Bab 196: Chapter 195 The Dragon and Asshai
The ship sailed down the Torentine River, into the Summer Sea.
His eyes suddenly opened, and the blue sea instantly filled his field of vision.
After the dragon was hatched in Skyreach City, Samwell slipped away decisively.
After walking through the red mountains, they arrived at Blackmont City, then took a boat down the river and went straight to Eagle Island.
By this time his ships had sailed out of the Torentine River, into the Summer Sea.
There was a faint salty smell in the air and dolphins and flying fish shuttle in the waves, chasing the figures of ships.
A milky white baby dragon hovered between the masts. Although it was only the size of a kitten, it also made the captain frightened.
"Lord Caesar." He followed the white lightning-like figure in the sun with his eyes, and swallowed quietly, "You'd better put the dragon in a cage... Otherwise, if the boat burns..."
Samway laughed loudly: "Don't worry, it won't spew fire randomly without my instructions. Besides, it's still small, and can't spit out much fire. Even if your boat catches on fire, you can extinguish the fire ."
The captain had no choice but to leave while the sailors prepare dozens of barrels of seawater on deck, just in case.
"Sam, you must not lock up this dragon." Margaery reminded, "Back then the Targaryen family built a huge domed castle in King's Landing, called 'the Dragonpit', and kept the royal family's dragons in it. Although the Dragonpit was very spacious, it is said that fifty horses can ride side by side, but even so, the dragons raised in the Dragonpit have not grown to the size of their ancestors, and they were deformed, thin, and short-lived.
Some scholars believe that the dragons of the Targaryen family are extinct because the stone walls and domes limited their growth."
"Those maesters were talking nonsense." If you can limit size this way, the nobleman living in a tall castle should be countless times bigger than the farmer in a small wooden house."
Margaery wrinkled the tip of her delicate nose, and said somewhat dissatisfied: "Humans are different from dragons, it's better not to take risks."
Samwell smoothed things over with a smile: "Don't worry, I won't put my dragon like that, Even if the walls don't limit the size of the dragon, it will kill the wildness of the dragon."
"That's right!" Margaery smiled, happy that the man was on her side, "By the way, Sam, Have you figured out the name of this dragon?"
"Yes." Samwell looked at the white dragon passing by the sea, with the corners of his mouth upturned, "Let's call her Cleopatra."
"Cleopatra? Margaery frowned, "Is this the name of some ancient king? Or some ancient god? Why have I never heard of it before?"
"This is the name I heard from the flames. It may be inspired by the gods." Samwell made up a reason casually.
Hearing this, Melisandre's eyes flickered with fire, as if she was thinking hard about the meaning of the name, whether R'hllor, the Lord of Light, had given her some enlightenment.
As if hearing her own name, Cleopatra flapped her wings to fan the steaming sea water, and flew in front of Samwell, stretching out her long snake-like neck and making a coquettish hiss.
Samwell took out a piece of raw fish from the bag and placed it in front of the little dragon, shaking it.
"Dragon Burn." He ordered softly.
Cleopatra immediately roared and spewed out orange-red flames, scorched the meat and then swallowed it with sharp teeth.
"Sam, what language did you speak just now?" Margaret asked while holding her chin in her hand, looking at Cleopatra with great interest.
Samwell reached out and touched the young dragon's triangular head: "I made up the words. I was training it to understand commands, so I found a password that no one would say by chance."
"Oh." Margaery stretched out her slender hand as if she also wanted to touch the dragon, but she didn't dare, "Can I touch her?"
"Touch her, with me here, she won't bite you."
Margaery Carefully touched Cleopatra's translucent wings, then immediately retracted, giggling: "It's a little hot."
"Dragons are made of fire and flesh." Melisandre said in a reverent tone, "And fire is power."
"Cleopatra." Margaery tried to call the white dragon's name.
It's a pity that she ignored her.
Margaery pouted, and then laughed to herself: "You named her as female, is she female?"
"You can't define a dragon by the gender of a mortal creature," Melisandre said.
"What do you mean?" Margaery tilted her head, "there is no distinction between male and female dragons?"
Melisandre shook her head, "dragons have no gender, neither male nor female, constantly changing, swaying like a flame."
When samwell heard this, he grabbed Cleopatra with his hands, turned it over, and sure enough, he couldn't find anything that could identify the gender.
Cleopatra didn't seem to like this posture very much, she kept flapping her wings and hissing.
Samwell quickly let go, and took out another flying fish, and then coaxed the little guy.
"Then how long can they live?" Margaery asked curiously.
Melisandre said: "According to the ancient records of Asshai, certain dragons lived for a thousand years."
Margaery lightly brushed her long hair that was blown by the sea wind, "It seems that the dragons in Westeros have not lived longer."
"That's because the Targaryen family didn't know how to tame a giant dragon," Melisandre said lightly.
"Do you understand?" Margaery glanced at the witch from Asshai.
"Of course." Melisandre held her head high, the ruby in her throat sparkled with fire, "Giant dragons were born in the land of shadows east of Asshai, Servants of Lord of light ."
Hearing this, Margaery couldn't help retorting: "House Targaryen doesn't believe in your Lord of Light, they serve the Seven Gods, and, if I remember correctly, In valyria, None of the Dragon King family believes in the Lord of Light."
Margaery has always been very wary of this red-robed witch who appeared next to Samwell, she was very worried that the other party would affect Samwell's mind and even make Sam convert to Lord of Light.
In her opinion, the Seven Gods are the dominant belief in Westeros. If Samwell converts to the Lord of Light, he will easily encounter resistance from the nobles and commoners of the Seven Kingdoms.
Melisandre stared at Margaery with fiery eyes, and said,
"That's why the dragons of the Targaryen family are extinct, their descendants driven out of Westeros, and the Valyria Empire also suffered a catastrophe. This is the Lord of Light's punishment for mortals who stole divine power but refused to serve."
"Then you have served the Lord of Light for so long, but I haven't seen him grant you a dragon." Margaery's counterattack was Quite sharp.
Melisandre responded calmly: "The true God has given me enough."
"Okay." Samwell interrupted the gunpowder-flavoured argument between the two women, and said, "Lady Melisandre, tell me about Asshai, what kind of place is that ?"
He knew that Melisandre was trying to gain his trust, and many of the things she said were actually exaggerated.
However, she is a missionary after all, if she will not brag and not pretend to be mysterious then how can she attract believers?
The reason why the dragons of House Targaryen became extinct was actually because the tide of magic subsided.
The magic of Game of Thrones is like a tide, with its ebb and flow.
The dragon is a magical creature, so when the magic ebbs, it will naturally become extinct, and it has nothing to do with whether it is domesticated or not.
It has nothing to do with whether you believe in the Lord of Light or not.
A month ago, the red comet came, announcing that the magic tide was coming again, so he was able to awaken the magic dragon in the stone with blood and fire sacrifice.
Aegon V also used the same method at Summerhall, but nothing hatched. It wasn't because he didn't believe in the Lord of Light, but because magic was still in its ebb.
"Asshai is the easternmost part of the known world." Melisandre began to tell, her deep voice had a strange magic power,
"It is a city built along the black river of ashes, with an area five times the size of King's Landing. All the buildings in the city are made of black rocks that absorb any light, so Asshai's day is also gloomy, and the night is really dark. Food can't grow there, and neither can the water of the River of Ashes can be drunk. Fortunately, Asshai produces a lot of gold and gems, which attracts merchant ships to bring food and drinking water.
Asshai is also a city of magic. Warlocks, alchemists, moonsingers, red priests, undead Mage, Cloud Mage, Blood Wizard, Torturer, Judgment Knight, Priestess, Skinchanger, Holy Child... can be seen everywhere.
There is no taboo in Asshai, where believers of occultism can display their spells at will, as long as they wish, they can hold terrible ceremonies, make deals with demons, and perform terrifying sorcery..."
"It's really a scary place." Margaery couldn't help leaning towards Samwell.
"I heard that Asshai is most famous as a Shadow Binder." Samwell looked at Melisandre with a half-smile.
He knew that Melisandre was actually a shadowbinder, who could drive shadows with the power of magic.
In the original book, Melisandre gave birth to a shadow for Duke Stannis Baratheon and used it to kill his younger brother, Duke Renly Baratheon, and Cortanay Penrose, the acting lord of Storm's End.
In Skyreach City before, Melisandre had proposed to help Samwell kill people, so she probably wanted to use the same method.
But when she introduced the occultists in Asshai just now, she intentionally left out the Shadow Binder.
"Yes, my lord, you can also see Shadowbinders in Asshai." Melisandre couldn't see anything strange on his face, "They like to cover their faces with painted masks, and they are the only ones who dare to walk along the ashes. The one who goes up the river to the land of shadows."
"Then why aren't you wearing a mask?" Samwell stared into Melisandre's eyes, wanting to see panic from them.
However, no.
The red-robed woman's eyes were like blazing flames, hot and firm.
"Are you a Shadowbinder?" Margaery responded immediately.
"That's right." Melisandre nodded and admitted, but her attitude was obviously a little humble.
It seems that she was not as calm as she appeared to be when Samwell revealed her true identity.
"But aren't you a believer in the Lord of Light?" Margaery asked puzzled, "How could you be a Shadowbinder who manipulates shadows?"
"Why not?"
" Shadows are dark things."
"No, you're wrong Where does the shadow come from in the darkness?" Melisandre's answer was always so impeccable, "Shadow is the servant of light, the descendant of flame."
Margaery was speechless for a moment.
Samwell laughed out loud, not sure if he believed this set of rhetoric.
[END]
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