Chapter 208: Choosing a Place
Still mounted, Jaime scanned the surrounding landscape.
What he saw immediately made his heart sink.
The forces approaching weren't only coming from the north, from the direction of Harrenhal.
Armies were also advancing from the east, west, and south.
His army had been completely surrounded.
Only then did Jaime finally understand the strange feeling he'd experienced while passing through the Twins.
The crossing had been far too easy.
No delays.
No obstacles.
No resistance.
Now it all made sense.
The encirclement had likely begun the moment his army crossed the Twins.
Spurring his horse into motion, Jaime rode around the perimeter of his force.
The result was grim.
His army was trapped on all sides.
Breaking through would be nearly impossible.
What in the Seven Hells was happening?
How had Daenerys managed to spare so many troops and deploy them over a hundred miles from King's Landing?
The situation made no sense.
Five minutes later, the commotion on both sides gradually settled.
The opposing armies stopped at a safe distance from one another.
Then, from the southern host, a lone figure rode forward.
He was short, broad-shouldered, sporting a thick beard and a scar across his face.
Tyrion Lannister.
Seeing his brother emerge from the enemy ranks, Jaime urged his horse forward to meet him.
"I haven't even reached King's Landing yet. Why have you—"
He had intended to demand answers.
But the moment he saw Tyrion's expression, the words died in his throat.
Tyrion looked exhausted.
And deeply sorrowful.
"Cersei... broke the truce unilaterally."
"King's Landing now belongs to Queen Daenerys."
Jaime wasn't particularly surprised.
The instant he realized he had been surrounded, he'd already suspected that King's Landing was lost.
What mattered to him now was something else.
"What about Cersei?"
"How is she?"
Tyrion hesitated.
Knowing how much Jaime loved her, he struggled to say the words.
"She..."
"She drank poison."
Jaime swayed.
For a moment, he nearly fell from his saddle.
His face turned pale.
Jumping to the ground, he strode toward Tyrion, eyes bloodshot.
"What happened?"
Tyrion took a breath.
"The High Sparrow approached Cersei..."
As Tyrion recounted everything that had happened, Jaime slowly pieced together the story.
While he had been struggling through the Neck, events had moved with terrifying speed.
The truce had been broken.
The fleet had sailed.
The ambush had failed.
King's Landing had fallen.
And Cersei, unwilling to await judgment, had chosen death.
The more he listened, the more he understood.
It was exactly the sort of choice she would make.
She would never allow herself to be paraded in chains.
Never permit her enemies the satisfaction.
When Tyrion finished, silence fell between them.
Jaime stood motionless for a long time.
Then he noticed Tyrion's gaze drifting toward the nearly twenty thousand soldiers behind him.
He immediately understood what his brother was thinking.
King's Landing was gone.
Highgarden had likely surrendered.
Casterly Rock had probably fallen as well.
His army was now isolated and purposeless.
There was no kingdom left to fight for.
No throne left to defend.
And Jaime had no intention of sending thousands of men to die for a lost cause.
Turning around, he walked back toward his troops.
Then, drawing a deep breath, he raised his voice.
"King's Landing has fallen!"
"I order all men to lay down their weapons and surrender!"
With that, Jaime Lannister was the first to comply.
He removed his sword from his belt and tossed it onto the ground.
The blade struck the earth with a dull metallic clang.
The sound echoed across the silent field.
The officers and soldiers trapped within the encirclement had already sensed that something was terribly wrong.
But none of them had expected this.
They had just returned from fighting the dead beyond the Wall—
Only to discover that while they were away, their homeland had been taken from them.
A stunned silence spread through the ranks.
Wasn't there supposed to be a truce between King's Landing and the Dragon Queen?
How had war broken out so quickly?
The soldiers looked around at one another in confusion.
For several moments, nobody even processed Jaime's words.
Seeing their disbelief, Jaime had no choice but to repeat himself.
Watching more and more men slowly lower their weapons, Ramsay Bolton found the situation nearly impossible to accept.
Forced from his ancestral seat and driven to seek refuge in King's Landing, he had thought he was finally securing a future for himself.
Instead, before he even reached the city, he had become a prisoner.
Everything he had worked for had vanished overnight.
Grinding his teeth in frustration, Ramsay could only follow the example of the others and throw down his weapon.
Fortunately, the twenty thousand prisoners were not mistreated.
After all, these men had once fought shoulder-to-shoulder with Dragonstone's forces against the White Walkers.
The captives were gradually escorted away.
With their surrender, no major power remained in Westeros capable of openly opposing Daenerys Targaryen.
Soon afterward, the Red Keep announced that Daenerys's coronation would be held in ten days.
The moment the date was finalized, Varys set his network into motion.
Ravens flew across the continent carrying the news.
The message was simple:
Those still hesitating—or entertaining thoughts of resistance—should make their choice quickly.
Swear loyalty now.
Or face the consequences later.
While preparations for the coronation were underway, another matter rose to the forefront.
Education.
The academies of Slaver's Bay had declined considerably after Tyrion and the other administrators left to support Daenerys's conquest of Westeros.
During the campaign for the Iron Throne, Daenerys simply hadn't possessed the time or energy to focus on them.
Now, however, the realm was finally at peace.
The academy system needed to be rebuilt.
More importantly, Westeros itself needed a great central academy—a place that could serve as the heart of learning for the entire continent.
Unfortunately, deciding where to build it quickly became a problem.
Naturally, King's Landing seemed the most obvious choice.
But the city already held nearly a million residents and was among the most crowded places in the known world.
A proper grand academy would require vast grounds to reflect its importance.
King's Landing simply didn't have enough available space.
The Red Keep was out of the question as well.
It served as both the royal residence and the center of government.
There wasn't enough room, nor was it an appropriate location.
The discussion dragged on without progress.
Then Drogon suddenly spoke to Daenerys through their mental link.
[The Great Sept would make an excellent academy.]
Daenerys blinked.
The Great Sept?
The suggestion caught her completely off guard.
That was the center of the Faith of the Seven.
How could it possibly become an academy?
Then she remembered what Varys had told her about Cersei's decision to break the truce.
She also remembered something Drogon had said after the battle off Dragonstone:
"That entire battle happened because of me."
At the time, she hadn't fully understood.
But after hearing Varys's detailed account, she had begun to grasp the truth.
The so-called miracles within King's Landing had been real.
The Seven had genuinely manifested signs.
Divine revelations had truly been issued.
The gods had actually united to attack Drogon and her fleet.
Looking back on that battle, she still felt a chill.
She had witnessed a monstrous sea creature nearly as large as Drogon himself.
The colossal squid-like being had possessed power comparable to his.
There had also been countless sea monsters.
Enchanted weapons blazing with magical fire.
Soldiers who fought with unnatural ferocity.
Everything pointed toward forces far beyond ordinary warfare.
Only after speaking with Varys had she fully understood what kind of enemy they had faced.
Ever since encountering the Undying Ones, Daenerys had harbored a deep unease toward magic and the supernatural.
She called herself the Mother of Dragons.
She was the descendant of Dragonlords.
But in her heart, she knew she remained mortal.
She could never match the strange powers wielded by priests, sorcerers, and warlocks.
When she had traveled with Drogon across the Dothraki Sea and seen entire khalasars worshipping him as a Dragon God, she had dismissed it as simple admiration.
The Dothraki revered strength.
Drogon was powerful.
That explanation had seemed sufficient.
As for whether he truly was a god...
She had always believed she knew the answer better than anyone.
After all, she was the one who had hatched the eggs.
But everything changed after learning the truth about the attack.
Her thoughts drifted back to the countless strange events since the day she first heard Drogon's voice in her mind.
His uncanny foresight.
A body several times stronger than Rhaegal's or Viserion's.
His ability to alter his size.
His transformation into the four-legged dragon depicted in the murals of the Fourteen Flames.
Every one of those things separated him from ordinary dragons.
She didn't know how powerful a true god was.
But she did know this:
Drogon had subdued the gigantic sea god.
He had defeated a coalition of gods.
Even if he wasn't truly divine yet, he was already frighteningly close.
Yet none of that really mattered to Daenerys.
Whether Drogon was a god or not...
Whether he would someday become one...
None of it changed what was most important.
He was her dragon.
And he had always stood by her side.
For Daenerys, that was enough.
Everything else could wait.
(End of Chapter)
(KEEP SUPPORTING OUR DROGON AND DRAGON MOTHER)
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