chapter twenty-six . . .
too soon
✧
After more traveling, the khalasar had finally arrived to Vaes Dothrak, the city of of riders.
Vaes Dothrak is the heart of the Dothraki sea. It has broad, windswept streets paved in grass and mud. There are carved stone pavilions, manses of woven grass, wooden towers, stepped pyramids and log halls.
It lies in the shadow of a single, vast peak known by the Dothraki as the Mother of Mountains. The entrance to Vaes Dothrak is marked by two large statues depicting a pair of stallions.
Vaes Dothrak sprawls languorously in the warm sun. It was large enough to hold every khalasar, were they all to return at once.
Rhaerys learned that Vaes Dothrak is a place of peace where the Dothraki khalasari may gather and meet to trade, but not to fight. Therefore it is forbidden to draw a sword while in the city, under penalty of death.
However, the restriction is specifically on drawing a bladed weapon or shedding blood should the need arise, it is permissible to kill someone in the city using other lethal means, Even so, due to the respect the Dothraki have for the city, violence within it is rare.
The city has a large marketplace, where where foreign merchants from as far afield as the Free Cities and Asshai sell their wares.
Inside a tent, secluded from the others, the sounds of heavy breaths filled the space as Rhaerys sat bare astride her husband, rocking her hips ever so gently.
Jahakko's groans sounded like music to Rhaerys' ears, she loved that she could make him feel this way.
The two then laid together in front of a fire, loving the way their naked skin felt against one another's.
"I will be leaving soon. To hunt." Jahakko said as he trailed his finger tips up and down his wife's bare arm.
"For how long?" Rhaerys asked, not wanting to be left without his presence.
"Not very long, moon of my life." He said as he stood to his feet with her and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
Rhaerys nodded.
Jahakko then went to gather his belts when Rhaerys grabbed them from his hands and left him to dress.
Once his lower half was dressed, she tied the belts on his waist tightly but gently.
Rhaerys ran her palm down his arm and grasped his palm as she led him to sit. She situated herself behind him and gathered his long thick hair into a single braid.
"Return to me." She whispered.
The Khal turned to his wife on his knees. "You are my Khaleesi."
Rhaerys gazed at her husband with soft eyes and nodded. "You are my Khal."
Soon after, Jahakko left their tent to join the hunt.
Rhaeys sat in front of the still burning fire and watched the dancing flames.
Rhaerys' vision swirled and before she knew it she had entered a dream.
Images of Khal Jahakko and members of the khalasar flashed before her eyes, they looked content, Rhaerys thought.
She was then suddenly hit with a feeling of dread that sent shivers down her spine.
Arrows were being sent into the bodies of the people, they dropped from their horses to the ground one after the other.
Men came from the shadows of the trees and bushes, one in particular had his face covered.
She saw Jahakko with a look of acceptance, acceptance that it was the end.
Rhaerys had begun to wail, but her cries were not heard.
"You should have listened to me." The unknown man said.
"I would never give my people to one so unworthy." Jahakko said.
The man drew and ax from his belt, Jahakko doing the same and the two advanced one another.
Rhaerys jumped to her feet as she had awoken from the dream and began to run out of the tent.
Rocks broke through the skin of her bare feet as she sprinted towards the wooded area of Vaes Dothrak.
Several people watched the Khaleesi run and began to wonder where she was going and followed.
"Khaleesi." Rhaerys' hand maids called. They had been worried for her feet.
The wind dried the tears on Rhaerys' face as she ran and ran, hoping that she wouldn't be too late.
Rhaerys pushed at the branches that scratched against her face as she ran through the trees, she could practically smell death as she grew closer and closer.
Rhaerys heard grunting as she slowed her pace.
Rhaerys felt sick to her stomach as she saw the many people that lie dead. Their faces to the stars.
The sound of gasps and cries behind Rhaerys filled her ears as the people saw their fallen.
Rhaerys' heart sunk as her husband came into view.
"My sun and stars." She cried as she rushed to his side and fell to her knees.
"Wife." Jahakko coughed, blood spewed from his mouth. Rhaerys shushed him as she shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Her hands shook as she pressed her hands to the wound on his stomach to stop the bleeding.
"No, no it is too soon." Rhaerys sobbed.
"I made you no promise." Jahakko said as he gasped between breaths. "You made me a happy man."
"You cannot leave." Rhaerys gasped as she grasped his palm in hers and rested it against her belly. "Our son needs his father." She cried.
Jahakko's eyes filled with tears at the thought of being a father. "The stallion... the stallion who will mount the world." Jahakko said before he took his final breath.
Rhaerys rested her head against his chest as she wailed with grief.
The only sound heard was the cries of their Khaleesi and the cries of the wives who cried for their husbands.
Rhaerys stood to her feet and gazed at the many faces of the gathered khalasar.
"I see the faces of slaves." Rhaerys begun. "I free you. Take off your collars. Go if you wish, no one shall harm you. If you stay, it will be as family. I see the children, women, the wrinkled faces of the aged. To each of you I say, give me your hands and your hearts, and there will always be a place for you.
Give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore Send these the homeless...... to me"
The roars of dragons were heard as Rhaerys' three dragons flew overhead the people.
Rhaerys had let her dragons fly free to wherever they wanted. Even far away they felt the pain of their mother and finally returned to her.
Valarr and Valora were now equal in size, Valarr had always been the smaller of the two.
Next came the roar of Vakar that seemed to shake the sky.
"I carry the Khal's son inside of me. The stallion who will mount the world. My son will know of his father, of where he comes from, and I am hoping that I will have you by my side to watch him grow." Rhaerys said as she looked to her hand maids who instantly nodded and came to join her side.
"I would never force any of you to stay with me, you may stay here, in your home. I will return to King'sLanding, my very own home. There I will no longer be your Khaleesi, but your Queen if you wish to follow me."
"I have seen you, your braid grows longer by the years, you will be the new Khal." Rhaerys said as she looked to Jahakko's closest friend who'd stuck by him through the years. The man in mention bowed his head as he cried at the death of his Khal and his friend.
"You are not bound, you are free." Rhaerys said to the people.
"You shall always be my Khaleesi." One of Rhaerys' hand maids said.
"Khaleesi." The people shouted as they bowed to their knees before her.
"You may all rise." Rhaerys said. "You are my friends, my companions, I shall hold you close to my heart and I thank you for welcoming me into your home with open arms."
"The men responsible for this will be held accountable. I promise you this."
The men would die. If not by her hand or command, someone else would want revenge for the death of her husband.
note: it was bound to happen guys, please don't hate me :( i didn't wanna do it, i almost thought of changing the love interest for this book.
but, our girl is pregnant. should she return to king's landing pregnant or when the child is born? hmmm