Chapter 116: The Fury of the True Dragon
The rioters surged into the Dragonpit like ants. At the bottom of the enormous Dragonpit, two Dragons had awakened, their massive bodies chained within their respective lairs. The Dragons saw the dense crowd swarming into the Dragonpit and immediately realized something was wrong. Shrykos, with her large head, immediately spewed a stream of Dragonflame at the crowd, followed by Morghul, the purplish-black Dragon, who hung upside down from the top of his lair, trying to protect his vulnerable underside.
The Dragonflame instantly engulfed the surging crowd, and the Dragonpit quickly ignited. The first wave of rioters to enter the Dragonpit fell to the Dragonflame, and those on fire screamed and stumbled, trying to rush out, their flesh peeling away from their charred bones. But more people poured into the Dragonpit.
A man in heavy armor, his face obscured, charged through the Dragonflame toward Shrykos. The Dragon had just bitten a rioter to death and was killing more with her claws and tail, but she still ignored the man engulfed in flames. The man stabbed a spear through the young Dragon's scales. Shrykos roared in pain and turned to spew fire, but the man was faster. He swung an axe at the Dragon's head, and as the Dragon roared in pain and leaped up, he jumped onto her head. The man's legs locked tightly around the Dragon's neck.
"Father!"
An axe slammed heavily into the Dragon's head, tearing through her scales. Shrykos struggled painfully, the young Dragon trying to take flight, but the chains held her back, even yanking her to the ground. People with spears and swords surrounded her.
"Slaughter it!" A rioter jabbed a spear into the Dragon's belly.
"Slaughter it!" A man who looked like a mercenary knight slashed through the Dragon's wing membrane with a sword.
Spears pierced the Dragon's body, and Shrykos roared in pain, continuously spewing Dragonflame. But she was too young; the power and range of her Dragonflame couldn't protect her, and her scales weren't as thick as her older counterparts.
"Mother!"
The man in heavy armor brought his axe down again, splitting the Dragon's scales and revealing the flesh beneath.
"Maiden!"
Hot Dragon blood gushed out.
"Crone!"
The Dragon's struggles intensified, but the man remained unmoved, bringing his axe down again.
"Smith!"
The Dragon's skull was exposed.
"Warrior!"
The Dragon roared, trying to shake the man off again, but more spears plunged into Shrykos's body, even if their owners had been ignited by Dragonflame or killed by the Dragon's thrashing body.
"Stranger!"
With the final axe blow, the Dragon's skull instantly cracked, and the battle-axe embedded deeply into Shrykos's brain. The Dragon whimpered and crashed to the ground.
Before the man could cheer, Dragonflame struck from behind. Morghul cunningly piled up a wall of rioter corpses and, hiding behind it, suddenly unleashed a torrent of Dragonflame, engulfing the man who had not yet celebrated his victory in raging fire.
"Slaughter that Dragon!" The rioters prepared to continue their assault on Morghul but found no one behind them.
Instead, screams came from outside the Dragonpit. Morghul seized the opportunity and spewed a stream of Dragonflame at the rioters remaining in the Dragonpit.
"The Dragons are here! The Dragons are here!"
Alec Cargyll glared fiercely at the Dragons taking flight one after another from the Red Keep, stomping his foot in frustration. The beautiful Moondancer, with her spiny crest, led the way, announcing the Dragons' arrival with a slender stream of Dragonflame.
Joffrey ultimately made Queen Rhaenyra I determined to ride her Dragon to quell the rebellion. The children's actions were simple: Baela directly dragged Joffrey out of Maegor's Holdfast, intending to ride a Dragon into battle from the courtyard. Queen Rhaenyra took a moment to realize what her children wanted to do.
"What are you doing? Come back, it's too dangerous! Ser Erryk, Ser Steffon, quickly bring my children back!" Queen Rhaenyra screamed, trying to stop her children from riding Dragons into battle. But in the end, several ministers and the jester Mushroom persuaded the Queen.
"Your Grace, if the rioters are allowed to slaughter Dragons, the legitimacy and sanctity of House Targaryen will be utterly destroyed. My granddaughter and grandson understand this."
This was said by Lord Corlys Velaryon.
Bartimos echoed the Sea Snake's words.
"Your Grace, the Prince's and Princess's Dragons are too small; they need your Syrax."
"Your Grace, if the rats discover they can bite a chained lion to death, we cannot guarantee they won't consider biting a lion within stone walls."
The jester Mushroom jumped in front of the two White Swords, blocking them as he spoke loudly.
Rhaenyra finally made up her mind. She followed her children's footsteps and once again mounted her companion.
Moondancer flew at the highest point, continuously pouring fire onto the ground. Closely following was Tyraxes, the young purple Dragon, perched on the Dragonpit's dome, incessantly spewing flames at the rioters attempting to surge into the Dragonpit.
Lastly came Syrax.
The topaz-colored behemoth flew above the crowd. The rioters had few bows and crossbows and posed no threat to the Dragons high above.
"Everyone leave immediately!" Joffrey shouted. "In the name of Queen Rhaenyra I of House Targaryen, I command you to leave immediately. As long as you leave, no one will be harmed!"
"Slaughter them, slaughter these monsters!" The Shepherd's voice still hoarsely echoed through the crowd.
But what greeted them was Syrax's Dragonflame.
"Prophet, I'm on fire! It hurts!"
A rioter, completely engulfed in flames, screamed and charged at the Shepherd, the fire igniting the mad prophet's clothes. Dragonflame instantly consumed the mad prophet as well.
"May the Seven Gods protect us! The Warrior will eventually appear to slay the evil Dragon!" The Shepherd screamed in the flames, but another seemingly unquenchable fire poured down from the sky.
Rhaenyra finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The blood-red serpentine Dragon flew in, her blood-red flames brutally carving a long wall of fire through the crowd.
Prince Daemon was back.
The Prince's face seemed to freeze; he didn't even speak, simply letting Caraxes pour fire onto the heads of every rioter surrounding the Dragonpit, whether they were squeezed in the crowd or trying to escape.
Alec Cargyll sighed and silently walked into the wall of fire spewed by Caraxes. Syrax chirped happily, also spewing streams of Dragonflame at the crowd.
The Shepherd screamed and turned to ashes in the flames. Seeing no Warrior appear, the Shepherd was merely a mortal whose flesh fell away in the fire. The rioters collapsed. Some frantically pushed their way out, some directly knelt on the ground begging for forgiveness, and some simply jumped into the wall of fire.
Dawn finally arrived.
The Dragonpit, which had been noisy all night, finally became empty. The morale of the King's Landing gate guards and the Gold Cloaks attempting to break through the rioters' defenses greatly increased after seeing the Dragons. They cut a bloody path through the rioters.
The entire area in front of the Dragonpit was covered in corpses, piled into mountains and emitting a foul stench.
Syrax slowly descended onto the charred Dragonpit square, and Rhaenyra, suppressing her nausea, dismounted from her Dragon saddle. Caraxes also landed beside Syrax.
"What happened? How could King's Landing deteriorate to this extent?" Daemon looked at the mountain of corpses in shock. Even now, beneath Rhaenys's Hill, Gold Cloaks were executing rioters, and with pleas for mercy and wails, heads fell one by one.
Rhaenyra was silent; she knew that she bore an inescapable responsibility for the situation's deterioration.
"The plague, the plague disrupted my plans. Otherwise, I could have already started gradually abolishing taxes and improving the lives of the common people."
"Plague?" Prince Daemon's expression changed. "How can there be a plague?"
"I don't know."
Joffrey, looking exhausted, walked out of the Dragonpit with Baela.
"Father, it was a sudden outbreak of plague."
Little Joff gave his mother a somewhat resentful look.
"Shrykos is dead, and Morghul is lightly wounded."
"What?"
Daemon covered his face. A Dragon killed by common people on his own territory—Daemon truly couldn't find the words to describe this matter.
"The Usurper is dead."
Daemon composed himself and changed the subject.
Rhaenyra's eyes lit up, as if the gloom of the riot had been instantly swept away.
"Daemon, you are my great hero."
"Now, what we should worry about is the plague."
Daemon looked at the piles of corpses and sighed.
"With so many dead, King's Landing might become a den of sickness. Your Grace, we need to organize cremations as soon as possible."
Joffrey frowned, looking at the corpses at the entrance of the Dragonpit. Most of them were charred to ashes, but a few pressed underneath were still relatively intact.
The boy saw corpses with blue lips and scratch marks all over their bodies. He quickly averted his gaze, startled.
What Joffrey didn't notice was that many corpses in the square had similar characteristics, and some even had yellow pus oozing from their bodies.
As the King's Landing riot gradually subsided—
Dragon Nest City.
Dragonpit.
Shadow Nightmare and Stormcloud stared at the few ragged figures brought in by the City Watch and Bishop Ke'erlun, baring their sharp teeth.
"Prince, I have already cut out the tongues of these heretics."
Bishop Ke'erlun glared fiercely at the ascetics.
"Their wicked voices should not exist in this world."
The leading ascetic immediately struggled, seemingly wanting to say something, but with his tongue cut out, he could say nothing.
"I recommend burning them at the stake," Bishop Ke'erlun said, pointing at them. "Let the Dragons give them divine punishment! Let them know how hateful their heretical crimes are."
Ray smiled. He waved his hand, signaling Shadow Nightmare to come closer, and gently scratched the scrawny black Dragon's chin.
"Alright. Shadow Nightmare, Dracarys."
Pale flames swept through the cave.
Bishop Ke'erlun watched in ecstasy as the Dragonflame turned the heretics to ashes.
"This is a miracle."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you like the story please give it some power stones and reviews. And if you want to read 40+ advance chapters or just want to support me please join my patreon at [email protected]/Translatingfanfics