"Ser, do you not understand the current situation? The Long Night has arrived, and the Wall has fallen.
The key point is that the sun has gone out, and nothing can grow without sunlight.
The wheat that has not yet headed in the fields, the soybeans that have not yet bloomed, are almost all ruined. Eight out of ten will rot in the soil.
We do not have grain to feed so many prisoners!" Dany said in a deep voice.
Barristan raised his head and looked at the sunset that was even dimmer and darker than a cloudy day. He sighed helplessly and said, "I thought the Long Night was simply a longer winter, that even in the South one could still see the sun and plant cold-resistant winter wheat.
Who would have thought the legends were true and that the sun would vanish entirely?"
Who would have thought? I told you long ago. I must have said it a thousand times.
Dany complained inwardly, then immediately issued orders. "Ser Barristan, the Long Night has come and the Wall has fallen. That is the reality. We do not have the time to study strategies in detail, we must act immediately.
First, the Battle of Meereen must be wrapped up. That task will be handled by Ser Mormont and my Bloodriders.
Second, we will return to Westeros as quickly as possible, to investigate the losses suffered by the Night's Watch and monitor the movement of the Others in the North. I will carry out that task personally.
Third, we will select volunteers from Slaver's Bay to form a volunteer army, station them at Dragonstone, and prepare to fight the Others.
I appoint you the Supreme Commander of the Volunteer Army, responsible for recruiting and transporting volunteers to Dragonstone."
"We still need to select volunteers? Can we not simply dispatch troops?" Barristan frowned.
"Have you forgotten the vow I swore outside Astapor when I freed the Unsullied?" Dany reminded him.
She was not as reckless as the Daenerys from the show. After receiving the Harpy's Talon that controlled the Unsullied, she did not immediately order a bloody massacre of Astapor. She obediently led her troops out of the city and even returned the dragonbone staff that symbolized the guest bond to the Great Masters' representative.
Following rules was only a secondary reason. The main point was that Dany was not certain she possessed the charm of the original Daenerys Targaryen. If she had suddenly acted violently and the Unsullied refused to obey her on the spot, would that not be unbearably embarrassing and humiliating?
So she first brought the Unsullied outside Astapor to reorganize the army and assert her full military authority.
Winning their hearts and establishing a lofty ideal of resisting slavery for the Unsullied.
As the final act of winning loyalty, Dany made the Unsullied a promise: she would only ever use their strength for just causes (Chapter 101).
Resisting the bloody tyranny of slavers was absolutely just, and for all these years, they had worked toward that goal. Dany had not broken her promise.
Now that the great mission of liberating slaves was temporarily completed, Dany's focus began to shift: from liberating slaves to saving the world.
Barristan had been there for it all and witnessed every step of her freeing the Unsullied.
Therefore, after only a moment of recollection, he understood perfectly the promise the Dragon Queen spoke of.
"Fighting the Others counts as a just cause, does it not?" he asked, puzzled.
"Fighting the Others in Slaver's Bay is absolutely just, but marching ten thousand miles away to Westeros to fight Others must be voluntary.
Ser, if it were only the Unsullied, I would call supporting Westeros a righteous act and they would not object.
The problem is that my Mothers of Dragons Guard are not only Unsullied. The knights, lords, and even counts of Slaver's Bay all have thoughts of their own," Dany said meaningfully.
Old Aemon's eyes flashed and he nodded. "Recruiting volunteers is the safest path. Only a wish that comes from the heart can be sustained for a year, two years, or even a lifetime.
The war against the Others will not end in one or two battles."
The old man spoke honestly.
Asking the nobles of Slaver's Bay to go fight one or two battles in Westeros for the Dragon Queen, relying solely on her personal appeal, would not cause the slightest resentment.
But can the Others be defeated in a single wave?
In the show, the Night King marched for years only to be wiped out in a single night at Winterfell. Ridiculous.
Do they really think the Long Night that lasted a generation last time was a joke?
Thus, to fight the Others, they must prepare for a long war.
One year, two years, three or five years, all possible.
How could the nobles of Slaver's Bay be willing to leave their homes and risk death in a foreign land for five years?
Only if they volunteer.
"All right, we will recruit a volunteer army," Barristan nodded. "Slaver's Bay is simply too far from Westeros, Your Majesty. I suggest the first contingent of warriors in Valyrian steel plate fly to Dragonstone on wyverns.
After that, if the volunteer army grows large enough, they can ride across the Dothraki Sea and travel west overland."
Dany thought for a moment and said, "Mobilize all wyverns and send four hundred Unsullied in Valyrian steel armor to Dragonstone first. We cannot let the Others take the Targaryen homeland.
The second group will be the Royal Mage Corps. Dragonstone has alchemists, but facing an endless army of wights means one can never have too much wildfire."
The Dragon Queen had forged a total of 800 suits of Valyrian steel plate and 1,200 Valyrian steel weapons.
Grey Worm's five hundred Queen's Guard received five hundred suits of armor and five hundred swords. The Khal's two hundred fifty elite roar-warriors under the Bloodrider commander took another two hundred fifty suits and sabers.
Of the remaining fifty sets, only fifteen were awarded to knightly merit families as heirlooms.
Dany now assigned four hundred Unsullied to Dragonstone. The hundred Valyrian steel warriors remaining in Slaver's Bay were nearly enough to protect the Great Pyramid. The two hundred fifty mounted warriors served as a mobile force and might accompany the Queen to slay evil.
If a single soldier could not face the Night King alone, then the Dragon Queen would certainly kill demons wildly to increase her own power and that of her five dragons.
To put it bluntly, the main force against the White Walkers still had to come from the people of Westeros themselves. Daenerys sending people over was merely to ensure that when she fought the White Walkers, she would have enough loyal and capable subordinates by her side.
It was just like back then beneath the Wall, when she fought the White Walkers with a band of brave but fragile wildling guards around her.
"Your Majesty, under Grazdan's guidance, we found three entrances to dragon-worm tunnels on a cliff twenty-three kilometers northwest of Meereen."
The first batch of thirty-five wyverns had just departed Meereen under cover of night, carrying one hundred and fifty Valyrian Steel Guards toward the faraway Dragonstone. Not long after they left the city, Great Bear, who had gone out to search for the dragon-worm tunnels, returned.
"Did you send people down to check?" Daenerys had just changed into a blue-and-white full suit of knightly armor and, with the help of Jhiqui and Irri, was fastening the clasp of the thick blue woolen cloak on her shoulders.
"They went down," Jorah said, giving the Dragon Queen a strange look before nodding. "It was very deep and very wide. After going about three kilometers eastward at a depth of roughly one hundred meters underground, I felt warmth seeping from the tunnel walls, and the air temperature rose noticeably, so I withdrew immediately."
"You did the right thing. There is no chance of survival if you encounter a dragon worm underground." Excitement showed on Daenerys's face. "If there is heat, it means the great flood that day did not drown all the dragon worms."
In fact, only four stiff dragon-worm corpses had been found north of Meereen. It was very likely that some dragon worms had also died in the tunnels flooded in the southern district, but that area had now become an underground river, making inspection impossible. Even if there were bodies, they were doomed to rot there.
Well, who knew whether the dwarf's corpse was in there as well.
It was only after the fighting ended and prisoners were interrogated that Daenerys learned the dwarf had been in the dragon-worm tunnels of the southern district. By then, however, endless floodwaters had already poured in.
"Khaleesi, are you going to subdue the dragon worms?" Jhiqui asked, her face showing obvious distaste. "They look so disgusting."
Dragon worms were actually not disgusting. Although their shape resembled earthworms enlarged tens of thousands of times, the bodies of adult dragon worms were covered in brightly colored dragon scales and lacked the slimy texture of earthworms.
What was truly terrifying was their mouth. Inside a maw large enough to swallow a small bus grew dense, chaotic, blade-shaped teeth like weeds. At close range, when that mouth opened, it could scare a timid person to death.
"Do you remember the Red Inferno?" Daenerys asked with a smile.
"Ah, Khaleesi, are you planning to use dragon worms to dig a tunnel between White Cloud City and Meereen?" Irri asked in surprise.
"I went to White Cloud City the day before yesterday."
Thinking of the wheat fields around White Cloud City that had been largely eroded by demon grass, Daenerys was filled with mixed emotions.
"As I expected, White Cloud City is hotter than Meereen, and the sky is clearer.
More importantly, in certain areas of the Red Inferno, the surface is close to the magma layer. If tunnels were dug there, it might even be possible to build an underground city."
"Your Majesty, I must remind you that dragon worms have enormous appetites. According to Grazdan, more than half of the five thousand allied war elephants were eaten by them," Great Bear said solemnly.
"Meereen is simply not suitable for dragon worms to live in, so of course their appetites are huge. In a volcano, they can feed on subterranean fire and magma and would not need ordinary food at all."
"You are sure there are volcanoes beneath the Red Inferno? To me, it looks entirely like a flat desert," Great Bear said doubtfully.
"If there are no volcanoes, then they will just starve to death. They were free gains anyway," Daenerys said indifferently.
Great Bear nodded. "I will arrange for prisoners to explore the tunnels. It is just that Jany…"
"You are going to Oros to find Jany?" He pointed at the fully armed Dragon Queen and asked strangely.
Great Bear had just returned from outside the city and did not yet know what had happened that afternoon.
"I have bad news for you. The Wall has collapsed. I am going to Westeros."
Daenerys casually grasped the five-foot greatsword Irri carried over with her left hand.
"The Wall… collapsed?" Great Bear was stunned.
While the Dragon Queen was having dinner, Jhiqui quickly explained how the Horn of Winter had blown the Wall down.
"Your Majesty, let me go with you. The task of driving prisoners to search for dragon worms and the remaining war elephants can be handed over to the Count of Broken Chains. He is more suitable for the job than I am," Great Bear said gravely, volunteering himself.
"Mm, that makes sense." Daenerys smiled. "Little Mist, inform the General Who Conquers the West that he must find the dragon worms and the war elephants. Also, keep an eye out for Jany and Leo."
"Pop!" On the queen's dining table, from a carnation bud stuck in a vase, a cluster of golden-red light burst forth. Before the accustomed gazes of the onlookers, it quickly coalesced into a black-feathered raven with red eyes. It nodded to the Dragon Queen, spread its wings, cawed once, and flew out through the window.
Great Bear sat down below Daenerys, tying his napkin around his neck as he whispered, "Your Majesty, I fear the little demon is most likely doomed and will not even leave a complete corpse."
After the great flood in Meereen, Daenerys had already revealed the dwarf's whereabouts to her core commanders.
To ordinary soldiers and officials, however, the dwarf's identity was still kept secret.
"We do our best and leave the rest to fate," Daenerys sighed.
After dinner, they did not rest but immediately mounted their dragons and flew west.
This time, Daenerys brought three giant dragons with her: Big Black, Little White, and Little Green, all of them going along.
Great Bear, Garth, and Quelo rode three wyverns, each carrying three people, including the fat eunuch Belwas, the small assassin Danys, and four more Unsullied.
They would serve as the Dragon Queen's guards at Winterfell.
Well, given the moral decay of the people of Westeros, without a group of bodyguards, even with Daenerys's current strength, she would not dare visit the lords of the Seven Kingdoms alone.
Even if Winterfell was now under Jon's control, could she really trust him completely?
(The End chapter)
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