ALL NOVEL Chapter 129: 129
----
118 AC
Water Gardens
Qyle Nymeros Martell
----
Sighing I shake my head while rolling back up the message I just received and pass it over to my Wife who has been looking toward me curiously since I started reading. My gaze settles on my Grandchildren, at least the ones who are old enough to splash around in the small little pool that was created for younger children.
"This is the third time they have asked if they can accompany Daeron." My Wife snorts and sets down the message she obviously read over. "The 'Orphans of the Greenblood' seem eager to return to their great Mother River." I nod in agreement while narrowing my eyes as I watch Aegon and Visenya wrestle each other under the surface of the water.
Those two are going to give me a heart attack.
"They have full confidence in Daeron, they assume Volantis is as good as gone and presume they will get to resettle our ancestral lands." How they even remain in the loop and know the goings on in my court, I will never understand.
I mean, it has to be someone in my court feeding them information... I just don't understand why.
Seems strange to me.
Sure, I also want to reclaim the Great Mother Rhoyne, but it seems to me that I am in the minority of people who have patience in doing so.
I was satisfied knowing my Grandchildren might one day reclaim those lands, after I was gone... maybe even my Great Grandchildren would do it, and that was fine by me.
But it seems to me like there is a fire burning in those who live in their pole boats, they are eager to return to their Mother.
"Far be it for me to complain, it will only make the matter of settling those lands easier... Nymeria might have a palace to rule from by the time she reaches her majority." I speak up my thoughts and hear my Wife hum in thought.
"Ny Sar would be nice for Nymeria, but I doubt that will be the first and main settlement, it will take generations to fill out all of the old settlements that have fallen to ruin." I nod in acknowledgment of her words as I look up and catch my son's large black dragon cutting through a cloud in the sky.
"Daeron spoke to me about Chroyane, the largest and most profitable of the cities, originally before all of this mess with assassins, he wanted that city to be the initial foothold for the reclamation of the River." I reach out to the low table and grab my cup of wine and bring it to my lips to savor a sip before setting it back down. "I doubt that plan will remain, I expect Volantis to be the initial foothold, which will work out better as the old city of Chroyane needs to be... cleaned." I scrunch my nose remembering the tales of stonemen in the old Rhoynar city.
I doubt anyone truly wants to settle an old ruined city, especially not if it's full of greyscale victims.
Volantis will suffer and pay for what they have presumably done, but it will likely still stand afterward and my Son will work on claiming the city. Just like with the other Free Cities that have been claimed, slavery will be done away with, though I expect there to be a period of people staying enslaved like in the other Free Cities. It would be helpful for future plans if there was a large workforce to begin working on the other cities on the river that have fallen to ruin.
There are tons of other problems to be dealt with, mainly Dothraki raids, but I expect the main problem will be able bodies to work fields and build buildings.
Freed slaves will likely flock to honest work that pays and will see them have small farmlands to call their own.
Though I expect taxes to dampen their spirits in the not-too-terribly far future... it's just another form of slavery if I am honest.
"Do you think they will land anytime soon?" I look up at my beloved's words and see more than eight dragons looping and swooping around, an intricate dance that only they and their riders could possibly enjoy.
I prefer to stay on the ground myself, damned be all that jerking and jostling around while on dragon back.
"I doubt it." I scoff. "Daeron dropped the children off for a reason, if it was going to be a quick flight, he would have loaded up his offspring and taken them along with him." My Wife snorts in amusement as I lower my gaze back down to see the small group of children still happily playing but every now and then they cast their gaze skyward.
Mainly Visenya and Aegon, they seem to yearn for the sky just like the Orphans of the Greenblood yearn for the Mother River's waters.
----
118 AC
Water Gardens
Daeron Nymeros Martell
----
Looking down at the map which has the most likely locations of the two armies we will soon be facing, I purse my lips.
The location of the Unsullied is rather easy to guess, they are either marching down the old Valyrian paved roads are sailing around the busted peninsula.
The Dothraki are a bit tricky, reports say they have as little as ten thousand riders, or as many as forty thousand, and the fact it varies so much is concerning.
We should have a location for a horde that big.
But we obviously don't.
Which is why Rhaenys and Lewyn took off to go scout for them and will be meeting back with all of our dragon riders on Bloodstone, shortly before or after the large host Rhaenyra raised arrives.
Forty thousand men, that is how many are arriving in the first 'wave' of our own forces, not including the ones already raised on Bloodstone by my Father.
We could have many more, rather easily in fact.
But feeding an army any bigger than that will get annoying quite quickly when we don't yet know exactly where we are sending them. Things have to be planned weeks if not a months in advance to have food arrive when needed and where it's needed.
So a smaller force is what we are starting with.
There is also the fact that most of those men are the best Westeros has to offer at the moment, knights and the like from around the realm.
Those who practically ran to get shipped off to war likely hoping for gold and glory.
Not conscripts ripped from their farms with only basic spearmanship drilled into them over the course of a few weeks.
The men we will have will more than serve the purpose they have been called for, dragons will be the real deciding factor and not the foot soldiers.
Well... if we can use them.
"Volantis is not stupid... arrogant, but not stupid." I speak up to Daemon who is sitting across from me with a frown as he looks down at the map. "They will have countermeasures for the dragons." Anti-Air and maybe assassins in our camps to try and take out the riders which would make the dragons far less of a threat.
"We should hit them hard and fast, leave them no chance to scheme and plan or even learn about our movements." Daemon sniffs and leans back with an impassive look. "It won't matter if they have hundreds of ballistas if we burn them down before any man can react and aim the damn things." His eyes raise to meet mine and he raises a brow obviously wanting my opinion.
"I agree." I smile as this is exactly what I wanted to do, but I do notice Rhaenyra frown beside me out of the corner of my sight.
Rhaenyra knows little of war despite having flown her dragon to burn down some mountain men, and I can tell she wants to help in the planning. Which is understandable, she is now Queen and if she is dragged around and told what to do, she would reinforce people's beliefs that a Queen can not lead in trying times. Which won't do, I refuse to have people undermining her at any opportunity, it's a domino that will knock over many others as it falls.
"What do you think?" I nudge my Wife with my foot and shift my gaze over to her.
Rhaenyra purses her pouty lips and narrows her eyes at the map. "I think attacking with our dragons sooner rather than later is wise, specifically I think we should attack the inner city hidden within the Black Walls and make an example of the 'Old Blood' who have started all of this to begin with." I lean back in my chair and nod.
"So target the rich and powerful who live within the safety of Dragon Lord built walls?" I lean my head back as she nods and I notice Daemon trying his best not to smirk.
"Poor fuckers, they would see the true power of Old Valyria for themselves... it's almost fitting." Daemon snorts and reaches for his cup. "Doing so might would even prevent us from having to face the Unsullied, to begin with, if the true 'owners' of the slave army are burnt to cinders..." He leadingly speaks before cutting off his words with a deep drink from his cup.
He is not wrong... it would be very nice to not have to burn away one of the most powerful armies.
If we could somehow 'free' them and have them willingly serve us instead of killing them?
That would be ideal, but I would settle for even just having them freed and not our enemy anymore.
"That is what we will do, the day after Rhaenys and Lewyn returns, we will fly ahead of the army and burn out the Old Blood of Volantis. Once we have done that we will fly back to meet our army and fly alongside them to Volantis, which might just surrender upon seeing our dragons return, with a fleet and army." I smile a bit seeing Rhaenyra officially declare our first attack against our enemy.
If things go according to plan, or at least close, we could very well bring things to a close within a few months. Which would be great as the shorter this 'war' is the better Rhaenyra will look at the start of her reign.
The Dothraki will still likely need to be dealt with, I don't know what exactly stirred them up against us, but even if we burned all of Volantis, I doubt they would turn back around and head into the Great Grass Sea.
Depending on if Rhaenys or Lewyn finds them and where the hoard is and how many they number, we might just fly over and burn a large portion of them to force them to turn and flee.
Maybe not though, the only good Dothraki is a dead Dothraki, and knowing I plan to have my Daughter Nymeria rule in Essos in the future?
I would prefer the Dothraki numbers to drastically drop.
Turning my gaze toward Daemon an idea comes to mind that soon has me smiling and him looking at me oddly.
"What?" He asks with confusion as he sets down his cup.
I shake my head. "Nothing... yet." I need to run the idea by my Wife so she both feels included and doesn't think I am scheming behind her back, but a rather good idea if I do say so myself just came to mind.
I am sure many of the remaining Free Cities are tired of Dothraki raids and having to pay tribute to the Horse Lords.
Maybe this is something I could use to get Daemon to slowly chip away at their numbers in the next few decades?
If he is getting paid I am sure he would be more than happy to do the dirty work.
He has complained about the tedious side of ruling practically since he arrived.
I am certain if I play my cards right I could work maybe Qohor into paying Daemon instead of paying Sell Swords like they normally do on top of buying their slave soldiers.
Using others to deal with the future Horse Lord threat to my Daughters lands she will one day rule?
Sounds fun.