"Awooo..." The red dragon howled in anguish.
Like pork falling into a meat grinder, her scales were scraped off layer by layer. Flesh and skin dissolved into specks of light, then vanished.
Because she was a soul-form, old layers of skin peeled away only to grow back anew, over and over again, the cruel process repeating without end.
The sight was unbearably brutal.
"Hissss—" Big Black turned his head away, unable to watch any longer. Little White simply shut his eyes.
After a long while, when the red dragon's soul had dwindled to about a quarter of its original strength, her body thinned to a ghostly silhouette. At that moment, the storm dispersed, and Little White opened a path.
Dany sighed. "Earlier, you said that when you saw me with Little White and Big Black, you thought of yourself with Sheep Egg.
Now, seeing you like this, Big Black, Little White, and I feel the same way. It's painful. Go. Next time we meet, we'll settle life and death then."
The red dragon cast a complicated, silent look at the girl and her two dragons, then slipped into the void, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
In the real world, at the very instant Dany returned to her body, the red dragon also completed her dragon spirit.
The Smoking Sea.
The seawater boiled, bubbles rising in torrents, the surface shrouded in dense, sulfur-scented steam.
Beneath the sea, a volcano glowed with dark red light.
At the base of the volcano, within a magma lake, lay the ruins of a collapsed temple.
Inside, the statue of Balerion trembled faintly.
"Ah, child, your horn was destroyed? Damn it, how did you become so wounded?"
The anxious voice of a young man echoed within.
"Father, don't worry, I'm fine. Daenerys is strong—strong enough to block me from merging with your dragon spirit. I suspect she has mastered the Green Seer's secret arts."
It was the red dragon's weary sigh.
"I swear, I will kill that wretch to avenge you! Perhaps, if I devour her, I will advance further still and become the true God of Fire.
The power of a true god is limitless. Reviving you would not be difficult. Then, I could finally fulfill the promise I made long ago, and with you—"
The young man's voice carried boundless hatred, yet also endless love.
Meereen, the top garden of the Great Pyramid.
The afternoon sun blazed fiercely, but Dany seemed unaware. She stood upon the thick wall, eyes closed, carefully sensing.
"So you really are hiding in the Smoking Sea."
After a long moment, she opened her eyes, and in her cold gaze flickered a trace of amusement.
"Sheep Egg, your countdown to death has already begun."
The red dragon had no idea that while the Dragon Queen stripped away her soul with the wind-and-fire vortex, she also quietly performed spirit bestowal.
This time, she did not absorb it herself but instead bestowed it upon the red dragon.
Caught in the agony of having her soul torn apart, the red dragon never noticed the added fragments of spirit—her total essence only kept diminishing.
Dany extracted the red dragon's soul and converted it into vast amounts of soul essence, naturally rich in Alpha-Will essence.
Spirit bestowal could reformat the red dragon's Alpha-Will essence. The Green Seer's second soul-ring could then "pseudo-format" that essence.
It appeared reformatted, stripped of any personal imprint, seemingly ready for any being to absorb, but in truth, the soul essence carried a faint trace of the Dragon Queen's mark.
So faint that Sheep Egg could not detect it, yet just strong enough to pinpoint the red dragon's location.
Not nearly enough to enable "Dany's Whispers."
But undeniably, Dany had been moved by the red dragon's loyalty and sacrifice for Sheep Egg.
Still, being moved was one thing—life had to go on. A single moment of emotion could not dissolve her hostility toward Sheep Egg.
Just as Dany admired Jack, the young leader of the Spear Company, yet still arranged for him a most tragic end.
Toward those irrelevant to her, Dany was generous and approachable, almost without any queenly airs. So much so that Aegon firmly believed she was the kindest, most affectionate aunt in the world, his dearest kin.
Toward ordinary people, Dany felt some compassion and would help when she could.
For instance, aiding the Riverlands, or the fifty-million-gold-dragon grain purchase plan.
But when facing those hostile to her, who also had the power to harm her, Dany could be absolutely ruthless. For example, Jaqen of the Faceless Men and his "Undying Meditation," or now, at this very moment.
So what if she repelled this allied attack?
Killing Jany was still uncertain, and even if she succeeded, Jany—like Benny—was only one of countless soul-fragments of Balerion.
Slay one, and thousands, tens of thousands more would come after.
Was Dany supposed to battle Balerion for millennia, until the end of the world? Impossible.
Yet she didn't even know where Balerion's true body was. She couldn't strike at him, not even with a five-thousand-watt steel brute force assault.
Until the red dragon appeared. Dead for thousands of years, and yet she could still merge with Sheep Egg's dragon spirit!
For the first time, Dany understood just how powerful dragon spirit truly was, and what that meant.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
All she had to do was leave a tracker within the red dragon's soul. United as one with her, Sheep Egg would have nowhere to hide!
And now, her guess was confirmed. She had truly sensed Sheep Egg's true body.
At the bottom of the Smoking Sea!
New Ghis.
A modest house serving as the Allied Headquarters.
Grazdan, Prince Rhaester, Qyarth Xaro, Sanetti of New Ghis, and a host of allied generals and representatives gathered in the meeting chamber.
They did not converse. The room was not silent, yet no one spoke.
Do you want me to continue polishing the next scene with the Allied generals immediately, or should I stop here at this chapter's closing point?
Everyone was occupied with their own distractions. The Pirate King of Lizard Isle chewed sour grass leaves by himself, Sanetti squinted as he puffed on his dry pipe, Traeger held a glass of red wine with a dazed look, and Grazdan flipped through a paper book from Slaver's Bay with great focus. Some sipped tea, others rested with their eyes closed.
Only Zaro was restless, as if burning coals had been shoved under his seat. He fidgeted, glanced around anxiously, and could not sit still.
This time, he stood again and walked to the window to peer toward the distant rookery.
Unfortunately, he did not see the raven he was hoping for.
Stamping his foot, he muttered, "It's been nearly two days. The raven should have arrived by now."
Zaro's words sparked the unease of others, and someone quickly chimed in: "What do you think, is it possible that the Wildfire General intercepted our raven?
Wyverns fly faster than ravens. That bastard visits New Ghis every day—maybe he ran into it?"
"Highly unlikely. The maesters of Westeros have verified that ravens are bonded by sorcery and possess remarkable intelligence. They believe ravens are the most resilient of birds, capable of avoiding predatory raptors on their own." Traeger shook his head.
"Still, I haven't been able to sleep for half a month. At first, I was terrified of the Wildfire General's bombing raids. Now, I'm desperate to know Lord Banny's ambush results.
Gods above, let a raven bring me the news of Meereen's restoration, so I can finally sleep in peace!"
Zaro clasped his hands together, shut his eyes, and prayed devoutly.
The Elephant Isle representative, dark circles under his eyes and face weary, nodded repeatedly at Zaro's words. "Me too. I'm always worried the Wildfire General will drop firebombs on my roof.
I heard General James in the south of the city—his whole family of seven—died in the bombing?"
Indeed, after burning every timber structure on the docks, Tyrion moved on to torching the southern noble district, targeting the grandest houses.
He even had a detailed map of New Ghis, marked with the estates of noble families and the homes of senior officers.
In the past few days, Tyrion had racked up an achievement that could only be described as "Holy shit," killing hundreds of nobles and allied commanders.
The deformed little monkey-demon in the green helm, green armor, and green cloak had become the city's nightmare, transformed into the "Green Demon" of New Ghisian nursemaids' tales—his infamy nearly matched the White Walkers told of in northern fables.
"Braavos seems to have been cowed by the dragonfire. Using its contract with the Dragon Queen as an excuse, it has refused to accept the Faceless Men's contract to assassinate Aegon.
In that case, why not use the saved money to buy the life of the Green Demon instead?" someone suggested.
"Agreed." Pirlo, now lord of Tolos, nodded at once.
"These days, just the sight of green armor and a green cloak gives me nightmares. Spending a few hundred thousand gold to ease my mind is worth it!" Zaro declared through clenched teeth.
Very quickly, the plan to assassinate the Imp passed unanimously.
And now Tyrion shared the same peril as Aegon!
Half an hour later, Zaro, bored once again, stood up and walked to the window. He raised a spyglass to the rookery, then leapt three feet high, waving his arms wildly as he shouted:"There's a message raven! I saw it fly into the rookery. No mistake—Matalis has sent word!"
Without waiting for anyone's response, he bolted from the chamber and ran straight toward the rookery.
But even after a full quarter hour, Zaro had not returned.
The anticipation and excitement of the gathered alliance leaders slowly turned into unease and dread.
"Why has he been gone so long?" Traeger frowned and asked dryly.
Sunlight filtered through frosted glass, casting shadows across the square, rugged face of War God Kaibian.
For some reason, a chill of déjà vu seized him, as if he were back in Kaibian once more—black wings always brought black tidings. Disaster. The ambush had failed!
"Wuu, wuu, wuu…" Outside the door came Zaro's sobbing wails.
Moments later, two soldiers carried in a stretcher.
Zaro lay upon it, weeping.
"Lords, Commander Zaro grew too excited and fell down the rookery's stone steps, spraining his ankle," a soldier reported.
No one paid attention to the soldier. Every pair of anxious eyes was locked on the letter clutched in Zaro's hand.
"Well? Tears of joy?" Traeger twisted his neck and croaked.
"Wuu, wuu, wuu… We're finished, it's all over. We've been tricked! How could that woman be so cunning? Back in Qarth I never saw it at all!" Zaro sobbed.
"Aaah!" Cries of despair filled the chamber.
War God Grazdan strode forward, snatched the letter from Zaro's hand, and scanned it swiftly.
After a long pause, he handed the parchment to the eager Sanetti, then staggered to the window. He lifted his head to the bright blue sky and sighed heavily. "As I feared. Countless schemes and endless plots are worthless compared to a steady, grounded approach.
This is my fault. I failed to adhere to the principle of fortifying strongholds and fighting solid battles. I sought risk, and so we fell into danger."
"Too treacherous! Painting the black dragon green to disguise it as a wyvern? How could anyone be so deceitful?!" Sanetti wailed after reading the letter.
"What do we do now? We've lost thirty more dragons, and who knows how many that woman has captured. New Ghis is in grave danger." The Elephant Isle representative spoke in terror.
"What else can we do? Have Matalis send wyvern riders to reinforce us. The wyvern corps can work with the second and third fleets.
Scorpion bolts will cover the wyverns' lack of dragonfire, while wyvern riders will make up for the fleets' weakness in aerial combat.
Our strength is not small. If we fight openly and directly, we can at least hold even."
The War God Grazdan regained his commanding presence, his expression firm.
Then, with a solemn look, he added: "High Priestess Jany suspects too many loose tongues among us leaked the plan to strike Meereen. What do you think?"
"It's possible," Traeger agreed immediately with a nod.
(End of chapter)
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