Rhaenys was sitting on the top of a small hill. It was quite deep into the night, and she had already had her dinner. For the first few days, she had been travelling together with her own Regiment. Towards her destination. Where she would complete her mission.
Today had been a normal day like every other day. They had travelled during the day and set their camp during the night. Though they had drawn the attention of many people, they had been very easily dismissed. They were considered to be a sellsword company and a no name sellsword company with only 2500 men was hardly worth paying attention to.
After having her dinner with the soldiers, she had come to the top of the hill to find some solace. Travelling with a group of men with only a few maids was not an easy task. It was mentally straining and there had been moments when Rhaenys had felt uncomfortable.
But tomorrow was going to be a major day for her. A very momentous day indeed.
She knew that with the five dragons on her side, success was certain. But she was still feeling a bit nervous and anxious. She was not Aeos, Lord Aeos, who could leap into any situation with nerves of steel.
In her entire life, she had hardly done anything significant, hardly had any achievement worth considering. But what she was going to accomplish tomorrow was beyond the scope of anything she had ever imagined. She was going to capture a city. With 2,500 men and five humongous dragons.
It might not be as grand as Aegon the Conqueror taking Westeros, but it would not be lesser either. She would be prideful of her achievement.
The dragons, Lord Aeos' dragons, had been in quite some discomfort for the past few days. They were not allowed to fly out in the open during the daytime. During the day, they were only allowed to hide themselves in some isolated place, preferably deep within a very dense forest. They were allowed to hunt, fly, and stretch their bodies only at night. And even then, during the night, they were not permitted to create much nuisance. They had to remain hidden.
But this would not last for long. Tomorrow, the world would see these dragons, five of them, in their full glory.
Rhaenys sighed and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. In her hands, she was crumbling a piece of parchment. It had been a message from Lady Melisandre. The parchment contained the full account of what Lord Aeos had done to the invading force. Thirty Five thousand men. All of them, massacred. Slaughtered. And yet, that had only been another step in the grand plans of Lord Aeos. Lagsan had already been set up on the next step.
She doubted she could have achieved the same even with all five dragons.
That man truly had nerves of steel. She was not like him. His blood essence had made her powerful, too powerful for any normal human to face her, but she still lacked confidence.
A spark flickered in her hand, and the parchment crumbled into dust. Her fire magic. Her Targaryen lineage. She was still in awe that Lord Aeos had not used his fire or ice magic in the battle.
She too had been instructed not to use it. Their magic was to remain an absolute secret. Apart from him and the three essence holders, no one was to know of it. No one.
She raised her hand, the ash flying away, and her fingers instinctively moved toward the strap tied at her waist, toward the sheath of her sword. Valyrian steel.
Lord Aeos had awarded quite a few people with Valyrian steel, and she was among those fortunate few who had received a sword forged exactly as she wished.
No, he had not opened a factory of Valyrian steel, but he was going to soon.
Valyrian steel. The steel with magic. This was where it had all started. Her mission.
Before departing for Qarth, Lord Aeos had been conducting several experiments, experiments with steel to uncover the secret of Valyrian steel.
And he had discovered it.
True, dragonfire was related to Valyrian steel, but dragonfire alone was not enough. It lacked the magical essence, the magic needed to grant the steel what made it Valyrian steel.
But the flames Lord Aeos and his essence holders possessed, the fire magic they possessed, did have that magical essence needed to turn ordinary steel into Valyrian steel.
Take a piece of normal steel. Heat it with fire magic infused with magical essence for a long time, to a temperature that was only possible by either fire magic or by dragon flames, and there you had Valyrian steel.
But even then, Lord Aeos had not been satisfied. He had wanted more answers.
He doubted that the ancient Valyrians had used fire magic the same way he and the essence holders could. And his assumption was correct. At least according to Lady Melisandre.
As per her, and as Aeos himself theorised, the Valyrians must have used some other method to imbue steel with magical essence. They must have heated the steel to extremely high temperatures, possible only through dragon flames, not any ordinary forge and then, most likely, used blood magic to infuse it with magical essence.
But now, when heating steel with dragon flames, although it did not produce Valyrian steel, it did produce a metal far superior to any ordinary steel available. Aeos had named it Dragon steel. He was going to use that name in future.
Thereafter, a blacksmith was sought, someone capable of handling Valyrian steel. They had found a couple of such craftsmen, but it had not been sufficient. They needed more such blacksmiths.
Even so, if it had only been Valyrian steel, it would have been manageable. For it was not really to be mass produced. But this Dragon steel also required expert handling. It was not something an ordinary blacksmith could work with, and Aeos wanted Dragon Steel to be forged on a large scale. He intended to trade in it.
And thus, Rhaenys had been assigned her very important mission.
[I think most of you might have already guessed the city she is going to take over. Comment.]
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