Melisandre pushed open the large wooden doors of the grand hall in the mansion atop the Great Pyramid of Meereen and stepped inside.
As soon as she was inside the hall, she felt the temperature drop sharply. The air inside was freezing, chilly and biting cold. But she felt no discomfort. Thanks to the power bestowed upon her by Lord Aeos, ice and fire were now her allies. Their presence brought a sense of comfort to her.
And there he was, the man himself, lying at the centre of the hall. Not on the floor, but atop a massive block of ice.
With that block as the centre, the entire hall was blanketed in frost. Pillars of ice reaching up to the ceiling, spikes, and intricate sculptures of ice, shaped like animals, birds, and flowers filled the vast chamber. It was as if a scene of nature had been created in the hall.
The scene was both awe inspiring and mesmerizing. Lord Aeos was practicing his control over the ice magic inherited from his Stark bloodline.
And what mastery he displayed, it was as if he painted his imagination across a frozen canvas. Melisandre too had been practicing with her ice magic and she had been able to form some proficiency with it but she was still a bit far from what Lord Aeos could accomplish.
Rhaenys and Slyvia were more or less on par with her but now with both of them busy with their own campaigns and missions, she might cross past them. Or maybe the war and the battles they will experience will make them better. Melisandre could not be certain.
After this awakening of the ice magic of the Stark Bloodline, our warging abilities had also gotten far stronger. Controlling animals and birds and leaving marks on their consciousness to follow our orders had gotten much easier. And Lord Aeos had gotten so much better at it. His warging powers had grown by leaps and bounds.
But there was one thing which frustrated him. He had still not been able to unlock his Greenseeing abilities. And now with the ice magic awakened, he was unsure if he could ever awaken his greenseeing abilities. An intense situation, though it had not really been life threatening, had awakened the ice magic. And now Jon was not certain what he would have to do to awaken his greenseeing abilities.
"Melisandre," Jon drawled as he rose from the block of ice.
"Lord Aeos," she greeted with a bow of her head. "The sellswords and the Dothraki have almost arrived. They will reach Meereen in four days."
"Twenty thousand Dothraki and fifteen thousand sellswords," she added.
Jon nodded. Neither he nor Melisandre appeared surprised. Thanks to their warging abilities, they had been tracking the enemy's movements for days.
It had been nearly twenty five days since Jon's army had marched toward the Free Cities, and fifteen since the gathering of magisters in which they had plotted this attack. And now, the first move of the magisters, their first plot was almost Jon's doorsteps.
The news which Melisandre had reported to Jon was merely the scouts of Meereen reporting and bringing the news.
It was no longer a plot hidden in whispers. Once the Dothraki and sellswords had begun their march toward Slaver's Bay, even a fool could have guessed their target. The planning had been in motion for the past few weeks and the sellswords and the Dothraki had been roaming around the Slaver's bay area. And when they received the signal and probably their gold, they had begun their march towards Meereen. Thirty five thousand men.
The alliance between Dothraki and sellswords was unnatural, impossible, unless someone powerful was pulling the strings from behind. And who those string pullers were was no mystery. It was well known. Not that the magisters were making any effort to hide it.
The battle had been declared in open and there was no need or reason for hiding behind a veil.
Jon took a few steps toward Melisandre, and as he moved, the temperature in the room began to rise. The ice started to melt. It was him using his fire magic. Within moments, the ice turned to water, and before it could flood the hall, it evaporated, filling the chamber with thick clouds of steam. Yet, just like the cold before it, the heat and vapor caused them no discomfort.
"Do you think they would be open to negotiation?" Jon asked as he continued toward the exit of the hall.
"They might agree to meet," Melisandre replied. "But I doubt they would negotiate at least not on terms we could accept."
"Dothraki are not really known for negotiations," she added. "The sellswords might show some willingness."
"Hmm…" Jon murmured thoughtfully.
"Lord Aeos," Melisandre interjected, "the people are growing restless. Although things remain calm on the surface, there is a current of unease running through the city. The people are nervous and anxious."
"Even Freydron seems tense," she added. "He knows we do not have the strength to repel this army. We can hold the walls, yes, but not for too long. The siege weapons will eventually overpower them and when that happens Dothraki will leave such utter rampage that we could not even begin to comprehend."
"Why are you talking about things which are not going to happen?" He questioned.
"I was just speaking what Freydron had been thinking," Melisandre answered and continued. "And though he did not say it directly, he hinted that if things worsen, you should take a thousand men and move to join the rest of your army."
"He sure worries a lot about me," Jon remarked with a faint smile.
"He does," Melisandre agreed softly.
"Care to take a walk?" Jon proposed suddenly.
"A walk?" Melisandre looked at him, puzzled.
"Yes," he said. "At times like this, seeing me walk through the streets of Meereen would calm many of their fears."
"Sounds like a good idea," Melisandre replied. And together, they left the mansion and stepped out into the streets.
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