Blood Fire Khal

Over the course of nine years, Khal Lajo had gained and lost much. His Khalasar was nine thousand strong and his son had not lost a battle. The line of succession was strong and he successfully fed and cared for his people over the years.

"That's almost half of Khal Drogo's Khalasar," said Sharo as he, the kos, and Zhano watched the Khalasar from a distance.

"How is Qoni doing? It should be time for the baby to be born." Said Zhano.

"Blood of my blood. If that woman survives, you must take her as yours. If that child survives, it is as strong as its mother. You should take it." Said Kazo.

"He is right. We see how you look at the girl. You have always been smart, with eyes that see differently than a thousand Dothraki. We see that you sympathize with her. Her vulnerability remains you of.."

"UhMmm.." Zhali cleared her throat and Sharo stopped talking.

"You know what I mean." He added.

The group chuckled at Sharo's plight.

"I understand. I just want to be a good, strong Khal."

"If you make Qoni yours, it's nothing Khals haven't done before. She is working hard for you. And she clings to babe, not for Gorro, but because it is a part of her. That's all we will say on this matter. You're Khal must be his own man." Zhali ended the discussion.

Many Gods watched this exchange closely, even the Great Odin watched with interest. Comparing Zhano to his unrealized rival Drogo.

"Retreat," Zhano said.

"What?" Kazo asked.

"You heard me. We will go to Vaes Diaf, the central plans. It's close to Meereen and far away enough to grow. Two tigers can not share a mountain."

"What the fuck does that mean?" Boro asked.

"It just popped into my head. Basically, Lajo and Drogo will fight before they try to share the east. Our three thousand isn't ready for this fight."

LIke that, fate was changed. Pulling back, Zhano led his Khalassar to Veas Diaf where they conquer and claim territory. But Khal Zhano would do something unprecedented by allowing captured slaves a chance to serve in his Khalasar increasing his numbers.

Qoni also survived her hard labor and gave birth to a girl. It wasn't until three years after the girl's birth did Zhano take Qoni as his Khaleesi.

Zhano's Khalasar was now, fifteen thousand strong and the Central plains belonged to him.

No, 17 years of age, and Child of his own on the way, Zhano had a thirst for more.

Sitting amongst his Kos with his adopted daughter, Yazli, in his lap, Zhano addressed them with a pressing matter.

"Khal Drogo, is moving west. We can move north to the land of Sleipnir. South belongs to Meereen, and East is a ten thousand strong Khal Lajo."

"I think my Khal should capture and tame the Sleipnir. There's no one in the Khalsar that can break a horse like you." Chafo, the 15th Ko, spoke.

Many Ko agreed.

"An how long will that take?" Qoni asked.

"A month? A year?" Zhali joined her.

Under Zhali and Armenia's tutelage, Qoni had become a fine Khaleesi, respected by the Khalasar and the Kos, of which three more were women.

"Sleipnir isn't something you decide to catch on a whim. Khal Drogo is nearing forty thousand men. This is good and bad. He needs to provide and only the west can do that for him while maintaining his numbers. If he tries in the East, only a fight is waiting for him."

"Your Khaleesi is of the right mind," said Zhano. " We must do what Drogo is afraid to do. Take the east. Khal Faso is between us and Lajo. From Lajo to the north is Khal Hadoro and Khal Awzo, the war hound. Over the years each of them has grown in size. We take them and Khal Drogo will be forced to face us. But we won't wait for him. That is when we will seek the Sleipnir and my challenge can not go answered unless he wants to kill his Sleipnir in front of his entire Khalasar."

"What of Vaes Dothrak?" Sharo asked, now the husband of Zhali. "Your wife is pregnant. Even after the wedding, you did not go."

"Tradition is not law." said Zhano, " If we conquer the east, Vaes Dothrak will be ours to enter and leave as we please. If no one else has anything more to say, prepare for war."

Zhano took Yazli into his arms and left his Kos alone. Only his Bloodriders, mother, and Qoni followed him.

Once in private, Zhano looked at Qoni. "I want you to the palace in Meereen. Take your Khasar and wait for me."

"What?" she asked. "I thought…"

"No… you will only slow us down. I'm taking only fighters. From this point on, only war matters. I can't explain it, but I have to do this." said Zhano.

Qoni looked around for help but was left alone. Qoni was pregnant and Zhano planned to get bloody. It was only Qoni staying behind but all of the nonfighters. But even then Qoni was beyond upset. She didn't say a word to Zhano. Not even on the day she led her people to Meereen.

"She'll be fine. When you come back, she'll shower you in more affection than you can handle." Sharo told Zhano.

"I'm actually proud of that weak, little girl," said Zhano.

"She's two years older than you," said Kazo.

"But I'm a Khal. So I'm older." Zhano laughed. "Ready your Khas and set out according to plan."

It was 294 AC when the Blood Storms started. After all the years that Zhano displayed his strength, it was his battle tactics that dominate the Khalasar of Khal Faso. Zhano had no Idea how he thought of such plans, but his fifteen thousand strong army was slipt into four groups from three different directions. The moment Khal Faso's people were split into, they lost their flank.

The four groups then circled the battlefield with bows and arrows. Khal Faso's Khalasar of six thousand became four thousand in a day. The battle was so fast in devastating, that Zhano became known as Zhano the Thinker.

Swallowing the losers and taking them as his own, Zhano arrived at Khal Lajo with nineteen thousand horse lords. But he did treat Khal Lajo as another conquest. No, this fight was different.

Together, Zhano and Zhali walked into Khal Lajo's camp to face their past.

"I should have killed you first," said Lajo as he saw the man Zhano had become. His hair riddle with bells. Tall and muscular. A body packed with power and tempered through battle.

"You should have.' Said Zhano, "But now, I am here to take back what is mine."

"Hahaha, I built this. Your father was sick and weak. He lost his Khalsar as we all will someday."

"That is the way." Said Zhano, "I used to be angry. But I released that my survival and your success is also the way. You kill my father, build something great. I kill you, take your great and make it the greatest. This will go on until one Khal unites the Dothraki sea."

Lajo nodded. "Wise boy. You've always been wise. I used to be jealous became my son was so hardheaded. So why are you here Khal Zhano? Take my Khalasar like you did Faso's. No, you would have just attacked. You and your father a much alike in that way."

Zhano chuckles.

"Khal Lajo, my son is here to deal," Zhali said.

"Ahh! Is this about Khal Drogo? You know you aren't the first to seek me out." said Lajo.

"No. This is about compensation." Zhano spoke with a big smile.

"Hahaa! Are you joking!"

"No! My Khalasar is miles away. I'm sure your men are watching them now. All I want is a thousand slaves and 500 horses. And then all is forgiven." said Zhano.

"I killed your father," said Lajo.

"And I killed my wife's husband. I treat her daughter as my own. We even have a child on the way. No such thing as forever enemies."

Lajo was a little off-put by this. But from the moment they arrived, Zhano and Zhali show no signs of attacking.

"500 slaves. 250 horses. And, I'll tell you a secret."

Zhano took a sweet while to think.

"Ehhh….Okay… deal. But, you must ride with me to conquer the other Khalasars." Zhano added.

"Deal!" Lajo sang, "With Drogo heading West, we have the biggest Khalasars. If we ride, no one can stop us!"

"Good, Midday tomorrow. You give compensation, I give forgiveness. Then we ride together."

"Sensible boy. Sensible boy! Tomorrow then!"

Zhano and Zhali left Lajo's camp without a problem. There wasn't a Khal that liked losing men and horses. Because Zhano was willing to let go of the past, Lajo exhaled in relief.

"Rollo! Get together 250 horses and 500 slaves! Strong men and young beauties!"

"Yes, my Khal!" Rollo replied.

Meanwhile, Zhano and his mother chatted just as leisurely.

"Do you think they did?" Zhali asked.

"We'll find out soon enough." Zhano replied, "It's a shame Khals focus too much on sacking villages and extorting cities. Otherwise, Lajo would have seen this coming."

"That's why my beautiful boy was born. To reignite the fire that makes Dothraki feared."

Woosh!

The great sound of fire igniting crossed the grass field. The blaze illuminated the night as a wall of fire circle Lajo's camp.

"It looks like they did it after all." Said Zhano.

"Traitors deserve to burn." Zhali added, "Are we taking survivors?"

"Of course. We will play savior. As far as they know, my Khalasar is miles away. Let's wait for Sharo and Kazo."

The mother and son duo watched as the great blaze blanket Lajo's Khalasar and the screams of agony shattered the silence of the night.

"Blood of my Blood! It is done!" Sharo returned with Kazo and thirty Dothraki.

"Give the signal," said Zhano.

Kazo lit a torch that burned blew and Zhano's Khalasar began to move.

"If Lajo or any of the kos survive, kill them" Zhano ordered.

The blaze last all night and Zhano plaid his part well as he and his Khalasar help people out of the fire. It was an easy and satisfying victory. Zhano also learned that fire did not burn him as it did other humans.

He had accidentally taken the burning vest off of a young man and later found that his hands were perfectly fine.

By dawn, the fire had died down. All those who survived were put in chains before they knew what was happening, as Zhano didn't want any of them in his Khalasar.

The Blood Storm continued from then on as Zhano didn't use any tricks like that again. Instead, he slaughtered with up-front battle tactics and pure strength. His name was spoken in the wall of the free cities and across the Dothraki Sea. To the peninsula and across the Red Wast. Even those in Westeros heard of the Young Khal that was raizing the east of the Dothraki Sea, claiming territory and expanding his Khalasar.

In 295 AC the Blood Storm was prolonged with the invasion of Jogos Nahi. With all of the carnage caused by Zhano, the Jogos Nhai that it would be best to invade. They were wrong. They only served as pressure for Zhano to subjugate more Khalasar in the name of defending the Dothraki Sea.

When his Khalasar had reached forty-five thousand strong with the defeat of the War Hound, Zhano turned his attention to the Jogos Nhai. Zhano was so vicious and bloodthirsty, smaller Khals actively sought him out to join in hopes of survival, women, wealth, and reputation.

That year, Jogos Nhai Slaves flooded the slave Markets, and the free cities, slaver's bay, and Qarth referred to Zhano as the Master Slaver.

Pushed back to the border, the Jogos Nhai wanted to stop the Bloody Khal from crossing to their land. So in 296 AC, The Jogos Nhai used siege weapons of Yi Ti in an attempt to burn the sixty thousand strong Khalasar of Khal Zhano.

Fifteen thousand died that year and Zhano's demigod blood fully awakened. As a flaming sack of oil the size of a boulder crashed down on Zhano, he did not burn. Instead, he pulled the fire that covered the lands and spits it back at the Jogos Nhai, putting an end to their Invasion.

Mid-year od 296 AC. 55,000 Dothraki delivered thousands of slaves and goods to Meereen as a gift for shelter the Khaleesi of the Blood Fire Khal Zhano, his final name that spread across the world. Naturally, no one believed that Zhano was immune to fire let alone control it. Magic was dead.

However, they slowly transformed into Khal Zhano, who stained the eastern Grass sea red with blood, United the Eastern Khalasars, and fought back the Jogos Nhai, destroying their siege weapons causing them to burn in their own fire.

The story is simpler, logical, easier to believe. But the Jogos Nhai and Yi Ti knew the truth.

Leaving Meereen with a horse for every warrior, new weapons, wine, and slaves to work, warm beds, and breed children, Khal Zhano rode north.

It was early 297 AC. Khal Zhano had finally settled off the road in the north of Sarnor, land belonging to the mighty eight-legged horses Sleipnir.

Yazli was now six years old and practicing the sword and the three-year-old Taharri was suckling her mother's breast as the family watched Kazo instruct Yazli.

"Son," Zhali called out. "Your grandfather has come all this way from Yi Ti. You've made him wait for fourteen days. I am satisfied."

"But I'm not. Blood of my Blood!"

"Blood of my blood!" his bloodriders replied.

"Care for my children. Qoni and I will return in seven days," said Zhano

"My Khal…"Said Armenia, "We have a few sick, this is a perfect time to take your Mastery exam. With this, you will have more to hold over your grandfather's head."

"Mother?" Zhano asked.

"We have no one skilled in medicine in the family. Though it takes a good mind to forge, it takes a great mind to master medicine. Not to mention you've done it in tandem with great achievements as a warrior." Zhali explained.

"If they're sick when I come back then I'll tend to it. " Zhano had grown tired of the tension between him and Qoni. He wanted to fix it. To speak words unsaid and get her to understand truths that she questions every time she looks at him.

Sometime later, Qoni and Zhano arrived in the field of the three spinners. It was like every other field except for the naturally grown formations that looks like three spinners in the middle of the field.

Here the grass is sweet and the weather is always nice. The Sleipnir roam and there is no day or night. Only twilight. The most magical place on Essos besides the Shadow Lands of Asshai.

"It's beyond anything I've ever expected. The Land, the Horse, It's obviously a place touched by the gods." Qoni gasps.

"That why I only wanted to share it with you. Qoni, my beautiful wife, mother of my children, after years on your own, I want to give this time and a little piece of beauty to you. Here, far away from wars and the games of Khalasar, I want to shower you with love and give back all of the care and affection that you have given me over the years. "

"Here? In front of the Gods?" She was unsure and worried for him. If he wasn't sincere...

"Only they can judge me and If I'm dishonest in any way, may they strike me down and trampled me under ten thousand Sleipnir," Zhano spoke as if her doubts were whispering in his ear.

Qoni quivered and her eyes watered. "Why are you doing this?" she asked, always feeling that she lacked something that kept Zhano from truly loving her. Especially after three years apart without a single messenger or visit. She felt neglected and exiled, a feeling she thought she would never feel next to Zhano as long as she worked to be a strong Khaleesi and give him children.

"Because you are my Khaleesi." the words spoken echoed in her heart.

'Am I worthy?' she thought

"You the air that I breathe, the sun that warms me, and the moon that gives me light during the darkest hours. You are the great mare that carries me away and back home. Qoni, we have years to make up for. In the days to come, I'll treat you how should have been treated for the past three years. I failed you."

"Zhano…" The wells of Qoni's eyes couldn't hold it any longer, tears spilled over and wet her cheek, releasing the little doubt that she should have let go of years ago.

Her eyes gently closed as Zhano ceased her full soft lips and she gave in like succumbing to a blissful high that make her body tender and electric.

'This is love' Qoni thought in her heart.