13 Chapter 13: War of Three Princes(Vasusena's POV)

Let's begin by describing two important Rhoynar cities. Ny Sar stands at a relatively privileged position in the Royne region, as the city is located at the confluence of the Rhoyne and the Noyne rivers. It contained many fountains and is filled with the sounds of music.

Ghoyan Drohe, meanwhile, is a city in the Velvet Hills of Essos, north of the Flatlands and east of Pentos. It lies on the banks of the Little Rhoyne, west of its confluence with the Rhoyne. It needs to pass through Ny Sar for trade. It's also the northernmost city, filled with groves and waterfalls.

While the real me is working as prince ruler, I the shadow, am working as a mercenary charioteer at the War of Three Princes.

Karna named me Vasusena meaning the one born with wealth. Though, I feel that I am only a shadow, not a being. I am the only shadow that Karna could create at least for now. I am just like the real me, but weaker and with black eyes and hair.

The war started with disputes between both cities over their fishing area in the Rhoyne river and the high taxes that the Ny Sar imposes on river merchants to give them passage to the deeper Rhoyne, which was the main cause for Ghoyan Drohe gradually losing market to the Qohor's one. The war started as an inner conflict between two rhoynar cities but developed into a valyrian/rhoynar conflict when the Pentos prince thought of making it rich by declaring war against the Ghoyan Drohe.

An important note to make is that the prince's position in Pentos is not a mere magister's puppet in the current time, it is a position that holds real power. In Asoiaf's future, there would be a plentiful discussion if the city was founded by the Valyrians or if it existed before. Right now the truth of the matter is much clearer.

Guess a lot of history will be lost in the century of blood, accidentally or purposely. The city existed before the Valyrians expansion, but it was farther from the coast. The city changed location in other to benefit more from the Valyrians' sea trade. The landlocked Pentos was an important location that brokered trade between the Andals and Rhoynars, before the Andals' massive migration to Westeros. Later, the city's importance began to decay.

The current era Pentoishi are considered heretics Andals. The knight tradition has apparently never been a thing there and their main religion is practically a different version of the Seven's Faith. They worship seven gods that to them are not one. Instead of the Mother, they have the Mother of the Seas( maybe a changed version of Mother Rhoyne).

Instead of the Father, they have the King of Gods. Instead of a Warrior, they have the God of Swordmen. Instead of the smith, they have the God of Trade. Instead of the Maiden, they have the Goddess of Fields. Instead of The Crone, they have the Goddess of Wisdom. Instead of the Stranger, they have a God of Death. This religion is losing ground with the assimilation of Valyrian commoners in the region.

By tradition the Pentos King, now the Pentos Prince has to marry exactly seven women so that the country remains balanced and with several heirs.

It is recorded in some sources that the first time a Pentos King saw a dragon rider he imitatively surrendered. It's recorded that time's king had from his seven wives forty daughters. So he killed all his daughter's husbands and gave them as a gift to the dragon rider.

Other sources say that three was also a female rider giving company to the male one. So there were sons in his offering to Valyria as well. Another source claim that he may have dressed his sons as maidens and put them with his daughters just in case the dragon rider has a different taste. From this Valyrian's concubines later came the forty prince houses of Pentos, who dispute who will be the elected prince ruler each generation.

However, it's hard to tell how much of it is true and how much is a valyrian proclamation to humiliate the Pentoishi vassals. There is no prince sacrifice at the current time, as the local merchants have not ascended to magister status yet.

There is already a tradition of deflowering maids of the sea and the land, but the city usually gives these maids to valyrians officials, when paying the taxes on sea trade and crop wield. The names came from a humiliating jest from the valyrian nobles to the Pentoishi. In self-denial, some valyrian commoners living in Pentos started to say that by giving these maids to Valyria, the gods of Valyria would bless the city with wealth and good harvest.

This probably came to be as a form of the commoner valyrian to weaken the local's resistance to them. As the commoner Valyrians probably felt closer to the Andals than to the dragon lords, as to them both are different herds of cattle, just that valyrian commoners have a bit superior bloodline in their eyes.

In the beginning, Ghoyan Drohe and Ny Sar were at a stalemate, but as Pentos joined the war Ghoyan Drohe started to lose ground at Ny Sar's front, as it have to fight on two fronts at once. Groyan Drohe, though, was still winning at Pentos' front, which speaks wonders of the Pentos' military strength.

When I came to the war Groyan Drohe and Ny Sar have already negotiated peace with each other with Groyan Drohe conceding on its terms. Seeing that among the three warring cities, Pentos was the weakest Groyan Drohe convinced Ny Sar to join the war on their side. The two royal families married each other. Groyan Drohe would consent to all its territorial claims and influence in the Rhoyne, and part of the Little Rhoyne, as long the city could annex all the rich flatlands and Pentos.

I went to Ny Sar in my chariot and joined a mercenary group working for Ny Sar. I started transporting archers to attack, from a safer position, the enemy's front. Sometimes I also used the armored horses and my chariot, with a big metal spear attracted to it, to attack and disrupt the enemy's formation. It was a relatively unorthodox method as most chariots were used to transport nobles on the battlefield. When the chariot became surrounded it was I who went to deal with the warrior that usually tried to kill the chariot's seven horses.

I gradually became famous as the charioteer warrior. Later the Ny Sar commander got interested in the chariot as a means of defense but also as a way of communicating with the army so I ended up as the private charioteer of the crown prince of Ny Sar.

The war was quite uneventful with Pentos having retreat after retreat. Until we were already at Pentos city walls. When it seems that the city would be conquered. Three shadows appeared in the sky. They were three dragons. None of them was Balerion size, though.

They probably have a size close to the less-known Tyraxes. The Ghoyan Drohe and Ny Sar armies expected that dragons might appear so there were ballistae and the armies' formations were usually dispersed while not in combat. Two dragon riders started to burn the dispersed army. While the third went in my chariot direction. The prince went out and pointed the ballista and fired it at the dragon. Making it fall with its rider.

The prince got himself closer to the supposedly dead dragon. The dragon rider has fallen from his saddle and hit his head on the ground dying. The dragon, however, still has life in him so I took a hit from its tail and a burn from it soon after.

That happened because I threw myself in front of the prince commander, as I could not have the army lose one of its commanders at such a crucial moment. I had a first-degree burn. My skin became red and swollen. I am in pain but it does not compare to being burned from the top of my head to the foot.

"How are you alive?" asked the prince shocked.

"I just am."I couldn't think of a good excuse.

"Why did you do this you could have died?" the prince asked me.

"You can not die if you are not alive in the first place. I am just a shadow of my true self. The most that would happen is me reuniting with myself."

"Shadow? Like the R'hllor's priest thing?"

"Not quite."

"Whatever. I will look for answers later. You should get this treated."

"I still have much to do."

Then I left the prince, ran after another dragon, took a spear, and threw it at that one. And did the same thing again. The casualties of this battle were not small because of the dragons at least I could avoid the complete defeat of rhoynars in the war.

I went back to say my goodbyes to Ny Sar's commander.

"Commander, I have to say my goodbye's as I am reuniting with my true self."

"Fine. I owe my life to you. Are you sure that you need to go? I promise to give you great wealth as a small repayment for the life that I still have."

"I am honored, but I am Vasusena, meaning the one born with wealth. I don't need more wealth. I only need an ally."

"I swear by Mother Rhoyne's name that from this day onwards I will be your ally, as I owe you too much. But what is your real self-name?"

"My real self is named Karna."