Chapter 4: Vaes Dothrak
The dragon twins look up at the Horse Gate of Vaes Dothrak. It was made of two bronze stallions rearing their hooves. They were at least a hundred feet tall.
The reason there was a gate to a city that had no walls is beyond them. But still, it did not diminish their intimidating beauty. Beyond the gate, they could see a large purple mountain. They passed under the shadows of the large statues right behind their Khal and his bloodriders with Jorah by their side along with Viserys who had been permitted to ride once again.
Daemon fondly remembered when the khalasar mocked Viserys when he rode in a cart with women and children. They called him Khal Rhaggat, Cart King but of course Viserys didn't understand. Daenerys and Daemon have learned Dothraki rather quickly. Daemon had a knack for learning languages, a trait seemingly shared with his twin.
"Where is the city?" Dany asked.
They could not see any buildings ahead only a grassy road lined with monuments of conquered lands.
"Ahead." Jorah replied.
"Is that the Mother of Mountains?" Daemon asked pointing at the largest one.
Jorah nods, "Aye, the city lies under the mountain."
The statues depicted old forgotten deities, dancing women, warriors, and beasts. The one that catches Daemon's attention is marble dragon, as pale as the moon, with yellow diamonds for eyes. It stood tall with its wings spread to look as if it roared.
"So many," Dany said in awe, "from different lands."
"What are they from or their names I wonder." Daemon tore his eyes away from the marble dragon.
"Trash of destroyed cities." Viserys spat, "All these savages know is how to steal from the civilized...and kill."
Both Dany and Daemon glared at him, "You shouldn't call them savages, they are our people now." Dany defended.
"My people." Viserys sneered, "My people who are marching the wrong way."
"Daenerys must be presented to Dosh Khaleen..." Daemon began to explain for what felt like the hundredth.
"Yes, the old crones need to perform a mummer's show about a prophecy involving the half breed in her stomach." He brushed him off earning a deadly glare from his brother, "What is that to me? I have Seven Kingdoms to conquer."
"I advise patience, sire. I suggest roaming the Western Markets and find things to your taste. Merchants from the Free Cities come here to trade, perhaps you can find a wine merchant. The Khal will honor his agreement in his own time." He promised.
"He better." He muttered before riding ahead.
Dany sighed in relief, "I hope our sun-and-stars won't keep him waiting for long." Sun-and-stars was a nickname they gave Drogo. Dany was the Moon-of-their-life and Daemon was their Black-Sky.
"Viserys should have sat and waited back in Pentos. He has no place here." Jorah stated watching Viserys ride off.
"I remember we all warned him." Daemon recalls when Illyrio implored Viserys to stay in his manse but their elder brother refused.
"He will leave once he gets his ten thousand men." Dany assured, "My lord husband promised him a golden crown."
"Yes, Khaleesi but the Dothraki share different views on these matters. We all tried to warn him but our word didn't reach his ears." Jorah explained, "He doesn't understand that Dothraki isn't traders. He thinks since he sold you that he will be paid."
"Won't he?" Daemon looked up at the Andal curiously.
Jorah only shrugged, "The Khal could very well say you were a gift. He will give Viserys a gift in return but only in his own time. You don't demand anything of a Khal if you value your life."
"It is not right to make him wait. He should honor his word." Dany spoke up, "He says he could sweep the Seven Kingdoms with ten thousand Dothraki."
The older man chuckled, "Viserys could not sweep a stable with ten thousand brooms."
Dany paused before replying, "What if it wasn't Viserys?" She asked getting their attention, "What if someone else, someone stronger leads them. Could they truly conquer Westeros?"
Daemon looked at her in shock. He knew what she was getting at. He never thought about such a thing.
Jorah spoke, "The Dothraki are fierce warriors to be sure. They can out ride mounted knights with ease, fire arrows from horseback with bows that outrange ours. And their sheer numbers could overwhelm any shield wall. Your husband's khalasar alone numbers at forty thousand warriors."
"Enough to take Westeros." Daemon assumed.
"Perhaps. Your brother, Rhaegar lead forty thousand men at the Trident. A tenth of them knights. A few archers, free-riders, footmen who wield pikes and spears. Would such a host stand a shadow of a chance against a bloodthirsty Dothraki horde?"
"I wouldn't imagine so. No." Daenerys replied.
"No." Jorah shook his head, "If the lords of Westeros had any sense they would stay behind their walls. The Dothraki have no skill in holding land. They couldn't take the weakest of holdfasts. If Robert Baratheon was fool enough to meet them in an open field-"
"Is he?" Dany eagerly asked, "A fool I mean."
The knight was silent, "Khal Drogo and all Dothraki say that those who hide behind their walls are cowards. Robert Baratheon shares this view but..."
"But?" Daemon asked.
"Robert had advisors counseling him otherwise." He replied, "Tywin Lannister, Eddard Stark." He spat.
"You dislike this Lord Stark." Dany observed.
"He chased me out of all I loved for some lice-ridden poachers and his precious honor." Jorah's face twisted into anger.
"The Unsullied." Daemon quickly stated catching their attention, "Can the Unsullied take and hold castles?"
The knight pondered it, "Aye. The Unsullied are some of the best soldiers in the known world. Trained to be fearless and loyal." Jorah replied before looking ahead, "Vaes Dothrak."
They did not expect what they saw. The area of the entire city was larger than all of Pentos with no walls. It seemed so small when they rode through the Western Market. The buildings were of carved stone, the palaces of woven grass, wooden towers, stepped pyramids with stairs and log halls open from the top.
Soon they were aided when they dismounted by slaves. Whilst Dany left to a tent to bathe Daemon left to the Western Market with a few warriors from his khalasar along with Qotho for his protection. He saw nothing that caught his interests so he decided to go to the Eastern Market.
There his attention peaked. He bought a pair of Manticores with the intention to extract their rare poison. Manticore venom is almost instant, killing its victim when it reaches the heart. He bought a vial of Basilisk Venom less out of caution and more out of curiosity. This venom can send one into a blind mad rage.
He then moved on to the animal pens. He saw large elephants. He saw a picture of them in one of the books Jorah gifted them. He then saw two tan fur animals with two large humps on their backs. He's never seen anything like them.
"Camels." Daemon turned to find Jorah approaching, "Not nearly as fast as horses but can cover twice the distance without a single stop for water. Are you interested in purchasing one of them, prince?"
"I'm intrigued by them." He simply stated, "Twice the distance of any horse you say?"
"Aye, the humps on their back store water for long trips." The knight replied, "They can pack heavier cargo and the further south you go the more useful you'll find them."
They don't have the speed of horses but they make up for it in endurance. Perhaps they'll lass through a desert. "I will like to by five of them." Jorah chuckled before he began to speak to the merchant.
Whilst he waited for the knight to end the transaction he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. "Go south and find your destiny." A soft whisper. He quickly turned around to see if anyone is watching him. He saw only passing Dothraki, merchants, and travelers.
"Here you are, Khaleesi." Jorah walked up with a few Dothraki. They held the reins guiding the camels. "The merchant says to exercise caution for they will spit up at you." The knight noticed Daemon's alerted look, "What is it, Daemon?"
Daemon turned back to the northerner, "It's nothing. Nothing at all." He turned to look at a camel and stroked its wide nose. "Come, let us show the moon-of-my-life." He walked past Jorah and was quickly followed by the group.
Go south and follow your destiny.'The whisper replayed in his mind and on and on until it drove him half mad. What is there for him south? Westeros lies west.
The very next day in the Barrowlands, Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon were riding out away from the royal camp. Robert had summoned him at dawn. The king had led him away from the camp claiming there to be too many ears. Too many ears for what he wondered.
They talked like they did before the Rebellion. The spoke of lands, family, and on Roberts part wenches. But such an easy conversation ended. "There was a rider in the night. From Varys in King's Landing." Robert pulled a paper from his belt and handed it to Ned." Varys, the Spider, the Master of Whispers. Most lords fear if they are in the Spider's web.
Ned read it over, "Where did you acquire this information?" The Lord of Winterfell asked.
"Remember Ser Jorah Mormont?" Robert replied.
"How could I forget?" He replied bluntly
Jorah Mormont was once his vassal. Until he sold poachers to slavery. He rode out and sailed to Bear Island to enact just but the knight had left before he arrived.
"He's in Pentos eager for a royal pardon to return from exile." Robert stated, "The spider makes good use of him."
Ned scoffed, "So the slaver has become a spy."
"A spy is more useful than a slaver and the spider makes good use of him. What do you make of his report?"
"Daenerys and Daemon Targaryen have entered a polygamist marriage with some Dothraki horse lord. What of it? Want to send them a gift?"
Robert's face contorted into anger, "A knife a nice sharp one and a man brave enough to wield it."
"They are but children, Your Grace." Ned replied, "You are no Tywin Lannister, to slaughter innocents."
"And how long will these innocents," He spat at the word, "remain innocent. Soon they will mount each other and start breeding more dragonspawn and curse me for another generation."
"You would do something so...unspeakable." Ned tried.
"Unspeakable!" Robert yelled, "What the Mad King did to your father and brother that was unspeakable. What Rhaegar Targaryen did to Lyanna, the woman I loved, that is unspeakable. How many times do you think he raped her? Hundred, thousands of times!?" He pulled the reins to stop his stallion, "I will kill every Targaryen I get my hands on until they are as dead as their demon dragons and then shit on their corpses."
"You can't get your hands on these ones can ya?" Ned replied.
"No, gods be cursed. Some perfumed cunt magister had them held up in his estate guarded by eunuchs. I tried to kill that one, Daemon when he was a bed slave in Lys but when that useless cutthroat arrived, they found his master dead and the dragonspwn gone. And then he pops up in Pentos training for warfare before disappearing again." Ned was shocked at this. Why would he be a slave? "Varys told me bed slaves in Lys learn how to make use of poisons and for months I had my every meal tasted, smelled and fed to dogs before I eat. These Targaryens are a curse upon me. I should have had them all killed years ago when it was easier."
"Jon Arryn was a good hand what would he say to this?" Ned asked earning a glare from Robert.
"This Khal Drogo is said to have a hundred thousand men in his horde. What would Jon say to that?"
"He would say even a million Dothraki are no threat to the realm as long as they remain on the other side of the Narrow Sea." Ned replied matter of factly. "They fear the open sea."
"Aye, but the people of the free cities don't and they do fear the Dothraki. I don't like this marriage, Ned. There are still those who call me Usurper. Do you remember how many houses for the Targaryens?" He exclaimed, "They bide their time now but when the Targaryens cross the sea with a Dothraki horde at their back the scum will join them."
"They will not cross." The northern lord promised, "And by chance, they do we will throw them back to the east."
Robert pauses before lifting a pouch. Full of rum no doubt, "There's a war coming, Ned. I don't know when I don't know who be will be fighting but it's coming." He stated before taking a swig.
