The Dragon and the Hawke 9
"So how are we gonna do this?" Marian asks as she peeks over a low wall at the back entrance into Yunkai.
"I will approach, enter, and kill the guards," Daario tells him, "When i whistle, you will know it is safe to approach. You hear a songbird's whistle it is safe to come."
Marian nods, and lowers her head below the wall, "Off you go then! We'll be waiting."
Daario nods and steps out from behind the wall, there is a shout from the guard at the gate. The mercenary slays his hands and calls his own name in return and the guard relaxes. Marian, Jorah, and Grey Worm watch as the guard pushes the door open and Daario follows him in.
They stand waiting for no more than half a minute before there is a whistle, then a second to confirm the all clear. Jorah takes the lead, sword drawn. Marian goes in second, her staff held easily in one hand as she strode in through the open doorway. Grey Worm took the rear, spear at the ready.
After they pass through a walled path, Jorah spins around the right corner while Marian goes left. Both nearly add insult to injury for the dead men on either side, but hold themselves back and turn their eyes to look for Daario. The mercenary was sitting on an upturned wagon and cleaning his blade.
Nodding his head, he indicates the dead man near Jorah, "That one was quick, I was quicker."
"There may be others," Jorah tells him, approaching as Grey Worm begins to circle the courtyard. Marian, for her part, follows Jorah and tilts her head as she thinks she hears something.
"I doubt it," Daario shakes his head, standing and turning, not noticing the men slowly trying to sneak through an alley towards them, "The Yunkish prefer to have their slaves do their fighting."
Marian spots the approaching soldiers and twirls her staff at the sight of them. See that they have been spotted, the soldiers shout and rush into the courtyard. Soon enough, the foursome of invaders are surrounded on all sides.
It takes only a heartbeat for the fight to start, with one of the soldier jumping at Jorah, who expertly diverts the man's shield then stabs him in the back.
As Jorah kills his opponent, Grey Worm twirls his spear, sending a pair of Yunkish guards backing up quickly so as not to get hurt. A quick switch in style and Grey Worm stabs one, and then the other of the guards.
Behind the Unsullied Commander, Daario is having also a fine time to ending his own attackers. One tries to stab him in the side and he diverts the man's blade before slicing his belly open. Another tries to stab him while he is ending his first opponent but his Dothraki sword loops around the man's blade and cuts his hand. The blade is dropped and the guard's throat is cut.
Marian, for her own part, is smiling as she slaps her opponents away from herself with her staff. Three men fall back from the twirling stick of wood, one already smarting from a smash in the face. While they fall back, Marian drags the bottom of her staff along the ground and a wave of dirt is carried up with the edge of the staff. The dirt forms a fist and she launches it at one of her opponents, who flies back. The second she zaps with electricity, and the last she points at and he falls down dead.
The three men turn to her when they are finished with their opponents, thinking that Marian would need help, and each is surprised to see that her attackers were dead. Daario, who had managed to see the third man die, was very glad that he had elected to ally his Second Sons with the Queen. Jorah was happy that he hadn't made a mistake in bringing the Mad Mage with the team, and Grey Worm simply nodded, accepting her skill as another thing of note about the woman.
A second wave of Yunkish arrives with a roar of feet and voices, and Marian sighs. Turning to Daario, she tells him, "I'm going to slap you once we're done."
She then taps her staff to the ground, and fire rains down upon the advancing soldiers. There are screams of pain and terror as men are blown off their feet, set aflame, or see their friends and comrades do one of those. Jorah, Daario, and Grey Worm look around with wide eyes as their party stands safely in a circle around which fire destroys the wave that had tried to take them out after the first one failed.
After the last of the fire falls, Marian looks around. There are only a few Yunkish still alive, and most are moaning in pain. One had managed not to get hit by the fire and was standing against a wall, petrified. The Mage steps up to him and presses her staff into his chest, "Take me to your leaders."
The man babbles something, and Marian frowns. Turning to Daario, she says, "Tell this guy that he is to take us to the wise masters or I will melt his face off and make him eat it."
Daario raises an eyebrow, but complies. Marian's nose twitches as the scent of feces hits her nose, but she pushes past it as the man nods. She removes her staff from his chest and he starts to lead her and the men through the city.
Jorah is the first to note the change in plans, "We are not following the original plan?"
"Nope," Marian shakes her head, "I wanna conquer a city!"
"The plan will put us in less danger," Daario points out
Marian gives him a sidelong look, then shrugs, "Alright, fine, you guys go do the plan, I'll kill the wise masters and claim the city as mine."
"Will you be alright on your own?" Jorah asks
"I'll be fine," Marian waves him off as she roasts a guard who had been trying to sneak up on them, scaring their guide even more than he already was. The man pisses himself and starts praying in his native tongue as Daario and Jorah agree to split up. Grey Worm gives her a nod, sure of her ability to hold her own.
The three men run off to open the main gates to the city as Marian is led into the heart of the city. It is surprising how few people she has to kill on the way to the main house of power in the city. The guard that had led her there took her through back hallways and side doors until she was in front of a large wood door carved with careful intricacy. The man falls to his knees waving his hands at the door, and obviously begging for his life. Marian waves him away and he scurries off.
Looking up at the great doors in front of her, Marian can just imagine the Slavers having their property open the doors for them as they strode in. Probably three or four to a door by the looks of them. Shaking her head, Marian thrusts her hand forward and the doors are blasted open. There is shouting from the other end, and guards rush out.
Marian tosses bolts of lightning at the guards and then steps over their twitching corpses as she steps into a massive circular room. There are not many men in the room, but it is clear that they hold the power in Yunkai. The Mage smiles at them and says, "Greetings from Queen Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons and Breaker of Chains, I am here to accept your lives as payment for surrender."
"Excuse me?" One of the Masters sputters, "Who do you think you are?"
"I am Lady Marian Hawke, the Queen's personal Mage," Marian tells him with a smile, then, "In a matter of hours, your city will be lost, the first of you to declare the surrender of Yunkai will be spared while I kill the rest of you."
"What!" another master demands
"It is quite simple," Marian smiles indulgently as she throws a fireball behind her, and the screams of the guards that had been advancing on her from behind add weight to her next words, "I hate slavers, My Queen hates slavers, and our army is made of former slaves. You, Wise Masters of Yunkai, are what we hate more than anything else. You will die, but if one of you surrenders, he will be spared the fate that i will visit upon the rest."
The hall breaks into angry shouts in native tongues, and Marian rolls her eyes. After a minute of their shouting, she tilts her head as she hears the sound of approaching battle and smiles. The Wise Masters fall silent as she raises a single hand with all her fingers and her thumb slayed.
They watch as first her pinky, then her ring finger descend, and finally some get it. Once more, angry calls erupt from the Masters, before finally, just as Marian's thumb is about to go down, one calls out, "Yunkai surrenders!"
Marian lowers her hand and smiles at the Master that had shouted in the common tongue. The man was being glared at by his compatriots, but seemed unrepentant. With a smirk, he nods to Marian and stands, stepping back from his seat, "I have no wish to die, Queen's Mage Hawke, Yunkai Surrenders to the Dragon Queen."
Marian gives him a thumbs up, "Congratulations, you get to live!"
And then she smacks her staff onto the floor and lightning fills the room, and the sound of thunder eclipses all else.
Back at Dany's camp, she and Missandei watch as Barristan takes a sip of wine, and she asks, "We've been waiting a long time, haven't we?"
Barristan turns to look at both girls, and gives them a rueful smile and a shrug. He sips more of his wine and Dany descends from her throne to stand in front of him, "Oh, I don't know! How long does it take to sack a city?"
Missandei lays a reassuring hand on Dany's shoulder. The queen turns her head and smiles at her advisor in thanks for the silent support, and sees in her companion's eyes what she is feeling herself.
Before she can offer her own assurances, there is the sound of approaching footsteps and Jorah steps into the tent, followed by Grey Worm. The Knight, smiles at her, ignoring the blood on his face as he tells her, "It was incredible, I can scarcely believe it… Their slave soldiers threw down their weapons and surrendered by the dozens. And the masters did not believe it until it was too late."
Dany smiles, having expected this turn of events. She blinks though, as she realizes that two people are missing from the returning party, "And… Daario Naharis?... and…?"
"Marian?" Missandei questions quietly, prempting Dany's own utterance of her friend's name.
Both women look at Jorah and Grey Worm with a mixture of hope and dread, not sure if their friends and possible lovers have managed to survive the battle. Before Jorah can offer reassurances to their health, though, they make themselves known as Marian calls from a dozen yards away in the dark, "We're fine!"
Dany and Missandei sag in relief as Daario and Marian enter the tent, Marian with a hand on a man's shoulder and Daario with a strip of cloth under his arm. First, Daario steps forward, and kneels in front of Dany. Smiling up at her, he unfurls the cloth to reveal Yunkai's Banner, "My, Queen, the city is yours."
Dany nods, then turns to Marian with an eyebrow raised in question. The Mage smiles and pushes the man forward, "This is Feldy, he's the last of the Wise Masters, he surrendered the city to us."
The man drops slowly to his knees, and bows his head, "Your grace, Yunkai submits to your rule."
Dany smiles down at the man, then turns to Marian, "Feldy?"
"I do not think she can pronounce my proper name, your grace," the now named Feldy tells her
"He's right," Marian shrugs, "I can't."