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

Chapter 147: Chapter 146 – Before the Great Council of King’s Landing (III)

In the bedroom, as he dressed to depart for King’s Landing, Maekar was interrupted by a certain witch from Essos. Melisandre looked at Maekar with the same enigmatic, calm smile. Her red eyes stared at him frighteningly.

“My prince, the books you requested arrived a few days ago.” Melisandre spoke with a smile.

Maekar, who was putting on his shirt, approved of what she said and looked at Melisandre with an intense gaze. Blood and fire magic was something he had always wanted but never managed to have. Honestly, he had already begun to find it hard to believe House Targaryen had any magical heritage at all.

Still, magic had been used to raise Dragonstone; there was no reason not to have a magical heritage.

“Where is it?” Maekar asked in an excited tone.

Melisandre smiled and clapped her hands. At the sound of the clap, two women entered, carrying a relatively small chest. The chest was about fifty centimeters, but it looked heavy. The women set the chest on the floor and then left the room.

“I advise my prince to put the scrolls back every time he finishes reading them. The chest is made of a special material, but it does not stop the paper from wearing down.” Melisandre said with a smile, watching Maekar look like an excited child.

The prince nodded and approached the chest, where he crouched down and opened it. What lay revealed before Maekar were dozens of scrolls stacked side by side.

“The orange scrolls hold the secrets of pyromancy, and the red scrolls hold the secrets of blood and life.” Melisandre presented the scrolls. “My prince must be careful, for magic is not as simple as people think.”

“Magic is frightening, formless, and generally exacts a high price. Well, only for those less gifted.” Melisandre added with a smile. As a Shadowbinder, she knew better than anyone that magic exacts a price, though, in her case, R’hllor practically granted her the ability to nullify magic’s cost.

Hearing the witch’s words, Maekar was not surprised. This matched what George Martin had done when conceiving magic in this world. There were no spells in the proper sense, no magic circles, no magic system like in other universes.

Magic was frightening, mysterious, and dark, and that was how George wanted magic to be when he created this world.

Maekar picked up one of the orange scrolls and opened it. Looking at the Valyrian glyphs on the paper, the prince showed a curious expression. He read the contents, and, instead of a spell, it was more like the mage or witch was describing the feeling of conjuring fire.

Honestly, it was quite abstract, like thinking and acting as fire, personifying the destruction of the fire element.

“It’s quite abstract and somewhat confusing.” Maekar remarked, looking at Melisandre with a calm gaze, though his eyes shone with a thirst for knowledge.

“Rather than saying a few words and having magic happen the way common folk think, magic is a force of nature, something we magic users must try to manipulate and bend so that the world is kind enough to accept fools like us trying to control something we cannot.” Melisandre answered with a laugh.

Maekar nodded and etched those words into his mind. Still, thinking of the Pure Valyrian Blood running through his veins, which gave him an affinity for fire and blood magic, he supposed it would be easier to win nature’s favor in those two disciplines.

“After the Great Council, I want you to go to King’s Landing.” Maekar put the scroll back into the chest and said to Melisandre: He wanted to bring Melisandre to court, but, thinking it might have some impact on him and cost him votes, he decided to set aside anything related to the Red Faith until he became king.

“Yes, my king.” Melisandre did not mind and spoke with a happy smile.

“By the way, can the Red Faith provide a decent army?” Maekar asked, finishing dressing to mount Bahamut.

“Officially, the Fiery Hand has about a thousand slave soldiers, but, in terms of reserves, we have about twenty thousand in eternal training. If more are needed, we can ask other, smaller temples to send their soldiers in training.” Melisandre said with an amused laugh.

So as not to cause too much unrest among Volantis’s rulers, the Red Faith had decided it would keep only a thousand soldiers to protect its facilities. But that was only official; how else could they protect their temples from the Dothraki and other malicious people with only a thousand men?

Maekar wanted to ask for every man of the Red Faith, but he shook his head when that thought crossed his mind. Not to mention the work it would take to move that many people by ship to another continent. The biggest problem was logistics.

How to feed, arm, and even provide a tent for these people?

War was not simply about leading an army; the most important thing in a war was logistics. Without that, an army was nothing more than something temporary.

“How many people can you provide logistics for?” Maekar asked in a calm tone.

This time, Melisandre seemed more thoughtful. As she had Kinvara’s backing, Melisandre knew exactly how much power had been granted to her. However, to help Maekar, a large enough army was essential.

That cost a great deal of money. Fortunately, certain costs could be reduced, especially when it came to weaponry. As fire mages and witches, they could forge weapons and armor for their soldiers at a much lower cost.

Still, it was very expensive to move such a large army across the sea.

“About fifteen to twenty thousand people.” Melisandre gave Maekar an approximate number. She looked at the prince and went on, “If you give me two or three years, I can get another thirty thousand, though I cannot guarantee the effectiveness of those thirty thousand men.”

Maekar understood what she meant. Those thirty thousand soldiers were young men who had never seen blood, that is, an inexperienced army. Still, numbers made up for quality.

“If I am chosen as king, the Faith of the Seven will likely lead a rebellion against me.” Maekar showed a cold smile. “When that happens, I want the Red Faith at my side.”

“Unlike Jaehaerys, I don’t want to be known as the Conciliator.”

“It will be an honor to fight at your side, my prince.” Melisandre said with a smile as she bowed gracefully.

Maekar smiled; though this woman was a mad fanatic, she was still a good ally when it came to doing what was necessary.

Having finished dressing and picking up the chest holding the scrolls on blood and fire magic, Maekar looked at Melisandre and said in a tone that promised many things to come, “I hope to see you again in King’s Landing, Melisandre.”

Melisandre watched his back until he vanished and smiled pleasantly. Originally, she had thought she would have to manipulate the prince into declaring war on the Faith of the Seven, but the prince was surprisingly decisive.

Even faced with the Faith of the Seven, he did not back down in the slightest and was already planning to face so formidable an enemy.

The Targaryens respect neither the laws of men nor of gods.

Melisandre thought of those words and agreed with them. With dragons, there was no reason to respect any law of men or gods.

Elsewhere.

Maekar had reached the cave beneath Dragonstone and saw that Bahamut already awaited him beside the raised stone platform. Melinda could be seen visibly nervous beside a gigantic silver dragon; it was Silverwing.

The prince saw that his grandmother was dressed to ride and knew she was returning with him to court in King’s Landing. He said nothing and climbed up the chains until he settled into the saddle atop the gigantic dragon.

After placing the chest inside one of the saddlebags, Maekar strapped himself in and took up the reins. “Sōvegon, Bahamut.”

The dragon walked toward the exit, its gigantic size on full display. As the dragon passed through the exit, Maekar felt his vision blur with light for a moment before it returned to normal. Before him lay a vast sea of turbulent waters.

Bahamut simply took flight and quickly gained altitude.

Maekar heard the sound of wings behind him and looked back, where he saw Silverwing quickly catching up to him and Bahamut. On the saddle, Alysanne and Melinda could be seen.

At Bloodstone, Caraxes, with Daemon and Viserys, also took flight.

At this moment, all the pieces were beginning to turn in the great gears of fate.

———

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