Unknown place, beyond K'DATH, THE GREY WASTE.
The wind roared fiercely over the sands of a great desert, filled with nameless and unknown beasts, where death eagerly sought its victims.
A place where conscience, reason, and morality could not be found.
In this inhospitable place, pieces of golden crystals fell from tiny cracks in space, bright as the stars in the sky, yet filled with an exotic energy never before seen in this world.
These tiny golden pieces, scattered across different parts of the inhospitable desert, had gone unnoticed by any conscious creature.
Until it was no more…
A small creature, less than a meter tall, resembling a reptile mixed with a bird, with short front limbs ending in claws, strong legs, and a long tail, which made it reach a meter and a half long, with brown feathers over its body.
Malnourished and thirsty, it was looking for anything in sight to eat and survive. Finally, at a short distance, it spotted an insect with eight large, elongated legs, running over the sand.
The avian reptile, upon seeing it, quickly approached the insect to devour it. Its jaws swiftly dug into the sand, trapping the insect completely, but also…something else.
A small piece of the golden rock that had fallen months ago in the desert was swallowed by the reptile along with the insect.
And then…the unnatural happened.
As if it were arcane and heretical magic, the small reptile and the insect were transformed and deformed in such a grotesque way that it had only been seen in the most unpleasant and blasphemous blood rituals performed in ancient Valyria.
The monstrous creature, born of the foreign energy, grew to a height of three meters. There were no longer any signs of feathers on its body, only the sight of powerful muscles on its reptilian skin, with its eight limbs—four legs and four arms ending in thick, sharp claws.
But the most disturbing thing about the creature was the dangerous and intelligent light that emerged in its eyes, eight eyes that adorned its horned skull.
And in these eyes, one could sense only vileness, a bestial vileness that would seek only the destruction of the human world.
The creature let out a bestial roar from its reptilian jaws, further driving all living things away from the area.
ROOOOOOAAAAAAARRR!!!!!!
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Vaes Dothrak, Dothraki Sea.
"Blood of my blood, what the hell happened? It's been more than two moons," I asked my brothers.
"We don't know, my Khal, but…" replied one of my bloodriders, but he stopped and looked at his other brother, who quickly answered me.
"We believe some other khalasar has attacked them, my khal" said the other.
That's what I had thought, and rage had begun to burn in my blood.
'How dare those cursed dogs attack MY khalasar'.
I gritted my teeth in annoyance. This wasn't going to end like this. I would find the bastard and show him what it was like to mess with Khal Karo and my twenty thousand riders.
"Get everyone ready. We'll leave in two days, find those bastards, and feed them to the dogs!", I ordered.
"Everyone get ready. We'll leave in two days. We'll find those wretches and feed them to the dogs!" I ordered.
"Right away, my khal," they nodded and headed out of the tent.
"Are you sure about this, my khal? Your kalaka is about to be born…", I heard my khaleesi's voice from behind me, but I didn't turn to look at her. Even though she was my wife, she was nothing more than a prize I'd won, the daughter of a rival with a dragon-blooded woman.
"…don't interfere, woman. You know that any attack isn't left unanswered. I'll finish off anyone who challenges me", I told her.
My response silenced her, and she went back to bed.
Well, I didn't want to hear her now. I had to think about who might have attacked my men.
Vaes Dothrak was always filled with some of the smaller khals, young and without many followers, and I hadn't seen any of the larger ones during the past moon.
'That leaves Qofo, Lavarro, and Foholo, each with about fifteen to twenty thousand, but… Aside from them, there's Malakoq… with thirty thousand, but he's hunting the sheepmen…'
Those three had been the only ones who hadn't approached Vaes Dothrak, and it could have been any of them attacking my people and slaves.
'…shit, I just have to go back to where we left them, and from there I'll see where they went… Prepare yourselves, bastards… I'll murder you slowly and piss on your corpses…', I promised silently.
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groooar…roor….graaar…
That was the sound a white lion made as it pulled one of the spears from its side.
"Your Grace? We should go back. It's almost nightfall, and the princess doesn't like to dine without your present" Valeria said from atop her mount, a beautiful brown horse.
"You're right…" I replied slowly, then the memory of the little girl holding her reddened fingers came back to me.
"Last time, Marra almost lost a finger trying to feed her", I replied humorously.
"Hahaha! Yes, but I have to give it to the girl. She doesn't give up easily", she said with a giant smile on her face. I watched her from the side as I handed the lion's body to Aquila, who was in charge of taking it to the khalassar.
She seemed happier, as did the other girls and Avidius. They had been the most affected by all the knowledge of the world we were in, but since my fight against the rebels, the situation had changed for the better.
Avidius, along with Felix and Aurora, was in charge of caring for and training the children, as well as teaching them a common language, so they began to integrate as a united people.
As did Julia and Marcus, who took turns playing games for the children.
But I thought the most important thing, apart from better childcare, was the decline in violence in general, and especially rape. It had been made clear that children and adolescents were not to be touched and that relationships had to be by mutual consent. Although their polygamous tendencies had complicated this rule a bit, rape was almost disappearing; at least there hadn't been any such warnings in the last week.
And as for fights to the death, except for two this week, there have been five in total in almost a month, but only one died from his injuries, and that was a hundred and eighty-degree change in behavior.
But this change didn't come without us doing something to address that constant thirst for battle and struggle.
We managed.
From one-on-one training, both individually and in groups with their arakhs, to some simple mounted formations, with some prizes involved, whether it was a ride on the griffex or griffon, as they were called here, or even alcohol, lots of alcohol.
And one thing I didn't particularly approve of, but then again, they were polygamous, was that some women would offer to sleep with the winner of the fights.
Again, I didn't approve... but it kept them happy and obedient.
"Blood of my blood! Let's return to the khalasar! The little lioness awaits us!", I shouted to my bloodriders, who, like me, were hunting through the thick plains of grass as tall as men.
"Yes, Khaleesi!", I heard their responses from several directions.
"Come on, Khaleesi?" Valeria asked playfully.
"Really?… Haa…", I replied tiredly, but still happy to return to the camp. It was somewhat surprising to realize how much I enjoyed little Arsi's affection. It felt natural… she was a part of me, and I idly thought about how similar it was to motherhood… but only in my mind. I wouldn't even joke about saying it in front of anyone. I'd grown bored with some of the men's attempts to share my bed.
The thought made me snort. Fools, all of them, they didn't even know what real relationships were.
"Something funny, Your Grace?" she asked, while she waited for me to climb onto the beautiful white mare they had given me a few weeks ago, 'Perla' I had named her.
"Nothing important, come on, I don't want to get there and find out that someone has lost their fingers, come on!", I shouted while squeezing Pearl's sides and running off in the direction of the Khalasar with a Valeria who was laughing as she tried to catch up with me.
--------evening----------
The dinner and subsequent party had passed with a normalcy that surprised even me.
The repressed distrust and anger had given way to a reluctant camaraderie and solidarity among the different groups that made up the now-new "Khalasar", which was just a name at this point.
Truth be told, each day, it was becoming more of a community than the barbarian horde we had encountered.
"Teacher?" I heard the word, halting and uncertain, coming from behind me.
I turned toward the voice and found myself staring at a small teenager with tan skin and blonde hair. "Iara", I remembered her name. She was twelve years old, or "namedays", as they called it in some places here.
She was one of the most attentive in our small classes and the most dedicated to her "studies." You could always see her reviewing what she'd learned wherever she was, whether marking words in the dirt or murmuring the same ones she'd been taught.
"Yes, Iara, what do you need?" I asked her kindly with a smile. The little girl blushed a little, but answered in slightly clumsy but correct English.
"Her, her exce…ex…excellency calls you, she needs you?", she finished, half-asking.
I was happy about her progress and congratulated her immediately. This was one of the things that had made me feel good since we arrived: the young and innocent, better cared for, and progressing as they should.
"Very good, Iara, you did perfectly", I thanked her and stroked her head, ruffling it a little, which made her puff out her cheeks.
Thank you for letting me know. I'll go to Your Excellency right away", I removed my hand from her head, waved goodbye, and headed toward Augusta's tent in the center of the camp.
"Goodbye, teacher!", the little girl shouted in farewell and headed toward the tents we'd separated, guarded by the triplets to act as a shelter for the girls.
My journey there was somewhat delayed by the constant greetings from the young people I was teaching. Some greeted me in English, like Iara, others tried, and some didn't, but still greeted me with nods of recognition.
But all I could think about was whether Her Excellency had decided on our next move.
I felt my heart race at such a thought and the urgency to act, but things had to be thought through; it wasn't simply a matter of launching into war and conquest; those same actions could destroy any progress we had made with the Dothraki, now led by Her Excellency.
But we had to move. We couldn't stay in this place indefinitely. It would be a constant fight against the Dothraki, and there were no defensible sites in the vast grasslands that would give us time to create anything significant. We had to find a place where we could settle permanently.
'...and if it's one of the slave cities...so much the better'.
Whichever one it was, I didn't care, although I did have preferences about which one to finish first. Astapor, the red city, as it was known, its abominable practices had made me want it to be the first to fall.
Finally, after a few more minutes, I reached the large tent that Augusta shared with almost all of her assistants and maids, all women and some with small children, who were the little lioness's main playmates.
I greeted the guards, who returned my greeting, and entered the tent.
Once inside, I observed everyone present. They were all gathered around Her Excellency, chatting. Some were present, like Lucius and Cornelia, and the rest were in their holographic forms, using their terminals. There were also those "leaders" of the different ethnic groups who were part of the "new khalasar" and could understand English or the common language. However, the spokesperson, Haela, was also there to assist them.
"Your Excellency, did you call me?", I asked as I approached the center of the tent.
She stopped her conversation with Cornelia to address me.
"It's good to see you here, Avidius. I was about to call you. Please sit down. We were going to talk about where to go next", she replied. Her last words made everyone fall silent, revealing the nervousness and excitement of an upcoming battle on their faces, especially those of Gaius, Julius, and the Dothraki present. The solemnity of the rest, including me, was evident.
"Understood, Your Excellency," I replied, and headed to a bench next to Lucius, who nodded at me. He also understood the weight of Augusta's next decision.
Her Excellency cleared her throat, drawing everyone's attention. The assistants calmly moved to one side, giving the others space to approach the center of the tent, facing Augusta.
"Welcome everyone, we'll begin with the progress reports from the Khalasar", she began, speaking calmly so the natives could understand her better.
And so it was. One by one, we began talking about the accomplishments of our tasks, the details we needed to fine-tune, and how the people in charge of each of us viewed these jobs.
This continued until the only thing left to answer was the most important question of all.
Where are we going now…
"Thanks to you…, Tao-li, I see, if I can, find herbs", Her Excellency spoke to a Yitish man with knowledge of herbalism.
He had wanted to take on that role alongside some of the healers, but his knowledge was based on the plants of his homeland, so he had some trouble recreating some of their remedies.
"Well... So, many have asked me about the future", she began solemnly, her brow furrowing, making me wonder if the constant insinuations of fighting the slave cities had bothered her much.
And now I will give you my answer on that subject", She directed her steely gaze at each of us and then nodded, seemingly seeing what she wanted to see, before speaking again.
"I think we can all agree that, at this moment, we are united by my actions", What she said made the locals nod in acceptance, but the next words almost made them fall out of their seats.
"As well as respect and fear, towards our abilities."
She let them shiver a little in their seats, and I almost thought she was enjoying watching them squirm.
"I also know that many still don't fully accept my rule over them, and I understand, for a long time they have lived one way and then it changed in an instant…", what she said made some Dothraki exchange glances, they knew it was true, maybe it wasn't them, I would know, I had spent time with them and the bloodriders of Augusta, they had decided to follow her wholeheartedly, perhaps it was because of her displayed strength, her beauty or both, but they had decided to follow her faithfully.
"I also know that resentment, sadness and hatred must have an outlet…", now it was the freedmen's turn to exchange glances, Her Excellency's words had touched a nerve, this was something I had also witnessed, the resentful glances of the freedmen towards some of the Dothraki, small celebrations if some died, like when Her Excellency finished off the prisoners in combat, that had diminished since the prisoners died, but it did not help much to those who had carried the pain of being a slave for longer.
So yes, everything Her Excellency said was true, and it could explode at any moment.
"That's why I've decided to give these people, my people, a new purpose!" she spoke again, her voice growing stronger, causing everyone to sit up in their seats, their attention directed toward her.
"I will not let emotions fester until they become a festering wound that harms my people and allies!", she said as she stood up from her chair, causing us to rise as well.
"But if we want our people to prosper as the ages change, we must have a place to lay the foundations of our new society…", The moment she said that, we all understood.
I had been in some of the conversations, informational meetings, everything that was known about the slave cities, where they were, their economy, trade routes, allies, if there were any, and their military power.
"That is why I, Augusta, your Khaleesi", She turned her gaze toward the Dothraki in the tent, who responded with a look of respect, and if I were honest, I could almost feel their thirst for battle.
"Your leader and liberator", she now turned her gaze toward the former slaves, who looked at her with gratitude and fervor.
"…your Ephor", she told us almost with nostalgia, to which as one, all of us Septimontians, beat our chest with our right fist over our heart.
"…I will declare war on the slave cities of Slavery Bay, I will break down their walls and free the slaves and transform them in our image!".
"No more tears, no more wailing, no more whips, no more masters!".
"I, Augusta, promise you that cities will fall and that a warlike and resilient society will be born from their ashes!".
I didn't know how, but when she said the last word everyone in the tent knelt before her.
Our Queen.