Short notice.
Thanks to the person who voted (thanks for doing so, Matin0legion, you helped me out of my dilemma). The timeline will be, the House of the Dragon.
And just in case, those words the Dothraki say are actual words from Asoiaf's books and wikis.
End of the announcement. Enjoy reading.
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"Are you serious?" I asked with pleasant surprise. Valentina, who was standing in front of me, was informing me about the situation with most of the captives, now freed.
"Yes, Your Excellency, many understand some of our Septimontian words, and a few understand English, but they have a way of speaking it…, how to say it…, archaic, ancient, at least to those we speak to" explained Valentina, she seemed somewhat happy, as did I, to have been able to find something familiar around here, although her posture didn't show it, something understandable and I definitely didn't blame her for doing it.
Despite having knelt in submission and appearing 'helpful', their previous everyday behavior made it impossible for us to relax for even a second.
And the looks they kept giving us, especially me, made it even more difficult.
"Please, try to get them to tell you what they know—geography, economics, anything you can think of that might be useful to us" I asked her, getting her to nod in affirmation.
"We're already doing that, Your Grace. Marcus and Julia are working on it, while Aurora and Felix are gathering the children, and my sister is gathering the women who had been imprisoned, away from the others" she replied, to which I nodded approvingly.
"Good. What about the food? I can only imagine how they're feeling, seeing some of the people they had around here…" I said to her, making her expression darken a little.
'Looks like it wasn't anything good' I thought when I saw her.
"...while they're not at the point of complete starvation and dehydration, some, especially the adult men, are relatively close to it, but the worst are the poorly healed wounds, and I have no doubt that infections and illnesses will claim several in the coming days…" she responded, with a hint of righteous anger in her voice.
"This was expected" I told myself, but hearing it and having visible proof made my emotions bubble to the surface.
I clenched my fist slightly, but let it go again. It wasn't time for emotions to guide me now. They had already given up. Now it was time to organize the next steps: take care of the former prisoners, feed them, heal those who could be saved, and, above all, control these riders who continued to give me adoring looks.
'Well, that and other, more unpleasant things…' I thought, trying not to show my disgust on my face as I felt the stares on certain parts of my body.
"… Understood, go see who can communicate with them and us, so they can find the doctors, or the closest thing they have to them here. Also, prepare food for those we've freed. They've been through so much, at least have their stomachs full now" I ordered. This had to come first.
'Now… what to do with them?' There were no real quick options to change people's behavior, and simply killing them It wasn't in my nature, and I hoped it wasn't in either of ours… 'We would never do that to an unarmed enemy; that's dishonorable'.
"Understood, Your Excellency, it will be done immediately" Valentina said, straightening up and pressing her fist to her chest. She was turning to leave when she suddenly stopped and turned to me again. "Tell me, Your Excellency, what will you do with these…people?".
The question almost made me frown, but I looked her straight in the eyes before answering.
"…the same thing we would do to anyone who gave up, Valentina" I replied, causing her jaw to clench slightly. But as she nodded in clear annoyance and turned to walk away, I spoke again.
"But… that doesn't mean that we will accept that they do the same thing again. The limits will be made clear to them, and if they don't accept, they will be given a sword and a battle that will decide their fate" I said in a firm voice, making her nod. I knew she was still angry, but she accepted my reasoning, 'but perhaps a little reminder wouldn't hurt…'.
"And Valentina…" I said, drawing her attention. I looked directly into her blue eyes, trying to make a point, "we're not butchers" causing her eyes to widen for a moment before she nodded and answered.
"Yes, Your Excellency" she replied before leaving.
The silence lasted for a while before a small commotion brought me back from my thoughts.
"…what's going on?" I asked Avidius, who was approaching me at the edge of the hill as I watched these people burning their dead.
"It seems a group of young women and men wanted to approach here, Your Excellency" he replied. "We already called the gladiator Marcus to find someone who can translate their language…though I'm not holding my breath about that" now with a slight mockery in his tone.
'It seems he doesn't have much faith in these people' I realized, although with everything we've seen of them, no one would blame him.
'I'll have to be more rigorous with the following conversations, haaaa…' I sighed mentally. It seemed that everyone hated our temporary 'prisoners', although from what I had seen after the battle, they had a culture, funeral rites, and other things. Sure, their behavior toward those who weren't their own was abhorrent, but there was something there that might fit in with some of our customs.
'If we're not forced to destroy them…' I thought darkly. Although, like Ephor of my people, I had to set an example and try to be diplomatic with them, and maybe try a few things so we wouldn't have to get our hands dirty with blood.
But if these people didn't want to change… they only left us one option.
'And I have no doubt there will be some who will end up dead in the next few days' I thought, feeling those looks filled with murderous intent, resentment, and hatred.
"…from what I've seen, they have a relatively vast vocabulary, primitive, yes, but they have words" I told him, while looking at those young people who wanted to approach. Most of them were teenagers, more women than men, perhaps so they would be more welcome by us.
"I think we can communicate with them, mmh?" I stopped talking when I saw these same young people look up and point to the sky, followed by the rest of the people who were a little further away.
"Zhavvorsa!" they shouted.
I followed their gaze, and there came our drakes, flying toward their united companions.
Of the ten we had with us, four are heading this way: my pups, and Avidius's spectro drake.
"Oh… I think we may have our first important piece of information, Avidius" I said, as our drakes landed next to us, my little troublemaker giving me another electric shock as a greeting, while rubbing his head against my leg.
"So… Lacon!, I'm sorry, Your Excellency, what would that piece of information be?" he asked, as his drake climbed onto his back and began to ruffle his blond hair, a funny sight to me, given the size of the drakes, which were the length of a grown man.
"They know about the drakes…" I let my sentence sink in for a moment, and it didn't take long for him to realize.
"…and if there are drakes like ours in these lands…, then there could be other similar or larger creatures." While what I told you may have sounded discouraging, it also might not be that bad.
There were things I could assume, given some locals' reactions. There was surprise but no fear in the young people's eyes, especially now that they saw them being docile with us. This meant they knew the drakes, but had never seen them before.
And the apprehension in the older ones gave me more insight. They knew about them, perhaps distrustful of what they could do, but there wasn't the fear that comes from having been attacked by them.
That told me, one, that drakes were definitely known here, and two, that they lived far from where we were.
"… Do you think we can find some?" he asked, making me look at him a little puzzled.
"… Do you want to…catch drakes?" I asked, confused. He'd never asked to go hunting in Septimont, and I didn't expect him to do so now, given our situation. 'Besides…he already has his own'.
"Hupf, hupf, excuse me, Your Excellency. I wasn't the one who wanted a Drake for myself. It's just that the younger ones said they were jealous of having a partner to fight with" he said after coughing a little.
"That makes more sense. Although I think your search for Drakes will have to wait until we can settle down somewhere" I told him. I understood the younger ones, since only now did I have some partners, and I was enjoying it very much.
In the end, we stayed talking and watching these people for almost an hour and a half, before Valentina and Valeria arrived with two people riding behind them on their Griffexs.
A relatively young man, who looked injured and somewhat malnourished, and a woman in her twenties, much better fed than the man, but her gaze was a little empty. I could only imagine what had been going on. Both had olive skin, black hair, and black eyes.
Once they got off the Griffexs, their legs slightly trembling, they were led toward us.
When they got close enough to greet them, the man uttered a word, which made the woman react slightly.
"Dra, Dragons!" the man stammered a little, seeing the drakes surrounding us, before kneeling down and muttering a few words quickly, making me look at Avidius, who seemed as bewildered as I was. I finally sighed and spoke slowly in English to see if they could understand me and move on.
"I am Augusta, Ephor of Septimont, and I want to know if you can understand me?"