CHAPTER 21. GORDON BASTEEL
Gordon Bastel is the youngest son of Corren and Lara Basteel. Four years after his brother went on his Right of Passage it was his turn. Lara's last son was to be sent into the Red Waste of the East. She kept a smile on her face and a cheery disposition. Gordon chose a Dothraki sword for his weapon. His father and mother rode with him to Steel Port where a ship provided by House Levor is waiting for him. It sets sail across the Narrow sea and makes port in Astapor.
From Astapor Gordon travels by Horse with a guard of one hundred men. When he chooses a cave for base camp the men leave him. The first thing Gordon does is look for a cactus. He makes a spout out of a piece of wood and sticks it in the cactus. With water secure he kills a desert lizard for food. He spends most of his first day closing off the mouth of his cave.
The next day Gordon makes weapons a spear and catches a mantacoar scorpion. He takes the venom and makes him some poisoned darts off the cactus. He also cuts down a cactus for food. It is considered a great honor among the Lords of the Narrow Island for their children to take the Right of Passage near the place of the ancestral home.
Gordon spends several weeks exploring the desert and creating base camps throughtout the Red Waste. On his fifth month he infiltrates a Caravan and steels food, weapons, and a horse. He returns to his cave after a year and a half. As usual a healer and a swordsman shows to check his health and for training. They bring him letters from his family members and such.
Bythe time of the battle of Blackwater Gordon is sixteen years of age. His brother Erick has one year left before he can go home and Gordon has five. He had stolen horses and food from the Dothraki. He has scaled the walls of Qarth using cat grips he made himself, and killed slavers who had captured him.
It is the middle of the week and Gordon lays on a rock with a blanket over him. He had covered the blanket with sand to camouflage it. His eyes pop open when he hears horses. He sits up and scoots across his belly to see a small horde of Dothraki. There are slaves and a knight of Westeros, from the bear sigil on his armor, he is of House Mormont who is sworn to House Stark. Then he spots a white haired young woman, a Targaryen.
"She's beautiful…" Gordon says. From her looks he can tell she is sixteen or fifteen.
He listens as she addresses the Knight, "Is there no end to it?"
"I have never been this far east Khaleesi…The Red Waste is vast…"
She looks at her people, "I promised them a home and safety…I promised that their enemies would burn…How do you fight hunger…"
"I know not Khaleesi…"
The horse Khal Drago gave her dies. She wants to cry but she cannot, so she addresses her bloodriders in Dothraki, "Aggo…Kovarro…Rahkaro…Take our best horses ride south east and west…"
"What do we seek Khaleesi?"
"Rivers grass…lands cities villages…"
Gordon shakes his head and speaks up interrupting her. "You will find the city of Qarth to the east…" everyone looks up to find Gordon standing atop a rock formation twenty feet up, "To the west slavers, Dothraki raiding parties…etc…To the south is nothing but sand and the sea…"
"Who are you…"
Gordon jumps down and lands on his feet. Both Aggo and Jorah take up flanking positions next to Daenarys. "My name is Gordon Basteel…" He replies in the common tongue.
"House Basteel…My brother told me House Pryt a banner of your House had spies who snuck he and my mother from the city when it was sacked by Tywin Lannister…"
Gordon nods, "True…"
Daenarys looks up then left and right, "Are you alone out here…"
"Yes since I was ten and three name days old…"
Daenarys looks at Jorah, "His people call it the Right of Paasage…At the age of ten and three boys are sent into the wild to live for eight years…If they survive they are considered men…Before my exile a few boys of the Narrow Island came to the Wilds of Bear Island…"
"Thank you…" She says to Gordon and looks at Jorah again, "We will head for Qarth…"
"That is a bad idea…" Gordon says speaking up.
Daenarys sighs, "Why?"
"The magi of the the House of Undying that's why…" Gordon walks up to the horse carrying three cages. There are strange sounds coming from the cages. He stands ten feet from the horse with all eyes on him. "If these are what I think they are…Then going to Qarth is a bad idea…"
"We need food and shelter…"
Gordon looks at Jorah, "There is food and water in the desert if you know where to look…"
Daenarys waves her hand at her people, "Not enough to feed all of us…"
Gordon smiles, "Mages are attracted to Dragons…The old legends say Dragons are the source of all magic in the world…No doubt the Dragon has awakened in you…" Daenarys open her mouth in shock, "You go to Qarth and the mages will take your Dragons…They may try to kidnap you as well…And then there is a man there by the name of…Xaro Xhoan Daxos…Very ambitious he is planning on overthrowing the council of thirteen…You go there and he will use your arrival to fulfill his desires…" Gordon points northeast, "There is an oasis fifty miles that way…There are five of them in the desert…" He points Northwest, "That way lies a river that leads to the city of Mereen…Good for fishing yes…"
Then he walks up to a cactus and sticks a makeshift sprout into it and water comes out. A few of Dany's followers rush forward to drink. "Come with me…" They follow him for two miles and comes to a cave. He pulls back what looks like the side of the rock formation, but it is actually a curtain made to look like part of the rock. "How did you?" Dany asks in amazement.
The cave is huge, on the inside are ten horses in a pin and three camels. In another pin is a pig and some goats. On the wall hanging is salted meat. In another part of the cave are weapons of all kinds. There is a bookshelf with an array of books and manuals. Jorah looks at Dany, "Where did you get all this?"
"I stole from Vaes Dothrak, Qarth and some caravans that pass through the desert's edge to avoid the Dothraki…" Gordon allows them to slaughter the pig and make bread. He has corn, flower, and enough food for two months.
"Sorry for eating all your food…" Dany says.
"Its alright I keep this place well stocked so that I don't have to hunt as often…" Her people sleep on the floor of the cave, Aggo and a few others stand guard. Jorah walks up, "Tomorrow I head south around this time of year caravans are making a run across the desert edge…"
"Why travel by land…"
"To avoid Pirates…"
The next morning, Gordon and Jorah lead 30 of Dany's Khaleesar to the Caravan. They slip into the Caravan killing off a few guards one by one. Gordon poisons the water and food finishing off the rest. The Caravan had food, wine, clothe, animal skins of all kinds, pottery, and slaves; men, women, and children. When they return there is enough food for everyone to last seven months.
Gordon watches as Dany plays with the children who are fascinated by the color and length of her hair. He walks up to her and sits, "So daughter of the Dragon…What are your plans?"
"I'm going o take back the throne of my ancestors…"
He sighs, "Your going to need an army for that Dragons are not…And speaking of which they need freedom to thrive…"
She looks at Gordon, "And I suppose you are a Dragon expert…"
"Your ancestor was Aegon the Conqueror…Mine was Corren the Mighty…He helped House Martell conquer all of Dorne…Then they conquered the Stormlands…The Reach and over half the west…Corren and his army knocked on the gates of Harrenhal itself. When Aegon came we bent the knee because of his strength and the Dragons…My House studies our enemies and our friends…Because one day a friend can become an enemy…I know Dragons Khaleesi…My father and his father taught him all the way back to the days of Xavier Basteel..."
Dany stares into his eyes, "Teach me…"
Gordon teaches Dany on how Dragosn respond to Old Valyrian the language of the Targaryens. Dragons eat only that which they have bathed in their fire. They thrive when unshackled and uncaged. "A Dragon takes what it wants…She does not ask permission…She does not beg…" He says touching her hair. Dany allows Drogon, Viserion, and Rhaegal to fly free, Gordon places lizards he captured so that they can practice hunting.
A month later Gordon leads them to the oasis fifty miles Northeast. They stay at the oasis as Gordon has another food cache buried there. He teaches her to shoot a bow and handle weapons. "This is unlady like for a future Queen…" Jorah says in protest.
Gordon looks at him, "Aegon's sister wives were warriors and carried Valyrian swords…You won't be around her all the time Sir Knight…She needs to be able to defend herself…"
During the next two months Dany and Gordon grow close and one night when they are alone they make love. The third month Gordon's healer and swordmaster visit him. "You have been busy…"
"Well…" He looks at Dany, "What news of the West?" They tell them of the wars between the Houses of Stark, Lannister, and Baratheon.
Dany looks at Gordon. "If I returned to Westeros who would support me?"
"House Martell…maybe. You are kin to them through your dead sister by law…and kin with House Basteel…If the Martells went to war on your behalf then House Basteel would support them…"
"You need an army of your own…One loyal to you…" Gordon says speaking up, "You have three Dragons let them grow stronger then march on the city of Qarth. Take the wealth and buy a ship…Then head for Astapor…The Unsullied are considered one of the greatest fighting armies in the east…"
Daenarys does as he suggests and then after a year in the desert her Dragons are as big as Horses. The slaves they liberated have been trained into a fighting force. With a small army of 600 fighters including woman and children Dany marches on the city of Qarth. The gates open and the thirteen come out to greet her.
"I am Daenarys Stormborn of House Targaryen…The Unburnt…Mother of Dragons…Khaleesi of the Great grass sea…The rightful ruler of Westeros…And I accept your surrender…"
The thirteen start laughing, "Do you know where you are little girl?"
"Qarth the greatest city that ever was or will ever be."
He points behind him, "That is the garden of bones…No army has ever breached our gates or the walls…"
Dany smiles, "I have something those others did not…"
"What is that?'
"Why Dragons of course…"
"I see no Dragons…"
Dany raises her hand, "Wait for it…" Gordon smiles as she says her next words in old Valyrian, "DRACARYS!" The three Dragons fly in unison they bathe the thirteen and their troops in fire. A man tries to throw his spear at Drogon, but Gordon shots an arrow into his head. Dany fires an arrow at another man. The three dragons loop around and blasts the gates of the city. The men on the wall panic as Daenarys and her army of 600 enter the city.
Over the next few days Daenarys and her people fight gorilla warfare with the city militia. As time passes some of the militia joins her. The slaves of the city turn on their masters and within two weeks the city is hers. "I told you…A Dragon takes what it wants…" Gordon says this as the Tower of the Undying burns.