To help the centaurs find a way into power, Dany had to establish a unified image of Black in the minds of the horse people.
For example, among the Seven Gods, the Mother represents kindness and compassion. No one would confuse her with the Crone's "wisdom."
Previously, Dany had never thought about cultivating faith among the horse people. When some prayed to Black during weddings, they regarded him as the god of "marriage." When others bore children and received a name bestowed by Black (Dany's dragon spirit, handwritten by Black), they saw him as the god of "fertility." There were also those who had never seen Black but carved wooden effigies of him themselves and prayed before heading out to pasture each day. Thus, Black became the "god of herding."
A thousand Hamlets exist in a thousand hearts, and a thousand horse people each have their own version of Black.
This kind of disorder could never form a true faith. That was why, though some horse people did worship Black and though he had long since become a demigod, he had never once received any true power of belief from them.
While diligently honing her newly swelling magical power, Dany began gathering old horsemen like Afanti and Solomon (the tribe's blacksmith elder) to ask about the customs and ancient legends of the horse tribes.
Especially Afanti—he had served under twelve khals, seen much of the world, and possessed a wealth of experience.
Dany also consulted elderly women of the tribes, who were equivalent to the dosh khaleen (priestesses). They knew the stories and doctrines of the horse god.
Indeed, the horse people had their own faith, centered on the Horse God.
The Horse God even possessed aspects of death. The horse people believed he ruled the night realm, a dark, endless steppe that no rider could ever reach the end of.
When a horseman and his warhorse died and were cremated together, they would ride into that shadowy sea of grass in the night.
For instance, when Dany first crossed over into this world, she oversaw the cremation of Khal Drogo and his three bloodriders. The horse people searched the sky for the star that marked Drogo's ascent into the night realm.
In the House of Black and White in Braavos, there even stood a bronze and iron statue of the Horse God. This meant that his aspect as a god of death had been acknowledged by the Faceless Men, becoming one of the faces of the Many-Faced God. It also meant the Faceless Men could deliver the "gift of death" to any horseman.
Until now, Dany had never considered usurping the Horse God's divine office, not because she revered him.
In fact, she suspected he was nothing more than a wooden stake, just like the Seven.
The main reason was that his doctrine was wicked, much like the Drowned God's Old Way, encouraging raiding, slaughter, destruction, and strength.
In short, the ironborn burned, pillaged, and plundered to please the Drowned God. The horse people did the same to please the Horse God.
Such a vile divinity was not worth Dany's regard, even if it were handed to her for free.
What mother doesn't want her son to grow into a noble, upright man?
But to repay the horse people who had always been loyal to her, Dany decided to revise the Horse God's doctrine.
After all, she had already rewritten the Seven-Pointed Star more times than she could count. Why should she care about the Pegasus Bible?
In truth, the horse people had no written language, and their god's doctrine was passed down orally. The Pegasus Bible was entirely a new creation of the khaleesi.
She sought stories from the elders only as "source material."
This time, Dany didn't bother inventing titles like "Hand of the Horse God" or "Son of the Horse God." She declared directly: "The Pegasus is the Horse God, Black is the Pegasus, therefore Black is the Horse God."
Black already bore the title "Steed Who Rides the World." Since he could fly, what else could he be but the Pegasus? Even if the Horse God did exist, could he possibly compare to the Pegasus?
Whatever the khaleesi spoke, even the Horse God could not refute.
To say something blasphemous, Dany almost wished the Horse God would step forth to oppose her.
She still had dragon babies waiting to be fed. What was a Horse God? He could be eaten all the same!
The Pegasus Bible did not completely erase the doctrines of slaughter and war. Instead, it reshaped them into principles like "If others do not offend me, I will not offend them. If others offend me, no matter how far, they must be punished," and "Even a grudge lasting ten generations may still be avenged." The necessary fierceness and courage had to be preserved.
Horses eat grass, but horse people never eat grass!
According to Dany's doctrine, the Battle of Qohor should not end. If three thousand Unsullied dared to earn renown against the horse people, then the horse people should first destroy Qohor and then slaughter Astapor.
If one generation could not achieve it, they must strive harder, learn from strengths, improve themselves, and continue for two, three, ten, a hundred, a thousand, even ten thousand generations!
In the new Pegasus Bible, Pegasus Black not only inherited the Horse God's dominion over the "night realm" but also took on new roles as a household deity.
Weddings, funerals, births, prayers, vows—Black could preside over them all.
He was essentially the equivalent of the ancient Kitchen God from the old tales of the Celestial Empire.
The Pegasus Bible caused a great stir among the horse people, though it hardly caught the attention of the freedmen in Slaver's Bay.
Some sharp minds, however, immediately sensed something was amiss.
Tyrion, for example.
Why was it that faith in Black could activate the Seal of the Paladin?
Well, the Dragon Queen called it the "Mark of the Pegasus."
What connection did the Mark of the Pegasus have with the Seal of the Paladin?
What was the true root of the bond between dragon and rider?
What was Black's relationship to the Seven?
The more Tyrion thought, the more terrified he became.
Quietly, the dwarf went to old Aemon and shared these questions with him.
"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Aemon asked, puzzled.
"Ah, I refused to go into the rainforest for 'the wisdom of the elder dragon.' And… lately the Queen hasn't been too fond of me," the dwarf said helplessly.
Was it wrong to have a strong sense of self-preservation? Did he have to stupidly leap into a pit just to satisfy others?
Tyrion, too, carried his grievances.
"By the way, don't say these ideas came from me. I'm afraid that if I know too much, the Queen will silence me," he quickly added.
"She won't. You're overthinking it. Dany won't kill you," Aemon assured him.
Tyrion grumbled irritably. "Yes, she won't kill me directly, but she'll assign me tasks that could.
I've barely rested for two days, and now she wants me to bomb Qarth.
That's more than two thousand kilometers away. Even without stopping, it would take a full day and night of flying. If exhaustion doesn't kill me, I'd probably be caught and torn apart by a faster shadow dragon halfway through."
Aemon gently consoled him. "You should understand her. It's all to defeat the coalition. We have fewer wyverns, while they have more. We can only set fires in different places to scatter their forces and lessen the pressure for the great bombardment of Meereen later."
When Aemon asked his question, Dany gave her answer without a moment's hesitation. "It's simple. I created the runes, but contracting wyverns requires divine power.
Just like the Black Goat of Qohor's divine power can reforge Valyrian steel, the power of Balerion, R'hllor, and the Seven Gods works too. Drogon is half-divine, so of course he has divine power."
Aemon suddenly understood. Tyrion remained skeptical, but lacking extraordinary knowledge, he couldn't find a flaw in the dragon queen's words.
Well, he didn't have time to overthink it anyway.
Without the slightest burden, Aemon offered Tyrion up.
Once the dragon queen learned all those questions had come from the dwarf, she immediately assigned him a new mission: go to New York Town and plunder passing sea vessels.
After all, Matalis's army needed supplies, and now that Tolos had been retaken, ships once again entered the Bay of Grief.
The Strait of the Free Maiden was 200 kilometers wide. Dany knew it was nearly impossible to completely blockade it, just as Germany had been unable to cut off Britain from America during the World Wars.
The Isle of the Free Maiden was in her hands. At the southern New York Town and the northern South An Town, she had installed arrays of ballistae. Even if the enemy sent wyverns to escort, Tyrion could still retreat into the safe zone before being overwhelmed.
At the same time, Dany had to station wyvern riders in New York and South An to guard against enemy bombardments.
So the days dragged on in stalemate. Dany held the advantage of terrain, while the coalition commanded the support of the entire world.
The great decisive battle had not yet come, but the war had already become a war of attrition.
One day, with her cultivation stabilized, Dany was preparing to gather her advisors to discuss how to transport a 100-ton Valyrian steel statue to Slaver's Bay when Marwyn contacted her.
The distance was too great. Normally, with Marwyn's meager power, he couldn't reach her at all.
It was like when someone was in college and got a call from home—the phone would notify them, but they wouldn't answer because long-distance charges were too expensive.
Instead, they'd go to the campus payphone and use a prepaid phone card (25 coins for 50 coins' worth of calls) to call back. At fifteen cents a minute, even half an hour of chatter wasn't a concern.
Marwyn was poor in magic, while Dany's power had skyrocketed. So it was usually she who "called back."
But this time, when he saw her, the bull-necked maester was startled—her projection was ten times clearer than before.
"You're near Dragonstone?" Marwyn asked in surprise.
"No, I'm in Slaver's Bay. I've made some progress in my cultivation recently. My power has increased about tenfold," Dany waved it off carelessly.
Marwyn's short, stocky body swayed as though about to collapse. Had his thirty years of arduous training all been wasted?
"What's the matter?" Dany asked.
Marwyn collected himself, cast another stunned glance at the queen's image, and said dryly, "The pit for the magical network has been dug. Two hundred and ten meters."
"Good. I'll find time to sneak over."
"Sneak over?" Marwyn asked, confused.
"Alas, the coalition does indeed have wyverns. They've already ambushed me twice. If they learned I left Slaver's Bay riding Drogon, a third time would surely follow," Dany sighed.
There would be no third ambush in the near future. Matalis had only ten wyverns left, barely enough to defend New Ghis's skies with the aid of dragon-hunting ballistae.
Unfortunately, Dany didn't know this.
Even the New Ghis representatives didn't know that Jeyne was desperately searching for a "Benny II." If she couldn't find a true-born heir of the three great families, she would have to step forward herself.
"Barristan sent a letter, asking you to contact him again when you have time," Marwyn added.
"Alright." Dany nodded.
"Samwell arrived at Dragonstone yesterday afternoon aboard the Laurel Wind, bringing a wildling girl, a crow outcast, and an infant—no White Walkers."
"That useless fat man," Dany muttered with a curl of her lip. "Since he lost the White Walkers, why didn't he go back to the Wall?"
"I don't know," Marwyn shook his head. "Should I summon him so you can ask yourself?"
"Forget it. Let him stay a few more days. I'll speak with him in person when I get to Dragonstone." She waved her hand, then asked, "By the way, what's the High Sparrow been up to lately?"
At this, Marwyn's expression grew strangely awkward. "He's fasting and praying. I heard he received a promise from the crone—that once he finishes revising the doctrine of the Faith of the Seven, she'll pass on divine magic to him.
Your Grace, do you think he's gone mad?
He's been fasting for over half a month, and he only just finished one fast before this.
The nobles and commoners in King's Landing are all talking about it. Some gambling houses are even taking bets on whether the High Sparrow will follow in Saint Baelor's footsteps within a week."
"Ah—" Dany froze.
She had been so focused on stabilizing her cultivation that she had completely forgotten this matter.
No, she had to respond to the devout Son of Light at once. She couldn't let him die so soon.
But what divine magic should she bestow upon the holy child of light?
(End of Chapter)
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