It was the third day since the representative of the Iron Bank, Taichu, led his fast ship convoy away from Astapor.
New Ghis.
The sky was a crystal-clear blue, as if it had been washed clean, dotted with a few scattered white clouds.
"Ahhh, the White Dragon! I see a dragon. It's the White Dragon—he's hiding in the clouds!"
About a kilometer east of the Great Pyramid, on an unremarkable clock tower, a Ghis soldier spotted the target with both surprise and fear, shouting excitedly to his comrades.
Before long, a Ghis general with short, upright black and red hair received the report and quickly arrived.
He was a tall, muscular man with a square, authoritative face, thick, bristling brows, and large, expressive eyes.
With his left hand resting on the dragon-slaying saber at his waist, he strode with the steady, powerful gait of a general commanding the power of life and death over thousands.
"General Grazdan, Commander of the Allied Cavalry, has arrived!" a guard from the Iron Legion shouted at the tower entrance.
Yes, this was Grazdan, the indomitable War God of Kaywan—ever-defiant, ever-fighting.
A window on the tower's tiled roof was opened to allow the lens of an astronomical telescope to extend outward.
A telescope the size of a treadmill had been mounted on the clock tower.
Three days earlier, New Ghis had received a warning from Taichu: the Dragon Queen was planning to attack New Ghis.
Once the Iron Legion fleet escorted the Iron Bank's treasury ship out of the harbor, the Dragon Queen's fleet would seize the opportunity to take New Ghis.
None of New Ghis's leaders doubted the warning. Just over a month ago, shortly after the outbreak of the Stone Men incident in Astapor, scouts reported that "Hatarl the Demon's Tail" had been promoted to Southern Expedition General.
Southern expedition—south of where?
What lies south of Slaver's Bay?
New Ghis!
It was obvious: to avenge the Allied Forces' release of Stone Men into Slaver's Bay, the Dragon Queen was targeting New Ghis.
New Ghis promptly began evacuating civilians, moving residents from the narrow port city to the nearby island of Ghene (New Ghis covered less than five square kilometers, while Ghene spanned hundreds of kilometers).
As for the Great Pyramid...
There are no fools in this world.
After hearing the news that Deathwing had plucked a "star" and hurled it at the Palace of the Sea King, the people of New Ghis broke out in cold sweats.
For days, Grazdan's hands trembled as he gripped his dragon-slaying saber: Damn it, so that's where meteoric iron comes from!
Still, though New Ghis residents fled the Great Pyramid and began living and working in inconspicuous buildings nearby, they never publicly acknowledged that the Dragon Queen had already conducted an airstrike on New Ghis long ago.
The dragon-slaying saber remained the dragon-slaying saber—a sign of fortune for the Allied Forces.
"It really is the White Dragon," sighed the War God of Kaywan.
Under the guidance of an observer, Grazdan soon spotted the silver-white dragon flitting in and out of the white clouds.
Both the clouds and the dragon were white—easy to confuse.
"As expected, the Demon Dragon Mother is preparing to strike New Ghis. Before striking, one must scout. Know your enemy, know yourself, and you'll never be defeated. That familiar style, that familiar scent..."
Grazdan's eyes grew misty, as if reliving the thick smoke and fierce fighting of the Kaywan battlefield.
Soon after, he left the tower and summoned all Allied commanders still in New Ghis to share the intelligence that the dragon had begun surveillance.
"From your assessment, should we call back Tolos's fleet?" asked Sanetti, the naval commander.
Sanetti had once been the commander of the Ghis Alliance fleet.
He had as much combat experience against the Dragon Queen as Grazdan—he besieged Astapor, led troops to support Kaywan, transported Ghis yellow silk cloaks to Kaywan, delivered a golden dragon egg to the wise masters of Kaywan, and, at the end of the Kaywan campaign, captained the ship that evacuated the Kaywan nobility.
Yes—he too had fought countless battles and never compromised.
At present, Sanetti commanded a third of the Allied naval forces—Fleet Two of the three main fleets—standing alongside War God Grazdan as one of New Ghis's "Twin Stars of Hope."
The two of them were regarded as the future and salvation of the Ghis people—the embodiment of their collective hopes.
"No, absolutely not!" Grazdan barked.
"Why not?" asked the other naval commander of the Allied Forces, Quairs Zaro, in confusion.
Yes, the Dragon Queen's first "Queen's Wrath" bomb had landed in the New Ghis outskirts and had been forged into a saber and a sword.
The dragon-slaying saber was in Grazdan's hands, while the greatsword Dawnbreaker was held by Zaro.
"'Fight dumb battles, build hard fortresses'—that is the core military doctrine against the Dragon Queen. No matter how many tricks she uses, no matter how she changes tactics, we ignore them all and charge ahead like pigs."
Many commanders from Yuhai stood frozen in place.
"Commander... are you serious?"
The representative from Elephant Island, which had contributed five thousand war elephants to the Allied Forces, doubted his own ears.
"Of course. This is my hard-earned experience."
The War God's firm, square face radiated determination and sincerity.
"No, we can't just do nothing!"
Craig Omoren slammed the table, furious. "Anyone with the slightest military sense knows how critical New Ghis is in this war—it's the Allied Forces' central logistics hub!"
Craig was a handsome man in his early thirties, with silver hair and blue eyes—a classic Valyrian lineage.
After the Dragon Queen torched Lys's "Group Fun Activity Center," killing many Trade Princes, Craig rose to power, becoming commander of the "Three Sisters" Alliance Fleet.
Yes, Lynesse had betrayed many of Lys's noble elite in exchange for the Dragon Queen sparing her and her lover Craig.
In fact, Lynesse was in New Ghis at this very moment, having secured her position as Craig's principal wife.
"Prince Craig, what's your proposal?" Zaro asked.
A gleam flashed in Craig's eyes. He replied excitedly, "Since we know she plans to attack New Ghis, let's use that to our advantage.
If the Dragon Queen wants to assault New Ghis, she'll have to bring out her Slaver's Bay fleet—otherwise, her dragons will have no way to replenish their fire-oil bombs."
We can redeploy the First Fleet of Tolos and have it quietly lie in wait offshore, looking for an opportunity to cut off the Mother of Dragons' fleet from behind.
At the same time, New Ghis has the Second and Third Fleets. Altogether, the three fleets amount to over 300 armed warships.
Even if they can't slay dragons, they can at least set up an ambush, wipe out the fleet at Slaver's Bay, and seize complete control of the sea in this war!
"We must remain still if we are to best protect New Ghis," the God of War sighed.
Trig's fighting spirit reminded him of his younger self—equally passionate and full of brilliant strategies.
But reality is cruel. It strips us of our innocence and forces us to mature.
"General Grazdan, listen to what you're saying. Do nothing? Then why are we even sitting here?" the representative from Elephants' Isle protested.
"It's not about doing nothing. It's about not altering the grand strategy," the God of War said with a complicated tone.
"Let's vote. Since we're divided, let the entire Military Council cast their votes," Trig suggested.
"Sigh…" The God of War sighed again, a trace of sorrow appearing in his eyes.
As expected, aside from his fellow Ghiscari, no one trusted the "God of War" who had suffered defeat after defeat.
That very afternoon, several raven messengers carrying encrypted letters flew from New Ghis to Tolos, more than a thousand kilometers away.
Daenerys did not immediately launch an attack on Tolos. Drogon had flown to the Disputed Lands, and would be away for at least a week.
Besides, her strategic goal this time wasn't to capture a specific city.
She wanted to uncover the Allies' ultimate trump card.
So, she employed a tactic akin to "Peng Yue harassing Chu."
But she was no Peng Yue—she was Xiang Yu.
Not only could she harass Chu, she could pillage it as well.
During this waiting period, merchant ships from Meereen, Qarth, and Astapor began gathering at Nanan Town.
They would follow the Dragon Queen to the neighboring city-states for a major looting campaign.
New Ghis served as the main logistics hub, while Tolos was the most critical grain depot at the front line.
From Volantis to Mataris—a span of 2,000 kilometers—food was shipped from Volantis. Once it reached Mataris, it followed the Valyrian Road another 1,000 kilometers to Polash, then another 1,000 kilometers to the gates of Meereen. The entire supply line relied on Tolos's naval transport.
So, if the Dragon Queen managed to seize Tolos, she would surely capture a large amount of grain and military supplies.
That's why the Allied Forces could never allow her to take Tolos.
That's why, if they had any secret weapon, it would most likely be revealed in the battle for Tolos.
Daenerys was waiting for Drogon—and for her forces to gather.
At the moment, Slaver's Bay had three fleets:
The First Fleet, led by the Crab King, comprised 10 galleons and 20 rowing fast ships.
The Second Fleet included 40 rowing fast ships. Its flagship was Euron's red-hulled Tranquility, under the command of White Knight Garth Hightower.
The Third Fleet, under the command of Blackbeard Grolei, consisted of 100 fast ships and 400 cargo ships. It was massive, though the quality varied; the smallest sea vessels had only 30 tons of cargo capacity.
Roughly speaking, the Crab King led the heavy cavalry, Garth commanded the light cavalry, and Grolei represented the militia and civilian logistics.
Each evening thereafter, once darkness fell, Daenerys would ride Rhaegal to observe enemy movements 200 kilometers away in Tolos.
At night, no matter how advanced a telescope was, it couldn't spot a green dragon flying 200 meters above the ground.
But no matter how dark it was, the docks had to be lit. That was enough for Daenerys to clearly observe enemy troop deployments and fleet positions.
Daenerys had donned her armor once again, convinced that nothing unexpected would happen in this war.
But suddenly, on the fifth day after the Iron Bank's escort fleet departed from Astapor, she received an urgent raven from Maester Marwyn on Dragonstone: the baby White Walker had been kidnapped by slavers.
Archmaester Perestan had thought he understood the limits of his old colleagues. So after sending Randyll Tarly a detailed letter explaining what White Walkers were and why Sam was taking one to the Citadel, he believed Sam's journey would go smoothly. The maesters wouldn't dare to harm him anymore.
And indeed, they didn't dare to use the same underhanded methods they'd used on others to make Sam disappear before reaching Oldtown.
But they could still prevent the White Walker in his care from reaching the Citadel.
So, once Perestan disclosed Sam's travel plans to the Citadel, the maesters acted immediately.
Before Jorro Dayne could arrive at Eastwatch with his fleet of 80 warships, Sam had already left the Wall aboard a Night's Watch ship bound for Braavos.
He carried two boxes—one large, one small—each holding a White Walker. Along with him were Gilly, Mance Rayder's son, Dareon the singing crow, and a large bag of gold coins sufficient to hire a fast ship.
Jon had also sent the experienced Ulmer to accompany them, with orders not to return to the Wall until Sam was safely aboard a ship heading to Oldtown.
In the original story, Maester Aemon would have accompanied them. He fell ill during the journey, delaying them in Braavos.
But now that Maester Aemon was no longer with them—and since the mission was of utmost importance—the Night's Watch brothers should have immediately helped Sam hire a fast ship.
Then Sam could have departed right away, possibly without even staying overnight in Braavos.
But the Citadel had already set its scheme in motion. The Night's Watch banner was too conspicuous, and as soon as they reached the docks, they were marked.
(End of Chapter)
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