Game of Thrones – The Sky Knight
The world without the Iron Throne
By
Robert Spénard
Chapter two – Volantis and DorneTyrion has returned to Mereen to raise an army and go to war with the slavers outside Dragons bay. After a long and arduous day of talking to the leaders of the three great cities, he has retired to his chambers to get some much-needed sleep. As he is getting ready to climb into his bed, he notices that something is off. When he takes the time to examine it, he discovers that it is almost a foot higher than it should be. He lifts up the matters to see a door with the words;
"Tyrion, open the door. I have a gift for you."
With hesitation, he opens the door to find the space under it filled with Valarian steel swords and a note that reads;
"I was told to make sure that you found these swords apparently; you're going to need them. A map will also lead you to more weapons, shields, and armour hidden in the crypt. I had to redo the walls concealing them, two of the three people I tasked to build it were getting thrown out of brothels because they wanted to know why someone would bring a Jackass and a honeycomb to one. Prince Jacob Dublois the Sky Knight husband to Queen Sansa Stark first of her name Queen of the Northlands and Warden of the North."
As he opens the door to summon the cities master of arms, he says;
"When this is all over, I have to go North and meet the Sky Knight. He's met me several times, and I never knew it. I hope that he's not mostly dead when I come to see him."
Stebbins comes ashore in Dorne to be met by Rugel, who says;
"It is good to see you, my friend. I hope your long journey here was without problems."
Stebbins replies;
"We had a slight problem with a few pirates, nothing the Ironborn couldn't easily deal with. Counting the men who fought alongside us in the war, I brought a thousand Northmen to fight with you. Half of them are infantry. How has it been going here?"
Rugel says;
"Not well; most of the pirates and slavers have either been killed or left. The people invading are using slave soldiers just as disciplined as Unsullied and sellswords."
Stebbins asks;
"And the civil war?"
Rugel replies;
"Finally over, the last holdouts bent the knee to Tyene a week ago just after she married their leader. It was a beautiful wedding; it's a shame that she sent him and his men to Volantis to help Tyrion Lannister deal with the slavers. We could have used those one hundred men."
Stebbins says;
"It is what it is; it will take a few days for the men to acclimate to fighting in Dorne. The horses will take longer. They didn't fare well on the journey."
Rugel says;
"Horses won't be a problem. My men will help with the unloading of the ships. Do you know where they are headed after this?"
Stebbins replies;
"To hunt pirates, rogue Ironborn who refuse to bend the knee to Yara mostly. Why?"
Rugel answers;
"We need ships and fighters like the Ironborn to cut off the ships bringing more troops and supplies to Dorne."
Stebbins replies;
"I can ask their leader and see if they would consider it. They most likely will. The sailors are going crazy not being able to rove and raid. Cutting off ships carrying soldiers and supplies should interest them more than hunting broke pirates. I married Clarice before I left."
Rugel smiles and says;
"Something to celebrate, and now I have to make sure you return to her alive."
Stebbins replies;
"She and Queen Sansa have forbidden me to die before I return to meet our child. It was an unexpected surprise. Our crossbow wedding was three days after Sansa and Jacobs, and the Arch Maestre performed the ceremony."
Rugel states;
"Considering how cold it is in the North, I'm can't help but wonder why the population isn't much higher."
Stebbins replies;
"Too much war, and it doesn't help that a boy meets a girl, the girl gets pregnant, and the boy leaves the North before they have a crossbow wedding. Get me caught up on the status of the enemy."
Tyrion and the cities Master of Arms are looking at the chambers filled with Valarian steel weapons, shields and armour. The Master of Arms says;
"Where did anyone find so much Valarian steel?"
Tyrion says;
"Valaria, The Sky Knight was there. He saved Sir Jorah and me from drowning in a canal. He was obviously there for a very long time and quite possibly the only man to have returned alive with evidence."
The Master of Arms says;
"Him being here explains what happened to his knife that was recovered from where Sir Selmy died; it disappeared one night. Along with some cheap and very shiny objects."
Tyrion replies;
"If the fire and ice saga is correct, it was the Siren sisters who stole the cheap and shiny objects. I'm confident that it was the Sky Knight who retrieved his knife. Two of the Siren sisters were kicked out of some brothels for asking why someone would take a jackass and a honeycomb to a brothel."
The Master of Arms says;
"Why would anyone do that?"
Tyrion answers;
"I have no idea. It had to be something the version of me in the epic saga The Sky Knight knew about our world had said. I've done some deplorable things while drunk in a brothel. Nothing involving animals or honeycombs. That I remember."
The master of arms states;
"Now that we have the weapons, we need the army to wear them and join the Second Sons and what's left of the Hoard fighting the slavers."
Tyrion asks;
"But who is going to lead them?"
The Master of Arms looks at him strangely and says;
"I thought that was why you are here? You were the hand of Queen Daenerys."
Tyrion replies;
"If the civil war in Dorne hadn't disrupted the wine industry, I would be drunk enough to believe that."
The Master of Arms states;
"You should try this new beverage from Westeros; it's called Shadow Cat Whiskey. The first shipment left a sour taste in your mouth; this shipment is much better; it doesn't leave a sour taste in your mouth and has a taste of berries to it."
Tyrion states;
"It's good to know that my cousin's beverage has made it here before Moonshine has."
The Master of Arms asks;
"What is Moonshine?"
Tyrion replies;
"A beverage that the Sky Knight brought with him that is addictive. It tastes like shit, but one cannot stop drinking it. As a good friend of mine says, it's the perfect money maker."
Stebbins is looking at the map of Dorne at the three deepwater ports the invading forces have taken and fortified. Then the areas that they have seized and says;
"We don't have the manpower to take the ports. Even the areas they control will be difficult to take. They took the higher ground and places where Calvary is useless. Whoever is leading them knows what they are doing. What do we know about them?"
Rugel states;
"Absolutely nothing; the slave fighters fight to the death, and the sellswords have no idea who is paying them, just that it's excessive."
Stebbins says;
"This is bad. We are going to have to take the ports and cut off their ability to resupply."
Red Eye, the Ironborn leader of the ships Yara sent, says;
"We can deal with the ships bringing supplies (then points to a port town). That port should be easy to take."
Stebbins replies;
"Normally, I would agree with you, but we don't know who is leading them. It could be a trap. We need to find out who that person is before we do anything else. (He looks at Red Eye) when you take the supply ships, keep some of the crew alive and the ships afloat. Long enough to go through everything to find out who is behind this. I don't think the Iron Bank is funding it."
Red Eye asks;
"Why do you think the Iron bank isn't involved?"
Rugel answers;
"This war is too messy for them. They fight more subtlely; they would poison the other leaders and me before they bankrupted Dorne. Leaving the new leaders with no choice but to accept their offer of financial support. You can't get a fair return on investment if the property is destroyed."
Red Eye asks;
"Then who would have enough money to pay for this?"
Stebbins thinks then replies;
"When you put slave fighters with sellswords, my guess would be the old masters that fled the great cities of Dragons bay before Daenerys conquered them. The question is which one is it."
Red Eye states;
"I'll take my ships, capture the supply ships and sink the troop ships."
Rugel states;
"Warships escort those ships with Scorpions. I'm told that they may be what's left of Theron's fleet."
Red Eye smiles and says;
"Those are the pirates we are looking for. We have scorpions, too, except ours have double the range."
After he has exited the tent, Stebbins says;
"The only thing we can do right now is to target their supply lines and hopefully draw their soldiers out from their positions."
Rugel counters;
"We've tried that. They would rather starve than leave their fortified positions."
Stebbins replies;
"Not if we are also attacking their positions at a distance. Have you ever heard of a trebuchet?"
Rugel thinks then says;
"No, what is it?"
Stebbins says;
"A form of catapult that can launch large destructive stones from great distances. We build enough of them to force the soldiers out and fight us. While at the same time taking out their resupply lines. We damage enough of that, and eventually, the sellswords will surrender or run away the slave fighters won't. If we can kill the people controlling them, they will enforce the last order given to them, even if they starve to death."
Rugel says;
"How long will it take to build these Trebuchets? Heavy catapults can take years to build."
Stebbins replies;
"Significantly less time, they are easy to build. Pain in the ass to move, but worth it."
Tyrion is wearing armour carrying a shield wearing a sword all made of Valarian steel, and is standing in front of the men and women who have joined the army to go and join the fight. He turns to the Master of Arms and says;
"I really need to meet the Sky Knight. How he found this armour, shield and weapons that perfectly fit me is something he has to tell me."
The Master of Arms replies;
"If your name hadn't been on it, you wouldn't have liked what we had for you."
Tyrion counters;
"That's the problem, and he knows what is going to happen before we do, and I want to know how he's doing it."
The Master of Arms says;
"The soldiers are waiting for you to address them, and Darrio is expecting you and them to join them by the end of the week."
Tyrion turns to the soldiers waiting patiently for him to speak and says;
"I have many things to tell you…."
Then a messenger pushes past the people guarding him shouting;
"Lord Tyrion, you forgot your speech."
Tyrion turns to him and quietly says;
"What speech?"
The Messenger says;
"The one we've held in trust for you for over two years and asked to deliver it to you at this exact moment."
The Messenger hands him the scroll when he unrolls it, the first words he sees are;
"You're welcome, Prince Jacob, husband of Queen Sansa, First of her name, Queen of the Northlands and Warden of the North."
Tyrion says;
"I really should have stayed sober on my wedding night to Sansa."
Then he looks at the bottom, and there is a sentence that says;
"Yes, you should have stayed sober on your bedding night to my wife. It would have been worth it."
Tyrion takes a moment to familiarize himself with the well-written speech of hope and inspiration, and as he begins to read it in his mind, he says;
"I really need to find the Sky Knight and take a war hammer to his balls."
Jacob is showing Sansa the Glider he had made in a large tent made of merged tents, and she says;
"I can't believe that you made this while I was sleeping."
Jacob replies;
"The only way I can keep things from you is when you're sleeping unless your dreams are distracting in a very good way."
Sansa replies;
"You need to stop watching my dreams and me while I sleep."
Jacob replies;
"I only need fifteen minutes of sleep a day to function. I added anti-grav units to it so I can lift it off the ground. You can watch me sleep and my dreams."
Sansa replies;
"That would mean finding you sleeping while I'm awake. How are you going to get it out of here?"
Jacob replies;
"The roof opens; this configuration is meant to hold aircraft. I can sleep whenever you want me to. Would you like to go for a spin in it?"
Sansa replies;
"I would, but our daughter keeps making me nauseous. Once she's out of my body, then we will take it out for a spin."
Jacob says;
"You should consider Katherine; name her after your mother."
Sansa replies;
"I am considering it, but the name Catlin keeps popping up for some reason. How long will you be gone this time?"
Jacob replies;
"It depends on how long it takes for me to negotiate a deal with Tormund for his gold. Then I have to deal with the morons in Castle Black that want to join the Knights Watch and man the Wall against the wildling army. They are driving the Freefolk dismantling the Castle crazy."
Sansa says;
"We should just blow up the wall, not take apart the castles along it first."
Jacob replies;
"We need the materials to build the new Castle Black for the Knights Guard. Buying that shit new is expensive."
Sansa counters;
"Not as expensive as building a railroad. Go get a deal for Tormunds gold. When are you going to Valaria to get the pure gold they have?"
Jacob responds;
"Daisy told me to wait until after our daughter is born. Apparently, Bertie is good friends with the armour I left for them to help turn their systems back on."
Sansa says;
"Bertie is correct; it's a long sail to Valaria. And when our daughter comes, you are going to experience it sober and by my side. Now go, you have just enough time to deal with Tormund and the idiots at Castle Black before she pushes herself out of me."
Jacob says;
"We have enough time for a…."
Sansa cuts him off when she says;
"I'm almost eight months pregnant with your spawn; that's the last thing I want to do. Now go and get the gold mining rights from Tormund. I have to go and settle a dispute involving a chicken. That Lord Constark decided it was in the best interest of the North for me to deal with it."
Jacob says;
"He really doesn't like you."
As Sansa turns to exit, she says;
"It has more to do with not wanting to marry his brother, who is my second and third cousin. That was mothers second choice for a husband after Jeffery. My first cousin Robyn was her third choice. You don't want to know who the other choices were. My mother's family tree doesn't have a lot of branches."
As the roof begins to open, Jacob says;
"I'm glad Drogo is still in Valaria; he would try to either eat my Glider or fuck it. Either way, it's not good for me."
Stebbins Trebuchet has been destroying an enemy defensive position for almost a week while his cavalry attacks the enemy supply lines and soldiers trying to leave the position. He looks at the map and thinks;
"This is too easy."
Just as he thinks that the enemy attacks the camp and he turns to Rugel and says;
"We just confirmed that they have some sort of undetectable means of communications."
Rugel puts his helmet on and says;
"I'm just wondering what took them so long to attack us."
As Stebbins puts on his helmet says;
"The two thousand infantrymen who have been lying in wait have been going crazy waiting for them."
Then they pull out their swords and join the men fighting the attacking enemy soldiers just as the two thousand infantrymen who had been carefully hidden rush out of their hiding spots and attack the enemy's slave soldiers.
Tyrion leads the army to where he is supposed to meet up with Darrio and the remaining Dothraki. When he gets to Darrio's camp Darrio and the last Khal are waiting for him. The Khal looks at him, and the men following and says;
"Your men look pretty, but can they fight?"
Tyrion climbs off his horse and replies;
"They are former slaves, wearing Valarian steel. They don't have a great deal of formal training, but they have great incentives to kill slavers. Some of them are women with severe anger issues."
The man standing next to Darrio looks at his Valarian steel sword and says;
"Fuck me; my Valarian steel retirement package just lost its value."
Darrio asks;
"Where did you find so much Valarian steel?"
Tyrion replies;
"I didn't the Sky Knight did when he was in Valaria. As far as I know, he's the only person to have survived and returned. He left them for me when he took back his knife, and the Siren Sisters stole cheap shiny objects from the pyramid, the day after, two of them got kicked out of some brothels for asking why someone would bring a Jackass and a Honeycomb to a brothel."
Darrio and the man standing next to him start to laugh insanely, and Darrio says;
"That's a joke we haven't heard in years. I'd tell it to you over a cup of wine; with the chaos in Dorne, we ran out of wine months ago. Shadow Cat Whiskey has given everyone who drank it the runs, and it leaves a sour taste in your mouth."
The last Khal says;
"I found two cases of something called Moonshine in one of the slaver compounds we took. It's not bad; it's better for cleaning blood out of weapons and armour."
Darrio says;
"I'd tell you to have your soldiers get some rest, but we're doing some night attacks on the last of the Slave fighter's army. Most of them disappeared a few weeks ago, and no one has lived long enough to tell us where they went."
The last Khal says;
"They will see the shiny soldiers coming; a great idea for using them as a distraction."
Darrio replies;
"I realized that three hours ago when they walked into the sun and the reflection hit me in the face."
The last Khal says;
"For those that survive the night fighting, don't ever let them walk into the sun. You can see the reflection for miles."
Then Tyrion sees a Dornish man tied to a pole and says;
"I see that the Dornish delegation was not well received."
Darrio looks at the man then back at Tyrion and says;
"He was bragging about being married to the woman; The last Khal has been in love with since he was a child in disturbing detail."
The Last Khal angrily says;
"He should not have said those disgusting things about Tyene, the most beautiful woman I have ever known. If he dies, do you think she will take me back?"
Tyrion tries to think of something polite to say to the almost seven-foot battle-scarred killer and says;
"One can only hope."
While in his mind, he tries to put the image of her and Bronn fucking on the table in the small council meeting room back in the box.
Tyrion asks;
"Can you tell me which way we will be headed to ensure maximum distraction? Please don't tell me if it a full-frontal suicide assault."
Darrio replies;
"It depends on what you consider a suicide assault."
Tormund, with a broken nose and the remanent of the black Elaina, gave him at Winterfell. He stands outside his tent in his clan's encampment North of the Wall and watches Jacob's Glider coming to a landing and suddenly stopping five metres above the ground. Then the landing gear is cranked out, and the Glider drops to the ground. Jacob climbs out of the Glider and says to Tormund;
"It's good to see you."
Tormund replies;
"It's not good to see you, pretty armour boy; what are you doing so far North?"
Jacob says;
"To talk to you and your clan elders about mining the gold deposits in the land that belongs to your people."
Tormund looks at him like Jacob is a drunken fool and states;
"No one can own land; it was here before we were born and long after we are dead. Why would you want to mine this worthless metal?"
Jacob replies;
"It has great value to the people south of the Wall. I'm going to take down what is left of the Wall, and it will take a great deal of money to do it."
Tormund says;
"Do the baby crows at Castle Black know that?"
Jacob answers;
"They do but are shitty fighters and are pissing off the Freefolk and Northmen who are dismantling Castle Black."
Tormund asks;
"Why are you going to take down that fucking wall?"
Jacob replies;
"Now that the Nights King and his army of the dead are gone, there is no need for it."
Tormund thinks then asks;
"What does your wife that the shitheads of Westeros think of that?"
Jacob smiles and says;
"Sansa and I are of one mind, and we need the Wall to come down if we are truly ever going to be at peace with the Freefolk. Neither of us gives a shit about the six kingdoms. With my brother-in-law on the throne, the lords of Westeros don't have a choice but to accept it."
Tormund asks;
"How much gold will you need to take the wall down?"
Jacob says;
"A large fortune, there is a lot to talk about with how much it costs. To move the pieces of the Castles along the Wall to where they are needed, we have to build a railroad."
An Elder that has been listening asks;
"Other than watching the wall come down, what's in it for us?"
Jacob answers;
"That's what I'm here to discuss."
The Elder looks closely at him and says;
"Bring us food to eat, and we will hear what you have to say over dinner."
Jacob happily replies;
"I'll go out and bring something back."
The Elder states;
"I've heard that you have a shitty sense of direction. Take Tormund with you, and we will expect you back with enough time to properly prepare the food."
Tormund looks at Jacob and states;
"I hate you. I should take you into the forest and leave you there."
Jacob counters with;
"I may have a shitty sense of direction; my sense of smell is better than Dire Wolves. All I have to do is follow your scent back here. (Jacob tosses him a small pouch) You left these teeth in Winterfell after Elaina beat the crap out of you; what did you do?"
Tormund tosses the bag away and says;
"That's between Elaina and me; I let her beat me up. She's a tiny little thing, and I could have killed her with a single punch."
Jacob replies;
"I'm not surprised about what led to Elaina beating the crap out of you; you were blackout drunk when it happened. What are we going to bring back for dinner?"
Tormund happily smiles, revealing a missing tooth and says;
"Just the usual, deer, moose maybe. You have to get past some Dire Wolves and a pissed-off bear to get to them and get back here without getting killed."
Jacob states;
"I've been dead before; I just don't stay that way."
Tyrion is looking at the map closely examining the fortification he is expected to lead his men into and says;
"I have a counter proposal for you. By now, they should know that we are here. Fresh, well-armed and shiny soldiers ready for the fight. Suppose I split my men into three while I take the direct route and set camp in clear sight, hoping to get them to surrender peacefully. The other two groups will come around to the sides and attack it. They should respond by concentrating their defences on us. Allowing The Second Sons and The last of the Dothraki to strike them from the rear."
Darrio asks;
"How many soldiers did you bring?"
Tyrion says;
"One thousand with the Valarian steel and another two thousand from the three great cities of Dragons bay with whatever armour and weapons they could find. How many Slave fighters are in there?"
The Last Khal says;
"Almost five thousand."
Darrio asks;
How did the Sky Knight find that much Valarian steel and hide it in Meereen without anyone noticing."
Tyrion says;
"It's funny that you should ask that. He left a letter specifically for you and another for the Last Khal."
Tyrion walks over to where his saddlebags were placed, pulls the letters out, and hands them to Darrio and The Last Khal.
Darrio opens and reads his. As he does, a look of confusion comes over his face. While he is thinking about what to say, The Last Khal says;
"What the Sky Knight said in this letter makes sense; I will send men to lead the two groups. (He turns to Darrio) What did your's say?
Darrio, with confusion, says;
"After we have defeated and destroyed the slaver compounds, we are to send for Greyworm and ask him to join us in Dorne to kill the last of the great slave masters of Volantis. Apparently, we need him to stop him from conquering Dorne and building his slave empire. And apparently, half the second sons and I carried the Valarian steel into the hiding places. I have no memory of that happening."
Tyrion states;
"Wherever the Sky Night goes, so does many people's memory of him during and after his visit. If the Fire and Ice saga is correct, he managed to get Little finger to randomly add the words that spell "I am a thief " for two hours while in the Red Keep. I'm going to prepare my men and wait for the men who will lead them into what will be a very blood-filled victory."
Just as Stebbins and Rugel manage to defeat the slave soldiers attacking them, they hear more Slave Soldiers moving quickly to them. They barely have time to mount their horses and prepare what Calvary and men are there. As Rugel controls the anger for not seeing the trap, he looks at Stebbins, looking calm and entirely in control and says;
"One of the many things I admire about you is that you are always calm and in control. Nothing ever bothers you."
Stebbins calmly replies;
"Everything does; I learned a very long time ago not to let anyone see it."
As the infantrymen quickly form up, Stebbins calmy orders;
"Archers stand ready; Trebuchet prepare to launch at close range."
The following morning Tyrion, Darrio, The Last Khal and the men who lead Tyrion's men into battle are covered in blood and eating something. Tyrion looks at what is on the plate and asks;
"What is this?"
Between bites, The Last Khal says;
"Shwarma, it's the perfect meal to eat after a hard-fought victory."
Red Eye is looking at the massive fleet carrying slave soldiers and supplies to Dorne and says;
"We didn't bring enough ships."
His first mate says;
"We found the rouge Ironbord. Now, what do we do?"
Red Eye says;
"We send word to Yara and for as long as we can, harras them and hope that we take out as many of those fuckers as possible before they sink us."
Then they all say;
"What is drowned cannot die."
Stebbins and Rugel are lying on their belly's looking at the massive fleet unloading troops and supplies, and Rugel says;
"Where did they get so many slave fighters, If my count is right. There's over twenty thousand of them landing."
Stebbins replies;
"Whoever is behind this has been planning to invade Dorne for decades. ( he looks at the broken communications device) at least we know how they are communicating."
Rugel asks;
"Do you know what that thing is?"
Stebbins replies;
"No, but Jacob should know what it is. We just have to find a way to get it to him."
Rugel;
"What will he do with it?"
Stebbins replies;
"Destroy it; this thing is what Jacob calls technology far more advanced than anything we have. When I travelled with him, we spent most of our time starting or starting bar fights, delaying or aiding people, finding things like this, and destroying them. From what I counted, almost two hundred of them. Our world, as Jacob said, is littered with advanced technology that would, if misused would eventually lead to our destruction."
Halven says;
"Sir, we have to go; there are some enemy riders headed this way."
As they rush to their horses, Rugel says;
"When I see him next, Jacob needs to explain a few things to me."
Jacob is at Castle Black talking to the thirty plus men wanting to join the Knight's Watch and says;
"The entire Knight's Watch consists of one man, John Snow. There will be no more men of the watch."
Their leader, an annoying man in his mid to late thirties, says;
"As long as there are Wildlings, there will be a Knights Watch to defend the seven kingdoms from them."
Jacob angrily states;
"I guess you haven't heard; there are only six kingdoms now, not seven. The North, which is now called The Northlands, is an independent sovereign nation. Castle Black, the Wall is on our land. We are dismantling the Castles and tearing down the Wall."
The man states;
"If you take down the Wall, there is nothing to stop the wildlings from invading."
Jacob says;
"Like the Night's King and his army of the dead, the wildlings were conquered by the Freefolk and killed. The Freefolk are our allies, not enemies."
Another man asks;
"If you are tearing everything down, what will you do with the stones of Castle Black."
Jacob says;
"We are going to build a new Castle Black, which will be home to the Night's Guard. The Night's Guard will consist of men and women. If you pass the trials of worth, you will be considered for membership. Regardless of standing, regardless of sex."
As the leader is about to say something, Jacob says;
"Take them."
Then the Freefolk, who they have been pissing off, knock all of them out and put them in irons. As they are loading them into wagons, Jacob says;
"Take them to Winterfell; Sansa will have to deal with them. Now that all Freefolk know about us dismantling the castles along the Wall and eventually tearing the Wall down. Hundreds of them are headed here to help."
The Freefolk who is leading them says;
"Hundreds of Northmen are also headed here to help us. They want to see all of this gone just as much as we do."
Tyrion, Darrio and The Last Khal are looking at the remains of one of the massive centers where thousands of Slave fighters were trained, and Tyrion asks;
"How did we miss this?"
Darrio replies;
"I have no idea; this is years of building and planning. As for the Second Sons, we never came into this part of Volantis until now."
The Last Khal adds;
"The Hoard was always well paid to stay out of this part of Volantis as well. We never had cause to raid here."
Tyrion starts to swear and says;
"Whoever is behind this has been planning for decades to invade Westeros, and we all missed it."
Darrio asks;
"What do you mean invade Westeros?"
Tyrion states;
"They built a massive army in secret and waited until something happened to weaken Westeros. The war of Kings decimated kingdoms of its fighting men, then the last war between the living and the dead weakened it even more. Then Daenyrse destroyed anything that could fight back and decimated the seven kingdoms. When the Martell women killed Prince Doran, they started a civil war and took Dorne's best fighters, now at the bottom of the Narrow sea. That allowed them to attack; first, they take Dorne. Then Westeros and there is no one to stop them. As for Volantis, it served its purpose; they won't be coming back here."
Darrio states;
"I told Daenyrse that we had to conquer all of Volantis, not just Slavers bay and their great cities, before she could take the Iron Throne."
The Last Khal says;
"With what Slavers are left here, it shouldn't take long to clean them out."
Then one of the men runs up to them and hands them a son's of the Harpy's mask, and Tyrion states;
"We should have followed the money, whoever is leading this army. Was behind the Harpies. Always follow the money."
Darrio states;
"One distraction after another, each time decimating any who could resist them."
The Last Khal says;
"We need to take Koth; they should know who is behind this. If anyone has a fleet of ships that no one knows about and can move thousands of slave fighters, it would be them."
Darrio adds;
"That's going to be a problem, some very nasty Warlocks now rule Koth."
The Ironborn ship headed north to tell Yara about the roque Ironborn had briefly stopped to get supplies and took a badly wounded Halven with them. The Captain says;
"Why is it so important that you get back to Winterfell. You can barely stand."
Halven painfully pulls out the communications device and shows it to him, and says;
"This has to get to Prince Jacob of Winterfell by any means possible."
The Captain looks at the strange device and asks;
"What is it?"
Halven painfully says;
"Something that shouldn't be here. When we travelled with Prince Jacob, we started or stopped barfights, delayed or helped people, bizarrely hunting fugitives and bandits, making and selling Moonshine. we looked for things like that and destroyed them."
The Captain asks;
"What do you mean by bizarrely hunting fugitives and bandits?"
Halven says;
"It's the best way to describe it; sometimes, we captured fugitives and bandits. Then took them to another part of the seven kingdoms and set them free. Including ones with large profitable bounties. All Prince Jacob or Grand Maestre Hawkings would say is that we found them in the wrong place and had to put them where they were supposed to be."
The Captain states;
"You and this Prince Jacob are the people behind Moonshine."
Halven happily and painfully replies;
"Very soon, the Ironborn will be delivering it to people who will pay insane amounts of money for it. If I don't make it, you have to get the device to Prince Jacob at Winterfell."
The Captain states;
"I've seen men with worse injuries recover; our healer is very good. Winterfell is far too inland for me to go. If I can't feel and smell the sea, I may as well be dead. You are not dying on my ship."
Stebbins and Rugel are watching people evacuate the cities for a more defendable system of caves, and Stebbins asks;
"Are you sure about torching your home?"
Rugel calmy replies;
"When they come to take our cities, all they will find are ashes and destroyed docks. We would rather burn down our homes than let foreigners take them from us."
Stebbins states;
"I've heard of scorched earth tactics but never seen one."
Rugel replies;
"If you grew up in Dorne, your house would have been built on scorched earth. We in Dorne invented it."
Greyworm is watching his masters of weapons training the orphans who have come to them and sees his men having problems teaching the girls. Maestre Luwin says to him;
"I believe it would help with training the girls if your men thought of them as boys who have been cut; after all, they don't have a penis."
Greyworm looks at him and says;
"That makes sense, although I do not think that most of them will be strong enough to be the Unsullied's legacy."
Maestre Luwin replies;
"No more than the boys, those that will become the Children of the Unsullied will be exceptional. The ones who don't make it will still be gifted fighters and have a position among the Children. An Army travels on its stomach. They will need those who can fulfill those duties with a clear understanding of who the Children of The Unsullied are and the legacy they carry."
Greyworm looks at him and says;
"Maestre Luwin, I am grateful to have chosen you to be my hand; you are very wise. I still do not believe you when you tell me that I was not born a slave and am a Lord of Old Valaria."
Greyworm walks over and talks to his Masters of Arms and tells them to treat the girls like boys who have been cut.
While he is doing that, a messenger walks up to them and says;
"I have an urgent message for General Greyworm.'
Maestre Luwin asks;
"Is the message from Darrio asking him to bring his Unsullied to Dorne and fight with him against the last great slave master?"
The Messenger replies;
"It is from Darrio asking for help but not to go to Dorne, to help take the city of Koth."
Maestre Luwin takes the message and says;
"Thank you. I will pass the message to the General."
When the Messenger is out of hearing range, Maestre Luwin mutters;
"Fucking Prince Jacob, I thought that this had been corrected. Greyworm is to go and fight the invading forces in Dorne, not take the city of Koth."
Bran says back to him;
"What is happening? When did someone invade Dorne? This is the first time I am hearing about that."
Maestre Luwin says;
"If you didn't know about the last great slave master invading Dorne, then something is seriously wrong, and we can't blame Jacob for this; he corrected everything he broke. Stebbins surviving the Night Kings battle was not on him."
Bran replies;
"It's not; even Clarice being pregnant with Stebbins son, doesn't change her future in any detrimental way. I believe that someone has access to technology that blocks my ability to see them. This is very bad; Dorne was not supposed to be invaded for another five years."
Darrio, The Last Khal and Tyrion are looking at a map of Koth, and The Last Khal says;
"Every Khal who tried to take Koth failed. There is nothing to place a camp near it that isn't wasteland; the walls are higher than any other and well manned."
Tyrion adds;
"The one thing I do know about Koth is like the Citadel; they collect knowledge. By now, they know about the sewer weakness in a walled city and have fortified it. The only way to take the city is by sea."
Darrio adds;
"We don't know about the port's weaknesses. All cargo bound for the city is offloaded outside of the harbour. Only ships bearing their sigils and have been registered with the city are allowed into the harbour. Anyone trying to sail into the harbour has to get past the scorpions mounted on high turrets. That is only what we know about."
Tyrion thinks then asks;
"Then I have to wonder why anyone would go to these great lengths to protect their port. What are they hiding, or hiding from."
Darrio thinks then says;
"The best person to answer that would be a pirate; fortunately, we still have a few sitting in our dungeons waiting to be tried for piracy."
Tyrion asks;
"The question now is, will any of them talk?"
The Last Khal says;
"Pirates are always broke and in fear of being hung for being a pirate. We have gold, and truthfully telling us what they know about Koth is a more than generous incentive to keep from being hung."
Tyrion says;
"While you both work on that, I'm going to go and learn everything about Warlocks. There may be another way to get the information on who is behind the Slave army; they will probably tell us everything we need to know if we have something of value. Buying people with gold isn't always the best way to have them share some information on what they are looking for."
After he has left, The Last Khal asks;
"Why is it so important to know who is behind the Slave fighters?"
Darrio replies;
"Know your enemy, and you will know how to defeat them. This person has gone to a great deal of effort to keep anyone from knowing anything about them. We stand a better chance of winning a fight against a real ghost."
The Last Khal says;
"Before the Dragon Queen conquered the Dothraki, we didn't think of those things. Now that most of us are gone, we who are left constantly think of better ways to fight than rushing blindly into battle. I wish that my cousins who died fighting the dead in Winterfell had stopped to think about who they were fighting before they charged into battle."
Darrio states;
"The longer it takes for us to find out who is behind the Slave fighters, the harder it will be to get to Dorne and end them."
The Last Khal muses then says;
"The way this person wages war, what we are doing here maybe what he wants us to do."
Darrio shoots back;
"Who said this person was a he? That was a mistake people made when it came to Daenerys."
Sansa has just ordered the men who wanted to join the mostly defunct Knight's Watch to be taken to the border and thrown out of the Queendom when the imagery from Jacobs eyes of a piece of land flashes into her face, and she says;
"Why are you flying the glider upside down?"
Jacob replies;
"I just wanted to show you where we will be building the Grand Maestre Hawkings school of Medicine is."
Sansa replies;
"Please stop doing things like that, I'm standing upright, and I feel that I am standing on my head at the same time. You were supposed to be surveying the location to put the railway hub."
Jacob replies;
"I already did that, and the location for the new Castle Black. The gold miners should start arriving at Winterfell in three weeks. We should have everything they need to start mining gold in three months."
Sansa comments;
"If the Lannisters gold mines hadn't been played out, we wouldn't have been able to hire their miners. It would have been easier if they sold us their mining equipment."
Jacob replies;
"Anyday now, they could find a new source of gold and will need it when they do. The problem with people who only mine gold from a mountain is that they rarely notice the billions of pounds of gold next to the mountains in the gravel beside the river they get their water from."
Then Jacob suddenly flips the Glider around, and Sansa angrily says;
"How far away from here are you?"
Jacob casually replies;
"About an hour flight time…Crap, your water just broke; I'll speed it up."
Sansa replies;
"If you are not here when Catlin Gwendolyn Stark tears out of me, go back North and live with the Dire Wolves you used to fuck with Tormund while you were out hunting food for the Elder's dinner party. Yes, I named her Catlin, not Katherine; mother always hated being called Katherine."
Rugel and Tannis look into the distance as the smoke rises from what was once their home. As people fortify the entrance to the cave systems, everyone from the city fled to Tannis says;
"Everything we had, our entire life is in flames."
Rugel looks at her and says;
"We haven't lost anything; we still have each other and our son. We will survive."
Tannis looks at him then says;
"After we have made the people who invaded die a long, painful death."
A servant is carrying warm water to Sansa's chambers when Jacob explodes through a window and says;
"Parking was a bitch, (then he takes the warm water from her). I'll take this in. Can you make sure no one steals my ride while my wife is crushing my balls? Actually holding them in her delicate hands and crushing them. If it's going to hurt her, it's going to hurt me."
Then he walks into Sansa's chambers, where she is giving birth to their daughter. The Servant looks out the window to see the Glider floating outside the window and says;
"Unless someone can fly up to it, no one is going to be able to steal that thing."
Amyelia, Elaina and Eeina are looking up at the Glider Jacob left floating outside the window he crashed threw and Eeina says;
"We should borrow that thing and use it to get away from the sadist Matron."
Elaina says;
"Do you know how to operate that thing, I don't."
Amyelia says;
"It can't be that hard; Jacob can operate it."
Eeina says;
"We went to a great deal of effort to get our armour back; we should move now before Cruella de Matron finds us."
Elaina says;
"There is only two seats in that thing, and there are three of us."
Eeina states;
"You're always going on about how tiny I am. I can sit on Amyelia's lap, and we still won't be as gigantic as you."
As they float up to the Glider, Elaina says;
"I beat the shit out of Tormund the goat fucker, knocked out three of his teeth. Stop shaming me, or I'll beat the crap out of you too."
As they reach the Glider, Amyelia says;
"Elaina, it sounds like your in love with Tormund."
Elaina shoots back;
"How could I or anyone be? That goat fucker is not a highborn and or wealthy."
As Eeina sits on Amyelia's lap, she says;
"Why don't fly this thing north and visit Tormund to make sure you're not in love with a giant redheaded alcoholic who's never been sober a day in his life."
Elaina counters;
"Careful bitch, I'm the one driving this thing, and the door thing doesn't close because that giant blonde head, mostly empty head of your's, is in the way."
As they float up Eeina says;
"My head is not empty."
Amyelia says;
"Eeina, shake your head. What do you hear?"
Eeina shakes her head and says;
"You two being brats, that's what I hear; I hear everything even when you two losers are sleeping."
Elaina asks;
"Which way is North?"
Amyelia shoots back;
"If you can smell the stench of whatever that crap the unmarried Freefolk are fond of, you're headed north."
The Valley siblings are sitting in the caves looking at everything around them, and Megan in old Valarian says;
"We should call home and let them know that we found three surviving Lords."
Drew replies in Old Valarian;
"I've been trying, but something is blocking the signals."
Cindy Old Valarian says;
"That sucks; how is anyone going to bring us more weed if we can't call home, and have some delivered."
Megan in Old Valarian asks;
"How is anyone going to deliver weed to us here in outside world?"
Cindy in Old Valarian states;
"Clem took Drogo hostage and rode him home. He can bring us more weed."
Drew in Old Valarian replies;
"No weed, no sex makes Cindy go crazy."
Cindy angrily glares at him, and in Old Valarian says;
"Who smoked all the weed? Those fucking pirates and invaders destroyed my sex life, and I'm pretty sure one or both of you still have a big fattie."
Drew and Megan in Old Valarian say;
"No weed, No sex makes Cindy go crazy."
As the Valley siblings keep up their childish dialogue in Old Valarian, Jared says to Tannis;
"Eventually, they will realize that when they were passed out. That we took and hid their weed."
Tannis replies;
"It doesn't matter now; all their weed went up in smoke when we torched our home. Those three fight better when they are sober and angry. Just don't let anyone fuck any of them."
Jared states;
"I've noticed that if Megan gets laid and Cindy doesn't. Cindy's ability to kill people is god-like."
Tannis looks at him and says;
"You can do better than Megan."
Jared replies;
"I know, but as long as I'm fucking Megan. Cindy is our best weapon against the invaders."
Tannis looks at him and says;
"Just don't knock her up; your father and I were both born bastards from a long line of Bastards. You are the first one in our families not to be born a bastard. Please don't give me bastard grandchildren."
Jared says;
"Megan keeps telling me she's one-hundred and twenty-one years old and has yet to flower. With the insane amount of weed she smokes, I don't think she can ever get pregnant."
Tannis adds;
"They do say some insane things like they are from Valaria, people in the valley live longer, and there's nothing to do in the Valley except smoke weed, get laid and hand to hand combat training."
Jared counters;
"You have to admit all three of them have god-like fighting skills; Cindy's get better the longer she goes without getting laid."
Tyrion, Darrio, The Last Khal and several men are standing outside the gate to the great city of Koth. Then the door opens, and a tall, pale, and extremely thin man steps out and blinks his way to them.
When he blinks in front of him, Tyrion says;
"Hello, my name is Tyrion Lannister, this is Darrio, and the very tall and intimidating man is The Last Khal of the Dothraki. We would like to trade for some information on the person who raised a massive slave army and invaded Dorne."
The man looks at him, then at the others and says;
"I doubt that you have anything of interest to us."
Before Tyrion can say something, one of the men behind them shakes his head and steps forward with a sealed letter in his hand and asks;
"Are you the Warlock Telenor?"
The Warlock looks at him with interest and answers;
"I am; how do you know me?"
Then man replies;
"I don't. I have a letter for you from someone called the Sky Night; I've been carrying it around with me for almost four years. Until just now, I only remembered who it was for and from."
He hands the Warlock the letter. With reservations, the Warlock opens the letter, reads it. Then looks at them and says;
"What would you like to know about them. I can tell you that one of the former leaders was heavily invested in them. He had ships, and they had gold and were in need ships."
Then the Warlock puts the letter into his clothes then holds his hands in front of him with the palms facing each other. Then slowly, three very thick books appear between his hands, and he says;
"Everything about them is in these three books."
As Darrio hesitantly takes them, Tyrion asks;
"What changed your mind about helping us?"
The Warlock replies;
"We were going to ask you for something impossible in trade, either bring us the dragon known as Drogo or another dragon or egg. Then we received this letter from Prince Jacob, husband of Sansa, the first Queen of the Northland. He wrote that we need to be patient, and as proof, he included something that none of you could possibly know. Good luck fighting the descendants of the first King of Westeros. They have been planning their return for almost a thousand years."
As he blinks away and into the city, Darrio asks;
"The First King of Westeros, how many fucking dethroned kings does that fucking kingdom have."
Tyrion states;
"Far more than any kingdom will or ever have. If it's the descendants of the person, I'm thinking of. This war isn't going to end well for any of us. To win it, we are going to need dragons, dozens of dragons. One will not be enough."
The Last Khal asks;
"Why would we need so many dragons?"
Tyrion states;
"If legend is to be believed, then the descendants have armour and weapons just as powerful or more powerful than the Sky Knight. Like The Sky Knight, the only thing that can kill them is a dragon, by fire or bite."
Darrio holds the books out for Tyrion and says;
"You like to read. You read up on them, while I send another Raven asking Greyworm to join us in Dorne and hope that he hasn't already sailed for here."
The Last Khal says;
"It's time I called in my debt to the Dothraki who fight for lost causes. This is becoming something that they are very skilled and trained for."
As they walk back to their horses, Tyrion asks;
"I've never heard of the Dothraki who fight for lost causes."
Darrio says;
"There would be no reason for you to know about them; they are elite Dothraki fighters who fight for lost causes. I forget the word that Dothraki calls them, but I can tell you this. Most of the hoard were terrified of them. They live for the moment, see everything in life as a challenge to be overcome, have honour and an extreme set of rules they live by. If the hoard is raiding a village and they happen by. Every Dothraki who raped a woman would be dead in seconds or running for the rest of their lives."
Tyrion thinks and says;
"I would never think about a Dothraki not raping and pillaging."
Darrio replies;
"Not the ones who fight for lost causes. Getting a woman into their bed is a challenge for them; they can only be with a woman if she consents to it. If one of them enters a brothel, it's usually to kill the person who runs the place that is kidnapping people and forcing them into prostitution. Four of them once wiped out an entire slavers camp."
Tyrion says;
"That sounds impressive."
Darrio replies;
"It was, except three of them didn't survive. Even when they were dying they were still killing people. They say the only way to make sure one of them that attacks you is dead is when you cut off his head, and his sword only stops swinging because all of his blood is on the ground."
Jacob is gently holding his newborn daughter in his arms. Instead of asking for him to hand the baby back to her, Sansa closes her eyes and holds her arms exactly the same way Jacob is holding his. The midwife and the other servants in the room look at the bizarre scene as Jacob and Sansa smile, silently speak with the occasional giggle. Then the Servant who was in the hallway when Jacob crashed through the window enters and says;
"We seem to have misplaced the Siren sisters, and that floating thing outside the window is missing."
This breaks the bonding moment Jacob and Sansa are having with their newborn. As Jacob gently hands the baby to Sansa, they both say in Unison.
"Bertie fucked up, somehow the sisters got past the locks and got their armour back. The baby will be fine with me; I'll go find the sisters and hope they haven't crashed the Glider."
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Copyright – The people who can financially ruin me. Who own the rights to Game of Thrones, and everything related to it. Please don't sue me I don't have any money.
November 14, 2021