The Age of Daenerys Targaryen

Part 52: The Iron Fist

As the battle raged, Sansa looked over at the hill of Ar Noy. The black dragon of the Empress crouched clearly visible between crumbling walls. There had been fighting since morning and now it was noon, but Daenerys had made no move to intervene until now.

"Their southern flank is about to collapse, Your Grace", said Yohn Royce. "Now the Imperials must use their reserves."

The sheer scale of the battle was staggering. If you added up the troops on both sides, more than seven hundred thousand soldiers took part. Of course, their number should have decreased noticeably by now. Sansa wasn't a scholar, but this was perhaps the greatest battle in world history.

"I didn't think Daenerys would hold back that long", muttered the Queen of the North.

"Dragonstone was a lesson to her", said Royce. "She knows that the field of fire of our ballistae extends to the foremost Imperial lines."

"Couldn't we bring the devices even closer?"

"That would be risky, Your Grace. The enemy could then more easily knock them out with targeted artillery fire."

"As you think", Sansa sighed and let her gaze wander to the dragon again. What on earth was Daenerys waiting for?

Empress Daenerys paced nervously as Grey Worm and his staff stood around a large map table that detailed the battlefield. Wooden figures were placed on it like game pieces, representing the own and enemy units. Reporters came regularly with news from the front.

It didn't look good.

A little east of the ruins of Ar Noy, eleven divisions formed the Imperial front line, which stretched a few miles south from the bank of the Qhoyne; namely the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 18th and 21st Infantry Divisions. The 13th Infantry Division formed the southern flank and should actually be covered by the 3rd, 4th, 6th and 8th Cavalry Divisions. But the Alliance had managed to bind all four cavalry divisions and was now attacking the 13th infantry division with knights and foot soldiers.

"Field Marshal", Daenerys said tightly. "We have to do something to save the 13th."

"We will, my Empress." The calm in Grey Worm's voice almost drove Dany mad. "I think we should send the 7th Cavalry Division and the 1st Infantry Division."

"Not the elephant divisions?" The Imperial reserve consisted of the 7th Cavalry Division, which had earned the name 'Ghost Division' in the battles against the Alliance, all five elephant divisions of the Imperial Army (although a division consisted of ten thousand soldiers, each elephant division had only a hundred pachyderms, the rest were infantry) and the 1st Infantry Division, the so-called 'Iron Fist'. Unlike the usual Imperial heavy infantry, who wore chain mail and lamellar armor over them, the men and women of the 'Iron Fist' were armed with massive plate armor. Their helmets also had face masks. They were the elite infantry of the Empire and had never lost a battle. Perhaps the Battle of Pentos would have turned out differently if the 1st Infantry Division had been there ... but the heavy armor made a quick retreat impossible, so that the 'Iron Fist' could not escape if the tide turned against them. Daenerys and Grey Worm therefore agreed to use this force only with caution.

"I want to save the elephants for the counterattack, Your Majesty", said the Field Marshal.

The Empress nodded. "I see." She felt useless. She should now sit on Drogon's back and remind the enemy of the words of House Targaryen. "But Royce has more reserves than we do and he can use them at any time."

Grey Worm thought for a moment. "Then maybe it will be time for us to use our big 'birdies'."

The 'Iron Fist' arrived just in time before the 13th Infantry Division was overrun. The exhausted soldiers regained courage when they saw the banner of the elite troops, a gauntlet clenched in a fist on a red field.

And then the mounted archers of the 7th Cavalry Division attacked the knights from behind. The Westerosi attack turned into a frantic retreat in moments. Gendry Baratheon was hit and fell from his horse.

Some knights foolishly tried to hunt the Dothraki and became prey themselves. The wiser withdrew.

Yohn Royce watched with a petrified face as the Imperial reserve troops turned the tide on the southern flank. He gave instructions to his captains to send more troops there. Surely Daenerys and Grey Worm would respond by sending more reserves, and Royce would then do the same. This game would be won by the Alliance because of their numerical superiority.

"I really hope these things have the desired effect." Daenerys was standing next to one of the wooden launch pads from which the flying bombs were to be fired. The big rocket has just been made ready for launch. It had black paper wings with a span of three meters, supported by a thin wooden frame with smaller rockets attached to the ends. In the middle was the main rocket with a load of twenty kilograms of black powder, with small pieces of metal attached. If the weapon hit and detonated, these pieces of metal would be lethal.

Provided it made it to the enemy lines and didn't crash beforehand, in the worst case in the soldiers of the Empire.

Some joker had scrawled "Greetings from Daenerys" on the bomb.

"Please step aside, Imperial Majesty", said one soldier. "We are now ready."

Dany nodded and kept her distance. The fuses were lit, and then the soldiers hurried away. With a loud hiss, the rockets that powered the missile came to life and accelerated it. The Empress held her breath as it reached the end of the ramp ... but the weapon continued to fly safely, and on an amazingly stable path.

Missiles were also fired from the other ramps. The Imperials had brought a total of four hundred flying bombs to Ar Noy, and now the time had come to use them all.

Daenerys looked after them in amazement. They looked like a flock of little dragons. Drogon, meanwhile, hissed and let out small flames from his nostrils.

"Calm", said Dany. "It is not your turn yet."

With open mouth, Sansa stared at what was flying towards her. The winged missiles made the distance between the hill of Ar Noy and the ranks of the Alliance seemingly effortless. No catapult could shoot that far.

The first volley hit the spot where the Alliance reserve forces were gathering, wreaking havoc and destruction. Cursing, Royce trudged off to see how bad the damage was. Meanwhile the Imperials fired a second volley of rockets. This time the projectiles were aimed at the center of the Alliance positions. One of them was heading straight for the hill where Sansa was standing.

Ser Rickon grabbed his queen, pushed her to the ground and threw himself over her. Then the bomb hit a few meters away. When it didn't explode immediately after the impact, Sansa initially thought it was a dud. But the explosive device had its own fuse, which now detonated the twenty kilograms of black powder.