Lord Aeos. Lord Aeos. This was the name echoing across the entirety of Essos and even Westeros like a shockwave, a shockwave so immense and so powerful that it had shaken everyone. From the slave to the beggar, the smallfolk to the modest merchant, and the rich merchant to the powerful Magister or noble, everyone was shocked and stunned at what Lord Aeos had accomplished.
In a single day, three powerful cities had fallen to his might. And even then, this was not the most shocking event. That Lord Aeos would emerge victorious in his campaign and would eventually capture Lys, Myr and Tyrosh.
The thing that had truly stunned everyone was the manner in which these cities had been captured.
Lys and Tyrosh, at least, had shown some resistance, but the tactic by which Lord Aeos had landed his forces at the port had turned out to be a move of pure genius. Having a man so close to the Magisters working for him as a spy, a man who obtained special permission to dock at the port in the name of bridging grains just before the upcoming battle, only to show his true colors as Lord Aeos's forces emerged from the ships.
It sounded like something unimaginable, or a tale from a children's fantasy book, but Lord Aeos had pulled it off brilliantly.
And the rebellion that had followed in these two cities was another stroke of genius. The people might not have been brilliant, but they were not fools enough to believe that the rebellion was natural and not something planned, instigated, orchestrated, and executed by Lord Aeos.
They had probably believed it the first time for the cities of Yunkai and Meereen, but not this time. The cities of Lys and Tyrosh had been in a state of lockdown. There was no way such a disciplined, organized, and well-directed rebellion could have happened without someone pulling the strings.
Furthermore, the timing of the breakout of the rebellion, which coincided exactly with the start of the battle, made things even more obvious.
But if the happenings in Lys and Tyrosh were a display of sheer brilliance from Lord Aeos, what he did in Myr was even more overwhelming, awe inspiring and shocking.
The events of Lys and Tyrosh paled in comparison to the events of Myr. The city of Myr had been captured by Lord Aeos with almost zero resistance and no battle. The gates of the city had been willingly opened for him, and the Magisters had surrendered.
Why? Why did they not resist like the Magisters of Lys and Tyrosh before surrendering? Because they were horrified. Because their colleagues had been killed in their own beds and their own houses. This was something they had not imagined happening even in the wildest tales of fantasy.
And now that it had happened, and all of them knew it was real, they were still unable to believe the absurdity of the situation. They could only think of the herculean effort and the meticulous planning that would have been required by Lord Aeos and his men to pull off something like this. To implant more than two dozen men in the houses of the Magisters over a period of two years, and to do so thoroughly, had made everyone bow down to the genius of Lord Aeos.
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A small ship, manned by no more than a dozen men, glided into the port of Pentos. The ship was not overly conspicuous. It was small in size and lacked any sense of grandeur. But the man who was traveling aboard the vessel was a man of significant status. He was Lord Varys, Master of Spies on the Small Council of the King of Westeros, Robert Baratheon.
Following their failure to recruit the Faceless Men for the purpose of assassinating Rhaenys Targaryen, Stannis Baratheon had returned to Westeros.
Meanwhile, Varys had stayed behind on the prospect of polishing and settling some of his business with his little birds. He had claimed that he would try to acquire more information regarding Rhaenys, Daenerys, and Viserys. His claim was true, but what truly mattered was how much he would actually reveal to the King whom he served.
"Lord Varys," Illyrio greeted the bald eunuch as soon as he stepped onto the dock.
"Magister Illyrio," Varys greeted him in return, standing before the bulky, massive, and bearded man.
The two stared at each other for a couple of moments before smiles broke out on their faces. They leaned in and embraced each other in a brief hug.
"It has been long since we last saw each other," Illyrio mumbled, a happy and pleased expression on his face.
"How are you doing, Varys?" he questioned.
"I am doing well enough, Illyrio," Varys replied. "And indeed, it has been a long time since we saw one another."
Varys's eyes then roamed over the dozen men surrounding Illyrio.
"These men?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"They are loyal," Illyrio sighed. "And do not worry about them. They were working for me even before we had ever heard the name of Lord Aeos."
"In fact," he added. "I have begun a thorough cleansing of all the men that work for me and hopefully very soon, I will be able to eliminate all the spies in my house."
Varys nodded, a slight sense of relief crossing his face, though he was still not fully convinced. After what Lord Aeos had done in Myr, every Magister in every Free City had become wary of the men surrounding them. They were sent into a near frenzy, and everyone was trying to find the spies hidden within their ranks.
Illyrio was no different. He, too, had turned extremely cautious and with Viserys and Daenerys hiding in his house, he was even more afraid and worried. Now that Varys had arrived in Pentos, he could not afford to be careless, even for a moment.
"What is the status of our young Viserys?" Varys questioned as they began walking toward Illyrio's mansion.
"He is getting more and more impatient," Illyrio sighed. "The dragons have been on his mind ever since, and every day he grows more desperate."
"We did not receive a reply from Rhaenys Targaryen to the letter that Viserys wrote to her, and it has made him furious and unreasonable," he added. "It has become almost impossible for me to control him. Now my only hope is that, since you are here, you might be able to do something about it."
Varys let out a small smile but he did not speak anything.
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