Late 112 AC – Yunkai
Ser Aethan Celtigar POV
Their march was hard and slow, the towns and estates they passed by and 'liberated' proved to be little distraction. Eight days they marched and more than half a moon has passed since they began their campaign.
On dusty roads and golden fields, they marched, and now through a outcrop of ancient birchwood forest near a crumbling sandstone bridge that passed over a drying river, a river that stretched out thinly on the same path to Yunkai, nary much time was wasted even as they took short turns to rest.
The huge train of supplies that followed their more than thirty thousand strong army, food and water and weapons and much else, including hundreds if not a thousand and more barrels of wet stone powder, stretched far behind them.
Eleven thousand Elamaerysians – with half a thousand archers and the Summer Islanders on board of the fleet – sixteen thousand Unsullied, nearly two thousand former slave soldiers, and four thousand volunteering Astaporeans were amongst the army, with another three thousand non-fighting supporting men and women.
Their forces could have easily ballooned to over forty, if not fifty thousand, had it not been for Prince Aegon's convincing of the Astaporeans that the city had need of hardworking people eager to make a difference.
'Your duty, now as free men, is to rebuild this city and to train hard and train well, for it is on your shoulders that you will help carry the weight of freedom for the people of this Bay.'
The convincing had taken root in the people, he mused to himself, the Prince had too much sway in their hearts for them to refuse such a request.
Ultimately, the Prince took only four thousand men amongst the Astaporeans, telling the many other of the men to train with the Unsullied in preparation should they have need of them.
He doubted the ones that came with them would be much use in the fighting, no more than peasant levies, likely less useful, for they had much of their fighting spirit whipped away. Nonetheless, war changed the hearts of men, he expected that Yunkai would serve well in changing the hearts of the surviving men.
Aethan knew from experience after all. Though he'd been knighted – and blooded – many years ago, fighting in Astapor had been something alike to that of freezing water dropped on you as you lay asleep. Chaos and mayhem had ruled for a night and a day, where blood of thousands had spilled freely.
He'd never seen the like of it.
Whilst the freed slaves had shed blood aplenty, much of the shed blood had been of the freedmen and the noble families of Astapor.
Out of tens of thousands, there were less than a few thousand remaining in Astapor, many of them only women and children.
And Yunkai…
Yunkai would face the same fate.
He still remembered vividly the ease with which Prince Aegon had spoken about the fates of the slavers and their families in this war. That none but the women and children were to live and even then, they'd live without much of their wealth.
The surviving noble class and freedmen and freedwomen would retain some of their wealth, and their manses, but much of it was contingent that they follow the new rules set for them…lest they find themselves subject to an angry mob that greatly outnumbered them.
'The Old cannot be made to hinder the New, lest the Old grow mighty again to make all of our efforts pointless' had been what the Prince had often said.
None of the men protested to that. Aethan had not expected it.
He knew that many of these knights were veterans of the war in the Basilisk Isles or had wished they'd fought there but all were deeply hateful of slavers, so much so that none thought that the way they were going to fight this war in Slaver's Bay was dishonourable.
'This is not Westeros.' Prince Aegon had said.
'In Westeros, we fight within the same rules. Lords against Lords. Knights against knights. Submission and conquest. War in Westeros is a war amongst equals, for the most part, with the same overarching goals and the same codes of conduct.
This is not the case here. They are not our equals. They are not fighting as equals. They do not fight at all. Their slaves fight. They fight with words and lies.
You ask why this deception?
Because they deserve no more. They deserve to come to an end through the means they so effortlessly practice.
Through lies and through butchery, they live and through lies and through butchery, they will come to an end.'
He was finding himself unable to protest against it. Not when the blood spilled of their men was lessened through deception, not when deception and dishonour was solely reserved for the slavers.
The city of Yunkai loomed over the horizon as they stood atop the hill, the great sandstone mountain that lay on its west looked like a misshapen twin of the yellow bricked city as they approached.
And as they neared, they could see with the naked eye the gleaming golden harpy that stood at the top of the pyramid that dominated over the city, a symbol clear as any of the means and ways of Yunkai.
Still, he mused to himself, the city was impressive as they arrived within five thousand yards of Yunkai and its gates. Its high walls were impressive, like a ribbon tied around the bosom of a heavy-breasted whore, and its tall towers and buildings that lay behind it, gleamed under the morn sun like monuments of gold.
On the eastern side, towards the ocean, he could see a few distant ant-like ships and likely there were many more on the far side of the city.
Yunkai had two gates – one at the ports and the one in front of them, the main gate, and, it seemed like their presence was not unknown to the Yunkai'i, for there were three thousand men outside the gates of the city…waiting…watching.
Their army took camp then, on the Prince's orders, five thousand yards away from Yunkai, close enough for any in the city in those towers to see, and the stream of their men setting up camp must have made their enemy wary and nervous, for he could see the gates opening and closing several times in the past hour.
The sounds of the sea was distant but heard, even over the commotion of the camp, and he wondered where the fleet was. He knew that the fleet of fifty or so ships, armed with jar-bolts and scorpions, were not far from their position, waiting as they were on a command from the Prince through the glass candle.
"Huh. So the slavers want to fight then." Ser Maerro commented gruffly as he put down the far-eye, a small scowl forming on his face when he passed on the far-eye to Ser Trytas who took it to eye.
Their party consisted of Ser Trytas, Ser Maerro, Ser Galaenys, Ser Uthrik, commander Rhaegar, himself and of course, Prince Aegon.
He doubted that the Yunkai'i wanted a fight. They would have seen their army of more than thirty thousand coming, a difference to their own numbers that should make any, even the most foolhardy, tremble with wairness.
And, of course, he mused, the fact that the Prince had a dragon, a fact that must be known to the Yunkai'i, a fact that should doubly make them tremble with doubt and uncertainty about whether or not they even stood a morsel of a chance.
"They're no more than a cornered hog stamping its feet before a pack of wolves." Ser Maekar Romaerys said with amusement in his voice.
Just over a fortnight had passed since they began the campaign and by the next few days, they would secure Yunkai and its hinterlands, leaving no chance of Meereen being able to muster an army save for one to protect itself.
For there was no doubt that Meereen knew already or would know in the coming days.
That the Yunkai'i soldiers were waiting on them was a hallmark that with certainty their deception and their conquest of Astapor would be made known to the rest of Slaver's Bay in the next few weeks.
Individually the rest of the cities were of no great concern, the chances that they could hire sellswords that still remained in the region were all but certain bought to bolster their forces, although, truthfully, it wasn't a big of a problem, not when they had a dragon like Mīsaragorn.
The Conqueror had proven long ago that dragons and a small army was enough to conquer an entire continent capable of fielding armies of hundreds of thousands, with all the luck and favour of the Gods' needed to fell a grown dragon.
The sellswords would surrender before they let themselves be consumed in another Field of Fire, though, he could see the other Ghiscari die rather than surrender, once it was known that the war they were waging with Slaver's Bay was one of annihilation, and chances were that they would spare no expense or effort to ensure their survival.
For now though, he thought as he glanced at the Prince, who stared at the assembled Yunkai'i forces with an indifferent expression, such knowledge would not escape, not with the way they put to sword anyone who was deemed a risk.
Which would be doubly ensured with Yunkai.
In many ways, the chaotic nature of their liberation of Astapor had played into their hands, with so many of the noble families and freedmen dying in the chaos.
Only a few remained, fewer still were men. Few enough to be ensured that they could be controlled and their movements managed, even when the landowning – and slave owning – families from the hinterlands were forcibly moved into the city.
"We wait." Prince Aegon commanded after a few moments as he turned to look at Ser Maekar before he looked to the others. "Have the men begin the scheduled rests. I expect we will have our answers come today's close. At worst, by tomorrow morn." Prince Aegon said before he pulled at the reins of his horse and turned around, making his way back to the camp.
And so they waited, and, come the afternoon, hours later, riders of a hundred strong party made their way towards them, the guards dressed in the queer leather armour like that of the Astaporean highborn, and their hairs oiled up in similar elaborately fashions, though, their highborn nobles wore silk and linen dresses with all kinds of yellows dyes. What caught his attentions were the caravans that followed in pursuit of these men, caravans that promised tremendous amount of gold and luxury.
The highborn in silk and linen yellow clothing were the ones who broke away from the party once they came at a stop some distance away. Three of the eight highborn introduced themselves by name, Sraqniz zo Palaq, Dramdak mo Shezzuzn, and Meimdeq na Keez.
The looks on their faces were smiling, as were most of the other unnamed highborn, and if he were to see such faces in a tavern or in a solar, or in court in Kings Landing, he would not have known it to be anything else but friendliness.
"You've assembled a mighty army, Prince Aegon." The one named zo Palaq said with a flattering tone yet Aethan liked it not. Zo Palaq then looked towards the hundreds of men behind them, the Unsullied and their men and the Astoporeans before the man then looked to Rhaegar, the smiling look on his face dropping.
"Much of it through treachery." Zo Palaq said as he turned to look to meet Prince Aegon's gaze, who simply stared at zo Palaq with the same cold indifference he'd looked when he watched their assembled forces, and though his body seemed languid, lazy, Aethan knew it was only for show.
Long moments passed as the highborn slavers stared at Prince Aegon with smiling faces and penetrating eyes, none of it affecting the Prince who simply…stared through them, his body hunched atop the horse as if he had not a care in the world.
"Why have you come?" the highborn finally broke, their impatience having crept into their voices, the light of the dying sun presenting an terrible august air to their fraying patience.
None of their party answered. Prince Aegon had been adamant that they keep their silence for the ruse would be in danger otherwise. The Yunkai'i had to conclude that they were here for opportunistic reasons.
When none of their party answered, unsettling the highborn slavers ever more so, the man named Meimdeq na Keez continued, his voice harsher but to Aethan it sounded no more like bluster and folly. "You will not find Yunkai as easily conquered" na Keez straightened himself out as he sat atop his horse, and he leaned forward slightly, an angry scowl forming as he spoke.
"We have survived countless hordes of enemies since before your sheepherding ancestors ever managed to enslave those demon-cursed beasts you call dragons and we will survive long after the rivers of Ghis have run dry."
"Speak your terms or do not speak at all." Prince Aegon remarked indifferently as he leaned forward ever so slightly on top of his horse and some of the highborn bristled at the disrespect.
Dramdak mo Shezzuzn was the one who ensured none spoke out of turn and was the one who spoke for them. "You are wise to seek negotiations where is much to be agreed upon" mo Shezzuzn said with a smiling face "We know of your troubles with Myr and" mo Shezzuzn said as he glanced towards the Unsullied commander who met mo Shezzuzn's gaze with unblinking eyes, a mark, Aethan knew, of the growing defiance within the Unsullied.
The less Wine of Courage they consumed, the more like men, they became.
"I cannot conceive that you would be so foolish to harm and weaken the army you have gathered by attacking Yunkai, with whom you have no quarrel to settle."
Prince Aegon glanced at Ser Galaenys, Ser Maerro and Ser Trytas, the look on his face clear in understanding parted. None were to speak.
If the highborn slavers noticed anything, Aethan did not know as zo Palaq raised his hand and moments later goods and crates were lifted off of the backs of the camels and from the carriages drawn by their horses "It is why we offer you a gift on your travels to your enemy in Myr."
And, as the crates were opened, gold bars aplenty shown, and the peals of silk and more was set before them, mo Shezzuzn continued to speak though his words were far from the smiling kind with which he spoke before with.
"We will forget the treacherous transgressions you have committed against the Good Masters. We do not know why you have done so" mo Shezzuzn said with forced calmness as he glanced at the Unsullied, the look all but confirming that their suspicions were geared towards the taking of the Unsullied. "– for it matters not, but know" mo Shezzuzn said as he inclined his head faintly, the respectful gesture made irrelevant by the hard eyes and the tenseness in his body. "that we Yunkai'i are wiser and far stronger than the Good Masters.
You will find Yunkai far from the easy prey that proved to be Astapor. For every thousand men you sent against our walls, two thirds will die a terrible death. For every Yunkai'i that falls in our streets, twenty of yours will die by our scimitars and our spears" mo Shezzuzn vowed in a low but hard voice and Aethan found himself clenching his teeth at the challenge issued.
"Of course" mo Shezzuzn said after the pause, his body relaxing and his smiling face returning. "We need not blood ourselves in a battle that need not be fought" mo Shezzuzn said in a placating movement of arms. "The gift that is before you, is only a small fraction of the gift that we would deliver to you. You would receive five times that number. Your men" mo Shezzuzn said as he glanced towards the arrayed men that stood watching not more than a three hundred yards behind them "will be granted the finest bedslaves to warm their beds, and every man amongst them will have ten pouches of gold gifted as a mark of generosity of Yunkai."
"Generous." Prince Aegon said as he eyed mo Shezzuzn. "And in return?"
mo Shezzuzn smiled. "And in return, you will leave these shores for all time. You will also leave Astapor, the city and its slaves, to be reclaimed by the people of this land, us, and you will never return there either" mo Shezzuzn said in a fiery but calm and smooth tone before he smiled and it was an oily greasy smile that made Aethan wish he could carve out of its copper skin. "Of course, you can keep the Unsullied for your campaign against the Myrrish."
"Interesting demands." Prince Aegon said with an acknowledging note, one that pleased a few of the highborn and angered a few others. Aethan wondered if there was discord amongst the highborn on how to approach this crisis. Likely there, he mused to himself. The Yunkai'i were said to be as cutthroat in their dealings as the Volantene were in their politics.
"But I wonder…why should I accept such terms?" Prince Aegon questioned as he titled his head, a slow and small smile making its way on his face, a smile that was predatory and cold "When we have such a welcoming city waiting for us?"
This reaction made some of the highborn Ghiscari unsettled and na Keez scowled angrily and seemed to be ready at a moment's notice to draw his scimitar.
Aethan glanced at the others amongst their party. He saw Ser Galaenys watching carefully and doing so with a hungry on his face.
"You would rather waste the blood of your men on our glorious walls and weaken yourselves against the sellswords the Myrrish have gathered for your arrival?" mo Shezzuzn asked harshly but Aethan could see that underneath that harshness, there was real fear. As there should be. The Yunkai'i were outnumbered in every way possible. They knew how fucked they were if appeasement didn't work. "Do not be so foolish, prince. Let us part on good and friendly terms. The gifts we would levy on you would leave you far less bitter than your attempts to take our city would."
"Yes. Yunkai will not be as unprepared as Astapor was." Prince Aegon said with a lessening smile, his eyes unblinking. "Like a stone in my boot, Yunkai will be irritating to tread upon." Prince Aegon's eyes turned cold, his voice descending in volume as he spoke further. "Nonetheless it shall be removed with but a moment's pause." Prince Aegon raised himself slightly, his eyelids dropping, as he tilted his head slightly as he spoke further.
"And you misunderstand, Yunkai'i."
"What do we misunderstand?"
The Prince smiled and it was a cold, terrifying smile as his hand slowly rose, an open gauntleted hand, and, as his arm was outstretched fully into the air when he spoke. "You misunderstand my humouring of you when I asked your terms. You believe that this is a negotiation when in reality…" The Prince said as he closed his hand. "– this is nothing more than you agreeing with whatever I bid you to agree."
"YOU DAR-" anything, any insult or words of rebuttal, were cut short by a piercing roar that seemed to have blanketed the world, its shrill and piercing screech dug into the ears and minds of all those that heard, a screech that scratched and gouged at the carefully constructed walls of arrogant security the highborn slavers built within themselves, he thought, as he watched the blood leave their faces, their mouths agape in horror and shock and some sense of twisted awe, and the dragon, Mīsaragorn, swept down from above the mountain, his large bulking form, larger than any carrack and larger still his form was than any ship with his wings so extended full.
Heads were stuck to follow the trajectory of the dragon, a trajectory that arrowed towards Yunkai by the sea and the horror at seeing Mīsaragorn made way for dawning horrible understanding, the gusts of winds that washed over them as impactful as the thoughts that they were insignificant before a dragon.
"What are you doing?! This is a parlay! You spit on every civilised conduct!" na Keez was furious – and frightened – in voice.
"We are not breaking parlay. You still breath, slaver." Ser Galaenys said in a gruelling scowl before he laughed amused "And so does your pitiful army. The dragon is simply doing what a dragon does…what it wants."
"That beast is attac-…!" the slaver's died down when the first bursts of flames were issued by Mīsaragorn at the ports, great bursts of blue flames rising high into the air as presumably ship after ship was burned down, rising about the city walls and city buildings.
"Cease that beast! Cease its attack at once!" one of the highborn said in panic, his hand on the hilt of his scimitar but before he draw it out, sharp sounds of swords unsheathed broke.
"If you want to make it back to your pissing city alive, you better remove your hand from your sword." Ser Maerro said in a dangerous tone and Aethan could hear swords drawn by the men behind them and it proved to be the cause of reason amongst the highborn.
"What do you want?" mo Shezuzzn spat out as he looked towards the Prince, a bitter look on his face, though Aethan could see through the veneer of assuredness.
Fear had crept in his bones…in all of their bones.
"You release every slave from your city come the first light of dawn with ten days of food for each slave." Prince Aegon said and the slavers quailed at those terms.
"You're mad!" one of the highborn said horrified. "That's impossible, we'll never agree!"
No doubt they were also thinking about the slave soldiers that they'd would be forced to give up.
"If you don't agree…" Prince Aegon said as he forced his horse to stamp its foreleg onto the dragon, rising as he was to his full height. "my dragon will not simply burn down your ships. He will turn its fire and flame to Yunkai. Your strong and glorious walls will melt as easily as the flesh of yours and your kin will under dragonfire.
Your city, of which you so pride yourselves so much on, will be nothing more than an example. Like Old Ghis and the Rhoynar were before the might of Old Valyria." Prince Aegon's voice turned menacing, the sounds and flashes of burning in the far distance proving to be a terrible omen for the highborn slavers.
"Your city will be turned into a replication of Old Ghis, a hollow city with burnt out husks of stone and ash, populated only with the wailing ghosts of the Wise Masters. That is my promise if you refuse my demand."
Silence reigned for long moments, one that was only broken once another great flash of blue flame and smoke in the far distance made itself known.
"We cannot free all of the slaves. Not the soldiers." na Keez finally broke the silence, his head shaking angrily.
"Every slave. No exceptions." Prince Aegon said coldly.
"What is to prevent you from attacking anyway?!" One of the highborn slavers behind the three envoys shouted angrily and fearfully.
"Only my words." Prince Aegon said as he leaned in, staring into the eyes of the highborn slaver before he looked to the others. "And truthfully…count your blessings that Myr is my enemy and for which I need my army. For it does not matter if you had a few thousand more men defending you. You know it. I know it. Even the slaves who you make defend you know it." Prince Aegon's voice turned chilling.
"Only my words and my goodwill can save you and your families from death. And my goodwill is limited."
The highborn looked at one another before mo Shezzuzn spoke for the slavers "We need more than the time you have given us. There are too many and the amount of food you ask for will deplete our stores!"
It was a poor attempt to try and buy time.
"You have until the first light of the morn and no longer." Prince Aegon said coldly and he leaned in slightly. "Or do you refuse?"
Mo Shezzuzn swallowed harshly before he bitterly nodded. "We have an accord." He spat out "Call off your beast. Prince." He said with a bitter tone and Prince Aegon brought down his arm and the screech of the dragon could be faintly heard even though it was at the other side of Yunkai.
Only when the dragon came towards them, did the Yunkai'i retreat.
They watched the retreating forms of the highborn slavers, the sun drawing to a close, and Prince Aegon spoke then. "Prepare the men. We've pushed them into a corner by arriving sooner than they expected. They know how hopeless their situation is. They will abide by the accord, mostly, I expect. Still, expect treachery and ensure the men do not lose focus. The next forty hours will be vital for the seamless success of our plans."
The chaos of more than a hundred thousand slaves leaving Yunkai was going to be severe if it wasn't managed carefully.
It was why they were camped here, at this hill, away from the open fields by the coast. The slaves would be made to camp out there, looked over by a small contingent of their army and their non-fighting men and women, so that when the time came, their large numbers wouldn't be a hindrance.
Plus, there was also the possibility that the Yunkai'i were going to infiltrate the ranks of the slaves and cause trouble, though that was far less likely than the poisoning of the foods the Yunkai'i might do to the food.
However, neither of those possibilities would matter anyway, not when they took the city and the rest of the hinterlands in short order.
Night came and went, the high alertness in the camp was for nought for the possibility of the Yunkai'i attempting to assassinate their Prince in the height of night had not come to pass, and at the first lights of dawn, the gates of Yunkai opened, columns of thirty men and women pouring out into the sands outside of the city gates.
Ser Galaenys then looked towards Ser Baemond, a Lysene-born knight, and nodded to the horsed man and soon a call went around for a company of a hundred riders to go and escort the freed slaves to the designated area.
They'd also inform the freed slaves who it was that was responsible for their freedoms, gaining a measure of their trust and their compliance in the process so that when the Prince spoke with them, they'd be already aware of him.
They were also required to pass their eyes over the slaves, just to check that they were what they seemed…enslaved peoples. The slave soldiers would be amongst them and they would be the most dangerous of the lot. Chances were, an assassin would be amongst that lot. They should be disarmed, swordless, but daggers were a weapon enough.
More than a few hours passed as the freed slaves in their droves came out of the gates, caravans and cases interspersed amongst their numbers, and by the time noon was passed, the freed slaves had been made to congregate in the area some seven thousand yards away from Yunkai, a few thousands of their army keeping order amongst the slaves.
"Get ready!" Ser Galaenys bellowed, and soon voices from the other senior commanders, and the feeling of anticipation that had been felt throughout the morn increased heavily, something that spiked sharply when they heard the distant roar of Mīsaragorn.
For a moment a shadow dwelled over them, a shadow that was cast over hundreds, if not thousands of their army for that single moment and his gaze went towards the skies, and he was greeted with sight that never failed to amaze him.
Dark metal worn on its belly seemed to draw light from its surroundings, and Mīsaragorn with his wingspan of near enough fifty and two hundred feet glided through the air like a sea serpent, his spiked draconic longer than the height of the walls of Yunkai, twisting slowly as the dragon made way towards the freed slaves.
He'd seen a few dragons in his lifetime, more so in the past few years, particularly Mīsaragorn. The dragon was a fearsome beast, comparable to the greatest of the living dragons, and it amazed him to know that the dragon's age was not yet thirty.
If the dragon lived a hundred years more, it would not surprise him if he was to grow comparable to Vhagar.
Panic had swept through the ranks of the slaves but the thousands of their army that was left to keep the peace had soon calmed them down, as was planned.
Mīsaragorn landed before the backtracking freed slaves, and moments later, Mīsaragorn had stood on his wings with the small looking Prince on his back.
Even from this distance, they could see the gleaming dark armour of the Prince, helmet too, and though he could not hear a spick or spittle, he knew that the Prince was now addressing the slaves.
His hands tightened on the reins of his horse, a quick glance sent towards the army that stood ready. There were six thousand riders now, a third being the former slave soldiers of the hinterlands of Astapor with the rest on foot.
To cross the gap between the city would take several hours on foot, this far away from the city gates, however, that time would work in their advantage as the fires would dwindle by then…at least that was the hope given that their assumptions were based on the fact that there was little woodwork in Yunkai, not enough to cause a great fire to consume the city.
The riders, himself included, would be used to clear the combatants nearest by the walls, the few that survived the dragonfire passes.
A great roar of cheers knocked him out of his thoughts and his head swivelled towards the direction, towards the Prince and freed slaves, and the cheers made way for chants, chants that he could make out, safe for the one Valyrian word…
'Freedom'.
Mīsaragorn's body then moved away from the slaves and shortly afterwards, the dragon, after a very quick crawl, was airborne, the signal that they needed to begin.
"TIME TO MARCH MEN! LET'S NOT HAVE THE PRINCE HAVE TO DO THE WORK ALL ALONE!" Ser Galaenys' familiar voice bellowed out and cheers rang around from the men.
And, as they marched, his hands around the reins tightening further, they watched as the Prince atop Mīsaragorn approached the city, and he could imagine the terror that must be going through the minds of the slavers.
Great peals of blue dragonflame erupted from the maw of Mīsaragorn, flames that consumed the battlements above the gates, gates that were blown apart by the destructive nature of the flame, and the dragon continued to sweep across the battlements, sweeping past like the Stranger incarnate, and even this far away thousands of yards, the sounds of the destructive dragonflame rang like shrieking bells.
It was awe inducing and terrifying, to see what a lone dragon was capable of, he thought as he watched more of the city put to blue flame, smoke rising and rising, clouding the city under a haze of grey and ash.
Though he knew that only some areas of the city were put to torch outside of the battlements, areas where the Wise Masters and their kind dwelled, it seemed as if much of the city had been burned down.
By the time they neared the city gates, there was not a soul that could be heard, only the sounds of dying crackling fire.
"REMEMBER! LET ONLY THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN LIVE!" Ser Maerro bellowed and he was the first of the riders make it into the city, something that roused the men out of their shock, and a roar of voices roused like thunder as the men ran forward towards the gates and soon enough he too made his way into the city proper and he and his fellows rode in the streets by the city walls, ash and smoke dominated for some time before it all cleared up and finally, he could cries and shouts and blade singing, his grip tightening on his sword.
Two days…
"Heave!" was bellowed, and men pulled, sounds of exertion mixing with the sounds of metal scraping against stone.
He watched on with morbid and wary fascination as the huge golden harpy that was mounted on the pyramid of Qaggaz moved with the pulling.
"Gods, that thing is going to roll right out of the city!" Ser Lomerys Romaerys remarked, drawing his attentions and he glanced at the bulky man before he turned his gaze back at the harpy.
"It's more likely going to collapse the pyramid." Aethan said with a grimace.
He was rather glad that they were watching from the small pyramid beside the pyramid of Qaggaz. That thing must weight more than twenty times that of the Prince's dragon, he was sure of it. Especially if it was really completely gold.
He doubted it, of course, but you never knew with these Ghiscari.
"Good riddance." Ser Lomerys said with a scoff "So wasteful a building. A keep for just a single family. Well. And their slaves, I suppose. Still! You could build ten towns of thousands each with the stone of this pyramid!"
That…was true.
"It wouldn't be the worst thing if that thing collapsed." Aethan remarked as he turned his gaze around, towards the city below. The signs of burning and fighting still marked out much of the city. A great many of the pyramids, big and small were half destroyed by flame and fire. The city walls too had suffered greatly.
And in the streets…
The bloods of thousands coloured the yellow stones red.
To call what happened a few days ago fighting, was mayhaps, a great stretch of the word. Butcher was more of the right word.
Prince Aegon's attack had decimated a great deal of the Ghiscari and their dwindled forces, and terrified the survivors, allowing their army to sweep through them with disturbing ease.
They'd killed all of the men by the time night came and by the time morn came, they found that many of the families had perished during the fighting, during the Prince's attack, or during the fire that consumed the prison that many of the Wise Masters families had been held in, a crime that had been done by a few vengeful former Astaporean slave soldiers.
Trytas had hung the men for their crimes and warnings had been issued to everyone that revenge crimes would not be accepted.
Out of mayhaps thirty or forty thousand Ghiscari, less than six thousand had survived, the majority of them being children, with the only men still living being those that had dwelled in the temples that dotted throughout the city, which were to be left untouched according to the Prince.
"Aye." Ser Lomerys commented with a nod, allowing Aethan to wrench his thoughts away and he looked towards Ser Lomerys who grunted before he spoke again. "Wouldn't surprise me if our Prince made the administrators rebuild the city using the stones of these pyramids." A gnarly smile cut across his face.
"Like my brother's writings, the Prince has a taste of symbolism about him."
Aethan eyed the grim and gnarly man with amusement. Ser Maekar's scholar-like nature was infamous amongst the knights and the complaints of Ser Lomerys about his brother was just as infamous, and it was a source of great entertainment.
It was a shame that Ser Maekar was assigned to Elamaerys instead of this campaign.
A great noise echoed around them and they sharply turned their gaze back towards the harpy which was tipped from its base and on the cusp of falling. One more pull later, the harpy fell.
And fall it did, for it rolled down the sides of the pyramids, breaking and crushing stone on its way down, tumbling and breaking apart, one wing first, and the other, before all that remained was a body and a head as it neared the ground.
"Ha! I knew! That thing was a fake!" Ser Lomerys said exuberantly as the sight of broken apart harpy had shown them that the insides were hollow, showing that the harpy had been nothing but a cast.
It seemed fitting, strangely.
The next few hours had gone by quickly. Most of the freed slaves had made it back into the city, and much of their help was solicited in clearing up the city.
Some of the slaves, some thousands, left to make their own way. Many of them were Lhazareen, a people that came from Lhazar, a region beyond the mountains.
The rest though, remained.
Soon enough, he was in the council meeting with the Prince, Ser Trytas, Ser Galaenys, Keller and three of the Yunkai regency council.
The first topic at hand was organising the city.
There'd be some hundred administrators left in this city, tasked to get the economy and a system of governance up and running.
The slave soldiers that had been released by Yunkai had been identified – there had indeed been some amongst them tasked to kill Prince Aegon and as many others, though, once they'd seen the dragon and the city burning, they'd changed their minds and confessed – and would soon be incorporated into the army, and in the city-guard.
This time, only half a thousand Unsullied would remain in the city to keep order.
There was lesser amount of concern of rioting and instability.
The majority of the slaves were women and girls, bed slaves, dancers, weavers and servants, with the majority of the men being menial workers of one thing or another, pottery, jewellery and the like. The rest were eunuch soldiers and servants.
That, combined with the fear and awe most of the slaves had of Prince Aegon, one made greater with the sight of a burning city at the maw of a single dragon.
The second topic was the division of the gold taken, and that would be taken, from the now, mostly, dead Wise Masters and other noble families.
Tens of millions of golden marks were expected to be found within the now desolate abodes of these families, wealth that would be split in half – one half belonging to Prince Aegon and their army, and the other belonging to the regency council.
The wealth that Prince Aegon and their army took, would be, at the end of the campaign split with forty percent of the pot split amongst the army, forty percent for the treasury of Elamaerys, and only twenty percent kept by Prince Aegon.
There was a whole lot of complicated splitting, with regards to how much would be given to the men who joined after the campaign, but at the end, every Elamaerysian man in their army would be a very wealthy man.
The forty percent that would be kept in the treasury of Elamaerys was meant entirely for the settlement and their people, something that no Elamaerysian in their army would disagree with.
Though Prince Aegon only took twenty percent of the spoils, the Valyrian steel and the tomes taken, were all belonging to Prince Aegon, and it would not surprise him if Prince Aegon had enough to make a dozen swords from all that was taken in the form of daggers, jewellery, spearheads and axes.
The next topic was the next stage of their campaign. They could not expect as little resistance as they'd faced in Yunkai and Astapor, not by the time they were at the Meereenese city gates.
Meereen as well, was a city that did not boast as few Ghiscari freemen and nobles, easily toppling more than a hundred thousand, in a city more than half a million in people.
It would be their greatest challenge, to take that city with the least number of deaths amongst their men. Prince Aegon had also considered that enough time had passed for the Meereenese to make scorpion bolts.
It wasn't something that concerned Prince Aegon overly 'They'd have to cover every roof and every battlement with scorpions for them to be effective' Prince Aegon had said in answer, but nonetheless, it was something to consider.
After all, terrible luck had struck Meraxes down and though the Prince's dragon was fitted with armour, armour that also covered its draconic head, a terribly lucky scorpion could worm its way into the skull of the dragon.
There were a range of plans, depending on what their enemy would do, that they had prepared. Plans that once again used deception and subterfuge to take the city from within.
They couldn't force the Meereenese in the same they did with Yunkai. The Meereenese were many times more formidable than the Yunkai or the Astaporeans.
And though they took care not to let any escape Yunkai, via ship or via foot, the chance still existed that their deeds in Yunkai would be known.
They'd fight severely to survive and it wouldn't surprise them if they took brutal measures to control their slaves.
Prince Aegon decided to extend their stay in the city by another week, making them stay in Yunkai for the next fortnight before they marched again. Aethan knew that the decision would be well liked by the men, men who would like to seek willing comfort from the famed women in this city.
Ser Galaenys was however tasked to bring the hinterlands under control. The farms and the estates, taking with him five thousand riders, a thousand of which were Astaporean men.
They'd also double the training of their recently freed men, to get them to be less of a doubt during battle. Three hundred had fallen during the attack, far more than any other losses amongst the army. They couldn't allow such a loss again for their war in Slaver's Bay was far from over.
The meeting came at an end shortly afterwards, and he and the others left the Prince alone with Keller, and, as they walked out of the council room, he was surprised by what he saw, and he felt a little struck by her beauty.
Black silken hair flowed passed her shoulders, framing a heart-shaped pale face and he would thought her sick, if it were not for her vividly red lips and her onyx eyes, eyes of confidence and promised strength, dressed in crimson and scarlet robes.
His eyes went to her bosom, her dress leaving much to be seen, a hexagon shaped necklace framing her neck and some of her chest, though, he quickly looked up again as she moved closer to him and as the men beside him made noises which he ignored, meeting her gaze, which remained unfazed and untroubled, before his gaze towards the guards by her sides, who walked with her.
He and the others stepped aside, letting the woman and the guards pass.
Only when the doors to the council room closed did any of them speak.
"May the father have mercy. Gods, that woman is deadly." Ser Galaenys snorted.
"Aye, she likely is." Ser Uthrik said warningly. "That's a Red Priestess alright."
Aethan's eyebrows climbed. "A Red Priestess?"
'Were all their priestesses like…that?'
"Aye." Ser Uthrik said with a frown "They're dangerous. I'm not sure why the Prince wishes to meet with their lot."
No…he had no clue either. He did not think Prince Aegon would be swayed by her beauty. He'd not seen Prince Aegon act on the carnal side of things, despite being away from the Princess for so long. And, given the way the Prince adored his wife, he doubted he'd see him act on it now either.
"If there is anything for us to know, the Prince will let us know. Now come, lets have a drink, I'm fucking famished." Ser Galaenys commented and soon enough they all left, though, Aethan remained curious about that Red Priestess for some time yet.
-Break-
A History of Planetos: The Alliances That Won The Great War for the Dawns
Chapter fourteen: the League of Liberty Bay
The impact the armies of Liberty Bay had on the War for the Dawns (referred to Twin Dawns or the Two Fronts against the Dark Ones) cannot be understated.
Had it not been for the Libertos Armies, it is certain that Yi-Ti, a land that was in a civil war later found to have been instigated by the High Priests of the Church of the Starry Wisdom, the followers of the Dark Ones, would have fallen to the Dark One in the East, and the cost to the world would have unimaginable.
The Yi-Tish, once their civil war was ended with the aid of General Zoqorro, was instrumental to the final destruction of the Dark One in the East, and it is not difficult to surmise that the Fate of the world would have been dire had Yi-Ti, with all of its tens and tens of millions of people, had fallen to the Unsealed Dark One.
It is widely believed now, fifty years later (359 AC), that Essos would have been overrun with the dead without the Libertos Armies and more importantly without their divine artifact, the Staff ofPaerros, an artifact that is only equalled by the Sword of Lightbringer in divinity and effectiveness against the dark forces.
It is a remarkable achievement, how a once reviled region of the world, a place mired with slavery, corruption and deviancy, had, in only a few centuries, become one of the pillars that saved humankind from eternal darkness and terror.
The origins of their achievements can be directly traced back to their foundation:
The Liberation of Liberty Bay.
This foundation is as much a cornerstone in the national identity of the cities in the League of Liberty Bay as the Red Faith is. After the Regency Councils ended a decade after the Archon of Elamaerys, Aegon the First (See chapter 3 for Elamaerys and its founder) departed Liberty Bay, a several periods of difficulty and adversity was faced by these cities.
Three wars were fought with Qarth and raids from the Dothraki were frequent in those centuries before the Great War, and it is widely believed in Liberty Bay that these wars hardened the peoples of Liberty Bay just as the world and their Red God needed.
There is much doubt about such a belief, just as there is much doubt about the belief that Archon Aegon the First had seen the struggle for the Dawns coming, but it cannot be said that the peoples that had come out of those wars were completely different to the peoples with the slave mentalities of the years, decades and centuries before.
A nationalistic dogma arose in the city-states of Liberty Bay after those periods of adversity…