If Qarth was the gateway between the Eastern and Western worlds, then New Ghis was the front courtyard of the West's path toward the Jade Sea in the East.
In terms of geography, New Ghis was not as advantageous as Qarth, but as a strategic hub that could block East–West trade, its importance was nearly equal.
Once New Ghis and its surrounding seas were engulfed in war, East–West trade was no longer safe. Maritime commerce, already in decline because of the Dragon Queen's rise, suffered yet another heavy blow.
Helpless, countless sea merchants of the western Essosi city-states began to seek ways to save themselves.
Just as kindergartens turned into barbecue shops during the pandemic, in this world the sea merchants turned into grain merchants. Craftsmen became farmers, and fields once planted with cotton, hemp, oil crops, sugarcane, tobacco, and medicinal herbs were switched to wheat, soybeans, and corn.
In fact, this shift had begun long ago, even before the Dragon Queen launched her "Grain Treasure" initiative.
The reason was simple: the slave trade was a vital link in maritime commerce, and with the collapse of the largest slave market, trade by sea inevitably suffered severe damage.
Moreover, Qarth, New Ghis, and Volantis were among the most crucial hubs of maritime trade, yet now all were locked in war with Slaver's Bay.
But enough digression. The Battle of New Ghis was only beginning, and its impact on trade was spreading rapidly.
On the second day, Garth's fleet escorted captives into Old Ghis, while on the same day, the Dragon Queen launched an air raid on New Ghis.
It was New Ghis's first time under attack. The damage was minimal, but the effect profound: merchants across the seas were terrified, and none dared approach New Ghis harbor again.
On the third day, Old Ghis's docks were hastily rebuilt. That same day, the Dragon Queen and her black dragon remained in Old Ghis, while General Wildfire led the green, white, and gold dragons in an air raid on New Ghis.
Two waves of fire-oil bombs struck in a single day, throwing New Ghis into panic.
On the fourth day, a fleet from "New York Village" at the southern tip of the Isle of the Free Maiden arrived at Old Ghis, bringing food and supplies.
That same day, the Dragon Queen again stayed behind with her black dragon, while General Wildfire with the green, white, and gold dragons raided New Ghis.
Again, two strikes in one day. New Ghis abandoned repairs on its docks, and citizens began fleeing en masse to neighboring Jeane Island.
On the fifth day, the first house, built from giant pyramid stones and timber, was completed. The Dragon Queen moved in, while General Wildfire once again led the green, white, and gold dragons in an assault on New Ghis.
On the sixth day, everything proceeded as usual for the Dragon Queen's side, and they even began organizing people to cultivate wasteland covered in greenery.
Meanwhile, allied spies finally slipped through the Ghiscar Straits, circling from the East, and secretly hid in the shrubs five kilometers from Old Ghis.
From there, they watched through telescopes in secret.
Another three days passed, and the allies gradually discovered a pattern: the Dragon Queen herself never participated in the bombing runs on New Ghis, and her black dragon always lay on a hill, fast asleep.
Then, War God Quanyan personally wrote to "Two-Headed King" Banny of Maesterlys:
"The Dragon Queen is clever. Her aim is not to occupy New Ghis, but to cripple the supply hub of the allied forces.
Just as she seized Tolos without occupying it.She understands that capturing too many city-states at this stage would only stretch her forces thin.
If the allies lose their logistics and supply capacity, only then does she have a chance of winning this warTherefore, we must not dance to her rhythm. We must disrupt her tempo.Either, Your Highness Banny, bring the wyverns to guard New Ghis, protect it, and ambush her dragons.Or, while the Dragon Queen is away, strike at the cities of Slaver's Bay, set her rear ablaze, and leave her unable to advance on New Ghis."
Banny, a prince of Maesterlys, was nicknamed the "Two-Headed Demon King."
In truth, he had been tempted ever since first hearing the suggestion: "Give the Dragon Queen blood for blood, and strike at her home."
But the losses at Tolos had been too great. Thirty wyverns went into battle, and aside from himself, all were lost.
Think about it—if Maesterlys still had an intact corps of wyvern riders, why would they not have gone to Tolos together?Were they holding back for a sneak attack on the Dragon Queen later?That would be laughable.
In short, Grazdan's proposal was sound, and both Banny and Jeyne agreed. Unfortunately, Maesterlys no longer had dragons.
At least, not for now.
Just like New Ghis, Daenerys had no idea Maesterlys was out of wyverns.
New Ghis believed Banny had dragons because Jeyne, to calm the populace, had lied.
Daenerys believed Banny had dragons because, under the "Whip of Solitude's" interrogation, not a single captive could withstand questioning. Their confessions were strikingly consistent: about a hundred trainees had undergone dragon-rider training in the same class. After completing their training, groups of ten were dispatched to various dragon-taming bases across the Sea of Sighs.
Since they had been trained separately, captives did not know whether they had dragons. The truth was that seventy percent of their companions had not been assigned wyverns at all.
This misled Daenerys into believing there were still seven more training bases, simply unfinished, which explained why they had not appeared in the last battle.
In a way, her assumption was not entirely wrong.
Banny did not outright reject New Ghis's request at the time. Instead, he replied: wait a little longer. Perhaps Daenerys was using deception, with her real goal being to ambush the remaining wyverns.
While New Ghis sent spies to investigate the Dragon Queen's movements in preparation for a surprise strike, Banny once more took up the dragonhorn known as "Dragonslayer" and traveled to the jungles of Sothoryos, where he again bound forty wyverns to his will.
The Dragonslayer surpassed the "Dragonbinder," the most powerful dragonhorn of Valyria, but even it could not command dragons without limit.
Especially since Banny's own strength was limited. With Jeyne too far away, the power she could lend him was weakened.
Last time, thirty wyverns had been his maximum. Controlling forty this time did not mean Banny's power had grown, nor that the horn had been strengthened.
The reason was simply that these forty wyverns were younger and smaller than the ones before.
When Quanyan sent his second plea for aid, Banny immediately replied: keep a close watch on the black dragon's movements.
Ten days after the Battle of the Bay of Grief, the High Sparrow sent a letter to Dragonstone: a new set of Seven statues had been completed, and he hoped the Dragon Queen would also consider adopting the new statues and doctrines in Slaver's Bay.
Now, each of the Seven had been given a black dragon steed. The Lightbringer served as their guardian, much like the Kingsguard in the mortal realm.
On the eleventh day, the High Sparrow held a grand mass, and more than 200,000 believers gathered inside and outside King's Landing.
Standing in the preaching hall, the High Sparrow announced:
"The Long Night is coming. The prophecy of the Seven (the one Dany crafted especially for me) will surely come true. At such a moment, the High Defender of Light must shoulder an even greater responsibility.
He is the iron shield of the Seven, my right hand. Together with me, and with all the lambs of the Seven, under the guidance of the Seven, he will destroy the White Walkers and bring an end to the Long Night."
On this day, Blacky ascended once again.
On this day, Dany was overjoyed, yet deeply conflicted.
She was overjoyed because her goal had been achieved. Just as she had anticipated, under the "ordination" of the High Sparrow, Blacky successfully seized the authority of the Seven.
Yet Blacky's power was limited. Though he received the title, his virtue did not match his station.
He could not devour everything at once, swallowing all seven divine aspects of the Seven. With his current ability, he could at most choose only one.
And so, Dany was torn.
Father. Mother. Maiden. Smith. Warrior. Stranger. Crone.
Whom should she choose? Which role should she take on?
If not for Gordoho's Valyrian steel statue, Dany might have wavered between the Warrior and the Stranger.
But now…It seemed there were seven choices, yet in truth there was only one gamble: the "Smith."
And on that very day, Blacky became the "Smith."
In an instant, countless threads of faith leapt across the pool of belief and connected directly to him.
All who worshipped the Seven became followers of Blacky!The usurpation was one-seventh complete.
It could be said that from this day forward, Blacky stood on the same level as Balerion, the Black Goat, the Goddess of Desire, and other long-established demigods and dark gods—though their power might differ.
Then, on the twelfth day after the Battle of the Bay of Sorrow, a wyvern circled around the Valyrian Peninsula, avoiding the Dragon Queen's sight, slipped onto Ghiscari Isle, and under the cover of night moved north toward Old Ghis.
Thirty kilometers east of Old Ghis, the wyvern landed, leaving behind a rider of noble Fourteen Flames pureblood, a devoted follower of Balerion.
The wyvern rider met with spies from New Ghis and infiltrated two kilometers outside Old Ghis, hiding in the shrubs and observing a distant town through a spyglass.
On the thirteenth day, at dawn, the wyvern rider prayed devoutly to Balerion, reciting scripture with reverence, repeating one powerful thought again and again in his mind: the Black Dragon lay sprawled across the ruins of the Great Pyramid, basking in the sun, fast asleep.
Fifteen hundred kilometers away, through sorcery, Balerion tried to hear the voice of his follower's heart:Nothing.
Unless it was a blood sacrifice, or unless the supplicant was the holiest of saints, like the High Sparrow, there was no way to reach a god across such a distance.
Even Balerion could not, and neither could R'hllor, the Lord of Light. Such was the strength of this world's suppression against transcendent powers.
Now that Blacky had become one of the "Seven," he too could only hear the prayers of the faithful through the statues of the "Smith" and the "High Defender" in the Great Sept—and only if the faith was fervent enough to stir the threads of belief tied to him.
It consumed a great deal of divine power and was hardly worth it. Other demigods never bothered with such waste.
Back in Toloros, the only reason the wyvern rider had been able to "communicate in real time" with Benny was because he had been very close to him.
And like Jenny, Benny had become a part of Balerion's future. Being near Benny was like being near Balerion himself.
Yes—his future.
Benny's bloodline was noble. After death, his soul would merge into the great "Balerion family."
But that didn't mean the wyvern rider's prayers were useless. Though Balerion could not hear his follower's voice, he could sense part of his emotions—joy meant the Black Dragon was in Old Ghis; worry meant the Black Dragon was absent.
Back in Toloros, their ambush had failed and nearly ended in annihilation. Jenny and Benny had since leaned closer to the War God of Yunkai, constantly fearful of falling into the Dragon Queen's traps again.
Now, Benny was certain—the Black Dragon and the Dragon Queen were both in Old Ghis.
Slaver's Bay was defenseless. They could strike the Dragon Queen's homeland without fear and give her a bloody reprisal!
Benny raised his hand and roared to the dragon host behind him:"Move out! To Meereen! Seize the labor camps, free a hundred thousand Ghiscari people, and overthrow the rule of the Mother of Demons in Meereen!"
"Hissss"
Forty wyverns beat their wings, leaping from the waist-high grasslands and soaring south toward Meereen.
(End of Chapter)
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