The ruling council of Qohor had finally gathered for their scheduled meeting. The council had 12 members, but the chief priest had been killed a few hours ago. Now only 11 members remain.
There was silence and an atmosphere of sombre tension in the hall as each of the magisters sat on their respective chairs around a large wooden circular table.
The usually very chatty and boisterous magisters were quiet, and it seemed that everyone was hesitant and perhaps even afraid to take the initiative in this matter. The magisters who had thought themselves to be geniuses had been frightened into silence.
Rick, like his counterparts, too maintained a sombre expression on his face. But inwardly, he was calm, confident, and composed. He had already made up his mind, and he had no double thoughts in his mind. He was also certain that there would at least be a couple of more magisters who might have made their mind like him.
Like every person, he had his own ambitions, and he could see a path for his ambitions carved alongside the Targaryen lady. Especially, if he was among the first to take initiative.
Finally, one of the magisters, the richest businessman in the city, sighed deeply as he took command of the situation.
"I believe that I do not have to recount all that has happened in our city since morning," he said. "A lady who claims to be Rhaenys Targaryen, with 2,500 men, arrived outside our city gates asking us to surrender our city to her. Our chief priest insulted her, when a creature not seen for a very long time, a humongous dragon, swooped in and tore him into two pieces. We then witnessed four more dragons, five in total, making a spectacular entrance."
"And this lady offered us time till tomorrow morning to surrender our city. If not, she will unleash her dragons on us."
"And so here we are to discuss what options we have," he added. "Surrender or fight."
A couple of moments of silence followed.
"If we fight," another magister questioned, "do we have any chance of victory?"
"Unless you can wrestle a dragon," someone added with a sarcastic, bitter laugh.
Qohor had been a city that once had been ruled by Valyria. They knew better than most the power of dragons.
"So if we have no chance of victory, what is even the meaning of fighting?" someone questioned.
"Then what do you say? To roll over and open our gates for that whore?" someone sneered. "Become her servants? Slaves to her? Better to die than to give our city willingly."
The council broke out in bickering. No one actually had any solution, but they were only shouting and creating nuisance. Though the majority was leaning towards the option of surrender, their ego and pride kept coming in between. The sentiment that becoming slaves or subordinates was worse than being killed also echoed among the magisters. Fight and then die seemed glorious to the most magisters than surrendering.
Rick, till then, had hardly made any remarks. He took a deep breath and stood up from his seat, drawing the attention of everybody in the room. The screech of his chair rubbing against the floor was enough to bring silence to the room and allow him to place his views.
"I hope you all will hear me with a clear and calm mind," he said.
"First of all, I would not be wrong if I assume that there is no way in which we could secure a victory against Rhaenys Targaryen and her dragons," he said. "Not unless the Black Goat himself intervened."
The magisters nodded. This was a point on which they all agreed. They could not win. If they fight, they will only get their city destroyed.
"Now," Rick continued, "I would make no amends and accept that I am in favour of surrender. And I have some arguments supporting my opinion."
"It is true that if we surrender, we will lose our positions as the rulers of the city. But apart from the loss of the title, we will lose nothing."
"If you all paid attention, Lady Targaryen has no other men than her soldiers. Her strength relies entirely on her dragons. She has no people who could help her in the administration of the city. She could not run an empire only with dragons? She would need advisors, councillors, her small council."
"If we surrender peacefully," he continued, "it would surely be us who would become the members of her courts. In fact, at the time of our surrender, we could try to place certain conditions which could help us secure our influence and wealth. It is a lot better than dying."
"I do not doubt that Qohor is the first among many cities she is going to capture. Five dragons are no joke. She could probably conquer the entire Essos and Westeros with that power. We could be her first administrators, her small council, and as her empire expands, we would grow a lot more influential than we are right now."
The magisters nodded. They resonated with what Rick was trying to say. Now surrendering was not looking like such a bad option.
"In all the chaos that Lady Targaryen's arrival has created," Rick continued, "we have forgotten another very important name. Lord Aeos."
The hall remained silent.
"If not Lady Targaryen, Lord Aeos sooner or later would have surely knocked on our doors. We had been relaxed till now because we thought that the other Free Cities would take care of him. But now, with his mysterious victory over the sellswords which still has no explanation, we are without doubt that sooner or later he is going to take over a few cities on the coast of the Narrow Sea. And then he will surely turn his sword towards us."
"A year or two was what we had before he would take our city. We may remain alive or be killed, it will not affect the outcome."
"So why not Lady Targaryen?" he questioned. "Maybe she would be more amenable to our ways. Maybe she will allow us to keep our slaves. Maybe we could continue our way of life under her reign. Lord Aeos will surely not allow things to run as they are."
"Besides," he added, "if Lady Rhaenys is too going to begin her series of conquests, she is going to get into conflict with Lord Aeos. In such a situation, I will place my bet on the dragon."
"Better to choose the winning side," he concluded.
There were few other things in his mind but that was for him and him only. For his benefit. And he believed that his arguments would be able to persuade the magisters.
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