While Jon vanished in the direction of the Great Pyramid, another group of people began moving toward the outskirts of the city. Their faces were marked with expressions of shock, uncertainty, and anxiety. These were the same people who had been left stunned by Jon's announcement.
This group, numbering around two dozen individuals, consisted of spies, agents of the magisters from various Free Cities, especially those that had planned the attack on Lord Aeos' growing empire. Cities like Lys, Myr, and Pentos. A couple among them were Illyrio's spies or by extension, Varys'.
They had been tracking the movements of the approaching army of mercenaries and Dothraki for the past few days and had stationed themselves in Meereen to send word of the imminent attack to their masters. But now, something entirely unexpected had happened.
The attack should have taken place today. The army had been merely a day's march away from Meereen, yet Lord Aeos had declared something very different and from all indications, it appeared to be true. It did not seem that Lord Aeos was lying.
With the constant question of how Lord Aeos had dealt with the army gnawing at their minds, the group hurried toward the location where the army had supposedly been the previous night.
With no concrete news coming from Lord Aeos, going there themselves seemed the best course of action. Considering the size of the force, even if they had begun moving, they could not have gone far. With the spies moving alone, it was going to be an easy task to reach the forces.
As for the thought that all thirty five thousand men might have been killed, such an idea did not even cross their minds.
(Random POV)
Who am I? My name is not really important, for I am not even sure of my name anymore. I am around fifty four years old, that much I know. And for the last forty years of my life, I have been constantly changing my name. Why? Because I am a spy. And I have been in this profession since I was fourteen years of age. So, you can say that I am quite skilled and an experienced spy.
Unlike many other spies who work for a certain master, I am a freelancer. Just as a sellsword offers his blade to whoever pays the best price, I offer my information to whoever provides the most coin. And just as sellswords have mercenary companies, we spies too have our own organizations, though they are far fewer in number and far less famous.
A couple of months back, my organization received a task to spy in Meereen. The contract came from a Tyroshi magister, and I was chosen for the job. I was not told who exactly the client was, but I was certain that several others in my organization had been hired for the same purpose. It did not really matter.
Now, spying on Lord Aeos was an almost impossible task. His men, especially the former Unsullied, were loyal to their lord with all their heart.
Despite all my experience and effort, even after months of trying, I had not been able to infiltrate his inner circle. The closest I had managed to get was to a few merchants who supplied goods from Lord Aeos' factories.
I reported the same to my organization, telling them it might take another two or three months before I could get close to his inner circle and even then, there were no guarantees. They instructed me to continue my work. And I had been doing so.
I had reported them about the army that was stationed outside the city in their temporary barracks. I told them about the powerful navy that Lord Aeos was building. I also reported to them how clean and organised and efficient the city was.
Honestly, I was impressed by it. And I had wondered, when I retire in a few years, should I permanently shift to Meereen or any other Lord Aeos' cities? If the city survived that long.
But then, recently, my assignment changed. I was told that an army was about to invade Meereen, and that I had to report on the developments within the city and the aftermath of the attack.
I did as I was told. I reported everything that was happening in the city, which was, frankly, nothing. The administration and the important figures of Meereen did not seem to be making any preparations to deal with the advancing army. They were busy with their usual chores and it looked as if the advancing army was not their concern at all.
There was a little panic among the people, but the constant presence of Lord Aeos in the streets of Meereen had kept them calm.
But the situation had changed overnight. We had all heard about Lord Aeos going to negotiate with the approaching army. Like everyone else, I too had been waiting for him to return. And he did return, but then he dropped that mountain of news.
I had been traveling constantly since I left the walls of Meereen. The journey that should have taken an entire day, I completed in a little more than half a day. My horse was at its limit, and it would need rest before I could make it run again.
As I approached the campsite where the army should have been, a strange feeling of anxiety and panic began to spread in my heart. My pulse quickened. At first, I could not understand the reason but then I realized. It was the air. The stench in the air.
It was heavy, thick, almost unbearable. It was suffocating.
And I knew all too well what that stench was. Death. Dead bodies. There had been a battle here and enough men had died to foul the air with the rot of their corpses.
I craned my neck to look at the sky, and there I saw it which confirmed my speculation, swarms of vultures and other carrion birds circling above the campsite. They were feasting.
A new wave of panic surged through me, and I dug my heels into the horse's sides, pushing it to its very limit. Whatever had happened here, I had to see it with my own eyes.
I had no reason to panic. It was neither my army nor my men. I was just an information broker. But still, I had this unexplainable feeling. For I knew that whatever had happened here was not some insignificant thing.
Whatever had happened here was something big, something whose effects would echo across the entirety of Essos.
#
#
#
[Add the book to your collection. Send it some power stones. Leave a rating and a review.]
[Access advanced chapter on P@treon. Replace @ with a. One additional advanced chapter each week on P@treon. ]
[email protected]/imaginarywriter