The Chronicles of Valyria,
Book 1 Resurrection
Chapter 16
As soon as everything had been secured on Bloodstone, they made an overview of their losses. Envoys had come from the other groups who had taken the smaller islands with reports of their progress and losses.
"So what is the final count?" Aurora asked to the gathered captains and leaders.
"Taskforce 1 has lost 4 ships and 138 men," said one of the captains. "we took 5 islands on the southern side of the archipelago. We took 384 prisoners and captured 13 ships"
"Taskforce 2 took 4 islands on the western side," reported a second captain. "We captured 198 pirates and 12 ships. Our losses are 1 ship and 49 men."
"Taskforce 3 took 2 islands on the eastern side," reported the third captain. "We encountered a fleet of warships headed for Bloodstone, and were forced to engage. We lost 23 ships and 978 men, we captured 18 ships and sunk 32 more, over 1000 enemies surrendered to us.
"Thank you for your work captain," Aurora praised the man, "Please give my thanks to your men, if that fleet had reached this island we might not have been able to take Bloodstone at all. Were you able to find out where this fleet came from?"
The man nodded and answered, "We were, My Lady. Their sails carried the symbol of the Bleeding Tower of Tyrosh. It would appear that the Tyroshi got word of our intent to take the Stepstones and decided to aid the pirates. Clearly they didn't want us as their new neighbors."
Aurora got a calculating look on her face, of the 10 men around the table, only she, Oberyn and Dagmer knew of the original plan to take Tyrosh next, but now they had provoked a reaction by sending warships to fight them."
"All right men, I think you can all guess what we are going to do next. We cannot let such an action go unpunished, their attack on us was an act of war, so we are going to respond in kind. Give the men four weeks to rest and recover from any injuries they might have sustained, and in the meantime, Gabrielle and I shall pay a visit to Tyrosh on our way back from the Wall. We'll scout the city and see what we're up against.
Bring all the treasure from all the islands to Bloodstone and we'll divide it equally. Gabrielle and I will take 50% to pay the expenses for our expedition to Essos, the rest will be divided as followed, 10% will be given as tribute to the Crown, 20% will be divided between all those who took Bloodstone, and the remaining 20% will be divided amongst the rest. The shares of those who lost their lives will be given to their families."
She stood up as to leave when one of the captains said, "Wait My Lady. What are the losses on Bloodstone and how did it go on Gray Gallows?"
Aurora looked at Oberyn and Dagmer and they shared a few words until Oberyn spoke up. "Between us, Dagmer's force and my own lost 3,200 men dead and an additional 500 crippled."
Aurora nodded and then said, "And as for Gray Gallows, the forces of Gabrielle and me were already in control of the island when we arrived."
This was met with a round of confusion and surprise, as they were all of the impression that Aurora and Gabrielle didn't have any army to speak of. Finally, it was Dagmer who asked, "What do you mean, 'your own forces'? I thought you didn't have any military forces."
Aurora grinned wickedly and said, "No Dagmer, I said we currently had no access to our own forces. Our vanguard was able to reach us, and is occupying Gray Gallows with 3,347 men."
The men around the table looked surprised and one of the captains asked a little hesitantly, "But My Lady, if your vanguard alone is over 3,000 men strong, then how large is the total of your forces?"
Aurora shrugged and said nonchalantly, "That depends on how many we are able gather. We have possible allies all over Essos and if we can gather all of them, we could theoretically have 100,000 soldiers or more, but I think half of that is a more realistic prediction. Many of them have families and homes of their own to defend so not all will answer. We shall see what we can do once Valyria is secured and safe for the time being."
She knew she was playing a risky game here, Gabrielle and her had talked about it extensively during their trip to Bloodstone and this was the most believable way to explain where all those soldiers came from. They would keep the former pirates on as their vanguard for the time being, though they expected most of them would not survive the taking of Tyrosh. After that they would look to expand their army, the Unsullied where the obvious beginning and so the first stop on their trip through Essos would be Astapor.
Acting on a hunch they had dispatched one of the freed knights from Grey Gallows with 3 ships and 200 heavily armed men to Astapor. They had 'slightly modified' the man's memory and he was now completely and utterly loyal to them. Unlike the former pirates, they really needed to find a better name for them, the knight was fully aware of who he was and what he was doing, in addition to still having his free will.
The knight, who was a baseborn hedge knight from the Riverlands, was named Ser Argyll Rivers, and he carried a letter from Aurora and Gabrielle to the Good Masters of Astapor. The letter said that they were interested in buying the Unsullied, but they wanted to buy as many as possible. They would arrive in four months, and at that moment, the more Unsullied they had to sell, the more they would pay for each Unsullied. This gave the Masters time to prepare and hopefully, buy back a number of Unsullied who had already been sold in hopes of getting a better price for them.
According to Rhaella, who had spoken with Varys on their behalf, Astapor was currently in the possession of roughly 12,000 fully trained and equipped Unsullied. They were hoping that by giving the Masters an advance warning, they would be able to raise that number by at least a few thousand. To prove to the masters that they were being serious, they had filled the holds of two of the ships with gold and other valuables to make a down payment on the total sum, the rest of which would arrive with them in four months.
If the price of 500 Essosi gold pieces, or 250 Gold Dragons, for one Unsullied was correct, and according to Varys it was, then Argyll had with him enough gold to buy 1500 Unsullied, thanks to the treasure they found on Grey Gallows.
Aurora was pulled out of her self-reflection by the Greatjon who slammed his massive fist on the table and roared, "SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU." Apparently there was a fight about to break out between the various captains about what percentage each of their men would get.
Aurora shook her head and said calmly, "My apologies for dozing off my Lords, unlike most of you I have not slept last night and I'm sure you will all forgive me for postponing this discussion until tomorrow, I really need to sleep for a few hours." The captains all agreed, not daring to say anything else, and Aurora added, "Please tell the men how pleased I am with their efforts, use the rest of the day to give our fallen a proper resting place. When that is done, have them celebrate our victory appropriately tonight. I expect all of them to be properly drunk when I return for the evening meal."
The Greatjon, Dagmer and a few others all cheered loudly at those last words, they may have their differences and personal conflicts, but they all liked to get good and properly wasted after a great victory.
Aurora walked out of the central room in the keep which had been named temporary war-room, and made her way over to where Gabrielle was dozing in the soft grass between the keep and the blood-drenched battlefield. After she climbed on her back, Gabrielle unfolded her wings and quickly jumped into the air before flying towards Sunspear which they reached fifteen minutes later.
They were awaited by the twins, Yara and Ashara, and to their surprise by Doran, who was seated in a large comfortable chair. The ruler of Dorne had made a remarkable recovery and he was able to stand and walk around for a few dozen paces, but for the time being that was all. Gabrielle had promised him that, if he kept to the exercises she had given him, then in a year or so he would again be able to walk like any other person, though running was out of the question.
"How did it go?" Doran asked politely after exchanging a few pleasantries.
"Could have been better," Aurora replied. "Most of the islands were conquered easily enough, but the eastern taskforce encountered a Tyroshi war fleet and lost nearly a thousand men before they could crush the enemy.
And Bloodstone more than proved its name, we lost more than 3,200 dead and 500 crippled on that island alone. Qarth had sent a fleet to help the attack force its ally New Ghis had send, that fleet proved more troublesome than expected. The 4,000 soldiers they brought added to the number of pirates greatly outnumbered our forces, so we sent Dagmer with another 7,000 men to help them out. Together they crushed the enemy but took heavy losses none-the-less.
"And what of my brother?" Doran asked calmly, though they saw a glimmer of fear in his eyes.
"Do not worry about Oberyn, Doran," Aurora replied. "He is a more than capable warrior and made it through the battle unscathed. He, Dagmer and the Greatjon are in command of our forces during my absence and I have faith that they'll manage just fine."
Doran nodded with relief and asked, "Then why are you here my lady? Should you not also be with the troops?"
Aurora shook her head and replied, "No Doran, we have come to get the girls and Saphirus and Violet, because we're heading North tomorrow. We shall head back to Bloodstone for the feast tonight, and in the morning we have a last meeting with the other commanders, but after that we are leaving."
Doran nodded but before he could say anything he was cut off by Lissena who asked excitedly, "Are we gonne see the giants?"
Aurora grinned at her daughter's excitement and nodded before saying, "We will try, if they are willing to show themselves and talk with us." All three of the girls cheered at hearing this, they had all grown up with tales of mythical beings that lived north of the Wall and the giants were amongst those. Now that they were actually going North of the Wall to search for them, they were all very excited.
The two little dragons, now the size of a large dog with wings, were happily jumping around in the water. Despite their remarkable growth speed, which Gabrielle had told the twins was thanks to the bond between the girls and the dragons, they were not large enough to fly great distances on their own. So on the journey south, the two dragons had hitched a ride on Gabrielle, clinging to the scales of her neck and stretching their wings in the wind.
They spent the afternoon with the children in the Water Gardens with Oberyn's daughters and Princess Arianne. Everyone was amazed when Aurora and Gabrielle, who had changed back to human form when they were out of sight of prying eyes, removed their armor and joined them in the water dressed only in silk smallclothes, panties and a strip of fabric wound around their breasts.
Having officially introduced the bikini to Westeros, other women soon followed their example and exchanged their loose fitting robes for similar attire as Aurora and Gabrielle.
Ashara was introducing Elia to the warm water under the close attention of the trio of girls. The baby was clearly at home in the water as she splattered around happily in the shallow pool. If Ashara let her attention off her for even a few seconds, Elia had crawled away to the deeper part only to be stopped by one of the girls.
For a few hours they enjoyed the sun of Dorne, which even in late autumn, still shone brightly, warming everything with its glowing rays, but eventually the time came to return to Bloodstone for the Victory feast.
They gathered all of their possessions, most of which were still packed due to only spending a single night at Sunspear, and the group of two women, one humongous dragon, three girls and one baby, said goodbye to their hosts. Doran and his wife were not really saddened by their departure, since Saphirus and Violet had managed to completely wreck the bedroom in which they had spent the night.
As compensation, Aurora had given Doran a purse with 50 gold dragons and a promise of getting Oberyn a Valyrian steel tipped spear, once the Valyrian forges were up and running again, so in hindsight, the Prince of Dorne had actually nothing to complain about.
The party said goodbye to Doran and his family and promised to give their greetings to Oberyn. Once all was said and done, they all climbed up to the saddle and Gabrielle flew off eastwards, with Saphirus and Violet once again clinging to her neck.
They made a quick stop at Grey Gallows, where they picked up a dozen of the former pirates. During their brief stay at Grey Gallows, after Aurora and Gabrielle had told them where their new soldiers came from, Ashara posed an apt question. "I don't want to sound presumptuous my Ladies," they were still working on getting her to call them by their names, "But exactly why have you chosen to employ these men? They are the worst sort of criminals, they are a forlorn cause."
Aurora suddenly snapped her fingers and cried out, "That's it." Seeing Ashara's confused expression, she elaborated, "We were looking for a new name for them as we kept revering to them as 'former pirates' which is not an ideal name."
"So…., how are you going to call them?" Ashara still didn't get it.
"The Forlorn. Because their lives have been forlorn up until now, and we have given them a last chance to do some good for a change. And as for why we have chosen them, we made them absolutely loyal, if we tell them to do something, they will do it no matter what." As to prove her point, she pointed to a passing member of the newly named Forlorn, and said. "You there, cut of your left little finger."
Without a word, the man drew a dagger from his belt, put it between his little- and his ring finger and cut of his little finger without flinching. He knelt down, picked up the separated appendage and offered it to Aurora while putting the knife back on his belt. Gabrielle calmly cauterized the bleeding stump on the man's hand by pressing a finger to it and burning it closed.
Seeing the shock and slight repulsion on Ashara's face, Aurora told her, "They are no longer people, Ash, we have removed everything that makes them a human being. They no longer have a mind of their own, they have no thoughts, no memories besides the ones we have given them, they feel no remorse, no pain, nothing. They are the perfected version of the Unsullied from Astapor."
Ashara looked even more abhorred by the mention of the Unsullied and Gabrielle decided to add her own piece. "Think about it this way, we could have killed them, but we chose to put them to some good use fighting for our cause. And this way, if they die in battle, we will not have lost any good people. For make no mistake Ash, taking Tyrosh will cost us lives, and thousands of them. Who would you rather see dying beneath those walls, some pirate scum fighting for our cause, or thousands of fathers, brothers, husbands and sons whose only crime is that they were unlucky enough to be caught up in the politics of kings?"
Being pressed head on to the facts of the matter, Ashara realized that they were actually making sense. Thousands of people died in war, and if those happened to be professional criminals with a long history of violence and other crimes, then who would mourn them. Better that they died instead of people who would actually be missed.
They gathered the men who would accompany them and scrounged up the best armor and weapons they could find, after what was left by those who had gone with Argyll, and dressed their Forlorn in heavy armor with full helmets and large axes, in their own image.
Once everyone was equipped to their, for now, satisfaction, they all mounted on Gabrielle, with the extended saddle offering just enough space to hold all 17 of them. It was a rather amusing sight, seeing them all seated one behind the other in a row over Gabrielle's back.
The three-and-a-half thousand pounds worth of passengers meant that Gabrielle flew a lot slower than usual, allowing Saphirus and Violet to keep up with her. The roughly 150 miles between Gray Gallows and Bloodstone took them nearly an hour, during which Aurora told the girls and Ashara what they could expect once they landed.
"I think that most of the men will be quite drunk already, or well on their way to becoming it. I want you four to take Saphirus and Violet and stay in the keep, until Gabrielle and I join you. The Forlorn will stay with you as guards and if you need either of us, just send one of them with a message."
The other four all gave their consent, they were quite happy to be kept away from the drunken revelry as they thought it could get rather rough, when Northmen and Ironborn got well and truly hammered.
When they finally landed before the keep of Bloodstone, Aurora's prediction was more or less accurate. A few thousand men were laying or stumbling about in a drunken stupor and the rest was either eating or like a few of the wiser commanders, kept themselves apart from the drink altogether, favoring water with their meal.
With a small grin Aurora noticed Oberyn, Dagmer, and the Greatjon, sitting together at one of the tables, they were passing around a large tankard and singing a song that was absolutely not fit to be sung in polite company.
Aurora quickly ushered the others into the keep, before any of the drunks could see Saphirus and Violet, and showed them the way to the large meeting room. She promised to send someone with food and drink, before saying goodnight to the girls. She took Ashara apart and gave her a small flagon while she whispered, "We have to avoid the dragons making a mess like they did at Sunspear, I will send a servant with two large pieces of meat, make sure they both eat one of those pieces entirely, put this on the meat, it is a very strong sleeping potion."
Ashara nodded in understanding and Aurora took her leave. In the twilight she remounted Gabrielle who flew off out of sight of any onlookers and changed back to human form, before casually walking back to the festivities.
They joined those of the commanders who were still sober, and after Aurora sent a servant to the keep with food and watered wine for the others, she pulled a half, roasted pig towards her. She drew a dragger from her hip and cut of two large pieces, one for herself and one for Gabrielle. Their very fast healing also ment that their metabolism was accelerated, allowing them to drink as much as they wanted, but never getting past the point of tipsy. So together they emptied nearly an entire barrel of mead.
As it got later and later, the atmosphere amongst the men became increasingly festive, despite the many losses they had suffered, they were all glad to be alive and to be able to enjoy good food and strong drink.
Their armor scared of most of the men, but a handful of the more drunken soldiers were making attempts to seduce either Aurora or Gabrielle.
To the immense amusement of Dagmer and the Greatjon, Oberyn was amongst that handful. In his state of drunkenness, he apparently forgot Aurora's warning and he promptly tried to kiss Gabrielle, while the other two were cheering him on.
His lips were less than an inch away from Gabrielle's, when he suddenly felt an excruciating pain coming from his groin and he was immediately shocked out of his drunken folly. Oberyn yelled it out from pain and when Dagmer and Jon came running, they saw that Aurora held his balls in a vice-like grip, while she hissed, "I thought I had made myself very clear, you are not to touch either myself or my wife. I will make an exception because of your current state, but consider this your last warning Oberyn, next time, I'll remove them."
She let go of Oberyn's abused scrotum and the Dornish Prince fell whimpering on the sand. Dagmer and Jon quickly helped their comrade back on his feet and carried him away, Dagmer muttering something about needing to find something cold.
The rest of the would-be suitors were effectively scared off by Oberyn's example and they were left alone for the reminder of the evening. They talked a little with some of the other commanders, mostly about inconsequential things, like their homes and their families.
When it neared midnight, Aurora and Gabrielle excused themselves to their company and made their way back to the keep. They reached the room where they had left the girls and Ashara without incident, and saw half a dozen Forlorn standing guard outside the door. The other six were sleeping in a room further down the hall. They would exchange watches at midnight, as Aurora had told them to do.
They entered the room without a word to the guards, who just stood still and spread out in a half circle around the door. They found the girls sleeping together in the only bed, and Ashara was occupying a comfortable chair with Elia on her chest. Saphirus and Violet were curled up before the fire that burned softly in the hearth.
Gabrielle removed her bottomless pouch and with the help of Aurora, they withdrew two large mattresses, filled with straw and covered by a thick layer of feathers. They put blankets on both and after had taken of their armor, Gabrielle carefully picked up Ashara and Elia, and gently lowered them on one of the mattresses. She covered them with a thick soft blanket, before she joined Aurora on the other one. Dressed only in their silk smallclothes, they cuddled close together and soon fell in a restful slumber.
The next morning Aurora was woken up by a long, rough, wet tongue licking over her face. "GAHH." She cursed while jumping up in disgust. "You little monster, never do that again."
Saphirus didn't seem to be in the least bit impressed by her outburst, even if it woke everyone else in the room, and was happily jumping around the room. Violet stretched herself out lazily before joining her brother and chasing him through the room. Being slightly smaller, while faster and more agile, Violet soon caught him and jumped on his back, causing both of them to crash into the table, breaking of two legs.
Aurora sighed and muttered, "Unbelievable, can't they keep anything in one piece." Silvana and Lissena hurried to the wreckage of the table and forcibly separated the two dragons. Saphirus made a last attempt to nip at Violet's neck, but at that moment Lissena turned away and Saphirus' jaws closed around her arm.
Lissena cried out in pain and let go of Violet, who immediately jumped on Saphirus and was now really trying to hurt him, in defense of her mistress. Saphirus had immediately let go of Lissena's arm, but the damage had already been done. More than a dozen deep puncture wounds were spread in two lines over her upper arm and they were bleeding quite severely.
Gabrielle hurried to help Lissena, while Aurora saved Silvana from the now seriously fighting dragons. She grabbed both of them by the base of their necks, and ignored the bites scratches they inflicted on her in their attempts to get free.
She partially transformed, changing her fingers in wicked claws, and pressed two of the claws between the scales on their necks. The pain that inflicted brought the raging reptiles back under control and after a deep growl from Aurora, they both lowered their necks in shame and went to hang limply in her arms, a sign of surrender.
Aurora dropped them and turned around, ignoring their pitiful cries of attention, showing them her back to punish them. She was the leader of the pack and they would have to learn their proper place, which was way below her and Gabrielle.
In the meantime, Gabrielle had cleaned and bandaged the wounds on Lissena's arm and she and Silvana were comforting her while she was crying softly from the pain. Ashara was nursing Elia, who was shocked by the noise of the fighting dragons and had started to cry. To calm her down Ashara had released one of the clasps that held her dress up and offered the milk-swollen breast to her daughter, who latched hungrily onto the nipple and started to suckle.
Saphirus and Violet had crawled away in a corner, realizing they had done something wrong and were keeping quiet until Aurora would acknowledge them again.
Aurora inspected her arms, both of which were covered in bleeding wounds from the dragons' teeth and claws, and muttered, "Bloody reptiles, I swear the others were never so much trouble."
"What others?" Ashara asked curiously, as she was sitting close enough to have heard her.
Aurora looked a little startled, she hadn't realized that she had said it out loud, and replied, "Ehh nothing, was a long time ago."
"I know you two are not human," Ashara stated matter-of-factly, "I noticed how you never see both of your dragons and you two at the same time, it's either you and the silver/blue one, or Gabrielle and the black/red one. Judging by your hair color, I'd say that both of you have the ability to change into a dragon."
Both Aurora and Gabrielle were completely flabbergasted, as was Yara at hearing the, in her eyes, impossible idea. "How long have you known it?"
Gabrielle's question caused Yara to go wide-eyed and when she looked at Silvana and Lissena, she saw two cheeky grins and Silvana whispered, "We were not allowed to tell you, but now you know anyway."
"I have had my suspicions since the beginning. Arthur told me about you and once I started paying attention, it was always just two of you, never four. And it was confirmed just now when I saw you change your hands into claws."
Both Aurora and Gabrielle looked thoughtful at that and Gabrielle said softly, "Well, that is something that can't be helped, and besides, the two of you knowing as well makes things a lot easier for us. "
In short order they all got dressed for the day, the weather had took a turn for the worse in the night and heavy rains were slamming into the island. They all put their thick winter cloaks around their shoulders, as they would keep the water out, and made their way across the courtyard and towards the large command tent before the gates.
They were met by the rest of the commanders and while they were breaking their fast, they continued the discussion that they had broken off the day before. Now that they were all rested, some better than others, it was done in a civilized and polite manner. Oberyn, Dagmer and the Greatjon sat at the table looking more like zombies with blood-red eyes and pale skin, Oberyn was being very careful when he sat down, making sure not to put his legs to close together.
The girls and Ashara stayed out of the conversation and just focused on eating their own breakfast, day old bread, cheese and some dried meat. The twins were with their thoughts back in the keep, where Aurora had locked Saphirus and Violet in a small empty store room under heavy guard. They were to stay there as punishment until they were ready to leave, which could be a while if the rains didn't end soon.
The rain continued to pour down till well after noon, causing Aurora and Gabrielle to decide that they would take a little detour on their trip north. They would drop by King's Landing to deliver the news of their success and to present Rhaegar with Blackfyre, as Gabrielle had overruled Aurora's words. She told the others, "It is not ours to keep or decide when to give back. It rightly belongs to Rhaegar and so he shall have it."
When it was dry again, the small group gathered while Aurora gave her final instructions to Oberyn, Dagmer and the Greatjon, now that they were finally sober again. "Have the men rest and recover from any injuries, before putting them to work reinforcing the islands. Have our ships patrol constantly around the waters outside of Tyrosh, avoid any mayor confrontations but have them resist any attempts to take the islands from us. Each patrol is to be at least 70 ships, and make sure that they are well equipped to take on any conceivable threat.
The Redwyne fleet will arrive in about 2 days, have a third of our available ships escort them all the way through the Stepstones and at least till they are past Tarth, we cannot risk losing that fleet."
The trio nodded and in the meantime Gabrielle had left the others out of sight before changing, and now she came back in dragon form to pick up her passengers. Just as the day before, it would be a tight fit with 17 passengers and two small dragons, but they would just have to make due. If necessary, they could always switch halfway.
They managed to reach King's Landing around midnight, the extra weight really did slow her down, and Gabrielle landed in the empty Dragonpit. They tiredly made their way to the Red Keep and were met halfway by Ser Oswell and two dozen gold cloaks on horseback. They came riding towards them on a furious pace and as he stopped before them he spoke a few frightening words.
"The Queen has gone in to labor weeks to early. She has lost a lot of blood and grand-maester Pycelle says he can do nothing but easy her pain with milk of the poppy."
