Chapter II

The Battle of Three Days

306 AC

An enemy no one anticipated, and many had forgotten, came to change forever this twist of dragons. No one wanted to believe, let alone at the Queen's court, that the fleet of ships approaching the city displayed the Kraken's black banner. But there it was, the hard truth in plain sight: Victarion Greyjoy had returned to Slavers' Bay. This time around, though, he did not come just to plunder the city and bring destruction as he had done years before.

Victarion Greyjoy had come to get a dragon for himself.

Honestly, we do not know a lot about Greyjoy's intentions. His travel records were lost when his own fleet was destroyed. After his brother Euron had died and his nephews turned their backs to him, Victarion became an outlaw, having his fleet and nothing else under his commander. Well, he had something. His brother Euron had entrusted him with an ancient relic: Dragonbinder, a horn rescued from Valyria, which would give to any man who blew it the control of a dragon.

And there he was, knowing the Queen of Dragons was far away and that two of her dragons were still to tame. And so, without hesitation, Victarion Greyjoy blew the Dragonbinder horn as soon as he reached the bay. At that moment, Maester Marwyn records that there was a thunderous clangor, which shook the whole city of Bhorash ... and a human roar as if someone were being consumed by fire.

Victarion Greyjoy died within seconds after blowing the Dragonbinder horn.

His chest burned from within, sucking his whole life as if the horn had kindled a fire inside his loins. We don't know the ancient magic that has put in action that day, but we do know that Viserion, the very same dragon Jon Snow had approached in the ruins of Meereen, descended from the sky and, as if enraged with pain or possessed by a superior force, attacked the city.

"It was as if the ghost of Victarion Greyjoy mounted the creature," wrote Marwyn.

And so a rain of fire fell upon Bhorash, while the leaderless army of Victarion Greyjoy invaded the town, beginning the Battle of Three Days. This was a confusing fight, as well as difficult and meaningless. Only one of the factions fought for a purpose: the Queen's Unsullied tried to calm the mutiny and stop all those who caused havoc, but they were easily supplanted by the remaining forces.

On the one hand, there were the fanatics of the Faith of the Seven, who rose their swords to fight the Red Priests. The Red Priests, for their part, did not hesitate to light their fires from the flames provoked by the dragon destroying the city. And finally, the Ironmen were also there, taking advantage of the chaos to plunder and rape.

Barristan Selmy, the Unsullied and the Council of Freemen tried to restore order, but they couldn't do it. Septon Taelen, who lived at the court of Daenerys Targaryen and was one of her advisers, committed the betrayal that no one expected on the second day of the battle, opening the castle doors to let in an army of the Faith. The Bloody Faithful, they are called now, since they executed the Council of Freemen, as well as Maester Marwyn, who was confined to a cell.

Barristan Selmy escaped the slaughter, taking refuge in the city with Ser Loras Tyrell, that was by then posing as a sellsword. Ser Barristan's big dilemma was just one in this fiery hour: would he have the audacity to kill the dragon Viserion? The creature was still enraged, rising every day with a new shower of fire and devouring any men that would pass before him. But did those crimes justify killing one of his Queen's children?

When the castle of Bhorash was invaded by the red priests fighting the militants of the Faith, the dragon descended again from the cloudy sky and rained down a shower of fire as Balerion had done in Harrenhal three centuries earlier. Followers of the Seven and R'hllor were burned as equal inside the white halls of the castle, their bodies lost among the rubble. It is said that the screams echoed through the city and that even the ironmen returned to their ships, understanding it was time to return home ...

But then Rhaegal came, mounted by Wolfrider.

Viserion and Rhaegal confronted each other in the sky, in a battle that made the day shine as if a second sun had been born. Rhaegal was first injured when one of his legs was scratched by his brother's talons. But it was Viserion who ended up failing, the moment one of his wings was ripped apart by Rhaegal's jaw. The golden dragon fell, unable to sustain his own weight, crushing dozens of buildings on his way down. Still, sustaining his injuries, he was still alive... Until Ser Barristan Selmy unsheathed his sword to put an end to the dragon's life, nailing the blade in the creature's eye. This would have been Barristan The Bold's last fearless act since the man himself perished hours later due to inhalation of smoke.

Triumphing, Jon Snow descended from the sky, finding himself, miraculously, unharmed. He was received by the army of Unsullied and by Loras Tyrell, who initially wanted to arrest him for claiming a dragon.

"If you want to arrest me, I won't resist," Jon Snow replied. "But if you kept me free, I will fight at your side to restore peace to this wrecked city."

And so ended the Battle of the Three Days: a defeated dragon, thousands of slaves murdered, hundreds of ironmen imprisoned and many fleeing Bhorash forever. According to the records, Rhaegal would have destroyed the Greyjoy fleet if Loras Tyrell hadn't suggested that the ships could prove useful to the Queen's cause. All the traitors who survived were chained to await the Queen's justice ... as soon as she returned.

Before concluding this part, however, it is important to share the reveal Jon Snow confided to Maester Luwin during his stay in Winterfell after the Small Night Battle: the truth about Brandon Stark. Bran, who threw himself from a window with the help of the half-giant serving in Winterfell, did so on the very same day Victarion Greyjoy blew the Dragonbinder. According to Jon, who truly believed in on an old prophecy, his brother was destined to mount the third Dragon. But since the dragon was being commanded by such powerful and dark magic, Bran surely had grown mad, probably feeling the terror and pain the dragon had felt.

And then the young lord had put a term to his life, to relieve himself from that pain.

Or so Jon Snow believed.

"Ice, fire and balance." We can read it in Maester Luwin's notes. "Three heads have the dragon, and the prophecy stipulated that three heads are needed to fulfill the song. But now there are only two dragons remaining, and the danger persists... "

Again, I remember that Maester Luwin did not know the prophecy in its entirety... or the existence of a new dragon egg.