Artys Arryn POV
"Open the gates!"
I ordered as I dropped both my Valyrian steel swords into a nearby soldier's arms.
"My lord, why are you not taking your swords with you?" the man asked, staring at the blades in confusion.
"It's going to be close combat. Longswords are no good for that," I replied.
Instead, I took two daggers, one in each hand. The first was forged from Valyrian steel, the same blade I had used to butcher Daario Naharis. The other was bastard steel, its hilt coated with gold and decorated with gems.
The gates creaked open before me.
I walked down the slope slowly.
A few patches of burning oil still clung to the stone beside the bodies of dead Dothraki and the Second Sons who had tried to push through and burned with them. Smoke still drifted lazily through the pass, while small flames crackled here and there among the blackened corpses.
It smelled like shit.
I kept walking.
At the bottom, the lower gate lay burned and broken. Beyond it, the Dothraki horde had gathered, their horses restless, their riders watching in complete silence as I descended alone.
Not one of them moved.
"Come. Face me!" I roared as I reached the middle of the slope.
My voice echoed between the cliffs.
Fear spread across many faces below.
But the man upon the white horse was not afraid.
Khal Mongo sat motionless, his wife's severed head hanging from one hand, his bronze bells perfectly still. He stared at me the way a man stares at something he has not yet decided how to kill.
For several long moments, neither of us moved. The valley itself seemed to hold its breath.
Then Mongo casually let his wife's head fall into the dirt.
Without a word, he dug his heels into the white stallion. The beast exploded forward.
He charged straight toward me, passing through the burned gate at full gallop. Instead of drawing his arakh, he reached for his bow, pulled the string back, and aimed it straight at me.
"And here I thought we were going to have a proper duel," I said, tilting my head slightly to the right.
I looked past him.
Past the rider.
Past everything.
I focused on the horse beneath him.
"Stop," I said softly.
The horse stopped.
Instantly.
The sudden halt at full gallop launched Khal Mongo clean over the stallion's neck. He crashed face-first into the dirt as the arrow flew harmlessly into the sky.
For one heartbeat, the entire valley fell silent.
Then—
"Hahaha!"
Laughter erupted from every man on the walls behind me. Even several Unsullied exchanged brief glances before looking away again, pretending they hadn't nearly laughed.
The white stallion calmly walked past its fallen rider, stopped a few feet in front of me, and then, to the disbelief of everyone watching...
It knelt.
A murmur spread through the Dothraki ranks.
Khal Mongo slowly climbed back to his feet, blood trickling down his forehead where he had struck the ground. His eyes shifted from me to the horse.
His horse.
Kneeling before another man.
For the first time since arriving, uncertainty flickered across his face.
"Me nem azhak yeri?"
What kind of witchcraft is this?
"Hrazef mae rek athchomar yeri, Mongo."
The horse recognizes its true Khal, Mongo.
I raised my voice so every rider in the valley could hear.
"Anha athdavrazar! Anha tih azhakooni vezhven qoy qoyi!"
I AM THE GREAT STALLION! I AM THE STALLION WHO WILL MOUNT THE WORLD!
The words rolled across the valley.
Some riders looked toward one another.
Others never took their eyes off the kneeling horse.
A lie.
I knew it.
But I could control animals. And if one kneeling horse could shake the faith of thousands of Dothraki...
Why wouldn't I use it?
When thousands of horses kneel before me, that sight alone will make even more of them believe.
POV ends
"For the Emperor!" One-Eye Crow shouted into the sky, beating his wings furiously.
Thousands of birds answered the call, filling the heavens before folding their wings and diving toward the Dothraki horde below.
"FOR THE EMPEROR!"
"FOR THE SHINY MAN!"
"FOR THE FEEDER OF CROWS!"
The flock plunged.
For a heartbeat, the sky itself seemed to disappear.
Then the black cloud crashed downward.
The sound of thousands of wings beating together rolled across the valley like thunder as crows, ravens, hawks, vultures, and eagles descended upon the Dothraki horde.
The first riders looked upward in confusion.
"What in the—"
A crow smashed straight into his face before he could finish.
"CAW!"
Its claws dug into his cheeks while its beak hammered furiously at his eye.
"My eye!" the rider screamed, dropping his reins as blood poured down his face.
His terrified horse slammed into another.
Both riders were thrown from their saddles and vanished beneath a wall of pounding hooves.
"Everyone!" One-Eye Crow shouted proudly as he shot between two wildly swinging arakhs. "Eyes first!"
"Eyes first!"
"Eyes first!"
The flock repeated the order like soldiers drilled a thousand times before breaking formation.
Birds scattered across the khalasar.
One raven landed squarely on a horse's head and pecked at it with everything it had.
The stallion shrieked, reared onto its hind legs, and threw its rider backward into another horse.
Both men crashed to the ground.
A panicked horse trampled across them before bolting away.
"Double kill!" the raven shouted proudly.
"They only fell, dumbass. They didn't die," another crow corrected as he tore an eyeball free and flew away with it.
"Caw! I've killed more men than the number of men your mother slept with."
"Don't bring my mother into this!" the crow snapped.
He folded his wings, dived beneath a swinging arakh by inches, pecked the rider's ear clean through, then climbed back into the sky while the Dothraki screamed in pain.
The furious warrior hacked wildly after him.
Miss.
Miss.
Miss.
The final swing buried itself in another rider's shoulder.
"AHHHHH!"
"Friendly fire already?" the crow laughed.
"The bald monkeys are helping us!"
"Remember, we can't fight each other!" One-Eye Crow shouted while weaving through three terrified horses.
"Infighting is banned by the Emperor! Whoever gets fewer kills has to shout in front of everyone that his mother is a whore!"
Nearby, three crows landed on a warrior's magnificent braid.
"What are you idiots doing?" another crow yelled after pecking a rider square in the nose.
"Stealing!" the first crow replied.
He hung upside down from the braid while pecking furiously at the golden rings woven through it.
The Dothraki spun in circles trying to grab him, accidentally smashing his elbow into the rider beside him.
With a sharp snap, the first golden ring finally came free.
Blood followed it.
"LOOT!"
"Those are shiny! I'm going to exchange them for roasted peanuts back at base... then exchange those peanuts for a night at the Raven Pleasurehouse," he said cheerfully.
"I saw them first!" one of the crows objected.
"You always say that!"
"They're literally in my claws!"
"They're spiritually ours!" another crow argued.
"We're comrades! We share everything!" he insisted.
"Who's 'we'?" the bird holding the golden ring snapped angrily.
"I knew it, you filthy traitor! The moment you get something, it's yours. But if someone else gets it, suddenly it belongs to everyone! You filthy hypocrite! No wonder she left you!" the raven shouted, spreading his wings in outrage.
"Don't bring her into this!" he shot back.
A fourth crow landed beside them, glanced at the golden earring...
...then casually snatched it from his claws and swallowed it whole.
Silence.
"..."
"..."
"You little bastard!"
"No problem," the crow replied, patting his stomach proudly. "Come back tomorrow morning. You can have it for breakfast. I'll even throw in some shit as a bonus."
The other three immediately chased after him, screaming insults instead of helping the battle.
Below them, the warrior howled in pain and wildly swung his arakh over his own head.
The crows scattered effortlessly.
The blade instead buried itself in another Dothraki rider's shoulder.
"AHHHHH!" the man screamed in agony.
"Friendly fire!" one crow cawed happily.
"The bald monkeys are helping us!"
Far above them, a pair of peregrine falcons folded their wings.
The world blurred.
They became little more than grey streaks diving toward the battlefield.
One slammed into a rider's face with terrifying speed.
Crunch.
The man's nose exploded as blood sprayed across the riders around him.
The falcon climbed back into the sky without losing momentum.
"Direct hit!" he shouted proudly.
"I hit mine so hard he forgot gravity."
The hawk circled proudly overhead.
"Did you all see that?"
"No."
"I did."
"Pity your girl didn't come with us. Otherwise you would've gotten lucky today," one crow joked.
"Maybe she's making someone else lucky back home," another replied.
For a moment...
Silence.
Then—
"HAAAAA!"
"HAAAAA!"
Even a passing vulture nearly stalled in midair from laughing.
"What did you say?" the hawk screeched, diving after them.
"I'm going to peck your ass!"
"...Shit, I'm not gay!" the crow shouted, flapping away in panic.
"Good!" the hawk screeched. "That makes it more fun!"
Then he folded his wings and shot after the two crows.
The chase lasted exactly three seconds before a spear nearly skewered all three birds.
They scattered in different directions.
The spear continued onward...
...and struck another Dothraki clean through the chest.
Silence.
Every bird stopped flapping for half a heartbeat.
Then—
"HE HIT HIS FRIEND!"
The sky exploded with laughter.
"I CAN'T BREATHE!"
"You don't breathe!"
"I KNOW!"
One-Eye Crow laughed so hard he flew straight into a confused vulture.
"Watch where you're laughing!"
"Formation!" One-Eye Crow shouted, regaining what little dignity he had left. "Attack again!"
Below, the horses had completely lost their minds.
One bolted straight through three riders.
Another kicked its own master square in the jaw before galloping away.
A third simply sat down.
"..."
"...Did that horse just surrender?" one raven asked.
"I think so."
"Smart horse."
One vulture landed comfortably atop a dead horse.
"What are you doing?" a raven asked while pecking at a screaming rider's ear.
"Reserving lunch while it's still warm."
The horse twitched.
The vulture immediately hopped backward.
"That's rude!" he complained.
"You weren't dead five seconds ago!"
Nearby, a crow swooped low and snatched a leather pouch from a Dothraki warrior's saddle.
"I GOT SOMETHING HEAVY!"
"Gold?"
"I DON'T KNOW!"
The pouch burst open as he climbed.
Hundreds of dried berries rained over the battlefield.
Silence.
"..."
"BERRIES!!!!"
The entire flock changed direction.
"GET HIM!"
"No, fuck him, GO FOR THE BERRIES!" one of the crows shouted.
The poor crow screamed as nearly forty birds abandoned the battle to rob him in midair.
Meanwhile, below them, three Dothraki accidentally hacked each other while trying to swat the birds away.
One-Eye Crow looked down upon the complete chaos with pride swelling in his tiny chest.
"Today," he declared grandly, "we have successfully liberated these berries from the oppressive horse fuckers!"
"CAW!"
"But isn't it theft!" one of the crows, a few months old, asked.
"CAW! The strong have every right to take whatever they want from the weak."
"They're OUR berries now!"
"Long live the Republic!"
"FOR FREE BERRIES!"
"FOR THE EMPEROR!"
Hundreds of birds erupted into cheers before immediately fighting each other over the berries they had just liberated.