Chapter 175: Pentos Rhapsody (Part 8)
The carriage stopped in front of the White Cat Inn.
Ian didn't linger at all, directly pulling back the curtain, boarding the carriage, and carrying Daenerys, who was wrapped tightly in a red cloak, down from the carriage. Then he had Keith carry Viserys's corpse on his back.
"You all stay here and don't let anyone in," Ian ordered the remaining Unsullied.
The Unsullied never questioned orders that seemed to have no effect on their master Illyrio—they only obeyed.
So Ian left the last group of Unsullied behind and led the others into the inn.
After passing through the chaotic inn hall, Ian and the others left through the back door.
There, 'Black Falcon' Dorian and Bronn were waiting with more than thirty men, and beside them was a carriage used by ordinary merchants.
Upon seeing Ian appear, Dorian hurried forward to greet him.
"We've spread the news throughout the port as you instructed. Ships in Pentos are fleeing in panic; the entire port is in chaos," he reported to Ian, then gestured to the sellswords behind him. "These are trusted veterans we brought from Westeros. I've dismissed all the others we recruited in Pentos."
Ian nodded to him, then ordered, "Burn this inn down too."
Ian then placed Daenerys and Viserys's body in the new carriage and led the group toward the port.
Under the watchful eyes of countless observers, the gates of the Council Palace finally reopened.
Protected by a squad of guards, a herald ascended the platform outside the palace and announced the results of the Great Council's resolution.
It consisted of only two short sentences.
First, Magister Groiro Tetrus was accused of treason, and the Great Council declared him to be executed and stripped of all property and power from the Tetrus family.
Second, Prince Treggo Moharis was assassinated by Magister Groiro Tetrus, and the Great Council elected Hazan Moharis as the new Prince of Pentos.
The announcement caused an enormous uproar.
The blood-red sunset illuminated the fires in the harbor.
Thousands of sailors fled from the inns of the surrounding districts to the docks. Illyrio's harbor guards were unable to contain the massive chaos and could only retreat their defenses back into the towers, letting the sailors leave.
Ian and his party blended into the flow of sailors, arriving at the docks unnoticed.
The surrounding clamor drowned out Daenerys's sobs from inside the carriage.
From the time Daenerys could remember, she had spent her entire life evading assassins, though she had never actually seen one. She knew, however, that her brother had protected her—or at least that's what he said.
But just now, her brother had died at the hands of an assassin, right before her eyes.
The moment the crossbow bolt pierced Viserys's chest, Daenerys felt her entire world crumble.
Even though Viserys later became so selfish, irritable, and cruel, Daenerys would always remember the warmth of her childhood, those moments before she woke the dragon's rage, and then she would forgive her brother.
Even though he decided to marry her off to Khal Drogo.
Even though she would never be able to return home—at least he could go back, couldn't he?
He could lead brave and loyal knights like Ian to overthrow the Usurper's tyranny and liberate the people of Westeros.
But now? What could she do now?
Daenerys didn't know.
She only felt a chill, or perhaps a fever? She couldn't tell.
She lay half-reclined in the carriage, clutching something tightly, curled up in a ball.
Suddenly, she heard Ian's voice: "Your Grace, Your Grace!"
No, Your Grace! Daenerys cried out in her heart. Viserys is dead, he's not coming back! And you won't be going home either!
"I'm so sorry we couldn't protect him."
Daenerys's sobs grew louder.
"Your Grace," Ian's voice continued, "my Queen." Finally, he changed his address.
"Queen?" Daenerys opened her eyes in confusion, struggling to hold back her sobs as she looked up at Ian with her violet eyes.
She then realized that she was clinging to Ian desperately—the thing she had been holding in her dazed state was him.
Instantly, her already flushed face turned a deeper shade of red.
But she didn't let go. Instead, like a drowning person grasping a plank of wood, she tightened her grip.
"King Viserys is dead. You are our Queen now," Ian explained, ignoring her embarrassment.
"Queen?" Daenerys murmured again.
"King Viserys is dead. Now you are the last of the Targaryen bloodline, the last true dragon. You must lead us to reclaim the Iron Throne, to reclaim the lost kingdom. Now it is your responsibility." Ian's tone became firm.
"My… responsibility?" Daenerys instinctively shook her head. "But I'm going to marry that Khal Drogo soon, I…"
"You won't marry him! We're leaving Pentos soon!"
"Why?" Daenerys was still in a daze.
"Because a Khal's wife must live with his khalasar, and you must lead us back to Westeros. You must become our Queen. All those responsibilities you've heard from your brother, all those duties he told you about—now they fall on your shoulders."
"Me? I can't do it." Daenerys quickly shook her head again. "I don't know anything."
"I can teach you." Ian gave a gentle smile.
This was one of the core reasons he ultimately decided to take Daenerys away.
Admittedly, this girl often gave the impression of being overly kind, idealistic, naive, stubborn, and headstrong—but the latter traits were actually developed during her upbringing.
If she had had more competent advisors, these traits could have been avoided.
Daenerys's tragedy lies in the fact that she never learned the ways of a true heir to the throne, yet she was forced to become Queen of Meereen at a mere sixteen years old, ruling without a single reliable advisor.
This is no exaggeration. Grey Worm was an Unsullied officer whose world revolved solely around obedience, while Jorah and Barristan, throughout her reign, offered almost universally disastrous counsel.
For example, Jorah suggested she sell her dragon eggs and travel east with him—but Daenerys ended up hatching her own dragons.
Barristan advised her to treat the slave masters fairly. Their attempts to abolish slavery while simultaneously seeking reconciliation with slavers at Slaver's Bay fueled endless rebellions and plunged them into deep trouble.
After time and again, her advisors offered terrible advice, and after each instance where her insistence against the majority proved correct—
After each time she heeded their counsel only to reap disastrous results—
How could she not become stubborn and arrogant?
Daenerys couldn't trust her incompetent subordinates, sometimes even resorting to seeking advice from her young translator, Missandei. But what counsel could Missandei, a slave trained to be a translator, offer?
Missandei could only tell her, "Do what you think is right," to bolster Daenerys's confidence in her own judgment.
Faced with any problem, Daenerys had to find a solution herself. She even came up with the disastrous idea of a marriage alliance with the Meereenese nobility. Perhaps she hadn't considered that if this alliance stabilized Meereen as she wished, how could she return to rule Westeros? How would the lords of Westeros accept a Queen with a foreign husband?
And if this didn't stabilize Meereen, the final civil war would still break out. In the end, what was the point of the marriage alliance?
No one could answer these questions for her. She had no advisors, and she was only sixteen.
But now, everything was about to change.
Because she was still young, hadn't experienced the life of a Khaleesi, and hadn't developed the bad habits that come with power.
She also never experienced the betrayals and treachery that followed, nor the validation that came from her stubborn decisions proving correct.
Daenerys is now highly malleable. As Varys once said, people can be shaped, and Ian is confident he can mold this Queen according to his own vision.
In other words, from this moment on, the nature of his mission was changing from "The Dragon Queen and Her Wrongfully Accused Vassal" to something far more deliberate—raising and guiding the young Dragon Queen.
"And you must do it," Ian continued, "because you have the blood of the dragon in your veins. You are the last Targaryen, and this is your birthright."
(End of Chapter)
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