A couple of hours had passed since Harry Strickland and his had companions returned from their supposed negotiation with Lord Aeos. He was resting in his own comfortable tent and was trying to fall asleep. Rest was extremely necessary. They had to march early tomorrow morning.
Contrary to what Ser Harry had expected, there had been no negotiation. Lord Aeos had made no offer worth considering. The chance that one of the commanders of the sellsword company might have switched sides in lieu of more gold had never come. Lord Aeos had spoken arrogantly and had offered them their lives if they chose to withdraw. No terms. No tactics to delay their planned attack. Lord Aeos had not shown even the iota of worry.
It had all been laughable. Almost hilarious.
But Ser Harry Strickland could not laugh. He was not amused. The moment he walked away from Lord Aeod, an unease began to gnaw at him. Especially after Aeos's last line about ten thousand soldiers not being enough.
The other commanders had assumed Lord Aeos meant the ten thousand men of the Golden Company who were taking part in the campaign. But Ser Harry knew better.
Lord Aeos had not been speaking of those ten thousand men, but of the ten thousand men who were not taking part in the campaign. Harry's ten thousand men, since not employed, should have been camping somewhere or looking for some other assignment but they were not. They were travelling in secret, shadowing the contingent. All this because Harry Strickland had a plan of his own.
His contract with the Magisters was to bring Meereen to ruin, and he would fulfil the contract. But what would happen after that? The Dothraki, after ravaging the city, would leave and the mercenaries were expected to do the same. But not Harry.
His plan involved something else. Once the Dothraki left, Harry intended to take the city and become its ruler. With the addition of ten thousand men, there would be no stopping him. Once he controlled the wine brewing houses and the construction industry of Meereen and then inevitably of Astapor and Yunkai, his power would be secure. He had already received half the payment from the Magisters, and he was not sure if they would pay him the other half if he seized the city. But that would not matter. His own gold and whatever he could loot from Meereen would be enough to set the city running and put it back on track under his rule.
But since the moment Lord Aeos uttered those words, a chill had been crawling down his spine. There was an inexplicable feeling that something was wrong. Something that was making him anxious and nervous. Lord Aeos had been too calm about the situation. And the way he had said those words. How was he even aware of it? Did Lord Aeos have spies in his ranks? He could not be sure. And this did not sit right with Harry.
He was still lost in his thoughts when he thought he heard a small commotion breaking out in his camp. He assumed it might be something trivial, but then he felt something else. The commotion was increasing and the echoes of men speaking had increased greatly.
With anxious curiosity, he stood and stepped out of his tent. His tent had been set up in the front portion of the camp, and his eyes widened in shock when he saw what was happening. All the discipline of the mercenaries that he had just been praising when comparing them to the Dothraki was gone. All the discipline and the order of his sellsword companies was gone. And in that moment, he knew, something that could force his elite Golden Company into chaos could not be a trivial thing.
Chaos had erupted in the camp, and almost every man was running toward the outer edge.
His eyes narrowed as his anxiety flared even further, and he too rushed toward the edge.
"What happened?" he questioned one of the soldiers who was running back from the outer perimeter.
"T-That…" the soldier stammered but could not answer. Harry could see the sheer fright and horror on the man's face. Something was very wrong.
He let go of the soldier and rushed forward to the edge, his hand tightening around the grip of his sword. His heart was beating frantically as he reached the edge. More than a couple of thousand of soldiers had gathered forming a big hurdle and because of the dim light of the night, he could hardly see much farther.
He shoved aside the gathered soldiers to reach the front. He had not even reached the very front when the distance became close enough to see the source of his men's horror.
And the expression of terror on his own face soon mirrored theirs. His palm on the sword hilt began to tremble as the soldiers parted, giving him open passage, realizing who had arrived, and he reached the front line.
His eyes bulged in shock as he stared at the scene before him. Standing in front of him were dangerous creatures of the deserts. A lot of them.
The first and most striking thing that caught his attention were the scorpions. No, not the normal palm sized ones but the legendary Essosi Scorpions.
These scorpions resembled ordinary ones in form. Two pincers, eight legs, and a long, curved tail. But their size compared to the normal scorpion was monstrous. Each stood over eight feet tall and stretched nearly twelve feet in length. And they were said to be highly venomous. Their pincers were strong enough to crush a man in between them and tails and legs powerful enough to impale a man like clay.
Though the Essosi Scorpions were not exactly mythical, their sightings were extremely rare. In all his years of travel and experience across Essos, Ser Harry Strickland had never encountered a single one. And now, standing before him, were at least thirty of these creatures.
But that was not the end of it. Filling the gaps between the massive scorpions were other feral beasts. Hyenas, wild dogs, and wolves hundreds of them, perhaps even a thousand.
And still, it was not over. Among them slithered snakes, normal scorpions, the deadly manticores, and countless other venomous creatures.
It was a sight Harry Strickland could scarcely believe. His jaw tightened, and he clenched his fists, wondering for a fleeting moment if he were trapped in some nightmarish dream.
About the Essosi Scorpion. It is not a cannon GOT thing. But since Westeros has a number of mythical creatures, a large scorpion in the deserts of Essos should not come as a shock.]
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