On the deck, golden quartered banners snapped in the wind. The guards stood in neat ranks, straight as spears, wearing breastplates rather than full armor. On the banks of the Blackwater Rush, they had crushed powerful foes.
Only through bitter battles in cold nights and morning fog, through grasslands, forests, sieges, and every kind of battlefield, only by defeating one strong enemy after another, could an army gain such confidence, courage, and an air of invincibility.
Inside the cabin, Gendry was still studying his ring. "It seems this ring must have come from some Dragonlord, one far above the Targaryens. So perhaps House Balerion, or another Dragonlord house," Gendry guessed.
Even among the Forty Dragonlords, there were ranks and differences. The wondrous power of the Firebinder Ring was not something a middling or lesser Dragonlord family could possess. The upper Dragonlords of ancient Valyria used binding spells and magical horns to control their mounts, while the Targaryens knew only whips and words. They could not build wonders like the Valyrian roads, control powerful magic, melt stone into liquid with dragonfire, or shape it into all manner of forms through sorcery. House Targaryen had been far weaker than the most powerful Dragonlord families of that age. In fortress-like Valyria, they had never mastered the core techniques.
"It still has to be Volantis. There must be plenty of fine things in Volantis and the ruins of Valyria. Those Volantene slave masters waste treasures like this. Rather than let others benefit, I might as well take them for myself..." Gendry sighed. Even a fallen tiger still carried its former might. Volantis was very close to Valyria, so it surely held many treasures, far more than the Three Daughters and the rest. The Dragonlords had many relatives there, and some treasures may have been recovered from the ruins. At that thought, Gendry's resolve to squeeze the old nobility of Volantis grew stronger. Paying was not his style. Robbing them directly was much more profitable.
"Dance of Fire."
Gendry awakened the dark Firebinder Ring. A cluster of black-red flame began circling around it, and the flame patterns on the ring came alive, as if fire were slowly flowing through the metal. The red gemstone shone with startling brilliance. Then came more flames. Yet Gendry felt no heat or pain in his hands. The flames gradually spread over them, like a pair of great crimson gauntlets.
Nothing in the world could exist without light and heat. Fire was everywhere. Fire was a form of thermal energy. And heat existed in nature, in the body. The body had heat. The sun had heat. Gendry heard fire breathing, and sensed the different distributions of heat and fire elements around him.
Call fire, endure fire, befriend fire, and then master fire. The flames danced with Gendry. Fire was his friend. As his Bloodline and strength had grown, Gendry had already faintly sensed the fire elements cheering, and the ring had greatly lowered the threshold. Elemental control was one of the great branches of magic.
"This truly is a priceless treasure of the ancient Valyrian Dragonlords and Pyromancers." Gendry's heart stirred with excitement. Magic and dragons were the twin blades of the ancient Valyrian Dragonlords.
Gendry opened his palm, and all the flames around the ring poured into the red crystal set upon it. The ring was like a reservoir on the verge of drying up, finally receiving a torrential rain. The Firebinder even drew all the light and heat from the brazier until the fire slowly died out, yet the ring still seemed far from full.
"Not only can it store fire, it can help me attack with it."
Gendry punched out. He could summon fire, and there was already some fire stored inside the ring. At his fingertip, the flames formed a slender fire-serpent that shot forward with astonishing speed. Its heat could quickly consume wood and melt ordinary iron, let alone flesh and blood. In time, even fine steel might be swiftly corroded. Such power went far beyond ordinary martial strength.
Gendry studied the Firebinder carefully. It was a treasure on the same level as the Dragonbinder horn. But the old Lord Governor Malaquo had not had the ability to activate it. He had only valued it highly.
"Valyrian steel is precious, but these magical items are truly priceless. Valyrian steel, runes, and crystals are all vessels of magic. The user is the one who awakens the magic."
Gendry had seen the red priestess cast spells. The ruby at her throat served some function in carrying and transmitting magical energy. Once she drew on her power, the ruby would shine. Crow's Eye's dragon horn, Dragonbinder, was much the same. That twisted horn was six feet long from end to end, gleaming black, with bands of red gold and Valyrian black steel. It was warm and smooth like human skin, and the bands around it were carved with strange, ancient runes.
Aside from the Firebinder Ring, the magical objects known to exist in the world included the so-called Dragonbinder horn in Crow's Eye's hands, the hidden Horn of Winter in The North, glass candles, Storm's End, the Wall in The North, the walls of Volantis, and so on. It was said House Celtigar of Claw Isle also possessed a horn that could summon Kraken. Gendry felt the Celtigar horn was probably not very credible.
"Why is everyone using horns?" Gendry found it very strange. A horn, plus some kind of power. There were already several different magical horns in the world. It seemed that rune-carved horns had been common tools in the age of magic.
Gendry suspected the known horns were far from all of them. Take Dragonbinder, for instance. Binding a dragon's nature went against the heavens. It was cruel and vicious. A more sophisticated horn should be one based on affinity, and such a horn very likely existed. Then there were the stone beasts of Oldtown and other places. If the Citadel had truly noticed the secrets of magic, there might also be some corresponding "Horn of Stone."
"Besides fire, can it absorb ordinary sunlight?"
Curious, Gendry brought the ring into the light. The red gemstone dimmed again, but it was indeed slowly drawing in the warmth from the sunlight, though very, very slowly.
Gendry was extremely pleased. The Firebinder could now absorb flame and solar heat, which already made it remarkably responsive. And according to the theories of the Pyromancers and the red priestess, the human body was also a flame, an energy vessel with motion, heat, and life force. The red priestess wanted to draw Gendry's flame through lovemaking in bed. That was how she plundered flame. Then the Firebinder might very well be able to draw heat and life-flame directly from other people or objects. It was only too tyrannical and insidious, and Gendry had not yet mastered it to that level.
"Hiding one's cards may not be right, but everyone is doing it. Hightower, Greyjoy, the Faceless Men. In the end, it only depends on who wins."
Gendry laughed and strode out of the cabin. The fire and heat in the brazier had gone out completely. From this moment on, he would be both a Pyromancer and a dragonrider, a dual High Dragonlord.
Gendry stepped onto the deck and smelled the briny sea breeze. Dragonstone lay ahead. Sunlight was abundant, and the fine daylight moved with the wind off the sea, stirring his coal-black short hair. Youthful and bold, he stood poised to master the tides.
"Dragonstone is ahead, Ser," Gendry said to Ser Barristan with a smile.
Ser Barristan looked at the high-spirited Gendry and froze for a moment. The Storm stood on the deck in black studded leather armor and a golden cloak, with the massive Tiger's Roar on his back, like a towering hill. Strong, tall, handsome, and fearless, he was in the golden years of youth, the darling of the Seven Kingdoms, their sword and shield.
"Was I ever so radiant at fifteen or sixteen?" Ser Barristan asked himself. But in his life, there had been far too many missed chances and regrets.
If I had been a better knight... if I had unhorsed the crown prince in that decisive tourney, if I had been the one to choose the Queen of Love and Beauty... Ashara Dayne, if I had won that tourney, I would have given the crown to you. If that had happened, how many wars and disasters might the Seven Kingdoms have avoided?
The past was gone. Ser Barristan drove those bitter memories away.
Now, he only wished to see the Storm crowned king, and the True Dragon bear an heir who symbolized the reconciliation of House Targaryen and House Baratheon, so that peace might return to the Seven Kingdoms.
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