The Age of Daenerys Targaryen

Part 36: Rebellion

Gendry kept his promise and knighted the two ballistaeers who had hit Drogon on the evening after the battle. It would not be difficult to find castles for them in the stormlands, since the previous war of the Five Kings had killed so many nobles.

However, no one could say how badly the dragon had been wounded. Scouts were sent out to search the surrounding area for traces of Drogon, but found nothing except for a few splatters of blood suggesting the monster had fled southeast.

Of course, victory reports were immediately sent to King's Landing, Winterfell and Norvos, the capital of the League of Free Cities. Unfortunately, there was no raven mail in Essos, so it would take weeks for the news to reach its destination.

The Lord of Storm's End did not want to launch a counter-offensive on his own. According to intelligence reports, one hundred thousand or more Imperial soldiers were still stationed in the Disputed Lands. So Gendry limited himself to a tried and tested approach: having small, agile squads raid hostile territory.

When Grand Maester Samwell Tarly read the news of the victory at Pentos to the others, the Small Council burst into jubilation.

"So, is the dragon dead or not?", Bronn, the Master of coin, finally wanted to know.

"Apparently it escaped", Sam replied. "Lord Gendry believes the wounds may be fatal, but until that is confirmed..."

"At least it should be out of action for a while", said Tyrion. "Your Grace", he turned to King Bran, "you can't happen to find out more through your ... ability?"

"I can't keep an eye on things beyond the Narrow Sea as well as I can in Westeros", replied the King. "I had not been able to track down Drogon four years ago when he was flying east after Daenerys' death."

Tyrion scratched his beard. "Anyway. We must now try to usurp the initiative. Yohn Royce is still recovering in Norvos, and it will be a while before we can reinforce Gendry enough to make a serious push against the Empire. But if we could weaken the Imperial Navy ... Lord Davos? A while ago you suggested using demolition ships to attack the Imperial ships in the harbor of Tyrosh. How quickly can this be initiated?"

The Master of ships cleared his throat. "Well, I would definitely want to wait until the new moon. Until then, I'll have to find as much lamp oil as we can get - wildfire would be too dangerous for my own ships. We just don't have the more stable recipe of the Imperials. In short: it can start in three weeks."

The Hand of the King nodded in satisfaction. "Three weeks are early enough. If we succeed in breaking the dominance of the Imperials in the Narrow Sea, our supply lines would be..."

A dozen magisters had gathered that night in the wine cellar of Aeran Sanel's villa. Because of the night curfew imposed by the Imperial occupiers in Myr, they would not be able to return home until after sunrise.

Not that there wasn't enough to talk about by then.

"The Imperials try to hide it", said Aeran, a thin old man with full white hair, "but all rumors say the same thing: that they were defeated at Pentos."

"And what about the dragon?", Doneo Naerys wanted to know. Doneo was a sturdy, tall man with short brown hair and a beard. He was the leader of the nascent resistance movement of Myr. A movement that Imperial Intelligence didn't know about ... hopefully.

"Unfortunately, the stories diverge widely", replied the white-haired man. "Some say the beast fell dead from the sky above the battlefield and dragged the Empress into her doom. Another version says Daenerys survived badly injured and was captured by the Alliance. Then it is said that the dragon fled the battlefield and later died. The dragon survived, but the Empress was fatally wounded. Both survived and the Empress is now waiting for the beast to recover from the injuries. The Imperials here in the city don't seem to know which version is correct."

"So no guarantee that Drogon is really dead", said Doneo. "Nothing in life is certain." He looked around expectantly. He and his colleagues stood surrounded by huge wine barrels, in the flickering light of some torches. Doneo and Aeran trusted each of them blindly, otherwise they wouldn't be here. There were others who would likely support the Resistance, but letting them in would increase the risk of detection to an unacceptable level.

"Shall we dare?", he asked. "The Imperials are insecure and have withdrawn troops from the city in order to strengthen the front after their defeat. The garrison now only has a strength of about four thousand men."

"ONLY four thousand?", one of the men spoke up. "There are still four thousand ARMED men, gentlemen. What do we have to offer against it?"

It was true, of course. The resistance had been clandestinely hoarding weapons for the past few months, but that could only arm three hundred men.

"If we could get the armories of the Imperial Army under our control in a flash", said Doneo, "we can arm anyone who is willing to fight for the freedom of Myr."

"We still need people wielding these weapons", Aeran pointed out. "Thousands. Oh, no question, most of our fellow citizens can't wait to get rid of the Imperials. But if we start recruiting fighters on a large scale now, the risk of detection increases enormously."

"We always knew we were getting to that point", said Doneo. "It was just reached faster than expected." He took a deep breath. "We'll start in three days."

The gods seemed to mean well with the resistance fighters. Three days passed, hordes of volunteers joined the cause and the Imperials noticed nothing.

The armories were located at the barracks of the city guard, where the Imperial soldiers had now nested, surrounded by a high protective wall. The area was guarded day and night.

An hour before dawn, a small force led by Doneo Naerys attacked under cover of darkness. With crossbows they switched off the guards at the gate before they could sound the alarm. Doneo held his breath as they crept inside. Apparently no one had seen anything. He and his men worked their way cautiously to the armory.

After these were secured - still no alarm had been triggered - it was time to distribute the weapons to the thousands of volunteers. Carrying out the equipment one by one would have taken too long, so all the fighters had to come to the barracks area. That would definitely not go unnoticed. It was imperative that as many rebels as possible were armed before the Imperials reacted.

"The dice have been cast", Doneo said quietly to himself and gave a loud whistle.

The fighting continued all day. The barracks were completely overrun by the resistance fighters in the course of the morning, but the Imperials held out for hours on the city walls, at the Palace of the First Magister and at the port. It was not until evening came that the Imperial flag that waved over the palace was removed to the cheering of tens of thousands. The Imperial Military Governor was thrown into the dungeon while Doneo Naerys was celebrated by the citizens.

Myr was freed, and it was its inhabitants who had done it with their own hands. Now it all depended on how quickly the Alliance would send reinforcements and how soon the Empire's inevitable retaliation would come.