A Dragon In Wolf's Clothing ~A Game of Thrones fan fiction~

Chapter Forty Three: Yunkai

It had been long few weeks since Astapor and the party was only just reaching Yunkai, the next city Dany was to liberate from the masters. Its reutation was bigger, grander than the others they'd passed, mostly Astapor. That was a problem, meaning it would be harder to infiltrate.

"The yellow city," Ser Jorah named it as they stood on one of the cliffs overlooking.

"We can defeat them," Ser Barristan acknowledged, nodding in the direction of the two pyramids. Lyanna noticed the small scale of the city now they were closer. It would, in theory, be easy to take, but that was just theory.

"We would defeat them on the field, though they'd never meet us on the field," Jorah commented, and Lyanna agreed.

"Although we could take them with ease, Ser Jorah is right, they'd never meet to fight us, especially when they're in a stronger position strategically," Lyanna explained, glancing back down at the city. It was like a pyramid itself, the way the city spiralled up, meeting at the top in a point where the great stone buildings were, and Lyanna immediately saw how difficult it would be to invade.. "They'll have provisions, patience and strong walls. If they're smart, which they will be, they'll stay hidden behind those great walls, and man by man, chip away at us,"

"I don't want half my army killed before I cross the narrow sea," Dany thought aloud.

"We don't need Yunkai, Khaleesi," Jorah offered, sounding like he preferred to just ride in the opposite direction. "It will not bring us closer to Westeros or to the Iron Throne,"

He was right, Lyanna thought. No closer to Westeros, to home. She wanted home badly, wanted the winter and a cold breeze, not the sweltering hot air that Lyanna found suffocating. Everything they did now, now they had an army, should just be towards the benefit of going home.  However, Dany needed a better reputation as a conqueror, even if Ser Jorah wanted to downplay that title's importance.

"How many slaves are in there?" Dany questioned, not taking her eyes off the city. That made Lyanna realise she didn't care about her reputation, she cared about the lives of those down in the city. She may not be a warrior, but she had a good heart, which was just as good.

"Twenty thousand,"

"Well then we have twenty thousand reasons to take Yunkai," Dany finished, and Lyanna knew from past experiences that her final decision had been made. She turned to Grey Worm, the commander of the Unsullied, giving him the command to summon the masters.

***

The meeting with the slaver was short. He offered her gold and ships, though threateningly, telling her to sail back to Westeros. Dany, however, threatened to kill him if he didn't free all the slaves of Yunkai. When he threatened to make a slave out of Dany, not only did Drogon scream at him, but Lyanna pulled out her knife. A bad move she knew, but she couldn't help it, and Daenerys shot her a smile which was almost proud as she did.

"You swore me safe conduct," he recounted angrily as he stepped back nervously.

"I did, but my dragons made no promises, and you threatened their mother," Daenerys reminded him. "And neither did my niece here, who has the habit of killing people who offend me. I believe you're offending me right now,"

"It'd be my pleasure, my Queen," Lyanna grinned ever so slightly with one half of her mouth.

Threatened and offended, the slaver turned, storming out, leaving the gold as his slaves trembled after him. He cursed in his own language, something Lyanna didn't want to translate. 

"The Yunkish are proud people, they won't bend," Ser Barristan noted.

"What happens to things that don't bend?" Lyanna matched Dany's pervious smile as she felt pride wash over her at Dany's stubbornness against backing down. "He said they had powerful friends, who was he talking about? Find out for me,"

At that, everyone else left, leaving Daenerys and Lyanna, the two sat in the great tent alone now. Drogon flew onto Daenerys' lap as in the same moment Winter trotted in, jumping onto the couch next to Lyanna. The dire wolf was panting, the shortened fur feeling scolding hot. It wasn't just Lyanna who wanted to go home, but Winter too, who had been constantly hot for over two years now. 

"Their friends will probably be some sort of army, you know that right?" Lyanna sighed, scratching behind the wolf's ears. "Yunkai may be a proud city but it won't be their own forces. They'll have hired an army of sell swords,"

"There's army of sell swords?" Dany frowned.

"Yes, less common in Westeros, occasionally you get one floating round taverns, up north they're more common than singers, much to Sansa's distaste," Lyanna recalled, remembering the time when a singer came up to Winterfell and she begged their father to make him stay. "There's one army I read about, if you can call it an army, more like a group of men who fight together for those who pay them well enough. They call themselves the Second Sons, since typically second sons inherit nothing and usually become knights,"

"Do you think it could be them that the master was speaking about?" Dany asked, and Lyanna nodded.

"It's the only one I know of, and without an army they're in no position to make threats," Lyanna noted, sighing. "There'll be a battle,"

"Of course, but we'll win," Daenerys said confidently.

Lyanna wished she could have shared in that confidence, but past experiences told her that nothing ever went that well.

***
Word count: 937

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Hey guys!

I'm stuck at the moment. I recently hit 30K (thank you guys so so much!) but am also over 40 chapters, with the end point not even close. Do you guys want me to keep writing in this book, or split it into two? I'm willing to write the other half as a sequel but I know from past experiences that second books never get as much attention and I don't want my readers to miss out on the other half of the story! Please tell me what you think I should do, and hopefully I'll figure something out soon!

~Olivia