A/N

I started a new job mid-April, so I'd been doing even less writing than usual, and as usual I kept getting ideas for other stories. It's good to be back. I added more in-character summary of past events, and will do that for the next few chapters.

Chapter

Drogo did not have his wife, so Viserys did not have his army. Viserys had fulfilled his part of the deal; though Dany was gone through no fault of his own, Drogo had another excuse to not do his part. Now the khal had stalled long enough to get away with it, though Jorah insisted the Dothraki would give back eventually.

Dany had been the only other remnant of the Targaryens after the Usurper stole everything else from them. Viserys was amused by some news coming out of Westeros. Robert had been cuckolded by his notsogoodbrother. The whoremonger had sired children on so many women in Westeros, but not his wife. For that, Jaime had been sent to the Night's Watch and Cersei to the Silent Sisters. The Kingslayer would've gotten death had Viserys received his birthright, but that Lannister finally faced some semblance of justice.

Doreah was also gone, and Viserys did not like that one bit. Gods, that Lyseni wench certainly knew what to do with that beautiful body of hers, which Illyrio could also vouch for, and Drogo indirectly. The Dothraki girls were wholly uninterested in Viserys. Mayhaps that was due to the horselords having horse-sized cocks, making even his manhood seem average by comparison.

The khal certainly missed his wife. Jorah muttered that the man had excellent taste in women. Mormont, I also wanted to fuck her, Viserys thought to himself.

Drogo had a man's needs, but saved his seed for his wife. It had taken root; Daenerys had gotten with child, so the khal was missing a prince as well as a queen. Men usually hoped for sons and half the time they were right.

That boy would be Viserys' heir if he didn't have any trueborn sons of his own. Ordinary lordships would pass to a sister before a nephew, but the law of the Seven Kingdoms was particularly strict about seating a man on the Iron Throne. Princess Rhaenyra had caused much tragedy by resisting her younger half-brother Aegon II. The first Viserys was the son of a second son rather than the daughter of a first son.

Jhiqui had been teaching Daenerys the Dothraki tongue. Viserys hadn't managed to learn the horde's babble. He felt he was doing well enough with other translators. Jhiqui was far too plump for a girl her age, so Viserys had felt doubly disinclined to pay attention to her. He didn't much remember Irri either.

One thing hadn't disappeared, Daenerys' three dragon eggs. If hatched, they would restore Targaryen power in fact as well as law, an unfulfilled dream of his predecessors. Even in the hottest flames, the stones seemed unmoved.

Those who had appeared were making themselves known even across the narrow sea. When Robert named Lord Stark Hand, the foreigners were guests of honor in King's Landing. One of the young men won the tournament melee, and one of his comrades made a respectable showing. One of the young women won the archery contest, and Lord Stark's daughter did surprisingly well for a little girl. Their equipment sounded superb along with their skill. It wasn't dragonbone or goldenheart. It couldn't be Valyrian steel. Doubtless that would have raised even more gossip.

The total prizes were ninety thousand dragons! Robert did like wasting money. His Master of Coin, Petyr Baelish was a shrewd merchant. He had a fancy brothel in King's Landing that Viserys wished to investigate personally. Mayhaps that did not qualify him to handle a whole realm's wealth; a fine soldier did not necessarily make a good officer. Even he might not be able to keep up with Robert's profligacy. Lord Baelish might be a thief. Whatever the answer, he would die along with other top servants of the false king.

The melee winner had wed one of the other women. Apparently they understood the taint of bastardy, as she took to childbed about nine moons after they arrived. They were amorous to the point of scandal, so they were not ones for social convention. Yet since they were man and wife, the sexless septons couldn't say shit. As it happened, Lady Stark had given birth a few weeks later, prompting her husband to resign. Now another one of the Usurper's dogs wore the chain, his brother Stannis.

Arya was now fostered at Bear Island along with some of the foreign friends. Finally Jorah was interested in some of the news. "Though my aunt and cousins prefer maces, it's a relatively good place for girls who prefer arrows to hair ribbons."

"What do you mean?" Viserys asked.

"They both have to do with bows. I admit a jape does not seem so humorous when it must be explained," Jorah said.

"Two of the guests wed each other and Maege's heir married another," Viserys continued. "No specter of bastardy, the heiress is just now with child."

"Best of luck to Cousin Dacey," Jorah added. "Recall that my house simply followed their liege."

"Against their sovereign, but yes, most of the blame lies with Baratheon, Stark and Arryn," Viserys said.

Viserys the third now faced another pretender to his throne, the so-called Aegon the sixth. Rhaegar's children had been murdered by the Usurper's dogs, and their mother Elia raped. One young man claimed that he was Rhaegar's true son, a babe of the smallfolk killed in his place. The tale was utterly absurd. Yet the Golden Company believed it. No wonder those sellswords had been one of many groups to laugh at Viserys. The Dothraki would make them pay along with all the other traitors.

Drogo was no fool. A man could not be to earn command of five myriads of men in the prime of his life. Unsullied slave soldiers had stopped a different horde at Qohor. The Golden Company was composed of free men but seemed similarly dangerous. The Unsullied were all spearmen, but the Golden Company also had cavalry and archers. No other rider could compare to the Dothraki, as Viserys was tired of hearing, and the horselords would soon be expected to prove their worth.