"Which Khalasar are they from?" Daenerys asked.
"Ogoqao's Khalasar," Aggo replied casually, showing no indignation at the plight of his countrymen. "Bonno sold those slaves to Meereen. They're too young to be Unsullied, but too old to be trained as such. Since they can't be warriors, they were sold to estate owners in other city-states. They're not particularly useful, and they didn't cost much—forty silver coins. I wonder what Blood of My Blood intends to do with them?"
"They're Horsemen!" Daenerys emphasized, her voice rising.
"So what?" Aggo shrugged. "After defeat, they either die or become slaves. Everyone knows that."
"There are no slaves in my Khalasar!" Daenerys declared, cracking her whip. "Remove their collars! I want to ask them if they wish to join the Mother of Dragons' Khalasar, become her people, and fight for her."
"Your Highness," Whitebeard whispered, "perhaps you should ask them first, before removing their collars and shackles? Ogo's Khalasar was defeated by your husband. They number twenty, while we are only seven. If they scatter, we won't be able to stop them."
"I need the loyalty of Dothraki free riders, not slaves," Daenerys said, shaking her head.
"They won't run away," she added.
The old man sighed helplessly, dismounted, and stood beside the burly Bevos, guarding Daenerys.
Aggo and three Horseman warriors stepped forward to unlock the slaves' chains and collars.
*Clink, clank, clatter!* In moments, a pile of chains lay on the ground.
The Horseman slaves flexed their wrists, rotated their stiff necks, and felt a long-lost sense of lightness.
"Do you know who I am?" Daenerys asked.
The young Horsemen exchanged glances, some stealing furtive glances at Daenerys, but none dared to speak.
"Slaves don't need to speak, and I don't need slaves," Daenerys said coldly. "If any of you still remember that you are Horsemen, answer my question immediately."
"Khaleesi..." a young man hesitated.
A chorus of voices rose instantly, "You are the Khaleesi."
"The Khaleesi of Khal Drogo."
"I've seen you before, Khaleesi."
No one called her Mother of Dragons; they probably didn't know about the dragons yet.
"Will you join my Khalasar?" she asked again.
"Yes."
First, one man agreed, but a chorus of objections immediately followed: "Women cannot lead a Khalasar!"
"Khal Drogo is dead. You should go to Vaes Dothrak and become a Dosh Khaleen."
Hearing their words, Daenerys laughed with delight. "Excellent. You've finally regained a shred of the Horsemen's fierce pride."
"Aggo, after we return, break them up. From each ten-man team, select two men to be replaced by two new recruits. This will allow us to form two additional ten-man teams."
"Yes, my lady," Aggo nodded, accepting the order without regard for the opinions of the Horsemen who had just had their slave collars removed.
"They haven't sworn loyalty to you," Astan asked curiously as they walked to the next dock.
Daenerys smiled. "I don't care whether they swear loyalty immediately. My earlier actions were merely to provoke them, to help them cast off the shackles of slavery in their hearts as quickly as possible."
"The Horsemen are indeed savage, lacking any sense of nation or tribe, and showing no empathy for their comrades who become slaves. But it is precisely for this reason that they are also free from the constraints of 'nationality' and tribal bonds. On the Great Grass Sea, old Khalasars dissolve and new ones form every moment."
"As soon as they realize my Khalasar is truly a Khalasar, they'll be utterly loyal to me. Until the day I die."
Drogo hadn't absorbed Ogoqao's people into his Khalasar mainly because his own Khalasar was already near its limit.
Fifty thousand Roaring Warriors and over a hundred thousand civilians made it the largest Khalasar on the Great Grass Sea, unable to sustain any more people.
We walked past three to four miles of docks, shipyards, and warehouses, all the way to the end of the horseshoe-shaped harbor. Here, ships from the Summer Isles, Westeros, and the Nine Free Cities were required to dock.
The docks reserved for foreign merchants were far less orderly.
Prostitutes in faded, colorful gauze skirts flirted with sailors, lifting their bare thighs. Vendors hawked their wares, alcohol, and food directly among the ships.
Sailors were the most numerous, dozens of nationalities from east and west drifting through the docks. Some carried wine bottles, others had women in their arms, and some brawled while onlookers cheered loudly. A cacophony of accents blended into a boisterous din.
"Bevos is hungry, Whitebeard. Buy me some food," the burly man called out to Astan as they passed a barbecue stall.
The old man glared at him but dutifully bought him a packet of grilled fish chunks.
The pale, meaty fish had been slathered with spices, whale oil, and honey, then roasted to a golden brown. Finally, it was sprinkled with fennel powder and coarse-grained peppercorns.
"Gulp," Aggo swallowed hard and said, "Khaleesi, I want some too."
"Buy it yourself," Daenerys replied, then turned to Jorah and Whitebeard. "Do you want any?"
"No, thank you," they said in unison. They exchanged glances, as if understanding each other's thoughts without a word. Jorah finally explained, "It's too chaotic here with too many people. Eating would distract us and make it impossible to protect you."
Daenerys nodded, sharing their caution. She never ate street food or drank merchants' wine.
The Horsemen were unaccustomed to fish, so Aggo used copper coins to buy each one a skewer of honey-roasted rats.
The roasted rats, each about the size of a small bamboo rat, were crispy on the outside and tender and fragrant on the inside, leaving the Horsemen with greasy, dripping mouths.
"Khaleesi, you've arrived!" Captain Groleau, who had been observing the beast fights at the betting pit, immediately noticed Daenerys's group. Aggo was still shouting, "Make way for the Mother of Dragons!"
The old Pentos sailor hurried over to the small silver horse, cupped his hands around his mouth, and bellowed over the din of the crowd, the sailors' cheers, and the animals' cries, "Khaleesi! Three ships: one large sea vessel and two rowboats. The *Saedurion*, a grand sea ship, is moored at the end of the dock. The rowboats, *Summer Sun* and *Jester Yoso*, are anchored beyond the seawall. You and your retinue will ride the spacious sea ship. I'll lead you there now."
Daenerys nodded and let him take the reins as he led her toward the end of the dock.
"Whoa!" A sudden gasp erupted from the betting pit. Daenerys turned to see what had caused the commotion.
A stone pit, seven or eight meters in diameter and two or three meters deep, had been dug into the flat ground. Inside, two animals were locked in combat—or rather, an armadillo-like creature was slaughtering a red-haired hound half its height.
The red-haired dog lay limp, like a child's plaything in the hands of a mischievous child, as the armadillo tore it to shreds.
Amidst the flying blood, sailors gathered around the fence let out gasps of morbid satisfaction, while others cursed the useless dog that had cost them their gambling money.
"How is that armadillo so big? It's larger than a lion," Daenerys said in surprise.
"Armadillo?" Blackbeard Grolai shook his head. "That's a Serpent Lizard. It has eight legs—didn't you notice? Far more ferocious than an armadillo. The largest Serpent Lizards can be twice the size of a male lion, making them the most fearsome monsters in Yi Land."
"Yi Land..." Daenerys raised an eyebrow. "Are there many Serpent Lizards in Yi Land?"
"Very many. They roam the jungles in packs. Aside from the Horsemen of the North, the people of Yi Land fear these creatures more than anything else. In the arenas, Serpent Lizards are considered reigning champions—many other animals stand no chance against them," Blackbeard said with a sigh.
"Yi Land is truly not Huaxia," Daenerys murmured under her breath.
"What was that, Khaleesi?" Blackbeard turned his head. "What did you say?"
"What does Serpent Lizard meat taste like? Why don't the people of Yi Land eat them?" she asked.
Even the tiny, cat-sized pangolins of the Celestial Dynasty had been hunted to near extinction by the Chinese. These larger, meatier, and seemingly more toothsome Serpent Lizards should have been a divine gift of a delicacy.
Yet here they were, a plague in Yi Land. How could they dare to style themselves after the ancients of the Celestial Dynasty, with their elaborate robes and caps, calling themselves the "Golden Celestial Dynasty"?
Whitebeard shook his head. "Serpent Lizard blood is poisonous. Stone Lizard Venom is refined from it, causing muscle atrophy and paralysis, as if one were turning to stone.
It's said that the Faceless Men of Braavos use Serpent Lizard blood to create spices. When spread on cooked meat, these spices emit an irresistible aroma, but anyone—man or beast—who eats them goes mad with rage.
Rats infected with Serpent Lizard Venom have even been known to attack lions."
"Exactly. Only the truly mad would dare eat Serpent Lizard meat," Blackbeard agreed.
*Such an extraordinary effect?*
This was no longer just delicious; it was a divine ingredient that elevated the mundane to the sacred!
*How could it be more poisonous than fugu?*
*And such an irresistibly alluring aroma—this is practically suicide!*
Daenerys resolved that once she had the opportunity, she would absolutely turn the Serpent Lizard into a celebrated culinary dish.
Otherwise, she would be betraying the soul of her Celestial Dynasty heritage.
"Speaking of poisons," Daenerys mused, "Xaro once gave me a silver necklace embedded with a Magic Amethyst, claiming it could ward off toxins. I never got to test it before he demanded it back. Do you think such things actually work?"
"Your Highness," Whitebeard declared proudly, "a proper security system includes poison detection, which is far more effective than those charlatan contraptions."
"Not all of them are frauds," Blackbeard shook his head. "You Westerosi value knightly honor, where men solve problems with swords. But in Essos, schemes and poisons are like dust in the air—hard to see clearly, yet everywhere."
More trade governors and city-state rulers likely died from poisoned wine than from natural causes. Magic crystals enhanced by powerful mages could partially detect or neutralize toxins in food and drink.
*It seems I need to find a way to get a Magic Amethyst.*
As they talked, the group reached the end of the Graystone Docks, where a massive sea vessel that left Daenerys in awe was moored.
It looked like a plump, oversized dumpling. Daenerys estimated its length to be over 100 meters and its width over 40 meters. Not counting the hull below deck, she could see four stories of windows.
(Author's Note: The original text doesn't specify the ship's size. Here, I'm referencing Zheng He's treasure ships—though this one is significantly smaller than the largest treasure ship, which was said to be 150 meters long, though the accuracy of that figure is uncertain.)
What a magnificent giant!
"This is a sea vessel," Blackbeard Grolai explained proudly, as if introducing his son who had been accepted into Tsinghua University. "It has no oars and relies solely on the sea wind for propulsion." He detailed the ship's construction and transport capacity.
"You could easily fit twice as many of your two hundred horsemen aboard, and that's just the Saedurion. Even the oared boats docked at the flood control embankment each require two hundred rowers."
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