95
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207 AC
Qohor
Elaman Mott
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"I remember the first time I saw that silver beast... back before Aerion Targaryen called himself an Emperor." I purse my lips looking up at the sky and see the shimmering silver dragon. "It came here back when he was looking for a smith... recreated Valyrian steel not long after." I shake my head looking back down at my Son standing at my side.
"Are they going to eat us?" He asks with fear in his voice and I sigh as I look toward the back of the man walking away from us.
The same man who just came by to warn everyone on this street that they should relocate unless they want to be burned. No doubt a merciful warning from the Dragon Lords, they did the same on one other street just yesterday. It seems to me that they have planned already where they will burn and likely will avoid burning anywhere else.
I am both angry that my home is close to where they plan to burn and relieved that I have been 'warned' beforehand... something I never thought I would have to worry about in my life.
"Maybe they won't." I muse aloud as I grab my son's shoulder and pull him closer to my side. "Maybe they will..." I sigh and shake my head once more before heading toward the house to grab some coin and whatever I can easily carry.
I will go stay with my Good parents, if this is fake then I will just come back after the dragons attack. I would rather have left and nothing happen than to stay and something actually happen.
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207 AC
Qohor
Dustin Tarth
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"Gods above..." I mutter as I watch the gate before the army burst outwards after the large black dragon named Drogon flies over it and its black and red flames destroy it and anyone near it.
"It's time!" Narrio is faster to recover from the sight and quickly slaps me on the shoulder before following the rest of the charge who are already running toward the hole.
Gripping my shield I slowly start moving forward building up speed in my armor and being careful not to let the weight trip me up. One of the things that was beat into my head back at Dragon Rest was to not be the cause of the men behind me tripping. Only during training, I was running in much heavier training gear with heavy stones in a pack on my back.
This is much easier... just a whole lot scarier knowing I am running toward a real fight.
----
"They are laying down their spears!" Narrio shouts as the slave soldiers before us start tossing aside their weapons and fall to their knees.
I am sure their shouting is pleading for their lives as well... I regret now more than ever not picking up some Valyrian tongue.
"Dustin!" I turn and nod at the blood-covered commander and he quickly waves toward the men who surrendered. "Take charge of collecting the weapons and escort the captives to the temporary holding pen." I nod while grimacing at having to escort these men out to the 'pen'.
They won't be there long, the Targaryens are very much against slavery and degrading men and women as if they are possessions. But in the chaos of a battle things have to go as orderly as possible and some discomfort on the enemy's side is of no real concern to us. This is also a good opportunity to take charge of some men and gain some real experience leading on a battlefield.
I just don't look forward to having to go past Satan the great red demon of a dragon who they left behind at the pen to keep any captives from acting up...
"Let's go." I turn to my left and get a nod from Narrio who immediately turns and gestures with his head for some of the men on his side to follow.
Yet another instance where not knowing Valyrian is hurting me more than sitting down and learning it actually would... some of the men who are in my group do not speak the common tongue as well as they do the Valyrian one.
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207 AC
Qohor
Aerion Targaryen
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It looks beautiful... damn, that Targaryen fire-loving gene is really kicking in right now.
I have flown down the main road from the East to the West taking the East gate and only stopping once we blew off the West one as well. Daenerys and Drogon did the same going North to South and the younger dragons focused on diving and taking out the limited 'Anti-Air'. Which if I am honest is actually more important in this city than in the last one...
These fuckers had some fake Valyrian steel knockoff... my spies told me they have been crushing dragon bone but do not have dragon flames to really 'enchant' the metal. It's far inferior to the real deal but I am going to assume it's better than normal steel, I might be wrong but I would rather assume it's more dangerous and be cautious than have someone die.
I knew the secret would not stay one forever when I bought so many bones from collectors... but I am disappointed that I did not know about this 'Fake' Valyrian steel until only recently. We need to further step up our information network in Essos, which is obvious... but just became a much bigger priority. It also tempts me to follow the suggestion of Daenerys and split some of the dragons to go and conquer Slaver Bay. The idea would be to speed up the conquest since what we are doing now is massively overkill even if it's far safer this way.
She did it once before without even being able to ride her dragons until she already pretty much had the whole bay...
----
""Land beside Drogon."" I command over the whistling of the wind and get a chirping noise in response before Moonfyre ducks her head and dives toward the city.
Daenerys and Drogon already landed at the highest point in the city next to what could be referred to as a 'town hall' of some sort. The building functions as a place for the rich and otherwise important people of Qohor to come together to vote on things, such as the city's defense. Right now there should be quite a few people still in the building according to Visenya before the attack started.
It would speed things up to have these people's assistance in pacifying the city, but even if they ran and hid away, the city would soon still be brought to heel. The Red Priests already brought the fight to the followers of the Black Goat, their influence over the common folk will rapidly grow. The people will quickly jump from the Black Goat to the Red God when they learn they will not need to sacrifice a virgin lady every other week or some nonsense.
... I will have to make sure Melisandre is kept away from the preaching podium at least... the other red priests are far more 'calm' compared to her at the end of the day.
Jerking in the saddle as Moonfyre breaks the dive and powerfully flaps her wings to come to a complete stop I look around as she trills loudly at Drogon. Drogon answers with his own trill as I spot my Wife still mounted on his back and giving me a tilted head look as she adjusts her armor. But before I can shout out how good she looks covered in soot and ash Moonfyre tucks her wings and falls the rest of the way to the ground and lands on her back feet keeping her upper body raised and soon roars loudly.
Across the city and in the air many other roars answer her own and Drogon himself shakes his head in annoyance before letting out the loudest roar by far.
""Show off."" I bark at the black dragon as Moonfyre lands on the feet of her wings and snips at him mid-roar cutting him off.
It was Moonfyres moment and he just came in and stole it...
Turning to look at the large doors that are ajar on the 'Town Hall' I spot no guards and tilt my head. Not far I hear the practiced and in-sync marching of my men who likely saw us land and are quickly coming to support us. I nod at Danny once before I grab my sword from where it's mounted on the saddle beside me and I undo its straps before heading to the rope ladder to get down.
Time to see if things will be the easy way or the hard way... I am not hopeful with how they ignored all our inquiries for their surrender.
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207 AC
Qohor
Daenerys Targaryen
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"-you will soon choke upon your ambition!" The elderly man shouts as he is dragged to a makeshift headsmen's block where Aerion awaits with a bloody blade. "Essos will never again be ruled by dragons! They are not needed and their time is long since past." Visenya assists her Father by swiftly kicking the man in the back of the knee causing him to fall into place before the block.
"I take it those are your last words... no prayers for your Black Goat?" Aerion's tired voice fills the room with only a few remaining who bent the knee instead of spitting curses.
This city is far more resistant than any I have ever taken before... the hatred for the dragons even surpasses their hatred for R'hllor who they know will replace their current God.
"The dragon's time is over, you are but the last flicker before their flame is snuffed out." The old man actually attempts to spit on my Husband but is intercepted by a backhand from Ser Richard.
Aerion nods toward Jacaerys Targaryen who at the start of this was eager to help his Father but after the tenth head rolled has a stony face as he presses his foot on the man's back. He holds the struggling man down leaning forward to bend the man over as Aerion raises his blade. With a swift movement, Aerion takes the last head we hopefully will need to take in this city and passes his blade over to Ser Richard.
I stand up and head toward my Husband much like Daena is doing to head to her Son who is beside him. We both exchange a look and she huffs putting a hand over her stomach and pretends to look sick before returning to normal. I roll my eyes at the 'Defiant' and how little something like this would affect her, but I think she worries for her Son.
Not many criminals try their luck on our lands, they know how quickly they can be thrown to a dragon. Killing a man in combat or on a dragon's back with your dragon flames is quite a bit different from holding down a man as he screams and pisses himself. But even so, Jacaerys only looks to have hardened himself to it and does not look... distraught at what he was asked to do.
"-Heads... spikes... wall?" I purse my lips hearing Visenya speak up in a sing-song voice as she looks down at the small pile of heads before the 'block'.
"No." Aerion does not even look away from Jacaerys as he responds to his trouble-making Daughter who only shrugs and does not even seem to care what happened to the heads. "You did good." I slip an arm around Aerion getting a blood stain on my own armor as I press a kiss on his cheek. "Do you remember why we don't just pay someone to do what we just did?" I almost snort as my Husband steals a lesson from the Starks.
He has more than once used this lesson when teaching the children, and not just about beheading someone but also when they use their dragon's flames against people.
"I remember." Jacaerys responds while taking a cloth from his Mother and uses it on his face. "If I can't do it myself then maybe the person does not even need to die." It is a good lesson even if I do not care much for the Starks.
Well, it's a good lesson when you ignore needing an assassin to do something in the dark... You can't always kill someone yourself after all.
"Good, let's go find somewhere to wash off." Aerion smiles toward Daena before wrapping his arm around Jacaerys and pulling him with him toward the door.
Looking down I frown at the blood splattering onto my cloak but smile as Daena wraps an arm around my own.
"Let's check on the others." I nod and we both head off toward the door ourselves leaving some of the men behind to clean up the mess and the very pale-looking men and women who bent the knee.