The Age of Daenerys Targaryen

Part 29: Lys

Off the Orange Shore west of Volantis, more than a hundred ships of the Imperial Navy sailed towards Lys. The Imperial Secret Service had found that the League of Free Cities was gathering a large fleet there. Grand Admiral Salladhor Saan wanted to put an end to this threat.

In the officers' mess of the 'Missandei', the imperial flagship that Daenerys had named after her friend who had been murdered at the behest of Queen Cersei, Salla, his flag commander and a dozen commodores, squadron commanders, were gathered. Three of them were female. Salla had initially been skeptical of Daenerys' instructions to open up the armed forces to women. But the three women who were now sitting at the table with him had earned their rank through their skills.

"Ladies and gentlemen", said the Grand Admiral, "in a few days we will have reached Lys, where the enemy fleet is waiting for us. According to the intelligence reports, we are dealing with more than three hundred ships, mostly galleys and galleasses. And the Empress will not be able to support us with her dragon because the Alliance is putting more and more pressure on us on land."

"Well, that's great prospects", said one of the Commodores dryly. "And we only have a dozen galleasses and ninety-four dromons."

"Still we have wildfire and they don't", one of the female Commodores interjected.

"That's right", Salla grinned. "And since we haven't used it, the enemy probably doesn't know that we have an improved variant of wildfire that can safely be carried on ships. Well, we can't be absolutely sure. Maybe the Ironborn have already used it, but I haven't heard of it yet."

"But that also means that we don't know how effective the weapon will be in a sea battle and-" began a commodore, but the Grand Admiral's flag commander interrupted him.

"With all due respect, we have known how wildfire affects ships at least since the Battle of the Blackwater."

Laughter filled the officers' mess.

Salladhor Saan nodded grimly. "You all know that I fought for Stannis Baratheon on Blackwater. I saw how the Lannisters burned most of our fleet. Have any of you ever seen wildfire in action?"

Everyone shook their heads in silence.

"You cannot imagine this destructive power until you have seen it with your own eyes. You will feel sorry for the enemy ... but you must not allow yourself that. Always remember that the Alliance wants to destroy our empire and our empress." The Grand Admiral's eyes went hard as stone.

"If we win", said the flag commander, "destroy the enemy fleet and our own losses are manageable... we could try to take Lys. It would be an ideal base for further naval operations and the fall of the city would deal a severe blow to the League of Free Cities."

"I've already thought of that", nodded Salla. "Since Lys is my hometown, I know my way around and understand the weaknesses of the defense. And because of the island location, the League won't be able to recapture it while we retain control of the sea. But first we have to achieve this."                                 

Then details about the ship formation for the upcoming battle were discussed, which took some time. Finally Salla had the food and wine served. The smell of juicy roast made everyone's mouth water.

The Grand Admiral raised his wine glass. "Ladies and gentlemen: R'hllor save the Empress!"

"R'hllor save the Empress!", the officers repeated the toast.

Salla looked around with satisfaction. After some initial friction, his subordinates had developed the corps spirit that characterized a first-class armed force. Everyone was pulling together now.

He doubted the same could be said about the enemy fleet, which was a mix of mercenaries, pirates, and regular units.

When the imperial fleet approached Lys and the opposing admiral realized that he had three times as many ships as his opponent, he sailed towards the ships of the Empire. Perhaps he thought the Imperials had misjudged the strength of his fleet beforehand. Otherwise he would certainly have wondered why the opponent dared to attack so clearly outnumbered.

The two fleets drove towards each other in a line formation, with the ships of the League forming a sickle as they approached, in order to grapple with the Imperials. On the decks, lightly armored marines got ready to board.

When the ships of both parties were only a few meters apart, the bronze dragon heads on the bows of the imperial dromons suddenly spat green fire, accompanied by a thunderous noise. In a few heartbeats, dozens of ships were on fire. The fires could not be extinguished and spread at breakneck speed, even burning on the surface of the water.

With a face as hard as stone, Salladhor Saan watched the League fleet transform into a blazing inferno. He was presented with the same picture as in the Blackwater estuary: Burning men tried to save themselves by jumping into the sea, only to find that the water did not save them from the green fire. Ships on fire attempted to retreat, causing the fire to spread through the enemy fleet. The screams of the opposing crews could still be heard on the imperial flagship. They sounded like damn souls in hell.

The Battle of Lys lasted barely half an hour. The New Valyrian Empire lost seven dromons, not due to enemy action, but because they too had been caught in the wildfire. Only a dozen of the League's ships escaped unscathed. The rest of the three hundred ships in the fleet had simply been wiped out. It was an overwhelming victory.

After that, the Imperials didn't even have to fight to take Lys. The naval battle had been watched from the fortifications of the city and the devastating defeat of the League and the fear of the wildfire caused the leadership of Lys to surrender to the Imperial Grand Admiral. The Empire had now conquered an important key position in the Summer Sea.

On the deck of the 'Missandei', Salla addressed his assembled officers and the flagship's crew, saying that Empress Daenerys would be proud of them all.

And the Empress was proud indeed. When the Grand Admiral returned to the Imperial Capital, he was given a triumphant welcome there. Services were held in the Red Temple to thank the Lord of Light for the Empire's first major victory in this war. To the cheers of the people of Volantis, Daenerys awarded all commanding officers who had participated in the Battle of Lys the Order of the Black Dragon First Class, the highest military distinction in New Valyria.

Salladhor Saan received an even greater honor: Daenerys awarded him the title "Hero of the Empire" (the Empress had spontaneously introduced this for the occasion).

The conquest of Lys was a welcome boost to the troubled morale of the Imperial forces, especially since the success had been achieved without the help of Daenerys' Dragon. Now it was up to the Army to catch up with the Navy.