thrown explosive keg caught him right in the chest, blowing him to pieces. With a snarl, the Zonian captain took his last group and charged up the hill, recognizing there was no surrender and no way to retreat. His shouts and commands stiffened the backs of the remaining Zonians, and they charged to the top.
The archers heeded Drena's orders and backed off, taking shots where they could. But a melee fight broke out at the top edge of the slope. A Zonian mage that had survived loosed several ice spells that killed a chunk of the fighters on the Weserosi side, before an archer cut him down. In the end, the Zonians were slaughtered, and Drena had three wounded prisoners to deal with. She and her troops mourned the loss of 23 of their own, but they had held.
On the southeastern side of Deepwood Motte, Brienne had her own issues to deal with. Zonian patrols began to appear ahead of their slings.