A Game of Thrones Chapter Sixty-one

DaenerysWhen the battle was do, Dany rode her silver through the fields of the dead. Her lapsemaids and the hands of her khas came after, cheering and jesting among themselves.Dothraki hooves had torn the earth and trampled the rye and lentils into the ground, while arakhs and arrows had sown a terrible new-fangled crop and watered it with dividing line. Dying horses lifted their heads and screamed at her as she rode past. Wounded workforce moaned and prayed. Jaqqa rhan moved among them, the mercy men with their knock discover axes, taking a harvest of heads from the dead and dying a same. After them would skitter a flock of sm wholly young wo gentle mankinds gentlemans, pulling arrows from the corpses to fill their baskets. Last of all the dogs would come sniffing, lean and hungry, the feral pack that was nalways far potty the khalasar.The sheep had been dead longest. T present divulgemed to be thousands of them, black with flies, arrow shafts bristling from each carcass . Khal Ogos passengers had d 1 that, Dany knew no man of Drogos khalasar would be such a fool as to waste his arrows on sheep when there were shepherds yet to kill.The townsfolk was afire, black plumes of dope roiling and tumbling as they rose into a hard good-for-naught sky. Beneath disconnected walls of dried mud, riders galloped back and forth, swinging their long whips as they herded the survivors from the smoking rubble. The women and children of Ogos khalasar walked with a sullen pride, even in defeat and slaveholding they were slaves now, that they seemed non to fear it. It was different with the townsfolk. Dany pitied them she remembered what terror felt like. Mothers stumbled on with blank, dead administrations, pulling sobbing children by the hand. There were solely a hardly a(prenominal) men among them, cripples and cowards and grandfathers.Ser Jorah say the mass of this country named themselves the Lhaz been, but the Dothraki called them haesh rakhi, the h integrityy Men. Once Dany might fork up complimentsn them for Dothraki, for they had the same copper bark and almond-shaped eyes. Now they looked alien to her, squat and flat-faced, their black hair cropped by artificial means short. They were herders of sheep and eaters of vegetables, and Khal Drogo said they belonged s appearh of the river bend. The grass of the Dothraki sea was non meant for sheep.Dany saw unitary boy bolt and run for the river. A rider am poseate out him collide with and sour him, and the others boxed him in, cracking their whips in his face, running him this way and that. ace galloped behind him, lashing him crossways the buttocks until his t senior highs ran red with extraction. Another sn argond his mortise-and-tenon joint with a lash and send him sprawling. Finally, when the boy could only crawl, they grew bored of the drama and put an arrow through his back.Ser Jorah met her outside the shattered gate. He wore a sour green surcoat over his mail. His gauntlets, greaves, and greathelm were dark grey steel. The Dothraki had mocked him for a coward when he donned his armor, but the knight had spit insults right back in their teeth, tempers had flared, longsword had clashed with arakh, and the rider whose taunts had been loudest had been go away behind to bleed to death.Ser Jorah lifted the visor of his flat-topped greathelm as he rode up. Your lord husband a abides you within the town.Drogo took no harm?A few cuts, Ser Jorah answered, nothing of consequence. He slew two khals this day. Khal Ogo first, and then the male child, Fogo, who became khal when Ogo fell. His bloodriders cut the bells from their hair, and now Khal Drogos every step rings louder than earlier.Ogo and his son had shared the high bench with her lord husband at the naming feast where Viserys had been crowned, but that was in Vaes Dothrak, beneath the Mother of Mountains, where every rider was a chum salmon and all quarrels were put aside. It was dif ferent out in the grass. Ogos khalasar had been attacking the town when Khal Drogo caught him. She wondered what the become Men had thought, when they first saw the dust of their horses from atop those cracked-mud walls. perhaps a few, the younger and more foolish who yet believed that the gods heard the prayers of heroical men, took it for deliverance.Across the road, a young adult female no older than Dany was sobbing in a high thin contribution as a rider shoved her over a pile of corpses, facedown, and thrust himself inside her. Other riders dismounted to civilise their turns. That was the sort of deliverance the Dothraki brought the Lamb Men.I am the blood of the dragon, Daenerys Targaryen reminded herself as she turned her face away. She pressed her lips in concert and hardened her heart and rode on toward the gate.Most of Ogos riders fled, Ser Jorah was saying. Still, there may be as many as ten thousand captives.Slaves, Dany thought. Khal Drogo would drive them down river to one of the towns on Slavers Bay. She cute to cry, but she told herself that she moldiness be strong. This is war, this is what it looks like, this is the price of the Iron Throne.Ive told the khal he ought to work on for Meereen, Ser Jorah said. Theyll pay a better price than hed get from a slaving caravan. Illyrio writes that they had a plague last year, so the brothels are paying double for hale young girls, and triple for boys at a lower place ten. If decent children survive the journey, the gold pull up stakes buy us all the ships we need, and hire men to sail them. dirty dog them, the girl being raped made a heartrending sound, a long sobbing wail that went on and on and on. Danys hand clenched hard around the reins, and she turned the silvers head. Make them stop, she commanded Ser Jorah.Khaleesi? The knight sounded perplexed.You heard my words, she said. fall in them. She spoke to her khas in the harsh accents of Dothraki. Jhogo, Quaro, you allow for aid Ser Jorah. I want no rape.The warriors exchanged a baffled look.Jorah Mormont spurred his horse closer. Princess, he said, you ready a gentle heart, but you do not understand. This is how it has always been. Those men have shed blood for the khal. Now they claim their reward.Across the road, the girl was still crying, her high singsong speech strange to Danys ears. The first man was done with her now, and a second had taken his place.She is a lamb girl, Quaro said in Dothraki. She is nothing, Khaleesi. The riders do her honor. The Lamb Men move with sheep, it is known.It is known, her handmaid Irri echoed.It is known, hold Jhogo, astride the tall grey stallion that Drogo had given him. If her wailing offends your ears, Khaleesi, Jhogo allow for bring you her tongue. He drew his arakh.I will not have her harmed, Dany said. I claim her. Do as I command you, or Khal Drogo will know the reason why.Ai, Khaleesi, Jhogo replied, kicking his horse. Quaro and the others followed his lead, the bells in their hair chiming.Go with them, she commanded Ser Jorah.As you command. The knight gave her a curious look. You are your brothers sister, in truth.Viserys? She did not understand.No, he answered. Rhaegar. He galloped off.Dany heard Jhogo shout. The rapers laughed at him. One man shouted back. Jhogos arakh flashed, and the mans head went tumbling from his shoulders. Laughter turned to curses as the horsemen reached for weapons, but by then Quaro and Aggo and Rakharo were there. She saw Aggo point across the road to where she sat upon her silver. The riders looked at her with cold black eyes. One spat. The others scattered to their mounts, muttering.All the while the man atop the lamb girl continued to plunge in and out of her, so intent on his pleasure that he seemed unaware of what was acquittance on around him. Ser Jorah dismounted and wrenched him off with a mailed hand. The Dothraki went sprawling in the mud, bounced up with a knife in hand, and died with Aggos ar row through his throat. Mormont pulled the girl off the pile of corpses and wrapped her in his blood-spattered cloak. He led her across the road to Dany. What do you want done with her?The girl was trembling, her eyes great and vague. Her hair was matted with blood. Doreah, see to her hurts. You do not have a riders look, perhaps she will not fear you. The rest, with me. She urged the silver through the broken wooden gate.It was worse inside the town. Many of the houses were afire, and the jaqqa rhan had been about their grisly work. headless corpses filled the narrow, twisty lanes. They passed other women being raped. Each time Dany reined up, sent her khas to falsify an end to it, and claimed the victim as slave. One of them, a deep-bodied, flat-nosed adult female of forty years, blessed Dany haltingly in the Common Tongue, but from the others she got only flat black stares. They were suspicious of her, she realized with sadness afraid that she had rescue them for some worse fate.You cannot claim them all, child, Ser Jorah said, the fourth time they stopped, while the warriors of her khas herded her new slaves behind her.I am khaleesi, heir to the Seven Kingdoms, the blood of the dragon, Dany reminded him. It is not for you to tell me what I cannot do. Across the city, a building collapsed in a great gout of fire and smoke, and she heard distant screams and the wailing of frighten children.They found Khal Drogo seated sooner a square windowless temple with thick mud walls and a bulbous dome like some vast brown onion. Beside him was a pile of heads taller than he was. One of the short arrows of the Lamb Men stuck through the meat of his upper arm, and blood cover the left side of his bare chest like a splash of paint. His threesome bloodriders were with him.Jhiqui helped Dany dismount she had grown clumsy as her belly grew larger and heavier. She knelt before the khal. My sunshine-and-stars is wounded. The arakh cut was wide but shallow his left nip ple was gone, and a flap of spread over flesh and skin dangled from his chest like a wet rag.Is scratch, moon of life, from arakh of one bloodrider to Khal Ogo, Khal Drogo said in the Common Tongue. I kill him for it, and Ogo too. He turned his head, the bells in his braid ringing softly. Is Ogo you hear, and Fogo his khalakka, who was khal when I slew him.No man can stand before the sun of my life, Dany said, the father of the stallion who mounts the world.A mounted warrior rode up and vaulted from his saddle. He spoke to Haggo, a stream of angry Dothraki too fast for Dany to understand. The abundant bloodrider gave her a heavy look before he turned to his khal This one is Mago, who rides in the khas of Ko Jhaqo. He says the khaleesi has taken his spoils, a daughter of the lambs who was his to mount.Khal Drogos face was still and hard, but his black eyes were curious as they went to Dany. make out me the truth of this, moon of my life, he commanded in Dothraki.Dany told him wha t she had done, in his own tongue so the khal would understand her better, her words simple and direct.When she was done, Drogo was frowning. This is the way of war. These women are our slaves now, to do with as we please.It pleases me to hold them safe, Dany said, wondering if she had dared too much. If your warriors would mount these women, let them take them gently and keep them for wives. Give them places in the khalasar and let them bear you sons. Qotho was ever the cruelest of the bloodriders. It was he who laughed. Does the horse breed with the sheep?Something in his tone reminded her of Viserys. Dany turned on him angrily. The dragon feeds on horse and sheep alike.Khal Drogo smiled. See how savage she grows he said. It is my son inside her, the stallion who mounts the world, filling her with his fire. Ride slowly, Qotho . . . if the mother does not flash you where you sit, the son will trample you into the mud. And you, Mago, hold your tongue and find other lamb to mount. These belong to my khaleesi. He started to reach out a hand to Daenerys, but as he lifted his arm Drogo grimaced in jerky pain and turned his head.Dany could almost feel his agony. The wounds were worse than Ser Jorah had led her to believe. Where are the fixers? she demanded. The khalasar had two sorts barren women and eunuch slaves. The herbwomen dealt in potions and spells, the eunuchs in knife, needle, and fire. why do they not attend the khal?The khal sent the hairless men away, Khaleesi, old Cohollo ensure her. Dany saw the bloodrider had taken a wound himself a deep lash in his left shoulder.Many riders are hurt, Khal Drogo said stubbornly. Let them be healed first. This arrow is no more than the bite of a fly, this teeny cut only a new scar to boast of to my son.Dany could see the muscles in his chest where the skin had been cut away. A trickle of blood ran from the arrow that pierced his arm. It is not for Khal Drogo to wait, she proclaimed. Jhogo, seek out these eunu chs and bring them here at once.Silver Lady, a womans voice said behind her, I can help the neat Rider with his hurts.Dany turned her head. The speaker was one of the slaves she had claimed, the heavy, flat-nosed woman who had blessed her.The khal needs no help from women who lie with sheep, barked Qotho. Aggo, cut out her tongue.Aggo grabbed her hair and pressed a knife to her throat.Dany lifted a hand. No. She is mine. Let her speak.Aggo looked from her to Qotho. He lowered his knife.I meant no wrong, fierce riders. The woman spoke Dothraki well. The robes she wore had once been the lightest and finest of woolens, rich with embroidery, but now they were mud-caked and bloody and ripped. She clutched the torn cloth of her bodice to her heavy breasts. I have some minuscular skill in the healing arts.Who are you? Dany asked her.I am named Mirri Maz Duur. I am gods wife of this temple.Maegi, grunted Haggo, fingering his arakh. His look was dark. Dany remembered the word from a terrif ying novel that Jhiqui had told her one night by the cookfire. A maegi was a woman who lay with demons and practiced the blackest of sorceries, a vile thing, evil and soulless, who came to men in the dark of night and sucked life and strength from their bodies.I am a healer, Mirri Maz Duur said.A healer of sheeps, sneered Qotho. Blood of my blood, I say kill this maegi and wait for the hairless men.Dany ignored the bloodriders outburst. This old, homely, thickbodied woman did not look like a maegi to her. Where did you subscribe your healing, Mirri Maz Duur?My mother was godswife before me, and taught me all the songs and spells most pleasing to the Great Shepherd, and how to make the sacred smokes and ointments from leaf and root and berry. When I was younger and more fair, I went in caravan to Asshai by the Shadow, to learn from their mages. Ships from many lands come to Asshai, so I lingered long to study the healing ways of distant peoples. A moonsinger of the Jogos Nhai gifte d me with her birthing songs, a woman of your own riding people taught me the magics of grass and corn and horse, and a maester from the Sunset Lands opened a clay for me and showed me all the unfathomeds that hide beneath the skin.Ser Jorah Mormont spoke up. A maester?Marwyn, he named himself, the woman replied in the Common Tongue. From the sea. Beyond the sea. The Seven Lands, he said. Sunset Lands. Where men are iron and dragons rule. He taught me this speech.A maester in Asshai, Ser Jorah mused. Tell me, Godswife, what did this Marwyn enter about his neck?A chain so tight it was like to choke him, Iron Lord, with links of many metals.The knight looked at Dany. provided a man trained in the Citadel of Oldtown wears such a chain, he said, and such men do know much of healing.Why should you want to help my khal?All men are one flock, or so we are taught, replied Mirri Maz Duur. The Great Shepherd sent me to earth to heal his lambs, wherever I might find them.Qotho gave her a s tinging slap. We are no sheep, maegi.Stop it, Dany said angrily. She is mine. I will not have her harmed.Khal Drogo grunted. The arrow must come out, Qotho.Yes, Great Rider, Mirri Maz Duur answered, touching her bruised face. And your breast must be washed and sewn, lest the wound fester.Do it, then, Khal Drogo commanded.Great Rider, the woman said, my tools and potions are inside the gods house, where the healing powers are strongest.I will carry you, blood of my blood, Haggo offered.Khal Drogo strayd him away. I need no mans help, he said, in a voice proud and hard. He stood, unaided, towering over them all. A fresh wave of blood ran down his breast, from where Ogos arakh had cut off his nipple. Dany moved quickly to his side. I am no man, she whispered, so you may lean on me. Drogo put a huge hand on her shoulder. She took some of his weight as they walked toward the great mud temple. The three bloodriders followed. Dany commanded Ser Jorah and the warriors of her khas to guard the entrance and make genuine no one set the building afire while they were still inside.They passed through a series of anterooms, into the high central chamber under the onion. Faint light shone down through hidden windows above. A few torches burnt smokily from sconces on the walls. Sheepskins were scattered across the mud floor. There, Mirri Maz Duur said, pointing to the altar, a massive blue-veined stone carved with images of shepherds and their flocks. Khal Drogo lay upon it. The old woman threw a smattering of dried leaves onto a brazier, filling the chamber with fragrant smoke. Best if you wait outside, she told the rest of them.We are blood of his blood, Cohollo said. Here we wait.Qotho stepped close to Mirri Maz Duur. Know this, wife of the Lamb God. Harm the khal and you suffer the same. He drew his skinning knife and showed her the blade.She will do no harm. Dany felt she could trust this old, plainfaced woman with her flat nose she had saved her from the hard hands o f her rapers, after all.If you must stay, then help, Mirri told the bloodriders. The Great Rider is too strong for me. Hold him still while I draw the arrow from his flesh. She let the rags of her gown fall to her waist as she opened a carved chest, and busied herself with bottles and boxes, knives and needles. When she was ready, she broke off the barbed arrowhead and pulled out the shaft, chanting in the singsong tongue of the Lhazareen. She heated a flagon of vino to boiling on the brazier, and poured it over his wounds. Khal Drogo cursed her, but he did not move. She bound the arrow wound with a plaster of wet leaves and turned to the gash on his breast, smearing it with a pale green paste before she pulled the flap of skin back in place. The khal ground his teeth together and swallowed a scream. The godswife took out a silver needle and a bobbin of silk thread and began to close the flesh. When she was done she painted the skin with red ointment, covered it with more leaves, and bound the breast in a ragged routine of lambskin. You must say the prayers I give you and keep the lambskin in place for ten days and ten nights, she said. There will be fever, and itching, and a great scar when the healing is done.Khal Drogo sat, bells ringing. I sing of my scars, sheep woman. He flexed his arm and scowled.Drink neither wine nor the milk of the poppy, she cautioned him. Pain you will have, but you must keep your body strong to fight the poisonous substance spirits.I am khal, Drogo said. I spit on pain and absorb what I like. Cohollo, bring my vest. The older man hastened off.Before, Dany said to the ugly Lhazareen woman, I heard you speak of birthing songs . . . I know every secret of the bloody bed, Silver Lady, nor have I ever lost a babe, Mirri Maz Duur replied.My time is near, Dany said. I would have you attend me when he comes, if you would.Khal Drogo laughed. Moon of my life, you do not ask a slave, you tell her. She will do as you command. He jumped d own from the altar. Come, my blood. The stallions call, this place is ashes. It is time to ride.Haggo followed the khal from the temple, but Qotho lingered long enough to favor Mirri Maz Duur with a stare. Remember, maegi, as the khal fares, so shall you.As you say, rider, the woman answered him, collect up her jars and bottles. The Great Shepherd guards the flock.