Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 82 Midnight to Dawn

"I'm serious. The eyes of 'Eagle Eye' Ash Sara never lie." At the dock, the night guards gathered around the fire in the middle of the night to brag and chat. The queen would send people to light fires all over the island every evening, and have them chant Night Fire for the King of Light and pray for the dawn.

The guards were not very enthusiastic about chanting the Lord of Light, but they were eager to light a bonfire on a damp and cloudy night at the seaside. The guards on night watch loved this warm bonfire and were willing to add firewood to it until dawn.

The one who was speaking was Ashe Sara from the team. He was the only one in the night shift who had served as a knight's squire and was eloquent: "That is definitely not a seagull or a carrier crow, I can guarantee that. It was flying high in the sky, hiding in the dark clouds, but I still found it. Gods - the Lord of Light, I dare say that it is the largest seabird I have ever seen, about three or four feet long. It is black and looks weird. It looks like a dragon -"

Someone pointed to the castle on the hill: "Is that what you are looking at, Ashe? I saw it too. I can see it now."

People looked up in the direction the man pointed and saw a giant dragon statue carved on the castle on the mountain. They had long been accustomed to the hideous and terrifying statue in the night, and they burst into laughter.

"Tsk!" Ashe was interrupted and couldn't help but tsk, "I'm serious, don't interrupt, or I won't say anything."

"Haha, it's just a joke, don't be angry. Well, take a break and I'll tell everyone about it." Someone simply took over the conversation and said with an ambiguous tone, "Do you know about this girl across the street from the pub? Who has been there? Has anyone been there? Hey, I've been there. Let me tell you, that girl has her own way~"

Ash Sara rolled his eyes, helpless as the brothers were diverted by the vulgar jokes and turned to pee at the dock.

Ashe Sara is the archery master and coach of the town guard. He is an excellent archer. It is said that he learned it when he was a squire for a knight. He often boasted that he had the hope of becoming a knight, but he missed the knight's award because he was drunk. But people whispered that he was drunk and fell into the water when the poor knight he followed fell into the water during the attack on Pyke Island. They were busy saving their own knight who fell into the water, and they were unable to enter Pyke Island to get any credit. The poor knight was not saved either, so he could only return to Dragonstone Island to be an ordinary guard to seek a way out.

But he was the only one in the guard who had a half-body armor. It was rumored that he planned to save up a full set of armor and then participate in the tournament to win fame. The town guards were not like the knights recruited by the lord. They had no armor to wear, only a set of leather protective gear - in fact, most of the ordinary soldiers recruited by the lord only had this set.

There is no shortage of swords.

Only knights, hired knights, unarmored attendants and retainers of sworn knights, who made their living by swords and were equivalent to full-time soldiers, and semi-full-time peasants who were trained by instructors all year round under the great lords could get a set of armor from the armory when they were called up. Because the maintenance of armor was a complicated subject, the lord would not easily give a set of expensive armor to someone who had just learned to wield a sword.

The town guards are similar; they are responsible for maintaining public order and do not go to the battlefield.

Only the captain of the guard had a set of old plate armor from the army warehouse, and he had to pay for its repair and maintenance himself.

If the enemy unfortunately attacked the city, they could only sound the alarm, guard the main roads as much as possible, and wait for the regular army to support them. Only the guards in military facilities such as castles, watchtowers, and fortresses were fully armored. They were either the knights of the nobles, the relatives of the nobles, or the nobles themselves.

This time when King Stannis attacked King's Landing, Ashe wanted to follow the army. After all, battlefield spoils always come the fastest, as long as he lives to take them. When Prince Rhaegar died in the Trident, how many people fished out the broken gems from his breastplate in the water?
But thinking that he would have to start from the front and give up his years of experience in the town guard, Ashe did not go. He is now one of the most experienced guards in the town guard. When the current captain of the guard retires, the next captain will undoubtedly be him unless a knight falls from the sky.

"A ship is coming." Ashe shook her body, quickly pulled up her belt, and called out to the night guard brothers at the port dock.

What else could it be except a merchant ship?
If it was a Lannister fleet, the watchtower would have sounded the alarm long ago.

Under the cover of night, the dark shadow of the large ship gradually approached.

"Want a beer for tomorrow's lunch? Braavos, I guess," someone said.

"I guess it's Seagull Town," someone said.

"Seagull Town." Someone continued.

"Pentos," Ashe said.

"Pentos."

"Pentos."

"Pan——"

"You two don't count, and neither do the rest. Damn it." The person who proposed it shouted helplessly, "Ashe, couldn't you have said it later?"

Ashe returned to the campfire and did not move. She only went to the duty hut of the tax collector at the port dock and said, "Go and wake up the copper collector. He must have fallen asleep again."

The ship gradually approached, and there was indeed the symbol of Pentos on its unfurled sails.

The tax collector led two guard brothers and yawned as they directed the merchant ship to dock. When the ship stopped and the ladder was lowered, they went up to ask whether the ship was docked or had any goods unloaded. The goods that had landed would be inspected and taxed.

The rest of the night guards continued to brag and chat by the fire, and the topic around the fire always revolved around women and wine.

Not long after, the two brothers who had boarded the ship with the tax collector returned with rosy faces.

"Gods - oh, no, Lord of Light, the merchant in Pentos is sensible. He said we worked hard on keeping watch all night and wanted to treat us to a drink." The two brothers handed Ashe a small bag of coins and two large bags.

Someone called out, "Any more wine?"

The crowd gathered immediately.

"Hey," the returning brother laughed, "They are here to sell wine. We are lucky. A barrel of wine on their boat happened to leak, so they gave each of us a big bag. You haven't smelled how fragrant this wine is. It is definitely high-end stuff!"

"I should have brought more people along!"

The wineskin was also given to Ashe.

The guards who were on night watch at the dock all looked at him with burning eyes.

Ashe first poured out the money from the purse and counted it in his hand. There were about dozens of copper coins: "Have you seen everything?" He took a quarter of it, gave some to the two brothers who came on board, and then divided the rest equally among the others.

Finally, it was the wine. He took a sip and passed the bag over: "Everyone, take a sip. Don't drink too much. It's still a long way to dawn."

There came a cheer from the guards around the campfire.

The sailors on the merchant ship began to unload the cargo from the ship in an orderly manner, moving barrels of wine to the intersections and roadsides of the dock.

In the dark of night, the sailors of the Pentos merchant ship accidentally dropped a few barrels while carrying them, spilling them on the roadside. The wine smelled really good and fragrant. The guards had nothing to do, so they enthusiastically took torches to light the way for the merchant sailors.

The captain of the merchant ship was busy and sweating: "It's okay, it's okay, it's a small problem, a small problem, I dare not trouble you gentlemen."

The sailors seemed to be afraid of the guards and were all very nervous.

Ashe thought that these people were probably afraid that they would blackmail her further, so she called the guards back to the campfire and did not bother them.

Ashe actually didn't like drinking, and he drank occasionally just to get along with his brothers. But he didn't know if there was something wrong with his sense of smell, but he always felt that the wine barrels covered with waterproof cloth piled up at the intersection of the merchant ships had an indescribable strange smell.

He always felt that he had smelled this strange smell somewhere, but he couldn't remember what it was.

But before he could remember what it tasted like.

The guard brothers started talking about vulgar topics again.

"Listen to me, it's right. Go try it. The girl across from the pub is really good~"

The midnight was long and tormenting. Apart from the Pentos merchant ship, no other merchant ships entered the port that night. The people around the campfire gradually fell silent, and only a few people could still tell a few jokes to amuse themselves.

"It's almost dawn!" someone suddenly shouted, and everyone looked east.

You can see the eastern sky gradually turning pale.

Ash Sara saw a thin layer of mist rising from the sea in the early morning light, floating lightly on the water like a veil. He was about to sigh: "Today will be a good day--"

woo-

A faint horn sound came from the sea.

woo-

Twice.

Woo——woo——

Three, four. The sound of the horn gradually became clearer.

The trumpet sounds were rhythmic, with one voice singing in unison.

The trumpet sounds began to speed up and become more frequent.

Two black shadows were gradually emerging from the sea mist.

They are two large rowing boats.

The half-reefed sail was faintly visible, black.

Someone asked in shock: "Pirates? Lannisters?" Looking at Ashe, who had the best eyesight among them, known as "Eagle Eyes".

But he looked toward the sea, his eyes bulging, his mouth wide open, with an expression of disbelief. He said, "Yes, it's a black flag with a red dragon. It's a Targaryen!" Before he could be surprised, he drew the sword from his waist. The clang of the sword coming out of the sheath sobered up the stunned guards. He roared, "Quick, go and notify the captain! Go and ring the bell!"

Ashe turned her head and looked towards the watchtower, where smoke was already rising.

This means that the watchtower has determined that it is an enemy attack and has already warned the castle and requested assistance from nearby naval forces.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

The trumpet sounded closer.

At first, you can hear the sound of oars hitting the water, which is the sound of wooden oars blades flying on the water.

One could even hear the faint sound of the sailors' calls. Hey-yo--puh-hoo, hey-yo--puh-hoo, hey-yo--puh-hoo.

By this time, all the guards on the dock could see clearly that the flag fluttering on the bow of the rowing boat was a red flag with a single three-headed fire-breathing dragon on a black background.

Except for Ashe, no one among the guards had ever seen a real battlefield. Their voices trembled: "What should we do?"

In the past, two warships with three hundred oars were not worth fearing at all.

But if you know they are coming to attack, and there is nothing in the port to stop them from landing, then two ships with three hundred oars are huge, and each of these ships can carry thousands of soldiers.

Ashe knew that staying at the dock was just waiting for death. He roared, "Retreat to the town and gather at the guard post!" He turned around and found that no one had executed the order he had just issued. "Why are you all standing there? Didn't I tell you to notify the captain and ring the bell?" He roared a few times, raised his sword and shouted, "Fuck you, listen to my orders and follow me!"

Ashe led the frightened guards and started running towards the town.

He suddenly discovered that the merchant sailors who had arrived last night were also fleeing from the town towards the merchant ships at the dock under the leadership of the captain. On the way, they all looked up and looked at them running in the opposite directions. It seemed that these sailors had been waiting by the stacked goods last night.

In the dim light of the early morning, Ashe finally ran from the dock steps to the town streets and finally saw the cargo that the merchant ships had stored there last night. These barrels were stacked at the intersections of the long streets in the town, beside the main roads, and even at the entrances and exits of the small streets near the east-west line of the main street.

Some uneasy emotions welled up in my heart.

Ashe remembered that the strange and indescribable smell coming from those wine barrels covered with waterproof cloth was tung oil.

(End of this chapter)