Chapter 26 Lord of the White Cloud City
The Dothraki people like to say "everyone knows". When they say this, they do not mean that everyone present knows a certain thing, but they are expressing a customary tradition.
In fact, the "everyone knows" of the horse people is still very wise for survival. For example, now, Dany's maid and blood guard persuaded her to avoid the dead city that can save her life because of fear of demons.
Jiqi said, "Once the gods leave, the evil spirits will go out to hunt at night." Does it make sense?
This makes a lot of sense for the herdsmen chasing grasslands and rivers.
Why does a city die?
In this era and this world, there are often only two reasons: first, plague; second, war.
Needless to say, the plague must be avoided. The massacre caused by the war will leave corpses all over the city, and the piled corpses will also cause the plague. The horse people are not afraid of war, but they are almost unable to resist the plague. The germs that cause the plague are the "evil spirits" in the mouths of the horse people.
The ignorant Dothraki people, through the bloody experience and lessons of their ancestors over the past thousand years, have summed up a set of survival rules to adapt to this land.
"I have dragons, and any evil ghosts will actively avoid them when they see dragons." Dany could only comfort the horsemen in this way.
The "fresh" dead city did not need to remind her that "everyone knows", Dany herself would be vigilant to avoid it, but the ruins had been there for who knows how many years. No matter what caused its destruction back then, it could no longer hurt them today.
Without delay, Dany immediately ordered: recall the knights who were looking for water in front, and change the direction of advance. The first 20 warriors set off at this moment to go to the White City to find food and water.
In order to appease the worried horsemen, Dany also sent the black dragon to follow them all the way.
Well, she will enter the dragon dream state and command the little dragon to act.
Things went more smoothly than she expected. An hour later, the black dragon arrived in the White City with the advance army.
It was a white city as bright as the moon and as beautiful as a girl. The white walls and white towers shone in the afternoon mist, so beautiful that people thought it was a mirage.
Arriving at the outskirts of the White City, at Dany's request, the black dragon struggled to fly into the sky from the bamboo basket on Ago's back.
With just one glance, Dany saw the green of the city through the sight of the big black dragon.
As she got closer, Dany was so surprised that she was so excited that she left the dragon spirit state.
"There are orchards, figs, grapes, and peach trees there." She stood up and held Doria's hand, her joy was beyond words, "Our team is saved, we can settle there and farm until the little dragon grows into a giant dragon, hahaha."
In the afternoon, the sun was still hanging in the sky at a 45-degree angle, and Dany was impatient to urge KaLS to break camp and set off.
"Don't be stingy with your energy this time. It's only a two or three hour journey. Ago and the others have prepared fresh fruits and sweet well water. Everyone, work harder. Hope is just around the corner." Dany wanted to gallop on horseback.
When they were 5 kilometers away from the White City, the big black flew over and landed on her shoulder. The sky was shrouded in the muddy yellow of the setting sun. Dany and her car finally arrived under the white city wall.
"I didn't expect to see such a magnificent building in the barren red plain." Sir Jorah said to Dany in an incredible tone, "Even in our Westeros, such a city is not common."
That's your Westeros, and this is my White City.
Dany's big violet eyes smiled into a crescent moon, "I declare that this city is occupied by me!"
Seeing Dany so happy, Jorah also joked easily, "Then please name your city, Your Highness."
She tilted her head and thought for a while, giggled and said a word, "White Cloud City", and rode her little silver horse quickly into the city gate.
From a distance, this is a beautiful pure white stone city, and the three-meter-high city wall blocks all the dregs behind. When they entered, they found a ruined wall in front of them, devil grass growing between the cracks of the bricks and stones, and vines spreading in the collapsed houses. Dany even saw a jujube tree as thick as a thigh in the place where the center of the street should be, with sparse green and shrunken dates hanging on it.
Maybe it came from a date pit from decades ago?
"How long do you think this city has been abandoned?" she asked the people around her.
"Looking at how well it is preserved, it should be 20 to 30 years." Jorah said uncertainly.
Dany shook her head, "Definitely more than."
She turned around and shouted to the old man who was holding the tree branch and picking dates on the saddle: "Avanti, come here."
"Oh, Khaleesi, I'm a horseman."
"Crack, crack, crack" The horse stepped on the gray and white stone floor with a crisp sound, and came to Dany in a moment.
"How old are you? Have you heard about this city in these years?"
"Khaleesi, eat the dates." Avanti flatteringly held seven or eight green dates the size of the belly of the little finger and handed them to Dany.
"Eat it yourself." Dany shook her head.
Avanti then put the dates in the saddlebag on the horse's back like a treasure, and said thoughtfully: "Khaleesi, I don't know how long I have lived. There are often consecutive seasons on the Great Grass Sea. I can't tell them apart in a daze. I only remember seeing winter snow about eight or nine times."
Not to mention the horse people who have never invented a calendar, even the nobles of Westeros can't figure out the seasons and years. They all rely on the maesters of the Citadel to send out ravens to remind them every year.
The world of ice and fire does not have fixed seasons. For example, Dany only saw snow when she was very young. Like many teenagers of this generation, she is a child of summer.
"When was the last winter? What season is it now?" She turned to ask the most knowledgeable knight.
Well, it's a bit embarrassing. Under Dany's command, the rough man of Bear Island has become the wise one.
Jorah Mormont scratched his sunburned scalp, thought hard for a moment, and said, "When I was the Earl of Bear Island, I seemed to have heard from a maester that this summer is particularly long. That was about six years ago. It should still be summer now, and it has been 10 years."
He looked at the sultry dark red sky, and there was no way to deny that it was still summer.
"You need a maester." He sighed and suggested helplessly.
"If a maester really came to me, I'm afraid it wouldn't be long before a detailed report about me and my dragon would be placed on the desk of every Westeros noble." Dany said softly without comment.
"It's not that bad. Maesters swear allegiance to the object of their service." Jorah murmured weakly.
He suddenly remembered that he had noticed the inquiring look of Khaleesi looking at him. The Avatar was stunned for a moment before saying, "In my impression, the Red Waste has always been a forbidden place that cannot be entered."
"Khaleesi, look!" As they walked towards the palace in the center of the city, they passed by the intersection of six alleys. Ago suddenly exclaimed, pointing to an empty marble pedestal and saying, "The gods of the White City have been moved away by the horsemen. There must have been khals here. It is very likely that a khal plundered the city."
"Huh?" Old Avanti rode up and circled the marble pedestal in the center of the street twice, also wondering, "There really were horsemen here. When did that happen?"
"How do you know?" Dany wondered.
"Khaleesi, did you notice?" Avanti pointed at the surrounding streets with his whip, "This is the intersection of six streets, but it is considered the city center, so the gods worshipped by the White City should be placed on the marble pedestal."
This statement was recognized by Dany, and she nodded, "Then what?"
"Have you forgotten? Only the Dothraki have the habit of robbing the statues of other ethnic groups." Jorah interrupted.
When he reminded her, a memory suddenly popped up in Dany's mind. After destroying the city, the Dothraki liked to steal their gods or hero statues.
The holy place of the Dothraki, starting from the Horse Gate, has a main road that runs through the Horse King City - the Avenue of the Gods.
There are countless statues on both sides of the road, some are made of stone, some are made of bronze, some are cast in iron, some are carved in wood, and even some are made of Valyrian steel.
There are statues of gods, statues of kings and heroes, and even statues of evil gods and demons in the Shadow Land.
"It seems that the history here is older than we thought, at least more than a hundred years. The Dothraki army was able to come here because the river was not dry at that time. A few hundred horsemen warriors alone could never take down this strong city."
As she spoke, Dany and her kalsi had already crossed the block and came to the palace ruins in the center of the city.
The horsemen did not want to live in the stone houses where ghosts roamed, so Dany had no choice but to let them build tents against the walls of the tall palace.
The wall covered it and blocked the sun.
After everything was settled, the Ka LS sat in the square in front of the palace. The soldiers sent ahead collected a lot of fruits, including figs, grapes, peaches, and apples.
Although the fruits were generally underdeveloped, small in size, and tasted bad, her people greedily reached out to grab them, pushed each other, and stuffed the fruits into their mouths, making satisfying chewing sounds.
"The city walls are white, the towers are white, the buildings on the streets are also white, the palaces are still monotonous white, and there are white skeletons on the streets. It's pale everywhere. It should be called the City of Bones." Jorah stroked his hairy arms and said in a weird tone.
In fact, there are traces of burning everywhere in the city, but the blackness of the city burned by the raging fire has also become mottled under the passage of time.
In the dark night, under the bloody light of the red comet, only the sound of the wind like ghosts crying echoed in the alleys of the city, which was indeed a bit creepy.
Dany's two centaur maids were a little uneasy, and they were trembling with fear after hearing the knight's words.
Jhiqui cried, "Khaleesi, we can't stay here. This is the territory of evil spirits. Listen, they are cursing us in the corner!"
"What City of Bones? Nonsense!" Dany glared at Big Bear and said firmly, "This is White Cloud City. I am the Lord of White Cloud City. This is my territory."
"Hiss!" Big Black received her message and opened his mouth at the right time, spewing out a 30cm long, thumb-thick bright red dragon flame.
The dragon flame was mixed with a burst of black smoke, which looked very scary.
The two maids stopped talking.
Read 70+ Advanced Chapters At Pat Reon
p@treon.com/FicToric
(End of this chapter)