Master Tobho's reaction left Tyrion and the others astonished. Not long ago, the man had looked like a heroic martyr ready to face death. But after just an hour wandering the dungeons below, he returned completely subdued—like a whipped dog.
The Dragon Queen had his chair placed right beside her. She spoke gently, "Master, the Long Night is approaching. In order to save the world, my methods may have been a bit harsh, even brutal. I hope you understand."
The master smith nodded repeatedly. "I understand, completely. I am willing to contribute to the cause against the White Walkers. I am willing to share with you the incantation to reforge Valyrian steel weapons."
"No need to rush," Dany said, waving her hand and smiling softly. "Master, are you familiar with Ghis Dothrak, five hundred miles east of Pentos?"
"Yes, yes, I am. My ancestral home is Qohor. I only settled in King's Landing in recent decades. I've often traveled the Valyrian Road that runs from Pentos to Norvos to Qohor," Tobho Mott replied.
"In Ghis Dothrak, there are two Sphinx statues made by the Valyrians. Are they forged entirely of Valyrian steel?" Dany asked again.
Tobho's long, narrow face gradually lit with realization. He sighed. "I see what you mean. Yes, the statues are indeed forged wholly of Valyrian steel. In fact, we Qohorik once considered them. But the statues are simply too massive. They can't be melted down in a smelting furnace."
"Why not just build a bigger furnace?" Tyrion asked curiously.
With a few more exchanges, Tobho began to recover from his fear of the Demon's Tail. His demeanor regained some of a true master's gravitas. He spoke solemnly. "It's not an ordinary furnace. Reforging Valyrian steel requires magical incantations—and blood sacrifices."
"The legend is true?" Aemon murmured in shock.
"What legend?" Tobho asked.
"Once, an Archmaester from the Citadel disguised himself and traveled to Qohor to study the secrets of Valyrian steel. Upon returning, he left a record stating that Qohorik smiths performed mass sacrifices of slaves, using blood magic to forge the steel," Aemon said.
"Pah! Maesters," Tobho snorted with open contempt.
"But it's true. Living blood sacrifices are needed—because we don't possess enough magic power," he admitted frankly to the Dragon Queen.
Tyrion's eyes gleamed coldly. "How many people did you kill when you reforged Ice—the Stark family's ancestral blade—for my father?"
Tobho noticed that the Dragon Queen's warm smile had been replaced with a cold, regal aloofness. His heart skipped a beat. He lowered his voice. "Fewer than a hundred."
"Fewer than a hundred?" Tyrion bared his teeth in a grin. "Then we'll have the chance to reconnect in the seventh layer of hell, father and son."
"Master, you don't quite look like the burly type of smith," Dany remarked.
Tobho glanced at his spindly arms and sighed. "If a master smith is still swinging a hammer himself at sixty, then clearly he never took an apprentice."
"So you're saying, if I learn your incantation, I could become a master smith too?" Dany chuckled.
Tobho gave a wry smile. "Your Grace, you may look down on me, but please respect the craft of smithing. Metallurgy is a profound science. The incantation to reforge Valyrian steel is only one of the many dazzling jewels atop the crown."
Dany paused for a moment.
Then, solemnly, she said, "You're right. I was too arrogant."
Tobho looked at her in surprise, finding no sarcasm in her expression. She was serious. For the first time, among the ten thousand grievances he harbored toward the Dragon Queen, one had quietly turned into a trace of admiration.
He cleared his throat. "Your Grace, if you wish to reforge Valyrian steel weapons, let me do it. The incantation won't be of much use to you, but it is a reverse scale to the Qohorik Smiths' Guild. If they find out I told you, I'll be dead—and you…"
He trailed off, glancing around as if noticing too many prying eyes. He raised an eyebrow, scooted his chair closer to Dany, and lowered his voice to a whisper.
"Your Grace, the Smiths' Guild and the Cult of the Black Goat are two sides of the same coin. The priests of the Black Goat are masters of blood incantations. I can't say how powerful the Great Black Goat truly is, but you're surely aware of the Red God's growing dominance.
Just a year ago, when your dragons returned magic to the world, the Red Priests regained their supernatural powers. In Qohor, R'hllor's followers, unwilling to remain oppressed, gathered under the leadership of dozens of Red Priests and stormed the Temple of the Black Goat, intending to burn the statue of the god.
And then…"
Tobho Mott stopped speaking, glancing at the group who had practically pressed their heads right up next to his. His expression froze.
Ahem. When he was whispering to the Dragon Queen, Tyrion, Clinton, Old Aemon, and the others had unconsciously leaned in.
"It's fine. I'm not afraid of the Black Goat," Dany said, waving a hand with confident ease.
"Well, I am!" Tobho moaned.
Dany shot Hatall a look.
Hatall cracked his knuckles with a pop and gave Tobho a menacing grin.
The master smith shivered and wailed, "More than twenty Red Priests who could wield flame, over a thousand Hands of Holy Fire—the Red Church's armed force—and several thousand followers of the Red God.
They never even made it to the Black Goat's temple. They were slaughtered to the last man.
As you can all see, life in Qohor continues unchanged. R'hllor and the Red Temple didn't retaliate, and the matter was quietly dropped. That alone should tell you how terrifying the Black Goat really is."
"I've heard of that chaos in Slaver's Bay as well," Dany nodded.
Clinton frowned. "To be fair, you can't entirely blame the Black Goat's cult for their brutality. In the past two years, Red God followers have expanded savagely, grown increasingly demanding, and acted more and more overbearing.
The Black Goat is Qohor's native faith—even the Valyrians never banned it.
But now an outsider wants to destroy the local faith and preach R'hllor as the one true god? That's overreach."
Why had Dany always supported the Faith of the Seven? Or rather, why promote religion at all?
Because the people of this world need faith.
Anyone who suffers will begin to hope—for their suffering to end, for salvation to arrive.
That hope is the first step on the path to belief.
If she didn't establish her own religion, another power would fill the void.
And the Red God—was the largest, most domineering, and hardest to control of them all.
The Lord of Light, R'hllor, was real. A true god, with will and power.
In contrast, the Seven are merely seven wooden idols. The seven aspects of the Faith of the Seven represent seven ideals, more akin to a philosophical contemplation on "what it means to be human, and how one should live."
What truly gave the Faith of the Seven its power were people—specifically, a particularly wise and valiant High Septon—not deities that transcend humanity.
The Faith of the Seven can be controlled.
A faint smile crept across Dany's lips, one that sent chills down the blacksmith's spine.
She asked, "Do you believe the Black Goat truly exists?"
"What are you planning to do?" the blacksmith asked in a trembling voice.
"I've heard the Church of the Black Goat is so fanatical about blood sacrifice that it even surpasses the Red Priests," Dany said, her smile widening.
"It's true," Butomot swallowed hard and said. "The Black Goat is a dark god that demands living offerings daily.
On ordinary days, priests sacrifice calves, castrated bulls, and horses. On sacred holidays, convicted criminals or slaves who have displeased their masters are brought to the altar to have their throats slit.
If necessary, even the city's nobles will offer their own children to appease the Black Goat, hoping it will protect the city."
"Hahaha, good, good, good!" Dany burst into laughter, repeating the word three times.
"What's good about that?" Tyrion asked, puzzled.
"My son is growing. He needs gods to eat."
"What?" Tyrion's eyes widened in disbelief. "Eat gods? Are you insane?"
Dany waved him off and declared loudly, "Master Tobho, tell me the spell to melt Valyrian steel. I want to smelt the sphinx statue. I want to select a thousand war wolves from among the hundred thousand soldiers—dragon warriors."
If every dragon warrior could be clad in Valyrian steel armor and wield a Valyrian steel sword, even without the help of dragons, they could still slay the demon god Black Goat.
As soon as the Dragon Queen had this thought, far away in Qohor, a dark demigod sensed a looming threat.
In the heart of the city, inside a dimly lit temple with all doors sealed, the crimson eyes of a black goat statue—shaggy and as large as a bison—began to flash rapidly with red light, the gemstone eyes gleaming ominously.
Moments later, in the corridor outside the great hall, a group of hooded black-robed priests had gathered.
Creaaak— The temple door opened, and a stern-looking middle-aged man with silver hair and purple eyes stepped out.
He, too, was clad in black robes, with dark blood-red trim sewn along the edges.
"My lord, the Black Goat, has foreseen a great calamity about to befall Qohor," he announced.
"Your Holiness, do we know the source of this prophesied disaster?" one of the Black Goat priests inquired.
"The Mother of Dragons," the High Priest replied.
Upon hearing that name, the priests were not shocked. Instead, there was a strange sense of relief, as if thinking, At last, it's our turn.
"Sigh. She burned hundreds of Valyrian nobles, then turned a dozen esteemed trade princes of Lys into molten meat, and even the mighty city-state of Braavos did not escape her wrath.
Now she's coming for us. I'm not surprised.
In fact, I always thought she'd ride her dragon here and burn down our weapons factory.
After all, many components of the anti-dragon ballistas are forged in Qohor. She should see us as her mortal enemies," said an aged priest with pale blue eyes.
"No, the threat our lord has foreseen is directed at Him. It seems the Mother of Dragons holds enmity toward the great god Black Goat," the High Priest said.
"Why would that be?" the old man asked, perplexed.
"Perhaps because of the slaves? We often sacrifice slaves to our lord," someone speculated.
"Regardless of her reasons for opposing our god, our duty is to protect Qohor—and ideally assist our allies in breaking the Slaver's Bay," the High Priest declared.
"What can we do?"
"Go to the plains of the Rhoyne, to the Dothraki Sea, to the Horse Lords' city, and find the Khals. Whether their khalasars are large or small, I need you to persuade them to march south to Slaver's Bay," the High Priest instructed.
"Will they listen?" the old man asked uncertainly.
The High Priest explained, "You won't be going alone. A caravan loaded with goods will accompany you.
In some ways, the horselords are very trustworthy. Once they accept our gifts, they will surely repay us.
As for when they choose to repay us—that's up to them. Your task is to join a Khal's khalasar and constantly remind them to head for Slaver's Bay."
"Your Holiness, the Dragon Queen is still the widow of Khal Drogo. She is a Khaleesi. Will the horselords really be willing to fight her?"
"Jhaqo and Pono certainly will," the High Priest chuckled darkly. "Especially Jhaqo. He killed her son.
With the Dragon Queen's temperament, do you think she would ever forgive Jhaqo?
Earlier this year, Jhaqo passed through Qohor during his son 'Wild Horse' Django's naming day.
The boy is truly as wild as a mustang—just two years old and already tamed a young red colt barely eight months old.
I even gifted the little Khal a saddle, a small curved blade, and a riding whip as naming-day presents. Even then, Jhaqo had already shown wariness toward Daenerys."
The hundred tons of Valyrian steel weren't some cheat code I gave Daenerys—they were always there. I suspect it's one of the plot holes Martin left behind. Once Daenerys unravels the Meereenese Knot and leads her army west to Pentos, she will pass through Ghiscar.
Naturally, her forces would travel along the flat Valyrian road.
With several thousand Valyrian steel swords in hand, she'll finally be qualified to wage war against the White Walkers.
(End of chapter)
Want to read the chapters in Advance? Join my Patreon
https://patreon.com/Glimmer09