Chapter 25 Chapter 24 Daenerys

"This is the Dothraki Sea," said Ser Jorah Mormont, taking the reins and stopping beside her, and they stood together on the top of the ridge. Below them the wide open plain spread, flat and wide as far as the eye could see.It is indeed like an ocean, Dany thought.Since then, the hills and mountains have disappeared, and even the forests, cities and roads have disappeared. There are only endless grasslands, and the wind is surging, and the long grass leaves are swaying like waves. "It's so green," she said. "It's green time now," Ser Jorah agreed. "You should see the flowers when they bloom. There are dark red flowers all over the mountains and fields, like a sea of ​​blood. When the dry season comes, the world will be bronze again." .and that's just the color of the hrana grass, boy, not counting the hundreds of other grasses, some as yellow as a lemon, some as dark as an indigo, and blues and oranges, and iridescent grasses .In the land of shadows beyond Asshai there is also said to be a sea of ​​ghost grass that grows taller than a man on a horse and has stalks as white as glass. This grass kills the rest and then Dark places glow with cursed souls. The Dothraki believe that one day the ghost weed will take over the world, and when that happens, all life will end."

Dany shuddered. "Stop it," she said, "it's beautiful here, and I don't want to talk about death." "As you wish, Khaleesi," Ser Jorah said respectfully. When she heard the noise, she looked back.She and Mormont had left the party far behind, and now the others were climbing up the hill.Maid Irri and the young archers of her kars moved like centaurs, but Viserys was not used to short stirrups and flat saddles.My brother is very unhappy here, and he should never have come.Magister Illyrio had urged him to stay in Pentos, had offered him the hospitality of his manse, but Viserys would not listen.He would follow Drogo until he fulfilled his promise and gave him the crown. "If he dares to lie to me, I will show him what it is to wake the wrath of the Sleeping Dragon," Viserys swore, putting his hand on the borrowed sword.Illyrio winked and wished him well.

Dany didn't want to care about her brother's whining at the moment.It was a perfect day, and a falcon was high above the deep blue sky.The sea of ​​grass was swaying, and with the gusts of wind sighing softly, sending a little bit of warmth to her face, Dani only felt calm and peaceful.She would not let Viserys spoil her good humor. "Stop," Dany told Ser Jorah, "tell them all to stop, and tell them it is my order." The knight smiled.Ser Jorah was not handsome, with a neck and shoulders like a bull's, thick black hair on his arms and chest, and nothing growing on his head.But his smile always put Dany at ease. "Daenerys, you are speaking more and more like a princess."

"It's not the princess," Dany said, "it's the Khaleesi." Then she turned her horse and ran down the hill alone. The slopes were steep and rocky, but Dany was unafraid, delighted by the joy and danger of the ride.Viserys had always said she was a princess since she was a child, but it wasn't until she rode the silver colt that Daenerys Targaryen really felt it was true. Things didn't go well at first, and the khalasar set out early the morning after the wedding, heading east for Vaes Dothraki.On the third day, Dany felt half dead.Sitting in the saddle for several days caused her buttocks to be scarred and bleeding profusely.The skin on her thighs was peeling from the friction, her hands were blistered by the reins, and the muscles in her feet and back were so sore that she couldn't even sit up straight.After dark, she needs the help of her maid to dismount.

She has no peace at night.Khal Drogo ignored her when he rode by day, as on his wedding day, and drank and raced horses with his warriors and bloodriders at night, watching women dance and men fight.In this part of his life, Dany had no place.Often she ate alone, or at most with Ser Jorah and her brother, and cried herself to sleep.But each night when dawn was about to break, Drogo would come to her tent, wake her up in the dark, and ride her as mercilessly as he would his steed.He always came from behind, as was the Dothraki custom, and Dany was grateful for that, because then her husband wouldn't see her bursting into tears, and she could cover her cries of pain with the pillow.When he was done, he closed his eyes and snorted softly, while Dany lay beside her, bruised and in so much pain that she couldn't sleep.

Day after day, night after night, until it became clear to Dany that she couldn't take it any longer.One night, she decided that she would rather commit suicide than continue to live on... But that night, when she was sleeping, she had the dream about the dragon again.There was no Viserys this time, just her and the dragon.Its scales were black as night, slick with blood.It was her blood, Dany realized.Its eyes were two pools of lava, and it opened its mouth, from which flames shot forth.It was singing to itself, and she stretched out her arms, embracing the flame, allowing it to consume itself completely, to cleanse her, to temper her.She felt her muscles were burnt and blackened, necrotic and peeling, and her blood was boiling and evaporating, but there was no pain, instead she felt strong and healthy, as if she had been reborn.

Strangely, the next day she seemed to be in less pain, as if the gods heard her plea and took pity on her misfortune.Even her maid was surprised. "Kaleesi," Jiki said, "what's the matter? Are you unwell?" "It's all right," she replied.Then she came to the dragon eggs that Illyrio had given her at the wedding, and reached out to feel the largest of them, sliding her fingers lightly over the shell.Black and red, she thought, like the dragon in my dream.The stone became strangely warm under her finger... Is this her illusion?She withdrew her hand nervously.

From that moment on, every day went smoothly.Her legs strengthened, her blisters popped, her hands became callused, her soft thighs hardened and flexed like leather. The khal orders Irri, the handmaiden, to teach Dany Dothraki horsemanship, but the silver pony is her real teacher.The little silver horse seemed to know her mood, as if he had a tacit understanding.As the days passed, Dany became more and more comfortable on the horse.The Dothraki were a harsh people, and according to their custom they never named animals, so Dany only thought of him as her little silver horse.Although she had never loved anything so much.

When riding was no longer a torment, Dany began to notice the beauty of the land around her.She rode at the head of the khalasar with Drogo and his bloodriders, so everything in front of her was alive and undisturbed.The large group of people who followed would trample the land, muddy the river, and raise choking dust, but what appeared before them was always a green field. They crossed the rolling Norvos hills, past terraced fields and villages, and the inhabitants watched them uneasily from their plastered walls.They forded three wide and placid rivers, a fourth that was swift and narrow and treacherous, camped beside a high blue waterfall, and skirted the ruined walls of a vast dead city where ghosts were said to moan in the charred blackness. of marble columns.They raced along Valyrian roads a thousand years old, as straight as a Dothraki bow.It took half a month to pass through the Kohor Forest, which is covered with golden leaves and whose trunks are as wide as a city gate.There were great elk in that wood, and spottedtigers, and lemurs with silver fur and huge purple eyes, but all fled before the approach of thekhalasar and Dany got no glimpse of them.

At this time, her previous pain has become a memory.She was still sore after the long journey, but there was a bittersweet connotation.Every morning she jumps eagerly into the saddle, eager to see more of the wonder.She had even begun to seek pleasure at night, so that when Drogo possessed her she still yelped, but not always in pain. Under the hill, tall and soft grass surrounded her.Dany slowed and steered the pony out onto the plain, happily drowning herself in the green waves.She was not alone in the khalasar, and though Khal Drogo did not come to her until nightfall, her handmaids fed her and bathed her and slept outside her tent.Drogo's bloodriders, and her own khas, were never far from her, and her brother was a loathsome shadow day and night.Dany heard him yelling at Ser Jorah again from the ridge now, his voice shrill with anger.She decided to ignore it, and rode on, submerged in the Dothraki seabed.

The green waves engulfed her, and the air was filled with the scent of grass and earth, mingled with horse smell, sweat, and her hair oil.The breath of the Dothraki.They are the native owners here, Dany smiled happily and took a deep breath of all this.She suddenly had an urge to step on the ground under her feet and move her toes in the thick black soil.So she got off the horse, let the silver horse graze, and then took off her boots. Viserys rushed up to her like a summer storm and yanked at the reins, the horse kicking up in pain. "How dare you!" he screamed at her. "How dare you order me? Order me?" He jumped off his horse and fell when he landed.Flushing all over his face, he struggled to his feet, then grabbed her and shook her violently. "Don't you forget who you are? Don't look at yourself, look at your virtue now!" Dany knew it without looking. She was barefoot and pomaded, and she wore the Dothraki furs and painted waistcoat she had given as a wedding present.She looked like one of the people here, but Viserys was filthy in city silk and ringmail. He screamed and screamed. "You are not allowed to boss the son of the real dragon, understand? I am the king of the seven kingdoms, you little bastard of the horse king is not qualified to order me, do you hear?" His hand reached into her vest, fingers vigorously pinch her breasts. "Did you hear that?" Dany pushed him away hard. Viserys stared at her, disbelief in his lavender eyes.She never contradicted him, never resisted him.He was so angry that his facial features were distorted.She knew very well that he would torture her hard now. Snapped. The whip cracked like thunder, and it caught Viserys by the throat and yanked back.He fell down in the grass in shock, unable to breathe.The Dothraki riders hissed him as he struggled to free himself.It was young Jhogo who whipped, he asked sharply.Dany couldn't understand, but luckily Irri, Ser Jorah, and the rest of her khas had arrived by then. "Kaleesi, Jhogo asked you if you want him to die," Yili said. "No," Dany replied, "no." Jhogo understood this.Someone shouted, and the other Dothraki laughed.Irri told her, "Quello thinks you should cut off one of his ears to teach him a lesson." The elder brother knelt on the ground, holding the whip with his fingers, struggling to breathe, and let out an indistinguishable scream.The whip tightened around his throat. "Tell them I don't want him hurt," Dany said. Irri repeated it in Dothraki.Jhogo whipped the whip, and Viserys fell to the ground again like a puppet pulled by strings, but he was free.There was a deep, thin line of blood under his cheek. "I warned him not, my lord," said Ser Jorah Mormont. "I told him to stay on the hill as you instructed." "I know," Dany replied, looking at Viserys.He was lying on the ground, breathing loudly, flushed, sobbing, and looking like a real wretch.He's always been a poor man, why didn't she realize it until now?The fear in her heart suddenly disappeared. "Take his horse," she ordered Ser Jorah.Viserys stared at her with his mouth open, unable to believe what he was hearing, and even Dany herself could not quite believe what she was saying.She said: "Let my brother follow us and walk back to Kalasar." For the Dothraki, a man who does not ride a horse is not worthy of being a human being at all, and his status is the lowest, with no honor or self-respect at all. "Let everyone see what kind of person he is." "No!" Viserys screamed.He turned to Ser Jorah, pleading in the Common Tongue that the others could not understand. "Help her, Mormont, your king orders you to kill her. Kill these Dothraki lackeys and teach her a lesson." The exiled knight looked at Dany, who was barefoot, with mud between her toes, and her hair smeared with sesame oil, and then at her brother in silk and sword.Dany read the decision on his face. "Let him walk, Khaleesi," he said, taking the reins from his brother's horse, and Dany remounted the silver pony. Viserys stared at him with his mouth open, and sank heavily into the dust.He remained silent until they left.He didn't move, but his eyes were extremely resentful.Soon, he disappeared behind the high grass waves.When he was no longer in sight, Dany was frightened again. "Can he find his way?" she asked Ser Jorah as she rode. "Even if your brother is so blind, he can definitely follow the traces we left." He replied. "He was very proud, maybe he didn't come because of shame." Jorah laughed. "Then where else can he go? Even if he doesn't find the khalasar, the khalasar will find him sooner or later. It's not easy to drown in the Dothraki sea, boy." Dany thought there was truth in that.The khalasar is like a city on the move, but not blindly.There must be scouts in front of the main team, responsible for paying attention to various prey and enemy tracks, while the pioneer troops guard the two wings.In the land where the Dothraki originated in Th, nothing escapes their attention.The plain was part of them... and now part of her. "I just hit him," she said in surprise.Looking back now, it seems like a strange dream. "Ser Jorah, do you think . Ser Jorah snorted. "Can you wake the dead, boy? Your brother Rhaegar was the last of the dragons, and he died on the banks of the Trident. Viserys is not even the shadow of a snake." She was shocked by his bluntness, as if overnight, what she had always believed in was no longer clear. "But you... didn't you take an oath to serve him?" "Yes, girl," Ser Jorah said. "And if your brother is but the shadow of a snake, what do you think of his men?" He said bitterly. "But he is the real king after all, he is..." Jorah took the reins and watched her. "Honestly, you want Viserys on the throne?" Dany thought about it carefully. "He wouldn't be a very good king, would he?" "There are kings worse than him... but not many." The knight clamped his horse's belly and continued on. Dany stepped forward and walked beside him. "Anyway," she said, "the people are waiting for him. Magister Illyrio says they are busy sewing dragon banners, and pray that Viserys will cross the sea and free them." "The people pray for good weather and healthy children and a summer that never ends," Ser Jorah told her. "It doesn't matter how the princes play their power games as long as they live and work in peace." He shrugged. "It's just that they never got their way." Dany rode quietly for a while, chewing on what he had said.The common people don't care whether they are ruled by the Dragon Emperor or a usurper, which is contrary to everything Viserys said.Yet the more she thought about it, the more she felt that Ser Jorah had been right. "Then what would you pray for, Ser Jorah?" she asked him. "I just want to go home." There was a strong nostalgia in his voice. "Me too." She could fully understand the feeling. Ser Jorah smiled. "Then you should appreciate it, Khaleesi." Dany looked around, but it was not the grasslands in her eyes, but King's Landing, the majestic Red Castle built by Aegon the Conqueror, and Dragonstone Island where she was born.In her mind, they were accompanied by thousands of flames, every window burning.In her mind, every door is red. "Brother will never take back the Seven Kingdoms," said Dany.She realized that she had known it before, had known it all her life, but she had never allowed herself to say it, not even in a whisper.Now she would speak it out loud, for Jorah Mormont, for all the world to hear. Ser Jorah thought about her. "You think he can't help it." "Even if my lord gave him an army, he would not be able to rule," said Dany. "He has no property, and the only knight sworn to follow him called him worse than a snake. The Dothraki laughed at his weakness. He'll never be able to bring us home." "Smart boy." The knight smiled. "I am no longer a child," she told him decisively, urging the silver horse to gallop with her heels clamping on to the horse's belly.She rode faster and faster, leaving Jorah, Irri and the others far behind, the warm wind filling her hair, and the setting sun shining red on her face.When she returned to Karasar, it was already dark. The slaves set up a sleeping tent for her by the pool of a spring, and she heard voices coming from the grass-woven palace on the hill.She knew there would be a lot of jeers from her khas when they told what had happened in the grass that day; people.There are no secrets to kalasari. Dany left the silver pony in the care of the servants, and went into the tent alone.It was cool and dark in the silk tent.When the door closed behind her, Dany saw a ray of red sunset light come in and reflect on her dragon egg.In an instant, thousands of blood-red sparks flashed before her eyes, and she blinked, but they were all gone. Stones, she told herself, were nothing but stones, and the dragons were dead long ago, even Illyrio said so.She put her palm on the black egg, her fingers gently covering the curve of the eggshell.The stone was warm, even a little hot. "Sunlight," Dany whispered, "must have warmed them." She told the maid to prepare her bath.Doria built a fire outside the tent, and Irri and Jiki worked together to bring the big copper tub from the freight horses—a wedding present, too.When the bath water was steaming, Yili helped her into the bathtub, and then climbed in by herself. "Have you ever seen a dragon?" she asked while Yili brushed her back and Jiki washed the dust out of her hair.She had heard that dragons were originally from the East, from the Shadowlands beyond Asshai and the Isles in the Jade Sea.Perhaps some dragons still live in that wild and treacherous land. "Khaleesi, dragons are gone," Irri said. "Yeah," Jiqi agreed, "it died a long, long time ago." Viserys had told her that the last dragon of House Targaryen had died about a century and a half ago, during the reign of Aegon III, and that he had been called the Dragonbane for that reason.To Dany, that doesn't seem like such a distant prospect. "It's the same everywhere?" she said disappointedly. "Even in the east?" When the end came to Valyria and the Land of Eversummer, magic died out in the west. Both the master and the dragon are irreparable.But Dany had always heard that things were different in the east, that manticores still haunted the Jade Sea Islands, and snakes still ruled the jungles of Yidi.It is said that the sorcerers, warlocks, and cloud-mages are openly active in Asshai, and that the shadow-binders and blood-witches practice terrible sorcery in the dead of night.Why is it impossible for dragons to survive? "There are no more dragons," said Ellie. "The brave slay dragons, for dragons are terrible monsters. Everyone knows that." "Everyone knows." Ji Qi agreed. "A merchant of Qarth told me that dragons came out of the moon," said blond Doria, drying towels on the stove.Jhiqui and Irri were about Dany's age, and they were both taken as slaves when their father's khalasar was destroyed by Drogo.Doria was older, nearly twenty.Magister Illyrio found her in a brothel in Lyth. Dani turned her head curiously, her wet silver hair fluttering in front of her eyes. "From the moon?" "He told me the moon was an egg, Khaleesi," said the Rhys girl. "There were two moons in the sky, but one of them orbited too close to the sun and couldn't stand the heat, so it exploded. Thousands A dragon springs out of it and absorbs the fire of the sun, that's why the dragon breathes fire. One day the remaining moon will kiss the sun too, and it will explode too, and the dragon will return to the world." The two Dothraki girls giggled. "You foolish slave with a head full of straw," Irri said, "the moon is no egg, the moon is a goddess, the wife of the sun, everyone knows it." "Everyone knows." Ji Qi agreed. When Dany climbed out of the tub, her skin was flushed.Jiki told her to lie down, oiled her body, and scraped the dirt out of her pores.Then Irri sprinkled her with fragrant flowers and cinnamon.Doria combed her hair until it shone like silver threads.Meanwhile, she kept thinking about the moon, eggs and dragons. Her dinner was simple, just fruit, cheese and fried bread, with a jug of mead. "Doria, stay and eat with me." Dany ordered when she sent the other maids away.The Rhys girl had hair the color of honey and eyes the color of a summer sky. When they were alone, she lowered her eyes. "It's an honor, Khaleesi," she said, but it wasn't an honor, it was a duty.The moon rose and hung high, and they sat together all the time, talking on their knees. Dany was waiting for Khal Drogo when he returned that night.He stood at the door of the tent, staring at her in surprise.She stood up slowly, and pulled off her silk pajamas, letting them fall to the floor. "My lord, we should go outside tonight," she told him, because the Dothraki believed that all that mattered in a man's life should be witnessed by the open sky. Khal Drogo followed her into the moonlight, bells in his hair tinkling softly.There was a bed of soft straw a few yards beyond the tent, and there Dany had brought him.When he was about to turn her around, she put her hand on his chest. "No," she said, "I'm going to see your face tonight." There is no privacy in kalazar.As Dany undressed him, she felt the eyes of everyone falling; while she did what Doria said, she heard others whispering.It's nothing to her.Isn't she Khaleesi?All she cares about is his gaze, and when she rides on him, she sees a sprout in his eyes that she has never seen before.She rode him as violently as she would ride her little silver horse.Finally, when the climax came, Khal Drogo called her name. When they reached the far center of the Dothraki Sea, Jhiqui stroked Dany's slightly protruding belly and said, "Khaleesi, you are pregnant." "I know," Dany told her. That day was her fourteenth name day. ※※※※※※※ ① Cass: A small private tribe owned by the leader of the Dothraki, who acts together with him and is responsible for taking care of his safety.