Bab 45: Chapter 45: Astapor
(Year 294 A.C)
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(General POV)
Will hadn't forgotten his vow of vengeance on Astapor, so on his journey home from Qarth, he made sure to not overshoot the slave city.
When he arrived at the outskirts of Astapor, Will wanted to just walk in and begin causing chaos, but then he thought better of it. The slaves didn't need killed, yet he knew they would be the first to die if he went after their masters.
'What a conundrum.' He thought, wondering how he was going to do this.
The second he stepped into the city he would probably be attacked again, which was weird because he didn't think he looked that out of place from nobility.
'Maybe try and find out why these idiots want me so bad.' Will thought, figuring it was best to go in and mess up than just sit here and not do anything.
It was with that thought in mind that Will made his way into the city by means of stealth, choosing to avoid the piss-poor gates and just walking into the city from some random direction.
Still, Will made sure that he wasn't seen, at least not yet. There would be time for that later, but for now he needed to gather some information.
"Can you understand me?" Will asked some random guy at a food stall, getting a blank stare in response.
"Nothing, huh?" Will mumbled before dismissing the man and moving on to the next stall.
This was already the sixth vendor he had tried, yet got no luck from any of them, but he knew someone in this fucked up city spoke the common tongue, he just had to find them.
It wasn't until he had questioned 16 people that he finally found someone who could understand him, but the guy had a heavy accent that made him a little difficult to understand.
"Excuse me, but could you help me?" Will asked politely. He knew that politeness alone wouldn't get him what he wanted, so he not so subtly slipped a few coins over to the man.
"This one is happy to help." The man said quietly as he slipped the gold into his clothes, making sure that no one was watching as he did so.
"Can we speak somewhere privately?" Will asked, sliding another coin across to the man.
"This way." The man said, then turned and walked into a building a short distance away from the smithy that he had been working at.
When they were free of prying eyes, the man looked to Will expectantly, waiting for whatever questions he might need answered.
Removing the cloak covering him, Will revealed himself in the dimly lit room, surprising the man who actually looked a little scared. Will heard him mumble something in a different language, but he didn't really think too much of it.
"Why would someone attack me or try to put a collar on me?" Will asked the man, who actually looked confused at the question.
"You are different. Your hair and eyes are not commonly seen, you are handsome, so therefore you are a rare commodity." The man told him slowly, almost as if he was explaining things to an idiot.
His accent didn't help the fact that it sounded like someone who could barely speak was talking down to Will, which would have made him mad in other circumstances.
'Alright then. I'm desirable and rich people want to have me around to look at. Noted.' Will thought, wondering how he could get past this little obstacle.
"How can I show people I'm not to be messed with without actually saying it?" Will asked his next question, earning himself another look of confusion from the man.
"Are you not a slave like this one?" The man asked confusedly, making Will also confused.
"Why the hell would you think I'm a slave?" Will asked, a little annoyed that he even had to ask that.
'I mean really! What sort of slave goes around buying information from random people for this much money and dresses as well as I do?' Will wondered, thinking most people in this world were idiots.
"Free men and women wear tokars. The fringe on the tokar signifies a person's status. You do not wear a tokar." The man said, sounding as though that was the law of the world. With him being a slave, it probably was the law of the world for him.
"The customs here suck." Will mumbled to himself as he shook his head at the idiocy of Astapor.
Will asked a few more questions, and when he was done, he gave the man another handful of coins before he left to do his own thing.
With a bit more knowledge of Astapor, Will made his way through the streets until he arrived at one the great pyramids. He knew that the masters of the city lived in these things, which worked out really well for him. All of the rich people of the city were grouped together in the pyramids, so he wouldn't have to go too far to rob them all.
"Let's get to work." He whispered quietly, then disappeared into the pyramid.
For most of the night Will moved about the first pyramid, robbing anything and everything that wasn't nailed down. He even managed to steal a bed that a man had been sleeping on, leaving the man asleep on the floor in his room.
If that wasn't bad enough, Will had even stolen his feathered pillows and all but one of his blankets. The guy was sure to be pissed when he woke up.
Most of the rooms had been cleaned out, as well as the vaults. Will hadn't left them all so much as a coin, but he did leave them something.
An old crumbling statue portraying the Astapor harpy was atop the harbor gate near the great pyramids, and Will thought it looked ugly as sin out in the open, so he had moved it inside the vault where no one would have to see it.
It was so big and bulky that they would have to destroy it if they wanted to get it back out of the pyramid, which was just fine with Will. He didn't care if it was destroyed.
Come morning, Astapor was in complete chaos. Thousands of Unsullied were moving about the streets trying to find the thieves. Houses were searched and people were being questioned. As for the culprit himself, Will was sleeping at the top of the very pyramid he had just robbed.
After a busy night of work, it was nice to just rest in the sun, though he did have a small cloth shading his head. It wasn't until later in the afternoon that he woke up, and when he did, he decided that he might as well look for a translator for himself. It was on his to-do-list after all.
Going through his Inventory, Will found one of the tokars he had stolen from the pyramid only hours before that suited him. It wasn't too frilly, but it was cool at least. It was dark blue in color with golden frills fluttering about.
Once he managed to put it on, Will added some expensive jewelry to his attire, then made his way off of the pyramid and down into the city. He didn't understand it, but by simply wearing the tokar people seemed to steer clear of him, and most people looked like they were scared to even meet his eyes.
'All because of a piece of cloth.' He marveled, wondering why everyone didn't just put one of these things on.
He didn't know it, but if a slave was found to be wearing a tokar, they would be tortured in the Plaza of Pride for all to see. It being the market where slaves were bought and traded, it was a good warning for the other slaves to not attempt something so stupid.
Entering the Plaza of Pride, Will went around to stalls trying to find out where they sold the translators, but to his annoyance, there were none. At least none in the market that were for sale.
All of the stalls in the Plaza of Pride had at least one translator to explain their "merchandise" to anyone wanting to purchase them, but those translators weren't for sale.
The ones who sold translators were the "Good Masters" of the city, but they were so busy dealing with a robbery that they couldn't be bothered to come to their stalls.
'I probably should have bought someone before I caused a commotion.' Will thought regrettably.
"You lookin fer slaves?!" A gruff voice asked, pulling Will's attention to where it originated. The voice belonged to a tiny man that sounded so out of place with his voice it was almost hysterical, but Will bit back his laughter as he smiled amicably towards the man.
"Yes. A translator, to be precise." Will answered, looking a little hopeful.
"If you want to buy a large number of slaves, I can help you meet with the Good Masters today. What do you say?" The man told him.
Mentally shrugging at the man, Will replied, "If I can meet them now, I'll buy a large number of slaves."
He had no idea how many was "a large number" for purchasing slaves, but he figured he would just be spending their money anyway, so he didn't care if he had to spend a bit more to meet with them today. Besides, he could always steal it back if he wanted.
It took almost 2 hours, but he was eventually led to a small square near one of the great pyramids. It would have only been half that time, but he had to go "retrieve" some of his wealth.
He simply disappeared for a while and came back with another guy in tow that was pulling a small cart with a chest on it.
Will had purchased the guy to haul the chest for him in the spur of the moment because he doubted that he would come off as a rich guy if he was the one carrying his own wealth, and he did not want to be fucked with any more than he already had been.
It would have all been so much easier if he just came as his real self, but he didn't want to be known for buying slaves, and he did want to do this legitimately because of what he intended to do with the slaves afterwards.
Anyway, once they got into the square, Will was led to a walled off section of the place that didn't have any roof on it, which was kind of weird, but he wasn't going to complain.
Inside the walled off section, there was a raised platform with stairs leading up to it, and at the top of it were 4 chairs, 2 of which were occupied by people.
Standing next to the chairs, a little dark-skinned girl with wide golden eyes was staring at him with her arms clasped together in front of her.
Standing off to the side of the walled room, 17 children and 8 adults stood with their heads bowed low, collars very visibly seen around their necks. 11 of the children were girls and 5 of the adults were as well. It seemed that women were mostly trained for being translators, as at least two thirds of the translators were women. Not that Will was complaining. A translator was a translator.
'I take it that they're the "merchandise" I came to buy.' Will thought darkly.
"You have the pleasure of standing before the Good Masters of Astapor. Master Grazdan, and Master Kraznys mo Nakloz." The little girl spoke loud and clearly as she gestured towards a tall lanky guy, then a guy so fat Will thought he was looking at four people in a fat costume.
There was a moment of pause before Will realized they were waiting for him to introduce himself, as he had yet to actually give his name.
However, rather than give his real name, Will spoke, "My name is Lucifer Morningstar, Lord of Purgatory!" Will introduced loudly.
He didn't bother to delve into things further, as he didn't care too, and he doubted they cared either. He would have picked some other name that incriminated someone else from this world, but he honestly didn't care too. He picked a name at random and decided to just roll with it.
"The Good Masters have been informed that you are in need of translators. Which languages do you wish them to translate?" The little girl asked, not bothering with asking questions about his made-up home.
"The more languages the better, but they need to be able to translate High Valyrian to the common speech at the least." Will answered calmly. "And read and write in both as well." He quickly added, almost forgetting that part.
He waited as the girl translated what he said to the two men sitting in the chairs, and when she was finished, the fat man looked to the translators standing along the wall and waved his hand after speaking a command.
Will didn't know what the man said, but when he finished speaking, most of the translators left to go somewhere else, leaving only 6 children and 4 adults, cutting the number of translators by more than half.
Before he could ask what was going on the little girl spoke, "The ones who remain meet your requirements. How many would you like to purchase, my Lord?"
Looking at the remaining slaves to purchase, Will debated on how many he needed to purchase to in order to appease these fuckers for meeting with him. Finally, after a minute of thinking, Will decided to just fuck it.
"I'll take them all." He said, surprising the little girl.
"All? Did this one's ears mishear, my Lord?" She asked, her mind not being able to understand why someone would want so many translators, especially when they were so expensive.
"Your ears heard right. I want them all. And you too if you meet the requirements." Will told the little girl, making her eyes widen even further.
He watched as she translated his words to the masters, getting wide happy smiles from them before they spoke again.
"The Good Masters wish to know if you can afford us all, as you have yet to hear how much we cost." She translated, getting a smirk from Will.
He could safely say that he had more than enough wealth to buy all of Astapor if he so wished, so he was very confident in buying a few slaves.
Walking over to the cart that was being held in place by the slave he had purchased from earlier, Will flipped the cloth that had been covering it away, revealing a very large chest. Opening the lid of the chest revealed a number of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and of course a large number of coins.
Upon seeing the contents of the chest, the fat man sitting up on the chair gestured to the little girl and she immediately walked down to stand beside Will.
"Master Kraznys says he hopes you enjoy this one." The little girl said softly.
Looking at the little girl, Will couldn't help but feel like he had seen her from somewhere before, but he couldn't place it.
"What's your name?" He asked her.
"This one's name is Missandei." She answered, making Will's eyes widen in surprise.
She did look like a younger version of the lady that played Missandei from the series, but she was way younger than Will thought she should be at the current timeline.
In the show, Missandei was like 2 or 3 years older than Daenerys, so she should have been around 15 to 16 years of age, however the little girl in front of him wasn't even as old as Daenerys was right now.
"Why are you so young?!" He blurted out without meaning to.
"This one cannot help that she is only 11." The little girl said apologetically.
"No- that's not-... never mind." He told her. Explaining his words was more difficult than just forgetting them, so he opted for that route.
"How many languages do you know?" He asked her, actually curious about that.
"This one can speak 7 languages but can only read and write in 4 of them." She answered, making his jaw almost hit the ground.
'11 years old and can already speak 7 languages?!! Does she have some divine tongue skill I don't know about?!' He thought in surprise.
"Got anyone else in your family for sale here too?" Will joked, hinting that he would have bought them too if she had any, not that he actually thought she did.
"This one has two brothers, but they are unsullied, not translators." She answered honestly, making Will frown.
'Why the fuck would she tell me that?' He thought, not understanding anything about this world and the people in it.
Will didn't know why, but he had purchased both of Missandei's brothers from the Good Masters, then left with all of his purchases in tow. He had only intended to buy one translator when he arrived here, but things sort of changed.
If he hadn't gotten impatient with trying to get a translator today, none of this would have happened. Still, the decision to buy them all would allow him to actually be able to read all of the books he had found in the vault sooner, as with all of them then they could translate and write them in the common tongue.
It was actually not a bad idea. Once they were done, he could give them gold coins and send them on their way as free men and women in Westeros, or if they didn't want to leave, he was sure he could hire some of them to work in Dorne or just work for him.
He was already planning on hiring Missandei to be his personal translator whenever he went somewhere, which would be awesome if she agreed.
He would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't happy to have purchased Missandei, as he had actually really enjoyed her character from the show, but he certainly never expected to find her so easily.
It had just been a lucky coincidence to have bought her like he had. Granted, this one was different than the one he remembered, but he wasn't going to lose any sleep over it. So long as she was as loyal as she was in the show, he didn't care how old she was.
'Started the day with no slaves, and now I have 14... mother is going to kill me.' He sighed, already imagining the headaches he was going to get from this.
Leading his enterouge of slaves to an Inn, Will gave them all some food and told them all to get some rest for the night and that he would come get them in the morning.
He would have just sailed away already to get back to Dorne, but he still had 2 more great pyramids to attend to.
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(Missandei POV)
Missandei didn't know what to think of her new master. The man was certainly different compared to what she had expected, and he confused her more than any man she had met before.
She had honestly expected him to be this abusive demanding Lord, but he wasn't. He treated her and the rest of the slaves kindly, even giving them some delicious food and a room to sleep in.
Granted they all shared the room, but at least it had been warm and somewhat safe. Especially with her brothers there to guard her. She couldn't believe her new master purchased them as well, nor could she understand why.
She had hoped to learn more about him that night, but he just ditched them in their room for the night, and the following morning he showed up bright and early and escorted them all to the harbor where a large ship was waiting for them.
Again, she wasn't sure what she expected, but she knew she was not expecting this. Her master was sitting in a chair, half asleep on the upper deck of the ship as they moved at a ridiculous speed southwestward towards the Smoking Sea of Valyria.
'Where is Purgatory?' She absently wondered to herself, realizing she had no idea of their destination. She had studied more than a few maps of the world, and though she couldn't say she memorized them, she certainly couldn't recall ever seeing such a place on a map.
Not daring to question her master, Missandei remained with the others on the lower deck of the ship, sitting quietly with their backs to the walls.
They sailed for hours with no one really doing anything, which was weird because there was no crew on the ship. Missandei didn't know how ships worked, but she did know that they usually required a number of people to crew them. It was just one more thing she filed away about her confusing master.
When it was late into the evening, the Smoking Sea could be seen less than a mile away from their position, at which point the ship seemed to come to a complete stop.
'How is he doing that?' She wondered as she peered over the railing to see that the water around the ship was as still as could be. Come to think of it, there was no wind either she realized as she looked up at the sails that were hanging down, not billowing in the slightest.
Loud footsteps pulled hers and everyone else's attention towards their master, who had finally stood from his chair and was walking down the steps of the ship.
"We're going to stay right here for the night and continue on in the morning. There's food and drinks just inside the door there." The master said, pausing to point at the main door leading into the ship's quarters.
"There are also beds for you all to sleep in as well. Men will take the rooms on the left side of the hall; women will take the rooms on the right. You can sleep together if you so choose, but only if the people sleeping together are doing it willingly." Here the master paused as his eyes narrowed and he looked at each person, almost as if he was staring into their souls.
"If any of you break this rule, you'll think Astapor was a pleasure after what I do to you!" He growled threateningly, scaring Missandei.
Without saying anything further, the master walked away, most likely to get some sleep.
'He did look very tired.' She noted, curious about what he had been doing all of the previous night.
'Surely it couldn't have been so tiring that he was barely conscious all day.' She thought.
Clearly, she didn't know how much energy it took to rob two great pyramids in a single night.
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(The Good Masters POV)
The thieves had struck again in the night, only this time they completely cleaned out two of the Great Pyramids of Astapor. The city was in an uproar as soldiers went from house to house checking for the thieves, and ships at the harbor were searched, though nothing was found.
Even the chest of gold and gems they had acquired the day before from Lucifer Morningstar was gone, making the Good Masters furious. Not knowing who had stolen from them was bad, but at least they had a direction they could look in. For inside the treasuries of the two great pyramids, writing was burned into the walls.
"The night is dark and full of terrors."
It was a common saying of those who worshipped the Red God, R'hllor, which led many of the Good Masters to believe that the fire worshippers were somehow responsible for acting out against them.
That was probably the reason that many followers of R'hllor were currently running for their lives from the gates of Astapor. The Lord of Light would not be welcome in Astapor for centuries to come.
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(General POV)
Will had woken up the following morning completely refreshed and ready to continue on his way towards Westeros.
He was a little surprised when he woke up to find all of the slaves, he had purchased wide awake and waiting for him out on the deck, but after a simple questioning, he found out that it was unseemly for a master to have to wait to command his slave.
Rather than wait for later to deal with this, Will had everyone line up shoulder to shoulder on the main deck of the ship. As soon as everyone was in line, Will walked behind them all and removed the collars from around their necks, then walked back in front of them, holding the collars for all of them to see.
With a simple flick of his wrist, Will tossed the collars into the ocean, earning wide eyes in response.
"As of this moment, you are all free." Will told them, getting looks of complete disbelief from the former slaves.
They were so shocked that none of them moved for a few minutes after. Eventually they all came out of their shock, at which point most of them fell to their knees and cried, while some hugged each other, and one even tried to kiss Will's feet. It was weird.
Anyway, Will explained that he needed them to translate some books for him, and that he would be paying them for their service before they were free to go wherever they pleased.
He also told them that they were welcome to stay in Westeros and work for him without fear of slavery, as slavery was illegal in Westeros. He told them to wait before giving him an answer, and then after having breakfast, the ship suddenly lurched forward once more.
Within hours they were through the Smoking Sea and sailing past Volantis, something which shocked the translators, though not as much as it had shocked them when a massive wave carried the ship over the ruins of Valyria. That was something that none of them would be forgetting for the remainder of their lives.
The looks of reverence they gave Will was almost creepy, and Will had to explain to them that he was just a magician and not some God. When he told them that his name was actually William Castian and not Lucifer Morningstar, a few of them didn't seem surprised, having made the connection as soon as they had seen the fiery bird on the sails of the ship. The ship moving about on its own was also a dead giveaway.
It took another day to get back to Dorne, Will increasing the speed they were going by making a massive wave push the ship with wind magic boosting it. It was insane how fast he could go when he really wanted to.
As soon as Dorne came into view, Will set a course straight for the Watergardens. Arriving at the docks, Will was greeted by Rhaenys, Aegon, Jon, and Daenerys waiting for him. They had apparently been keeping an eye out for him, and as soon as they spotted his ship, they all came running to greet him.
"Welcome back!" Aegon and Jon greeted him, followed by Daenerys asking, "Did you bring me anything?" Will ignored the three of them, choosing instead to go straight to Rhaenys and kiss her deeply.
"I'm home." He said softly once their lips separated. Whether he was conscious of it or not, Will's right hand almost immediately went to Rhaenys stomach before it began to faintly glow, showing that he was doing magic. He did this so often that most of them were unclear if he even knew he was doing it because he was still staring at Rhaenys.
"Greetings." Aegon said, speaking to people who were looking at them from on the ship, gaining everyone's attention.
"Oh right." Will said, finally remembering the translators on the ship.
After a brief explanation about who they were and how they came into his service, Will led them all off the ship and into the Watergardens where he found them all sleeping quarters.
It was about that time that Elia, Drox, and Oberyn arrived to see him, getting the same introductions that the others had gotten. No one was happy to hear that he had bought slaves, but they quickly settled down when they learned that he had already set them free.
"Any luck on the vault?" Oberyn asked, interested to hear how his venture in Qarth went.
Smiling wickedly, Will answered, "I got the vault. Xaro gave it to me for giving him peace." The way Will said it made everyone think that it was not as innocent as it sounded, but none of them wanted him to clarify.
They all had imaginations, and despite the horrors they could imagine, Will could exceed those horrors without so much as batting an eye. No, it was best to just forget about it. Besides, if Xaro Xhoan Daxus was a good man, Will wouldn't have done anything too terrible to the man. At least they thought he wouldn't.
"It's a bit different from mine in design, but it works the same. Just a different key." Will spoke, showing them all the key.
It was round, about 5 inches in diameter with a weird looking gem in the center of it. With just a glance it was plain to see that it was forged of Valyrian steel and not the black stone that everyone had been expecting.
"Hey look!" Daenerys called out as she pulled something from around her neck and held it up to the necklace. Tied to a string was the weird silver rock-like thing they had found in Valyria, and aside from the color, it was an identical match to the gem on the key.
"Let me see that." Will said, taking the gem from her and inspecting it fully for the first time. He had no idea what kind of gem it was, but he could feel a faint trace of magic coming from it, and it felt very similar to the magic in his own vault.
Realizing that it was part of the key for his vault, Will traded Daenerys a bunch of items of his own creation for it. He had no idea why, but she really liked random toys that he had shown them all with magic.
He kept forgetting that she was just a 13-year-old girl who was very interested in things no one in Westeros had ever heard of before.
Anyway, after inspecting the key design and his own vault door design, Will was able to create somewhat of a model for how his key was supposed to look.
"Who's interested in going to King's Landing?" Will asked them all, surprising them. They hadn't expected he would be leaving so soon after getting back home, nor that he would actually invite them this time.
"Are you sure it's safe to take them to King's Landing? If Robert should discover them..." Elia said, trailing off in worry as she looked at her children.
"The last place Robert would ever look for a Targaryen is in King's Landing. We would be right under his nose, and he'd never suspect it. Plus, I do have a string of tunnels beneath the city that only I can access. I'd also level the city if any of us were really in danger of dying." Will told her, alleviating some of her fear.
"I can't stand the smell, so I'll stay here with Elia." Oberyn said, not the least bit interested in going to King's Landing.
"I'm going!" "Me too!" Aegon and Jon said, excited to actually be able to go see the capital.
"Can we visit Dragonstone?" Daenerys asked, sounding more sad than excited to go to her place of birth. To be fair, that was where her mother had died, and the beginning of her life in exile before she met Will. Not a lot of happy memories there to be excited about.
Having decided everything, everyone went to go pack their things in preparation. Will and Rhaenys didn't need to because Will had everything either of them would ever need stored inside his inventory, so while everyone else packed, they went to go meet with the translators.
Will arranged a room in the Watergardens that would be under lock and key and watched 24/7 by a dozen guards, then he emptied out all of the books from the vault inside of it, as well as a few hundred blank books that could be written in.
Marselen and Mossador, Missandei's brothers who were the two unsullied Will had purchased, had agreed to be personal bodyguards for Elia, provided that Will took care of their sister. It was a fair request, and Will had readily agreed.
After learning the titles of a few of the books, Will decided to bring Missandei with him so she could read a book to him, one that really caught his eye. "Shaping of Dragonstone" was the name of the book, and apparently dragonstone was the name of the weird black stone that the vaults were created from.
There was even one about Valyrian steel, which Will also took. He was going to have Missandei read the books to him while they travelled, then he would have them translated afterwards.
He was actually quite excited to hear more about them. There was even a book titled, "Birth of Magic" that intrigued him, and he took it too. He hoped to find out how the Valyrians learned their magic, and to see if he could do it too.
That night as he was going to bed, Will simply lay in bed with Rhaenys wrapped around him as he stared at the ceiling.
"What are you thinking about?" Rhaenys asked him, shifting her position so she could better see him.
"Our future. I'm not sure how often we'll be able to travel once our child is born, or-" Rhaenys cut Will off by kissing his lips.
"We'll be able to travel as often as we want." She told him, reassuring him that she and their child could handle sailing on a ship.
"Besides, I want to see the world with you." She said happily.
The two of them lay in bed talking for hours more about what they would do, though most of their talking was Rhaenys reassuring him that she would be more than up for exploring the world with him, and that she didn't want to be left alone in the North or in Dorne. She would be right there beside Will, which would put him more at ease with knowing she was safe at all times.
Come morning, Will, Rhaenys, Aegon, Jon, Daenerys, Drox, and Missandei mounted up and began riding northwards towards Highgarden.
Aegon and Rhaenys had made the decision together to stop in and personally invite the Tyrells to Will's tournament. Aegon had talked it out with Will because he wanted to let them know that he didn't hold them responsible for Mace, and Will was all for it because it showed character growth.
Aegon was thinking long term and was trying to not follow in the footsteps of his grandfather or the man who sat on the Iron Throne. If he did become king, it was a good quality to have, and something Will fully approved of.
In a comfortable carriage driven by Drox, Rhaenys, Daenerys, and Missandei were sitting and talking about random things, while outside, Will, Aegon and Jon were racing their horses.
Will was of course riding Trojan, something he hadn't been doing a whole lot of as of late. He did make sure to brush Trojan whenever he wasn't out travelling, but he wasn't taking the horse with him as often as he normally did.
To be fair, with being able to fly he didn't need to ride a horse, and Trojan was getting old. Will still had no intention of ever getting rid of Trojan but was thinking about putting him out to pasture with a herd of mares to call his own.
However, that wouldn't be for a few years yet. Even as old as he was, Trojan easily outran the two younger horses, and was just as big and mean as he always was.
"Easy big fellow." Will said to the horse as they came to a stop near the Mander River just south of Highgarden. The Walls of the city could be seen off in the distance, and Will knew that it would only take a few more hours going at their pace before they reached the city.
"Let's race!" Aegon shouted to Jon, the two of them spurring their horses at the same time before they took off down the road, Asena and Fang hot on their heels.
Looking behind him, Will saw Drox just finishing getting the carriage horses ready to begin going again. Riding over, Will tied Trojan to the back of the carriage, then untied Drox's horse before handing him the reins.
"I'll drive the carriage the rest of the way. Head on after those two and make sure they don't get into trouble." Will told Drox before he handed him a bag of gold, then climbed up onto the carriage.
Drox smiled broadly before he climbed into his saddle and took off, not needing to be told a second time. It was weird seeing him ride off, a massive shadowcat trailing beside him with two massive birds flying above his head.
'We stand out like a sore thumb.' Will thought, already imagining the reactions the boys would get when they reached the gates to Highgarden.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
GrimsReaper
GrimsReaper Sorry for the late release! I went to a halloween party last night and drunk. Been a pretty shitty day, to be honest. Anyway, I hope the second chapter makes up for it, and enjoy!
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone