Chapter 23.5- The Seadragon's Roar

“No walls?” He asked the question without asking.

“To symbolise that this town is a temporary one. Let our people not fear losing their independence overmuch” He replied.

“And the Dothraki?”

“We have come to an agreement with the Khalasars in this part of Essos” He said, and that was that. They’d paid a massive bribe then. Icarus was beginning to wonder just how much they were investing into this war and whether it was truly worth it. To him, war was never truly worth it. He had been taught by Maester Mors of all the great wars in the Seven Kingdoms. Wars for confquest, for revenge, for land, for petty insults, and then the aftermaths. They were almost never worth it. In fact, the only war that had proven to be undoubtedly positive for one side over the other was Aegon’s conquest. And even that had the shadow that was his failed occupation of Dorne hanging over it. Icarus was as prideful as any Dornish. He viewed Dornish independence as paramount, but he struggled to describe that war as a victory for them.

Yes, they had kept their independence, but their people had starved for two generations, their castles had been destroyed, and even till now most of the Houses were in debt to House Martell for the gold provided for rebuilding their castles after the Dragons had their way with them. And then there was the debt that House Martell owed the Iron Bank in turn. It was a well-kept secret, but it was hard to keep secrets from a boy fostered with you from a young age. The Prince was careful about his correspondence, but you couldn’t really hide regular shipments of gold, and neither could you hide the many meetings with the Iron Bank’s representatives negotiating things like interest rates or repayment schedules. Last he checked, they were going to stop being in debt in the next twenty years. And now they were here, courting another war with a family of dragon riders.

Maybe the triarchy had some plan to muzzle the dragons, but Icarus doubted it. He doubted it with all his being. He had seen one with his own eyes. Those things were not regular creatures to be killed. Maybe they could get lucky like Hellholt had, but he doubted the Seven were smiling on them so much.

They rode straight to the largest building. It was a bungalow that stretched so wide, it was difficult to capture all of it within his view even this far away.

“You build quickly” He commended.

“Where there is a will, there is a way” The merchant said. Of course. Icarus said nothing about the lines of men with chains around their necks carrying bricks. If the ‘will’ was another word for slave labour, then he could see how there was a way.