The Mountain of Ice and Fire

"Ser Victarion, speak, what reward do you desire from me?" Daenerys' voice trembled.

Victarion's mind raced with a thousand thoughts: to become Lord of the Iron Islands? To receive a reward of gold? A marriage alliance? - But Magiro had told him that was absolutely impossible - Like Daario, to be the Queen's favorite?

"Your Majesty, I have not yet decided."

"Tell me when you have thought it through. Anything I am capable of giving, I will bestow upon you!" Daenerys gave Victarion a smile.

She had obtained the Dragon Horn – the legendary treasure for controlling dragons – and she decided to postpone her journey to the Dothraki Sea. She wanted to first study how to play the horn and its power to control dragons. The inscriptions on the horn needed to be copied down and carried with her, so she could consult renowned and knowledgeable wise men or maesters.

Victarion still longed to become a dragon rider, but he was cautious. He decided to hold his tongue for now. He still had some questions for Marnero. He wanted to know if Marnero had other ways for him to become a dragon rider without Targaryen blood.

He didn't want to be used by Marnero. Marnero had promised to help him become a dragon rider. If he couldn't, he wouldn't mind chopping off Marnero's head or blinding his eyes.

Marnero needed eyes to see the revelations of the Red God in the flames. Blinding him would be the most fitting punishment. He could explain it to the Queen, after all, he hadn't killed Marnero.

It was more appropriate to have the Queen owe him a great reward! In case something happened, it could offset any crime!

Victarion needed the truth from Marnero! He hadn't given up!

*

Night. The warship rocked on the sea.

On the Invincible Iron Victory, Victarion sat amidst a pile of wine bottles scattered on the table and floor. The bottles were of various styles, each representing a different origin.

These wines came from all over the world, all of them fine wines.

Victarion loved wine.

At dusk, as the sun set, Daenerys had gifted Victarion many fine wines.

Across from Victarion sat Maqorro the priest.

The priest had also drunk a lot of wine, his face gleaming blackly.

"Maqorro," Victarion slurred, "you stayed. Her Majesty no longer banishes you because I offered her the Dragon Horn, as you suggested."

"Yes, Victarion."

"Did you deliberately scheme to use me?" Victarion laughed.

"I did not, Commander."

Maqorro subtly changed from calling Victarion by his name to addressing him as Commander.

Victarion chuckled: "Priest, if I hadn't offered the Dragon Horn, Her Majesty wouldn't have changed her mind, and you would have had to disembark. Are you trying to deny that?"

"I do not deny it."

"So you used the lure of helping me become a dragon rider to make me offer the Dragon Horn. You successfully stayed, but I cannot become a dragon rider because I don't have the blood of the dragon."

Maqorro was silent. He saw the murderous intent in Victarion's eyes. Victarion was going to kill him.

"Blood! The blood of the Valyrian royal family, or the blood of the Valyrian dragons. Her Majesty has the blood of the Valyrian dragons, the Valyrian appearance, and she has awakened the rare blood of the dragon, the Unburnt. Blood and the Valyrian appearance are prerequisites for a dragon to accept a rider. You knew this all along, didn't you? You, priest, used me!"

Maqorro's expression remained unchanged: "Ancient Valyrian blood does indeed have a powerful and irreplaceable advantage when it comes to dragons accepting a rider. Those with the blood of the dragon are called dragonseeds. Dragonseeds are a prerequisite for conquering dragons, but it is not absolute."

Victarion shrugged, smiled, reached for the short sword at his waist, and drew it with a whoosh.

Immediately, two Ironborn appeared behind Maqorro, wielding two short axes. The Iron Islands finger dance's signature short axes: short-handled throwing axes, for both throwing and hacking.

"I will not tolerate being used by you, priest. Either kill me with fire magic, or I will chop off your head, or gouge out your eyes."

"I have not used you, Commander."

"Then convince me how you will help me become a dragon rider."

"Commander, have you heard the story of the wild dragons?" Maqorro's title had changed, but his tone and expression remained unchanged, like an ancient mountain range.

"I have no interest in hearing stories, priest!" Victarion glanced at the short sword on the table.

"If you wish to become a dragon rider, you must give me a little time to finish this story."

Victarion stared at Maqorro for a long while. The priest's expression remained unchanged, his eyes showing no fear of death. Finally, Victarion nodded.

"Commander, I swear by the name of the Red God R'hllor that everything I say in this story is true."

The priest swore by the name of his god, the most solemn of oaths. Believers would never and dare not desecrate their god. There was no doubt about that.

Victarion believed Marnero's oath. He looked at the two Ironborn guards behind Marnero. The two guards put away their short-handled axes and stepped back.

Victarion also slowly sheathed his short sword.

"Commander, in the year 130 AC, the Targaryen royal family had a civil war that lasted three years. The Blacks, led by Princess Rhaenyra, and the Greens, led by Queen Alicent Hightower, fought a bloody war for three years, battling for the Iron Throne in the Throne Room. During those three years, dragon riders loyal to both sides fought in the sky, and many dragon riders and their dragons died together in battle. Dragons became increasingly rare and precious, and in the end, the life and death of each dragon was almost tied to the final victory or defeat of one side."

"Princess and Queen? Daughter and mother in a civil war?" Victarion was not familiar with the history of the kingdom one hundred and seventy years ago. He never read books. His Ironborn soldiers read even less.

Victarion poured wine for the priest.

Marnero did not drink. He continued slowly: "Princess Rhaenyra was the designated heir to the throne by the deceased King Viserys I, but his stepmother, Queen Alicent Hightower, had three sons. After the king's death, Queen Alicent Hightower and the courtiers directly announced that her eldest son, Aegon Targaryen II, would inherit the throne, and the conflict between the two sides erupted."

"Priest, I have actually heard songs about Princess Rhaenyra. The songs say she was beautiful and talented."

"Yes, Princess Rhaenyra was the eldest daughter of the king's first wife. She was beautiful and intelligent, and she followed the king to handle state affairs from a young age, and she was deeply loved by the king. She was granted Dragonstone by the king and made heir to the throne. But after the king's death, his second wife, Queen Alicent Hightower, immediately had her son Aegon inherit the Iron Throne and summoned the Greens to attack Dragonstone, and the war broke out. Both sides dispatched dragon riders, and in every battle, dragons and dragon riders died. In the end, Princess Rhaenyra had fewer and fewer dragon riders. She had a lot of troops, but she lacked dragons. In the war of the dragons, the final victory is actually determined by the number of dragons. Whoever has more dragon riders will win the Iron Throne in the end."

Victarion nodded in agreement as he listened to the story and slowly poured himself wine.

"And on Dragonstone, there is a Dragonmont, inhabited by a total of six dragons: three wild dragons and three 'semi-wild' dragons. To win the final war, Princess Rhaenyra's son, Jacaerys Velaryon, ordered the dragonseeds on Dragonstone to tame these wild dragons."

"Dragonseeds!"

"Dragonseed was not a good word around 130 AC. It was equivalent to the common people's word for bastard."

"Bastard?" Victarion picked up his wine and sipped it slowly. He wasn't interested in the wine; he was patiently listening to the story because Maqorro had sworn by the name of the Red God R'hllor that this story was related to him becoming a dragon rider.

"On Dragonstone, the royal family had the right of the first night."

"Oh!"

"Within the territory governed by Princess Rhaenyra, any subject who married, the royal nobles had the right of the first night. Although the right of the first night had been banned by the king, Dragonstone was the territory of the crown prince, and the royal nobles always had the privilege of the right of the first night. The right of the first night was also popular among the subjects. The subjects felt it was an honor to offer the first night of their family's daughters to the dragons. Also, because of the implementation of the right of the first night, there were many bastards of the dragons among the people on Dragonstone. They were called dragonseeds because they were the lives conceived by the seeds of the dragons."

"Hmm!"

"Princess Rhaenyra's eldest son, Jacaerys Velaryon, called on these dragonseeds to tame the six wild dragons on Dragonmont. Three of them were tamed, which made Princess Rhaenyra's power surpass that of the royal family in King's Landing at once, and the balance of victory began to tilt towards Dragonstone. But on Dragonmont, there were still three dragons that had not been tamed: the largest and most ferocious Cannibal, the smallest and weakest Grey Ghost, and the most cunning and murderous Sheepstealer.

Many dragonseeds wanted to tame Sheepstealer, but they were either swallowed by Sheepstealer or bitten and burned by it. During that time, all the dragonseeds went out to tame the wild dragons, and the number of 'dragonseeds' killed by Sheepstealer was twice as many as those killed by Grey Ghost and Cannibal combined.

Sheepstealer was very ugly, with brown mud-colored scales and brown wings. At that time, Sheepstealer was probably eighty years old.

The commoners of Dragonstone named this dragon 'Sheepstealer' because it especially liked mutton. Sheepstealer's hunting range was very large, and it could be seen from Driftmark to the Wendwater.

Because every time the dragonseeds went to tame Sheepstealer, Grey Ghost, or Cannibal, they were either injured or killed, in the end, no dragonseed dared to tame the three wild dragons anymore.

But there was a girl who was not a dragonseed, and her appearance was not that of a Valyrian. She was just the daughter of an ordinary commoner's family on Dragonstone. She was determined to become a dragon rider. After careful research, she gave up taming Grey Ghost and Cannibal, and she decided to go to Dragonmont to tame Sheepstealer."

Victarion sat up straight. The story had reached a critical point: how did a woman who was not a dragonseed tame Sheepstealer?! He knew that Marnero was telling him the secret of how someone without the blood of the dragon could become a dragon rider.

"This girl, who had no Valyrian features, was named Nettles. She was not a dragonseed, and she had neither the Dragon Horn nor the secret art of dragon-riding spells. She came up with a very simple way to tame the dragon: every morning, she would go to Dragonmont and offer a freshly slaughtered sheep near Sheepstealer's lair, so that Sheepstealer could gradually accept her presence in its territory. This lasted for a long time. About a year later, one morning, after Sheepstealer finished eating the sheep that Nettles had offered, it finally completely accepted Nettles. It took the initiative to lower its body and let Nettles ride on it. In the following time, Nettles rode Sheepstealer to fight for the Blacks. At that time, Rhaenyra had seven dragon riders, while Aegon II had only four."

"A year? How old was Nettles then?"

"Sixteen years old!"

"A sixteen-year-old commoner girl dragon rider?"

"Yes!"

"It was impossible for a commoner girl to offer Sheepstealer a sheep every day."

"Any dragonseed who dared to tame a dragon with their life would be fully supported by the royal family of Dragonstone. Nettles was not a dragonseed, but she dared to tame Sheepstealer and also received the support of the royal family."

"The Dragonstone royal family provided her with sheep?"

"Yes. Commander, Sheepstealer liked to eat sheep, and was conquered by sixteen-year-old Nettles in a year, while Rhaegal likes to eat salted meat. If you want to become a dragon rider, you only need to feed it salted meat every day at a distance that Rhaegal can accept. This takes time and care, but as long as you persevere, I think that with the help of the Dragon Horn, the dragon-riding spells, and Her Majesty, it will eventually accept you."

"A year later?"

"It won't be a year later. Rhaegal is not a wild dragon."

This sentence filled Victarion with confidence.

Sheepstealer was a wild dragon that had killed many dragonseeds. No one could restrain it, and Nettles spent a year approaching it. He was going to conquer Rhaegal, and it would obviously not take a year.

"What is the best estimate?" Victarion poured wine for Maqorro.

"A month at the earliest."

Victarion's eyes glowed green. To become a dragon rider would not have been in vain in this life, and he would die content.

"Her Majesty is going to the Dothraki Sea and won't give me a month to feed Rhaegal salted meat."

"Her Majesty still owes you a reward."

"Beg Her Majesty for a month?"

"No, beg Her Majesty to let you follow her to the grasslands."

"Her Majesty rides a dragon, how can I keep up with her?"

"Ride a horse! Bring salt. Salt is needed to make salted meat for Rhaegal. The Dothraki are all on the ground and won't go into the air. Her Majesty must eventually come to the ground, and she needs help."

*

The next morning, Victarion and Marnero arrived on the Balerion.

Victarion knelt on one knee: "Your Majesty, please allow me to become a dragon rider."

"Victarion, is this the reward you want?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"But I can only restrain Rhaegal from harming you, not force Rhaegal to accept you as its master."

"I have my own way, Your Majesty. Please hand over the management of the fleet to Asha. I am willing to follow Your Majesty, be Your Majesty's attendant, and never leave Your Majesty's side from today onwards. Please allow me to follow Your Majesty to the Dothraki Sea."

Daenerys looked at Marnero!

Menero said, "Your Majesty, I know the ancient Valyrian script. I hope to help you master the secrets of the Dragon Horn as soon as possible. When Your Majesty can freely command the three dragons through the Horn and dragon riding skills, you will need at least one dragon rider. I recommend Commander Victarion to Your Majesty."

Beside Daenerys, a plain-looking young page suddenly knelt on one knee and said calmly, "Your Majesty, Commander Victarion is not of dragon blood, but I am!"