Wolf's Blood | Daenerys Targaryen |

Chapter Seventeen

  Donner rode in silence besides Daenerys, his eyes drifting towards the site of the setting sun in the distance, “We should have… everyone camp here for the night. Travel during the day when it's safer, ” Donner said.

  “With an entire hoard of Dothraki, do you think anyone would even think about doing that?” Daenerys asked, turning to face him slightly as they rode.

  Donner sighed, “Then at least the horses need a break. We've been pushing all of them for hours. Horses aren't magic. They need to sleep.”

  She nodded in agreement. Raising one hand into the air, the entire hoard of Dothraki became silent. Daenerys then began speaking in Dothraki. Donner was much too tired to pay any attention to the words.

  It wasn't until Daenerys called out to him that he began to focus again, “Would you like to join me for some wine?”

  “Maybe tomorrow. Do you think anyone here has fresh meat?” Donner asked as he dismounted his horse. Daenerys looked at him with an uncertain expression, “Okay, I can see how that sounds strange.”

  The nodded her head, signaling for him to keep explaining, “Here’s the short version. The egg hatched. The dragon only eats raw meat. It prefers raw meat from the ocean, but we're in the desert, so that sucks for Robb.”

  “Robb?”

  “I named him for my brother as you did with Viserion and Rhaegal. Quite poetic if you think about it.” Donner opened the top of the satchel to reveal the sleeping dragon.

  A brightness formed in her eyes that Donner hadn’t seen for a few days, “There are four dragons in the Known World. Do you think there will ever be more?”

  Donner shrugged as he laid down his traveling blanket. Daenerys gave him a blank stare, “I would sleep better knowing you were nearby.”

  “As you wish. Your grace.”

  He followed her to the set location where her tent was being set up, watching in silence as Dothraki screamers carried silks inside. It made Donner wonder how long they had to carry it from their former location.

  The young dragon who walked in a circle around Donner's ankles occasionally paused to watch the progress of Daenerys’ private tent, “You traveled from Meereen to find me with Ser Jorah and Daario. Why?” Daenerys finally asked once the tent had been properly set up and furnished.

  He let a small smile show before following her into the tent, “Let's see. You’re a queen, so I am sworn to protect you, ” he said. Daenerys gestured to a table where what Donner could only guess was one of her handmaids stood ready with a bottle of wine, “The better reason is that I don't know what we are. Things are quick. I'd like to slow it down, but to do that, both of us need to be alive.”

  “That is the question isn't it.” She pursed her lips and dismissed the handmaid. She poured a small amount of the wine into a goblet and handed it to Donner.

  He glanced at the goblet in his hand before placing it down onto the table, “How about I tell you a story and you can answer that question?”

  He had noticed that she had not yet touched the wine. Of course, he had never seen her drink any alcohol. She was a ruler after all, “Once I heard a story about a dragon. Like most would believe, it was a dying breed. Its littermates were slowly killed off by the hunters. The dragons and hunters had once lived in peace until the Great Dragon slowly began to grow mad. One day the Great Dragon was killed by his loyal lion. The small dragon barely escaped as a hatchling with a littermate. Soon the littermate grew mad with greed. Scared it would follow the same path, the dragon showed its people how nice it was. She showed her people that she wasn't a monster. She began to grow. She freed the prey and gave the horses grass. She struck down the predators one by one until they obeyed-”