Author Note

I realise that the first few chapters have been somewhat dull, but they were needed as just having a Rogue Trader turn up in another universe and begin taking over the planet to exploit it, would not be a simple process. Besides the chapters gave the reader a chance to see what kind of person the SI is. He's not good or evil, he's not a cruel person, and nor is he weak, he just wants to profit and therefore survive which will require him to do some bad things, but some good might come of it too. Those chapters also introduced the major players on the Imperial side. The Rogue Trader, the Lord-General and the Inquisitor will have POV scenes in this story. I also introduced some other important IOM characters and set them on their course. Now the more fun stuff can start.

Reviews

Alan

I'm glad you like it.

mmgaballah1999

The Farseer will be a sort of ally only it won't be that simply because it never is with that race of alien.

Williams1996

Valyrian steel is magical in nature so using it would be Heresy!

The Inquisition might be interested since it has special properties.

The Imperium is made of factions bound together by a common purpose, but that doesn't mean things always go smoothly. A new Rogue Trader, an untested one, would not be followed as loyally as a more experienced Rogue Trader so he has to get people to cooperate and play politics as part of how he proves himself. Offers of support and promises of resources are a way to grease to the wheels, it gets things in motion.

He will get the Unsullied.

Morkail

In my view, 40k is a place best avoided.

Hardrian Caeser

Only the insane have strength enough to prosper. Only those that prosper may truly judge what is sane.

Rogue Trader CYOA Story

Part 4

"The Warrant of Trade and a starship to enforce it—these are the critical tools for a Rogue Trader. Without the former, he is merely a renegade. Without the latter, he is a forsaken drifter doomed to an anonymous death."

—Lord-Captain Laomyr of Battlefleet Calixis

The Lands Beyond The Wall. Westeros.

Inquisitor Allectus Jacobus of the Ordo Mallus had a shuttle that was so packed with Dark Age of Technology devices that his personal craft might as well be invisible. No auspex on the Dauntless-class Crusier had even registered the shuttle departing so it was a good thing that they'd left before the troop landers had started moving or there would have been a slight risk of danger in so suddenly leaving.

On board, the shuttle there was Sister Brigicia of the Adepta Sororitas and Sanctioned Psyker Suzan, the Inquisitor's often mind-cleansed bodyguards, who might as well be combat servitors for their personality, along with two squads of Valhallan Ice Warriors who were part of the Imperial Guard regiment posted on the cruiser. Given their experience with extreme cold, they made more sense to bring along than stormtroopers.

The regiment was made up of elements from other regiments which had all ended up at the forge-world after being heavily depleted in numbers during conflicts in different parts of the sector. It wasn't unheard of broken groups of guardsmen to be fused into a new one, but it was rare for so many fighting men and women from different worlds to end up in one big regiment. Then again on a Rouge Traders ship, things ran differently.

"The night is dark and full of terrors," said Suzan.

Allectus's pet psyker looked so normal and harmless that it was hard to imagine that her sanity was at any risk and while she was mostly a source of information she could be a weapon if motivated. She could channel destructive warp fire or bolts of destructive lightning if she really needed to, and the only reason she did this rarely was that channelling the raw power of the warp in such a way increased the risk of demonic possession. Plus there were other ways a psykers power could get out of control.

While it might seem like she made little sense when speaking everything she spoke about was worth hearing even if Allectus didn't always understand the hidden meaning of her words. A more normal person would have heard her last words and avoided going beyond The Wall when it was dark, however, as an Inquisitor it was his task to find the terrors and to destroy them.

As the shuttle flew over The Wall, remaining unseen due to its lack of running lights and the cloud cover, Allectus recalled from his long talk with a native human about how The Wall had been raised to keep out a population of savage humans, but anyone who believed that was a total fool, even if this world had been more advanced in the past The Wall would have still been a massive project and no would have invested so much in the way of resources to build The Wall just to keep out some raiders.

"If I may ask, Inquisitor, what are we looking for?" questioned Sister Brigicia.

The women in power armour rarely asked questions and never did so needlessly.

"In truth I am unsure" admitted Allectus "The readings of the auspex from orbit were not clear, but it seems that the human population of this land is migrating south and given the massive wall in the way they would not be doing so unless it was for a very important reason. That combined with Suzan's warning lead me to beliving that something far north of The Wall is a threat to the Emperor's newest world".

Sister Brigicia didn't trust any psyker, she'd battled witches and seen the horrors that rogue psykers could unleash upon the Emperor's people, but she made sure to keep a civil tongue around Suzan since while the sanctioned psykers that served the Imperium, such as the Astropath and Navigators, were impure they were necessary for the Imperium to function. The Emperor himself had known this and his will could be carried about by even Suzan. Despite how odd as she could be.

"Any group of humans capable of surviving in this climate would not flee to the south unless they felt they had no chance of victory against their enemy," said Sister Brigicia "Perhaps something is effecting their lands, a change to their environment?".

Brigica had once seen a forest fire that drove men and beasts to flee for miles, she and her sisters had aided with the evacuation of entire villages, despite how many had died or been made homeless, she considered her actions that day to have made the Emperor proud.

"No one knows what it's like to be the bad man" Suzan softly sang "Behind blue eyes".

Well at least that part was easy for both Allectus and Brigicia to understand, they should seek out someone with blue eyes. Not a hard task given that blue was a common colour of the eyes for humans, although in a moment of vanity Sister Brigicia admitted to herself that her green eyes were an attractive feature even if few ever got a good look at them. Her order might be one of those who valued chastity very highly, but that never removed all of their sinful vanity and desires. Sister Brigicia chided herself and promised to repent later for her lapse, either at the alter or by slaying the enemies of The Emperor, if offered the choice she knew which she would prefer.

As it turned out she would soon get her wish when the Inquisitor's silent pilot was force to land the shuttle when an unexpected and unnatural blizzard began. The snow storm passed very quickly and thanks to their holy power armour neither she nor the Inquisitor felt much. The guardsmen, who hailed from the frozen world of Valhalla bore up very well, only remarking that it was a bit nippy. Suzan must have some way to use her pysker powers to keep herself warm as she seemed unbothered. As for the bodyguards, they'd freeze to death before commenting.

"They're here!" called out the somewhat unhinged psychic woman.

The Inquisitor lifted his weapon, it was a Daemonhammer, a type of large, two-handed Imperial made warhammer crafted from rare ores and composite materials from humanity's ancient and more technologically advanced past. The shaft of this Daemonhammer was covered in hexagrammic sigils and seals of warding, while on its head bore the burning sigil of the Inquisition, from which emanated a crackling power field. Daemonhammers are extremely rare in the Imperium, and their use is granted only to the most trusted and respected Inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus, the Astartes of the Grey Knights, and sometimes to various Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes who have defeated a particularly potent Greater Daemon in combat.

Sister Brigicia's bolt pistol and chainsword might be more common weapons, but they had been blessed and when the first enemy appeared she found that her bolt pistol made short work of the dead things. She didn't know if these moving corpses were puppets of some witch or the hosts of minor warp creatures, and it hardly mattered since either way they needed to be destroyed.

"Form a barrier!" ordered the Inquisitor "Don't let them bear the boarding ramp".

The shuttle hadn't been damaged, only forced to the ground by a sudden blizzard that blinded the pilot and the auspex, so they should be able to take off again, but not until they found out more about the enemy, and to that they needed to draw out whomever or whatever it was that command the dead things. So the servents of the Emperor took positions and made sure no foe got inside the shuttle.

"Burn them all!" yelled Suzan.

The psyker hadn't even bothered reading for the autopistol and dagger that she had hanging off her belt. Rather she was employing a power called the Scourging, she was lashing out with bolts of warp energy that caused the dead to burn in unnatural flames as the power that animated them was defeated. In the heat of battle, the fact that the dead things all had blue eyes wasn't noticed.

These dead things were not very impressive in the eyes of the battle-sister even the hellguns of the Inquisitor's bodyguards and the weaker lasguns of the Valhallan Ice Warriors, who might need a minor mind-cleansing after this mission, proved to be effective. The deadly beams fired by the weapons caused the dead things to catch fire and when that happened they just dropped.

If not for their numbers this would have been a short battle, only the enemy didn't seem to run out of bolter fodder, and while the Valhallan Ice Warriors and bodyguards had laser weapons that could keep firing for some time the bolt pistols carried by the battle sister and the Inquisitor required resupply. There was more ammo on the shuttle, but recovering it would require leaving the skirmish and neither of them would do that, not with enemies of the Emperor in need of slaying.

Instead they both switched to close combat weapons, with the Inquisitor wielding his daemonhammer and the sister made use of her chainsword. The razor-sharp teeth of the chainsword did more than enough damage to take the dead things out of action and when they made contact with the daemonhammer they simply shattered into fragments of frozen flesh and bone.

Brigicia had just finished stomping the skull of a dead thing that had kept moving even after she'd bisected it at the waist when the machine spirit of her armour informed her of another drop in the temperature and visibility became even poorer. Then she heard the screaming as something attacked the Ice Warriors and the Inquisitor's bodyguards. When she could see again she made out a humanoid shape with glowing blue eyes.

With the kind of speed that could only be achieved with practice the battle sister took her bolt pistol out of its holster and fired off a shot, it hit the humanoid figure and it dropped the ground only for it to get back up again. This should be impossible unless witchcraft was involved, so Brigicia quickly realised that this creature must the one who had been puppeteering the corpses or at least of the leaders of some cult.

When the creature got closer it showed that if it was human then it was a mutant of some kind and perhaps not human at all as while it had some superficial resemblance to a man so did the hated Eldar. Whatever it was she knew it to be a threat as it had killed loyal servents of the Emperor, thus sealing its own fate. She would cleanse this threat to mankind as she down with the other enemies she had encountered during her years of service to the Golden Throne.

She charged, bringing down her chainsword for a strike that would have driven the teeth of the blade into the shoulder of the creature had it connected. The creature met the blow with its own weapon, with looked like a spear made of ice and the two weapons struggled against each other until the motor of the chainsaw gave out rendering the weapon far less effective.

With unexpected strength, the creature knocked down the battle sister and was about to make an attack when I blast of warp energy struck the blue-eyed humanoid and it shattered into fragments of ice. Suzan had just saved her life and while Brigicia might never live that down, at least she would live. As she made her way over the psyker she saw that Suzan had harmed herself by using so much of her power.

"We are leaving!" the Inquisitor called out.

When Brigicia turned she saw the Inquisitor swinging his daemonhammer at another of the blue-eyed creatures, which shattered like the other had when the powerful weapon made contact. The creatures might be able to resist the power of more ordinary weapons, but the killing tools of the Inquisition and the powers of psyker could defeat them.

"Once we reach orbit I will order the cruiser to orbital bombard this region" informed their leader "and the other parts of the lands beyond The Wall that auspex can not scan".

This would be for the best, but the battle-sister had the feeling that this world had plenty more horrors for her to help destroy.

(Line Break)

Astapor. Esso.

Once my business in Pentos had been finished with, at least for a time, I'd left the selling of the guns and ammo to underlings since it was important for me to be able to delegate certain tasks as I could only focus on so much. My underlings would set up the pillboxes and ensure that the ammo dumps were built outside of the city. They would also collect the payments, gold would be sent up to the cruiser and slaves would be sent to Ameros to help with the setting up of the Sanctuary City.

This left me free to travel to Astapor for the next part of my plan, which was to acquire an army of Unsullied who along with some Guardsmen who the Lord-General could spare and navy armsmen, would form a new Imperial regiment that I would use to conquer the Stepstones. Those islands were infested with pirates and raiders, so I would need disciplined troops to help remove those parasites.

Soon after arriving, I discovered that that the free people of Astapor, those who profited from the toils of the slaves, preferred nightly revelries and debauchery, not that odd given the heat of the day and once the so-called Good Masters had gotten over the shock of someone turning up in a flying machine I'd been made a guest of honour. This made it easy for me to move around the city as no one wished to turn me away.

As I meandered through the party, drawing attention simply due to my physical appearances. I looked to be from the Northern lands of Westeros, plus I was wearing my mostly black outfit, as such I was exotic enough to be a curiosity that drew the eye of many, and would have been a topic of conversation even if I hadn't arrived in a flying machine. Add to this my battle-harem and I couldn't go anywhere without someone staring. Not that I minded as this made business easier.

I caught the attention of women in particular when they could be sent admiring at me when I bothered to glance in their direction. Sadly there weren't many women here for me to talk to, at least not ones already sitting in some guy's lap or kneeling at his feet. From what I could overhear most of the party guests were old men jockeying for position and power. The rest were slaves and perhaps young wives or consorts. Not all of them looked like slaves, they were too well fed and they wore fine clothes, but you could see in their eyes when they dared to look up at me that they had been broken.

Mere moments after getting some wine I was approached by a slaver, and since I was wearing armour and carrying a sword on my hip, he correctly assumed I was a warlord or something like that, and started talking about the Unsullied, who were of interest to me. I didn't even have to ask about them, and this was good because I didn't wish to appear too eager to purchase them as that would only drive up the price.

"If you wish to buy Unsullied, you will get no better deal than the Good Master Kraznys mo Nakloz" a local man advised me "You must allow me to arrange a meeting for you. The other Good Masters will try to swindle you, try to give you less for more".

In all of human history had there ever been a merchant or anyone who worked for a merchant who didn't claim that they were the only honest dealer and that their competitors were untrustworthy?

"Only Master Nakloz will trade with you in good faith" I was told

The name meant nothing to me. I only carried for the quality of his product.

"And why would this Good Master be any better than any other?" I asked.

In my view, this man was doing an incredibly poor job of hiding his sycophancy,

"Well because Master Nakloz is honest and fair, of course," he said.

While in Pentos I'd been finalising the deal with Magister Illyro, who had been understandably worried that Khal Drogo would take offence if he didn't get this exotic bribe so I'd reached out with my psyker powers, using my ability to call upon the powers of the warp that I was only now starting to experiment with, and tried to make them leave, to will it. I must have done something they'd packed up and left, heading east. They couldn't have learned that their city was under attack, not with the distances involved, and I had been thinking about when trying to influence the Dothraki.

How my psyker powers worked I didn't know, it was all knew to me, and I didn't any frame of reference that would help me, yet I seemed to be able to make things happen as when I focused on the man before me I compelled him to speak the truth without ever saying a word. This had to be some sort of psychic power.

"The Good Master Kraznys mo Nakloz is young, younger than any of the other Good Masters. He is untested but he is also very ambitious. He has yet to make a sale of Unsullied, and thus he is not held in the same esteem as his father who over saw the training of the Unsullied, we're as his son does not care much for his work. A sale of Unsullied to someone such as yourself would increase his reputation and allow him to stand on equal footing with the other Good Masters".

That explained some of what I was curious about.

"Now, tell me what you stand to gain from finding a buyer for the Good Master's Unsullied?" I asked.

There was no way he wanted to tell me these things, but he did

"The higher he rises, the higher I rise. The lower he falls, the lower I fall" the slaver explained to me "His success is my success".

So this Kraznys mo Nakloz needed to make a sale and wasn't experienced in his trade. That was good to know.

"Assure him that I have no intention of leaving Astapor without an army of Unsullied," I told the man before me "The only factor he need worry about is setting a fair price".

If needs be I'd do what Dany did in the show and just take the slaves.

(Line Break)

Vaes Dothrak. Esso.

Lord-General Segean Holam was not a young man and he'd spent longer in service to the Imperium while fighting its many enemies than most men would live and he'd seen more of the galaxy than many ever would. Yet despite the life-extending treatments and the cybernetics he was getting too old for this grox manure. However before he could retire to cushy civilian life as this world's planetary governor, his right as he would be the one to conquer this world or at least parts of it, he had plenty more work to do.

So far things were going well the Lord-General noted, the conquest of this city, if it could be called a city or even a conquest, had taken a very short amount of time since all the fighting men of this nation, again if it could be called that, were off living the lives of nomads, as such this city had been left vulnerable to invaders. Not that anyone would normally think of targetting Vaes Dothrak if they could have reached it, since they knew that Khal's would ride to reclaim the city in great numbers, but that was something the Lord-General was actually counting on to happen.

The regiment, which was made up of elements of the Imperial Guard from all across the sector who had been broken while holding back a sector-wide invasion by heretic forces, had been combined into the 1st Thrax Regiment (naming them after the world they could conquer and the Rogue Trader who had brought them here) were carrying out their duties well enough.

Segean Holam had long ago perfected the art of providing the men and women under his command with stirring speeches that would fill them with the Emperor's Wrath before a battle. This time he'd promised them this world, not just for the Imperium, but for them. Those officers who drew his attention for their hard work would be appointed as lesser governers, taking command of conquered towns and cities, not just as garrison commanders, but as lords of those conquered lands and their peoples.

The common soldier who had served long enough to earn retirement would be granted land to settle or be made stewards of smaller settlements. Those that fought with great skill and had service yet to give would be employed to train those who would later become part of this world's PDF and help to train future regiments who would go on to defend the Emperor's realm as they had. Others would aid in guarding conquered lands and some would even serve as law officers instead of guardsmen.

Now his soilders were motivated and hard at work. The crude dwellings of this city were quickly being torn down and replaced with a new building to provide the regiment with proper housing and places to store equipment, but the work only progressed so fast as he had a limited number of servitors and people who were skilled at such tasks. The slaves that they had captured were only suited for the most simple of tasks and it would take time for them to be trained to a point where they could be useful.

At least the city walls and outer defences were being constructed on schedule. The Ad-Mech had been generous when promising their support for the coming conquests, mostly thanks to the Lord-Captain who'd done a fine job of getting the different branches of the Imperium to work together. They all owed him fealty, but he was a new Rogue Trader in charge of a new dynasty and he'd needed to prove that he could be a leader.

While some of his fighting men and women were deployed elsewhere or still back on the cruiser, as moving an entire Imperial Guard regiment takes time, the Lord-General knew that he would soon have to send some of the more experienced fighting men and women off to help train the recruits that the Lord-Captain was acquiring for what would be the 2nd Thrax Regiment. He had an officer in mind to handle that for him.

"My lord," said one of his aides.

Lord-General Segean Holam strode into his command centre which until recently had been a meeting place for the crones, the former wives of Dothraki leaders who spent their time reading omens and offering prophecy to anyone foolish to listen to their words. Segean knew that they had most likely been frauds, but on the off chance they hadn't been and because of his plan to destroy Dothraki culture, he'd had them all publicly executed as witches. Since he wasn't a needlessly cruel man they'd been lined up against a wall and shot rather than burned alive as suspected witches were on some worlds.

The General had also ordered the false idols that the Dothraki raiders brought to this city to display as trophies, to be torn down and broken apart to provide building materials for the resource-hungry cogboy machines. This had been pleasing both to the machine cult and the preachers who were attached to the regiment, and it was rare for those two groups to agree on anything.

"Anything to report," said Segean Holam.

There was always something that required his attention.

"Yes, my lord" replied the aide "The Lord-Captain sent a report on his recent activities".

Segean Holam had long ago learned how to quickly take in the vast amounts of information, most of which was meaningless to him, that came with his reports, and how to pick out that which mattered. He was pleased to see that the Rogue Trader had not been idle while everyone had been setting up planet-side.

Many nobles would have sat back while the real men did the work and then later reaped the rewards. This Thrax was more the type to get involved and help out. To be expected from a man who had been risen from the life of menial to the nobility thanks to the blessing of His Divine Majesty. Holam had noted that the Rogue Trader was good at getting things organised and this was proven by how smoothly matters were progressing as well as the level of cooperation between the different factions involved in the conquest of this world. Even the Inquisitor had held back from taking charge and making unreasonable demands.

The Rouge Trader had already set up an agreement with one of the Free Cites that involved supplying them with vast amounts of low grade autoguns and ammunition as well as people to train the city's militia in the use of these weapons. This might seem counterproductive since the Guard might have to conquer Pentos, however, the weapons offered wouldn't even dent the armour of the regiment's tanks and the walls of Pentos would not withstand even a single well-aimed artillery strike.

More pleasing was that the Rogue Trader had taken custody of exiled royals, the children of the deposed king of Westeros, both of whom had a claim to the throne of the Seven Kingdoms. Having a puppet that they could place on that throne could serve their plans nicely. Should the current leadership bow to The Emperor and pay tribute to his Holy Majesty's chosen servents then these Targaryens could even be handed over to help secure the loyalty of The Emperor's new subjects or be kept as potential replacements should the situation change. The Rogue Trader might even keep them as play things should he so desire.

As for Pentos, it might be sacked by the Dothraki hordes even with its new supply of autoguns, but in the long run, this would be no big loss. It might even encourage the other Free Cities to seek the protection of The Imperium. Besides a sacked city could be rebuilt by the cogboys in time and according to the latest information that horde was moving eastwards.

The General's good mood faded when he read about Astapor. He'd not objected to the Lord-Captain obtaining more men, Rogue Traders were allowed to do such things and they would have no tanks or heavy weapons so they would not be too great of a threat to the regiment should it come to hostilities, nor was Segean Holam annoyed by the request for veteran soilders to be sent to train what would become the 2nd Thrax Regiment, as that would allow the Lord-General to have his own people mixed in with the Trader's army. No, what bothered him was how the Unsullied were trained. Slave soilders, castration, dead babies, even the Penal Legions weren't his brutal, these sounded more like the actions of the Archenemy.

Lord-Captain Thrax's latest report mentioned that he was considering laying waste to Astaphor, killing its ruling classes and liberating its slave population, binding them as serfs to his service and using them to aid in this conquest of the pirate dominated islands called the Step Stones. This seemed like a wise use of resources to the Lord-General and he made a note on the report supporting the idea of having Astaphor wiped off the planetary scans to ensure its vile practices came to an end.

As he did the Lord-General couldn't help noticing that the cruiser already had orders to change its orbit so that it could orbitally bombard a location far beyond that big ice wall the natives in the west had put up thousands of years ago. Segean wondered if it had something to do with the Inquisitor's investigations, and decided not to dwell on that since it was Inquisitor business.

After all, he had plenty to do around here.

(Line Break)

Astapor. Esso.

As I waited for my meeting with one of the Good Master I thought about this city and the people who called it home. Without even turning my head I could see more than a dozen types of slaves. From bodyguards to singers, to dancers. From wet nurses to those that would be inevitably tossed into the pits to fight each other or the wild beasts that were sometimes let loose in the arenas. Plus there were plenty of women around who you couldn't even call whores, because a whore could always refuse you. Of course, there were also simpler slaves. The labourers, cooks, and cleaners that all masters required. To not have at least one of each was to have no status in this city, and that spoke volumes about a person from what I understood.

Then there were the soldiers, the Unsullied were impressive from what little I'd seen of them as they drilled. The Unsullied moved as a singular being. Their shields interlocked, and their spears stabbed out in unison. They could do this because they had been mercilessly drilled to fight as part of a unit. Only as a part of a whole they might as well be battle robots of some kind.

I could tell that the slave-soldiers greatly outnumbered the few free men who had chosen to be sellswords or bodyguards. They would be no match for the Unsullied in battle because no free man would choose to undergo the rigorous training that the Unsullied had forced upon them, and their more expensive equipment could not make up for that. Nor was the slight advantage they had in having some kind of free will.

By now I'd decided that following Dany's course of action in the show would be my best move. I did not wish for the cruel practices of this city to endure and while I knew that I could influence the minds of the people I spoke to I knew that I couldn't change this city. Yet I wasn't sure if I wanted to simply destroy the whole city after taking everything of value.

'Good Masters' weren't nice people, but that didn't mean they were all evil. Sure the Unsullied killed babies, only they did that because they were ordered to, and they'd been more or less brainwashed into following orders, however, did that didn't mean every master was like that? What about those who trained slaves to clean houses and work in kitchens, were they so cruel?

As I moved towards the arranged meeting place I saw the crucified slaves who had been left out in the sun to die slow deaths as an example to others. The Good Master did this to keep the other slaves in line with fear so there was a method to their madness, yet I knew it had to end.

I steeled myself as I finally made up my mind. This city had to die. I would have the Unsullied kill all the master, and then I would take any willing to serve me to the Stepstones, moving so many would take time as would removing anything of value from the city. Once it was done I would have my cruiser utterly destroy the city so that never again would be a centre of suffering in this world.

(Line Break)

Dragonstone. Westeros.

Melisandre of Asshai had for a time now not known what to do. She'd been spending nearly all of her time looking into the flames, seeking visions of the future in her desire for guidance, and while this wasn't an oddity for her it was not normal for Melisandre to struggle so much to make sense of what she saw. Something had changed recently, an event she didn't understand that had greatly altered the course of events, and now when she looked into the fire she could not understand what she saw.

She saw such strange things in the fire as she studied the flames. Flying machines, machines of metal that tore up the ground as they moved, armies of men who marched as they carried alien weapons, she saw cities fall to unknown invaders, death rained down from the sky and a man with a golden aura at the centre of it all. It all seemed like madness to her and yet she yearned to see more, to understand better what it was her lord deemed important to share with her.

Suddenly the image in the flames changed as Melisandre saw not the strange men and their machines, but rather alien creatures who walked like men, but there was something off about them. Their armour and weapons seemed even weirder than that held by the invading humans, and they see saw some of these invaders here on Dragonstone, she had to warn Lord Stannis. The guards must be alerted and Stannis must take up Lightbringer now.

Only she was too late. An alarm filled the air as men began to die. The aliens were here, how they managed to sneak about the castle in their colourful armour the Red Woman could not understand. Why had her lord not warned her sooner of this attack?

Judging by the screams it was not just Stannis's men who were being murdered, no one would be spared, not even the few children who called this island their home. Melisandre prayed for aid as she waited for death. She knew that she could fight off the aliens and trying to barricade herself in her quarters would only by her time. Only the Lord of Light could save her yet he seemed unwilling to take direct action.

"Who are you?" Melisandre asked when one of the alien warriors entered her room "Why are you doing this?".

The alien creature was covered in colourful armour and yet the Red Woman knew that this was no human before her. It moved with a grace no human possessed.

"You have been tainted," said the alien warrior "The Farseer has ordered all those that have been infected by your darkness to be destroyed".

No Melisandre served the light, not the darkness. Before she could argue this point a spear that was covered in ruins had entered her chest. The alien seemed thin and yet it was strong enough to lift her off the ground as she was impaled.

"We will cleanse the temples of your false god," said the strange warrior.

Those were the last words ever heard by Melisandre of Asshai. She was not the last to die that night and by morning all that would be left on the island of Dragonstone would be cold stone and corpses.