Sixty Years of Conquest, January 17th.
King's Landing harbor welcomed a battered vessel, slowly sailing north from Blackwater Bay into this bustling harbor.
The ship's sails were ragged and patched, stained with salt. They seemed to tell tales of countless days and nights adrift. The once-vibrant paint on its hull had faded and chipped, stripped of its former luster. The flag hanging from the mainmast had long been bleached by the fierce sun, its original insignia now blurred and unrecognizable.
Only when the battered vessel was securely moored at the dock did people recognize it with astonishment. It was the Lady Maritess.
Nearly two years prior, this vessel had departed King's Landing to join the expedition crossing the Sunset Sea, carrying Regalus' dreams.
The moment the crew stepped onto the dock, the merchants, porters, prostitutes, sailors, and thieves gathered there gaped in astonishment. Of the ten who came ashore, nine possessed dark or olive skin.
The crowd surged with excitement, whispers spreading: Had the Lady Maritess truly crossed that mysterious Summer Sea? Could it be that the natives of the wondrous lands to the far west were, like the people of the Summer Isles, dark-skinned?
Amidst the murmurs, Sir Eustace Hightower stepped forward. He had sailed by Regalus' command as captain of the Lady Maritess in that expeditionary fleet.
The once spirited young man was now unrecognizable. This grandson of the lord of Donnel had become gaunt, his face weathered by sunburn and lined with far more wrinkles than when he had set sail. Only a handful of the original King's Landing crew who had embarked with him remained by his side.
The King's Landing customs officer met him at the dock, and the two exchanged a few brief words.
Ser Eustace revealed: the crew of the Lady Maritess weren't merely resembling Summer Islanders—they were actually from the Summer Isles. They had been hired ashore on the mainland of Sothoryos for astonishingly high wages. Ser also complained that this was to replace the lost sailors.
At this moment, Ser urgently needed a large number of porters to move the mountains of valuable cargo piled in the ship's hold. But he also helplessly stated that these goods did not come from beyond the Sunset Sea.
"That was nothing but a beautiful dream," he concluded with a hint of regret.
Soon, Regalus' imperial guards arrived under orders to escort Ser Eustace to the Red Keep.
Within Regalus' grand Hall of Conquest, the Ser sipped fine wine as he began recounting his legendary tale, while the Regalus' scribes diligently recorded his words.
Regalus's eyes brimmed with confusion as he inquired:
"Where now is Elia, the fleet captain I personally appointed? Eleven dragon-headed galleons were dispatched—why has only your vessel returned safely?"
At the time, Elia of the Waters had been entrusted with the crucial role of commander-in-chief of the exploration fleet. Not only was she a formidable dragonborn, bearing the blood of House Targaryen, but she was also one of the bastard daughters of Aegon the Conqueror. She commanded a vast maritime trading fleet and was a seasoned navigator. Her abilities, strength, and standing were not to be underestimated.
Ser Eustace bowed slightly, his face bearing a respectful expression. His tone steady, he replied, "Your Grace, the course of this voyage has indeed been rather tortuous and complex. I beg Your Grace's indulgence to recount the events from the very beginning."
Regalus nodded lightly, his expression softening somewhat.
"Very well, take your time. We shall listen attentively."
Ser Eustace recalled, "—At the voyage's outset, everything proceeded as anticipated.
After the fleet passed the Stepstones, drawing upon her extensive navigational experience, Captain Elia decisively ordered the fleet to alter course, steering southwest. She intended to guide the fleet toward warmer waters and more favorable sailing winds.
The ten frigates, including the Lady Maritess and the Autumn Moon, closely followed the flagship, the Conqueror.
The dragon-headed vessels now built in King's Landing were remarkably swift when riding the wind.
At first, it truly seemed the Seven Gods favored us. Days were bathed in sunshine, nights illuminated by the moon, and the winds were exceedingly favorable. Everything was so perfect it seemed unbelievable, surpassing even our wildest hopes.
Moreover, we were not alone on our voyage. We often spotted fishing boats in the distance and once encountered a massive black vessel, likely a whaling ship from the island of Ibben. The sea teemed with fish, and pods of dolphins swam joyfully alongside our ships, as if they had never seen a human vessel before."
At that time, everyone felt blessed by the Seven.
Yet after leaving the shores of Westeros, the Conqueror and her ten ships sailed smoothly for twelve days. After repeated calculations, our position was nearly as far south as the Summer Isles, and our westward journey had taken us farther than any ship had ever reported before.
To celebrate this achievement, the frigates Lady Maritess and Autumn Moon opened over a dozen barrels of spiced mead from Lannisport. The sailors aboard the Conqueror drank freely of the golden wine from Arbor.
Yet even then, ominous signs began to appear. For the past four days, not a single bird had been sighted. Still, lost in their euphoria, even those who noticed this detail chose silence.
The Septons had repeatedly warned us that the gods detest human arrogance. The Sevenstar Scriptures also state that pride is the beginning of failure. Perhaps Captain Elia and the crew rejoiced too soon in the vast ocean.
This voyage, which had seemed so grand, soon took a sharp turn for the worse.
"First came the windless days," Ser Eustace described to Regalus and his Small Council, gesturing with his arms. "For nearly two weeks, not a breath of wind stirred the sea. Our ships could only drag themselves forward with great difficulty.
Then we discovered maggots in over a dozen barrels of meat aboard the Autumn Moon—not a major issue in itself. But at sea, it was undeniably an ominous sign.
One evening near sunset, the sky turned blood-red, and the wind finally rose. Yet there was something unsettling in its nature. Captain Elia reassured everyone that things would improve. But I knew deep down it was nothing but self-deception.
Sure enough, before dawn the next day, all the stars vanished from the night sky, and the wind grew fiercer, whipping up towering waves."
This was the first storm Ser Eustace mentioned.
He continued: "Two days later, we encountered a second storm, followed swiftly by a third. Each one more terrifying than the last.
Waves towered skyward, higher than the masts, while thunder and lightning raged all around—bolts so immense I had never seen their like in my life. The blinding flashes stung my eyes.
One bolt struck the Autumn Moon directly, splitting the mainmast from the crow's nest down to the deck, shattering it instantly.
Amidst the frenzied chaos, someone beside me screamed in terror, claiming to see tentacles rising from the depths—the very thing every captain dreads to hear.
In this storm, we completely lost sight of the Conqueror. The other dragon-headed galleons vanished one after another, leaving only the Lady Maritess and the Autumn Moon adrift upon the raging sea.
Wave after wave of colossal swells mercilessly pounded the deck, flinging crewmen from one side of the ship to the other. All they could do was cling desperately to ropes, holding on for their lives.
I witnessed the sinking of the Autumn Moon with my own eyes. Just moments before, it had been struggling on the surface—already battered and broken, aflame, yet still afloat.
But then, in the blink of an eye, a colossal wave crashed over it, swallowing the ship whole. The Autumn Moon vanished without a trace.
The speed was unbelievable. It was clearly just a massive wave, yet my men all screamed in terror: 'Kraken! Kraken!!'
No matter how hard I tried, I could not calm them. I don't know how we endured that night, but we survived."
Ser Eustace paused to recollect, then continued:
"By dawn the next day, the sea had calmed. Brilliant sunlight shone upon the pure, azure expanse, betraying nothing of how it had just devoured my brothers and their entire crews.
The Lady Maritess was in no better condition—her sails torn, her masts cracked, and nine crewmen missing.
We prayed silently for the lost souls, then set about repairing the ship.
That afternoon, the lookout suddenly spotted distant sails—it was the Conqueror, returning to search for us.
To our delight, the Conqueror had not only weathered the storm but also discovered land. The tempest had scattered the Conqueror, driving it westward.
At dawn, the lookout had spotted birds circling over indistinct peaks on the horizon. Captain Elia immediately steered the ship toward them.
Eventually, three small islands came into view."
"Two hills cradle one mountain." Captain Elia described the three islands thus.
By then, the Lady Maritess was no longer able to sail under her own power. Yet, with three small boats dispatched from the Conqueror straining at their oars, she was finally towed safely ashore.
The two battered vessels remained anchored off the islands for more than half a month, undergoing extensive repairs and resupply.
Captain Elia was brimming with confidence. For these three islands lay farther west than any known land, and no chart had ever recorded them.
Since there were three, she recalled the glory of her lineage and named them Aegon's Isle, Rhaenys' Isle, and Visenya's Isle.
Though uninhabited, the islands were rich in resources: clear springs and streams from which sailors could fill endless barrels of fresh water, wild boars roaming freely, slow-moving gray lizards as large as deer, and trees heavy with fruit.
After surveying the bounty of the islands, I felt there was no need to go any further. Our discovery was already remarkable enough, I told Captain Elia at the time. There were spices I had never before tasted, pink fruits… treasures enough for us. We should be satisfied.
Yet Captain Elia dismissed my reasoning as absurd. She countered that these were merely three small isles, the largest no bigger than a third of Dragonstone, hardly worth note. The true wonders must lie further west—perhaps beyond the horizon, where another land as vast as Essos awaited discovery.
'We carry Regalus' dream!' she reminded the crew again and again.
One sailor retorted bluntly:
'Or perhaps it is nothing but another thousand leagues of empty sea.'
No matter how eloquently Captain Elia argued—whether pleading, threatening, or bribing—she could not sway the crew's resolve.
"Even had I wished to press on, the men would never have agreed," I reported to Regalus in the Hall of Conquest. "They were united in their belief that a Kraken had dragged the Autumn Moon beneath the waves. Had I ordered us forward, they would have thrown me overboard and chosen another captain without hesitation.
And so, when we departed the isles, the navigators went their separate ways. The Lady Maritess turned eastward for home, while Captain Elia and her Conqueror pressed westward, chasing the setting sun."
Our return was nearly as perilous as our outward journey. We faced more storms—not as savage as the one that claimed our brothers, but the prevailing winds fought us at every turn, forcing us to tack endlessly against them.
Worse still, three giant gray lizards had been brought aboard. One bit the helmsman; the bitten leg turned green and eventually had to be amputated.
Days later, we encountered a pod of sea beasts. One enormous white creature, larger than the ship itself, deliberately rammed the Lady Maritess, splitting her hull. With no other choice, I altered course toward the Summer Isles, the nearest land.
Yet our position had been miscalculated—we were far south of where I believed we were. In the end, we missed the Summer Isles entirely and instead reached the shores of the continent of Sothoryos.
"We remained there for nearly half a year," he continued to Regalus, "laboring to repair the Lady Maritess, for her damage was far worse than we had thought. But the place was also filled with treasure, which we did not neglect to gather: emeralds, gold, spices, seemingly without end.
Yet there were also strange creatures… monkeys that walked upright like men, a race of people whose cries sounded like monkeys, wyverns, serpent-lizards, and more than a hundred kinds of snakes, each more deadly than the last.
My men often vanished in the night without a trace, and many fell ill without reason. One man was bitten by a fly, leaving only a small bump on his neck. At first it seemed nothing, but three days later his skin began to peel, and blood flowed from his ears, his member, and the cleft of his buttocks.
Sailors know that drinking saltwater brings madness, but even the fresh water there was unsafe—tiny, nearly invisible worms swam in it, and once swallowed, they laid eggs within a man's body.
And then there was the fever… day after day, more than half the crew was too weak to work.
I believed we would perish there entirely, until some passing Summer Islanders found us. I am convinced they know more of that dreadful land than they let on, and it was only with their aid that I was able to bring the Lady Maritess to Tall Trees Town, and from there, finally home."
Thus ended the tale of Ser Eustace Hightower and his great adventure.
As for Captain Elia, the Targaryen bastard, no maester could say where her journey ended. In pursuit of the land beyond the Summer Sea, the dream of Regalus, the Conqueror vanished forever into the west, never to be seen again.
Within days, this tale had spread across all of Westeros—carried by messengers, bards, and ravens.