Chapter 12:

Author's Notes: Once again thank you to everyone who has been reviewing. You guys really make my day/afternoon/evening. Enjoy!

Ashley broke her fast under the persimmon tree that grew in the terrace garden, watching her dragons chase each other about the apex of the Great Pyramid where the huge bronze harpy once stood. Up in her garden Ashley sometimes felt like a god, living atop the highest mountain in the world. Do all gods feel so lonely? She hadn't forgotten Spencer or what she had brought to her life, but some betrayals were too hard to take. Maybe she would never forgive her. Ashley's thoughts ran wild as she stood above the city. No one was calling her Ashley the Conqueror yet, but perhaps they would. Aegon the Conqueror had won Westeros with three dragons but she had taken Meereen with sewer rats and a wooden cock, in less than a day. She had commanded the captains of her ships to drive their ships ashore. If a war galley could ram another ship, why not a gate? The mainmast of Meraxes – formerly Joso' Prank – had broken the eastern gate. The fighting had raged bitter and bloody for most of the day, and well into the night before the wood began to splinter and Meraxes' iron figurehead, a laughing jester's face, came crashing through. Ashley had wanted to lead the attack herself, but her captains had said that would be madness. Instead she remained in the rear, sitting atop her silver in a long shirt of mail. She heard the city fall from half a league away, though, when the defenders shouts of defiance became shouts of fear. Her dragons had roared as one in that moment, filling the night with flame. The slaves are rising, she knew at once. My sewer rats have gnawed off their chains. When the last resistance had been crushed by the Unsullied, Ashley entered her city. She rode past burnt buildings and broken windows. Cheering slaves lifted their bloodstained hands to her as she went by, and called her "Mother."

In the plaza before the Great Pyramid, the Meereenese huddled forlorn. "I want your leaders," Ashley told them. "Give them up, and the rest of you shall be spared."

"How many?" one old woman had asked, sobbing. "How many must you have to spare us?"

"One hundred and sixty-three," she answered.

She had them nailed to wooden posts around the plaza, each man pointing at the next. The anger was fierce and hot inside her when she gave the command; it made her feel like an avenging dragon. But later, when she passed the men dying on the posts, when she heard their moans and smelled their bowels and blood…

Ashley put her glass aside, frowning. It was just. It was. I did it for the children.

Her bloodriders awaited her in her audience chamber, a level below her throne. These at least she could rely on, or so she hoped…as she looked at them Ashley found herself wondering which of them would betray her next.

The dragon has three heads. There are two people in the world I can trust, if I can find them. I will not be alone then. We will be three against the world, like Aegon and his sisters.

Ashley beckoned to Daario. "How many seek audience this morning?"

"Two have presented themselves to bask in your radiance." Daario had plundered himself a whole new wardrobe in Meereen and to match it he had redyed his beard and hair a deep rich purple. It made his eyes look almost purple too, like some lost Valyrian. He tries too hard to gain my attention. "They arrived in the night on the Indigo Star, a trading galley out of Qarth."

A slaver you mean. Ashley frowned. "Who are they?"

"The Star's master and one who claims to speak for Astapor."

"I will see the envoy first."

He proved to be a pale ferret-faced man with ropes of pearls hanging heavy around his neck. "Your Worship!" he cried. "My name is Ghael. I bring greetings to the Mother of Dragons from King Cleon of Astapor, Cleon the Great."

Ashley stiffened. "I left a council to rule Astapor. A healer, a scholar and a priest."

"Your Worship, those sly rogues betrayed your trust. They were scheming to restore the Good Masters to power and the people to chains. Great Cleon exposed them and hacked off their heads, and the grateful people of Astapor have crowned him for his valor."

"Noble Ghael," said Missandei, in the dialect of Astapor, "is this the same Cleon once owned by Grazdan mo Ullhor?"

Her voice was guileless, yet the question plainly made the envoy anxious. "The same," he admitted. "A great man."

Missandei leaned close to Ashley. "He was a butcher in Grazdan's kitchen," the girl whispered in her ear. "It was aid he could slaughter a pig faster than any man in Astapor."

I have given Astapor a butcher king. Ashley felt ill, but she knew she could not show this. "I will pray that King Cleon rules well and wisely. What would he have of me?"

"Great Cleon wants to assist in keeping your enemies under your foot. Astapor remembers. Astapor will not forsake you. To prove his faith, Great Cleon offers to seal your alliance with a marriage."

"A marriage? To me?"

Ghael smiled. His teeth were brown and rotten. "Great Cleon will give you many strong sons."

Ashley found herself speechless, but little Missandei came to her rescue. "Did his first wife give him sons?"

The envoy looked at her unhappily. "Great Cleon has three daughters by his first wife. Two of his newer wives are with child. But he means to put them aside if the Mother of Dragons will consent to wed him."

"How noble of him," Ashley said dryly. "I will consider all you've said, my lord." She gave orders that Ghael be given chambers for the night, somewhere lower in the pyramid. All my victories turn to dross in my hands, she thought. Whatever I do, all I make is death and horror.

Yunkai and Astapor, threats of war, marriage proposals, the march west looming over all…I need my knights. I need their swords, and I need their counsel. Most of all I need Spencer, something I should not consider at all. "Tell Belwas to bring my knights. And bring Spencer as well"

Strong Belwas was puffing from the climb when he marched them through the doors, one meaty hand wrapped tight around each man's arm. A handmaid followed with Spencer. Ser Barristan walked with his head held high, but Ser Jorah stared at the marble floor as he approached. The one is proud, the other guilty. Her eyes drifted to the figure behind the men. Her heart almost gave in as she noticed the change in the girl before her. She seemed thinner and close to breaking but she stood tall when she reached Ashley's throne. I am the blood of the dragon, I must be strong.

Ser Jorah cleared his throat. "Khaleesi…"

"Be quiet. I will tell you when to speak." She stood. "When I sent you down into the sewers, part of me hoped I'd seen the last of you. It seemed a fitting end for liars, to drown in slavers' filth. My gallant knight of Westeros, an informer and a turncloak. My brother would have hanged you both." Nicholas would have, anyway. She did not know what Rhaegar would have done. "I will admit you helped me win this city…"

Ser Jorah's mouth tightened. "We won you this city. We sewer rats."

"Be quiet. I will not tell you again Mormont," she said again…though there was truth to what he said. "You helped win the city," she repeated stubbornly. "And you have served me well in the past. Ser Barristan saved me from Titan's Bastard, and from the Sorrowful Man in Qarth. Ser Mormont saved me from the poisoner in Vaes Dothrak, and again from Drogo's bloodriders after my husband had died. And yet you lied, deceived me, betrayed me." She turned to Ser Barristan. "You protected my father for many years, fought beside my brother on the Trident, but you abandoned Nicholas in his exile and bent your knee to the Usurper instead. Why? And tell it true."

"Some truths are hard to hear. Robert was a…a good knight…he spared my life, and the life of others…Prince Nicholas was only a boy, it would have been years before he was fit to rule,…and forgive me my queen but you asked for the truth…even as a child, Nicholas oft seemed to be his father's son, in ways that Rhaegar never did."

"His father's son?" Ashley frowned. "What does that mean?"

The old knight did not blink. "Your father is called 'the Mad King' in Westeros. Has no one ever told you?"

"Nicholas did. The Usurper called him that." The Mad King. "It was a lie."

"I told you before I used a false name so the Lannisters would not know that I'd joined you. The truth is, I wanted to watch you for a time before pledging you my sword. To make certain that you were not…"

"…my father's daughter?" If she was not her father's daughter then who was she?

"…mad," he finished. "But I see no taint in you."

"Taint?" Ashley bristled.

"I am no master to quote history to you, Your Grace. But every child knows that the Targaryens have always danced too close to madness. King Jaehaerys once told me that madness and greatness are two sides of the same coin. Every time a new Targaryen is born, the gods toss the coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land."

Jaehaerys. This old man knew my grandfather. This man can tell me what I came from. "So I am a coin in the hands of some god, is that what you're saying ser?"

"No," Ser Barristan replied. "You are the trueborn heir of Westeros. To the end of my days I shall remain your faithful knight, should you find me worthy to bear a sword again."

"What if I decide you're only worthy to be my fool?" Ashley asked scornfully. "Or perhaps my cook?"

"I would be honoured, Your Grace," Selmy said with quiet dignity. "I can bake apples and roasted many a duck over a campfire. I hope you like them greasy, with charred skin and bloody bones."

That made her smile. "I'd have to be mad to eat such fare. Ben Plumm come give Ser Barristan your longsword."

But Whitebeard would not take it. "I flung my sword at Aiden's feet. Only from the hand of my queen will I accept a sword again."

"As you wish." Ashley took the sword from Brown Ben and offered it hilt first. The old man took it reverently. "Now kneel," she told him, "and swear it to my service."

He went to one knee and lay the blade before her as he said the words. Ashley scarcely heard them he was the easy one, she thought. The other will be harder. When Ser Barristan was done, she turned to Jorah Mormont. "And now you, ser. Tell me true."

The big man's neck was red; whether from anger or shame, she could not tell. "I tried to tell you true, half a hundred times. I told you Arstan was more than he seemed. I warned you that Xaro and Pyat Pree were not to be trusted. I warned you…"

"You warned me against everyone except yourself." His insolence angered her. He should be humbler. He should beg for my forgiveness. "Trust no one but Jorah Mormont, you said…and all the time you were the Spider's creature!"

"I am no man's creature. I took the eunuch's gold, yes. I learned some ciphers and wrote some letters, but that was all…"

"All? You spied on me and sold me to my enemies!"

"For a time." He said grudgingly. "I stopped."

"When? When did you stop?"

"I made one report from Qarth, but…"

"From Qarth?" Ashley had been hoping it had ended much earlier. "What did you write from Qarth? That you were my man now, that you wanted no more of their schemes?" Ser Jorah could not meet her eyes. "When Khal Drogo died, you asked me to go with you to Yi Ti and the Jade Sea. Was that your wish or Robert's?"

"That was to protect you," he insisted. "To keep you away from them. I knew what snakes they were…"

"Snakes? And what are you, ser?" Something unspeakable occurred to her. "You told them I was carrying Drogo's child…"

"Khaleesi…"

"Do not think to deny it, ser," Ser Barristan said sharply. "I was there when the eunuch told the council, and Robert decreed that Her Grace and her child must die. You were the source, ser. There was even talk that you might do the deed, for a pardon."

"A lie." Ser Jorah's face darkened. "I would never…Ashley, it was me who stopped you from drinking the wine."

"Yes. And how was it you knew the wine was poisoned?"

"I…I but suspected…the caravan brought a letter from Varys, he warned me there would be attempts. He wanted you watched, yes, but not harmed." He went to his knees. "If I had not told them someone else would have. You know that."

"I know you betrayed me." She touched her belly, where her son Rhaego had perished. "I know a poisoner tried to kill my son, because of you. That's what I know."

"No…no." He shook his head. "I never meant…forgive me. You have to forgive me."

"Have to?" It was too late. He should have begun by begging for forgiveness. She had dragged the wineseller behind her horse until there was nothing left of him. Didn't the man who brought him deserve the same? "I can't forgive you," she said. "I can't."

"You forgave the old man…you are willing to hear her out and forgive her as well."

"He lied to me about his name. You sold my secrets to the men who killed my father and stole my brother's throne. I have heard you both and I shall hear her. If it seems that she only lied to me about her name as well then I will forgive her as well. Do not attempt to sway me, to absolve your guilt and focus it on someone else."

"I protected you. I fought for you. Killed for you."

Kissed me, she thought, betrayed me.

"I went down into the sewers like a rat. For you."

It might have been kinder if you had died there. Ashley said nothing, there was nothing to say.

"Ashley," he said, "I have loved you."

And there it was. Three treasons will you know. Once for blood, once for gold and once for love. "The gods do nothing without a purpose, they say. You did not die in battle, so it must be they still have some use for you. But I don't. I will not have you near me. You are banished, ser. Go back to you masters at King's Landing and collect your pardon if you can. Or to Astapor. No doubt the butcher king needs knights."

"No." He reached for her. "Ashley, please, hear me…"

She slapped his hand away. "Do not presume to touch me again, or to speak my name. You have until dawn to collect your things and leave this city. If you're found in Meereen past day break, I will have Strong Belwas twist your head off. I will. Believe that." She turned her back on him, her skirts swirling. "Remove this liar from my sight." She looked away until she heard the doors open and close. Then she sank back onto the ebony bench. "We are done for now," she told her captains. "Leave us alone." She indicated towards Spencer.

Now I shall hear her. Whatever the outcome I must be strong. Maybe I am destined to be alone.

Okay so there was no Spashley in this chapter, sorry (cringe). I wanted to tie up some loose ends and move on with the story, but with our favourite girls. The next chapter, as I'm sure you've noticed is going to be all Spashley so look out for it!

Shout outs to simplet77, LoLo06, lalalalee, str princess , Ringette, Movies7Too and DaPhoenix. You guys are what keep me going.