Ice and Fire: Reign of the Dragon.

Chapter 372: Banquet of Betrayal
The corridor of the dragon's lair twisted into a furnace-like scene behind him. The ends of Ringol Varese's silver-gray braids were curled by the heat wave. He raised his hand to signal everyone to stop - the hanging lamp at the corner ahead was emitting an ominous green light.

"Wildfire." Brynden's white eyes sparkled with the luster of mother-of-pearl, reflecting the glowing green dots. "They mixed fake dragon fire crystals into the incense balls, and buried wildfire in advance, but the amount should not be large." Before he finished speaking, the last few incense copper balls hanging from the dome fell one after another, exploding emerald waves in the hall of the dragon's lair.

The alchemists of Volantis were as obsessed with dragonfire as their counterparts in Westeros. With the help of the pyromancers of Asshai, they created a magical substance similar to wildfire, but much less powerful but more stable. Unfortunately, the output was too small to compete with wildfire and could not be used in large quantities.

The steel armor of Regen Kaon made a sharp sound. "Stand back!" The old warrior used the Starsinger to split open the secret compartment in the side wall, revealing a narrow passage covered with spider webs. Just as Lord Tully was about to step in, the entire stone wall suddenly collapsed in green flames, and the shock wave knocked the Minister of the Navy, Alyn, to the ground.

Ringol helped the elderly Admiral to his feet. Lord Tully, who was standing by, suddenly pressed down the bleeding bandage and said, "Listen!" As everyone focused, a loud noise of chains breaking came from deep in the dragon's lair, followed by Jed Olins's signature roar - the kind of high-frequency howl that could shatter glass.

Behind them, the stained glass windows of the banquet hall melted in the flames like candles. A mixture of pseudo-dragon fire crystals and wildfire flowed through the cracks in the stone, turning the entire dragon's lair into a nightmare maze of constantly changing colors.

The roar of the giant dragon pierced the entire dragon's lair.

The bronze door that blocked the dragon was blown open.

Daemon Blackfyre's fingers brushed over the old scar on Korakshu's neck, where the edges of the scales still retained fragments of arrows from the King's Landing riot decades ago. The scarlet dragon with a neck as long as a giant snake spewed two streams of sulfur-smelling white smoke from its nostrils, and its golden vertical pupils reflected its owner's violet eyes.

"I've finally waited for this day, old friend." Daemon unfastened the last dragon saddle buckle, and Korakshu immediately shook his body, and the dust accumulated on his wing membranes rose like red mist. The thump of the chain falling to the ground startled Jed Olins in the next cave, and the emerald behemoth suddenly crashed into the stone wall, and the whole dragon cave was shaking.

Aegon Sunfyre looked so small in front of the green dragon. The dragon whip in his hand was a legendary item woven with ninety-nine virgin hairs. The dragon chasers of the Thraxon family provided this item that was said to contain magic. As it turned out, this dragon whip was just a nice name. Before it was used, the tip of the whip was already charred and curled. "Dohaerās!" The emphasis was deliberately placed on the second syllable. This mistake made Korakhu turn around and look at the boy with some confusion.

"You got the emphasis wrong." Damon frowned: "It's surrender, not death!"

Jade Orinth responded with a flame that passed close to Aegon's scalp. The shackles on the green dragon's left front paw suddenly straightened, and the fine steel chain groaned under the high temperature. Dragon Chaser Dasilis took the opportunity to touch the dragon egg room, but was grabbed by Balmi's cloak: "Be careful, according to the intelligence, those dragon eggs will have to wait at least another half a year-"

Their argument was interrupted by the sudden sound of breaking through the wall. Aegor rode the Sheep Thief and broke through the western wall. The peat-colored dragon was holding half a goat from the royal animal pen in its mouth. The dragon-winged horse emblem on the rider's black armor was stained with a scorched black.

"You're late." Damon adjusted Korakshu's saddle straps without looking up.

Aegor lifted his visor, revealing purple pupils that were lighter than Daemon's: "It's not too late, I'll go stop those two old guys right away." Aegor was very excited now: "Hold on tight, and make sure to finish what you have to do before I can't hold on anymore." He kicked the sheep thief's body, and the old dragon reluctantly spit out the debris in his mouth, roared and spread his wings.

At this moment, the entire dragon cave suddenly trembled violently. The scarlet dragon raised its head, and its golden eyes reflected the suffocating huge figure in the distance - Hovenders was slowly descending from the broken dome gap.

This huge creature has an almost sacred majesty. Two long whiskers, long enough to wrap around giant trees, droop down to the ground, gently brushing the stone bricks with its breath. When its rainbow-colored bone-plate dragon horns brushed against the ruins, the peeling gravel turned into crystal powder in mid-air. The most horrifying thing is its eyes - seven colors flow in the irises, constantly changing, as if witnessing all the rise and fall from the Dawn Age to the present.

The arrival of Serena Varese was like a tide calming the storm. Sarafasus' light blue dorsal fin was like a great wall of ice crystals in the firelight. Its slender neck turned gracefully, and its bison-like dragon horns accurately deflected the gravel shot at Hovenders. When the pair of dragon partners spread their wings at the same time, a rainbow appeared briefly in the dragon cave - the annual rings on Hovenders' wing membrane and Sarafasus's gradient wings reflected the strange light of the wildfire.

Orion roared and swung his dragon whip, pouncing on the sheep thief who had already rushed out of the dragon's lair.

The sheep thief's peat-colored body shuttled between the ruins of the dragon's lair, and his peat-colored scales glowed a dirty copper rust in the colorful light of the pseudo-dragon fire crystal. The cunning male dragon glided close to the ground, goat blood foam dripping from his fangs. He knew how to take advantage of chaos - especially when the two dragons, Hovenders and Sarafathers, were enraged. Aegor lay on the dragon's back, and the dragon-winged horse pattern on his black armor was stained black by soot. His goal was clear: to create chaos and distract Orion and Serena. The sheep thief suddenly rolled sideways, and the flames he spewed swept in the direction of the royal wheelhouse - King Daeron and Queen Sirui were on their way. They should have seen the dragon's lair burning, but they didn't know if they were still in the wheelhouse.

The pillar of fire quickly set fire to the houses from the dragon's lair to the road.

"Seven Hells!"

"my house!"

"what happens?"

"Help, help me, help!"

Everywhere there were screams of people affected.

"Sapphire Hunt"

Hovenders's long beard trembled in the air, his rainbow-colored bone dragon horns drooped slightly, and his dragon eyes, like the annual rings of a thousand-year-old tree, locked onto the sheep thief. He did not pounce immediately, but instead let out a low, almost sighing dragon roar - that was a hunting signal in dragon language.

Sarah Fathers responded immediately.

The gorgeous sapphire dragon spread its gradient wings, and its dark blue to light blue wings surged like waves in the firelight. It did not charge straight like an ordinary dragon, but circled up and took advantage of the broken structure of the dragon cave dome to occupy the commanding heights. The sheep thief was about to chase him, but Hovenders's long beard swept over like a whip and hit his flank hard.

The peat-colored male dragon roared in pain, scales shattered, and blood oozed out. Aegor grabbed the dragon saddle tightly, cursing and pulling on the reins, trying to turn the sheep thief around - but it was too late.

Sarafathers swooped down, his long tail smashing down like a warhammer, the jewel-like structure at the end of his tail fin emitting a dazzling blue light upon impact. The sheep thief stumbled back under the blow, his front paws plowing deep furrows in the stone ground.

Hovenders followed closely behind.

Its movements were not as swift and violent as those of ordinary dragons, but carried an ancient, almost elegant sense of oppression. Its two long whiskers drooped to the ground like a giant python, and suddenly strangled the sheep thief's neck - this was a special skill of Huo Huo. Among the dragons of the Vareses family, only the dragon whiskers of Hovenders could imitate a similar effect. The peat-colored male dragon struggled frantically, biting with its fangs, but could not shake Hovenders at all - the muscles of this dragon were like cast iron, and every inch of its scales seemed to have experienced the baptism of a thousand years of war.

Sarafathers did not give the sheep thief a chance to breathe. It opened its dragon jaws and spewed out a spiral of ice-blue fire. The sheep thief's right wing was scratched, and the old dragon's wing, which already had many wounds, had another charred wound, and its movements became sluggish.

Aegor knew that if this continued, the sheep thief would surely die. Korak was still removing the chains. There was no time to delay, and they had to leave quickly.

He pulled out the dragon whip and whipped the sheep thief's neck scales fiercely, which was the most sensitive part of dragons. The peat-colored dragon let out a heart-wrenching roar, and the severe pain made it burst out with its last brute force, and it broke free from Hovenders's long beard, stumbled against the side wall of the dragon's cave, which had collapsed, and fled towards the Blackwater River amid the splashing of gravel.

(End of this chapter)