City of Dragons

Chapter One.

The sun hanging high above the Red Waste was merciless as it beat down on the tiny Khalasar as it made it's way across the red sands, Daenerys Targaryen, the stormborn and the mother of dragons and Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, trueborn daughter of King Aerys Targaryen, second of his name and Queen Rhaella Targaryen, the true heir to the iron throne and Queen of the Andels, the First men and the Rhyonar, would give just about anything for a skin full of water, of clean, fresh water at any rate. The thought of the foul water in her skin nearly made her retch.

Well, anything except her dragons. There was nothing she wanted that was worth them, though she could not deny that if someone was to offer her a skin for her dragons she could not say that she would not be tempted. She turned her thoughts away from that and instead simply kept moving forward, if she looked back then she was lost.

"Khaleesi." Irri's meek voice made Daenerys turn around to face and when she looked into the younger girl's brown eyes she felt terrible for bringing her into this, poor Irri had been so dutiful to her and had only followed her because she was sworn to her. Daenerys wondered if she had lead the poor girl to her death, she had all ready lead poor Doerah to her death. She had sat by her side and tended to her as best she could but it hadn't been enough and she had died, she had called out to someone that Daenerys hadn't been able to see until she had just slipped away.

When she had finally slipped away it took all Daenerys had not to sit and weep for her, but she knew that she couldn't. Her people were depending on her, she had decided that she would be there strength and they could not see her weep. They would not see her weep, she had ordered that trees had been cut down and a funeral pyre arranged for her. Doerah had not been Dothraki but she would not leave her for the sands to bury or the vultures to eat and there was no other way to be rid of her body.

She told herself that Doerah had been a part of Drogo's Khalasar and was thus Dothraki enough but Daenerys still felt hollow about doing this to her, the Dothraki believed that when you died you would go to the Night Lands and ride for eternity, that every single star in the sky was a horse and it's rider. Doerah had hated riding though she had never been so foolish to say so out loud. Riding forever would have been hell for her. They could not even slaughter a horse to burn with her as they had done when the first deaths had begun, they weren't enough left to spare.

Even her poor silver seemed to becoming more and more gaunt, she couldn't not place value on it more than any other house but it had been the first gift that Khal Drogo, her Sun and Stars, had ever given her. She did not wish to lose her, and so she had given the beautiful mare some of her own food even though even she could see the folly in that. She had little enough as it was.

"What is it Irri?" Daenerys asked as she stepped towards the girl, trying not to scare her. The girl had seemed more and more wary of her lately, she had sworn herself to her when she had seen her dragons but she had seemed terrified of them. They weren't large enough to harm her yet but if they began to grow then they could, the Black Dread had been big enough to cast whole towns in shadow and swallow mammoths whole.

"Another is fallen Khaleesi, an old man though not as old as the first. What shall we do, there are no trees here to burn." And that seemed to cause the girl even more upset, there had been trees earlier in the Red Waste, though no fruit had been born on any of their branches. But the deeper they went into the wastes even those withered husks had disappeared and all they were left with was dry red ground and few pools of stagnant brown water that smelt of sulphur. The little wood that remained to them had to be used for fires to boil the water, to make it as clean as possible or none of them would have any chance of seeing the end of this endless place.

"We have to leave him Irri, there isn't another choice." The girl nodded although it was clear that it had saddened her before she turned and made her way to tell one of the riders what was to be done. They had ridden, those that could, and walked for what seemed like a lifetime and it was clear to Dany that she had been pushing them too hard. But what other choice did they have? They could not stay here.

"Blood of my Blood." She spoke to Aggo who was walking next to her, leading his horse by it's reins and with the great Dragonbone bow that she had gifted to him slung over his shoulder. "Ride along all the horde," She felt odd saying the word as her "Horde." Had less than a hundred people in it now, hardly the forty thousand that had been her sun and stars horde, but she did not know what else to call it. "Tell them we are to stop here and we are to gather what strength that we can, tell them to drink from the skins but not too much. And tell Jorah Mormont that I need to speak to him."

"It will be as you say, Khaleesi." And with that Aggo climbed on to his stallion with an ease that Dany had to admit that she envied, even with the months and the months she had spent with the Dothraki she had not yet mastered mounting and dismounting a horse in such way. It marked her as an outsider, and that did not sit well with her. Aggo was soon gone and Daenerys sat down into the red sands, gazing off into the distance as she did so. There seemed to be no end to it and not for the first, Daenerys wondered if she hadn't made a terrible mistake. But it was too late to turn back now, they wouldn't survive the trek and even if they did the Khalasars that had formed when her sun and stars had been lost to her would be waiting for them.

If she looked back she was lost.

Behind her she could hear her Khalasar coming to a halt and a little while after that she heard the sound of footsteps approaching her, she turned and saw Ser Jorah standing there. Her poor bear looked more uncomfortable than the rest of them as he wore heavier clothing and he was a hairy man, even now she could see curly black hair just poking over the top of his shirt. "My queen, you summoned me?"

"Yes, Ser Jorah. Sit with me for a while, would you?" Dany said as she unslung her skin from her side and handed it over for him to take the first drink from it, he took it gently from her hands, as if she had offered him a rare gem that would shatter into a thousand pieces should it hit the ground. He took a deep drink, and it was clear to her that he was trying his hardest not to shudder at the taste and handed it back to her.

Daenerys took a sip from the skin and unlike her bear did not have his control and thus shuddered at the taste as well, it was better than nothing but earlier this skin had been full of sweet wine that had tasted like a crisp summer day and before that it had been filled with fermented mare's milk, she had never truly liked the drink as it always made her head spin but now she would drink all it down in a heartbeat instead of having to drink this foul water that tasted like it could kill her and made her stomach turn.

"Does it end, Ser Jorah? It does not seem too." She turned her gaze back to the endless wastes, her outriders were still out there. Looking for anything that they could find, an oasis perhaps? Even a city but so far they had found nothing, only the stagnant pools. They had never been gone this long before, it did not sit well with her.

"It does, my Queen. I have never been this far east before in my life but I have seen maps and it does end, sooner or later we will see the end of this. I promise you that." Daenerys smiled at his words although she couldn't find it in herself to believe him, and a small part of her suggested that neither did he but her bear knight seemed pleased to see her smile. "There is a port city, Port Yhos, if I remember correctly. I am not sure how far we are from it but if we can get there then we can take ship."

"And where would we go my knight? I can not go back to Westeros, I have no army and of what I do have I have only four warriors, Aggo, Jhogo, Rakharo and You. And my dragons are too small to fight, when they are grown they could burn the world to ashes. Would you have me sail to Yi Ti and forget my throne, my birth right? I can not do that my sweet bear. I won't." Dany was determined in that, she would not run. She had been running and hiding from the Usurper her entire life. Not any more.

Suddenly there was the sound of hooves and Dany scrambled to her feet and she could not stop herself from smiling when she saw her outriders, all five of them. Even if they did not have good news to share, she found that she did not care. She was simply glad to see them alive and whole and returned to her. "What news have you?"

"A city Khaleesi! As pale as the moon and as lovely as a maid!" The oldest of the outrider's cried with a smile on his face, from behind him he threw a large bag at Dany's feet. "We explored it a little, we found figs!" He sounded so pleased at his discovery that Dany could not help herself but let out a giggle, though she soon chastised herself for that. She was a queen, a Khaleesi, not a little girl. Not any more.

Dany knelt and pulled open the sack and indeed there were figs inside, she could not help herself. She popped a handful of them into her mouth and revels in the taste for the moment before she handed the bag over to Ser Jorah, who held it like it weighed nothing, and ordered him to hand the figs out to the hoard. Once all the figs were gone, and it did not take long for that to happen, she turned to her outriders and gave the command. "Show us to this city."

The sun did not move much across the sky as they rode and finally came across the city, it was beautiful with walls as pale as milk although it was clear that the walls had been crumbling for a while. Enemies had come to the city, the gates were broken open and Dany wondered what had happened to it. Perhaps it had been sacked by a Khalasar that had taken it for the riches hidden within.

As they rode through the broken gate, Irri gasped and pointed at a skull that was lying in the sand. "We should not be here Khaleesi! This is a dead place, a place of bones and ghosts. We should not be here."

"Don't be silly Irri, would you like to go back outside?" Irri said nothing after that and they continued to ride through the crumbling streets of the city, some of buildings were broken but none of the cleanly. The ruins remaindered her of teeth, or jagged bones.

The city of bones, Vaes Tolorro. She nearly laughed at the name she gave it.

After a little more riding they came across a well in the middle of a courtyard that stood in front of a large, and ruined, manse. The water was cool and fresh and clear and for what seemed like hours they drank from the well. Her bloodriders and Ser Jorah she sent to search and they returned with food, more figs but there were some peaches as well. Ser Jorah handed her a peach and while it was overripe when she bit into it, it was so sweet and full of juice that she very nearly cried.

Before too long the night had come, while the red wastes could be cruel during the day the night offered little respite. They were cold nights to be certain, far too cold and they had lost people to the nights before. Thankfully they did not need to search long as they soon found another manse, this one had a well as well with devilgrass sprouting around and the manse itself had been spared the worst of the sack. It seemed to swallow her Khalasar, the people she had seen every day for so long disappeared but it did not sadden her as they each hid in a dozen different rooms, their laughter made her smile. This had been the happiest day she had in far too long a time.

She, Irri and Jhiqui all shared a room with a bed so large that it must have belonged to whoever had owned the manse before, Jhiqui seemed to share her fellow handmaiden's doubt about the place but as soon as the sky turned dark and the chill began to set in both girls crawled into the bed at either side of Daenerys and wrapped their arms around her, warming her and themselves.

Dany sighed as she closed her eyes, there would be much to do in the morning, the gates would need to be fixed for a start but with the well and the fig trees they could rest here and grow strong again.

This could be a good place.

End of Chapter One.

So, when I first read ACOK I always wondered what would happen if Daenerys had decided to stay in Vaes Tolorro instead of leaving for Quarth, this story is me answering that question for myself. Obviously this is the first chapter and the diffrences haven't really come into play yet but give it time and we will get there.

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Love,

Doctorwhofan12345.