Game of Thrones: Rise of the Supreme Dragon Queen

Before dawn, the stars had faded, and the moonlight had vanished. The sky at this moment was as dark and heavy as the bottom of a pot that had been burning for a hundred years, pressing down with an unbearable weight.

At least, War God Grazdan of Yunkai was so nervous he could hardly breathe. He was about to undertake a mission that would determine the future of Yunkai.

— Break through the encirclement before dawn!

He couldn't wait any longer. Even he, the great commander, was starving—how much worse must it be for the ordinary soldiers?

And they couldn't even kill a horse for food—lighting a fire at night would turn them into perfect targets.

There were dragons in the sky, and dragons could drop bombs!

If they waited until morning, whether or not that woman attacked, more than a thousand mercenaries in their ranks would likely defect and turn against them.

Facing such a dire situation, Grazdan had no choice but to fight his way out with everything he had.

They had to break through as many as possible.

At the very least, he couldn't afford another complete annihilation—surely, as the War God of Yunkai, he couldn't always lead his troops to their doom?

To persuade the Ragged Prince and the other mercenary groups to fight alongside him, Grazdan made a bold promise: he and the Yellow Cloaks would lead the charge, while the mercenaries only had to follow behind at full gallop.

In a way, Grazdan actually saved the entire force.

Because just two hours earlier, the red-haired Lyra had secretly met with Danzo.

Lyra told Danzo that, since the Windblown had never actually shed the blood of the Northern Liberation Army, their previous agreement still stood. If the Windblown turned on the Ghiscari during the next morning's battle, the Dragon Queen would allow them to keep the payment they had received from the Yunkish.

Of course, if the Windblown resisted and were wiped out, the Mother of Dragons would have no obligation to uphold any deal.

Faced with both threats and promises, Danzo and the Ragged Prince felt humiliated but had no choice but to obey Daenerys' orders if they wanted to survive.

Not long after, Zidane and the leaders of several smaller mercenary groups also approached the Ragged Prince. They were blunt: if they wanted to live, they had to hand the Yunkai forces over as a gift to the Dragon Queen and pledge allegiance by morning.

Ironically, Daenerys hadn't even bothered to contact these smaller mercenary groups. Zidane and his men were simply following the well-known mercenary tradition—"Everyone knows what's best."

Seeing Zidane's newly stitched banner—a red field with a black dragon—the Ragged Prince's face remained blank, but inwardly, he was relieved.

He had been just about to seek them out, but they had come to him first.

Perfect!

Now he wouldn't have to bear the stigma of betraying his employer—Zidane had willingly taken that burden upon himself.

In other words, if Grazdan hadn't attempted a nighttime breakout and instead waited for the morning battle, he would have faced yet another total annihilation.

The breakout was much easier than Grazdan had expected.

They lost only around three hundred cavalrymen breaking through the trench defenses, and even fewer when they stormed past the enemy camp.

"By the gods, we actually found the weakest point!" With the night wind in his face and the eastern sky turning deep indigo, Grazdan shouted in excitement.

He had no suspicion of a trap.

After all, the encirclement was over two kilometers wide and three kilometers long. Even with sixty thousand troops, the enemy couldn't possibly have soldiers stationed everywhere.

Both sides understood that there were multiple weak points in the encirclement.

During the daytime, even if the Ghiscari cavalry had charged at a weak spot, enemy reinforcements would have quickly arrived to turn that weak spot into a death trap.

But at night…

The thunder of hooves rumbled behind them—a large force was indeed giving chase, but it was already too late.

"I can't believe they actually broke through. The Dragon Queen really let her guard down after securing our promise," Danzo muttered, his expression conflicted, unsure whether to feel relieved or regretful.

"Grazdan may always lose battles, but he still deserves his title as War God. He must have noticed our mercenaries' unusual behavior, and he also keenly observed that the Dragon Queen's forces were slightly relaxed before dawn.

His precise grasp of both sides' conditions allowed him to seize this moment of victory.

It's not that he's foolish—he's never made even a minor mistake. The real problem is that woman's tactics are just too unpredictable," the Ragged Prince sighed.

"The Dragon Queen also has dragons! Dragons can drop firebombs—far worse than the legendary fire-breathing dragons of old," Cargo grumbled loudly.

Danzo glanced around, making sure they were surrounded by fellow mercenaries before asking, "So what do we do now? The Mother of Dragons is a real person, and she acknowledged our contract."

The Ragged Prince hesitated for a moment before shaking his head.

"We'll decide once we return to Yunkai. We've seen firsthand how the city-states in the Disputed Lands view the Dragon Queen.

She's practically at war with the entire world.

Without cheap slave labor, maritime trade costs will skyrocket—by five times for some merchants, ten times for others.

The financial stakes are enormous.

Many sea merchants would gladly give up half their wealth just to join the 'Anti-Dragon Queen Alliance.' For all we know, in a few days, warships might bring tens of thousands of soldiers to Yunkai."

As the eastern sky turned from deep indigo to dark red, Grazdan finally arrived at the city gates.

"Who goes there?!"

Torches flared on the gatehouse, and a familiar voice shouted from above.

"Is that General Hael? It's me!" Grazdan breathed a sigh of relief. The voice belonged to the very commander he had personally appointed to guard the gates before marching out.

A torch was thrown down from the wall, and the excited voice called out again, "Lord Grazdan? Is it really you? But we received word that you were trapped—"

Grazdan cut him off.

"I found a flaw in the enemy's defenses and led my troops to break through! Hael, open the gate quickly. Let the soldiers in first—we have pursuers behind us!"

"Right away! Right away!" Hael shouted, then turned and yelled to the city.

"Open the gates! Send word to the Great Wise Master—tell him that Lord Grazdan has returned! Yunkai has its leader once more!"

"Heh, that kid must have been scared out of his wits yesterday afternoon," Grazdan chuckled, glancing at one of the city's Wise Masters beside him.

The wise lord named Özil, much like Grazdan, had a lean and dark face, a strong and athletic build, and long limbs—making him one of Yunkai's rare, wise-lord-ranked warriors. Because of this, Grazdan chose him as his deputy.

"You're not wrong; you are indeed the backbone of Yunkai," Özil flattered.

With a creaking sound, the city gates swung open on both sides, revealing several men in yellow silk cloaks mounting torches onto the stone walls of the gate tunnel.

Standing on his saddle, Grazdan glanced backward and spoke to his deputy without turning his head: "Özil, take the men inside first."

"Are you worried about those mercenaries?" Özil asked in surprise.

"Hmph, why else would I risk a nighttime breakout? There are three types of people in this world who can never be trusted: the bed-slaves trained by Yunkai, mercenaries wandering across the world, and Westerosi politicians," Grazdan sneered.

"Why include the Westerosi? The Mother of Dragons may be cunning, but she has never broken her word," the deputy asked, puzzled.

"I'm not talking about her—I'm referring to Tywin Lannister and—hey, don't push! No need to rush!"

As soon as the gates opened, the cavalry surged forward like sheep fleeing from a monstrous dragon, jostling to get through. One rider, too impatient, crashed into Grazdan's warhorse near the gate, nearly knocking the wise lord off his saddle.

"Get inside and maintain order!" Grazdan roared at his deputy.

"Mercenaries—"

Grazdan pointed at the massive scorpion ballistae protruding from the murder holes above and chuckled. "Don't worry. The area near the gate is lined with countless crossbows—even dragons wouldn't dare cause trouble here."

"Oh? Then I'll head to the Great Pyramid first. I need to figure out why we lost this battle so inexplicably. Just how many soldiers does that woman have?" Özil muttered as he followed the knights through the gate tunnel.

Outside the tunnel, the deputy watched the cavalry gathering in the square beneath the Great Pyramid. Confused, he called up to the guards on the walls, "Why aren't they returning to the cavalry barracks? What are they doing at the plaza?"

"The Great Wise Master is rewarding the troops to boost morale," Hael, a guard on the tower, replied helplessly.

"Ah, the Great Wise Master truly spares no effort! With a leader like him and a war god like you holding the army together, how can we fail to quell the dragon crisis?" Özil sighed with deep emotion.

Soon, more than four thousand Ghiscari cavalry had entered the city, followed closely by the mercenary companies, who poured in in orderly succession.

"What are you looking at, Wise Master?" The Ragged Prince asked, noticing Grazdan standing on tiptoe, peering into the distance.

"I'm making sure no one falls behind," Grazdan replied coldly.

The Ragged Prince snorted in amusement. "You—"

"Wait, something's wrong!" Danzho suddenly grabbed his captain's arm, his expression grave. "Prince, do you smell that?"

"Smell what?" The Ragged Prince asked, confused.

"The scent of burning." Danzho's gaze toward the gate tunnel was filled with terror—a primal sense of danger, as if a great beast had opened its maw, ready to strike.

"Burning…" The Ragged Prince caught a faint whiff of scorched air carried by the sea breeze. His face changed instantly. A veteran of countless battles, he was immediately seized by a deep and terrible fear.

"Run!"

Without hesitation, the Ragged Prince yanked his reins and galloped eastward, toward the faint glow of dawn.

Soldiers atop the city walls had been watching the people below closely. The moment they saw the sudden movement, they shouted, "Fire!"

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The scorpion ballistae, previously aimed at the sky, swiveled downward and unleashed a deadly barrage at the crowd beneath the gate. At the same time, a row of archers appeared atop the walls, raining down a storm of arrows.

"Aaah!"

With just one volley, countless mercenaries clustered near the gate fell in heaps.

"Help! I don't want to die!"

"Ahh! The Ghiscari have betrayed us! Damn slavers!"

"I surrender! I surrender! Don't kill me!"

Some, aware of the larger plot, shouted in panic, "They found out we planned to defect to the Mother of Dragons! Run! Mother of Dragons, save us!"

It was… not entirely the mercenaries' fault for being clueless. After all, nothing like this had ever happened before on the continent of Essos.

"Dismount! Kneel! Surrender!"

After two waves of attacks, the guards on the walls ceased fire and bellowed in unison.

"Dismount! Kneel! Surrender!"

The same cries echoed across the great plaza inside the city.

Suddenly, torches flared up all around. The Ghiscari soldiers, still seated in their saddles, awaiting the Great Wise Master's rewards, were startled to realize that the entire plaza was surrounded—packed with scorpion ballistae.

On the streets, atop rooftops, even on the first steps of the Great Pyramid itself, rows upon rows of steel bolts gleamed coldly in the flickering firelight.

A chilling dragon's cry echoed overhead—

A final, crushing confirmation.

The Ghiscari cavalry, who still harbored the faintest sliver of hope, now completely despaired.

This was no misunderstanding.

This was no coup by another wise lord.

Yunkai had already fallen into the hands of the Mother of Dragons!

"Surrender, and you will be spared!"

(End of Chapter)

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