On the morning of the third day, just as the sun rose, Daenerys stood on the terrace and saw that the outskirts of Meereen were filled with dense armies.
The neat formations completely surrounded the city of Meereen, with units of sword-and-shield formations, pike formations, Unsullied in black leather armor, mercenaries in full plate armor, regular armies from various city-states, and countless Dothraki cavalry on the outer edges of the formations.
Just from observation, there were more than 100,000 soldiers, while Daenerys estimated the defenders on the city walls numbered no more than 15,000. A surge of boldness rose from her heart. Daenerys made a decision: once the battle began, she would stay right here, to let the attackers see her, to show them that she was with them, supporting them, and blessing their cause.
Daenerys turned to look up at Wright, sitting atop the Great Pyramid. She thought to herself that Wright's dragon was certainly still in Tyrosh, and hers had not appeared. If neither side had dragons involved in the war, with such a disparity in numbers, Meereen would surely fall. But if her three dragons, along with Aegon's, came, then Meereen would hold out no more than a day!
There were other terraces at various heights on the Great Pyramid, all filled with soldiers holding flags, watching the different directions around Meereen. Should any direction come under attack, they would raise their flags, and if any section showed signs of falling, they would wave two flags continuously, signaling the other defenders to rush over and support the defense.
The very top of the Great Pyramid was covered in ice, where Wright sat in an ice chair, looking down at the entire city from nearly 300 meters above.
The chair was large, and he was clad in a full set of dragonbone armor, with his helmet resting on the armrest and the Bloodskal Blade, glowing red, leaning beside him. The wind blew his long hair, and when he saw Daenerys staring up at him from the terrace below, he lowered his head and gave her a slight smile.
Any smile from Wright seemed utterly wicked to Daenerys, so much so that she turned away, too frightened to look any longer.
Looking at the dense points outside the city, Wright continued to observe the flags of the armies.
Meereen had no moat. The eastern gate was a small door, the northern gate, connected to the Valyrian Road, was a large city gate, while the southern gate served as a major trade route with Slaver's Bay and was also a large city gate. The western port was also surrounded by walls, and the narrow terrain made it unsuitable for landing or siege.
To the south, the army from Yunkai was present, while on the southern shore, the forces from the New Ghis Empire were landing. Outside the eastern city, the Unsullied legions from Yunkai and Astapor were stationed—likely the forces of Daenerys' husband. To the north were the mercenaries of the Stormcrow, Second Sons, and the Cats, along with troops from the cities of Qohor and Norvos, and the forces from port city of Tolos were arriving. There were also Dothraki riders with bare torsos.
No Golden Company?
Wright kept searching, and noticed that among the flags of various armies, there were many with the symbol of a skull and stag's head.
"Damn it, they're still hiding!" Wright clenched his fists.
The stag skull flag, Wright knew, represented the anti-Baratheon alliance. Joining the anti-Baratheon alliance only meant they shared common enemies, not that they swore loyalty to Aegon. But Aegon aimed to use this war to turn this force into one loyal to himself!
Wright saw movement outside the northern gate—one rider holding a flag with the skull-and-stag emblem approached the gate, shooting an arrow up to the city walls with a letter of surrender.
A few of the Great Masters on the city walls took the letter from the soldiers and began discussing. The distance was too great for Wright to make out their expressions, but by their body language, it was clear that the contents of the letter were not friendly. The masters, along with the Tattered Prince with the silver helmet and white hair, were furiously gesticulating.
After a moment, the Great Masters walked away, and the Tattered Prince looked up at the top of the Great Pyramid. He pointed at Wright with his left hand and made a slashing motion across his throat with his right. Wright understood that one of the demands in the letter of surrender was for the people of Meereen to kill him and send his head as a tribute.
Wright merely smiled.
Soon, the Great Masters sent a reply, and the flag-bearing rider returned to his camp. Wright leaned forward, carefully observing the person who would read the letter.
The rider wore black armor and a white knight's helmet, with his face concealed beneath it. He threw the letter to the ground, indicating that the two sides had failed to come to terms. Whoever he was, Wright had now marked him as a target for death.
Leaning back in his chair, Wright continued scanning for other suspicious targets that must be killed.
The sound of a horn, unlike anything from Westeros, echoed. Soon, horns were heard from all directions outside Meereen, their sound reverberating around the city.
The assault had begun. Soldiers from the north, south, and east began to march.
The Slaver's Bay region was dry and sparse in trees, offering no materials for large siege engines. The only siege tools available were ladders made from the scant wood and three battering rams for attacking the gates.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"Charge!" With the sound of drums, the first wave of the siege troops launched their charge.
Soldiers carried hundreds of wooden ladders from three directions, advancing simultaneously toward the city wall. They were surrounded by sword-and-shield soldiers holding shields to protect them. After running a distance, the archers followed, pushing forward toward the wall.
"Three hundred steps!"
"Two hundred and fifty steps!"
Wright observed the battle at the northern gate, watching the Tattered Prince direct his troops.
"Two hundred and twenty steps, draw your bows!" The Tattered Prince, wearing his helmet, raised a longsword high atop the city wall.
"Two hundred steps, fire!"
Whoosh~~~
A volley of arrows shot from the city wall, curving through the air and landing among the charging soldiers. Those with luck had their shields raised just in time to deflect the arrows, while others were pierced through the gaps in the shields, with pointed armor-piercing arrows finding their mark in their bodies. Some were immediately killed by critical shots, others fell injured and were trampled by those behind, while a few tumbled to the ground, quickly rolling and struggling to rise again and continue charging.
After one round of arrows, another volley followed. The battlefield around the city walls was soon littered with hundreds of corpses. Meanwhile, the archers covering the siege troops had moved into range, returning fire at the defenders on the wall.
The two sides exchanged fire. The siege troops' battering rams were heavily targeted by the defenders. The soldiers pushing the rams were shot dead, and others had to climb atop the rams to remove the fire arrows. When one soldier fell, another replaced him, switching out repeatedly, leaving a trail of bodies as the siege equipment pressed forward, seemingly crushing the corpses beneath it.
At this moment, the Dothraki cavalry surged into the fray, riding their horses and shooting arrows at the city wall. Their superior mobility meant that they suffered very few casualties. The addition of tens of thousands of Dothraki quickly overpowered the defenders on the wall. The defenders started to raise shields in resistance, but the sheer number of attackers temporarily overwhelmed them.
"Push!"
The siege troops soon reached the foot of the wall, setting ladders up against the stone. The bottom of the ladders dug into the mud, and a dozen soldiers pulled on the ropes in the center to lean the ladders against the wall. The defenders pushed the ladders away with long poles, but during this struggle, countless soldiers were struck down by arrows from both sides.
"Falling rocks! Falling rocks!" The Tattered Prince ran back and forth on the city wall, shouting orders to defend.
Even the strongest men couldn't hold their ground against overwhelming numbers. The ladders were being pulled up to the battlements, and the slave soldiers, shielded in front, began to climb.
"Pour the logs, the oil! Pour oil on the ladders!" The wind-blowing unit didn't need the Tattered Prince's supervision. Several officers were sent to guard other parts of the wall, leaving him to manage his section. He was busy, constantly fearing a slip-up might allow the enemy to gain the upper hand.
The ladder-climbing phase was the deadliest. A heavy rolling log, filled with water, could knock entire groups off the ladders. If the ladder climbers were lucky, they could dodge the impact, but if they weren't, they would be knocked down, and some were burned alive or crushed by falling rocks.
The entire city wall was thick with smoke, and cries of battle filled the air. The battering rams also neared the three city gates.
Exhaustion!
Apart from the Dothraki, the attacking force was made up entirely of slave soldiers. Their numbers provided a significant advantage, using them to wear down the defenders' manpower and resources. To the attackers, the lives of slaves meant nothing—they were just expendable assets.
The main force of the enemy was still waiting in the back. The situation was being monitored. If this wave of attack succeeded, reinforcements would be sent to continue the assault. If the situation looked grim, they would begin to besiege the city instead.
The battle was still ongoing, but this was only the first wave. Wright wasn't planning to intervene yet. He continued scanning for suspicious individuals. If the defenders couldn't even hold out against this initial attack, then the lords of Meereen truly deserved to die.
To the west of Meereen, large numbers of ships waited to dock.
On one of the sailing warships, a group of high-ranking Golden Company officers stood by the window, pointing and gesturing toward the top of the Great Pyramid.
"Euron, where's your fleet?" Aegon roared loudly. His hair, once dyed blue, had now returned to its natural platinum color.
"I've arrived, haven't I?" Euron rhythmically tapped his iron chin with his fingers.
The sound of clinking metal only made Aegon more enraged. "We gave you so much money to buy ships and organize a fleet, and promised you that we'd kill Hizdahr and marry Daenerys to you. And yet, what do we get? You show up alone in a small skiff!"
Hearing Aegon's words, the surrounding Golden Company members unsheathed their longswords, pointing them at Euron.
Euron chuckled, raising both hands in surrender. "Oh, don't be like this. We'll be family soon enough! Besides, my ship is no tiny skiff; it's a sailing fast ship!"
Aegon pointed at Euron, roaring, "Shameless! If you don't give me a reasonable explanation today, I'll sentence you to death!"
"Hahaha, you really have some spirit!" Euron laughed, taking a step back. "As for Wright, no matter how many people you have, it's useless. Ten thousand soldiers could drain his power, but Wright isn't a fool. Won't he just run away?"
"So what? You're doing nothing, just coming to watch the show by yourself? Didn't you say you could match Wright in a fight? He's right there—go find him and rescue Daenerys while you're at it!" Aegon pointed out the window, toward the top of the pyramid.
Euron looked over, the sunlight reflecting off Wright's icy throne, casting a shining glow. "Wright? No, no, no. Fighting him would just dirty my fingers. I've brought in someone much more important to deal with him."
"You should know, Wright has a special way to summon dragons. His dragons are nearly 200 meters long and can appear over Meereen at any moment. Do you think this important person you brought in can handle that?" Aegon still didn't believe Euron, finding him too sly.
Euron looked at Aegon, then slowly raised his hand and removed his eye patch. Inside his eye socket, dozens of eyes of varying sizes rolled and spun, causing Aegon to take several steps back in fear, unable to speak.
Euron then closed the eye patch again and said to the Golden Company members, "The Drowned God! The great Drowned God! I am the true messenger of the Drowned God! I made a deal with a great being on his behalf. This being will come to deal with Wright, and even kill Wright and his dragon!"
Aegon's heart began to race, a flood of doubts rushing in. If this being could truly kill Wright and his dragon, what kind of being was it—an elusive god, a man-eating devil? Was Euron even still human?
It took him a while to calm down and regain his composure. "When will the being you summoned arrive?"
Euron stroked his iron chin. "Soon! The time is almost right. When you see the moment, send the signal to attack Wright."
Then, Euron looked off in the distance, toward Wright. "That armor and that greatsword on him—they're mine!"