khaleesi ― 𝐋. 𝐋𝐀𝐔𝐅𝐄𝐘𝐒𝐎𝐍

━━━━ CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

˖*°࿐ chapter thirty-six.
XXXVI. BLOOD OF THE DRAGON

MELORA WATCHED GREY WORM'S BODY in the dead of night, a tear leaving her brown orbs as she watched his chest fall in rhythmic breaths, a dressing above his navel and below his breasts showing his battle wound ― the wound that made him fall into a deep sleep ― the wound that even the doctor was troubled to even understand if the fresh man was going to live or die. In the throne room, Ser Korben laid on a table with a white cloth over it, Laelia watching over him. An ally was killed in battle, another was a traitor, and her commander was wounded and showed no signs of coming back. Mekhor and two guards walk into the room, filling the silence with their heavy footsteps.

"I'm so sorry, my Queen," he bows his head in respect, the silver-haired woman turning her head in his direction just a diminutive bit. "He was a good man." Darys watched him with his dark eyes, his thumbs hooked around his pant loops that held his sheath. 

"Ser Korben the Bold, they called him," Laelia says to the former master's son. "He crossed a continent to serve me. He was a loyal friend"  ― her voice wavered in grief ― "and he died in an alley; butchered by cowards that hide behind masks."

"We could pull back to the pyramid district ― secure it, and use it as a base from which to operate," Darys speaks up, walking around the table, the tips of his fingers dragging across the covered wood. "Then we clean the city out. Neighborhood by neighborhood, street by street, until the rats have nowhere left to hide." Silence follows, Darys looking between his Queen and the dark man behind her, and Mekhor stares at the back of the Queen's head. A tear is hanging on to the lash line of Laelia.

"I prefer your earlier suggestion," she turns around. "Round up the leaders of each of Quiri's great families and bring them to me." She looks at Mekhor, his face showing he was hesitant. 

"But I'm the leader of my family," he replies, mouth agape. Darys nods to the two Enochian guards, both men grabbing Mekhor tightly by his upper arms and ushering him out, the man protesting, yelling that he had nothing to do with any of the things that have happened in the last few days.

 Laelia turns her back to the man's pleads.

***

DARYS HOLDS A TORCH BEHIND HIS QUEEN, glaring at all of Quiri's most prominent family leaders standing behind them quietly, Laelia watching the dark hallway ahead with an unreadable expression. None of them knew why they were in the catacombs, but none tried to question the woman's motives. She clearly waited for something, you can tell from her stiff posture, her eyes wandering over to the ceiling of the place, and she starts to march towards the leaders, the sound of chains and small growls filling their ears. "Geron naejot," she orders them, the Unsullied pointing their spears at them. (Walk forward.) 

"Ao daor gaomagon bisa," one replies in fear, one of the guards sticking him in the thigh to make him begin walking towards the dark end of the catacombs. (You cannot do this.) He didn't know what was on the other side, but it brought consternation and caution, all of them knowing the Queen has three dragons at her side and she had put two of them somewhere while the other one ― the biggest one ― was roaming the countryside and has eaten enough meat to become larger than the others. Mekhor was among them, holding up his hands as the Unsullied made them move onward. "Keligon," she commands. (Stop.)

The Unsullied push the men forward. Laelia walks to where the men are, right behind her soldiers, "Kessi ipradagon ao lo nyke ivestragon zirȳ naejot. Kostis ipradagon ao sesīr lo nyke ȳdra daor. Riñar. Mirri ivestragon nyke should tepagon bē va zirȳ. Yn iā sȳz muña dōrī tepagon bē va zirȳla riñar. Ziry disciplines zirȳ lo ziry ēdruta."(They will eat you if I tell them to. They may eat you even if I don't. Children. Some say I should give up on them. But a good mother never gives up on her children. She disciplines them if she must.) Darys pushes down a man in front of the others, fear keeping him from moving. "Yn ziry does daor tepagon bē va zirȳ." (But she does not give up on them.)

Chains moved closer to him, and the last thing he sees in flames covering each of his body parts, his last words were screams, and his last actions were fast jerks of his arms and head, his knees rooted to the spot. Lokis shrieks at the dead burned man in front of him, the two brothers have grown larger but still a little shorter than Aenerys. Lokis picks up the body by the head and Thorsten rips off a leg, Darys watching in fascination and the others in terror. 

" Qilōni iksos innocent? Maybe ry hen ao issi, maybe mirre hen ao issi. Maybe nyke should ivestragī se zaldrīzoti decide," she runs a hand down Mekhor's arm. (Who is innocent? Maybe all of you are, maybe none of you are. Maybe I should let the dragons decide.) 

"Valar Morghulis," Mekhor replies. (All men must die.)

"I don't want to overfeed them," she retracts her hand from the man's warm clothes. "Tomorrow, perhaps." The Unsullied pick up the remaining men and walk away, leaving the queen to watch her children eat. 

She walks away as well, one though passing through her mind.

"Valar Morghulis indeed."