Chapter 195: Returning in Triumph
As for the future of the Night's Watch, its fate would have to wait until the struggle for the Iron Throne between Daenerys and Cersei was finally settled.
Only then would the surviving brothers know what role, if any, remained for their ancient order.
Ser Davos and the remnants of Stannis Baratheon's army chose to follow Princess Shireen and swear their allegiance to Daenerys.
The Free Folk gathered their elders, women, and children and, under Robb Stark's guidance, began searching for places to settle throughout the North.
The North might not possess the wealth and abundance of the southern kingdoms, but compared to the frozen wilderness beyond the Wall, it was practically a paradise.
Robb himself intended to continue following Daenerys in the wars still to come.
As a result, the youngest Stark, Rickon, was temporarily appointed Lord of Winterfell.
Bran, meanwhile, had no intention of remaining in the North.
He had decided to travel to Dragonstone with Daenerys.
The news caught Drogon slightly off guard.
Bran wanted to go to Dragonstone?
Drogon couldn't help narrowing his eyes.
He had no idea what the young greenseer was planning.
Whether Bran genuinely wished to accompany Daenerys or had some other purpose in mind, Drogon couldn't tell.
But one thing was certain:
Whenever Bran Stark was involved, things were rarely as simple as they appeared.
With the White Walkers defeated, the alliance had achieved its greatest victory. Yet the war for the Iron Throne was far from over.
Drogon wasn't particularly concerned about Bran accompanying Daenerys to Dragonstone. Whatever the young greenseer might be planning, it would be difficult for him to stir up trouble while Drogon was around.
After resting in Winterfell for a day, Daenerys chose not to return immediately with Drogon. Instead, she would travel back with the fleet.
The ships sailed down the White Knife to White Harbor before setting out across the Narrow Sea toward Dragonstone.
Inside the flagship's cabin, Daenerys and her advisors were already discussing the next phase of the war.
The day Jaime Lannister returned to King's Landing would mark the end of the truce.
Having defeated the Night King, Daenerys no longer had any patience for slowly isolating the capital. Once she returned, she intended to launch a direct assault on King's Landing. After securing the city, she could deal with Casterly Rock and the Reach at her leisure.
With her armies holding both Harrenhal and Storm's End, any reinforcements from the Westerlands or the Reach would find it nearly impossible to reach King's Landing.
Although the war against the dead had cost them soldiers, the addition of Victarion's Ironborn and Davos's remaining forces more than compensated for those losses. In fact, their total strength had increased by several thousand men.
Daenerys was confident that once King's Landing fell, she would have more than enough troops to hold it.
Five days later, the fleet was only half a day's journey from Dragonstone.
Dark storm clouds gathered overhead, and the sea rolled beneath them in heavy swells. Rain seemed imminent.
"It's going to storm," Tyrion remarked as he stepped onto the deck and joined Daenerys at the railing.
The moist sea wind whipped through their hair.
Yet Daenerys seemed completely unconcerned.
Before leaving Dragonstone, she had been confident they would defeat the White Walkers. But after seeing the Night King with her own eyes, she had felt genuine fear.
Now, however, Drogon had slain him with relatively minor injuries.
They were about to return home and launch their final offensive against King's Landing.
Compared to that, a little bad weather meant nothing.
Watching Daenerys stare confidently toward the horizon, Tyrion leaned against the rail beside her.
He, too, believed victory was within reach.
Suddenly—
BOOM!
The entire ship lurched violently.
"What was that?" Tyrion shouted.
Both he and Daenerys nearly lost their footing and had to grab the railing to stay upright.
A few seconds later—
BOOM!
An even stronger impact shook the vessel.
"Something's in the water!" someone yelled as crewmen poured onto the deck.
Perched on Daenerys's shoulder, Drogon narrowed his eyes toward the sea.
The churning waves beneath the dark sky weren't being disturbed by the weather alone.
Something else was moving below the surface.
SKREEEE!
Launching into the air, Drogon let out a piercing shriek, summoning Rhaegal and Viserion from high above.
Then he folded his wings and plunged straight into the sea beside the flagship.
The moment he entered the water, he saw it.
A monstrous fish nearly half the size of a warship was speeding toward the hull.
Its bulging eyes protruded grotesquely from its head. Its enormous mouth occupied nearly half its face, lined with jagged rows of razor-sharp teeth.
Seeing the creature about to ram the ship, Drogon surged forward.
Mid-charge, he transformed.
His body expanded instantly.
Massive claws shot forward and seized the beast.
The monster fish jerked in panic at the sudden appearance of a dragon many times its size, but it was already too late.
Drogon burst from the sea carrying the creature in both claws.
With a savage wrench, he tore its head clean from its body.
The decapitated carcass, still twitching and spraying foul-smelling blood, was tossed back into the ocean.
Without pausing, Drogon wheeled toward another disturbance nearby.
The flagship wasn't the only vessel under attack.
Ships throughout the fleet were being struck by the same creatures.
Given their size and strength, three solid impacts would be enough to punch a hole through a warship.
Drogon plunged back into the water.
Before even reaching the bottom, he spotted another monster fish pulling away from a ship after a collision, preparing to charge again.
He swept forward.
One wing-hook impaled the creature's body and lifted it from the sea.
Then he unleashed a blast of pure black dragonfire.
The fish's enormous head vanished instantly.
Nothing remained above the neck—not flesh, not bone.
Only part of its tail remained dangling from Drogon's wing before he shook it loose.
Meanwhile, Rhaegal and Viserion had also entered the battle, diving into the sea and tearing apart the monstrous fish with tooth and claw.
After clearing the area around Daenerys's flagship, Drogon flew off to aid the rest of the fleet.
Despite the speed of his slaughter, the creatures were everywhere.
There had to be nearly a hundred of them.
It was as if the fleet had sailed directly into the middle of a migration.
Several ships had already been holed and sunk.
Sailors thrown into the water were devoured almost immediately.
Realizing he couldn't save every vessel, Drogon focused on rescuing crews from sinking ships whenever possible.
The sailors weren't passive, either.
Spears rained into the sea as crews fought desperately against the attackers.
Unfortunately, their efforts accomplished little.
After the waters around the flagship were temporarily cleared, Daenerys ignored Tyrion's protests and remained on deck to observe the battle.
She had expected to reach Dragonstone without incident.
Instead, their fleet was fighting for survival against sea monsters.
Both the sailors and Daenerys stared in disbelief at the enormous fish being slain by the dragons.
None of them had ever seen creatures of such size.
Even the Ironborn, who spent their lives at sea, had rarely encountered anything comparable.
And never in such numbers.
"More of them!" someone shouted from a nearby ship.
Then another voice cried out:
"That's not a fish—it's a sea serpent!"
The name startled everyone.
The famous sea serpent known as Serpent Pillar was supposed to be returning to the Iron Islands with Yara's fleet.
What was another sea serpent doing here?
They quickly spotted the shape rising and falling among the waves.
It was indeed a sea serpent.
But unlike Serpent Pillar—the giant Drogon had captured in the Smoking Sea—it was considerably smaller.
While hunting the monster fish, Drogon had never stopped monitoring Daenerys's flagship.
At first, he had assumed the fleet had simply encountered a dangerous school of predators.
But the longer the attack continued, the more suspicious it became.
These creatures weren't acting randomly.
They were targeting the fleet.
Drogon had even attempted to drive them away with a roar infused with dragonic pressure.
The creatures froze for a moment...
Then resumed their assault.
Even in the presence of a Dragon God, they showed no fear.
Instead, they continued their suicidal attacks.
That alone told Drogon something was terribly wrong.
The creatures were not behaving naturally.
The moment he noticed activity near the flagship, he abandoned a sinking vessel and ordered Rhaegal and Viserion to continue clearing the monster fish.
Then he dove toward Daenerys's ship.
Just as the sea serpent reached striking distance—
Drogon's claws flashed.
The serpent was ripped from the water and hurled high into the air.
A torrent of black dragonfire followed.
The creature was reduced to ash before it could even scream.
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