Game of Thrones: Power of Magic

Chaos.

So many colors, so many sights, so many visions.

She felt suffocated by them, unable to keep pace with the constantly changing scenes, she felt cold hands around her, as if rising from the graves of dead men to drag her into the ground with them. To accompany them in their eternal sleep.

*Screech!*

A shrill cry woke her from her daze as she watched the Undying claw at her, as if wanting to consume her body and soul. She was too weak to speak and too cold to move, the only thing she could do was pray for deliverance from the gods. But in this damned Palace of Dust, this prayer was unlikely to be heard by any god.

*Screech!*

Another cry and orange flames illuminated the dusty room as fire spewed from the maws of a small black dragon. The heat from the fire reradiated her as she started to fight off her offenders and their bony grips.

Amidst the orange, she saw green jade like crystals sprout to life from who knows where as they circled in the air above her before striking her captors like green vipers.

She was liberated.

She turned and ran, leaving behind the burning corpses and their silent cries, and ran until she saw the light of day. She jumped through the door that had brought her to this place of death and into the warm sunlight.

She had barely taken a step outside and before she could celebrate her escape, Pyat Pree, the warlock that had led her into this house of horrors, started to murmur as shadows rose from his feet, inching towards her before she could even react.

*Whosh*

More of those jade-like crystals struck the warlock at great speeds. The warlock stiffened, his wicked smile frozen on his pale blue lips as he then fell to the ground, thick dark blood oozed from the hole on his head.

"Khaleesi!" a voice cried out beside her as familiar arms wrapped around her, she had never been more thankful for the old knight's embrace.

"You sure are troublesome DragonMother." Another familiar voice entered her ears amidst the curses of her bloodriders; aimed towards this place, the warlocks, the city and all the residents in it.

She looked up to see a red haired young man dressed in nobel green robes with work of gold, so fine it could be an art piece, and studded with scarlet rubies as red and bright as the man's hair.

There were familiar green crystals hovering around his left hand, like green planets orbiting their star.

"You really should have heeded my advice Khaleesi, it would have saved both of us the trouble of coming to this foul place." he twitched his nose uncomfortably as he eyed the burning building behind her.

"It was you who struck the Undying. Thank you for your aid Lord Magus." she stood up with the support of her knight, "But how did you know that I would need it?" it would seem her luck with magic is poor, everytime she would suffer at the hands of the wielders of this arcane knowledge, they all seemed to be ill-fated with her… all except the blood haired man before her.

"I knew you were desperate and desperate people do foolish things. I couldn't let these wretched warlocks get their claws on a dragon. No matter, I do hope you have learned to heed peoples advice better Khaleesi." The man turned around to leave as the emerald orbiters around his wrist thinned into nonexistence. "Oh and do take better care of your dragons… A mother usually doesn't let her children into the houses of strange men."

With that he had gone. She felt anger and shame at his words. It was true that she called her dragons her children and it was also true that she had paraded them around for the amusement of other men. 'I had no other choice.' she consold herself, she needed to do this in order to get the support that she needed to sail to westeros… but had she gotten it? No, she had done nothing but waste her time in this city, so enchanted by the splendor of Qarth that she had forgotten her true goal.

The coming days would prove the Red Magus' words even more true as her gracious host, Xaro Xhoan Daxos, the merchant prince that had, at every step, showered her with praise and promises of riches, abandoned her and requested that not only does she leave the city as soon as possible, but also return the gifts he had bestowed upon her.

In the end, she had begged the man for a ship but had been denied with a trade offer; a dragon for 30 ships. She had denied this offer, she would never sell her children for mere ships, not for 30, not for 300 more.

No longer wanting to stay in this city where nobles had openly called for her execution, she decided to find a ship to take her west. She wanted to leave as quickly as possible, she knew that she would no longer get any aid in this city and her Khalasaar also grew restless in this city,they were unused to the stagnant life of a city.

She had decided to head towards the docks the very next day after the House of the Undying and burnt down and much to her surprise, had run into the very person she wished to avoid any further encounters with.

"My this is a surprise, you aren't having me followed are you?" the red headed Magus said with a grin as he decided to tag along her as she searched for ships with the words, "It should be entertaining to watch."

When she came upon the docks, she saw endless stalls littering the miles long horseshoe port of Qarth. There were all manner of spices, liquors and trinkets one could imagine and at a fraction of the price from the bazaars in the upper parts of the city.

As they passed by a stall selling a few dragon eggs, colored with red and green, she saw the merchant run towards them with a wide smile, handing the Red Magus a hefty pouch before scuttling away.

Bearing her curious gaze he simply shrugged, "How many people can actually tell the difference between carved stone and dragon eggs? It's a good business, you have my thanks for it, dragon mother."

She grumbled, but said nothing. It was a small thing and she owed the man far too much to complain about this small thing.

They passed by hundreds of ships, unloading spices, silks, peppers and wines. They also passed a ship from Astapor selling slaves on the docks.

"Astapor, that is your home, is it not Lord Magus?" she asked while watching people bid on half naked girls.

"It is indeed Khaleesi. The finest bed slaves are trained there, trained in the Way of the Seven Sighs, and sold to every city in Essos and beyond." he explained with a casual tone.

She did not know what to think of this, slaves in Essos were as common as cattle, bought and sold in every city, in every port. Looking at shivering girls on the platform, being eyed and leered by countless men, she couldn't help but feel pity for them.

"Do you pity them Khaleesi?" asked the Magus, surprising her but she knew better to let it show on her face, 'It is like he can read my mind.' she thought but as the memory of him healing countless of her Khalasaar and wielding emerald crystals that struck the warlocks like green vipers surfaced, 'No, he probably can read my mind.'

"No man should have the power over the life and death of another." she told him.

"And yet that is what kings are. There is no difference between a king and a master. Between a peasant and a slave. In fact, the slaves in Essos usually live far better lives than the peasants in Westeros. Here they are housed, clothed and fed. Do the nobles of Westeros offer these guarantees to their peasants, Ser Jorah?" he asked the knight.

"They do not. However they are free to choose their own paths in life." the old knight spoke and she agreed with a nod.

"But are they not still subject to the whims of their lords? Taxed into starvation, their wives and daughters ruined at the hands of their nobel lords while their sons are sent to die in wars that would bring them no honor nor riches." the Magus shook his head, "Just because the names and titles have changed doesn't mean that the truth changes with them. Slavery has existed since the dawn of this world and will continue till it's dusk."

She grew solemn at his words, she couldn't refute them and from the silence of Ser Jorah, neither could he. The journey grew silent until they reached the place where the ships from westeros and the free cities docked. She went to each ship, trying to buy passage for her people but most laughed as she introduced herself as "Queen of the Seven Kingdoms". "Aye, and I'm Lord Tywin Lannister and shit gold every night." mocked one of them, eliciting a chuckle from the Red Magus who had found the amusement he had sought at the constant stream of denials faced by the young girl.

"This is hopeless." she sighed as they started to run out of ships. She eyed the Red head next to her, busily eating a drool inducing mutton barbeque off a nearby stall while one of the whores that littered the docks, invited him for company.

"Lord Magus, you said you are headed westward. May I ask if you are headed back to Yunkai?" She hoped that she was previously wrong, that the Magus couldn't truly read her thoughts as she was at her wits end and there was only one option in front of her.

"I am headed for Astapor and I may be persuaded to do what you wish for me." he smirked, the cold smile freezing her blood, 'Truly! He can read my thoughts!' she shivered beneath her coloured leather shirt.

He told them to wait as he went off to talk on his own to find a suitable ship and a captain.

"Do you think he will succeed, Ser Jorah?" she asked her companion as they watched him disappear among the endless crowd.

"They say a merchant can sell a man his own coffin. If his claim of being a merchant's son is true, he might succeed." the old knight replied positively.

'My dear Ser Jorah, he wouldn't trust his own shadow much less a Magus that can probably read minds. Alas, we have no other option, discounting Xaro's countless proposals for marriage.' Now she felt sympathetic to her brother who had worked to please nobel hosts tirelessly in order to secure a roof over their heads and food in their bellies… even as he was mocked as The Beggar King.