Chapter 340: Westward Meeting (Part II)
Dragonflame again? Dragon-taming again?
Could it be that every person who appeared to be an ally was actually after her children? The young Queen felt the beast within her stir—this news had finally ignited her maternal fury.
In the brief ten minutes between entering the pyramid and the start of the meeting, she had received a concise briefing from Petyr, gaining a general understanding of the major events that had transpired during her absence.
The victory in the first defense of Meereen had delighted her, but the death of Prince Quentyn Martell—charred while attempting to steal a dragon—was a heavy blow. This naive young man's foolishness had not only unleashed two uncontrollable dragons but had also resulted in his own death under her protection. As the future heir to Dorne and a potential marriage candidate for Daenerys upon her return to Westeros, his demise would make securing Dornish support for her invasion significantly more difficult.
Now, a Victarion Greyjoy had emerged. How did he get the idea of taming a dragon, and how did he even come into contact with Viserion and Rhaegal while they were loose and flying in the sky!?
"Lord Victarion's brother, Euron, the current King of the Iron Islands, gave him a 'Dragon Horn' before he set sail to find you... and told him that blowing this horn would allow him to control your three dragons." The red priest Moqorro spoke with a flat expression that seemed to hide a faint smile, though it was unclear if he was being mocking or truly found it amusing. "The horn is the real thing, named 'Dragonbinder.' I do not know where Euron obtained it, but he clearly suffered from a literal misunderstanding of its name, believing that 'binding a dragon' meant the horn could be blown to command them."
If it couldn't control dragons, why was it called Dragonbinder? Now even Daenerys was curious. Suppressing her rising anger, she asked, "Is that not the case?"
"Dragons are massive, powerful creatures—carnivores with no small appetite. Each requires a vast territory for activity and hunting. Consequently, the Valyrians long ago realized a simple truth: dragons cannot be kept in pens," Moqorro explained calmly. "But they are ultimate weapons, not pets; they must be gathered quickly to form an army when needed. At its height, Valyria had hundreds, even thousands, of adult dragons registered. Their enemies—the Ghiscari Empire, the Rhoynar, and others—were powerful civilizations that also possessed certain levels of supernatural power. They were not to be conquered by merely sending one or two dragons. Countless dragons were left to roam free; how then were they gathered at critical moments?"
Lost tales of Valyria! Even Daenerys, a true-blooded Valyrian, listened intently to the red priest's narration.
"To herd sheep, one uses a sheepdog... but dragons are not sheep. They are cruel by nature, at the top of the food chain, solitary creatures with no sense of hierarchy. Even the Valyrians could not train any creature—or even one of their own kind—to act as a 'commander' or 'lead dragon.' Thus, the Valyrian Freehold introduced the role of the 'Dragonwarden,'" Moqorro continued slowly. "The duty of the Dragonwarden was to use a dragon horn to recall the dragons roaming the countryside when needed. To achieve this, a loud voice or a few simple fire spells were insufficient; the Warden needed a highly efficient signal-release channel that couldn't be ignored even if the dragons were sleeping, hunting, or otherwise occupied. Their solution was the magic horn."
"A dragon horn emits a blast that is thunderous and utterly eerie to human ears. This sound can damage the hearing and shake the resolve of any human at close range, but for the dragons, it is a sonic signal of just the right penetration and intensity. Once blown, it can easily recall dragons that might have flown dozens or even a hundred miles away. In a sense, the dragon horn does control dragons—but it can only gather them together. Ultimately, the ones who prevent these great beasts from fighting one another and exercise the fine control required to lead them into war must be their respective Dragonriders. One-on-one; however many dragons are committed to a battlefield, at least that many riders are required. The horn is, and always was, merely a secondary tool."
So that was the truth behind the so-called Dragon Horn!
Now, Daenerys could likely imagine the details of the tragedy that had occurred. The Iron Captain, coveting the two dragons, had blown the horn. The piercing, far-reaching sound had quickly drawn his targets—Viserion and Rhaegal. Unfortunately, these two little ones had never undergone training or bonding with a true Valyrian Dragonwarden. They likely only found the sound loud and unpleasant (or perhaps enticing?), and were drawn to fly before the horn-blower.
Victarion Greyjoy, looking into the shining eyes of legendary dragons as large as bronze plates, seeing their hard, layered scales and dense black teeth... the Iron Captain, overcome with ecstasy, believed they were indeed under the horn's control. Confident, he strode toward the two dragons and made the dangerous move that brought his death.
Perhaps it was a gaze, perhaps a touch, or even an attempt to mount one... whichever it was, it triggered the ending everyone knew: the provoked dragons opened their maws and unleashed a torrent of flame, turning the offending Iron Captain into a roasted kraken, charred on the outside and tender within.
The reality was nearly identical to Daenerys's guess, but Nute the Barber's shrill questioning interrupted her thoughts: "Since you knew the dragon horn couldn't control dragons, why didn't you tell the Iron Captain sooner instead of watching him go to his death?!"
"If I had told him, would he have listened?" Moqorro countered. "I tried to drop hints, but Lord Victarion was filled with suspicion and hatred for his brother at the time. Holding the legendary 'Dragonbinder,' his mind was consumed by thoughts of taming three dragons, marrying the most beautiful woman in the world, and letting his brother taste the same bitterness of a stolen wife. If I had told him during the voyage, 'Your horn can't control dragons at all,' it would have only brought me a death sentence. What would he have done to me?"
What would Victarion have done? He likely would have publicly declared Moqorro a heretic and a demon sent by an evil god, then bound him to a stone and drowned him as a sacrifice to the Drowned God.
Euron had been exiled from the Iron Islands years ago for sleeping with Victarion's favorite salt wife; this was a major piece of news, and any Ironborn would have heard of this Greyjoy family scandal. The two Iron Fleet warriors didn't need to think hard to realize what Moqorro meant by the bitterness of a stolen wife. The red priest was saying that Victarion never intended to actually bring the Dragon Queen back for Euron, but wanted to marry her himself to stand as an equal to his brother... with a little thought, Nute the Barber and his companion realized this was the truth!
To Moqorro, the Iron Fleet was likely just a hitchhike that could bring him to his destination—the Dragon Queen. He probably didn't care at all about the lives of these irredeemable heathen Ironborn; he might have even watched with schadenfreude as the Iron Captain marched toward his doom. Beyond that, a more terrifying realization struck the two Ironborn: if their King of the Iron Islands had been so bold as to hand such a powerful weapon over to his brother, was it possible he knew from the beginning that the horn didn't work the way they thought?
Had Euron intentionally given it to his brother and sent him to find Daenerys, intending to use the Queen's hand... no... her dragons to eliminate his own sibling? Was he trying to remove the core of the original Iron Fleet and destroy the Iron Captain—who held unmatched prestige in the Islands—to consolidate his own rule, all without incurring the dual infamy of kinslaying and pettiness?
Now, the Iron Captain was dead. As his close confidants, Nute and the other Ironborn warriors who had come with him would likely find it hard to be trusted or accepted by the current King of the Iron Islands. So, what were they to do? They had traveled thousands of miles, yet they could neither win the Dragon Queen for their captain nor return to face the black hand of Euron Crow's Eye.
The two Ironborn warriors looked at each other, filled with suspicion and unease. Where was the heart or momentum to continue accusing the red priest?
Daenerys could tolerate others coveting her, but she could not endure attempts to harm or steal her children. The goodwill she had felt moments ago for this first group of Westerosi followers evaporated upon learning they had brought a Dragon Horn and tried to control her dragons... In the end, she only suppressed the urge to lash out by silently reminding herself that she needed the Ironborn ships and sailors.
"That 'Dragon Horn'—where is it now?"
"It was not destroyed by dragonflame. It is likely in the hands of one of the Ironborn now." Moqorro had been right there when Victarion met his end. Possessing fire-controlling magic, he had no fear of the heat so long as he wasn't the dragon's target; naturally, he knew the full sequence of the tragedy. "For a mortal to play it requires the price of their life force, but for someone like you, possessed of extraordinary power, it is not so dire. However, since you have already mastered the art of dragon-riding, it holds little value for you. That said, it is best not to let a functional magical item like this wander freely among the people."
Even without the red priest's advice, Daenerys would have done so. She nodded, and when she looked back at Nute and his companion, the initial friendliness and warmth were gone. "Brave warriors, I am grateful for the heroism you and your kin displayed during the siege of Meereen. But in the name of your Queen, I demand that you retrieve this horn for me. I expect to see it before nightfall. Therefore, I suggest you depart immediately."
This was an unmistakable dismissal. The Queen had essentially told them that the Ironborn were no longer welcome in the ongoing meeting. Dejected, the two Ironborn accepted the exit Daenerys provided. With a quick farewell, they hurried off to execute the Queen's first command.
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