Game of Thrones: Rise of the Supreme Dragon Queen

The eastern sky was already glowing red, and the Ghiscari cavalry could faintly make out the true dragon banners behind the ballistae—red, white, and blue flags fluttering in the breeze from the sea.

It couldn't be clearer: they were once again surrounded by the Mother of Dragons' guard.

On the balcony of a four-story tower at the edge of the square, Dany raised a tin megaphone and shouted, "I am the Conqueror of Slaver's Bay! Soldiers of Yunkai, the war is over! Lay down your arms, surrender, and you will be spared!"

Erzir glanced around and realized he held the highest rank among them. Without hesitation, he spurred his horse forward and shouted back from below the tower, "The great Ghiscari people will never be conquered! Woman, the sons of harpies will never surrender to you!"

"If you won't surrender, then die," Dany said coldly.

"Hahaha, if you have the guts, kill me!" Erzir laughed defiantly.

Whoosh—

A two-meter-long steel ballista bolt shot through the air like a flash of lightning, piercing Erzir's breastplate and carrying his body seventeen or eighteen meters away. Along the way, it smashed into seven or eight other cavalrymen, killing and injuring them. Blood splattered across the square, leaving a long, gruesome trail.

"Damn, that woman really has guts…" The first rays of sunlight from the east illuminated Erzir's twisted face. "I… I just wanted to surrender with some dignity. Was that too much to ask…?"

With those final words, the Yunkish warlord's head lolled to the side—dead.

The tin megaphone reflected golden-red light under the sun as Dany roared down at the Ghiscari forces, "Who else?"

Clatter! The cavalry nearest to her instinctively pulled back, both man and horse retreating in perfect sync.

"Ready!" Dany raised her hand, and the sound of bows being drawn filled the air.

"Don't shoot! I surrender!" A mercenary dropped his longsword, dismounted, and fell to his knees, sobbing.

"You—" A nearby Ghiscari officer erupted in rage, drawing his curved blade, ready to strike.

"What do you mean, 'you'? We barely have five thousand men left! The enemy, even without their archers and dragons, still has over two thousand dragon-killing ballistae! How are we supposed to fight this?!" the mercenary wailed.

The officer fell silent, his raised blade slowly lowering.

"I surrender…"

"I surrender too!"

The mercenaries surrendered first. After only a few breaths of hesitation, the Ghiscari cavalry followed suit, silently dropping their weapons and kneeling.

Under the golden-red sunlight, 5,257 Ghiscari cavalry and mercenaries knelt on the ground.

"It's over. Completely over…" At the grand entrance of the Great Pyramid, the High Priest of Yunkai slumped to the floor, mumbling to himself.

The warm red light shone upon him, yet it couldn't mask the pallor of his face, nor could it drive away the deep, bone-chilling despair that gripped him.

"Sigh… We can't blame those young soldiers. What else could they do besides surrender?" an elder priest beside him said helplessly.

"What the hell was Grazdan doing?! Half of Yunkai has been burning all night—how could they not see it?" a younger priest cursed loudly.

Of course, they hadn't seen it. Dany's forward camp was five kilometers from Yunkai. If they had been on an open plain, perhaps Grazdan could have seen the flames from the docks. But the forward camp was situated in the hills.

To put it simply, the forward, middle, and rear camps stretched across ten kilometers, with the main encampments positioned on elevated terrain—a basic military strategy.

When the 20,000 Ghiscari troops fell into the ambush, Dany's army swiftly occupied the forward camp. Before the Ghiscari cavalry could retreat, Dany herself led forces to cut off their escape route.

Thus, over five thousand cavalrymen were trapped in a valley between two hills.

In truth, the forward camp's hills weren't particularly high—only about thirty or forty meters of gentle slopes. But that was enough to block the Ghiscari cavalry's line of sight.

Not only Grazdan but even the defenders stationed in the middle camp's hills couldn't see the fires engulfing Yunkai.

Though Dany was sharp, she wasn't a master strategist like Zhuge Liang. She hadn't anticipated the night's events in advance. The camp's location had actually been chosen by the veteran commander Barristan Selmy.

To be fair, Grazdan's attempt to break out at dawn had been outside her expectations.

If she hadn't already moved 40,000 troops into Yunkai, she would have ensured that not a single one of those 5,000 cavalrymen saw the next sunrise.

It would have been simple—at night, the dragons would let out a single roar, and the enemy's warhorses would panic, rendering their cavalry useless. Without momentum, they'd become mere practice targets for spearmen.

A series of coincidences led to this outcome.

Of course, the priests who hadn't gone to the battlefield knew nothing of this. They were all busy cursing Yunkai's so-called "God of War" for being utterly useless.

Just as their insults were reaching a fever pitch, an old witch from Hael Khorash hobbled over, clutching her cane. Her sagging, wrinkled chest bounced as she ran, shrieking, "High Priest! Something terrible has happened!"

The High Priest, standing at the palace gates watching the sunrise, seemed numb to everything. He stood there in a daze for a long moment before turning his head blankly. "Is it a slave uprising in the pyramid?"

"No… I don't know… Agh!" The old witch stomped her staff against the ground and shouted, "The dragon eggs have been stolen!"

"What?!" The High Priest froze before his expression turned frantic. "Which treacherous bastard dared to steal my dragon eggs?!"

Because of fears of a slave rebellion, the floor of the palace where the dragon eggs were kept had no slaves at all. In the High Priest's mind, if the eggs had been stolen, it could only mean that a traitor among the Ghiscari was responsible.

"It doesn't seem to be one of your guards. I was right by the door and didn't see anyone…" the old witch said uncertainly.

The dramatic events in the square had interrupted the sacrificial ritual, and the priests and guards had rushed out to investigate. But the old witch had no interest in the fate of the Ghiscari soldiers—she had only peeked outside briefly before returning to the sacrificial hall. When she came back, the dragon eggs were already gone.

"High Priest! There are signs of someone climbing through the skylight!" A guard soon reported the discovery.

In fact, the ventilation shaft above the dragon eggs was the first place they had checked. As soon as they looked, they saw clear climbing marks left in the soot-darkened passage.

It was obvious—someone small had taken advantage of the distraction, climbed through the skylight, and stolen the dragon eggs.

The High Priest flew into a rage and roared at his guards, "Search every inch of this place—"

Suddenly, another guard came running into the hall, screaming, "It's the Mother of Dragons!"

"What?!"

"Come outside and see for yourself! Outside the pyramid—The Mother of Dragons stole the dragon eggs!"

The High Priest and the others were confused, but they wasted no time. Some rushed to the windows, while others bolted straight for the palace gates.

Skreeeeee!

Under the golden morning sun, a black dragon descended toward the grand plaza in front of the Great Pyramid, flying against the sunlight. A seven-to-eight-meter-long hemp rope was tied to its right claw, and a small, dust-covered girl clung to it with her left hand while cradling a golden-hued stone egg in her right. She swayed in mid-air, carried by the wind.

"Damn it! Damn it!" The guards loosed their arrows, but none could get within a hundred meters of the girl.

"It's over! Even our last hope has been taken away!" The Grand Sage's legs gave out, and he fainted on the spot.

Meanwhile, the old witch let out a long breath, unexpectedly feeling a trace of gratitude toward the unseen Mother of Dragons.

It was good that the dragon egg was stolen. The Grand Sage's entire family had perished, leaving only his thirteen-year-old youngest son. If the egg failed to hatch, that madman would most likely burn her alive.

"It's not that I didn't try hard enough, nor that my magic wasn't strong enough. It's obvious—the Grand Sage loved that child, Karag, the most. So..." The old witch shrugged helplessly at the despairing sages and said, "It's too late to say anything now."

"It's not too late!"

The Grand Sage woke with a start, groggily rising as he glared at the old witch with lifeless eyes. "Sacrifice Karag!"

"But..."

"But..."

The old sage and the old witch spoke in unison, then exchanged a glance. The witch fell silent, while the sage continued, "But he is your only remaining bloodline."

The Grand Sage exhaled a heavy breath, his tone cold. "Given the current situation, Karag has little chance of surviving anyway. I was blinded before—I should never have left him for last."

"But the dragon egg was stolen," the old witch reminded him.

"Let me ask you—is Rahlo a god?" A faint red glint flickered in the Grand Sage's eyes as he fixed his gaze on the witch.

Despite her terror, the old witch shook her head. "He is no god. He is a demon. A devil."

"God or demon, after all the sacrifices I've made, there's no way he doesn't know what I desire. For a demon god, a mere few hundred meters of distance is nothing!" the Grand Sage growled.

"I can't guarantee it." Facing the brink of madness in the Grand Sage, the old witch could only say this.

"You'd better be certain—absolutely certain!" The Grand Sage's voice dripped with murderous intent.

Damn it! This 200,000 gold coins are not worth it!

The old witch sighed internally and said, "Grand Sage, you must understand—the sacrificial ritual has its rules. Even the smallest mistake in the runes or incantation will render it useless.

Even if, by some miracle, Shadow Demon Rahlo responds to your plea, the hatchling will still end up in the Dragon Queen's hands. Wouldn't that be aiding the enemy?"

"Do as I say! No more nonsense!" The Grand Sage howled in hysteria.

At that moment, the old witch finally understood—driven to despair, the Grand Sage had only one obsession left: hatching the dragon. It was the only thing he could hope for, and the only thing left for him to do.

"Fine."

Around eleven in the morning, Sir Breaks-the-Chains arrived with ten cavalrymen, just as Dany was about to smash the dragon egg. For some unknown reason, the fake egg, which had once hatched a dragon before, actually contained... how to describe it? A mass of purple-black spiritual matter—sinister, poisonous, its nature uncertain. Who knew what kind of monster it might produce? Or if it was merely raw essence?

If Dany hadn't possessed the ability to "see through" spiritual energy, she might have thought the old witch's sacrifice had no effect on the fake egg at all.

It seemed that sacrificing to Rahlo did yield a response.

Dany didn't dare absorb that unknown essence. Fearing that it might truly hatch into a demon, she hesitated for a moment before deciding to smash the stone egg and be done with it.

The Butcher had led 500 cavalrymen from Astapor. Yesterday afternoon, while 80 kilometers from Yunkai, he received a message from Dany via the scout riders.

Two tasks: First, coordinate with the horsemen to clear out the remnants of the fleeing Yunkai forces. Second, rush to Yunkai as soon as possible to help her take the Great Pyramid. Once Yunkai was secured, they would move on to conquer Meereen.

Meereen had the most pyramids. Other than the Great Pyramid, which was already under Dany's control, most were still surrounded by the newly freed citizens. With only 3,000 elite soldiers, even maintaining order in the city was difficult.

Sir Butcher handed his 490 soldiers over to Argo and rode swiftly toward Yunkai.

"The Queen needs me!" he told Argo.

And indeed, Dany needed him. She was a queen of justice and mercy. The conquest of the pyramids often meant the total extermination of the great slave-owning families. Though they deserved it, doing so outright would be both unsightly and damaging to her reputation.

It was better to let Sir Breaks-the-Chains act on her behalf. Once he completed this mission, she would elevate him to the rank of Count Breaks-the-Chains.

Catching the Queen's implicit approval, Sir Butcher thumped his chest and swore, "Your Majesty, rest assured—you'll be living in the Great Pyramid by tonight!"

Afterward, Dany issued a proclamation to the citizens and merchants of Yunkai, announcing that Sir Breaks-the-Chains would temporarily serve as "Governor of Yunkai," while she herself would ride her dragon back to Meereen to continue liberating the slaves.

Outside Meereen, vast estates covering hundreds of kilometers still awaited her conquest.

(End of Chapter)

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