Chapter 14: A Golden Crown

Khal Drogo's khalasar had been travelling all over the eastern continent for what seemed like almost six moons. At first, it was just weeks and weeks of grasslands, and Annalise was beginning to feel the pain of riding nearly all day every day. Her hands were beginning to ache terribly, as all she would be doing would be riding next to the Khaleesi all day until they made camp, where she would attempt to try and teach the Khaleesi the crucial lessons of becoming a pyromancer. The process had started off slow, with Annalise attempting to remember everything that she had learned from Cornyx and Karla while she was in Lothric, and soon enough the lessons came flooding back to her, yet some of those memories were not all great.

She could still feel the defilement in the core of her being when she realised a Priestess of Londor had infiltrated her shrine.

She had felt so relieved when Sir William had a duel with the evil woman, but it was so close she had almost thought that William would lose, as if he were destined to come so far to reigniting the flame, but was due to be killed by the woman, who would impale him on the cold steel of her blade, the legendary Darkdrift. She only found out the sword was famous when Will had sliced the woman's head off and looted the sword from her dead corpse.

If Annalise was not teaching the young Targaryen about the ways of pyromancy, she would be telling her of the amazing things that Sir William had done. She was an excellent student, that was for sure. She had soon been deemed trustworthy enough by Anna that she would be told the secret of Anna's origins.

She had handled it amazingly, she never told anyone else. All she had said was that she be careful around her new husband. Apparently the culture of the Dothraki had never trusted anyone with magic, especially witches. Daenerys had told her that from what Drogo had told her, the entire Dothraki culture was built on strength alone, not belief or magic. They worshipped the horse, believing that the one day one man would have the largest khalasar, he would become 'The Stallion Who Mounts the World.'

What Annalise had also began to notice was that the Khal and the Khaleesi were not as they were when they were first married, where the Khaleesi would be a shy and timid young girl who would always obey her Khal, but now she was the fiery Khaleesi who had her Khal at her husband at her beck and call, and the words that Annalise shared with Doreah and Irri was that the Khaleesi almost had as much power as the Khal, but nobody else would say that in front of their Khal.

Well, the last male heir of House Targaryen was infuriated to say the least. Viserys had began to become more and more enraged when it seemed like the chances of him getting his army of Dothraki seemed less and less likely. The Dothraki were not as stupid as they seemed, and they understood exactly what he said once Ser Jorah had translated to them what he was saying. Calling them 'horsefuckers' was not exactly making the Dothraki loyal to his cause. He had attempted to speak to Khal Drogo multiple times, yet each time he was rebuffed by his bloodriders.

Viserys instead had began to drown his sorrows in alcohol and shout at Daenerys to overcome his dying chances of becoming King. At first, it had seemed to have an effect on Daenerys, the little confidence she had begun to build with Doreah and Khal Drogo seemed to die when Viserys had 'unleashed the dragon' as he had called it.

The only other thing that was keeping the Dothraki from crossing the Narrow Sea was that their horses would never drink the saltwater, Daenerys was their only chance of Viserys getting his army.

X-X-X

"So, these Lords of Cinder would have rekindled the flame before?" Daenerys asked.

"Yes, Khaleesi." Anna replied, as she begin to style the Khaleesi's hair. "When Sir William was awoken, the Lords should have awoken too, and returned to their thrones. Yet, it was not to be."

"What do you mean, 'not to be?'"

"The Lords never returned. They awoke and returned to wherever they would have had the most power. The Abysswatchers returned to the Farron Keep, Yhorm returned to his Profaned Capital."

"So, William was revived to do what they refused to do?" The Khaleesi asked.

"Yes, and he triumphed. If he didn't, I wouldn't be here."

"He sounds like a magnificent man. I would love to meet him one day, if he is here."

The vile man that was Viserys marched into the tent that Anna and Daenerys were in, his hands wrapped around the hair of Doreah as he violently threw her to the ground. His violet eyes were blazing with fury, he was enraged. The dragon had been 'unleashed'.

"You send this whore to give me commands?!" Viserys raged. "I should have sent you back her head!"

"I'm sorry, Khaleesi..." Doreah whispered, before Annalise took her into her arms.

"Hush now, its alright." Anna whispered, as Daenerys knelt down to check her friend before glaring at her brother.

"How dare you! She was under my command! Why did you hit her?!"

"Because you do not command me!" Viserys shot back.

"I was not commanding you! I was inviting you to supper!"

Viserys was silent, yet he kept glaring at her as if she had just slapped him across the face. Everyone could tell that he was furious with Daenerys, but that did not matter anymore, she was no longer just Daenerys Targaryen, she was the Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, husband to Khal Drogo.

Daenerys walked over to the table which held all of her personal effects, and took the scaled clothing that she had made by some of the other Dothraki women before she handed it to her brother.

"What is this?" He asked, rolling his hand over the material.

"A gift. I had it made for you." Daenerys said, as if she was begging for him to take it.

"Dothraki rags? What are you going to dress me now? This stinks of manure! All of it!"

"Please, brother, stop it!"

"You would want to turn me into one of them? Wouldn't you? One of the horselords? Next you will want to braid my hair, you slut!"

"You have no right to a braid, you have won no victories yet!"

Once more, Viserys had gone deadly silent. His violet eyes were glazed over with what seemed like layers of pure hatred and disgust as he looked at his sister, who had more power than him. He charged towards his sister, pushing her over and launching a barrage of pathetic slaps to her, as if he were not even trying to hurt her.

"You do not talk back to me!" He yelled. "You are a horselord's slut!" He accused. "Now you've woken the dragon!"

Annalise could not take watching Viserys any more, he was a pathetic little worm, not even worthy to be a speck of dirt on the roads. He always said that he would be the one to show Robert Baratheon who was always the rightful king, and he always boasted that as soon as he had his own army, he would kill every single person who had taken his throne away from him.

As Viserys began to batter away at his sister, Annalise slowly let down Doreah to the floor and stood next to Viserys, yet he was completely unaware of the stern woman who happened to be summoning a large yellow bolt from her hand.

"You are a worm, a worthless little man who is less than the shadow of a snake. I have met lesser men who are more man than you are. You will crash and burn, and you will never win back your kingdom, because you are the least honourable, least noble man I have ever had the displeasure of meeting."

Annalise smashed the lighting spear against the head of Viserys, sending him flying away from the Khaleesi and ripping through the tent walls, sending him flying away from the group of women. It was quite the spectacle for those who had no idea what had sent the worthless man flying through the air. Doreah helped her Khaleesi off the floor, and the trio of women marched over to the dazed Viserys, who was moaning and crawling all over the floor.

"I am a Khaleesi of the Dothraki! I am the wife of the great Khal Drogo and I carry his son inside of me! The last time you raise your hand against me is the last time you have hands!"

X-X-X

Over the next few days, very little was seen or heard of Viserys Targaryen the Third. Everything had seemed to be even better since Viserys had stopped showing his face around the massive camp.

Daenerys had more time to be with her husband, the great Khal Drogo, and it seemed like instead of being the intimidating and deadly warrior horselord in front of his men, he had become quite the nice and kind man when it came to being around his wife or her friends. If he was not conversing with his Khaleesi, or making love to her, (which was quite a lot) he could be caught either conversing with his bloodriders, or maybe even the Khalessi's ladies.

Ser Jorah had made it his personal objective that whenever Viserys had come out of wherever he was hiding to always be in Daenerys' immediate vicinity, just in case the Beggar King was in a paticularly violent and deplorable mood.

However it did not help him when he tried to rob Daenerys' dragon eggs before the feast.

"Where is my sister?" Viserys shouted, his voice thick with wine. "I've come for the feast. How dare you presume to eat without me? No one eats before the king!"

Ser Jorah Mormont went to him swiftly, whispered something to him and tried to escort him out by the arm, yet he wrenched free. "Keep your hands off me! No one touches the dragon without leave!"

Annalise looked at Daenerys, who seemed to be staring at the high table where Khal Drogo was sat, with Khal Ogo and Khal Jommo, the three men guffawing loudly at the spectacle in front of them.

The laughter that left the Khals' lips seemed to attract Viserys' attention as he lifted his eyes towards the high bench. "Khal Drogo, I am here for the feast." His voice was almost polite, and as he spoke he was staggering away from Ser Jorah, marching drunkenly to the high bench where the Khals were sat.

Khal Drogo rose from his seat, and pointed to a seat far away from the benches before spitting out what seemed to be a thousand words that none of the women knew how to translate.

"Khal Drogo says that your seat is not at the high bench." Jorah translated. "The Khal says that your seat is over there."

Viserys glanced at the where the Khal was pointing. At the back of the room in a corner by the wall, deep in shadow so that the better and more respected men would not need to look at Viserys. There sat the lowest of the low, the unblooded boys, the stiff old men with clouded eyes, and the dimwitted and the maimed. They sat far from the food, and even farther from honour.

"That is not a seat for a king." Viserys declared.

"Is place," Khal Drogo answered in the common tongue. "For the Sorefoot King!" He clapped his hands and laughed. "A cart for Khal Rhaggat!"

The Dothraki that were in the hall with them began to laugh and shout at the joke made by Khal Drogo, and soon Ser Jorah was shouting down Viserys to leave and never come back, but Viserys ignored him and drew his sword.

"Keep away from me!" Viserys snarled, the bared steel shining oddly in the firelight, and he soon spotted Daenerys just away from the high bench.

"There she is." He said with a drunken smirk. He stalked towards her, pushing through the large crowds of Dothraki men and women.

"The blade… you must not." Daenerys begged. "Please Viserys, it is forbidden. Just put down the sword and sit with me. Is it the eggs you want? You can have them if you only drop the sword."

"Do as she tells you, fool!" Jorah shouted. "Before you get us all killed."

"They can't kill us! They are afraid to shed blood in their holy city. I can." Viserys laid the point of his sword between her breasts and slid it down to her pregnant belly. "I want what he promised me, I want my crown! He bought you but he never paid for you! Tell him I want what I bargained for, otherwise I am taking my sister away from him, and I will cut out the bastard and leave it for him!"

Viserys was weeping, Daenerys saw, weeping and laughing at the same time both at the same time. The man who was once her brother.

Khal Drogo whispered to his fellow Khals, and the great smiles they had on their faces earlier had disappeared, instead replaced by the grim looks on their faces when they realised what would happen next. It had fallen so quiet that everyone could hear the bells in Drogo's hair, chiming softly with each stuff as he walked. His bloodriders followed him, circling the drunken dragon. He whispered a few words in Dothraki.

Daenerys began to translate. "He says you will have a golden crown. A crown that all men will tremble to behold."

"That was all I wanted." Viserys replied. "What was promised."

Drogo said another word, and in seconds the bloodriders were all over Viserys. Qotho took Viserys and snapped his wrist in one quick motion, and Jhoggo had taken Viserys' sword. Even then, Viserys did not know what was going on in his drunken state.

"No! You cannot touch me! I am the dragon and I will be crowned!" He yelled.

Drogo unfastened the gold bet from around his waist and threw it into a melting pot, each gold medallion was as large as a man's hand.

Viserys began to scream a high and wordless scream of a coward that was facing his imminent death. He kicked and twisted, whimpering and mewling like a dog, even beginning to weep like a child.

Ser Jorah had made his way to the Khaleesi. "Please, turn away Princess, I beg of you."

"No. I will not." Daenerys folded her arms around the swell of her belly.

"Sister, please. Dany, tell them to stop, please."

When the gold had finally been made runny, Drogo grabbed the pot and held it in the air.

"Crown!" He yelled. "Here is a crown for a king!" Drogo growled.

Drogo upended the pot over the head of the man who had been Daenerys' brother.

The sound Viserys Targaryen made when the hideous golden helmet covered his face was like nothing human. His feet hammered a frantic beat against the dirt floor, before slowing, and then stopping completely.

Not one drop of blood was spilled.