The Dragon and the Hawke 12
They decided to walk to Meereen. It made their journey last far longer than it would have otherwise, but Marian was intent on burying each of the dead children herself, and Dany would not let her friend walk alone.
It was disturbing for the queen's advisors to watch the mage act with such seriousness, and such silence. Since telling Dany that she would be killing most of Meereen, she had not said another word. All she had done was start walking.
There had been no waiting for the rest of the army, or even her closer friends. There was an intentness to her stride, and a tremble in the ground with each step. In this land without magic, it was as though a dormant god had awoken and its anger was moving slowly and inevitably towards Meereen.
The former slaves of Yunkai were the most interested to see what would happen when the mage warrior of the queen reached its gates. Many had seen and told the destruction and death that she had wrought against the slave masters in their former city, and it had been said that she was a storm on the earth, a walking echo of thunder, and that only the dragon could calm her.
But even the dragons were wary of her now. The Yunkish, the Unsullied, Dany, and her advisors all saw that Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion were far more cautious around the mage than they had ever been. To see monsters larger than houses act like scared children around an enraged adult told many just how dangerous Marian Hawke would be.
It also told them how fucked Meereen really was.
When they reached the city, Marian didn't wait, she glared up at the assembled slave masters who looked down at her as the Unsullied army poured out around her and she raised a hand. Dany had just about reached her when Marian lowered it in a swift swipe.
There was a rumbling, and the sky darkened. Looking up, slave and slave master alike could see the sky fill with clouds that had not existed before. The sky roiled and boiled in anger, until, finally, a massive spike of lightning arched down from the sky and struck the city gates.
There was a cry of terror from somewhere in the city as the gates exploded into showers of splinters and stone. There was a terrible and utter silence as the slave masters stared at the woman who had broken their city with a wave of her hand, and then, with a harsh bellow, she cries out, "Surrender now! And I will make it quick!"
The slave masters stare between each other in incomprehension, and then with some dawning horror as they realize that her intention was to see them all dead. Most could not comprehend why, but the more civil minded amongst them realized almost immediately what would have set off a woman who rode with the breaker of chains.
After a minute, there is a shout from the city, "If we give you those who put up the children, will you let us live!?"
Marian, for all her anger, and discounting what most people thought about her, was not a psychotic murderer, and so looked to Dany for confirmation. The Mother of Dragons for her own part had to think on whether or not she needed to keep the masters alive or if she could just kill the lot and be done with it. But she did not want to be known for slaughtering a population, so she shook her head.
Marian took a deep, calming breath, releasing as much of the anger that she had held onto for six sleepless nights, and calls back, "They will be here at dawn! If there are any missing, you will all die as they do!"
With that, she turns and marches away from the city, and through the parting crowd of Unsullied. Dany was quick to follow her, as was Missandei; they watched as their friend strode with sure step until she found a cave in the canyon that led to the city, and walked into it.
After checking to make sure that no one was around but Dany and Missandei, Marian collapsed to her knees and started breathing heavily. Dany and Missandei rush to her side and hold her around the shoulders as the woman sucks in air as fast as she can, eyes screwed shut.
Missandei takes her face in her hands and turns Marian towards her, "What is wrong?"
"I want to kill them," Marian mumbles, eyes still closed, "Want to so bad, and I can feel that rage just creeping around inside of me, but I know that I can't let it out, I can't let it go out of control."
"Why? You must release this feeling," Missandei tells her, stroking her cheek where a tear falls
"If I do, something could happen that I never want to happen," Marian tells her, thinking of the demons and abominations that were so prevalent in Thedas, and how sure she was that she didn't want that evil to become a part of Essos as well. Shaking her head as it lies in Missandei's hands she tells her, "I need to let go, but if I do it the way I want to, then it'll be bad!"
"Then do it the way I want to," Marian opens her eyes, confused, and sees a face lowering towards her and then a split second later there are a pair of lips on hers.
Dany, having seen the way the wind was blowing, exited the cave and moved back towards the head of her army. Five minutes after her departure, she was back at it's head and staring at the terrified faces of thousands of slaves who had come to the wall to see who had broken the gates of their master's city.
Seeing them, Dany turned to Jorah and tells him, "Have the catapults filled with the broken chains."
Jorah nods and goes to have her commands carried out as she turns back to the city. She tries to think of how best to articulate what she wanted to tell them, and thinks on what the slave masters might have said about her.
Eventually, after her army had filled out and made formation, and the catapults had been loaded, she began speaking. She told the slaves where she came from, of her time as a Khaleesi, as her time as a slave. She then told them her mission, her new purpose in life, and her dedication to seeing it through.
She told them about how their masters had lined the road to their city with the dead children of slaves, and how she intended to answer them back in kind for their sins. She told the slaves of the Rolling Thunder of Marian Hawke, a near god on earth, who had joined her through a dream made from magic, and had elected to follow her on her quest to free Slaver's Bay.
She told them that she was not here to rule them, and that after freeing them, would put forth a new ruling government, that would act fairly, and evenly for all of its people while she would take her own home back from those who stole it from her, just as their freedom had been stolen. But she would only leave them if they wanted her gone.
She told them how she had freed Astapor, and the former slaves had joined her of their own free will. To this the Unsullied banged the butts of their spears against the earth in one unified bash. Then she told how she had freed Yunkai, and how the former slaves of that city had joined her as well, and a great call of Mhysa was shouted from the Yunkish. She told them that she would free them as well, and accept them if they wished to join her with no expectations.
She did not want slaves, she told them with an impassioned plea, calling forth the catapults, but people who would free themselves from the horror that their lives had become.
And with that, she called for the catapults to release, and the city was assaulted with dozens of shattering wooden boxes that released thousands of broken collars and chains. The slaves of Meereen gather around the broken chains, and look upon them with equal measures wonder and caution.
Life had never been easy for the slaves of Meereen, but they hoped for the day that could come, such as this day, and they would be free. They only had to put their trust in the Mother of Dragons and the Thunder Goddess.