21 Camping for the Night

After getting out of the hidden grove area, walking through the dark rock corridor that was lit up by his soldiers' torches Kael finally eased his worries a bit. Although his grin was still on his lips.

"My Lord, are you finished there?" Asked Aren understanding not to ask what happened, if Kaelarys wanted him to know he wouldn't have asked them all to leave.

"Aye, we will rest in here for the night and then ride back to the camp in the morning." Kael stretched his hand to his commander, who understood and gave his vambrace back.

"Have any of the scouts found the volcano location, Commander?" Kael asked while tying his armor back to his right forearm.

"No, my Lord, but we have suspicions. After a whole week of interrogating our prisoners, not that they helped much, we did make some discoveries." Answered Aren while they walked towards the small camp that was being raised inside the tunnels.

"Do tell"

"We believe that it's by House Crowl, the ruler of a village castle named Deepdown, its name is self-explanatory. We believe they are nearby deep cavernous formations by the mountain chain, near the center of the island, those caves are probably connected to this place… which would make sense considering how that Godswood felt warm and comfortable. House Magnar however is on the south-eastern coast; they ruled a place called Kingshouse." Said Aren while pausing to take a breather.

"Quite a pompous name for a savage civilization." Said Kael sarcastically.

Aren in turn chuckled "Indeed, my Lord. But they were the strongest house on this island, their military was made of at least five hundred men, all well-trained warriors, with an extra thousand levies. So, it would make sense that they would pick the best place to settle down considering their power... Therefore, they went for building a port town so they could thrive from whales and trading with the mainland."

"What about the third one?" Kael had to ask, he wasn't an expert on Skagos, neither the show nor the books explained anything about this place.

"The third house is the weakest, they settled on the western coast of the island, possibly to live off of the fishing through the bay of seals, they are the only house in this place with perfect access to that place, the only nearby settlement from the Northern Kingdom would be Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, but said the place has no ships or personnel."

"I see… one house went for survival through the Bay of Seals, while the other went for trading and whaling… both close to the shores, which is the most optimal location for any settlement, it prioritizes fresh water and source of food." Said Kael

"Exactly, but even with all the possibilities, House Crowl decided to move to the heart of the island, it raises the question… why?" Said Aren with a knowing smirk.

".. And which settlement is the closest to our camp?" Asked Kael.

"Kingshouse is a day and a half away from the settlement, Driftwood Hall is five to seven days if we follow the western shore and have no inconvenient encounters… Deepdown however is unknown, we have no idea of its exact location, and considering that it's surrounded by mountains we don't know the fastest or even the right path to reach there…"

Kael nodded and sat down by a bonfire that was ready to be ignited, one of the soldiers was already procuring the flint and steel, which made Kael just chuckle and shake his head, pointing his finger to the bonfire and igniting it with magic fire, causing the poor soldier to become embarrassed in return.

"You don't need to worry," said Kael with a friendly and welcoming voice "I don't blame you, I haven't met anyone other than my sister that can actually create magic fire, if I was you, I wouldn't even consider it either" he chuckled again and signaled the soldiers to approach and rest surrounding the big bonfire.

He wasn't lying, even fire mages needed a source of fire in order to turn it into magic fire, either that or some sort of sacrifice, like blood. Valyrians without dragons can't just snap their fingers and ignite things like firebenders, well most of them…

"Aren" he said while grabbing a bowl of stew from the soldiers that had been preparing the food. "When we get back to the camp, I want you to split your men, send five hundred to Kingshouse and five hundred to Driftwood Hall, I want you to take over those places."

Aren nodded and sat down with his own bowl "As you command my Lord, thanks to the latest ships that arrived we are already two thousand strong, I believe a thousand-armed soldiers will keep the prisoners in line, but what do you want to do with the local population? Slavery?"

"No" Kael answered instantly without hesitation "Slavery will be the treatment for those who raise arms against me, commoners don't care who rules them as long as they have food to eat and a warm place to live… but I want you and your men to check if they are indeed savages and cannibals as I've heard or if those are just rumors, if they are indeed cannibals they can't be used even for slaves, they will become blood sacrifices."

Aren nodded while swallowing his food "I take it that you will be flying to Deepwood…"

Kael grinned "Why of course, a settlement between the mountains can be hard to locate through regular means, but it sticks out like a sore thumb to a Dragonrider in the skies."

"Sore thumb?" Aren was clueless about his liege's words.

Kael gulped his food and his eyes went wide finally realizing that he has been using some of his old world's wordings, he gave an awkward cough "You know... when you hurt one of your fingers and it becomes all red or purple and you can instantly recognize it even when among the other fingers?"

Aren chuckled in response "Aye it's a fitting description, I like it."

The soldiers started laughing and telling weird jokes among themselves, enjoying their free time, which made Kael raise his eyebrows "Aren, what do the soldiers do when they camp is like this? How do they keep entertained?"

The commander shrugged "We often just drink, sing… tell jokes and things like that, not much entertainment to be done in a temporary camp."

Kael laughed and stood up, he went to his things and grabbed a fancy empty pot with a round body, long neck and a 3-inch diameter mouth, along with a small pouch and his rondel dagger.

"Listen Up!" he shouted, getting the attention of all his men that started to think they would have to start moving again due to a change in plans, that reaction made Kael laugh even more as he placed the pot on the ground, took ten steps from it and used his rondel to draw a line on the floor.

Everyone was confused about what their Lord was doing.

"This will be our game for this evening…" he said with a smile on his face. "Anyone can try... all you have to do is manage to toss a coin inside that pot" he pointed towards the pot "while standing behind this line"

The soldiers were a bit enticed, but they didn't really get excited about it. "Now, if you miss it… you can't get your coins back… but if you manage to do it… not only you will get all the coins on the floor, but you will also get… "he paused while grabbing a few coins from his pouch "Ten Valyrian Dragons" he said as he placed ten gold coins inside the pot.

"Anyone interested?" He grinned as he turned to his men.

Everyone lost their minds, Ten Valyrian Dragons were equivalent to a whole month of payment for their services, added to the remaining coins… they could earn big!

"Now remember, one at a time… and once the coin is tossed... it can't be taken back" he chuckled and walked back to his seat, grabbed a bottle of wine and filled his own goblet. "You all have three hours lads!" he shouted "In three hours if no one gets it… the house wins!" he laughed and pointed towards himself and started drinking his wine while enjoying the show.

Aren came and sat by his side, laughing at the men fighting one another to toss their money in the pot and earn big "This will be an entertaining evening my Lord" he said while Kael gave him a bottle of wine as well so they could laugh at the soldiers.

"Well… after the events of earlier I wanted to have some entertainment to lighten up my mood… getting the lads to have fun alongside it is just hitting two birds with one stone" Kael replied before drinking his wine.

"My lord… about that tree…" Aren was quite reluctant about talking about it.

"I'm disappointed Aren… Very disappointed," he said while looking at the fire, the sounds of coins falling on the ground seemed to get muffled.

"My Lord…?"

"I always thought that… among all the Gods outside Valyria, the Old Gods would be the ones that I could at least welcome, not as a faithful believer but as welcomed guests to our new land here… but…"

Kael stood in silence, staring at the flames while remembering what he felt on the carved weirwood tree.

"Echoes… thousands... tens of thousands… swallowed by the weirwood…forever bound to its net…" he absentmindedly said while staring at the fire, his eyes seemed to glow red due to the reflection of the flames.

"Echoes? Net?"

Kael shook his head "It's nothing… just don't let people near it, I would've burned it but I want to study it further and more cautiously in the future… and we might not find another Heart Tree like that in this place."

"Leave it to me, my Lord"

"By the way… bring our unicorns, they kept us warm when we camped outside… let them enjoy the warmth while we are inside, I want Aron to enjoy his time with his rider"

"Aron? You named the unicorn?" Aren was confused and amused.

"Why not? I named my dragon, and have no doubt, that Unicorn is now mine and no one else has the right even to get close to him." Kael smirked.

"…I… see…." Aren was chuckling amused "I'm sorry my Lord, but I think Aron is a female…."

Kael stared at Aren with wide eyes "Shit… hmmm Auris then… and don't let that stinky unicorn of yours get close to her, I will castrate him if he tries anything funny."

Aren couldn't hold it anymore and started laughing out loud "Oh this is too much my Lord" he was tearing up "If you had a daughter to be courted… I wonder how would it be…"

Kael gave a sinister grin "The boy would need a bigger dragon than mine, and to survive my dragonfire…." He then made a sad face "Lucky for them that my bloodline can only procreate within our own people…"

"Then why do you look sad about it?"

"I…. wanted to see them try…"