Chapter 178: Bloodstone – The Key to Westeros
Chapter 178: Chapter 175: Bloodstone – The Key to Westeros
Read my new story >>Marvel *Villain Points* (Evil MC)
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“To peace!”
“To peace!”
The toast rang through the great hall of the Archon’s palace. Viserys and Tormo raised their glasses together. Crystal rang clear and sharp. The wine was dark as blood. For a few seconds they looked like old friends sharing a drink before a long journey.
“I will carry Your Grace’s goodwill back to Braavos,” Tormo said carefully. “I will do what I can to keep peace between Andalos, Tyrosh, Myr, and Lys. The loan from the Iron Bank you asked for… that will still need the bankers to approve.”
They had reached a fragile understanding. Viserys would stay his hand against Lys and Myr if the Sealord guaranteed their good behavior and accepted his rule over Tyrosh. In exchange, Viserys wanted heavy loans from the Iron Bank.
He needed time to swallow his victory. Braavos wanted to avoid a wider war. So the surface peace could hold a little longer.
Tormo wasn’t optimistic. “This isn’t peace. It’s a ceasefire. A few months. Maybe half a year.”
Someone had already lit the fuse. The powder was still burning.
Still, the envoy had slowed things down. That was enough for now.
Braavos was already uneasy. People there watched Andalos with the same wary eyes they once turned on Volantis after the Century of Blood. Andalos had no endless hordes of men, but it sat much closer to Braavos. And it had a dragonrider.
Viserys’s rise had been too fast, too clean. That made men nervous.
Tormo glanced at him one last time before he left. He would report everything.
The old Tyroshi nobles and governors were mostly dead. Viserys had replaced them with small merchants, freedmen, and minor officials. The new temporary council was already running the city.
He was rearming fast. The freedmen and soldiers who followed him were fiercely loyal. His army on land was already dangerous.
And somewhere in the Disputed Lands, tens of thousands of Dothraki screamers still answered his call.
Tormo hadn’t seen the dragon. That was the one thing he regretted.
In Viserys’s mind this was the fourth time a Targaryen had negotiated with the Sealord of Braavos.
The first had been after the dragon eggs vanished. The second during the Dragon’s Wroth, when Braavosi ships clashed with the Iron Throne and gold changed hands. The third when Daeron the Young Dragon tried to marry one of his sisters to the Sealord to secure help against the Stepstones pirates.
Now Viserys was making the fourth agreement.
Agreements were just words until steel decided otherwise. If Lys or Myr moved first, he would have every excuse he needed.
Tormo left quickly. Once the Braavosi was gone, Viserys turned back to his own plans.
He sat in the Archon’s old chair inside the municipal hall. The seat had already been re-carved with the three-headed dragon. Around the long table sat Agos, Garin, Morosh, Thomas the banker, and several leaders of the Brotherhood of Freedmen.
“Under Your Grace’s command,” Thomas reported, “we have seized the Tyrosh Bank, the spice warehouses, the wine cellars, the gold and gem vaults, and the silk stores.”
“Keep enough to run the new council. I’ll take the rest.”
The skilled workers, mid-level bankers, and craftsmen now formed the temporary assembly. The old rich merchants and nobles were gone.
“I have granted citizenship to every free person in Tyrosh,” Viserys said. “From this day forward, Tyrosh is a free city again. Every freedman in the Disputed Lands will receive land to settle.”
Thomas praised the decision loudly. It was clever. And brutal.
Word would spread to Lys and Myr. Those cities would start to tremble.
Viserys had no interest in buying peace from slave masters.
“What’s happening on Bloodstone Island?” he asked.
Morosh stood. “Most of the pirates abandoned their positions after Tyrosh fell. They fled south to Grey Gallows. Salladhor Saan is sheltering them. A smaller group chose to swear to you instead.”
Viserys nodded. Pirates knew when to run.
“Saan won’t bend,” Morosh added. “He’s too deep in Lysene trade and gold.”
“Fine. Every man chooses his side. Morosh — occupy Bloodstone now. Take the ground the pirates left behind.”
“As you command, Your Grace.”
Bloodstone was mostly rock and wind, but its position was perfect.
“Agos. The map.”
Agos spread a detailed map of Essos across the table. Viserys studied it in silence.
His territory now ran from Andalos through old Rhoynar lands to Tyrosh. The Disputed Lands connected the pieces by land. His cavalry could threaten Pentos and Myr from multiple angles while those cities could strike back at his lines or by sea.
It looked like a snake.
“Andalos is the head,” Viserys said. “Tyrosh and Bloodstone are the tail. Hit the head and the tail reacts. Hit the tail and the head comes. Hit the middle and both ends move. But Pentos and Myr sit between us, so we’re not fully joined yet.”
He tapped the map. “That doesn’t matter. I still have the screamers. They give me all the speed I need to strike wherever I choose.”
His real advantage was mobility.
With the east under control, he looked west.
“Once we hold and fortify Bloodstone, it becomes one of the main launch points for the return to Westeros.”
He had first thought Swan Haven would be the key. Now Bloodstone joined it.
From Bloodstone he could control the Stepstones, reach Dorne, and speak to the Reach — lands that had already suffered under Robert’s rule.
When the black-and-red dragon banner flew again over those waters, every merchant ship and every loyal heart would feel it.
“Morosh,” Viserys ordered. “Strengthen Bloodstone’s defenses. Build a fast fleet for the Narrow Sea. The channels are narrow. Smaller, quicker ships will serve us best.”
“As you command, Your Grace. Bloodstone will be unbreakable.”
The meeting ended. Viserys stayed seated, staring at the map long after the others had gone.
The snake was coiling. Soon it would turn west.
Read my new story >>Marvel *Villain Points* (Evil MC)
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