"Meereen is unlike Astapor and Yunkai that we've conquered with ease," Daenerys was silent as she watched Jorah speak, noting Whitebeard and Belwas as well as her bloodriders paying attention.
There was a new addition in the form of a bronze-skinned Grey Worm, a former Unsullied slave and now commander of her Unsullied army that was chosen by his fellow soldiers.
"It is vast, defended by walls so high even a dragon would think twice before breaking them and within those walls lie thousands upon thousands of slaves. Any rash attack would risk killing the very people we seek to free."
"Therefore, Drogon, Rhaenys, Visenya, you three are to stay out of sight until the final strike, in which you will then be allowed to take out in one fell swoop. Is that understood?"
"Mother~"
"Enough," I huffed softly, but it was enough as both girls let out rumbling growls and laid their heads back down.
"Thank you, Drogon. Back to our discussion, you all are the war generals who have fought in many battles so I will leave the decision-making to you all."
"Well, in a drawn-out war, Meereen possesses the option of hiring sellsword companies to drain our stamina until we can no longer fend off their attacks. On top of that, they have a fleet that can cut off our supply lines as well as stop us from an attack on the naval front.
A siege could last years, but considering that our Khaleesi is expected to meet Illyrio Mopatis in Pentos soon, that means we'll have to figure out a faster way to finish this battle."
"Belwas thinks we should attack from different fronts. Force their army to focus on different attacks while we slide a hidden dagger past the front and stab then in the arsehole."
"I agree," Jhogo spoke, Rahkaro and Aggo nodding in agreement while Whitebeard narrowed his eyes at them.
"You say that, but perhaps give a detailed explanation on how you wish to pull off this 'arse' attack."
"Simple. Unsullied attacks the Main, East and Back gate. However, Belwas and Whitebeard sneak through water into city, giving weapons to slaves and then killing everyone from the inside. Knife to the arsehole."
"A bold plan that is flawed. The masters of Meereen know their slaves better than anyone. They'll have spies and overseers at every turn so to think that we could arm them all without alerting the masters is folly. Furthermore, an entry through the water gates would be impossible given that they have been barred and are guarded as a possible entrance."
"Whitebeard speaks truth. Unsullied can fight, but to divide us three ways for gates will weaken shield wall. Unsullied do not bend, but numbers are finite."
"Then we can only use the dragons, then."
"Doing so would risk having the masters killing all of the slaves and that defeats the purpose of the entire plan," Daenerys spoke with a frown and I stayed silent as I saw Jorah sigh.
"Unfortunately, Khaleesi, it appears that every plan runs the risk of losing a few slaves to the masters. Should we not prioritize the many over the few?"
"And who decides which slaves shall become the few? If I accept sacrificing some, then I am no different from the masters we seek to overthrow."
"If Khaleesi command all slaves be saved, Unsullied will obey, but...Unsullied are soldiers, not ghosts. Blood will still fall," Grey Worm spoke up and Daenerys looked at him before turning to Jorah as he spoke.
"I have heard that Meereen prefers to send forth a champion to test their opponent. That will be our first opportunity to launch an attack."
"Yes, of the mental kind," I heard Mother murmur, smirking as everyone looked at her and she smiled.
"Pack everything up. We are heading to Meereen."
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"Okay, I think I like Belwas more," I growled with a subtle smirk as I watched the man dodge the horse charging at him, the man having a smile on his face as he ducked and dodged another charge.
It was at the fourth one that he threw his sword, the blade sinking into the neck of the horse and launching its rider at him. Belwas was quick to catch him and even faster to rip his blade free from the horse, dropping its rider to the ground with a smirk.
'This is going to be a win for us, but that's not what we want,'I thought as Belwas decapitated the man with one swift motion, turning my gaze to the walls where I saw the 'Great Masters' glaring down while their many slaves cowered away.
However, I could also make out some of them looking hopeful and glaring at their masters, making me smirk as I glanced back only to stifle my laughter as Belwas took a dump on the body before wiping his ass with the cloak of the fighter.
"You got anyone else?!", The man bellowed as he pulled his pants up, a grin on my face as I looked to Mother who kept her stoic visage up.
Well, that's phase one done. Now, it's time for me to do phase two.
"ZUN HAAL VIIK!", The steel in the guards' hands trembled before they shot to the ground, making myself as I walked around the corner and saw fear dancing in the eyes of the masters.
"FAAS RU MAAR!", Another shout made their fear almost palpable, my voice amplifying their fear before I took a deep breath and let out a deafening roar.
"KRII LUN AUS!", The effects were immediate as I saw most of the guards and masters collapsing, the rest looking as if they were going to keel over as well before I flapped my wings and carried myself to the door.
"YOL TOOR SHUL!", Combining a shout with my own flaming roar was something I did not expect to happen, watching as my blackish-red flames danced along with the bright orange and melted everything in its path.
The steel door did not last long before it melted away, making me snuff my flames out before I turned to Mother as she raised a hand.
"UNSULLIED! YOU HAVE YOUR ORDERS!"
"FOR THE BREAKER OF CHAINS!", Belwas roared, the Unsullied marching alongside him and Whitebeard as they burst through the door.
However, I quickly dove down to where Mother and Jorah were standing, wrapping my wings around while letting out a pained snarl as arrows pelted my skin.
None pierced through, but I could still feel them nicking me as the arrow bombardment finally died down, looking up to see men with bows hidden amongst the slaves.
'The Second Sons and...is that the Golden Company?', I thought as I saw the familiar broken sword and solid gold banners of each respective company.
The sound of trumpets drew my attention back to the gate where I saw men storming out by the hundreds, but it appears that they were only trying to chase the Unsullied back while the archers above did their best to shoot as many as they can.
"Retreat! Khaleesi, we need to move as well," The man grunted and I moved while keeping Mother hidden behind me, glaring at the sellswords before we left the open area.
However, that was enough as we continued moving back until we were a few hundred meters away from the walls of Meereen, the Unsullied standing on guard as Visenya and Rhaenys flew back from their hiding spot.
"The masters now know our strength and we know theirs, but I did not expect them to hire both the Golden Company and the Second Sons."
"Still, that means they fear what we can do. The battle is not lost yet," Jorah spoke, Whitebeard nodding in agreement while Belwas snorted and Grey Worm narrowed his eyes.
"Khaleesi, it is your call. We can try to go with the first plan, but given that they most likely have sellswords guarding the slaves by the second to make sure we cannot give them hope, the only other plan is to target their navy."
"Do you believe that you and your sisters can take care of the navy?", Mother asked as she looked at me and I looked to Rhaenys and Visenya before nodding slowly.
"Good. Then, go now. You three shall show them what it means to face against the Mother of Dragons," She spoke and I let out a roar at them, shooting up into the air with a flap of my wings as Visenya and Rhaenys followed after.
The three of us rose high until we were far up in the sky, flapping our wings before I spotted the ships in questions already stationed around Meereen.
"Laas Yah Nir," A soft whisper escaped my lips as numerous red dots appeared on the ships, my eyes flickering between them as I counted our enemies.
'93 ships, a little over 300 on each ship on average. Well, that's a lot of people, but I don't see any trebuchets or those large ship crossbows, which is a shame,' I thought with a grin as the glow of Laas Yah Nir faded away, Visenya and Rhaenys looking impatient before they stopped as I snarled.
"What are we waiting for, brother?"
"The signal," I responded, to which Visenya rumbled before I looked down to see Mother nodding.
"YOL TOOR SHUL!," Opening my mouth , I unleashed a sea of orange flames and Visenya and Rhaenys joined in as we dove towards the navy.
The two of them breathed out their own flames and the blazing curtain fell upon the navy as I tore through a ship, diving into the water before resurfacing while tearing through another.
Screams rippled in the air as I flew high up, Visenya lunging in and breathing out a stream of flames that washed over three ships while Rhaenys joined in.
The two of them were only the size of horses and yet, they were just as courageous as I was given that I saw both of them tearing through a burning ship before I focused on the flagship sailing away in escape with a dozen others.
Not on my watch.
"WULD NAH KEST!", The world around me blurred as I was blasted forward, stretching my wings out to control myself while watching as the captain of the flagship looked horrified when I crashed down onto the back of his ship.
With a roar, I breathed out a torrent of flames that burned everything in my path, swinging my head from side to side to make sure I got everything before flying back up with a deafening
Looking at the other ships, I grinned as I flew over each one, unleashing scorching black-red flames that burned everything before turning back at where I saw Rhaenys and Visenya hovering in the air.
Shallow cuts littered their bodies, most likely caused by the arrows that ricochet off their scales, but there was no lasting damage with and they seemed to be fine given that Rhaenys looked pleased while Visenya looked proud.
Looking at the fleet burning away, I nodded as I turned and flew back to where Mother and the others were, my job now done and preparing myself for the final phase.
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"They are most definitely going to send assassins in the night," Jorah spoke with a frown as Mother and her advisors stood in her tent, Missandei standing beside the woman in question while I rested at the front entrance.
"That is the most effective strategy here. Attacking while we all are recuperating from the abrupt ambush to take out our leader is a tactic the Second Sons have used before."
"You've fought against them, Whitebeard?", I heard Jorah ask, opening one eye slightly to see the man looking at Whitebeard with a knowing look.
"Once or twice, yes. Both times, they have tried to take out my commander and both times, they have failed. However, the ones we have to fear the most is the Golden Company.
They won't have all 10,000 sellswords here, but they most definitely have enough to combat our 8,000 Unsullied in a siege and with the 2,000 from the Second Sons as well as Meereen's own personal fighting force, we most definitely cannot face them in open fields.
Additionally, we have very little food to spare whereas Meereen's food stores are filled thanks to their scorched earth tactic. Therefore, a siege is not something we should be looking forward to."
"What is our best plan of action then? You all are, after all, the generals of my army," I was a bit surprised to see Mother actually paying attention to their discussion while she scanned the map with an analytic eye.
Then again, if she is to become queen and not just a figurehead, she needed to learn now how to make the best choices possible.
"The best course of action is to take out the head masters themselves," Whitebeard spoke up, drawing everyone's attention as the man pointed to the great pyramid at the heart of the city on the map.
"The sellswords fight for gold. If we get rid of the ones who are paying them, their loyalty will go with it given that they won't work without payment."
"That will only work with the Second Sons. The Golden Company is said to never have given up on a contract even when there was no money left."
"Then, we turn them all against each other. Drogon, do you think you could fight a little bit longer?", I heard Mother ask, looking up as she looked at me before she smiled as I nodded.
"Good. Then, I want you to do the following."
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'She said to wait for a signal. That was almost three hours ago,' I thought to myself as I stayed hidden in the shadows, staring at the large pyramid in front of me that hid me from the many eyes that were patrolling the back of Meereen.
Thankfully, tonight was a new moon and cloudy which helped me hide even further if I kept close, but I did have to stay further away from the back wall that I wanted as the Golden Company and Second Sons' sellswords were using torches to illuminate the area around them.
Cause as much destruction as possible. That was the only thing told to me before I flew off and that was an order I was going to enjoy so much.
'Still, what would be the sig-', My gaze flickered up as flames burned the sky, watching as Rhaenys looked at me through the darkness before diving back down.
Looking back at the wall where I saw the couple dozen sellswords scrambling about, I grinned before taking a deep breath and breathing it back out with a roar.
Thunderous roaring rippled in the air as my flames washed over the walls, sellswords screaming and pained cries echoing before I snuffed out the flames.
"KRII LUN AUS!", The shout ripped across the ground and its effects were immediately as the sellswords that were still left looked as if the life was stripped from them while others collapsed to the floor with fearful shrieks.
With my opening salvo finished, it was time for my dance to fully commence as I let out a roar while launching up into the sky. It was at the apex of my launch that I finally caught sight of the city, watching as the former slaves of Yunkai and Astapor stormed in through the main gate while the Unsullied marched in behind them.
At the west and east side, Rhaenys and Visenya were going to town as they burned every enemy in their path, making me narrow my eyes as I flew around the great pyramid before taking a deep breath.
"STRUN BAH QO!", I roared to the skies, hearing the clouds rumbling before diving back down as lightning flew down beside me.
I must have looked like a demon descending down to feast as the lightning illuminated me from behind, crashing down upon the first enemy with a snarl as I tore their throat out.
Swinging my tail back and definitely shattering ribs as I connected the blows to people's sides, I spun and breathed out a torrent of flames in all directions, burning the sellswords and guards trying to charge at me.
"Fucking beast!", I heard a voice roar behind me, turning my head to see a Golden Company sellsword leaping from a rooftop with a snarl.
"No, you don't," I rumbled as a maw bit down on his skull and tore his head clean off, Visenya spitting it back out while my tail smacked his spear into the chest of another sellsword.
Not one to be left behind, emerald-green flames announced the arrival of Rhaenys as she crashed down beside me, the three of us becoming a storm of claws and multi-coloured flames when we tore and ate our way through the army.
I don't know when the screams finally died down, but when I finally came out of my berserk state, I found myself licking my maw clean, staring at the corpse in front of me that was missing its torso.
Looking over at where Visenya and Rhaenys were tearing the arms off of a screaming woman, the sight of it didn't horrify or scare me. Instead, all I found myself doing was swinging my tail down to crush her skull and end her stupid screaming.
"Drogon, Visenya, Rhaenys," Turning my head as I heard Mother's voice, I blinked at the sight of her dress stained in blood and a sword in hand, her silver hair now a mixture of silver and scarlet while cuts littered her hands and arms.
"Well done, my children."
A/N: And we end it off here~! The Siege of Meereen solved in one chapter, but is that the end of Slaver's Bay?
Find out next time.
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