Oh my God, how did I go from being a young girl to being a pregnant woman, Dragon Mom, ten months along?
A 26-year-old woman who graduated from the faculty of surgery woke up and found herself in the body of a 14-year-old pregnant girl, Daenerys Targaryen.
Whatever her identity or name had been before, it didn't mean much anymore.
Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, Protector of the Realm, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, Queen of Meereen, Princess of Dragonstone, the Unburnt, Mother of Dragons, Mhysa, Silver Queen… She was also in A Song of Ice and Fire.
At present, she held at most two titles: Stormborn and Khaleesi of Khal Drogo.
"Dragon Mom" was still a long way off; the most pressing problem was how to survive the death of Khal Drogo.
Drogo was already suffering from a disease that had spread to his bones and was cursed with dark magic. Forget a novice surgeon—even Bian Que could not help him.
Daenerys touched her heavy belly with her new inner self, pushed aside distracting thoughts, and began to observe the surroundings of her new world.
The golden sun baked the earth like an oven. Before her lay rolling, uneven fields: rye with its half-green, half-yellow stalks and thick ears beginning to fill with grain; low-lying soybeans; and occasional vegetable patches planted with gourds and fruit.
A small silver-maned mare walked along, and from time to time she could hear the crackling sound of pods being trodden underfoot.
Daenerys bowed her head, avoiding the blazing sun, and murmured softly, "What a sin. It's harvest time, and we had to face these Dothraki."
Khal Drogo's Khalasar consisted of approximately fifty thousand roaring warriors, with a total force exceeding one hundred thousand men.
(PS: Khal – title of a Dothraki nomadic leader, similar to the Mongol "Khan" or Turkic "Khagan."
Khalasar – Dothraki term for a group that acts together; each Khalasar has a Khal.
Khaleesi – Dothraki term for the wife of the Khal, Daenerys's current status.
The Dothraki are, at their core, horse people; every member has at least one warhorse. One hundred thousand people means over one hundred thousand horses trampling these lands.)
The low, booming sound of hooves seemed to announce aloud: This year, the land of Lhazar will experience complete crop failure.
In fact, the Lhazareen—disdainfully called the "sheep people"—hadn't even considered their harvest. Faced with the Khalasar, the Great Grass Sea's most powerful Khal, their minds were already filled with fear of life and death.
Turning her head, Daenerys saw, not for the first time, a dilapidated farmhouse. Its inhabitants watched uneasily from behind adobe walls, their almond-shaped eyes, like those of the Dothraki, gleaming with fear and… a deep-seated hatred.
In the southern part of the Dothraki Sea, on the southern bank of the Lhazar River, lived a weak and small ethnic group.
The Lhazareen had some similarities to modern humans: bronze skin, almond-shaped eyes. However, compared to the tall, strong, and wild Dothraki, the agricultural Lhazareen were shorter, had flatter faces, and were gentler… and more cowardly.
"Bang, bang, bang…"
The sound of hoofbeats came from behind her. Daenerys brushed her silver hair, which was waving in the wind, behind her ear and saw seven or eight horsemen emerging from behind the column.
The horsemen resembled the Jurchen warriors of China, with their thick, long, dark braids. However, the Dothraki didn't shave their foreheads into the shape of a moon gate, and their braids were adorned with strings of bells that clinked as their horses galloped, symbolizing victory.
Quickly scanning her memories, Daenerys recognized their identities: Khal Drogo's Bloodriders—Ko Moro, Haggo, Quotho. The few remaining must have been Kaskos under Drogo: Jia Ke, Bono Ko…
(Bloodrider – "My Blood for My Blood," the personal bodyguard of the Khal, his companion and brother. He can share everything with the Khal, including his wife, except his horse… Luckily, Drogo had no intention of sharing his wife, so Daenerys was spared this fate.
Ko – head of a Khas.
A large nomadic group is called a Khalasar and usually consists of many smaller groups called Khas. The leader of a Khas acts as the deputy of the Khal and is called a Ko.)
They walked past Daenerys as if she weren't there, coming to Drogo's side. Jia Ke pointed to a stone mansion and was the first to ask, "Khal, there's a tribe of sheep gathered nearby. Shall we go and defeat them?"
They had come to invite Drogo to join a "hunt."
The Dothraki were a nomadic people; they had no industry, no crafts, no manufacturing. Everything they needed was plundered. Over countless generations of evolution, the most savage and cruel predatory instincts had prevailed.
Drogo's head was heavy and dizzy, his consciousness almost lost in the chaos. He lifted his head with difficulty, barely recognizing the person before him, and his chapped lips parted, his voice barely audible: "Yes, I…"
Daenerys felt pain. According to the story, this suitable husband was about to die, and she, having recently arrived, was about to be widowed.
She wasn't entirely committed to this newfound match. The problem was, the Horse People's system was deeply broken.
The Dothraki khal was not inherited through blood; the tribe's strongest warrior became the Khal, and the process of fighting for the title was often incredibly bloody. After the Khal's death, the Khaleesi must travel to Vaes Dothrak to become a godswoman. As for the Khaleesi's unborn child, survival under the new Khal was difficult.
"Can't you see the Khal is sick?"
Daenerys patted her horse's side, quickened her pace, and, ignoring the cold stares of Bloodriders and Kaskos, shouted: "The surrounding areas are just small villages, nothing profitable, not worth attacking… At least there's no need for the Khal to personally intervene."
Tall Haggo glared at Daenerys grimly. "Khaleesi, you have no say here—"
"Crunch!"
Daenerys raised her hand and cracked her whip. The tip of the whip made a loud, screeching sound as it sliced through the air, but her body was massive and her movements were slow. Haggo leaned back on his horse and easily escaped.
"You dare to strike at me?"
With a "clink," Haggo pulled the arakh from his waist and looked at Daenerys, his eyes red.
Daenerys merely sneered, returning his gaze without the slightest fear, and said in the Dothraki tongue inherited from her predecessor: "I am Khaleesi to Khal Drogo, of the royal Targaryen house. You dare draw a knife against me?"
She wasn't being recklessly brave. Reviewing her predecessor's memories, Daenerys realized that the Dothraki responded to firmness, not gentleness. The more stern and ruthless one was, the more "human" they would be treated.
Weak people and small nations were not considered human in the eyes of the Horse People.
For example, Viserys, brother of Daenerys Targaryen—or the Lhazareen, who were arbitrarily plundered and called "the sheep people."
Of course, being tough didn't mean being reckless. As Drogo's Bloodrider, Haggo would never harm the Khaleesi who carried Drogo's child.
And Daenerys wasn't alone.
Just as expected, after a few words, her guards arrived.
Ser Jorah Mormont expertly steered his horse, took a few quick strides to stand in front of Daenerys, drew his sword, and cast a stern gaze at Haggo and the others.
Behind Daenerys, her Kaskos strung their bows one by one and positioned their arrows, pointing expressionlessly at Haggo.
Drogo had the entire Khalasar, and a Khalasar was made up of many Khas tribes. Fortunately, the Khaleesi had her own Khas. Daenerys was both Khaleesi and, in a sense, Ko.
In fact, her Khas was very small, only one or two hundred people, mainly to protect her security and meet her daily needs.
Ko Moro, his hair streaked with white and his face covered in terrible scars, looked at Daenerys coldly and said, "Put away your weapons. Haggo, you will fight for My Blood of My Blood. Remember, you must be the one with the most presence of mind."
Drogo was thirty this year. Haggo and Quotho were similar in age; only Ko Moro was the oldest. Although his physique was as strong and fit as a young man's, he was actually over fifty.
When Drogo was young, an enemy of Drogo's father stole the boy, and Ko Moro risked his life to save him.
It could be said that Ko Moro was almost half a father to Drogo.
Drogo's own Khas was led by Kaskos and Ko Moro. In other words, Ko Moro was also a Ko.
Therefore, his status and prestige were the highest among Bloodriders.
Hearing Ko Moro's words, Haggo's face turned red. He spat angrily on the ground, turned his horse's head, and galloped away.
Quotho and the other Kaskos eyed Daenerys with wolfish gazes and followed him, galloping away.
As the warhorses galloped off, Ko Moro said in a weak voice: "As leader of a Khalasar, a Khal must attack the enemy first and be the first to scale the walls of the Lamb People's city; that is his responsibility and his glory."
Daenerys was grateful; she understood what Old Ko Moro had told her.
Of Drogo's three Bloodriders, only he treated Daenerys kindly… or rather, only he treated her as if she were Drogo's wife, while the other Dothraki saw her merely as noble breeding stock Drogo had purchased from Illyrio.
The Dragonstone princess, born of the storm, meant nothing to the Horse People.
"Khal Drogo is like this, I'm worried…" Daenerys said with a forced smile.
Ko Moro raised his hand, interrupting her, and said: "You should be concerned about Kaskos raiding without the Khal's permission… but your concern is misplaced."
Daenerys watched him walk away with a bitter expression.
Soon the cries of warriors and the screams of the Lamb Folk, mixed with the smell of blood and fire, reached Daenerys's ears.
As she stood on the hill, the lush green weeds reached up to her horsehair leggings, tickling her sensitive skin like a baby's lick.
Looking around, she could see columns of smoke rising from the burning battlefields like fingers reaching into the sky from the nearby Lhazareen mansions.
Daenerys closed her eyes sadly, clutching her enormous belly, trying not to think about how many pregnant women like her would be brutally murdered today, and how many children and women would be pillaged into slavery by Drogo's Khalasar.
"It really is a cruel world."
Daenerys's little Khas was bustling with activity; some were leveling the ground on the hill with wooden stakes and setting up tents, while others stood on wagons, unloading large boxes containing Drogo and Daenerys's blankets and valuables.
The Khal's tent was at the center of the entire Khalasar, and with the hill Daenerys had chosen as her focal point, yurts were filling the field of vision one by one like mushrooms after the rain.
The Horse People did not want to live in stone or adobe houses; they were accustomed to living in tents.
The scene—with over a hundred thousand people gathered—was lively, and it struck a chord with Daenerys, who had been depressed since arriving in this new world.
"Ser Jorah, will you take a walk with me?"
Jorah Mormont, nicknamed "Old Bear," was a Northman from Westeros, the former Lord of Bear Island—son of the Night's Watch Commander, also called Old Bear, and uncle of the Bear Island girl from A Song of Ice and Fire.
He was about to be executed by Eddard Stark, Warden of the North, for selling slaves, so he fled across the Narrow Sea to the continent of Essos.
Daenerys swore him to allegiance after she married Drogo.
After Drogo crowned Viserys with melted gold, Old Bear became Daenerys's sworn knight.
When he first joined Drogo's group, Old Bear still wore the standard Westerosi knightly attire: wool shirt, wool breeches, undershirt, leather armor, plate armor.
After living in the Great Grass Sea for about a year, he began to grow accustomed to the clothing of the Horse People: leather sandals, horsehair leggings, sleeveless painted leather vests, and a belt with a bronze medallion.
"Khaleesi, won't you check on Drogo's injury?"
Jorah rode alongside Daenerys's mare, followed by four young Dothraki knights.
"More than a dozen hairless ones are surrounding him, it's very crowded; wait until they leave, then we'll check again."
In the Khalasar, there were two types of people who specialized in medicine: sterile women and eunuch slaves. Herbalists healed with potions and spells, while eunuchs wielded sharp blades, needles, and fire. Among the Horse People, they were collectively known as the "hairless people."
Among the ground-level tents, barefoot children ran and played among the crowds, while slaves and women carried firewood. The cries of slaughtered animals rang out; men carrying wooden buckets fetched water from wells and rivers; some carefully sharpened arakhs for newly blooded warriors, while long-haired Dothraki barked orders. The smell of sweat, horse dung, and blood mingled with the aroma of roasting meat, drifting to Daenerys's nose.
As she was returning from a tent, in an open area where firewood was stacked, a large group of knights were laughing and joking around a dozen naked women. Even when they saw Daenerys on her silver horse, they had no intention of covering themselves up…
Drogo's Khalasar didn't just have bronze-skinned Dothraki; besides warriors, there were also countless slaves serving them: whites like Daenerys, milk-skinned humans even paler, red-skinned eunuchs, blacks from the Summer Isles, and dark-skinned men of Asshai from the Shadow Lands. With the limited memories in her mind, Daenerys struggled to distinguish their races.
Even the Dothraki themselves were not uniform.
The Horse People roamed Essos, plundering slaves from many ethnic groups. Lacking the concept of marriage and prone to acting on whims, this tribe's lineage had long been mixed.
One thing was consistent: the Dothraki all had almond-shaped eyes.
"Khaleesi, it seems a bit… odd?"
Jorah had sensed that Daenerys was strange all afternoon. Now that she hadn't stopped the Horse People from attacking the Lhazareen women as usual, he found it even stranger.
In fact, the original Daenerys was a kind young woman. When she first witnessed Dothraki warriors gang-raping captive women, she compassionately stopped them by force, even suggesting the warriors marry them.
This went against Dothraki tradition.
Dothraki warriors had the right to act upon the slaves they plundered; it was their right to rape, kill, or sell them, and even the Khal could not arbitrarily intervene.
Also, the common Dothraki had no marriage system; the Khal, who married one wife, was an exception.
"I understand what you mean, but even if I tried to stop them without Drogo's support, who would listen to me?" Daenerys said, lowering her gaze.
This Jorah truly lived up to his reputation as Dragon Mom's number one lackey, his perceptiveness so acute. Considering that since migrating this afternoon, he had been doing little talking and much observing, doing his best to mimic his original master's behavior…
"Khaleesi, just give the order and I will kill them!" the young Dothraki warrior Aggo shouted loudly, holding his longbow.
Drogo was still quite fond of his wife; Daenerys's Khas, though small, had a group of exceptional young warriors. Aggo, Quelo, Qhogo, and Rakharo even had the potential to become Bloodriders.
Bloodriders were warriors seen as one in a thousand, almost equal to the commanders in Genghis Khan's army of ten thousand.
Ser Jorah's pupils narrowed, and he warned, "This is another tribe of Khas. If you dare move, you will die."
He knew the Dothraki temperament; they truly acted without hesitation.
"I'm not afraid of death." Aggo's black almond eyes widened, his imposing demeanor undiminished.
"None of us fear death." The other warriors roared as well.
"Creating a disturbance could harm the Khaleesi," Jorah said, pointing at Daenerys's enormous belly.
The subject was a bit odd. Daenerys glanced around, then suddenly raised her whip and pointed at a plump black man. "You, stop."
The black man, in his forties, his round, bald head glistening with sweat, asked with a humble smile: "Khaleesi, how may I assist you?"
"Cock-cock-cock," cried a large white goose, its wings fluttering constantly between his thick fingers, occasionally pecking at his rough arm with its yellow beak.
"I want this goose," said Daenerys.
The Dothraki's staple food was horsemeat, which they considered