Chapter 348 Monster
The lower level of the Great Pyramid of Meereen is very quiet.
The outer walls here are thirty feet thick and covered in dust and cobwebs.
Daenerys Targaryen and Samwell Caesar accompanied them, descending the steep and narrow stairs.
Ser Barristan led the way with a lantern.
If Astapor is a city of red bricks and Yunkai is a city of yellow bricks, then Meereen is a city of colored bricks. Twenty different colors of bricks form a staircase, and there are Unsullied every few steps along the way. guard.
They were as silent and motionless in the darkness as stone sculptures.
Through three giant arches and down a **** illuminated by torches, the three finally came to the basement of the pyramid.
Passing a cistern, a dungeon, and a room where slaves were interrogated, they finally stopped at a gate with rusty chains.
Two Unsullied stand on either side of the gate.
"Open the door," Daenerys ordered.
An Unsullied took out a key and stepped forward to unlock it.
Accompanied by the creaking sound of the chain, the door slowly opened, and a heat wave full of sulfur smell rolled out.
Daenerys glanced at Samwell, then walked into the door holding his arm.
Behind the door was a huge deep pit. The two stood on the edge of the huge pit and looked down.
In the darkness, four eyes were burning.
One pair is like molten gold, the other is the color of bronze.
"My dragon...is here." Daenerys said bitterly.
Hearing her voice, Lei Ge let out a roar, and a bright yellow flame broke through the darkness, making the entire deep pit instantly bright as day.
Flames licked the painted brick walls, and the heat that hit his face made Ser Barristan take a few steps back.
Daenerys and Samwell remained unmoved.
"Why did you keep them here?" asked Samwell.
While speaking, another dragon in the deep pit, Viserion spread his wings and fanned the scorching air, trying to fly towards Daenerys, but the rattling iron chain dragged it back to the ground and fell **** the ground. on the ground.
It spewed out a cloud of flame angrily.
By the light of the fire, Samwell saw that an iron chain as thick as an adult's fist tied Viserion's feet, and there was also an iron collar around his neck, and it was nailed to the wall behind with a chain.
Rego was also chained. Fireworks burst out from between its teeth, and the air was scorching hot for ordinary people.
Fortunately, Daenerys and Samwell are not "normal people".
Sir Barristan could no longer bear the temperature, so he had to retreat outside the door.
"They..." she said bitterly, "They can eat people..."
"Of course dragons can hurt people." Samwell's tone was flat, "Didn't you see Cleopatra burn those slave owners to death when you were in Astapor?"
"I know. Viserys told me about dragons when I was a boy. I know how Harrenhal lay in ruins under the flames of the Black Death, and I know how thousands died of dragons in the Battle of Rage. Flame, even the Targaryen family has people who died at the mouth of the dragon..."
Daenerys still looked sad, "But these are stories, they are other people's dragons, but now, they are my own dragons, my own children..."
Samwell said: "In countless songs, how many villages and kingdoms live in fear of dragons, and this fear is not without reason."
"But that was a little girl, only four years old." Daenerys' tone was full of guilt, "Her name is Hartsia. Her father brought her bones to me, she was so young..."
Samwell was silent for a moment, then asked:
"Is there only bones? Are there any witnesses?"
"The only witness is Hartsya's father."
"Then that doesn't prove anything." Samwell said, "He may have killed his own girl himself. Don't be surprised. I've seen many fathers who dispose of extra girls. Of course, this may also be the son of the Harpy plot to burn a girl to death, and fake it to be the work of a dragon, so that the city will hate you."
Daenerys was silent, she suddenly felt tired.
Maybe I am really not suitable to participate in this Game of Thrones.
Intrigues, intrigues, schemes and calculations... She couldn't stand it at all.
Maybe I should marry him and be his queen instead of trying to be queen. The idea suddenly occurred to Daenerys.
But he never formally proposed to me.
Daenerys remembers kissing and arguing in Astapor.
During the quarrel, he said that he wanted to marry her as queen, but that was not considered a formal proposal.
He should have proposed, Daenerys thought, like Prince Quentyn of Dorne, like Hizdahr the Lord of Meereen, or at least he should have proposed like Dario, the daring band of mercenaries. She expresses her love clearly…
Daenerys suppressed her chaotic thoughts and said:
"Yes. Viserion was the first dragon to be chained. At that time I led him here with my own hands, and put a freshly slaughtered bull in the deep pit. When it was full and drowsy , the Unsullied rushed in and locked it..."
Not knowing if he heard his name, Viserion tried to fly towards Daenerys again, and the huge iron chain creaked. It turned back angrily, and once again spewed golden flames towards the wall behind it.
I don't know how long it will take, but its dragon flame can crack bricks and melt steel.
"Rego took more effort," Daenerys continued. "It seemed to hear his brother roaring in the pit, even though there were thick stones between them. It took me a lot to get Rego out." Go calmed down, and the Unsullied covered it with a net of heavy chains.
It was so strong that it took them three days to stagger and move it to the basement, and six people suffered burns.
And Drogon...he is the strongest and fiercest of the three dragons, and we tried to capture him, but failed..."
"So where did it go now?"
"Flew away." Daenerys almost shed tears, "It spread its black wings and flew north across the Skahazadhan River, and flew towards the Dothraki grasslands, and never came back."
Samwell was silent for a while, and said:
"You can't imprison your own dragon forever."
"Yes. This is a prison for slaves, and it can hold two dragons, but how long can it last? They become violent day by day, will they attack each other with flames and claws one day? Will they become Weakened and morbid, with withered wings and extinguished flames?"
"The Targaryen family once built a dragon lair in King's Landing and locked the dragons in it. It was much more spacious than this basement, but it still bred a group of stunted dragons."
"I don't want to either. But what if they attack people after they go out?" Daenerys turned to look at the man, "Did Cleopatra hurt innocent people?"
Samwell shook his head: "At least I haven't seen anyone holding a charred human bone to accuse me."
"Cleopatra seems to be very docile." Daenerys said, "How did you make it so obedient?"
"The dragon needs to be tamed." Sam Well said, "You should have heard the story of the dragon knights of the Targaryen family, right?"
"Yes, my brother liked to tell me stories about dragons and dragon knights when I was young. He said that dragon knights must obtain the approval of dragons to ride them, and once a dragon approves of a dragon knight, it will not accept the second dragon knight.
It is said that not even Aegon the Conqueror could control Vagarhar or Meraxes, nor could his sisters control Balerion the Black Death.
Dragons outlive men, though, and after Aegon's death, Balerion accepted other dragon riders, but a dragon never had two dragon riders at the same time, and no one could ever ride two dragons. "
Viserion roared again, smoke rose from between his teeth, and Samwell could see the golden flame dancing deep in its throat.
"You are right. Giant dragons need dragon knights. Although you are the mother of dragons and raised them, you have not really gained their approval, so they are wild and hard to change."
"Get their approval and become a dragon knight?" Daenerys murmured, her voice shaking in the roar of the dragon, sounding like an unconfident little girl, "What do I need to do?"
"For others, this is an impossible task, but you are Targaryen, of the blood of the true dragon. It is easy to be recognized by the dragon by nature. But even so, you must show courage, the dragon will not accept it A coward."
"Courage..." Daenerys murmured.
Two dragons roared at the same time in the deep pit, and the sound waves filled the entire basement, echoing between the walls, and the furnace-like hot wind swept in, raising her long skirt and silver hair.
She could see the charred flesh between their black teeth, see their hellish eyes.
Daenerys has never been afraid of her own dragons, she has always treated them as children, but at this moment, she hesitated uncontrollably—
Will they eat me?
"Of course, you can only choose one dragon to control." Samwell's voice sounded again, "No one can control two dragons at the same time."
Daenerys' eyes flicked back and forth between Rhaego and Viserion, hesitating.
"I suggest you choose Drogon." Samwell said again, "It is the biggest, fiercest and wildest one under your command."
"But Drogon flew away..."
"It will come back."
The determination in the man's tone reassured Daenerys and made her heave a sigh of relief.
To be honest, she is not ready to tame the dragon yet, whether it is Rhaego or Viserion, she feels strange and scared.
This has never been the case before.
How can a mother be afraid of her child?
The thought made her ashamed.
"They say dragons are monsters..." Daenerys said.
Samwell laughed loudly when he heard the words:
"We are of the blood of the true dragon, and if dragons are monsters, so are we."
Laughter echoed underground, suppressing the dragon's roar for a moment.
Daenerys turned her head to look at the man beside her, her trembling heart finally calmed down, and all the hesitation, guilt, and panic disappeared at this moment.
"Yes, we are monsters too!" she announced loudly.
Then desperately hugged the man, looking for his lips.
(end of this chapter)