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Chapter 256: Shifting Tides
🕑 Added 2025-04-08 11:03:16 +0000 UTCAs the former powerhouse of Qohor, Qos Soyed now appeared much older. The arrogance and confidence that once marked his face had vanished, leaving only fear and unease in his eyes—nothing else.
When he was brought to Lynd's study and saw him, he immediately dropped to his knees, bowing with a humility he had never displayed before.
Lynd finished signing the document in his hand and handed it to an attendant, instructing them to deliver it to Mus. Only then did he turn his gaze to the kneeling Qos Soyed and say, "A person's nature, cultivated over a lifetime, cannot be changed in just a few months. Whether you have truly submitted or are merely pretending makes no difference to me." With that, he pulled a sheet of paper from his desk and tossed it to Qos. "This details how you will be dealt with. Take a look. Convince your kin—I don't want anyone causing trouble during the process."
Old Qos hastily picked up the paper and read it word by word. As he did, the fear and anxiety on his face gradually faded. The emotional turmoil was too much for him to contain, and tears streamed down his face.
On the journey to Summerhall under Qohor’s escort, Qos had already prepared for the worst. If the roles were reversed, he would never have forgiven a thief or their family—he would have dealt with them in the most brutal manner possible, ensuring that everyone who knew of the crime would fear him and dare not repeat it.
Along the way, many members of his family had succumbed to the pressure and taken their own lives, forcing the escorts to step in and protect the others. Otherwise, by the time they reached Summerhall, there might have been no one left alive to deliver.
Once imprisoned in Summerhall, the family's servants and hired workers were the first to be taken away. Then, distant relatives and collateral branches followed, leaving only the core family members locked away, ignored and isolated. The suffocating pressure drove some of them to suicide as well.
Qos had also considered ending his own life—but he didn't dare. It wasn’t death that frightened him. Rather, he feared that if he, the root of this disaster, died, Lynd would turn his wrath on the others.
His earlier bow to Lynd had been entirely sincere. Being summoned to the castle felt like a reprieve.
Now, as he wept uncontrollably, it wasn’t just due to the overwhelming emotions—it was grief for those who had died along the way and in their cells.
Lynd did not sentence House Soyed to execution. Instead, he distributed them across various territories under Summerhall’s control, assigning them penal labor according to their skills. The farthest were sent to the Stepstones, while the closest remained in Redemption Town.
Their sentences ranged from a few months to several years. A handful of key figures, including Old Qos, were sentenced to life imprisonment. They would spend the rest of their days in the library of the Silent Court, copying texts, cleaning, and carrying out other menial tasks. After serving their time, they could choose to leave Summerhall or remain.
From the start, Lynd had never intended to wipe out House Soyed. What he sought were the craftsmen, scholars, and centuries of accumulated knowledge they possessed. The members of the house were merely incidental. Now that he had stripped them of everything—their wealth and books stored in his treasury, their skilled people dispersed throughout Summerhall—there was no longer any need to keep them under tight control.
He had no concerns about them staging a comeback after serving their sentences. House Soyed could never regain its former influence. Leaving Summerhall would only bring them further ruin, not resurgence.
In fact, many among them were intelligent enough to recognize reality. The vast majority accepted their fate without resistance, complying with their assignments. Some even worked diligently during their sentences, displaying their talents in the hopes of securing employment in a suitable position once their time was served.
Whether they had truly abandoned their grudges and were striving for a fresh start, or whether they were merely biding their time, quietly embedding themselves into Summerhall’s system for a future resurgence, it made no difference to Lynd—as long as they did their assigned work properly.
With the matter of House Soyed settled, Lynd's daily routine became monotonous and dull: handling administrative affairs, checking on the progress of projects like the Sphinx Academy, various temples, and the Silent Court, spending time with Augustus, and training the long-winged dragons.
It wasn’t until he received a letter from Nymeria that the stagnant waters of his life finally rippled.
Since leaving Summerhall, Nymeria had sent him no news. Only those who had traveled with her to Ny Sar occasionally sent intelligence updates, giving him a vague sense of her situation.
This was the first letter she had written to him. The contents were simple and direct—a straightforward account of the events following her departure. The majority of it detailed her experiences in Volantis.
What truly surprised Lynd was that Nymeria had become involved in the internal politics of Volantis. Even more astonishingly, under her influence, the long-feuding Tiger and Elephant Parties had reconciled. From the implications in her letter, it seemed that Volantis, now unified, was preparing to make a move against Lys as soon as the Dothraki left the Disputed Lands.
According to the intelligence available, the struggle for dominance among the Dothraki horselords in the Disputed Lands was nearing its end. As Lynd had predicted, Khal Drogo emerged as the ultimate victor. By tradition, he would soon lead his warriors to Vaes Dothrak to offer sacrifices and seek prophecy from the dosh khaleen.
The only reason Khal Drogo had yet to depart was that he was waiting for Lys, Myr, and Tyrosh to pay him tribute and provide sufficient supplies for the journey. Recent reports indicated that Khal Drogo now commanded as many as 100,000 Dothraki warriors, not including the countless slaves accompanying them. If those were accounted for, the total number in his host could easily exceed 200,000.
A migration of this magnitude, without adequate provisions, would be catastrophic—not just for the Dothraki themselves but for every settlement along their path. After all, the Dothraki were known for living off the land, consuming whatever they could take.
As a result, the number of merchants from Lys, Myr, and Tyrosh traveling to Westeros to purchase grain had increased exponentially. Even Pentos had begun stockpiling massive quantities of food and fodder. Under normal circumstances, the Dothraki, upon leaving the Disputed Lands, would head first to Pentos before following the Valyrian roads through Norvos and Qohor, returning to the Dothraki Sea. Thus, for Pentos, the most pressing priority was to prepare tributes and expedite their departure as quickly as possible.
For this reason, Nymeria had also requested in her letter that Lynd temporarily redeploy the forces at Ghoyan Drohe to Ny Sar to assist in its reconstruction—both to strengthen the city and to avoid any conflict with Khal Drogo that could result in unnecessary bloodshed.
"Why has Nymeria suddenly decided to rebuild Ny Sar?" Lynd asked the Redeemer Sister who had delivered the letter.
"Because when Lady Nymeria arrived in Ny Sar, she found that a great number of Rhoynar survivors had already gathered there—and she was immediately elected as their queen," the sister revealed, sharing information that Nymeria had omitted from her letter and that had not been included in the intelligence reports.
"Elected as Queen of the Rhoynar?" Lynd was momentarily stunned by the news, but he quickly composed himself, his expression turning serious. "Tell me everything in detail."
At his command, the Redeemer Sister, who had been tasked with protecting Nymeria, recounted everything she had seen and learned.
It all traced back to Lynd. After he had forged an agreement with the Old Man of the River, the deity had used dreams to spread the message among his followers that a descendant of the Rhoynar queens would rebuild Ny Sar.
Most of his followers were Rhoynar descendants, and as the news spread from one to another, it eventually reached every Rhoynar remnant along the banks of the Rhoyne. In response, they began making their way to Ny Sar, intent on clearing the ruins in preparation for reconstruction.
By the time Nymeria arrived, tens of thousands of Rhoynar descendants had already gathered there. The moment she appeared before them, they immediately recognized her—her features unmistakably identical to those of the ancient Rhoynar queens. At that very moment, the Old Man of the River himself manifested and bowed to Nymeria, further fueling the fervor. A series of seemingly divine coincidences had ignited overwhelming excitement and devotion among the Rhoynar people. To quell the mounting fervor, Nymeria had no choice but to accept the title of their queen.
By the time the Redeemer Sister left Ny Sar, the city had already become home to 100,000 Rhoynar descendants, with many more continuing to arrive. It was estimated that the total number could eventually reach 200,000.
After listening to the report, Lynd rubbed his forehead in frustration. His original plan had been to reclaim the Disputed Lands first before focusing on Ny Sar’s reconstruction. But now, Nymeria’s unexpected circumstances had thrown his plans into chaos. Yet he couldn't ask her to halt the rebuilding and abandon the Rhoynar. That meant he had no choice but to adjust his strategy.
For one, the necessary funds and materials for Ny Sar’s reconstruction had not been prepared and would have to be gathered from other sources. Fortunately, House Soyed’s immense wealth, accumulated over centuries, along with his own financial reserves and trade networks, ensured that he needn’t worry too much about money.
Resources, however, were a different matter. Summerhall was already strained, juggling numerous projects with limited supplies. There was simply nothing extra to spare. That left him with only one option—purchasing what he needed from Volantis and Norvos and transporting it directly to Ny Sar via the Rhoyne.
For the next few months, Lynd remained focused on events unfolding in Essos. He even relocated his office to Miracle Harbor, ensuring that he could receive updates in real time and respond swiftly to any developments.
Lynd’s decision proved to be the right one. Not long after relocating the administrative center to Miracle Harbor, Khal Drogo led his Dothraki horde out of the Disputed Lands.
However, instead of taking the northern Valyrian road as Lynd had anticipated, Drogo made an unexpected move. After accepting the tribute from Pentos, he marched his army south along the Orange Shore. Before Volantis could react, he sacked Velos, crossed the Rhoyne via the marsh flats, took the Valyrian road through Sar Mell, passed outside the city of Volantis, and then continued south along the Valyrian road known as the Demon Road, heading toward Slaver’s Bay.
At first, Lynd couldn’t understand why Drogo had chosen such a difficult route. It was only after receiving various reports from the Disputed Lands that he realized Drogo’s decision was a direct result of his own prior actions.
The Greenblood Orphans Lynd had sent to Ghoyan Drohe, along with the Rhoynar people gathering in Ny Sar, now numbered over 100,000—many of them warriors. This substantial force was positioned just north of the Valyrian road.
Even though Lynd had ordered the Ghoyan Drohe men to retreat to Ny Sar before the Dothraki arrived, the Dothraki themselves had no knowledge of this. From Drogo’s perspective, there were over 100,000 individuals of unknown allegiance stationed in the north.
Although Khal Drogo was famed for his bravery, he was not a fool. He knew that while he commanded 100,000 warriors on paper, only about 20,000 to 30,000 were truly loyal and battle-hardened. The rest were former enemies—defeated khalasars that he had forcibly absorbed into his ranks. These newly conscripted warriors had yet to fully integrate into his khalasar. Their morale was low, and they were good for little more than waving banners and shouting war cries. Forcing them into battle would only drag his forces down.
Thus, after securing sufficient provisions, Drogo chose to bypass Nymeria’s forces in the north and take the southern Demon Road instead, plundering Volantene settlements along the way.
Lynd, too, suffered losses from the Dothraki migration. A portion of the supplies he had purchased in Volantis, still stockpiled in Velos awaiting transport, was completely looted by the Dothraki. Worse, some of his people from Summerhall had been captured.
Under different circumstances, Lynd might have personally led the Miracle Fleet to Slaver’s Bay, intercepting Drogo’s forces to rescue his men and perhaps even teaching the Khal a lesson by cutting his braid. But with his attention fully occupied by developments in the Disputed Lands, he had to resort to alternative methods for their retrieval.
Upon receiving news of the situation, Lynd had the Miracle Merchant’s Guild in Volantis send a message via hawk to its branch in Slaver’s Bay, instructing them to monitor Drogo’s movements closely. Once the Dothraki reached Slaver’s Bay, they were certain to sell off any excess prisoners and slaves. At that point, the Miracle Guild would have an opportunity to buy back the captured individuals.
About two months after the Dothraki left the Disputed Lands, Lynd sent envoys to deliver the previously prepared Tyroshi bonds to the Archon of Tyrosh. At the same time, he relocated the Miracle Fleet’s headquarters to Blackstone Island, using dock repairs as a pretext to station 5,000 soldiers from the Chosen Army at Tyrosh’s port.
