With Whitebeard, Jorah, and the bloodriders joining the fight, the battle on deck quickly turned around—especially since the oared ships Summer Sun and Jape's Jest had been farther from the dragon horn and thus less affected.
Under Belwas's lead, four to five hundred sailors soon counterattacked onto the deck of the Silence.
About half an hour later, after suffering more than thirty percent casualties, the pirates finally dropped their weapons and knelt in surrender.
After the battle ended, some sailors tried using tongs to pull the gold ornaments from the pirates' ears.
The gold from both ears together weighed nearly half a jin. Twisted like tapered spikes, seven or eight centimeters long, they pierced through the ear canal deep into the brain cavity. At the tips still clung white, wet brain matter.
The sight was horrifying.
Dany even suspected that if one looked through one ear, they might be able to see out the other side of the skull—the molten gold had burned straight through the head.
To the west, the fiery red sun lazily rested upon the sea horizon, only half its face visible. The ocean shimmered with dazzling golden reflections.
Drogon had completely recovered from the horn's influence and now soared freely among the crimson clouds, looking utterly carefree.
Several people stood at the bow.
Dany had already cleaned herself up again, though her face remained flushed red and covered with blisters.
Aggo stepped forward to report:
"Khaleesi, fourteen riders died. Four were burned to death by the dragons when they lost control. Another seven or eight suffered burns but survived."
Dany bit her lip.
"They were brave warriors. Have Blackbeard prepare funeral boats and wildfire oil for cremation."
After a pause, she added:
"Bring out their mounts. Feed them well tonight, then sacrifice them for the funeral rites."
All the dead came from the eighty Ko warriors. The elderly, women, and children had remained hidden in the cabins and were untouched by the battle.
Eighty screamers. Eighty precious dragonhorses.
This time, however, Dany would not cheat like she had with old Watson before, replacing real horses with straw ones.
As long as conditions allowed, she intended to give the highest honors possible to those who died for her.
Otherwise, who would risk their lives for her in the future?
As soon as she spoke, every Dothraki around her looked at her with even greater reverence.
Aggo withdrew.
Jorah stepped forward.
"Two sailors suffered burns. None died."
That was expected.
Knowing that the warlock Pyat Pree would pursue her at sea, Dany had long prepared for naval combat.
In this world, naval warfare mainly relied on boarding actions.
So Dany had paired the Dothraki with the two dragons into defensive formations.
Each group carried a massive wooden shield the size of a door with a hole cut into the center. A rider would hold the shield in front of himself and the dragon while the dragon breathed fire through the opening.
After each burst, another rider would immediately cover the hole with a small bronze shield attached to his arm.
Once the dragon recovered its breath, they would uncover the hole and let it breathe fire again.
It was essentially a "dragon-flesh" flamethrower.
No explanation was needed for how terrifying flamethrowers were in close combat.
On narrow ships, they were absolute killing machines.
One dragon on each side of the ship—no amount of enemies could board safely.
This had originally been a trump card prepared specifically for Pyat Pree.
If Euron had been a normal person, the "dragon-brand flamethrower" would have become famous across the world after this battle.
Unfortunately…
Who could have expected that lunatic to possess a magical weapon specifically designed to control dragons—the Dragonbinder horn?
Biological weapon versus magical weapon.
The biological weapon lost completely.
Well… back to the point.
Because the dragons and riders had been paired into flamethrower units, the Dothraki closest to them suffered the greatest losses once the dragons lost control.
The four riders shielding the dragons with wooden boards all died.
Honestly, it resembled the fate of historical flamethrower troops: burning enemies was glorious, but once the fuel tank exploded, they became living torches.
Jorah continued:
"Our sailors lost twenty-seven men, with another thirty-five wounded. Casualties are close to thirty percent."
"All thirty-four deaf pirates who boarded us are dead. Belwas also led men to kill fifty-nine pirates aboard the Silence, fifty-three of whom were mute but not deaf."
"The pirate corpses should be wrapped in cloth and thrown into the sea. As for the sailors…" Dany looked toward Blackbeard Groleo. "Any special customs?"
"I'll arrange it," Blackbeard sighed.
"Oh, right," Jorah added, "Euron isn't dead."
"He was burned into a human torch and submerged unconscious in the sea for over half an hour, yet still survived? Does he know magic or something?" Dany asked in surprise.
"Perhaps it's special ironborn training," Jorah said thoughtfully.
"The ironborn worship the Drowned God. Their priests are called drowned men."
"They practice a ritual called the drowning. The priest holds someone underwater until they lose consciousness, then forces the water out by pressing their chest. Maybe Crow's Eye underwent the ritual before. Or perhaps the Drowned God protects him."
"How do drowned priests know whether someone submerged like that can survive?" Dany asked curiously.
"They don't," Jorah admitted. "Many never wake up again. That's why this ancient ritual has become less common."
Dany was speechless.
She had thought drowned priests possessed some kind of magical CPR technique.
Turns out it was basically just gambling with fate.
"Bring Euron here. I want to question him about the dragon horn."
"Uh… he's alive, but still unconscious," Jorah said, glancing at Whitebeard.
"He was already severely burned, and then Arstan smashed him on the head. He hasn't woken up yet."
"Then bring me the dragon horn."
Jorah suddenly grew excited.
"Forget the horn for a moment, Princess. Guess what else we found aboard the Silence?"
"A spellbook?" Dany brightened immediately.
"Euron wasn't affected by the horn and could even control my dragons. I saw his eyes glowing—it wasn't an illusion."
"It definitely wasn't," Whitebeard confirmed seriously.
"I saw it too. I could barely move, but my senses still worked."
Jorah shook his head.
"Other than the horn, we found no magical tomes or anything similar. But aboard the Silence, I did discover a dragon egg… and a full suit of Valyrian steel plate armor."
"Wow, what an unexpected surprise!" Dany clapped happily.
"Bring me the dragon egg first. Let me see whether it's real."
Whether genuine or not, even a Valyrian steel suit of armor was worth a fortune.
Two Dothraki soon approached carrying separate chests.
"Khaleesi, the dragon egg."
One rider handed her a small blackwood box the size of a jewelry case.
Dany eagerly opened it.
Inside lay a "rust-covered" bronze lump resting on soft Myrish padding.
Her fingers gently traced the dense scales.
Slowly, uncontrollable delight spread across her face.
Jorah immediately noticed.
"Is it truly an intact dragon egg?"
"A bronze dragon," Dany said with a smile.
"But it looks fossilized…" Whitebeard muttered in confusion.
"It is stone. Listen."
Dany flicked it lightly with a finger.
Dong dong.
A solid, crisp sound echoed out.
"Can stone really hatch dragons?" Blackbeard asked incredulously.
"Hmph. Where do you think Khaleesi's dragons came from?" Qotho asked proudly.
"Everyone knows dragons come from stone," handmaid Irri added.
Dany placed the egg back into the box and handed it to Jhiqui.
"Keep it beside my bed. From now on, I'll sleep holding it. Watch over it carefully."
"Yes, Khaleesi."
"How long until it hatches?" Whitebeard asked curiously.
Dany considered for a moment.
The previous Daenerys had needed nearly a year to gather enough spiritual essence to form souls for three dragon eggs.
Since she used the hatching ability more actively, it should happen faster.
"About half a year," she said. "Definitely no more than ten months."
After Jhiqui carried the egg away, Dany ignored the armor chest and instead carefully examined Qotho.
"Qotho, during the dragon horn's sound, aside from me, you and your men were barely affected. Why?"
"I don't know," the rider admitted, scratching his bald head.
"I just felt my blood boiling. It was uncomfortable, like I needed to vent all my strength."
Earlier in the chaos, twenty-four large, fierce pirates had stormed aboard while more deaf pirates crossed the gangplanks.
If not for Qotho and the nine dragon guards fighting like madmen, everyone on deck would have been slaughtered within two minutes.
"I felt countless souls tearing at my spirit," Whitebeard said.
"Even moving was difficult. It felt like ghosts from a fiery hell were burning my body inch by inch."
"Same here," Jorah, Blackbeard, and the bloodriders all agreed uneasily.
"Belwas too," the fat eunuch added, patting his shiny head.
"Little Queen, what did you feel?"
Dany's blistered cheeks reddened further.
"My blood boiled. I felt full of energy," she answered calmly.
"That's strange," Belwas muttered.
"What's strange about it?" Jorah said.
"She's the Mother of Dragons. Why would she be affected like everyone else?"
Then he turned suspiciously toward Qotho.
"Your men are dragon guards. Could constant exposure to dragons be the reason?"
He looked at Dany's handmaids.
"Irri, Doreah—you sleep in the same cabin as the dragons. What about you?"
"Same as you," Doreah replied.
"It felt like our bodies were burning. We could still move, but like drunken people, we couldn't control ourselves properly."
Better than Jorah's condition, but nowhere near as unaffected as Qotho.
"Qotho, there's definitely something different about you people," Jorah insisted.
"What difference?" Qotho looked innocent.
"The pirates certainly weren't sparing us."
"Ah! I remember now!"
Irri suddenly slapped her hands together.
"I stayed below deck with the horses. They went wild too, but they didn't collapse like we did."
"Horses have four legs. Drunk horses don't fall over," Belwas waved dismissively.
"Seven hells…"
Jorah suddenly froze in realization.
"Dragon dung! The dragon guards and dragonhorses all ate dragon dung!"
"Uh…" Dany's mouth twitched.
"Qotho… you actually ate it? What did it taste like? Good?"
"Khaleesi, it didn't taste special," Qotho said thoughtfully.
"A bit bitter. Like food with fire-pepper powder. At first it felt strange, but after getting used to it, roasted meat without dragon essence just tastes wrong."
Pepper powder?
They got used to it?
Dany's face went blank.
"You call that 'dragon essence'? Does eating it make you more virile?"
"Khaleesi," Qotho said seriously, "calling it dragon dung sounds unpleasant."
You people know eating shit sounds bad…
Then why are you still eating it?!
-----------------------
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