As dusk fell and the sky dimmed, Dany said to Aggo,"Detain Odo's men. Give the Lamb Men slaves some food and let them leave on their own."
Aggo cast a wary glance at the Lamb Men slaves huddled to one side and said,"Khaleesi, the Lamb Men hate us. Now they know our location, they might bring their main force to surround and wipe us out.
"The Lamb Men may be timid, but they aren't stupid. They know our real strength and weakness. They won't let this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity slip away."
This Aggo was young, yet his thinking was unexpectedly meticulous. Dany looked at him in surprise and explained,"Traveling on foot at night, how far can they go? If they can reach the Lhazareen River by tomorrow afternoon, that would already be miraculous. But by tomorrow morning, we will definitely be gone."
"Better to just kill them outright," Aggo muttered as he walked away.
The blood-red sun sank beneath the horizon. When the Lamb Men were told they were free to go, they looked stunned. After cautiously testing the situation, they suddenly scattered and fled in a rush.
However, the funeral pyre was not lit immediately.
A group of Dothraki stood there, almond-shaped eyes widened as they searched the night sky for an auspicious sign.
Whenever a khal died, his mount would be killed and buried with him.
It symbolized that he would ride a fine horse, galloping proudly into the Night Lands.
When their bodies were burned beneath the open sky, the khal would ride a blazing fire-steed, leap forth, and transform into a star in the heavens.
The fiercer the flames that consumed his remains, the brighter his star would shine in the darkness.
Thus, before lighting the pyre, they had to find the star that belonged to their khal—It could not be an ordinary, familiar star. It had to be an anomalous celestial body that appeared only today, because the khal was being buried today.
That was where it became troublesome. How could an anomalous star be so easy to find?
The horsemen sat on the ground, scanning the sky again and again. Even Dany began to feel embarrassed.
If she had lived in this world for more than ten years, she could have casually picked an inconspicuous star and muddled through.
But she had only been here for a short time, and her former self knew nothing of astronomy—certainly not as much as nomadic people who had nothing to do all day but look up at the stars.Yes, there was no fooling the Dothraki.
"Does every khal always find his own star?" she asked an elderly Dothraki.
"Of course. The great Drogo was the twelfth khal I have served. I saw it with my own eyes—each of the previous eleven khals rode their fiery warhorses and became shining stars. One of them was Drogo's father."Being addressed personally by the Khaleesi, the old man was so excited that his dark, weathered face flushed as if he were drunk.
Twelve? Just how many dynasties have you lived through?
Dany mocked inwardly, yet also felt a quiet sigh—heroes of the grass sea often perished in the shifting sands, falling like shooting stars.
"How long does it usually take?" she asked again.
"Khaleesi, it's still early. We must wait until at least the second half of the night," the old man laughed. His lips, like dried tangerine peel, cracked open to reveal a mouthful of crooked, decayed teeth. The ugly old face somehow carried a gentle kindness."Once, we found the star and lit the pyre just as the sun rose. We waited the whole night!"
Dany finally understood—this was a test of endurance.
When everyone was exhausted, hungry, dizzy, their vision blurred and their minds dulled, even the moon might be mistaken for the khal's anomalous star.
"I found it! Over there!" an excited voice cried out—it was Rakharo.
Dany followed the direction he pointed and, low on the eastern horizon, saw a red comet—Blood-red, fire-red, like a dragon breathing flames.
This was without question an anomalous star. One could not ask for a stronger omen.
"Heh, the twelfth," the old man chuckled.
"Pour the oil," Dany ordered loudly.
Jug after jug of fragrant oil, castor oil, and vegetable oil was poured over Drogo's body. Haggo and Qotho were drenched as well. The oils soaked into the silk shrouds, branches, and bundles of dry grass, seeping down into the firewood below. A sweet, rich fragrance spread through the air.
"Bind the witch and throw her onto the pyre," Dany said again.
Mirri Maz Duur had been hiding among the crowd the whole time, silently watching the construction of the funeral pyre. She had thought everything was over when Jhogo returned with the baby boy's head.
Though she regretted not being able to take revenge with her own hands, seeing that tiny head had more or less satisfied her.
She never imagined that the silver-haired woman would suddenly order her to be burned alive.
"No, no, no—Silver Lady, Khaleesi, please listen to me…"The witch dodged Aggo's attempt to seize her, struggling wildly as she screamed,"I saved Lady Lillia! You said you would reward me! I sang the birthing song for you, helped you give birth to a healthy little prince! You can't do this to me! This makes no sense—it's madness! Wuwuwu…"
The witch was no match for Aggo. In just a few words' time, she was pressed face-down into the sand, unable to move.
"Bring my dragon eggs as well," Dany instructed the maidservants.Something in her tone sent them sprinting away at once.
Jorah went pale. He stepped forward and grabbed her arm."Princess, Drogo has no need for dragon eggs in the Night Lands. We could take them to Asshai and sell them. Just one would be enough to buy a great ship and return to the Free Cities. If we sold all three, the wealth would last you a lifetime."
"Do I lack money?" Dany asked with a light laugh.
Jorah could not laugh. He choked on her words, gripping her arm even tighter, as if trying to snatch his princess back from Death itself."Princess, I know Prince Rhaego's death struck you too hard.
"Even if you force yourself not to show sorrow in front of others, I know your heart is about to drown in tears, the weight of suffering is about to crush your spine—but you still have—"
His face flushed crimson. He was on the verge of blurting out words that crossed the line between lord and vassal. The next moment, he noticed the many almond-shaped eyes around them staring wide open. Dejected, he said,"But you are only fourteen. You have countless years ahead of you. You can still have countless little princes and princesses."
"Rest assured, ser," Dany awkwardly pulled her arm free and said in a low, pointed voice,"Don't forget—I have true dragon blood. Last time, I thought Viserys was like me, that he could never die from molten gold. Turns out… he wasn't a true dragon."
Jorah released her in a daze, pondering the meaning of her words as he watched her cradle the three dragon eggs handed over by the maids. Supported by Aggo and Rakharo, she climbed the steps of Drogo's pyre, one step at a time.
Dany waved the Dothraki warriors away. She placed the white dragon egg on Drogo's chest, fixing it in place with his hands. She herself lay down beside Drogo, holding the black dragon egg, while the green dragon egg was placed between them.
"So you really are mad."Bound hand and foot nearby, the witch watched Dany finish everything and laughed strangely."Endless suffering has driven you insane, hahaha, so that's how it is.
"You should have accepted my advice earlier—life for life, death for death. If blood magic could bring that butcher back, you might at least have reclaimed your husband's life. Hahaha… now you regret it, don't you? Hahaha…"
"I'll kill her first!"Qotho's rage flared. He turned, about to cut down the cackling Lamb Woman priestess.
"Stop. I want her burned alive," Dany called out.
That unruly bloodrider was unexpectedly obedient this time. He did not curse Dany, and the look he gave her carried a respect he had never shown before—Was he moved by her 'great' act of following her khal in death?Or did he believe that when they returned to the Night Lands together, his khal would still choose her as his Khaleesi?
Dany turned to the witch and said,"Have you forgotten? In your temple, when you first treated the khal's wound, Koho said that if the khal died, you would die as well.
"I am merely fulfilling that agreement. Whether or not the khal's death was your doing, he is dead—so you must die."
"Hahaha, that's right. The khal is dead, so the witch who treated him must die."Haggo laughed loudly, then drew his blade and slit his own throat. With his final, garbled breath, he said,"We… we should all go down to accompany the khal…"
"Chi—"From Qotho's side came the sound of blood spraying violently from a severed throat.
"They've all gone," Dany said, gazing at the red comet at the edge of the sky. Her tone was heavy with complexity."Now it's your turn.
"When Drogo fell from his horse, I already decided your ending today.
"Don't deny it. You killed him, and you wanted to sacrifice his son to the demon. Even more cruelly, you did it through the hands of a wife—a mother."
"Heh, you're smarter than I thought."At this point, the priestess no longer denied it. She laughed smugly."But your son still died. That's enough. I completed my revenge."
"Yes, you wanted revenge. That's not wrong," Dany acknowledged. The priestess had reason to slaughter those who invaded her homeland."But how did you repay the grace I showed you in saving your life?"
"Grace?"Dany's words seemed to ignite the rage she had long suppressed. The Lhazareen priestess spat and fired off her questions like a torrent:"I was dragged out of the temple of the god I worshipped by the Dothraki. A group of men waited to violate me.
"That wasn't normal union between man and woman. Taken from behind, like a male dog mounting a female dog—that wasn't normal union.
"When you rode past, the fourth man was inside me. How exactly were you going to save me?
"I watched the temple of my god burn, the place where I had treated countless faithful men and women. Back then, I was a pure healer, a devout priestess—not some witch or blood witch.
"My home was burned by the horsemen. In the streets were piles of severed heads—among them the baker who used to make bread for me, a little boy who had suffered from the burning eye fever and whom I had barely managed to save.
"Even now, I can hear the mounted warriors cracking their whips, driving children away as they cried loud enough to shake the sky. Tell me—what exactly did you save?"
Dany was silent for a moment, then replied,"I did everything I could. Eroeh and those women—I saved your life."
Khaleesi was not a khal. Even a khal could not change the Dothraki traditions that "everyone knew."The original Daenerys could honestly have said to anyone: My conscience is clear.
"My life?"Mirri laughed coldly."Look at yourself. When everything beautiful you once had is gone, what meaning does life still have?"
Hmm. It seemed everyone believed Dany was grieving to the point of death—her expressionless face taken as numb despair, as though life itself had lost all meaning.
"If it had no meaning, why did you beg me before?" Dany sneered.
"You will never hear my wailing," Mirri replied.
...
The fully completed English PDF of this fan-fic is now available on my Patreon shop.If you want to support my work and enjoy the entire story in one go, grab the PDF and binge-read it from start to finish without any breaks.
Patreon Shop:patreon.com /InkNovels
Here are a few fan-fic titles that I've recently uploaded on my Patreon:
"Game of Thrones: Dragon Prince"
"Game of Thrones: Political Life"
"Game of Thrones: Lannister Kingdom"
"Game of Thrones: Ruler of the Deep Seas "
" Game of Thrones: From the Elden Lord to the Young Wolf"
"Game of Thrones The Glory of a Knight"
(End Chapter)