The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 30

Aurora and Gabrielle had decided to fly straight to Valyria from Mereen, but they also needed to get word to Argyll about their progress and to update him about their scheduled arrival. So, they decided to split up. Valaya and 23 others, exactly as many as the horses they had, were given a letter for Argyll, to make it clear for him that they came on orders of Aurora and Gabrielle. Giving them the gold and most of the provisions they had left, they sent them on their way before turning into their dragon forms and having the remainder of their companions mount up.

They flew all through the night and shortly after dawn, they reached the edges of the impassable storms that surrounded all of the peninsula. Now that they were once again near the fallen empire, their incredible eyesight allowed them to pierce the fog of the storm and see the jagged shore surrounding the peninsula.

If they were to truly settle in these lands, then they would need to find a way through those storms, preferably without stopping them altogether as they would be an immense protection against anyone who tried to assault the coast. No army could possibly pass the mountain range and no fleet could cross the storms, but from the height they were flying, they could see that the storms only extended to maybe a mile inland. Beyond that, the skies were clear blue, and they could see wide green plains and silver rivers crossing the lands.

From the Southern tips to the Mountains in the North, the peninsula easily covered more than a thousand miles. From East to West it went from 300 miles at the Mountain range in the north, to almost 600 in the middle. Massive rivers spread throughout the land, probably some of them connected the various cities with each other.

A single gigantic river, easily 5 miles wide, drove a 150-mile wedge from the southern edge, straight up into the peninsula leading almost to the edges of a range of oddly shaped hills laying very far off in the distance. The only reason they could even see it from where they were, the North-Eastern edge, was that some of the hills must have reached nearly two thousand feet into the sky.

A large range of impassible mountains, 300 miles wide, separated the peninsula from the mainland of Essos. 20,000 feet below them, was the island city of Elyria, another hurdle they would have to take out to ensure the safety of their new kingdom. It was very tempting to just drop down from the skies and burn the city to a crisp, but they had differing plans for the island. It had the perfect location to become a fortress for guarding their north-eastern flank, and a gathering ground for escaped slaves and other people from the East who wanted to join them.

But that was a plan for another day, first they would have to find a way through the storms. They themselves could of course fly over the storms, but their fleet could not, nor could the 180,000 settlers those ships were carrying.

"What do you think love?" Aurora asked mentally as she and her wife where studying the storm.

"Not sure, but I would bet my axe on it that it isn't natural. It has to be a magical storm, otherwise it would never have lasted for this long."

"Indeed, that was my thought as well. So, what do we do about it?"

"We have about 5 weeks before the fleet gets here, so I suggest we find the city of Valyria and search for anything that could explain the nature of these storms."

"That would indeed be best I think, judging from the map we found in the vault at Dragonstone, it should be around those odd hills in the distance, so I suggest we start looking over there."

"Good idea, let's go then."

The two massive dragons turned to the south, and climbing to a height of 30,000 feet, where the temperature was freezing, and the air was hard to breath for their human passengers, they flew over the massive thunderstorm and crossed into the legendary country.

As they flew over the storm, all four of the non-humans could clearly feel the magic streaming through the storm below them, and they were even more convinced that it was not a natural occurrence. Over the next 2 hours they flew southwards, studying the lands below them as they went.

The land they saw beneath them could only be described as an untamed paradise. Having seen no living human in the past 400 years, nature has had free range to reclaim the land. Vast forests covered the land, interspersed by wide green plains. Massive herds of deer, wild horses, and various other animals inhabited the untamed wilderness beneath them. They saw ancient roads, overgrown but still connecting the ruined cities.

Speaking of the cities, from what they could see from their altitude, they appeared to be remarkably intact.

As they flew over Oros and Tyria, they could see the buildings still standing and the encroach of nature seemed to be stopped at the cities walls. Within the cities, not a single trace of life could be seen, but neither where there any clear signs of decay. It was as if everyone had just vanished without a trace.

As they kept flying towards the oddly shaped hills, they soon took the shape of spires, until they realized just what it was they were flying towards. The spires where not formations of rock, but of stone, and they were made by human hands. What they were flying towards, was a city, the largest city any of them had ever seen in this world. It was shaped as an oval, built upon a series of hills, with the buildings upon it stretching into the sky for nearly a thousand feet.

At the bottom of the hill closest to the water, a massive harbor was laid out across the water front and extended several hundred feet into the river, offering places for hundreds upon hundreds of ships. A wide road, made of smooth black stone led from the harbor to the city walls and entered it through a high gatehouse, with gates fifty feet high and eighty feet wide.

The Great Pyramid of Mereen would have stood in the shadow of several of the towers they could see, and the entire city of King's Landing would have fit within its walls several times. The walls of the city were made of the same black stone as Dragonstone and surrounded the hills entirely, rising to a height of two-hundred feet.

"Now that's what I call impressive." Ivan remarked softly. "For a medieval society, they sure know how to build a city."

"Indeed," Francine added, studying the city with her exceptional eyes, which were nearly as far-seeing as those of Aurora and Gabrielle. "I cannot see any signs of life, but if I am not mistaken, then there is smoke coming from that fortress near the water's edge."

Aurora and Gabrielle turned their eyes toward the place she had indicated and indeed, there was a small cloud of black smoke coming from a chimney on the roof of an immense fortress. It was obviously part of the defenses of the city, as the walls on one side formed part of the outer city-walls.

Even from this distance they could see artillery pieces placed on the towers, though they looked to be in a state of near decay. Upon closer inspection, it became clear that most of the wooden structures on the walls were only fit for kindling, though the walls themselves were sound.

It stood on one of the largest hills with two more close besides it, overlooking the harbor and from the looks of it, was able to house thousands and thousands of soldiers. The city around it spread out for miles upon miles, with large palaces, open squares, gardens, and canals. The most remarkable thing were the canals, as some of them did not hold water, but burning magma flew through them. They appeared to originate from one of the hills in the middle of the city, no doubt coming from somewhere far below the surface. The canals crossed beneath the walls and ran all around them before heading back into the city and towards the hill from which they originated.

Through the use of some ancient magic, the magma did not seem to spread beyond the canals, did not solidify, nor did its heat appeared to affect anything around them. It just kept flowing in a never-ending cycle.

Flying closer to the ground, Aurora and Gabrielle flew over the city to offer their passengers a better view, and now they could see signs of life, or rather, signs of death. The streets were littered with skeletons of humans, horses, dogs, and many other animals. The immense carcasses of dragons of every size could be seen lying around the city, as pristine as the day they died. From their positions, they deducted that they had died in the sky, and fallen down upon the city, smashing into buildings, and squares alike.

No smell hung in the city, no scent of death could be detected upon the wind, but the silence was unnerving them. Not a sound could be heard in the city, not a single sign of life, besides the smoke coming from the fortress.

Quickly circling down towards the fortress, Aurora and Gabrielle landed in the immense courtyard, where their passengers dismounted before they changed back to human form. After they had stored their saddles, they looked around themselves and took in the majesty of the fortress surrounding them.

The walls, floors and everything around them was made of the same black stone, no seems were visible anywhere and it would appear as if the stone was molten and then poured into shape. Along the gates in the courtyard and upon the walls, lay the skeletons of the soldiers that had once stood guard there. Their suits of armor where all identical, painted entirely black, and superbly made.

Aurora approached one of the armored skeletons and began to undress it, to find out what the armor was made of. The outer layer was a full-body suit of solid plate, forged from the 'normal' Valyrian Steel they had found on the Dragon Rider from the canals of Braavos. It had a breastplate with a high collar to protect the neck, loose shoulder pieces going down to halfway the upper arms. Grieves and vambraces covered the lower arms and legs, with heavy, nail-studded boots protecting the feet and plate gauntlets protecting the arms.

Underneath that were suits of leather backed mail reaching to the elbows and halfway down the knees. Full helmets with 2 small stylized horns covered the skulls, with small eye-slits for the eyes. Underneath the helmets were mail coifs and padded arming caps.

Halberds, spears and swords lay next to the skeletons and shields were at their feet. The weapons were made of the same material as the armors, while the shields were round, a foot-and-a-half in diameter. Made of oak, they were covered with hardened leather and painted in various colors, the shields were enveloped by a ring of metal to reinforce it.

Upon further study, Aurora saw that lines of runes were inscribed upon the various pieces of plate armor, though their purpose escaped her for the moment. The weapons and shields where likewise decorated by runes, with an equally unknown purpose.

Having completed her inspection, Aurora looked around to her companions and said, "This is excellent armor, it's no match to our Dragonforged plate, but compared to anything found on this world, it's greatly superior. The weapons too are exquisite quality, though obviously made by mass-production, as they lack the decorations and other embellishments we have found on the Valyrian Steel swords we have seen so far. They have been made for efficiency, not for looks. But for now, we have other matters to attend to."

She looked around and saw that the smoke was coming from the central keep, so that was where they would be heading to. They entered the keep through a large double gate, noticing that the bodies of the guards that had been stationed there had been moved. The skeletons had been stripped of weapons and armor, and piled in a heap next to the wall. Aurora drew her short sword and Gabrielle did likewise, while the others grabbed their close-combat weapons as well.

Moving carefully into the fortress, they were on guard, as the further they moved in, the more signs of recent habitation they could find. Dust had been cleared from tables, rooms had been searched and pillaged, here and there large drag marks in the dust showed where crates had been moved.

They followed the trails in the dust and went deeper and deeper into the fortress. Eventually they reached a point that had to be on the other side of the keep, and they stood before a large circular stairwell going up. Carefully they ascended the stairs, cautious of traps as having reached the stairs, they could see tracks in the dust. Most were of heavy boots, but there were those of animals as well.

Oddly enough, the animal prints stayed on either side of the boot prints, and did not intermingle with them. From the looks of it, they had travelled up and down the stairs hundreds of times or once in great numbers, though Gabrielle did not think the latter held true.

The stairs went up, passing more than a dozen landings, before the prints left them. About halfway up, they began hearing a sound as if someone was pounding on an anvil. The farther up they went, the louder the sounds became until they could hear a different sound mixed in with the banging of steel on steel. Someone was whistling a tune.

When the four semi-immortals heard the tune, they were shocked into a standstill. They knew that tune, they had heard it before. But not on this world. The first time they had heard it, was in the forges of Avalon, on the world they had been born on. And there was only one person they knew who whistled that particular tune.

"Boltrock," they all whispered as one, to the confusion of their six human companions.

They followed the sound through a hallway until they came into a large room, with one side open to the elements. A forge was erected in the room, with large bellows, anvils, and a collection of hammers and tongs every blacksmith in the world would envy.

In one corner of the room, a large nest was made of straw and rags, though the occupants were not to be seen. When they looked at the anvil, they saw a remarkable sight. A low bench was placed between the fire and the anvil, and upon that bench, hammering away at the anvil, was a short, bald, and extremely muscular figure.

He rose to maybe 4 feet, with thick arms covered with course black hair and a bare chest covered by a leather apron. Sparks flew throughout the room as the figure swung away with a heavy, short-handled hammer, whistling away as he worked.

"Boltrock," Aurora asked carefully, and the figure immediately stopped his swinging. With the absence of the ringing, they could now hear another sound, coming from directly behind them. A soft growling noise. Upon turning around, they saw something they would not soon forget.

Two large Hyena's stood behind them having come from a spot in the shadow of the doors. Both had a shoulder height of three-and-a-half feet, and must have weight at least 350 pounds each. Most unsettling though, were their bared teeth. Instead of the expected ivory white, the dark grey of Valyrian Steel reflected the light of the forge fire. Someone had pulled the hyena's teeth and replaced them with Valyrian Steel ones.

"DOWN GIRLS. HEEL." A low harsh voice yelled from the anvil. The hyenas immediately covered their teeth and circled around the ten visitors until they stood beside the figure at the anvil.

A short but thick black beard covered his chin and his black eyes stood suspicious. His right hand still held the hammer, while his left was grasped around the red-hot beginnings of a sword.

"Who the fuck are you and how do you know my name? SHOW YOURSELVES." Aurora, Gabrielle, Ivan and Francine removed their respective helmets and showed their faces to the short man.

Giving a 'humpf'-like sound, the figure gave them a toothy grin and said, "You four took your damn time showing up. I've been here for three fucking months, all by myself, until I met Daisy and Buttercup that is."

"Good to see you as well Boltrock," Gabrielle said dryly, ignoring the fact that he had named the two-monstrous hyena's after wildflowers. "Nice to hear that you have missed us to."

"Yea, yea, I've been so lonely and I'm so very happy to see you again." Boltrock drawled out, but they could hear that he was indeed glad to see them.

"You have a nice setup here, made it yourself?" Ivan asked as he looked around the room.

"Nah it was here already when I found this place. I landed on the plains north of here, and wandered around for a few days until I came upon these two." He indicated the pair of hyenas besides him. "They initially tried to attack me, until I showed them who's boss, and they decided to follow me instead. They have been very useful, hunting and bringing me meat while I surveyed this city. I have found some truly remarkable things in here, you'd be amazed what these guys were capable of before they wiped themselves out."

"Wait, wiped themselves out?" Aurora asked questioningly, "How do you mean, did they do this themselves?"

"Well from what I could understand from the books and records I found, there were these morons called 'Bloodmages'. Apparently, they tried to create an impassable barrier to protect them from a cloud of volcanic gasses and ashes that came towards them from the volcanoes in the mountain range that separates this peninsula from the mainland. That spell backfired on them and created the storms we now see around the land. It did not stop the poisonous clouds from reaching them, but it did stop them from fleeing from them.

Those with dragons tried to fly away but the dragons themselves suffocated in the volcanic gasses and they came crashing down from the sky. Those who tried to flee by ship where smashed apart by the storms, or broken upon the cliffs. The Bloodmages themselves appear to have all died when the spell failed. So, they had no way of breaking the magic."

"Have you found a way to break the spell?" Francine asked him curiously.

Giving her an incredulous look Boltrock replied, "Do I look like a fucking wizard to you? When in the 3,500 years you four have known me have I ever been able to use a single bloody spell?"

Francine blushed as she underwent the vocal barrage before she replied, "I know that, but I thought maybe you may have read something in those books and records you mentioned."

"Hmmpf," he scoffed before pointing to a bookcase standing against the back wall. "Second shelf from the top, 9th book from the right, page 186."

Francine immediately hurried to the wall and removed the book he had indicated. Opening it to the relevant page she quickly began to read while the others brought Boltrock up to speed about what they had been up to so far.

Reading back a few pages, as what she read made little sense, Francine studied the text minutely until she found what she was looking for. "What a bunch fucking idiots." She gasped as she finally understood what was written.

"What's wrong?" Ivan asked a little concerned as he marched over to his wife.

"Listen to this," Francine replied. Before starting to read a passage.

"The storm screen we have erected is successful in keeping all invaders out while we focus on taking care of the volcanic eruptions. In all seven cities on our great peninsula, our Bloodmages are prepared to enact the ritual to purify the air around us, sucking out all toxics that might endanger our lives.

All human beings both Valyrians and our allies, as well as the dragons, animals and slaves, have been gathered in the cities as we do not know what will happen in the rest of the land. Tomorrow will be the moment that decides whether we live, or if we will die by this wrath of nature.

In any case, the magic of the storms will protect us for as long as necessary, for as long as the Dragonblood lives, his magic will keep it up."

"Those idiots practically committed mass suicide. By purifying the air, they removed everything, including the oxygen every living thing needs to stay alive. It's just that last part that bothers me. "for as long as the Dragonblood lives, his magic will keep it up." It makes no sense, but it almost looks like they have bound the spells holding those storms to a living, breathing, dragon."

"You're right, that doesn't make any sense." Gabrielle said.

"Actually, maybe it does…" Boltrock interceded their pondering.

"What do you mean?" Aurora asked a little confused.

"Follow me," was his only reply. "I have something that you need to see." He whistled to his two 'pets', and they immediately flanked him as he led them out of the room and down the stairs.

He ignored all of their questions as they followed him down the stairs and finally led them in silence towards a large smooth wall, decorated with a fresco of a fire-breathing dragon. He stood on his toes and poked the handle of his hammer into the sole visible eye of the dragon. It was pushed into the wall and they could hear a 'CLICK', before the wall as a whole slid open, revealing a staircase, 4 yards wide, leading downwards, deep into the hill beneath them.

He led them down the stairs and the deeper they got, they began to hear sounds, sounds that they had not expected to hear in this time and in this place. The sounds of industry, of machinery clanking in an endless repetitive rhythm. Light came from below them, growing brighter and brighter as they went.

When they finally came to the bottom of the stairs, they saw a sight they would have held as impossible. The hill they had been standing on was hollowed out, creating a columned cavern stretching for over three quarters of a mile. The magma streams they had seen above ground flowed through one side of the cavern, providing heat for immense smelters and forges.

A subterranean river used to power water-powered presses and mechanical hammers flowed through the cavern, creating an endless clanking rhythm. Troughs filled with quenching oil, fueled by a large basin, stood next to endless rows of anvils. An assortment of tools, which shamed even the impressive collection Boltrock had assembled upstairs, hung in neat rows on moveable carts that were placed opposite the rows of anvils.

They had found them, the legendary forges of Valyria, the birthplace of Valyrian Steel, and the place they would use to equip an army this world had never seen before.

The six female guards they had brought stared in amazement at what they were seeing, never in their wildest dreams had they ever imagined something like this could exist.

"Yes, I know, "Boltrock said with a gleam in his eyes. "Impressive isn't it?"

"Uh huh," was all they could manage as a reply.

"When I came here at first everything was silent, as the presses and hammers can be disconnected from the water-wheels powering them, but I spent the better part of 6 weeks getting everything back to working order, so now I'm running it all to see if any problems do occur.

But as great an asset as these forges are, they are not what I brought you here to see. That is." He pointed to a truly massive pair of doors in the distance, on the other side of the cavern. Each door stood 20 yards high, and 10 yards wide. Made of oak and steel, they had withstood the ravages of time and locked something that they were not sure they would want to find out what it was.

Boltrock led them through the cavern, and they noticed that the air inside the cavern was cool and fresh, not the stifling heat one would expect from such a place. When they asked about it, Boltrock pointed to the walls and said, "You see those grates in the walls, they are used to pump fresh cool air into the cavern and suck away the heat and smoke.

When it comes to feats of engineering, architecture and building, these Valyrians truly where centuries ahead of anyone else I have ever seen from this era. They managed to create a way to suck the air from the surface, cool it down, and then pump it into this cavern."

It took them nearly ten minutes to cross the cavern, during which they saw two more pairs of doors, one on the left, and one on the right, though these were a quarter smaller than the ones they were heading for.

Once they stood before the doors, Boltrock pointed to a series of glyphs and upon further study, both Aurora and Gabrielle recognized the wording as High Valyrian. Gabrielle read out loud, "Beyond this door lies the key to our security. Enter only on your own peril."

"Well, that sound inviting." Ivan scoffed as he studied the massive doors. "So how do we get in?"

"Huh hum," Boltrock cleared his throat and once he had their attention, he pointed towards a lever located on the right side of the doors.

Aurora grabbed her battleaxe from its holster on her back and replaced her helmet, an action mirrored by the others, all of whom donned their helmets and readied their weapons.

When they were ready, Aurora nodded to Boltrock who then pulled the lever. A sound of running gears and chains was heard before the doors groaned under their weight as they were slowly pulled open.

A darkness welcomed them and the air smelled stale, moldy, and they even smelled the distinct metallic scent of blood. When the doors were fully opened, and ground to a halt, a spark was seen, and suddenly large braziers were lit.

It revealed a long hallway, as big as the doors and maybe 300 yards long. At the other end, a second pair of massive doors stood, though these were opened. As they followed the hallway, they entered a second blackness. Which was only lit when Boltrock pulled a second lever on the left side of the hallway. Suddenly large rectangles of daylight appeared above them and they found themselves in another cavern, only half the size of the last, but this one held something far more sinister.

All along the walls, and between the massive pillars holding up the ceiling, lay the torn and broken skeletons of dragons. Dozens, maybe as many as 50, ranging in size from a horse, to as big as a ship. The biggest, which was also the only one that was more than a broken heap of bones, lay in the center. It was a dull golden color, it's scales may once have shone with light, but now they were dulled.

And it was still alive.

To their amazement Aurora and Gabrielle could feel the dragon's life-force, dim as it was. The dragon's 100-foot body was emaciated. Wounds and scars covered it's body and it's golden eyes stared at them with barely a spark of life in them.

The most unbelievable thing was that this, they immediately realized upon seeing it, was not a crossbreed, but a true dragon, judging by its four legs. The only reason it had survived for so long, was that it had devoured the corpses of its lesser kindred, and the inherent near immortality of true dragons.

"What kind of monsters have done this?" Aurora gasped as she and Gabrielle rushed to the dragon's side. When their guards wanted to follow them, they were stopped by Ivan and Francine who yelled them back.

"STAY HERE," Ivan roared, silencing the warrior maidens' objections. "Let them go alone. That is a True dragon, even in this state it will crush you like mere insects if you approach."

This effectively shut their complaints and they watched as Aurora and Gabrielle approached the dragon. It looked at them and with its last strength raised its head in a weak bow, knowing them instantly for what they were. Changing into their true forms, Aurora and Gabrielle approached the still magnificent creature and wrapped their much larger bodies around it.

Opening their minds to the dragon they felt it was male and Aurora said gently, "Have no fear brother, for your suffering is over."

Suddenly all within the cavern felt the air start to spark as an almost incomprehensible amount of magical power was brought to bear by Aurora and Gabrielle. In their rage at the Valyrians and sorrow over what they had done to one of their own kind, their true nature was starting to break out."

"Oh shit," Ivan, Francine and Boltrock muttered as one before dragging the others with them as they rushed back into the hallway, closing the doors after them.

Within the cavern the magic Aurora and Gabrielle unintentionally summoned was poured into the body of the dragon laying between them. Slowly the dragon's inner flame was kindled, and brought back to life until it burned with an intensity that, if unleashed, would burn cities to the ground.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the energy Aurora and Gabrielle poured into the dragon began to do its work, healing his injuries and scars, growing his muscles to what they were supposed to be, and restoring his body to full health. It took them hours, but by the time when night had arrived, their titanic job was done, leaving all three dragons exhausted, and going into a self-induced coma to recover.

Outside the cavern, Ivan, Francine, Boltrock and the others had moved back to the forges and up to the surface, knowing that it would be a while until the ladies would surface again.

XXX

For the next few days, they occupied themselves with disposing of the skeletons occupying the fortress, and gathering everything that could be of use to them. The six Warrior maidens were send out with Daisy and Buttercup to scout out the countryside and get some food, as with what they brought, they didn't have enough to feed eleven people for up to two months.

In the end it took three and a half days for Aurora, Gabrielle and the dragon to wake up from their self-induced coma. A roar echoed throughout the caverns and up to the surface where the others could hear it.

Francine, Ivan and Boltrock immediately rushed towards the cavern and opened the doors to find Aurora, Gabrielle and the as of yet unnamed dragon. As they appeared in the door, the dragon looked up and snarled at them.

"Calm brother," Gabrielle said as she placed her right front paw on the dragon's back to keep him from attacking them. "They are friends, they would never harm you."

As the dragon calmed down from her words, both ladies changed back to human form and Aurora said, "Allow me to introduce, Vermithrax, The Golden Storm."

Turning to the dragon she added, "Vermithrax, allow me to introduce you to our friends, Ivan, Francine and Boltrock." All three made a deep bow to the golden dragon, while he in turn blinked once before giving them the most miniscule of nods imaginable.

"How… how come it… ehhr that would be, how did you come to be here Vermithrax?" Francine asked full of awe at seeing the dragon now in perfect health again. Now that they could finally get a good look at him, they saw that the golden dragon was about a third of the size of Aurora and Gabrielle, meaning that he was a lot younger than them. It might have been presumptuous of them, but they thought it was pretty safe to say that he was the youngest of those currently in the cavern.

Being unable to talk as Aurora and Gabrielle could, Vermithrax instead brushed his mind against those of the others and he showed them a range of memories. They started from when he was but a hatchling, a mere 3 days out of his egg. They saw as the Valyrian Bloodmages brought him to the cavern, and bound him to it with sacrificial bloodmagic. They bound the storms around the island to him, so that as long as he lived, the storms would be active, and through him, controllable.

Next, they watched as dozens of other dragons where brought into the cavern, as it was hoped that they would be protected from the poisonous clouds that approached the city, if the ritual would fail. During the next memory they saw the moment that the spell was brought into effect, as suddenly all humans that remained in the cavern, got problems breathing until they soon fell down and stopped moving.

The half-bloods in the cavern had also trouble breathing, but since they could also fly at low-oxygen altitudes, they were able to survive the event. After all the humans had suffocated and died, their bodies where soon devoured by the dragons when their hunger became too great.

After enough time had passed, the half-bloods eventually turned on each other in their hunger, teaming up to tear apart the weaker ones, until only the strongest survived. Vermithrax, being a true dragon was, despite being brought in as a hatchling, soon the largest and strongest of all, and soon after that, the last one left alive.

As he withdrew from their minds, they could all feel the lingering resentment he held towards the Valyrians for locking him in this place. Gabrielle was the first to speak afterwards and she said, "Vermithrax has agreed to keep the storms in place for us and to let through only those bearing either our sigil, or the Titan of Braavos on their sails. As is his right, he asked us to clear a path to the surface for him, so what we will do is find a way to enlarge one of those sky-lights for him to use as an exit."

"Shouldn't be too hard," Boltrock mused as he looked skywards, "They look to be just hatches that are slid open. I'll have to take a look at them from the surface, but it should not be a problem."

They looked pleased at this until Boltrock added with a grin, "However, since he I not that big yet compared to you two, he can also use the exit that leads from the forges to the surface."

Four human and one dragon scowl looked at him when he finished so he shrugged and said, "Hey, you didn't ask, and I have not had the time to show you yet. So, follow me and I'll show you where those other two doors lead to."

Softly shaking her head, Gabrielle led the others as they followed after Boltrock. Vermithrax was easily able to leave his prison and follow them, as the sheer size of the doors would almost have allowed Aurora and Gabrielle through.

When they got back to the forges, Vermithrax had to be a little careful not to destroy anything with his tail, or to step onto something. Boltrock noticed the danger and quickly led them over to the, from their side, door on the right.

Once they reached them, he pulled a handle similar to those used to open the bigger doors, and they swung inwards, revealing a ramp that led slowly upwards. The fact that they were in a hollowed-out hill, made the difference in elevation smaller, so the doors leading outside, were only 40 feet above them. Having to cross the outer shell of the hill though, meant that the hall was easily 150 yards long.

"The outer doors require two people to open," Boltrock said to the others, "So if one of you can grab the lever on the other side." Ivan immediately marched over to the other side and when Boltrock said so, they pulled both levers at the same time, causing the outer doors to slide open sideways, revealing the clear blue sky outside.

Staring up at the golden dragon, Aurora said, "Go fly, my friend, you have been locked up long enough. We will see you when you return." Not wasting any more time, Vermithrax rushed out of the forges and towards the open sky ahead."

When the great golden dragon had reached the outside and flown away, the group turned back to Boltrock and Francine asked playfully, "So, what's behind door number three?"

Chuckling softly Boltrock replied, "Wouldn't you like to know. Come, I'll show you." Leading them across the forges, Boltrock kept refusing to answer their questions as he whistled a merry tune and his short legs marched briskly to the other side of the cavern.

Once they reached the doors, they were able to see that they were much more richly decorated than the others had been. They were carrying detailed carvings of marching armies and gilded images of great warriors. Slowly the realization began to dawn on them as they guessed what was on the other side of the doors.

As he pulled the lever to open the doors, Boltrock pronounced proudly, "When those Valyrian fuckers killed themselves, the greatest majority of their armies where at home. So, guess where all of their military gear was stored when everything went to choke-town."

When the doors were fully opened, it revealed a third hallway, this one leading on for roughly 200 yards before opening up to a third truly massive cavern. They could see lights in the cavern so, being nearly consumed by their anticipation, Aurora, Gabrielle, Ivan, and Francine rushed ahead, leaving Boltrock to follow them on a normal pace, carrying the biggest smile imaginable.

As they reached the cavern, for the third time in less than a week, all four where completely flabbergasted by what they saw. The cavern they stood before, was easily the biggest one they had seen so far. Oddly enough it was rectangular in shape and must have spanned at least 1200 yards wide and 800 yards long.

The size of the cavern was not what had them awed though, it was what was contained within that had them awe struck. 400 clearly defined rows stood in perfect synchronization underneath 40 massive banners that hung from the ceiling. Each banner showed the sigil of, presumably, one of the houses of the Dragonlords of old, as the red three-headed dragon on black of House Targaryen was one of them.

And beneath the banners were rows upon rows, ranks upon ranks, of identical suits of armor. Each hung on an armor stand and was identical to the ones they had found outside the fortress. Every suit carried a tabard displaying the sigil of the House in who's row they stood, probably displaying the allegiance of the wearer. Not all rows where similar in size, the Targaryen line being the smallest stood only 4 wide, though spanning for 250 rows, this meant they still controlled a thousand soldiers.

Before most of the rows of infantry, stood rows upon rows of knight's armor on partially or fully armored wooden horses. Heavy lances stood next to the knights and kite shields hung from the stands with the lances. All along the walls where racks upon racks with swords, axes, spears, bows, javelins, and a wide variety of shields, from small round bucklers, to large tower shields not unlike the Scutum they knew from the Roman Legions back in their first lives.

Ironically the biggest section of soldiers, standing 40 wide, stood beneath a banner which held the same sigil as Aurora and Gabrielle had chosen for House Valaris. They immediately realized that this was something that was meant to be by the Old Gods, to underline their backstory of having lived in Valyria and giving further credence to their claim to power over the peninsula. Written in golden letters beneath the sigil was written in High Valyrian, "Fear the Dragon's Wrath."

"Now that's what I call impressive." Francine muttered full of awe, "If I'm not mistaken, there are…" she tried to quickly calculate how many there where until Boltrock interrupted her line of thought.

"There are 100,000 suits of infantry armor, and 25,000 suits of cavalry armor. I don't know how many soldiers you're bringing from Tyrosh, but I'm pretty sure there is enough steel to armor every single one of them.

"As it stands now we have," Aurora replied before going off the list from memory, "14,000 heavy infantry, 18,000 former sellswords, 4,500 Dornish light infantry, 3,000 Unsullied, and 2,000 warrior maidens, who will fight as heavily armored archers/infantry. Add to that we have 18,000 Ironborn raiders, and we have a guy in Astapor working on getting us somewhere around 20,000 more Unsullied."

"Phiewww," Boltrock whistled, impressed at the number, "You have obviously been busy, but how many of those are infantry and how many are cavalry?"

"Almost all infantry," Gabrielle replied immediately, "We didn't have much cavalry to begin with and the sellswords took heavy losses, so I'm guessing…" she shared a quick look with her wife who replied,

"Harry said that what the companies' combined had left of cavalry was around nine-hundred horses and 15 elephants, so we're practically gonne have to build our cavalry up from scratch."

"Hmm," Boltrock scratched his beard as he thought before replying, "Well luckily for you guys, the plains north of here contain large herds of wild horses, so that won't be that much of a problem. The problem will be to retrain and reorganize all of these scattered forces into a single uniform army. How many of them are familiar with our way of war?"

"The 14,000-heavy infantry," Gabrielle replied, "they consist of former pirates, sellswords, slavers, and other scum which we have wiped and 're-programmed'."

"Why'd you stop with them?" Boltrock asked slightly annoyed, "If you ask me you should have 're-programed' them all. Would have been much more effective."

"We are not going to interfere with the free will of innocent people Boltrock," Gabrielle replied coldly. "This might be a feudal world, but we are not going to lower ourselves to the level of the slavers."

"Fine," the dwarf replied, rolling his eyes and sighing in annoyance, "Guess I'll just have to find another way to get them all up to our level. Give me a few weeks and I'll devise a manual to use for training them."

"Thank you," Gabrielle replied, before asking, "By the way, have you discovered how to make Valyrian Steel, as we are sort-of going to need a ton of it in a few winters."

"There is no big secret to it, just melting it to a far higher degree than any of those medieval forges are capable of, and beating out the impurities with repetitive folding, everything to mass-produce it is available in the hall next door.

The only thing I can't reproduce is the spell-forged steel those fuckers were fond of. The magic and the spells to make them have been lost, so we're just going to have to search every single nook and cranny in the seven cities, until we have found all the blades that are left. I have found about two dozen of them so-far, but that's just from 3 city blocks and 1 palace."

"So, the situation is a lot better than we had initially anticipated," Francine summed up their adventures so far.

"It would appear so Sinny," Aurora replied, "Now all we can do is search the city and prepare for the arrival of our friends, as good as we can with only eleven of us."

"Better get starting then," Ivan replied, and they all agreed. They had a lot of work still to do before their fleet arrived.

Author's note:

First of all, I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and all the best for the new year.

And there you have it, they have found Valyria and began the first steps of building their empire. I hope you all liked my idea of Valyria, as I've based it on a map I found from before the doom, and a lot of my own imagination.

I know what I said last time about the group being complete, but I simply couldn't resist bringing in Boltrock. I needed someone to oversee the Forges and he fits the bill perfectly. He will be the driving force behind their war machines and responsible for designing and building their weapons, armours, and fleets.

For those who might think that things are a bit too easy for the new Valyrians, just remember, they have a lot of very powerful enemies. And besides, just because they have the armoury to fight them, getting the men, they need to do so effectively is a different story, as besides the Forlorn and the Unsullied, very few of the men they have will reach the requirements they have for discipline and skill.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please let me know what you think of it, I love reviews.

Till next time,

Medieval Maniak