It was a hot day, as it always was. Sal'ad was posted on the flaking yellow walls of the city, staring down an army of 3000 men a mile away, ready to attack their city.
"The Westerosi bitch is a liar! Do you know what she did to the slaves she took from our city!?" he heard a highborn warrior bellowing behind him, "She took them with promises of freedom but forced them to attack Meereen! They are all dead! Now she's sent her dogs to drag you all away from your homes!"
There were uneasy exchanges of glances among the slave soldiers, they had been hearing such rumours since the Dragon Queen had left the city. Rumours of how she used her Unsullied to march the other slaves into war, how she flayed them and killed the deserters.
"She doesn't care about you! She will send you to your deaths!" declared the high born. Sal'ad was uneasy, it was true that the army before them was small but he had heard of the Wise masters hiring sellswords. Sadly, the attack had been faster than anticipated and the hired mercenaries had not yet reached the city, the slave soldiers were on their own.
As the highborn kept bellowing, Sal'ad's mind went to his wife and their daughter of 6. An unconscious smile bloomed on his face as he remembered her wobbling towards him as a child whenever he came home, 'She's grown much more independent now.' he pouted. He wanted her to never grow up and remain his child forever, especially in this city.
*woos*
He focused his ears, it sounded like an arrow in flight. He looked around, no one had shot any arrows, the enemy was still too far away.
*whoos*
The sound grew louder and louder and he could see a few of the other soldiers looking about. Sal'ad turned his head northwards, as the sound grew louder and louder he could spot nothing that could generate this constant sound except a distant bird, 'Wait… is that a bird?' he wondered.
His curiosity of the sound lasted only a few seconds until it grew loud enough for the entire city to not only hear but also see. An object, bigger than any bird he had ever seen, was flying straight over their city at impossible speeds, covering the length of the city within a second before falling just as quickly between the city wall and the enemy army.
*Bhoom*
A cloud of dust rose from where the object fell, Sal'ad and the rest of his comrade were confused but the distant charge of the enemy woke them. He saw the enemy mounted on the horses and charging straight at them, 'Are they fools? Do they plan to slam onto the walls?' he wondered.
*Whoosh*
The same sound as before came and then
*BHoom!*
He felt the wall shake, he looked back and saw splinters from the gates slamming into the highborn beneath the walls, the shrapnel shooting several meters away.
"You have broken your bond. Now your city will fall!" the voice drilled into his ears, "Surrender, or die!"
Sal'ad felt his blood run cold, there was a man several meters away from them, standing mid-air. Sal'ad now knew what the object had been, one that had fallen from the sky like thunder.
"SHOOT! SHOOT! YOU USELESS SHITS!" He heard the commands but before those commands could be followed, he saw every man that aimed towards the flying man get struck down with some green stone, never to rise again.
"SAL'AD! You useless thing! Shoot him now or I swear I'll rape your daughter myself before selling her to the dothraki savages!" his face paled as this threat as he looked between the hidden highborn and the flying man.
At this time, a lifetime of servitude won over his will to flee. Sal'ad ducked and crawled away from his position, hiding behind a stone pillar. He drew his bow and took a deep breath before emerging and letting loose. He saw the arrow fly uninterrupted towards the man's head. 'I got it.' he had no doubt about his skills, he could hit a coin at 200 meters, he had showcased his skills many times for the entertainment of his masters.
*Ding*
The arrow hit a thin blue glass and fell lifelessly, as if someone had just dropped in instead of shooting it. Sal'ad felt the flying man's gaze on him, it bore through him, reading his thoughts, his memories… he felt as if he were before a judge and his entire life had been laid before him for judgment.
And finally the judgement came, "I am impressed… You are spared for your courage." Sal'ad fell to his knees as the man flew away deeper into the city. He could hear the charge of the enemy soldier below and the distant screams of both slaves and highborns falling at their swords.
Sal'ad looked around him, the entire wall was red. He looked at the highborn that had been bellowing orders, he lay there lifeless with a bloody hole in his head.
"Daddy!"
"Wah!!?" Sal'ad woke with a jolt, the worried face of his daughter covering his sights.
"You are sweaty and you were saying weird things" she told him, he quickly took her in his arms and hugged her tightly, "I'm alright, love… I'm alright." he kept repeating until he fully woke from his nightmare.
He let her go and washed up, had breakfast with his family and donned his leather armor. "Do you have to go?" asked his wife with a worried tone, as she always did. "Yes." he replied as he always did. "Don't worry, it's been a month." he reassured her.
He left the house and walked through the streets until he reached a large plaza which was currently being expanded by deconstructing the mansions around it. There were hundreds of slaves working to take them apart brick by brick, 'Not slaves, freedmen.' he reminded himself.
There were several heads on spikes displayed in the plaza, heads of both highborns and freedmen. They had been charged with one crime or another and served as a caution to both freedmen and masters that tried to defy their new ruler and his new laws.
His hand moved to a small pouch hidden in his vest that contained several copper coins, it was what remained of his weekly wage. It had been a strange experience when he received his first wage at the end of the week. The masters never paid the slaves anything, it was like paying a horse money for riding it, an absurd concept.
However now he was paid 10 copper coins a week, it was enough to buy food for himself and his family. The reason he had leftovers was because the volunteers to the city guard received a subsidy on food items. He didn't have any other skills so he, like many surviving city guards, had decided to volunteer.
He walked to the wall were the conquering mercenaries lined up the volunteer soldiers and trained them, Sal'ad had heard that they would become a permanent city guard and would be paid as well.
Sal'ad went to the scribe, a fellow freedman responsible for keeping a log for the guards assigned to the north gate, to sign in for today. "Ah Sal'ad, good news!" the old scribe smiled at him, "You have made an officer, a captain that will train archers from now on!"
"An officer?" Sal'ad was confused, "But I am not highborn."
"Lord Magus has decreed that anyone can become an officer even if they are not highborn!" the scribe smiled, "can you imagine? A former slave being an officer?" the wrinkles deepened on the old man's face as he smiled, "To think I'll live to see this day! Ah!, here's your salary for the week." he put a single silver coin on the table for him to take.
"A silver coin!?" Sal'ad was shocking, this was enough to buy a small goat or a month's worth of wheat.
"It is decreed by the Lord Magus, higher rank means a higher salary." the scribe laughed at his reaction. This was a very generous weekly wage. Sal'ad happily picked up the coin and carefully pocketed it.
As he was about to leave a small commotion rose and several scribes walked down battlements on top of the wall with masons and builders and a man Sal'ad recognised as an officer in the Magus's mercenary army.
"What's happening?" he asked the old man.
"Oh, they are repairing the walls. I hear the dothraki were spotted nearby and Lord Magus has instructed that no tributes will be paid to the dothraki anymore."
"Won't the dothraki attack the city?" he was rightly worried, without a worthy tribute, the dothraki might take the city instead.
"Once the walls are repaired and the archers are trained, the dothraki will die at the gates!" the old man waved off his worries, "the dothraki do not build siege weapons. As long as the wall remains, no dothraki savage can enter the city!"
Sal'ad nodded, it was a strange time he was living in, slaves getting paid wages and dothraki getting denied their tributes. He bid the old man farewell and went to take his post on the north wall.
Once he climbed up the wall he saw another strange scene, a few miles away, countless slaves were digging into the earth, planting seeds and carrying earthen pots that let out a constant stream of fresh water. The area of growth extended for several miles and he could already spot small tree saplings swaying in the wind.
Trees of various fruits were being planted, a thousand a day and growing at astonishing speeds. He reached his unit of fellow archers and they greeted him warmly, "Sal'ad! Did you hear? The Council of Equals has another freeman, that's 3 now! Can you imagine? A freeman ruling over the wise masters!?" he laughed at the absurdity.
"Another one? What is he in charge of?" Sal'ad asked. Each member of the Council of Equals was incharge of an important aspect of the city. The most shocking appointment of a freedman was to command the cityguard, a position that was held only by the most prestigious even among the wise masters.
"I think it's the construction and oversight of… something… he was here a while ago with builders and masons." the man replied and Sal'ad thought about the group he had seen before. 'Must be one of them?' he wondered.
He sighed as he looked at the distant men and women planting seeds in a barren land and the green saplings that sprouted from said barren land, 'Strange times indeed.'