The Age of Daenerys Targaryen

Part 6: The prince is riding

At breakneck speed, Drogon's shadow moved across the endless expanse of the Dothraki sea. From the dragon's back, Daenerys searched for clues as to the whereabouts of her khalasar. She had been on the move for a few days now without spotting a single rider.

Now the Dragon Queen approached Vaes Dothrak. This was the only continuously inhabited place in the Dothraki Sea, so she hoped to find clues there to the whereabouts of her people. The Mother of Mountains appeared on the horizon, the sacred mountain of the Dothraki. Not far away was Vaes Dothrak, a huge collection of houses of all kinds, but without a city wall.

As Drogon began to land, Daenerys saw the city was bursting at the seams. Usually most of the buildings were empty, since the Dothraki were a nomadic people and only showed up in large numbers when the khals negotiated with one another. But Daenerys had killed all of the Khals on her last visit and made herself ruler of all the Dothraki tribes. Perhaps a new leader should be elected now that she was believed dead. Well, Daenerys would clear up the mistake quickly.

Drogon flew over the two gigantic bronze statues of horses that marked the entrance to the city. He landed in the center of Vaes Dothrak, right in front of the remains of the temple of the Dosh Khaleen, which Daenerys had burned together with the khals. The arrival of the dragon did not go unnoticed, curious people were already running up from all sides.

Daenerys carefully stepped off Drogon's back and pulled the hood off her head. Her long silver hair waved in the light breeze, showing everyone that her khaleesi had returned.

From the astonished crowd a man emerged whom Daenerys recognized: It was Kovarro, one of her first bloodriders. He got on his knees in front of her and everyone around did the same.

"Blood of my blood", he said. "We were told that you were dead."

"I was dead", Daenerys replied quietly. "But my journey is not over yet."

Then an older woman spoke up, who recognized the Khaleesi as one of the Dosh Khaleen: "You have the stallion's blessing within you, Khaleesi. You..."

A tall, muscular warrior interrupted the woman. "If she has a child, she cannot ride into battle. So she can't lead us. No woman should lead the Dothraki."

Kovarro gave him a murderous look and reached for his arakh, but there was an occasional murmur of approval. Daenerys had to do something.

"Who are you?", she demanded to know.

"I'm Losso, Zinno's son. I will be the next khal of the khals." He grinned cheekily at Kovarro, who seemed about to pounce on the man.

Daenerys held back her bloodrider with a gesture and gave Losso an ice cold smile. "Big words. But I could beat you in mounted combat at any time, pregnant or not."

With that the challenge was on, and Losso couldn't possibly turn it down without standing as a coward. He still saw no reason to. Confident of victory, he mounted his horse and started moving towards the city gate. No fighting was allowed in Vaes Dothrak itself. Daenerys followed with Drogon.

"Where's your horse?", sneered Losso when they met outside the city. "Didn't you find one?" He laughed.

The khaleesi could only shake her head at this man's stupidity. "I'm already riding. Dracarys!"

Drogons opened his mouth, his head shot out and a burst of flames enveloped Losso and his horse. The screams of both horse and rider ended abruptly as the dragon swallowed them both in one bite.

Daenerys returned to the city center satisfied. Losso's fate would surely be a lesson to anyone who wanted to question her authority.

As soon as the khaleesi was back at the place where the temple had stood, the Dosh Khaleen reminded her of what she had to do as a mother-to-be according to the Dothrakian customs: she had to eat the heart of a stallion raw. Daenerys felt compelled to take part because she didn't want to show any weakness now. And she had done it before.

So Kovarro slaughtered a stallion, cut out its heart and gave it to his khaleesi. Daenerys ate the raw meat to the accompaniment of the chants of the Dosh Khaleen. Like last time, she had to fight the nausea. When she finally finished, her mouth was smeared with blood and she shouted the traditional words: "A prince rides inside me!"

"The prince is riding!", shouted the eldest of the Dosh Khaleen and the other women joined in.

Finally, the eldest predicted the boy's future. He would one day be the most powerful ruler in the world, but not wage a single war. The Dosh Khaleen seemed a bit disappointed about the last point - the Dothraki were a warlike people, after all - but Daenerys' heart beat faster. House Targaryen would rise from the ashes of defeat and be stronger than ever!

Most recently, Daenerys bathed naked in the lake called "Womb of the World" to wash off the horse's blood.

Later, at nightfall, Dany's bloodriders gathered at the foot of the Mother of Mountains.

"Blood of my blood!", she called out loud in Dothraki while sitting on Drogon's back. "I come back from the Night Lands because my work in this world is not done yet! Will you continue to follow me?"

The Dothraki raised their arakhs and roared in agreement. On behalf of all of them, Kovarro asked Daenerys' forgiveness for failing to protect her. The khaleesi assured her people that she did not blame them for failure.

Fortunately, none of the bloodriders had committed suicide. It was common for the bloodriders to be cremated along with their dead khal, but Daenerys's body was nowhere to be found for obvious reasons.

While they were discussing how to proceed, it emerged that Triarch Malaquo Maegyr was hiring mercenaries everywhere and had also made an offer to the Dothraki. His envoy had indicated that the Red Temple of Volantis should be destroyed.

It was a disturbing development, but Daenerys was already developing a plan. She instructed her people to pretend to accept the Triarch's offer and to send warriors to Volantis. At the same time, however, the foreign traders in Vaes Dothrak were to be detained for a month so that the news of Daenerys' resurrection did not get too early outside the Dothraki sea.

Daenerys wanted to get back to Volantis quickly to warn Kinvara. However, Kovarro did not want to let her go without protection. He sent two young bloodriders with her, the twins Azzo and Ezzo.

Drogon allowed them to climb onto his back with Daenerys. Soon they were in the air, heading for Volantis.

Daenerys was pleased with herself. She had re-established her rule over the Dothraki while the rest of the world thought she was dead. Her child had a great future foretold. And now she saw an opportunity to expand her power further. Triarch Malaquo Maegyr had made a fateful mistake ...