章節 26: Chapter 16
"Do you accept the marriage, Laeha, Laena?" The Chieftess asked her daughters in front of everyone, and both the girls looked at Azaerys and glared at him when they found him smirking.
"Yes," one of them answered, and the other nodded her head before they both turned their eyes away.
The Young King noticed them clenching their fists, and to his group, it looked like the girls had refused.
"They refused?" Arianne softly asked, and when she saw him shake his head, she was confused. "They don't seem happy or even comfortable."
"They don't want to get married," he told her. "Her mother is getting rid of them. I guess that they are her eldest children, and given their temperament, they are not suitable to lead the tribe in the future. She probably wants another child to succeed her."
"Isn't that wrong?" Arianne frowned.
"No," he shook his head. "This is how it should be. She clearly loves her daughters and cares for them a lot, but understands her duty as the Chieftess of her Tribe.
"They seem fine to me," Nymeria frowned.
"They are young, and they will grow up. With power, differences of opinion will get between them, and even twins have disagreements. By the look of the things, they are way too stubborn and had probably decided to wed the same man and to lead the Tribe together as its Chieftesses," said Azaerys, making the Starlyte think, and behind her, Oberyn nodded his head and appreciatively looked at Haera.
"Lucky you, you get to take her troubles and your own," he teased, but the Young King just smiled at the twins.
"No, she has made me owe her by giving me these two girls." His mysterious words confused them, and just when Arianne was about to ask what he meant by it, Haera turned to look at Azaerys.
"Your gift?" She asked, and he nodded to her.
"My brother will soon return with it."
The woman accepted his words and took her seat. So did the rest of the Chieftains.
Now that the marriage was set and the Dragonlord was to become a part of their Tribes, they could start negotiating the other Trade Agreements.
For two hours, they discussed things in detail, and behind him, Arianne was getting tired of standing for so long.
She really wanted to just walk over and sit in his lap, but watching the twins, who were younger than her, and were soon to be her sister-wives, she bore the discomfort in her feet.
It was the first time in her life that she felt like she needed to compete against someone, and it was probably because these two girls were just as beautiful as her if not more.
Ashara's beauty was something she could never match, nor could she match her place in Azaerys' heart, but these girls were giving her a sense of crisis.
She could just tell that her husband was interested in them, very interested in them, and it really bothered her a lot.
By the time the meeting ended, Viserys entered the room, carrying a sword that was wrapped inside a red cloth.
As soon as they saw its eye-catching shape, they knew what it was, and Ser Oswell surprisedly looked at his King for his generosity.
Haera too curiously looked at the hidden sword, wondering what about it made the Dragonlord claim that it was something she would definitely be pleased with.
When the meeting finally ended, she stood up and walked over to him, and Azaerys smiled at her as he handed her the weapon.
"It's a scythe-like sword..." She curiously said.
"We call it Arakh," he informed her and chuckled when he saw the astonishment on her face as she pulled it out of its wraps.
She immediately recognised the pattern, which was the same as that of Valyrian Steel Dirk.
"Nothing cuts like Valyrian Steel. You are welcome to test it."
And she listened to his words as she drew the sword, showing it to her fellow Chieftains, and then turned to her husband, who immediately pulled his short sword, understanding her intentions.
"Careful. This weapon is not easy to master. I am sure you don't want to cut your husband in half." Azaerys warned her, and she was smart enough to heed his warning.
The Chieftains looked incredulously at the weapon in Haera's hands which cut the short sword in half with a single swing, and waves of envy crashed into their hearts.
What was a dirk compared to such an awe-inspiring sword?
The Tiger Chief really felt his heart bleeding with envy.
"Haera, want to make a bet?" He hopefully asked, but the Chieftess grinned at him.
"No."
She then turned to look at Azaerys and nodded to him in gratefulness.
"We accept your promise and token of sincerity. Thank you."
"Drazar Hazaedis."
"Drazar Arrudin," replied Haera with a smile.
The Young King then led his entourage out, returning to the Guest Hall, and after Arianne excused herself to go to bed and catch some sleep, he walked out to tour the town with Viserys, Arthur, Oberyn, and Nymeria.
Their first destination, of course, was the Hippogriffs' stables, and seeing the beasts up close truly mystified the lady.
"They are beautiful. Even more than the Griifins," she commented, but soon heard her husband disagree.
"No, they are just as beautiful, but are less majestic."
She rolled her eyes at his words, not caring about them, and then gently caressed the head of a little Hippogriff, who was only a few moons old.
They also visited the Hatchery, where the Eggs were being cared for, and then arrived at the Training Yard, where the Kharziks were practising Archery.
"You will not find better Archers anywhere than them. They can not just aim on foot, but also when they are on the backs of their horses and Hippogriffs."
All four of them felt that his words were true because what these Kharziks were practising was not Archery on foot, but Archery on the back of their horses and against moving targets.
Impressively, they were either using longbows or recurve bows on the back of their rides, not the horse bows that the Dothraki used. And their aims were perfect or near perfect.
"With them on the walls, who dares approach the Town?" Oberyn smiled, but his smile froze at Azaerys' next words.
"Creatures who feel less pain, have thick skin, can survive a dozen arrows in their body, and have only one goal on their minds. The flesh of people. Not to mention, as good as these Kharziks are with Bows, the Cursed Folk are just as good at aiming with their wooden javelins. And they can throw them at a speed which makes it very difficult to dodge."
"What terms were agreed?" The Dornish Prince suddenly asked and several thoughts ran through his mind. "Your Dragons are still young. If those creatures are truly that dangerous with their javelins, they are a serious threat."
"They are dangerous, yes, but we are smarter," Azaerys calmly said, and they were all relieved that his mind was clear about it. "As for the terms, the Trade Agreement has been reached. It will be a biennial trade of silk, spices, and wines for weapons, medicines, and gold. Additionally, we will stay here for three moons and will help them deal with the Hunt of the cursed creatures. We will return here again next year before the Hunt to help them and will continue to do so until the Man-apes are scared and don't come out. In return for services, each Tribe, except for the Shadowcat Tribe, will lend us 200 Warriors for five years. At the end of the period, the Warriors must return home. A new batch will be sent to us if we desire it. The Chieftains have also expressed their desire for the Beasts that are not found here, so we can trade them as well for more Weapons and Gold. They are also interested in medicinal herbs."
"Are their weapons really so good?" Viserys curiously asked, and the Young King smiled at him before leading them to the top of the walls.
Oberyn curiously inspected the Scorpions installed there and their bolts, and he was amazed at how well-built they were. They were even better than the Scorpions the Dorne had spent a fortune on accumulating.
They later returned to the Training Yard and also tested the Bows. The speed of arrows surprised them, and they were all frowning at the results.
"It's not just the craftsmanship, is it?" Arthur asked, curiously looking at the material.
"Correct. This wood is only found in this region of Ulthos. It's from a tree called the Silverblood Tree. Its sap has sleep-inducing properties, and Kharziks use it to relieve pain and help the injured sleep. Works better than the milk of poppy and has no side effects. You should try the medicines these people create. You will be amazed."
"Oh, I will be," the Dornish Prince suddenly said as he walked over to a group of Kharziks, who were practising with their staffs.
It was funny watching him use signs to tell them that he wanted to join them in training, and the people laughed before they asked him to pick any of the training weapons from the racks.
Nymeria grinned when she watched her father spar with a Kharzik, catching him off guard with his skill, and within minutes, all the spearmen were enthralled by his mastery over the weapon.
"Father's pumped up after watching your fight," said the girl, and Azaerys smiled at her words.
"Is that so?"
"Yes," she nodded, "he doesn't show it but he's very competitive."
"You can never achieve that level of skill if you are not competitive," reminded Arthur.
"I have heard that Ser Barristen Selmy is better than you." She tried to get on the nerves of her husband, who just smiled at his words.
"Was. I surpassed him long ago," he confidently said.
"So, you have no competition now?" She grinned.
"Well, my King here has almost caught up, and forgive me, Your Grace, but I don't intend to let you surpass me."
"There's nothing to forgive. It would be a shame if my Kingsguard is weaker than me," he grinned, and Nymeria laughed when she saw Arthur's smile solidify at those words. "Be nice to your wife, Arthur."
"She's irritating, Your Grace."
"They all are..."
"Hey, I will tell Ashara what you just said."
"I say it to her face too, she will just roll her eyes when you tell her what I said."
"We shall see..." Nymeria tensed up when she sensed someone sneaking up behind them, and when she glanced at her husband, she found his eyes already on the culprits.
Azaerys smiled when someone grabbed his left hand and then pulled it up to look at his palm, where a long cut split his skin.
It looked very serious, but the girl and her companion frowned when they saw that the wound was already scabbing.
"How can you heal so fast?" The girl asked in the First Tongue.
"I will tell you if you tell me your name," he said to her, and she raised her head to look at him with her beautiful grey eyes.
"Laena," she replied.
"Well, my wounds heal slightly faster than other people, Laeha." He smiled at her, and her eyes widened in surprise.
"How do you know that I am Laeha?" She asked, and her sister raised her brow too.
Except for their mother, no one else could tell them apart, not even their father. And her mother too made mistakes at times.
"I can tell when someone is lying to me." He told her. "How old are your younger siblings?"
The out-of-the-blue question made them frown even more.
"Why do you want to know that?" Laena narrowed her eyes at him.
"Just asking." He smiled.
"We have two brothers. The youngest is four namedays old, and the other is two and ten namedays old," answered Laeha.
"Tell me about your town. Is it bigger than the Lion's Town?"
"It is twice as big,"
"We have two hundred and fifty thousand people,"
"Tiger Town has more people, but is slightly smaller in terms of land,"
"Why is this place small then?" Viserys frowned, and both curiously looked at him.
"It's closer to the river and is usually the battlefield for wars against the Cursed Folk. Back then, there was not enough time to make it bigger."
"People of Lion Tribe also send their young boys and girls to get trained in other Towns, because it's much safer there and they would not die in the forests."
"Two people are in deep sleep now after Man-Apes killed the birds they were Warging into. It happened three days ago."
The two loved continuing the words of each other, and it was quite cute to see them do it.
"Why is your dragon different from the ones in the drawings? It is smaller too." Laeha asked.
"It's a different kind of dragon."
"They don't grow as big?" Laena asked, raising her brow.
"No." He sighed and shook his head, which prompted Viserys to chuckle.
"You lie." The twins narrowed their eyes at him.
"Nefaerion is still young. She's a child."
"Take us on a ride." Laena suddenly demanded.
"I can't. She does not let people other than me, my sister and my daughter ride on her."
"Weak. You don't have control over your Beast."
"She's not my Beast." He chuckled, shaking his head.
"Dragons are like companions, siblings, children. They are not pets, and you must treat them with respect," said Viserys. "Every dragon has a different nature. Mine is kinder, gentler, caring. Arthur's dragon, Silvexis, is mischievous, likes playing a lot, and loves hiding in the clouds. As for Nefaerion, she is moody, a deadly hunter who kills for sport, and she loves burning things up. Also, don't misbehave with Azaerys when she is watching, she will try to kill you."
"Oh..."
"You shouldn't misbehave with any Drgaonrider when their Drgaon is around, and definitely not harm them. They are very protective of us, and whilst some are understanding, Dragons like Nefaerion wouldn't care if you are friends or family. To them, you are a dead man if you harm their Rider," he continued, recalling the day when the she-dragon had breathed fire at Arthur when he harmed Azaerys during the spar.
Thankfully, the King had reacted in time and saved him, and it took a lot of convincing to calm down the angry She-Dragon. It was not until the Knight knelt to Azaerys and apologised that she stopped looking at him as if he were her food.
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