Once the first man took the lead, the rest of the Horsemen seemed to know exactly what to do.
After Daenerys asked once, they immediately shouted, "I want freedom!"
This created a momentum. The remaining Horsemen slaves, upon seeing Daenerys ride past them, began shouting "I want freedom" in a frantic race to be heard, even without her asking. Then, the Blood Alliance Guards and their Niu Lu stepped forward to unlock their slave collars.
Daenerys wondered if those men even understood what they were shouting.
But it didn't matter. The atmosphere was electric, filled with the feeling of a revolution in the making. Her slave liberation movement had off to a strong start.
After nearly two hours, Daenerys completed a circuit around the Army of the Unsullied. With the help of twenty Horsemen, over nine hundred slaves had regained their status as free men.
She could clearly sense the ripples of emotion stirring within the Unsullied, who had been forged into emotionless stone.
Their expressions were changing!
Daenerys nodded in satisfaction. With a wave of her hand, she ordered the Horsemen warriors to lead the newly freed men away. Then, she addressed the Unsullied, her voice ringing out: "I have restored the freedom of the Horsemen slaves. At this moment, I declare that all 13,600 of you, the Unsullied, are now free men."
Even though the Unsullied had already suspected it, her words still left them bewildered. As Missandei had said, they knew only how to obey, and now they were utterly lost.
Daenerys knew, of course, that a single sentence wouldn't break their slave mentality. Today's grand gesture wasn't about unlocking the chains in their minds, but about establishing a glorious and noble purpose.
In other words, soldiers only need to obey their superiors, but an army needs a soul.
For example, while all militaries emphasize discipline, different armies possess different spirits. In America, freedom is paramount; in the Great Celestial Empire, the goal is to serve the people.
"You are now free," Daenerys said, riding Little Silver through the ranks of the Unsullied. "You may choose to leave, return to your homelands, and find your families."
—*Nonsense,* she thought. The Unsullied began their training at age five. How many of them even remembered their parents or their homes?
Only a few, like Missandei, had been so fortunate—brothers sold into Astapor together, serving the same Good Master.
"Will anyone leave? You are free."
Daenerys rode to the front of the formation, stood up in her stirrups, and held the Harpy's Finger high for all to see—the token that represented ownership of the entire Army of the Unsullied.
"Do you see it? This is the chain that binds you, the slave collar around your necks."
She rode her horse in ten circles through the ranks, ensuring every eunuch soldier witnessed her gesture.
Finally, Daenerys shouted in a voice grown hoarse, "Freedom is won by your own hands! Now, if you all shout 'Freedom!', I will help you break the slave collars from your necks."
A heavy silence fell over the field, broken only by the distant, faint sound of the tide.
Daenerys rode forward a short distance and repeated her words.
The Unsullied stood like granite statues, offering no response.
Standing in her stirrups, Daenerys held the Harpy's Finger high as she rode through the ranks, repeating her offer for a third time.
Then a fourth. A fifth.
"The Princess is wasting her breath," Jorah sighed. "The Unsullied will never shout that word. They are destined to live their entire lives under the slave master's whip."
Whitebeard murmured with a bitter smile, "Children with a rebellious spirit were killed by the slave masters long ago. Those who remain have completely lost the will to be free. I doubt they can even think for themselves anymore."
"They can," Missandei said, her large golden eyes fixed on a single silver figure amidst the gray ranks, her flat, round face full of conviction. "My brothers still recognize me. I weep in secret for their pain, and they smile with happiness when they see me."
When Daenerys, her throat burning with pain, shouted the words for the fifty-eighth time in a raspy voice, an Unsullied to the left of Little Silver whispered, "I want freedom."
Daenerys paused her right foot, and Little Silver obediently came to a halt. She looked at the Unsullied and said in a hoarse voice, "Your voice is quieter than a woman's. I can't hear you."
"Freedom!" he shouted, his voice loud and clear, as if he had just learned the word for the first time.
"I heard you, but I couldn't understand," Daenerys said, her Harpy's Finger still raised high. Sweat trickled down her cheeks, and her Dothraki vest was soaked through.
"Freedom, I want freedom," the Unsullied shouted.
"You are free," Daenerys nodded, urged Little Silver forward, and repeated the words for the fifty-ninth time.
Then, scattered cries of "Freedom, I want freedom" began to echo through the ranks.
A joyful smile spread across Daenerys's face as she proclaimed, "You are free!"
She rode a short distance further and repeated the words for the sixtieth time.
This time, the Unsullied gave her no chance for a sixty-first repetition. A tidal wave of "Freedom!" roared all around her, and Daenerys felt as if she were adrift in an ocean of sound.
"Freedom, freedom, freedom..."
"Freedom! I want freedom!" Missandei wept, a small spray of water dissolving into the vast ocean.
"They've gone mad—they're all mad! We must protect the Khaleesi!" Jorah's face paled as he shouted urgently to the Blood Alliance Guards.
"There is no need," Whitebeard said, stepping in front of him and the Horsemen. His gaze was fixed on the petite figure amidst the seething crowd, his expression a complex mix of emotions. "The Princess is safest here. Even the gods cannot harm her now."
The terrifying ocean of voices roared for nearly ten minutes. Daenerys kept her empty left hand pressed down, and only when the Unsullied fell silent again did she shout, "All of you—all thirteen thousand six hundred of you—are free!"
She spurred Little Silver forward, riding to the front of the lines. "Dracarys!" she commanded, her voice ringing out in Valyrian.
With a forceful motion, she threw the whip high into the air.
*BOOM—BOOM BOOM BOOM—*
Drogon arrived at that exact moment, unleashing a torrent of searing dragonfire. Golden droplets of liquid splattered onto the grass. The Unsullied at the front of the lines watched as the magnificent Harpy's Finger was reduced to a single, twisted, blackened dragon bone.
They obeyed her orders strictly, refraining from shouting "Freedom!" again. But the looks they gave her were more scorching than the dragonfire.
"You are free. You may leave now, or you may stay. From this day forward, you may leave whenever you wish, or you may choose to remain."
Daenerys waited for them to fully process her promise before continuing. "You are warriors, and I will not hide the fact that I need the strength of warriors. For those of you who choose to stay, please elect a leader to represent your will."
The Unsullied, who had just shouted "Free!", seemed to have opened their long-closed hearts. They immediately began whispering among themselves.
Faster than Daenerys had anticipated, in just three minutes, a dark-skinned Unsullied stepped out from the ranks and walked to the front of Little Silver.
He placed his shield and spear on the ground beside him, removed his helmet, tucked it under his right arm, and knelt on one knee. "Mother of Dragons," he said respectfully, "I am the commander of the Unsullied army."
Daenerys felt a mixture of surprise and relief to discover that he was the very first man who had responded to her with "I want to be free."
She dismounted and walked over to him, helping him to his feet. "I know you," she said. "You were the first Unsullied to be free. Tell me, what is your name?"
"Your Majesty," he replied, "my name is Grey Worm."
*Good. Missandei had appeared, and with Grey Worm, the group was finally complete.*
"Freemen may choose their own names," she said. "You can reclaim your original name, if you remember it."
"I do," Grey Worm nodded. "The name I was born with was cursed, which is why I was forced into slavery. 'Grey Worm' is the name I drew on the day I was freed by Daenerys Stormborn. It is a lucky name, and I have decided to keep it."
"Very well. You are free to choose any name you wish. But you need not call yourself 'this one' anymore. You are no longer a slave."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
She asked again, "Why did everyone choose you as their leader?"
"Not everyone. About sixty percent chose me; I had the largest majority." He paused before continuing, "In the Unsullied training camp, I performed the best in swordsmanship, endurance, and bravery. Especially in battle formation—I have experience commanding the Unsullied in the field."
"I see," Daenerys nodded. "Bring me the other warriors who were nominated but not chosen."
Grey Worm turned and spoke a few words to the first row of Unsullied, relaying Daenerys's message. Within minutes, over thirty Unsullied stepped forward one after another.
The Unsullied Legion's discipline was beyond anything Daenerys had imagined. She began to believe that the Ghiscari Legion could truly have fought Valyria to a standstill.
The current Unsullied were essentially a monkey version of the Ghiscari Legion.
It was said that the two empires fought for decades, with five major battles in total. The first and second battles had been instigated by the Ghiscari, who sought to conquer Valyria and seize their dragons. The Unsullied training regimen was modeled after the ancient Ghiscari Legion.
When they came to see Daenerys, the chosen Unsullied, just like Grey Worm, removed their helmets.
Daenerys had them stand in the front row of the Unsullied formation, with Grey Worm standing alone at the very front.
Then, she stood before Grey Worm, facing all the Unsullied, and said, "I said I need warriors. You are free now. You can choose to go home, or you can stay and fight for me."
"I am willing to fight for the Mother of Dragons until my last breath," Grey Worm declared with a resolute expression.
"I will fight for the Mother of Dragons." Every Unsullied who heard Daenerys's words—from the commanders to the common soldiers in the rear—responded without the slightest hesitation.
Daenerys pressed her hands down to quiet them, then spoke solemnly, "You have no idea what I want. How can you fight for me? If I ordered you to sack cities, to sell the free people of other city-states to slave traders, would you still fight for me?"
After only a moment's hesitation, Grey Worm replied earnestly, "I would."
The others' reactions, though not as fervent as before, were still firm promises: "We will do anything for the Mother of Dragons."
"I am grateful for your loyalty." Daenerys nodded, raised her right hand with a smile, and declared loudly, "I swear, by all the gods in the world, by the honor of all my Targaryen ancestors, that I, Daenerys Targaryen of the Stormborn, will use the power of the Unsullied only for a righteous cause."
"A righteous cause, one that benefits the majority of mankind—and that does not include helping House Targaryen seize the Iron Throne."
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