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Note: The first two chapters of Anakin Skywalker : Sorcerer Supreme are out. Don't forget to check my profile after I post everything else.
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16 YA
Essos
House Targaryen was reeling from the swift defeat handed to them by Volantis, forced to turn their attention to keeping the Empire from fracturing.
The cities they had conquered so far were restless, as Vhagar's death and Visenya's lost arm proved that the skies were no longer safe and that neither Targaryen nor dragon was invincible.
The Shadow Watchers were spreading all over the empire, rooting out dissidents. This time, Visenya Targaryen was more ruthless, and her way of ensuring the empire's safety had changed greatly.
Rather, she was obsessed with protecting her family, and no cost was too great for it.
Even mere whispers of treason, whether true or false, were enough for people to vanish. Nobles, merchants, and common-born could all disappear in the darkness of the night, never to be heard from again.
An air of fear and oppression settled over the empire, and the subjects of the High Archon became terrified to even utter his name, worried that a misunderstanding might lead to their disappearance as well.
It actually helped forge a bond between ancient rivals to protect one another against the Shadow Watchers, but not everyone shared the same belief.
There were those who used the unquestioning nature of the Shadow Watchers for their own good.
Rival merchants, enemies, priests, and even common people who were targets of envious looks were reported to the Umbasāeksagonī, becoming an instrument used to discretely kill or imprison innocents because people whose only crime was to be disliked by their fellow men.
When you are more hated than feared, it will blow back on you.
Too many family members gathered together over their shared grief, and it set the sparks for violent mobs, starting with Myr and spreading to Lys and Tyrosh.
People were chanting curses against Visenya Targaryen, wishing for her death and worse.
Homes, taverns, and trade places of the known snitches were set aflame, and those that were caught had been lynched by the mobs, their broken corpses hanged all across the city.
Watchers were dragged through the streets, and when the guards attempted to save them, it only inflamed the crowds.
No one would be safe until their thirst for revenge was sated.
By the time word had reached the High Archon of the events, he found three of his cities in a state of open rebellion.
—
"Enough," Aegon slammed his hands on the desk, and Rhaenys took a step back, not expecting her husband to scream out of nowhere, while Visenya stood her ground, "No more of your Shadow Watchers. You will not command them anymore."
"I created the Shadow Watchers from nothing. You will not take it from me." Visenya's cold visage did not waver even when Aegon loomed over her.
Aegon, however, only raised his voice further, "Your Watchers are taking people based on nothing more than word of mouth, and three cities are aflame with crowds screaming for your death."
"Then they are traitors," she said.
"They are people whose families were killed because you were searching for knives in the shadows, but I have yet to hear you discover any plots against us. All you have so far are corpses and people rotting in dungeons," Aegon finished, drawing deep breaths as the red slowly faded from his face.
"You will no longer lead the Watchers," he declared. "Consider yourself fortunate I don't put them all to the sword."
"To appease the people?" Visenya asked.
"What other choice do I have? Burn down three cities to put an end to these uprisings?" Aegon slouched on his chair, looking at the ceiling.
He poured himself a goblet of wine and took a sip. "We might as well pack our belongings and return to Dragonstone."
Qohor was a shadow of its former glory, and if Myr, Lys, and Tyrosh followed, only Pentos, Norvos, and Lorath would remain to keep the empire alive.
"You are bitter over Vhagar and your arm, I understand."
Her face cracked, and she averted her eyes. "You understand nothing."
"But," Aegon pointed his finger at his wife's face, "you will not take it out on the people and risk destroying this empire before it is even built."
"Are my words clear to you, wife?" He emphasized the final word.
"It is, husband."
Visenya left Aegon and Rhaenys alone.
"Sometimes, I think we should have just stayed on Dragonstone." Aegon shook his head and filled his cup again.
"Yet, we cannot change the past." Rhaenys touched the scar that ran down from her brow to her chin.
"Guards." Aegon called, and one of the men outside the door came in and knelt.
"Summon Lord Orys immediately."
The guard left, and Orys came in before he could finish the wine.
"My lord High Archon." His champion began to kneel, but Aegon waved him to the chair.
"I want you to bring your most trustworthy man." Aegon said. "Have him take over the Shadow Watchers."
"As you command."
"Release the prisoners taken by the Watchers. Return the bodies of the dead, if they can be found." Aegon ordered.
"Most are burned, I believe." Orys had been keeping an eye on Visenya's Watchers ever since they had attempted to take the men under his command.
"Have some of the Watchers put to the sword or sent to the gallows, and blame them for the missing people."
There would be concessions—displays of justice—before he would consider dragonfire to quell the rebels.
If only he hadn't dismissed Visenya's Watchers as mere informants, none of this would have happened.
—
The new commander of the Shadow Watchers started his work by sending orders for all prisoners to be released at once.
Hundreds had been freed, starved, and beaten, but alive. A husband and father collapsed in the arms of his wife and children, never to wake again.
A newlywed wife found her husband, reduced to bone and skin, but alive.
Thousands were dead, bodies burned to ashes and scattered to the wind. While the uprisings had slowed down, they were not over.
Members of the Shadow Watchers, known for their cruelty, were brought before the people. Criers screamed day and night about how these depraved criminals had gone against orders.
Witnesses were brought forward, their fellow Watchers, testifying to their crimes as instructed by their commanders.
Some had begged for mercy, crying that they had been merely obeying orders; others claimed they were threatened.
When all was said and done, crowds had stoned these men to death.
It had worked to cool the running tempers, and once Balerion's shadow loomed over the cities, the mobs had dispersed.
The Watchers had disappeared from sight for the good of everyone. However, they were still around, less conspicuous, but still watching.
Months later, the people were still on edge and very dissatisfied with the High Archon.
The streets were quiet. The people refused to be out unless needed, and when they were, words were spent sparsely. Blacksmiths, bakeries, apothecaries, and tailors all worked only enough to feed their bellies, with nothing to show for taxes.
It would take a long time for life to return to normal.
—
Aegon wanted to know what kind of spell the Volantine used to kill Vhagar. He spared no expense—gold or favors. Rewards were promised to those who brought forth the truth about the sorcerer behind the dragon-slaying magic.
Triarchs were extremely careful to keep any prying eyes away from the bombards. Only the most trustworthy of guards were posted to protect the bombards. Ins and outs to Volantis were strictly watched.
Entrance to the heart of Volantis had become all but impossible, requiring special letters.
Elephant and tiger factions began to sell them for large sums, and only to the trustworthy lot.
But not all was good in the city. The tiger faction had grown in fame following the victory against the Targaryens. The elephants, outraged at being left out, reminded the people how victory would not be possible without their wealth to fund the war.
The rivalry between the factions was growing into something more.
Something dangerous.
Yet, they were aware that infighting would mean handing the city to the Targaryens, and tensions simmered, like a black powder keg lit on fire.
The effectiveness of the bombards against the dragons was evident, and the triarchs wanted more, not only on top of the Black Walls but also on the outer walls. The elephants had gone as far as to consider taking loans from the Iron Bank.
However, that would be seen as a loss of their place as the wealthiest of the Free Cities and was promptly refused.
Trade was plunging as the imperial ships were stopping Volantine vessels from crossing into the Stepstones. The Targaryens were careful not to intrude on the God-Queen's waters so they could not petition her for a solution.
Not that she would do anything, as her hatred for slavery was well known.
With the west closed to them, triarchs sent their ships to the east instead, to Yunkai, Meereen, Port Yhos, New Ghis, and Qarth.
A break came when the word of the uprisings in the empire reached the city. The Targaryens were busy putting fires out, only for new ones to arise.
Consort Visenya, in her bid to protect the empire, had weakened its fragile unity, and Volantis could breathe more easily because of it.
The elephant triarchs hatched a plan, both to regain their standing and weaken the Targaryens.
Khal Drozh, leading the largest Khalasar known, numbering close to a hundred thousand, was approached by their envoys. Tribute in the form of the most eye-catching bed slaves, the strongest warhorses, breeding mares, clothes, iron, and steel was brought to the Khal.
All for the sake of an audience.
—
Qohor
When the host of freed men that became the unofficial border protectors of the Valyrian Empire saw a Dothraki Khalasar darkening the horizon, they prepared for battle.
When they realized the enemy outnumbered them five to one, the freed men considered escaping. Their commanders decided otherwise, forcing the men to turn back and fight.
Through dozens of battles against Khalasars of different sizes, their numbers had been greatly reduced, even in the face of victory. New recruits arrived in lesser numbers with each group, and they numbered slightly more than twenty thousand total.
The Khalasar was the largest they had seen so far, around a hundred thousand in total.
The border guards fought with great valor, taking a Dothraki rider for each dead of their own, but when the full might of the horse lords slammed into their ranks, there wasn't much to do.
It was a total slaughter.
Qohor, a shadow of its former glory, was left defenseless.
—
Word had reached Aegon about a deserter from Volantis. The man, a merchant that had lost his wealth and trade due to an envious noble from the tiger faction, wanted the rewards offered by the empire.
Going north to Qohor in an effort to circumvent his pursuers, the former merchant would arrive in weeks, and Aegon personally wanted to be there.
Instead, he found the people preparing to abandon the city.
Taking Balerion to the skies, he found the cause.
A Dothraki Khalasar, the largest to ever grace Qohor in recent memory, one that had not learned the lessons its kind had.
The dragon cast a great shadow over the horse lords, who had responded with thousands of arrows, none of which could pierce his dragon's scales.
The Dothraki, on the other hand, were very flammable.
Balerion circled over the Khalasar, breathing down a column of fire so immense in size and heat, burning the enemy.
Those that faced flames head-on were charred to ashes in an instant. The surrounding riders, along with their horses, had the misfortune of living longer as their skin blistered and melted.
One hundred thousand riders were dead, with merely a handful making it back to the camp.
The guards left behind to keep the slaves in line barely understood the warnings of their fellow riders before sharing the same fate with the rest.
Aegon Targaryen landed on the remains of the camp, with only slaves and the wealth of the Khal left behind.
—
Qohor was safe, and Aegon was greeted with a hero's return.
The people cheered his name, offering him the blessings of their gods, calling him Aegon the Protector.
Ironic.
The slaves freed from the Dothraki had been taken to the city, bringing with them the wealth and food of the now extinct Khalasar.
Aegon, as the victor, had taken everything but the foodstuff, ordering it to be dispersed to the people equally.
It solidified his generosity.
While the people celebrated, Aegon thought.
The merchant was dead.
And with it, his hopes of learning what sorcery Volantis was using.
More importantly, the city needed a protector and a strict hand to raise it from the ashes.
Visenya, who had been confined to the palace, was wallowing in her room. This could be an opportunity to keep her out of sight but also working.
His sister-wife had not agreed at first. Vhagar was dead, and the most mature dragon in Dragonstone was years away from being able to carry a person.
If she went to Qohor, Visenya would only have Dark Sister.
The greater problem was she would not leave Aleryse behind, and Aegon was not willing to let his daughter be taken out of Pentos either. A compromise was reached. Aleryse would be brought to Qohor as soon as Visenya rebuilt the walls and created a host of guards.
She had agreed then, knowing that spending any more time in her room would drive her mad.
Visenya would not go empty-handed either. Aegon had assigned her personal guards, the best Orys could bring before them, coin and goods to use in Qohor, and the promise to send more men once they could be spared.
The people of Qohor were hesitant, however.
There were those in the city that had escaped from the Watchers since their presence in Qohor was non-existent. One had spoken of how his father was taken and never seen again, while another mentioned her son, crippled by the Watchers.
Before she even arrived in Qohor, Visenya was not seen in a good light.
However, Aegon the Protector was the one who had sent her to rebuild the city, and they would trust him.
Her arrival was a silent affair, no grand processions, no celebrations, and not the cheering crowds. Visenya merely passed through the gates and settled in her new home for the foreseeable future.
It did not share the splendor of the palace. Just like most of the city, the manor was not in good condition, but it was the best they had.
Not like she was the type to complain.
As instructed by her husband, she started with the walls. The Dothraki did not have any siege engines, and even the simplest of walls would do.
Visenya had a long task before her.
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Notes: I know this chapter is all about Essos, but the next one will be about Westeros, and more importantly, Ei.
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In the next chapter:
"Kage," she called her shadow.
The puppet raised her head from over the documents to listen. "See to our mysterious guests."
Ei had already given her the location through their connection.
"Guests?" Saiguu asked while Kage left through the window.
"Yes, I am unfamiliar with what they are." Which was the reason she even noticed them.
It was similar to seeing two grains of rice stand out in a bowl of lentils.
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