*THE BATTLE OF MEEREEN*
Meereen had held for two days.
Yunkai brought ten thousand, Astapor three thousand new Unsullied, Volantis a thousand tiger-cloaks and four galleys firing scorpions at the Great Pyramid.
At noon on the third day, the north wall broke. A twenty-foot hole.
Ser Cortnay held the inner gate in Aegon's spare breastplate. It was too big. He was sixteen and his voice was gone.
"Hold! For the King!"
Below, Barristan Selmy was bleeding from the knee, surrounded by six. Grey Worm held the gatehouse with two hundred Unsullied, shieldwall, silent. Missandei was inside the pyramid with the children.
Yezzan zo Qaggaz rode in on a white horse in yellow silk, laughing.
"Where are your dragons now? Where is your boy king and queen?"
Everyone inside Meereen knew what was coming. The invaders didn't.
They all knew Voidscale was different. Grey Worm had fed him — seen him stand on four legs like a lion, two front, two back, with wings folded on his back, not like Drogon and the others who have two back legs and use their wings as front legs to walk.
Cortnay knew — he had sat cross-legged between Voidscale's wings. You can do that on Voidscale. His back is wide and flat like a horse's. On Drogon you have to cling to the neck.
Then the ground shook from the east.
Not marching. Running. Horses at full gallop.
Khal Pono's 40,000. They had ridden thirty hours straight after kneeling in the grass sea. They hit the Yunkai rear screaming one word they learned yesterday: "Zaldrīzes!"
Two thousand Yunkai spearmen disappeared under arakhs and hooves. Catapults shattered.
Yezzan spun. "Dothraki! We paid you!"
Pono cut his banner down. "We ride for dragons now!"
Then the sky went dark.
Three dragons came first — Drogon black-red, Viserion cream-gold, Rhaegal green-bronze. They dove fast, burned the Volantene galleys in the bay, the water boiled, then the Astapor line, then the catapults. They landed hard on their two back legs, wings spread.
Yezzan pointed. "Scorpions! Aim! Only three!"
Then his hand froze mid-air.
Because the sun disappeared.
Voidscale came down like a falling mountain.
He didn't screech like the others. He roared like a lion mixed with thunder.
He landed on FOUR FEET — boom — two front claws, two back legs, wings on his back, separate and huge. Black scales, white chest. Where he landed, the stone cracked in four places. Fifty tiger-cloaks died under his feet without him even breathing.
He stood over them, tall, wings still on his back, not touching ground. He lifted two horses with his front legs while standing on his back legs.
The invaders stared. "WHAT IS THAT? WHAT KIND OF DRAGON IS THAT?"
Aegon stood on his back. Not hanging on a neck like Daenerys does on Drogon. Standing, feet planted between the wings on that wide pure back, red katana in hand, shoulder bleeding.
Cortnay saw him from the wall and screamed crying: "THE King and Queen has returned".
Behind him, Aegnis and Chaosfyre landed on the broken wall — ash-black fire choking Yunkai, grey fire melting spears.
Daenerys landed Drogon right next to Voidscale. Now you could see it clearly. Drogon — two back legs, wings used to walk. Voidscale — four legs, wings on his back like the dragons on old Valyrian flags.
Yezzan's white horse was trapped under Voidscale's front claw, shaking.
Aegon looked down.
Voidscale walked forward on all four feet like a cat stalking, wings folded.
He breathed. DRACARYS!!
Not red fire. BLACK fire. Dragonfire that kept burning even on stone.
Yezzan zo Qaggaz, who owned a thousand slaves, became ash in one second. No scream.
The Yunkai saw their master gone, saw Dothraki behind, saw six dragons with one pure mutated true dragon in front standing on four legs over their general — and broke. They ran to the sea.
Volantene galleys tried to sail. Drogon and Voidscale grabbed one galley together and tore it in half.
By sunset Meereen was black with soot, but standing.
Aegon slid down Voidscale's front leg like a ladder and landed in ash.
Barristan limped to him and knelt, knee bleeding.
"Your Grace... I have not seen one like that since Balerion in the scrolls."
Aegon lifted him.
"Then it's time the world remembers what a pure dragon looks like," he said.
Behind them Voidscale stood on his four legs, wings on his back, and roared over Meereen, and every child shouted back.