House of The Dragon:The Rise of the Emperor of the Seven Kingdoms

Chapter 136: Chapter 135 – The Fall of White Harbor (IV)

Maekar looked down, his eyes fixed on the burning city with a cold gaze. Even though he had seen the columns of smoke from afar, seeing the city’s state up close still filled him with anger. Bahamut, sensing his rider’s feelings, let out a roar that made everyone in the city rush out of their homes.

These people were crying and knelt down, as if praying to Maekar. Especially those women and men who were still alive in this city, a city that had been turned into hell by the Braavosi troops.

The prince noticed this and guided Bahamut toward New Castle, the seat of House Manderly. The enormous dragon landed in the city square, where the steps led up to the castle. Looking at the square full of corpses laid out side by side, forming a great square, Maekar let out a sigh.

He could burn an entire city and feel very little, since those were his enemies, but he could not do the same to those he considered his future subjects.

Dismounting from the saddle, Maekar’s feet touched the ground as he pulled off his gloves. His violet eyes fixed on the young people laying out the bodies in the square with a surprised look, but after the surprise passed, he gestured with his hand to call them over.

Milo swallowed hard and obeyed, approaching cautiously, his eyes shifting between the dragon and the Targaryen prince. The dragon had looked enormous from a distance, wings fully spread, but up close it was even bigger.

“My prince.” Milo greeted Maekar, kneeling before him. The boys beside him knelt before the prince as well.

“Do you know what time the fleet left the city?” Maekar asked in a calm, deep tone. He looked at the young people before him with a touch of majesty.

Milo and the boys glanced at one another before Milo answered on behalf of his friends.

“About two hours ago, my prince.” Milo said, clenching his fists, remembering the hellish scene he had witnessed earlier. “They looted the city, dragged the women out, and…”

Milo did not need to continue for Maekar to know what had happened to the women. Being the weaker sex, especially in a world where morals and laws were not exactly ideals, the women had suffered the fate all too common in such cases.

Letting out a sigh, Maekar looked at the young men who had been helping with the bodies of the dead soldiers and spoke in a deep tone. “I cannot turn back time and arrive sooner, but I promise you they will die beneath my dragon’s flames.”

It was the only thing he could do to help the victims of this city. Though the wounds in the victims’ souls could never fully heal, they could sleep knowing that the rapists and murderers had gone to hell beneath the dragon’s flames.

However, after hearing that the fleet had left after only two hours, Maekar frowned. That was far too short a time to sack a city. Although White Harbor was not a large city by Essosi standards, it was the fifth largest city in Westeros.

Not to mention three hours, even five would not have been enough to sack the entire city. So why had they left so soon? Was the Sea Lord’s Admiral of Braavos not a greedy man?

This left Maekar rather troubled by the situation. If the man had stayed longer in White Harbor, he would have had the chance to destroy the main Braavosi fleet and send this massive city into decline for an entire decade.

Unfortunately, the Sea Lord’s Admiral of Braavos apparently was not a man greedy for gold.

Maekar had forgotten something very important. Warships were built for war, not merchant ships with vast space for carrying goods.

Beyond the natural amount of supplies, there was no more room left on the warships. If not for the deaths of Luke’s own men in the city, there would not have even been much space to carry off the stolen goods.

Therefore, feeling that they were wasting valuable time, Luke had fled the city without any hesitation. After all, a dragon could appear above him at any minute.

Just as Maekar was about to say something, he heard the castle gates opening and a retinue of soldiers quickly approaching. Leading the men was a tall, heavyset man. He was old, with white hair and a white beard.

If not for the blood-stained armor on him, Maekar would have mistaken him for a kind, warm old man.

The old man looked at Bahamut with admiration. He had seen the king’s and queen’s dragons, Silverwing and Vermithor, but the dragon before him was larger than both, though he had not seen the king’s dragon in decades.

“Lord Manderly.” Maekar recognized the sigil on the armor and greeted the man in a calm, deep tone.

“I would have received you with a feast, but, as Your Grace can see, we are in no state for a feast.” Theomore, who had woken up barely half an hour ago, was still exhausted, his voice hoarse and somewhat weak.

“Even if you had received me with a feast, I would have had to decline. Eating and drinking at a time like this would be disrespectful to the fallen soldiers, not to mention cruel to the people of this city.” Maekar said, looking at the corpses around them.

Theomore looked at the young prince with newfound respect. He was no fool and knew that few nobles truly cared about their own people; not everyone was like him. But Lord Manderly could see that the prince was sincere in his words.

“Lord Manderly, these young men were gathering your soldiers’ bodies when I arrived.” Maekar looked at Lord Manderly and pointed toward Milo and the other boys, who were still kneeling not far from Maekar.

Theomore looked at the boys and then at the bodies laid out side by side. The corpses held swords upon their chests. Turning back to the boys, Manderly stepped forward and helped them all to their feet.

“On behalf of House Manderly, I thank you for your help and courage in this moment. As a reward, you shall become squires of House Manderly.” Theomore said in a grateful, solemn tone. Although becoming a squire might not seem like much, it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance for these boys to rise within this world’s rigid hierarchy.

“We will not disappoint you, my lord.” Milo spoke in a tone full of excitement; he was naturally overjoyed. He himself had never expected that the mere act of helping with the corpses could give him the chance to become a future knight.

“My prince, I apologize for not giving you the honors you deserve, but I must help my city.” Theomore smiled at the boys and looked at Maekar with a solemn expression.

However, his next words caught Theomore and everyone around him by surprise.

“I will help,” Maekar said in a calm tone, looking at the city full of corpses. “While I help, you will tell me in detail what happened to the city: how many ships there were, how many soldiers attacked the city, and how skilled they were.”

Maekar had not gone after the Braavosi fleet for one reason. Bahamut was exhausted. The dragon had only rested once on the way from King’s Landing to White Harbor. Asking the dragon to cross the sea and fight on another continent was simply unrealistic.

Of course, the other reason was that he felt somewhat guilty for not arriving in time to save the city. Fortunately, House Manderly’s fleet of ships had been at Dragonstone with Corlys, so there had been no damage to the North’s logistics. Otherwise, famine would have plagued the North for years.

Theomore nodded and did not refuse Maekar’s help, not to mention he had to describe in detail what had happened to the city.

After a while, the roughly five hundred remaining soldiers of House Manderly began gathering the bodies of the fallen soldiers. As for the enemy corpses, those became rations for Bahamut, who devoured them with a ravenous hunger.

Maekar stood beside Lord Manderly, listening to the strength of the Braavosi fleet. And he had to admit, Braavos was worthy of being as strong as a kingdom, even as a mere city state.

Ninety warships were an enormous fleet, and Braavos possessed them alone. That was not even counting the merchant ships that could be converted into warships in an emergency. This kind of naval power reminded him of Portugal and Spain during the Age of Exploration.

Fortunately, the world had not yet discovered gunpowder. If cannons were ever invented, things would have to change drastically.

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Read my other books:

House of The Dragon:The Rise of the Emperor of the Seven Kingdoms

Game Of Thrones: The God-Emperor of Planetos

Percy Jackson: Godwyn the Golden.

Game Of Thrones: The King’s Court Wizard