c7

Yi Ti, Early Morning…

In all of his travels Harry had seen many cities and sights, but nothing so far compared to Yi Ti.

The ship came into harbour as the sun peaked over the horizon, casting the great port city of Yin in an ethereal golden light. The docks were already busy as you would expect in any port and while the stone quays where ships docked was not so different as you would find in other ports, the buildings of the city were one of the things that made it stand apart.

Most cities had a variety of buildings, constructed differently as the decades and centuries passed, influenced by new styles or resources. But here in Yin all of the buildings except for the most important were uniform in their design and construction; a wooden frame sported thin stone walls and a sloped tiled roof which was strange enough on its own. Most buildings Harry had seen, even in his own homeland did not have tiled roofs, Braavos did for many of its buildings but many other places just used mortar, thatch or wood as they did on the walls. The interior was divided not by stone walls but a light paper or wooden screens and the outside had guttering to carry away the rain water which Harry had to admit was smart of them, most other people did not bother with such things and had to deal with rain damage in bad weather as a result. It was he discovered also extremely bad form to enter someone's dwelling without removing your shoes, so as to not dirty their home.

Harry was glad he had taken the time to learn Yitish while he was in Oldtown as part of his preparations, according to the people Harry met they had been building them the same way for centuries, explaining the uniformity.

Harry was not sure of sticking to a design form because it was tradition but it was efficient as it kept the houses cool in the really warm and humid climate of Yi Ti. He wandered around the city, his eyes and smile were wide with all the sights and smells around the place, the people looked at him strangely, not used to people from Westeros in their city but thankfully it was not acted on. They merely shrugged and left him be as he explored the city as long as he caused no trouble.

-x-

Harry was impressed at the design of the temples here, made of the same materials as the houses they were painted with bright colours and intricate slated roofs, their walls decorated with colourful and strange pictures. It was interesting in its uniqueness to what he was used too, but Harry was able to admit he liked the city so far. One thing that did strike him in peculiar was the dragons played a large part in their culture, it was the opposite to the Valyrians who used them as weapons of war. The Yitish dragons were long and graceful, growing to incredible sizes in their very long life spans. Unlike the angry and violent reptilian dragons of Valyria, the dragons here were seen almost as gods and revered for their apparent wisdom. Harry wondered if there was any truth in this legend, no dragon in his other life had shown the intelligence beyond that of a wolf or bear maybe. These sky dragons were most definitely outside of his experience, but since they had not been seen for millennia so Harry put it to the back of his mind and looked for some lunch as his stomach growled, finding something in the city's main square.

The food was another thing that was different he though, tucking in to the rice and pasta that formed a good portion of the local diet. Harry did have some trouble with the chopsticks that were used instead of knives, spoons and forks but it did not bother him. This was his dream Harry thought with relish, to see and experience other cultures for himself and see as much as the world had to offer.

The rice for one thing which he gathered could be grown in wet conditions and stored for long periods which would be invaluable in winter back home. The pasta was another foodstuff that he realised could do well in Westeros as all of the ingredients were found there and it was very easy to make. He went to the vender and was going to ask him about purchasing rice seeds, the knowledge to grow them and the recipe for pasta when everyone's eyes were drawn to the town square as the sound of horse hooves echoed through the air.

Men on horseback thundered through and Harry was immediately put on guard, his thoughts jumping to identify them as soldiers. Their armour was different to the style worn in Westeros, made of iron lamellar or hardened leather bonded together in strips to increase its strength with some wearing metal plate probably as a sign of status but the armour and the weapons they carried were enough to confirm his theory. They stopped in the centre of the square and a man at the centre who wore elaborate robes, marking him as some kind of official began to speak from a scroll.

"CITIZENS! THE GOD EMPEROR, WHOSE POWER AND WISDOM KNOW NO LIMITS…HAS DECREEDED THAT THE GREAT SERPENTS WITH A GLARE THAT KILLS IN THE FORESTS MUST BE SLAIN. ALL MEN ARE MUST TAKE UP A WEAPON TO JOIN THE HUNT." The official decreed and Harry looked around in surprise to see all of the men around him drop whatever they were doing and grabbed whatever weapon they could find. Clearly the 'God-Emperor' who Harry knew ruled Yi Ti was never to be questioned although the 'great serpents with a glare that kills' that had been mentioned made Harry nervous, sounding horribly familiar. He could only hope he was wrong.

Then as he turned to leave the square he saw the soldiers who had surrounded the official ride in front of him and Harry turned to face him, getting a very bad feeling about this.

"The God-Emperor said all men are to take up arms!" The Official said reminding Harry of a weasel used to hiding behind bodyguards and being all important. Harry's smile fell from his face as he answered back, replaced by a stern frown.

"I am not a subject of your God-Emperor, I am not of this land. A mere traveller." Harry said not wanting to go anywhere near the serpents if they were what he suspected. The Official however only looked down his nose at Harry and said as though he were the God-Emperor himself.

"All within these lands are subject to his Excellency's will and are his to command."

Harry was starting to get annoyed and would really like to smash the weasel official's face in but a look at the guards changed his mind. He did not want a fight here, he was sure he could win despite the guards on horseback but that would mean he would have to flee the country and he wanted to explore more of Yi Ti, especially to learn if magic and these sky dragons really existed here. So with some trepidation he conceded and asked the official one question.

"As I am not a native of your country, perhaps you could enlighten me on what exactly we are supposed to hunt?"

The official looked affronted at being asked such a question, he was used to being obeyed without question but he decided to humour the foolish outsider that was sure to die.

"Basilisks, the great serpents with a glare that kills and poison that is worse than any other."

Harry's heart sank as he heard the name, memories of the great snake his opposite had faced in the Chamber of Secrets.

Two Days later…

Harry was sitting in his tent, amongst the camp of hunters as they prepared to enter the jungles in search of the basilisks. Well to call the men hunters was misleading to say the least Harry thought, they were just ordinary men who had no experience at hunting or even any idea of how to deal with basilisks.

Lambs to the slaughter Harry thought grimly and listening to the whispers around camp, he knew why the supposed 'God-Emperor' had ordered it. While loyal to their ruler, the men still talked amongst themselves about him and those whispers had told Harry all he needed to know.

The God-Emperor was mad.

Completely Insane.

The mad ruler had somehow gotten it into his head that the peasants were growing too bold and numerous and therefore must be plotting against him. So he had decided to use the Basilisks to cull them and that was not the only thing either. Many elaborate building projects would be started and then cancelled as his fancies came and went. Public executions for no real reason other than his amusement, the list went on. Harry was too young to remember the reign of the Mad King properly as it had never hurt him or his house but it sounded like Yi Ti had a similar problem as Westeros back then except for one key difference, the God-Emperor was worse than Aerys had ever been.

Any son born to him that showed enough a modicum of intelligence and cunning was deemed a threat and killed publically on his order, then the other sons just in case they were masking intelligence. Even Aerys had not murdered his own children Harry thought, but the God-Emperor's paranoia and wanting to be seen as the greatest of all god-emperors meant all of his own sons had to die while his daughters remained firmly under lock and key. Rumour had it some of his grandsons had even been fathered by the man who thought himself a god, impregnating his own daughters but Harry knew to take such things with a pinch of salt as that at least had not been done publically.

Harry had no intention of dying on the altar of his insanity, so he resolved to be prepared and that was why he was sitting in his tent turning a strap of leather, two pieces of glass and a few bits of metal into a set of goggles. He carefully transconfigured them all into the right shape and size before carefully carving the runes into the glass. It was delicate work but hopefully it would give him an edge. These goggles had been an invention during his opposite's time as an auror, a magical law keeper. They allowed whoever was wearing them to see someone or something by their magical signature, like thermal goggles that saw heat. With these Harry would be able to see the basilisks in the jungle at some distance and not just blunder through the forest as the others planned to do.

But Harry smiled as he added a new rune to the glass, one he had learnt of in the Prince of Chroyane's private library. It seemed that Basilisks had once plagued their lands too but to counter their deadly stare they had invented a rune that filtered out the lethal glare of the basilisk, once they had that the Rhoynar had hunted them down and slaughtered the colonies there.

He had managed to trade some of the spices he acquired in Qarth for a high-powered bow and pronged arrows from a local blacksmith along with some very sharp and light javelins. His plan was not to confront the basilisks head on, like his alternate self-had done with a sword but instead thanks to the goggles, shoot an arrow or throw a javelin through its eye and into the brain. That was not to say that he wasn't adding something extra, tipping the arrows in poison for a little bit of an extra kick. While poison itself would hardly affect the basilisk if it was consumed, sent straight to the brain it would be fatal almost instantly if of course the arrow or the javelin did not kill it first. After his encounter in Qarth with the warlocks harry was taking no chances, and he thought to himself it might be a good chance to get some very useful potion ingredients and some high quality leather. He had an expanded chest already prepared with a stasis charm on it but that was if his plan worked he thought to himself with some nervousness.

Deciding to waste no time Harry strapped the bow and quiver to his back and placed the javelins into a bundle that he could carry, put his goggles on his face and left camp after packing his tent away to start hunting for the basilisks.

The humidity of the jungle was horrible, Harry thought with sweat already running down his face. It was hot and it had rained the night before, making the ground thick with mud. It was hell to travel and Harry was of reasonable fitness, could only imagine how some of the men were not as fit as him would fair in these conditions assuming of course, the basilisks did not eat them first.

It was quite a while however before he found his first 'King of the Serpents' as the basilisk was known. This one was quite young, laying on top of a rock sleeping in the sun, unaware of his presence as Harry got into position. It was not a particularly big basilisk Harry thought with some relief, may be only twenty foot which compared to other snakes was big but not as large as they could grow. Its head was facing him with the eyes closed so he crept forward and pulled his bow off his back and notched an arrow, he locked on to the closed eyelid and pull back as far as he dared wishing now he could have made this bow stronger. His hands almost quaked as he tried desperately to keep focused on the target, his nerves tightening like a snake would wrap around him until a slight movements set Harry off and he shot the arrow without even thinking.

Fortunately his aim was true, the arrow planted itself straight into the basilisk's eye. The creature immediately woke howled in pain thrashing wildly, its big remaining yellow eye blocked thankfully by the goggles as Harry had hoped it would be, while he backed away from the snake in fear it would target him its frenzy. But this only lasted a moment as the poison that the arrow was tipped with burned its brain, the beast fell dead and hit the ground with a soft thump.

Harry could not believe it, he had actually felled basilisk with one arrow tipped in poison. His heart was racing and his breathing fast but he was elated. His preparations had worked and given that the area was clear of anyone to see, he was quite able to pull out his expanded trunk and levitating the snake's carcass into it.

With that done and his adrenaline still high from his kill, Harry shrunk the chest back down and gazed through the jungle looking for this next target.

-x-

Two days later…

A forty foot basilisk laid dead in front of him as Harry claimed his twenty second snake kill in two days. He had found the other hunters that had not been as lucky as he lying around or rather grizzly little bits of them, but he fortunately had been lucky with his goggles protecting him from their gaze and his poison tipped arrows and javelins killing the creature is stone dead very quickly.

Cleaning the arrows/javelins and then re-tipping them in poison was annoying but at least it was doable so it wasn't likely to run out but he did have to wonder how in the blazes the basilisk situation here had got this bad? They would have had to have been allowed to breed unchecked for years to reach this number, and he could only imagine how many probably died because of them but fortunately for the human population they seem to prefer the jungle and stayed away from the roads.

Harry while putting the Basilisk corpse into the chest and activating the stasis runes, pulled the javelin from its eye then cleaned it and re-tipped it with poison. He did it without thinking, the routine now familiar after doing it solid for two days and sighed hating the heat and humidity of the jungle.

Thankfully though he was closing in on the den and there he hoped to be able to kill the main female and end the colony. He had had some close shaves over the last two days, one instance had two basilisks coming at him at once but he had managed to fell one with an arrow and dodged the other until he had planted a javelin in its eye. This one had seemed to a be solitary creature which was why it had been so relatively easy to kill it but the threat would not be over until Harry had eliminated female. Thankfully the species could not change genders as some animals could, so when the female died the colony would end.

Harry once finished listened intently, walking slowly through the thick jungle to find the cave system with the basilisks had made their den, instantly thinking better of entering it. Tight narrow confines against monster snakes, not happening he thought. Looking around he saw some half consumed carcasses of animals and a few humans lying around that had probably been discarded by the basilisks after hunting. While a grim sight it did give him an idea on how to attract them out of the cave, so he grabbed one of the more recent bones had still got some meat on it and with some transconfiguration changed it into a juicy steak. He started a campfire keeping an eye firmly on the cave entrance, before putting the steak on a stick right in front of it and then lit the fire. He stepped back to the edge of the clearing with his arrows and javelins at hand, letting the smell of freshly cooking meat do the job luring the basilisks out.

It took some time though much to his surprise for any of the snakes to react, eventually one did poke its head out but it was not the female and Harry could only shoot the smaller male before quickly packing it away and thinking about what else he might use bait when suddenly he heard a very loud and piercing screeching sound in the air. Turning back towards the clearing where he had been waiting he saw the female, identified as such given that it was without the scarlet plume on its head that a male would have.

It was certainly far bigger than the males he had killed so far, reaching at least sixty feet long. Harry had barely any time to react before the creature lunged for him at the killing of its children, Harry rolled and was forced to dodge yet again the creature came back for him quicker making it impossible for him to use his arrows of javelins to aim for its eyes.

Magic he knew would not help him here, the hide of the creature was resistant to magic and because the water was still wet from the regular rain, he could not get any kindling to try to kill it with fire.

That unfortunately left him with only one option, he had to fight it head on at close range. He had really hoped not to have to do this but what else would you do?

He threw one of his javelins towards the basilisk's head hoping that it might kill the creature but unfortunately it only managed to hit its mouth and lodge itself in the creature's tongue before the enraged snake bit it in half and spat it out. It did pay a price for this however, howling in pain as the poison burned its tongue. The creature's head was still shaking too much for Harry to throw another javelin or arrow but it did give him a few precious seconds to react, so he drew both his swords Orphanmaker and Blackfyre which she had recently discovered was the name of his other sword and judged his moment.

He waited till just the right second when the basilisk was low enough to the ground before he slashed hard with both swords against the neck of the creature.

His magic enhanced his strength along with pure adrenaline running through him so he managed to surprise himself, to take the entire head the snake off in one go. He looked on in shocked as the basilisk's head rolled away from him, not expecting to have had that much force behind his strike but grateful all the same for it had saved his life.

Magic did enhance the muscles are little it was one of the reasons why wizards and witches were able to handle the statistical strains of quidditch, the pressure of the wind and the physical strain required was often more than most muggles could handle because the wizards had magic to fortify their bodies a little when their adrenaline was high.

He looked back at the rest of the carcass and with an exhausted sigh took out the expanded shrunken chest for what he hoped would be the final time. He gathered the female basilisk's remains and forced them into the expanded chest and then shrunk it back down again after activating the stasis runes.

He hoped that this would be enough to get him out of any more trouble with the God Emperor so he could finally look into exploring Yi Ti in peace. He would of course need some proof of his kills, so he had been cutting the scarlet plumes off the head of the males and keeping them in his special expanded pouch. He shrunk the head of the female and after pulling out the teeth he put it in the pouch too. That he hoped should be enough, not knowing of course what was going to happen when he presented his trophies to the official.

The official that had drafted Harry into this insane hunt was himself up in absolutely astonished when Harry emerged from the jungle especially, with twenty three male basilisk plumes as proof of kills and female's head. He had more or less wiped out the entire colony. The official went to make his report while Harry returned to the town and finally managed to acquire some sacks of rice seeds and the knowledge of how to grow it, knowing that this would be very useful when he eventually returned home. So he put the sacks into stasis and bought some fresh food for his own preserved stocks, refilling them so for a while at least he would be okay.

Then just as he was leaving the market place Harry noticed a patrol of guards coming towards him and Harry was instantly on alert wondering what on earth could be going on now? The head of the guards came up to Harry and said in a stern voice.

"You are to come to the palace immediately, the God Emperor himself has demanded your presence."

Harry was stunned and more than a little apprehensive, especially after the rumours he had heard. What on earth would the God Emperor want to see him for? He honestly did not like the way this was going and knew he might have to defend himself at some point but he sighed knowing it was best to play along for now until he knew what was going on.

So he agreed and followed guards to the palace, but when he got there he was amazed at what they saw.

The only palace or castle he had seen that would even remotely compare with this size of the God Emperor's palace was the Palace of Love in Chroyane. It was nearly a city on its own, ten times bigger than Highgarden with what looked like thousands of people running around to serve God Emperor's whims.

Harry was impressed at the size of the great palace as he walked to it under escort of the guards, in fact he was unable to ascertain its true extent especially if it went underground. One fact however was very clear in that it was the grandest building he had ever set foot in, golden leaf covered half the floors and walls in some places although this was probably not done recently or to the whole Palace considering the expense required.

There were extravagant displays of wealth all around him as he walked through the corridors, but what interested Harry the most was the echoes of magic on in the air. He knew that the palace itself had supposedly been the palace of the Great Empire of Dawn, supposedly the oldest empire in the world but he did not believe it looking around him. This palace was probably no more than a thousand years old perhaps although it had clearly been built to resemble an earlier structure as the magic of the place had long since dissipated and was now no more than a mere trace of what it had been located in the foundations. The number of guards around the place was considerable, easily few hundred past Harry on his way to the main hall and he could well imagine them being thousands more so he began to worry that he might have made a mistake in sticking around rather than running away so he could only hope that things improved for him as he met the God Emperor.

When eventually he arrived in the throne room, again it was a display of affluence that bordered on vulgarity and then went over the mark by a few miles. Harry was simply shaking his head inside, the room was enormous and decked with displays of wealth and probably had been the same for the centuries. Easily enough to contain possibly to hold well over a few hundred courtiers although there only seemed to be about thirty or so in the cavernous room and a large number of guards that stared at the courtiers who milled nervously under their glare. Light shone down from stained glass dome that covered most of the room ceiling and at the end on an enormous plinth that looked down on everyone else was an older man sitting on a great throne looking absolutely insignificant given its size.

Harry took a moment to study the man and could well believe that this was the insane God Emperor he had heard about; golden silk robes studded with jewels almost swallowed his form whole which he could tell from his face was very gaunt near sickly thin and lined with age. His hair was so long that it went past his feet to coil like a snake at his feet and was clearly now very light grey although someone tried obviously to diet black and not correctly done the job, resulting it a matted slightly darker grey.

The sign that showed his madness though was his eyes, they were almost unnaturally wide and intense as they glared around the room almost radiating paranoia and darting around almost as if there was an assassin behind every single item in the room. Like the Kingsguard back in Westeros, guards in golden coloured armour stood all around the room, easily well over a hundred of them all with their faces completely obscured and armed to the teeth with at least two maybe three swords each of different sizes, a pair of daggers, a couple had axes, all had throwing stars and such a variety of weapons that they honestly looked like a walking arsenal.

While he was studying the room however the God Emperor noticed his arrival and began to speak, immediately grabbing not only Harry's attention but the courtiers as well.

"Here is the brave warrior that slew so many of the great beasts that we shall not see their kind again for many years I think." He said looking around the room as if daring someone to contradict him but to his disappointment no one did. "He is proving itself more capable than any of you and therefore a charge him should command my army, effective immediately to bring my domain's villains and plotters to heel."

What surprised Harry more than the announcement which was shocking in itself, was that no one seemed to even want to whisper about it in anger. He guessed such conversations would probably happen later out of earshot of the God Emperor as they feared his wrath, Harry of course had a different problem he realised with some sense of dread.

Number 1 he had never led an army.

Number 2 he had never wanted to lead an army let alone one in a foreign land such as this.

Number 3 he had no intention of being tied down like this.

He would have probably tried to talk his way out of it when he was stopped by a sudden shaking of the head from one of the well-dressed girls in the room. She was beautiful Harry noticed with elegantly styled black hair, a perfectly shaped face and body with very enchanting blue & green eyes. But those eyes were looking at him with some concern and also an appraising look. It was enough to make Harry stop and merely bow before the God Emperor and said.

"As you command, your grace." Feeling very much like he was making colossal mistake in failing to escape when he had the chance. He was trying to leave the room when the girl who would shook her head walked over and took him by the arm. She whispered quickly to Harry as she guided him out into the corridor and beyond the guards who thankfully were no longer following.

"You are very lucky." She told him, her eyes darting around as if expecting a spy which was very possible. "My father was planning originally to have your carcass butchered by his guard and hung above his throne as a reminder of those who defy his vision. Fortunately I was able to convince him to do this instead by saying it was a new chance to humiliate yourself and make him feel better and more powerful."

"Well I'm not the luckiest man in the world?" Harry said with sarcasm, anger now starting to rise at not only the princess who was holding firmly onto his arm, but the old man was clearly insane. "I have no idea what on earth possessed you to do this rather than just simply tell me to flee? Or is it your intention to see me humiliate myself too?"

The Princess however did not seem that put off by his anger as she began to smile. She confused Harry slightly so he decided to read her thoughts, she was bemused by him but also use intrigued and eager for his help that was enough to stop Harry from snapping again until she spoke.

"My father kills just about anyone who threatens his power or at least what he perceives as a threat which counts almost as anything. He had all of my brothers killed just because he thought they would one day replace him which of course is the point of a son." She told Harry, confirming at least from what he could sense in complete honesty the fate of her family. "He set that task to prove that he was doing something when he was quite content to let those basilisk roam free across our land as it scared people which of course is something he enjoys. When you succeeded in a task that everyone thought was impossible he sees you now is a great warrior who is better than he is so therefore you must die. But I was able to tell him that if you were to fail against an army of men that it would prove you are never threat to him. But I want you to succeed." She said with a smirk on her face and a slightly calculating look in her eye.

Harry instantly became suspicious, while he sensed she meant him no harm she had very strong ambitions of her own and he had just become against is well crucial part of her plans. However he had no intention of being anyone's pawn do if he was going to be used, it was as a partner not as a tool. So he told her so.

"If you intend to use me then tell me what you want in full detail. No holding anything back, what is it?" His eyes intense and Princess felt herself unsettled but told him anyway.

"My name is Bathi, my father's oldest daughter and as of now with the death of all his sons the heir to throne of Yin. My father even try to be rid of me by marrying me off to a man he thought of no significance to of course shame me but the joke was on him when it turns out he was also a very intelligent administrator and has good instincts for trade and things like that only adding to my cause rather than weaken it." She laughed before continuing. "I have been planning to if not overthrow him, encourage his retirement but I lack the allies to do so that present. However if you were to help me by defeating a dozen or so petty kings, lords, princes and all the other so-called rulers across Yi Ti and deliver their families to me so I can hold them as hostages and potentially married off the younger members to my allies then I can remove my father and stabilise this country. I want this country to be whole again."

She spoke with such determination and energy that Harry could not help but admire her. After all his own homeland had once been much the same with each castle belonging to someone who called themselves a king and claimed all the land around him until the rise of the great houses who forced their obedience so the petty kings became lords. It seemed that in Yi Ti the opposite had happened, when the land had once been unified it had now devolved into chaos with many different people in vying for power and calling themselves king or whatever. He didn't sense anything malicious in Bathi's intentions and her mind was quite focused on that goal. So Harry just asked her plain and simple.

"If I did this I have two questions. The first is what would happen to the people that I bring to you? The second what can you do to help me?" Like he had said earlier Harry had never led an army before, he was a competent swordsman who now had some experience but he had never actually led anything before and had not had much instruction in areas of strategy beyond the basics. The princess did not seem unsettled at all by this and told him in no uncertain terms.

"The answer to the first is as I have said that the young will be married off to allies of mine and I can assure you they will not be harmed, hardly anyone is of use when they are dead. Any who are not of use will be simply kept it as hostages and I never kill a resource." She said with a smirk that would have shocked many male nobles that a woman could be so cunning, of course Harry had seen his grandmother so he was not so shocked and in fact began to admire her. "As for the second my father intended to you to have nothing but the dregs of society but I can help you get an army of twenty thousand men, infantry, cavalry and arches with provisions. As for the leadership issue I know just the man to teach you to do it and I will introduce you to him."

-x-

The man she had in mind was exactly what Harry would have thought a God Emperor of Yi Ti to look like. His hair was long, straight and white with his age clear in his face from line sense many years of stress but unlike the God Emperor his eyes were sharp as any blade, his clothes fine but simple and fitted him well so he could move and look grand at the same time. His hair carefully cut and while long did not fall beneath his waist. The princess bowed slightly to him when she introduced them to each other, letting Harry know this man was important.

"Harry Tyrell." The princess said as they studied each other. "This is the greatest general in history of our land and has kept this country for falling outside invaders for decades until my father forced him to retire. The great strategist and gender role Fa Chian."

The general did not looking highly impressed by his young pupil however the princess had convinced him to take the boy on so he told Harry in no uncertain terms.

"I do not know if you have learnt anything of value before he came here but I will tell you now I will not tolerate any favouritism, idiocy or more importantly someone who does not want to learn. I can teach you all the lessons that you will need to fight a war and to lead men, but only if you will be taught." Fa Chian said his eyes glaring, daring Harry to respond.

But Harry never once backed down from a challenge and at the same time thinking it might not be such a bad thing to bring some order to the country and possibly overthrow mad ruler before he did something unforgivable like his own country's Mad King had done namely starting a war that had destroyed thousands of lives and torn Westeros apart. So he decided that he do what he could at least until he could leave. He knew the princess was telling the truth about her intentions and this could prove very helpful to him in the future. But he would not simply bow to everything the older man was saying and instead told him in no uncertain terms.

"I would question everything you say." Harry told them his own eyes glaring back with the same intensity as the older man who only nodded and said.

"Good, questioning what you are told is the first step. Do not trust your eyes completely for there is always something else going on either beyond their sight or beneath it. Use your ears to hear, your nose to smell and you might notice something your eyes missed. Now what do you know about your first target?" The old man asked Harry shook his head.

"Nothing." The old man seemed delighted by his answer instead of anger as Harry would have expected and told him.

"That is the second lesson, to defeat an enemy you must understand him. Studying him closely to find his temperament; where he is strongest, where he is weakest. What are his goals, what are his desires? Once you learn who you are fighting and how they intend to fight it is not so difficult to beat them. But before you do anything, you must make sure your army is prepared."

Harry gritted his teeth, knowing that these coming days were going to be difficult.

So began the most gruelling three weeks of Harry's life so far as he and Fa Chian got his army properly organised and disciplined. Harry had been given twelve thousand light infantry, two thousand professional archers and six thousand cavalry to use as he saw fit but getting them to work as a single unit that could fight as one was step one in the campaign. Organisation was key to making an army fight effectively as Fa Chian was only too happy to remind him every day. However there was one lesson he had not needed to teach Harry which was to lead by example.

Whatever the men were eating, he ate with them. His tent was not apart from the rest of the camp but sat right with theirs and he fought alongside them. The soldiers who had not been sure of this foreign interloper were impressed by his skill with a sword and astonished that he seemed to live as they did rather than take the benefits of rank, working just as hard as any of them. They soon respected him enough to follow his orders without question.

But Harry as he sweated it out with the weights alongside his men in the exercise field, he was also thinking about his first target. A walled town with a key trade route near the capital. Not the largest of settlements but it still claimed its independence from the God-Emperor, Fa Chain had told him that the ruler was a coward but not in the way he would immediately surrender but instead hide behind his walls. So Harry was thinking how he might break the town's defences without an overwhelming assault as the walls were high and thick. He would need to play out each angle in his head.

Then as the blood rushed through his body while he lifted the heavy weights, he had an idea. One that might just deliver the town without any actual fighting, so he put the weights down and went to find his scouts. He had a mission for them, they would enter the town in secret and find out the situation there before returning to him with their intelligence to see if his plan was viable.

-x-

Q'liu…

The march to the town of Q'liu took most of the next three days, Harry sat on Storm surveying the target at the head of the army. The walls were at least forty feet high so he was glad he had decided not to simply try and storm the town. While it could only field maybe two thousand defenders on the walls, far less men than he had but they could still inflict significant causalities as his men tried to force the gate or climb the walls. He had told no one of his plan, being mysterious made his men wonder and the rumours made him seem more powerful which another lesson he had been taught by Fa Chian. Create a legend and your men and enemies alike will be in awe of you, less inclined to fight or betray you. A good example of this was Tywin Lannister back home, no one would dare cross him given the reputation he had and while Harry did not want to be quite as infamous, it was useful he conceded to be feared and respected like that.

Harry turned his attention back to the present and saw the scouts he had sent ahead return, he listened as they reported that they had found what he was looking for and Harry smiled. The scouts had managed to recruit a local band of prostitutes inside the town, at certain times in the day, some would distract the guards at a specific section of the wall while others lowered a rope. Some of his men would climb this rope and then hide in the prostitutes' brothel until they were needed.

To create cover for these men, he and the rest of the army would distract the rest of the defenders by marching around the town for several days, loudly blowing battle horns and drums in two groups so they could condition the enemy to the sound and keep them nervous and tense. Focused on the main body of his army, rather than the small group that was sneaking inside.

The final parts were down to the men that would be inside the town. At the right moment, they would emerge from hiding and attack the defenders at the main gate, throw it open and his army could enter. With the fear and tension he would create through the whispers of the whores he had hired and the continued threat of attack the people of the town would fold immediately. But to ensure they got the desired effect, Harry was going to personally get some insurance with the help of Orion.

-x-

Six days later…

The army completed another march around the town, blowing their battle horns and banging their war drums while ten men a day were being snuck inside the walls by the prostitutes in his employ so now sixty men were ready to open the gates on command. Harry meanwhile made a great show of leading the army around the city himself. Even from here he could see the tension and terror that gripped the guards, their will was eroding with every march as the enemy was constantly guessing when he was going to attack, depriving them of sleep and keeping them in a constant state of tension.

He turned to Fa Chian who rode at his side and gave the man a slight nod which the old man returned. He would lead the army on another march around the city while Harry snuck off to get his insurance that the town would surrender when the gate opened. He rode Storm into the trees, out of sight of his men. Tying the horse to a tree Harry put on a mask to obscure his identity and with a pop apparated within the city walls, inside a courtyard of the so called 'palace'. In reality it was a similar to a villa, a large one but nothing more. The courtyard was blissfully empty so Harry could go about his business undetected but to be on the safe side he cast a notice me not charm on himself. Better to be overly cautious than reckless Harry thought remembering how he had ended up in Chroyane.

He crept through the rooms and corridors of the villa and found most of the people who lived there were dressed affluently but were quiet with worry etched on their faces. Clearly Harry thought his attempts to unsettle and strike fear into the people of the city had gone much further than the guards on the walls. Good he thought to himself, he did not want any large slaughter besides the town would be far more productive and useful to them if they took it intact so hopefully he would take the town without a fight.

When he found the so called 'king' of Q'liu Harry stopped and shook his head in disappointment. The fat and overweight man was passed out drunk on his bed, he had expected for him to a least be sober. The fact he was nearly naked did not help matters either and Harry decided to waste no more time and grabbed the so called King's wrist and apparate back outside of the city.

The shock of the sudden movement woke the king but not quickly enough given how much he had drunk, so Harry was able to conjure some rope to bind his wrists and tied it to Storm's saddle. Harry offered his horse an apple which he took without hesitation and happily ate it while Harry got on his back. By now the so called king was starting to regain his faculties and was shocked to find himself not in his own bed but in the wood outside his town and bound to a stranger's horse.

"What?" He asked not able to say anything else with his mind still groggy from the amount of wine he had consumed. He could only just stay on his feet as Harry rode Storm out of the wood, dragging the near naked king behind him.

Fa Chian was astonished at the sight when he noticed Harry's prisoner being dragged behind him. The guards on the walls were astonished to, calling out in surprise while the king could only hide his head in shame. As Harry joined with Fa Chian they turned their army towards the town's large gates and nodded to the battlehorn players who started blasting a different song, a deep roaring sound that the entire town could hear.

-x-

On the inside of the gate the already nervous guards trembled at the sound; the sight of their leader, bound and near naked at the side of the enemy had struck them so much they did not know what to do. Then before they could recover there was a scream from their men near the stairs up to the walls, and to the guards horror enemy soldiers were charging out from the nearby brothel and running up to the walls.

The men hidden inside the wall swarmed so quickly that the defenders had no time to react as they cleared the gate and threw it open.

Harry and his twenty thousand men marched through the gate, destroying whatever spirit the defenders had left, one by one they threw down their weapons and surrendered. Fa Chian looked over to Harry who was still dragging the near naked and disgraced 'king' behind him and said.

"Not bad. You took the city without great loss and now it bends the knee to us. A good start but things get harder from this moment." He said looking imperiously from his horse, Harry took the small compliment but could not help but feel a little put off by how Fa had said. Still Harry realised he was right, the next time it would not be as easy as it was today.

A few days later Harry had put a new man in charge of the town and sent the former 'king' and his family to the capital. He was unsettled as he watched them go, not sure if this was a good idea given where they were going but he had other work to do and could stay no longer and left with his army of twenty thousand men, now including a thousand extra cavalry from Q'liu. His next target was a small city called Dhor Qar.

Lands of Dhor Qar, a week later…

The small city of Dhor Qar was one of the newest settlements in Yi Ti, built by a group of merchants with Qarthi wives which had given it the name, it had a strong hold on the silk trade within the country shipped down the river nearby to the coast or overland to Qohor. The city had risen to prominence quickly and now commanded an army of over thirty thousand men.

In the wee hours of the morning, Harry looked at the maps of the area grimly, the soldiers from Dhor Qar were just as good as his and in greater numbers. Worst word of his victory at Q'liu had spread and that he was heading this way would have reached Dhor Qar by now. Scouts had reported the army had massed outside the city, ready to meet him when he came. That left Harry with a hard decision to make and plan out his next fight, one that did not create a massive slaughter on his side.

Harry got fed up as nothing sprung to mind and left the tent to get some fresh air in hopes of clearing his head. The sun was only just peaking over the mountains in the distance and he sighed as he honestly wondered why he had decided to go along with this. Maybe he should flee at the next opportunity? But he was no quitter and hated a puzzle he could not solve, there must be a way to take this army down without a massive and costly field battle. Fa Chian had been annoyingly silent, content to allow Harry to solve this problem on his own which irritated Harry no end. He was silently cursing the old man when something caught his attention.

The army had camped near a lake to rest on the march and refill their supply of drinking water, it was a very large lake and surrounded on the sides thick forest and a narrow passage between the water and the tree line. But what really caught Harry's eye was the fog that seemed to roll off of the lake, covering the entire tree line and making it almost impossible to see. A slight hill in the distance was visible, but little else.

Harry frowned, wondering if he could use it in some way, which was dependant on if it came each morning at the same time. He walked over to the tent where some of the scouts who were familiar with the area were camped and saw them preparing their breakfast. They jumped to attention when they saw him but Harry told them quickly.

"At ease gentlemen, I require your knowledge. Is this fog a common occurrence here?" He asked pointing towards the shrouded lake shore. The men looked over and told him, confused at why he wanted to know.

"Yes General Tyrell. It is always like this in the morning, it vanishes after an hour or so. Is that all sir?" The scouts asked, respectful as they could manage but were eager to get back to their breakfast. Harry merely grinned and returned to his tent, a plan now forming in his mind. Taking one last look around the area to see if it had everything he required he became more confident, now he knew how to turn the tables on his enemy and use nature itself as a weapon. But there were preparations to make he thought and quickly set to work.

-x-

In the nearby camp of the army of Dhor Qar a few days later, the Merchant Prince that commanded their thirty thousand men stood confident that they would soon find the army of the so called God Emperor and send them back to him with their tails between their legs. Their independence would be secure and he would earn himself a statue in their city square. He went to sleep that night a smile on his face, sure that the following day would bring honour and glory to him. The sort he had longed for.

Hours later he was woken not by his servant but by the screams and yells of his men, he jumped out of bed and rushed out of his tent to see a party of riders that were most definitely not part of his army stabbing tents with flaming torches and slashing with swords and spears at any men within reach. The Merchant Prince was struck dumb for a moment as he looked at the chaos these men were causing in his camp, not understanding what was happening until finally he regained his senses after a few powerless moments and fury replaced confusion as he saw the symbol of the God Emperor on the riders' armour. With half the camp ablaze and the Dhor Qar soldiers in disarray, the riders began to ride away back to their own camp. The Merchant Prince's eyes followed them with a glare that could melt stone.

"Get the men together we are going after them!" He yelled out and his captain whose face was covered in burns from narrowly escaping his flaming tent looked at his commander in concern.

"Your highness." Referring to him as he knew the prince liked to be called. "The men will need rest and to get ready for a battle. Perhaps after first light?" He suggested only for his words to be met with a foaming and spitting prince's angry declaration.

"NO WE ARE GOING TO CATCH THESE COWARDS AND MAKE THEM BEG FOR DEATH!" The Prince bellowed and the captain while knowing this was a bad idea, went to get the men ready for a forced night march.

-x-

Hours later, the men were still marching in column as the dawn approached, their feet dragged slightly as they moved not ready for such a march but their commander drove them on relentlessly. All they wanted to do was sleep and if not that then get something to eat. Their feet ached and while they desperately wanted to stop the Prince who was on horseback kept on going.

Finally just as the sun began to rise over the mountains in the distance, they came to a lake. In the distance they could see a camp on a hill straight ahead. The Prince smiled a vicious grin and said.

"THERE ARE THE COWARDS! FORWARD!" He said urging them and the men were so weary they could not even muster a battle cry but followed slowly regardless. Route stepping along the beach of the lake, they were suddenly engulfed in the early morning fog as it came off of the lake. The men however tired they were all became very nervous as it was so hard to see more than twenty feet ahead of them. The Prince himself was so fixated on the camp on the hill that he failed to take note of where he was and what they were doing.

A mistake he would not live to regret as a loud voice emerged from the mist.

"CHARGE!"

Every man from the Dhor Qar army looked to see twenty one thousand men come charging straight out of the forest on their left, weapons already in hand and screaming battle cries as they collided with the unprepared quivering and exhausted men in their unprotected flank.

Swords and spears slashed at the enemy, the Dhor Qar had no weapon in hand to defend themselves with and were too tired and surprised to react quickly.

-x-

Blood splattered all over the rough beach as the slaughter began, up close and personal. Harry's men had the advantage of sleep and food so they were full of energy, ready for a fight whereas just as he had planned the enemy was not. Harry led his men on foot not wanting to bother with a horse as the twenty one thousand men under his command trapped the unprepared enemy between their swords and the deep water of the lake.

Bones were shattered.

Limbs were hacked.

Blood soon stained the ground red.

Harry brandished Orphanmaker and Blackfyre without hesitation, cutting down men left and right as he and his army pushed on. Two soldiers thought to try and take him together only to be impaled on his swords. Pulling the blades free Harry found himself in a gauntlet of death as the killing continued.

He continued working his way into the fight, keeping himself from becoming surrounded but butchered any enemy soldiers that came close. Screams of pain filled the air and Harry worked to block out the noise as he took the arm off one man before slashing his throat open. It was not pleasant work and he would be ready to leave after this but he looked over to the trees, a sight caught his eye. It was the same faceless man he had met in Braavos (the one with hair coloured red and white) who smiled approvingly at Harry and nodded, Harry was struck momentarily dumb and then after he blinked the faceless man was gone like he had never existed.

Harry was unsettled by the encounter but had to focus on the battle rather than think on what he had just seen. His mind might be playing tricks on him he hoped but he had the feeling that this was somehow part of his 'destiny' however much Harry hated that word.

He would work to unify this country Harry decided as enemy soldiers began dropping their weapons in droves in surrender, it was a far better thing for a nation to be united than divided and in conflict. From what he had learned from Fa Chian, war was the normal state of affairs here.

Nineteen small wars in the last fifteen years, which Harry thought was ridiculous. Something had to be done and it seemed that fate had placed the role in his hands as the last of the enemy surrendered.

Two Weeks later…

Harry was reading over logistic reports to make sure he and his men had the supplies for the rest of the campaign. A supply line from the capital now flowed through Dhor Qar which had surrendered after nearly half its army was killed in the ambush on the lake's shore. Ten thousand men had been added to his army including some much needed heavy infantry and more than two thousand cavalry. He had his concerns that they might not be loyal given he had forced the submission of their city and sent its leaders to the capital but so far they had been behaving.

Fa Chian watched him like a hawk, while his actual hawk Orion slept in the corner. The old man had been drilling him relentlessly in what he called the art of war. He had given Harry a book that he himself had written containing his philosophy and knowledge of war and had Harry read it until he knew it backwards, but Harry had to admit the man knew strategy and tactics better than anyone he had ever met. Fa Chian could probably give Randyll Tarly a run for his money and Harry really had learnt a lot from him but the old man then retired to his tent for the night without a word. Harry watched the old man leave and decided to retire himself, but a soldier burst through the tent and told him with great anxiety.

"General. Our scouts near the ruined the city of Han For have been ambushed by the armies of Le and Kili."

Harry grimaced, no rest for the wicked it seemed he thought and went to get the men ready for a march at first light.

-x-

Harry and his men arrived at Han in the late evening of the following day on a nearby hill, many of which surrounded the ruined city. Now that he could see it for himself he knew why his men had been ambushed, the ruined city was old…no one had lived there for over two centuries but unlike most cities in Yi Ti it was made of stone. It was a labyrinth of collapsed walls and caved in buildings…perfect place for an ambush. Narrow passages through the ruined city would be a nightmare to transverse in large numbers and subject to ambush in small groups.

The enemy camp he could clearly see on the other side of the ruin, not as big as his own but enough to cause him trouble. From the size he guessed there would be about twenty thousand men in that camp but most were concentrated in the ruin which Harry realised gave him a significant problem. If he tried to fight them in the ruin his men would be ambushed from every conceivable direction, and whittled down in guerrilla style combat.

But if he presented his army outside of the city to offer battle then the enemy would never face him. They would clearly see they would be overpowered and hold up inside the city, it would become a slow battle of attrition and he might be stuck here for months and that he thought with a grimace was something he could not afford. Time was valuable, so were men and he could lose neither.

He looked over to Fa Chian who just stared right back at him so Harry asked.

"Any suggestions?"

Fa Chian shook his head. Harry frowned before saying, annoyed at the old man's refusal to help.

"You are a big help."

Harry thought on what he might do, different plans came and went only for them to be dismissed when he realised they would never work. Ironically as he was about to make camp, two lessons of Fa Chian provided the answer.

Never allow an enemy to know your true strength and that warfare is based on disinformation, only allow the enemy what you wanted him to know and then strike him right he is where you want him.

He looked at a map that night and started forming a plan in his mind, calling his senior cavalry and infantry commanders together. They would each play a part in the performance he was going to put on tomorrow for the enemy. One that would cause them to commit a blunder that should bring about their destruction.

-x-

When dawn crept over the hills that surrounded Han, the soldiers of Le and Kili looked out of the city and saw a force of men marching out of jungle and line up for battle outside the collapsed outer wall. The commanders looked and saw the banner of the God-Emperor being held aloft and more critically there were only about six thousand infantry led by their supposed great general…Harry Tyrell.

They laughed, what a foolish barbarian! He had dared challenge them with such pitiful numbers. The men he had supposedly defeated must have been weak indeed for so few men to take them, not to mention he was so confident that he would dare challenge them. They could deal with this!

So they blew their battle horns, signalling for their men to emerge from hiding and assemble outside the city. Confidently they did as their commanders bid and marched out of the city, soon twenty thousand infantry faced just six thousand on the open plain. They openly jeered the men of the God Emperor who did nothing except stand their ground despite being outnumbered.

"CHARGE!" Somebody cried out and the men began to move, not caring if it had come from one of their commanders or not. Glory and Honour would be theirs.

The God Emperor's men led by their general turned and ran towards the nearby hills before actual contact was made, the soldiers of Le and Kili jeering at their cowardice as they gave chase especially as the general raced ahead of his men, showing the inferiority of the foreigner.

Then Harry Tyrell stopped and turned, drawing one of his swords and raised it high above his head. He moved it carefully so it flashed in the sun. The soldiers of Le and Kili stopped as their enemy stopped and turned around, not sure of what had caused the change of heart.

Then one of their men looked over towards Han and cried out in terror.

"LOOK!"

They all turned to see what he was so scared of when they saw the bright orange flames engulfing their camp, but worst was the mass of horses riding straight towards them around the ruins of Han. Thousands of them but Harry Tyrell it seems was not done yet. He turned around and flashed another signal with his sword in the opposite direction.

A thundering sound filled the air as the men of Le and Kili saw thousands more men pour over the hill and joined up with Harry Tyrell's six thousand and charged downhill towards them while the cavalry came from the other side.

-x-

The men collided in a mass of blood and screaming, the terrified soldiers of Le and Kili were paralyzed with fear and helpless to escape the trap they had fallen into. Harry was in the vanguard, standing alongside his men on the battlefield with his swords in hand. He cut his way through the enemy, stabbing or slashing at soldiers as he moved forward, his steel armour soon stained red with the blood he had spilt. He felt nothing as he continued, his adrenaline was so high. With a double thrust two men were impaled through the stomach before he pulled them free and blocked a sword from another before taking off his arm with another, finishing him to spare the man anymore pain before continuing on.

Ten minutes. That was all it took to get them all to surrender, that and the slaughter of a third of their army. Harry, covered in blood and with a few bruises from the fight looked down at the leaders of Le and Kili who had been taken alive. The two men stared at him defiantly but their hands were bound and they were on their knees, a humiliating place to be in. Harry's men and Fa Chian watched as Harry told them what was going to happen.

"You will be taken to the gates of your cities, pray they value your lives because if they do not open the gates you will be hanged naked in front of them." Harry said, not really caring if they did or they didn't. Their armies were defeated and demoralised, they would no longer pose a threat. Maybe finally he could catch his breath and ensure all of his new soldiers were up to scratch before carrying on.

Three weeks later…

The enormous camp of the God Emperor's army stretched out like a town, word of Harry's campaign to unify Yi Ti on behalf of the God Emperor had spread. Three provinces had bent the knee to make sure they weren't attacked and now donated men to his army, so Harry now commanded a fight force of fifty thousand men. The size of his army daunted him somewhat but the real problem was revealed in a letter that he had just received from the Princess Bathi, his unofficial patron.

To Harry,

I hope the reinforcements we sent you are useful, you are almost finished. Yin has gained much influence thanks to your hard work and I have convinced my father to release you after defeating one last enemy.

Unfortunately it is the most dangerous of all, your actions have not gone unnoticed and while many are wise to bend the knee and accept my father's throne, some stubbornly refuse to see sense. Ten provinces have come together and assembled an army of a hundred and fifty thousand men with the intention of destroying your army and marching on the capital of Yin. They will pass through the plains of Gar'etha on the way here if you intend to fight them.

I wish I could bring you better news and I would understand if you fled now given the odds against us but please, for the sake of uniting this country and ending the chaos that has gripped it for so many years please do whatever you can before you go.

Wishing you the best whatever you decide,

Bathi. Princess of Yi Ti.

Harry stared at the letter, feeling torn. He had only agreed to the princess's plan to unite the country because it would benefit the people if they stood together under the princess instead of her insane father, but not he was faced with a colossal army larger than any army that any one kingdom for his homeland could put together. If he was going to fight then there was no real time to try and divide the force against them as finding the weak spots would take too long, so it would have to be in a head to head battle.

He could get to the plains of Gar'etha in time to intercept them…just. It was the last bit of land before the capital and nowhere along the route the enemy were taking would allow an ambush to thin out their numbers. He had not yet found any magic that could turn the tide which he could use and no time again to find new allies. He did wish he had a dragon as the egg in his possession could have turned the tide if it were fully grown but he had decided to not hatch one till he had a place to raise it. A decision that was now looking foolish.

He stared at the letter before taking a seat and massaging his temples as he considered the odds against him. Such a colossal army had never been put to the field at least as far he knew in his lifetime and he was being asked to save an empire by defeating it in battle with only a third of their numbers.

Just as he was about to get up, Fa Chian entered the tent. Without a word Harry handed him the letter and the old man read it, to his credit without batting an eyelid. He finished and then asked Harry seriously.

"Will you run?"

Harry did not speak for a moment, not sure of what to say. But he did eventually answer.

"I do not know."

Fa Chian did not call him a coward or encourage him to stay. He merely took the seat across from him and looked him straight in the eye. Harry sat up straighter and waited patiently for whatever the old man had to say.

"A force like that is nearly unstoppable as it attacks straight ahead, that is how they have trained their men." Fa Chian told him with a smile. "Horses will not play a huge role in their army as those provinces choose massive numbers of infantry, quantity over quality. So will have a slight advantage in cavalry. If you choose to fight." He said looking deeply at Harry to determine his intent.

Harry meanwhile was seriously considering just leaving right now when something Fa Chian had said echoed in his mind.

'Nearly unstoppable as it attacks straight ahead.'

They would come at him straight, they cannot turn or envelope. He had seen the tactics they used throughout the campaign and his readings of their history, they were designed to crush the enemy by marching straight at them.

He got up and picked up a piece of string, moving his finger along the desk and against the string until it had before almost a circle with his finger in the centre on the desk. Fa Chian looked at his expectantly, wondering what the young man had seen, not expecting for Harry to say what he said next.

"Ready the men, we have a long march ahead of us if we are going to reach Gar'etha in time. Get swords and spears for the archers, they will need them more than their bows."

Fa Chian looked at him with curiosity, not sure what Harry had planned. He only hoped that it would work.

The plains of Gar'etha were vast, stretching out near completely flat for miles. Ambushing someone here would be nearly impossible but the terrain was easy to traverse and one of the best land based trade routes ran through it.

The armies of the rogue states marched confidently through it, sure of their superior numbers and the invincibility which came with it. They whistled and sang as they marched, certain victory would be theirs.

They were surprised to see men standing in their path, holding the flag of the God Emperor aloft. Far fewer in number than them so it did not trouble them and they lined up for battle, what did puzzle them was the formation the enemy had adopted. It was strange and unusual, instead of being a straight line it was shaped like a conclave bow with its belly facing closest to them. The commander looked in surprise to see that Harry Tyrell himself was leading from the centre of the formation. The commander became excited and started giving orders, hoping to prove his worth by crushing this upstart one and for all.

"ADVANCE!"

-x-

Harry was sweating buckets as he saw the enemy army advancing, if his idea did not work then he had signed the death warrants of all of his men. His own men were no better than he but they trusted their general after all the victories he had led them too, so they stood their ground.

Cavalry meanwhile rode around them and the enemy infantry, engaging the enemy horse on their own. In that they did outnumber the enemy Harry thought, his cavalry stood eighteen thousand while his enemy had only ten thousand with slower horses and weaker armour. He could only trust them to do their job while he did his, so he gritted his teeth and shouted to his men with the aid of magic.

"BRACE & HOLD FAST!" They all raised their shields, spears and swords and braced themselves as the enemy lines and their made contact. The entire line shuddered under the force of thousands of men pressing together, tonnes of flesh and bone colliding but neither willing to give ground. Harry with Orphanmaker in one hand and his shield in the other, stabbed hard into the mouth of one of the enemy soldiers. The rest of his men started jabbing at their enemies whenever they could but the enemy was doing the exact same.

However despite the slowing of the enemy advance, Harry and his men were losing ground in the centre. His flanks were holding strong as his enemy committed more troops to the centre in hope of forcing their way through. Harry's muscles strained as he held desperately onto his shield, jabbing at the enemy whenever he could. He dismissed any doubts that he had made a bad decision because he had to focus on the moment, but as he gave ground to his enemy he could only pray his cavalry did their job otherwise his plan would never work.

-x-

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Harry's cavalry smashed into the enemy cavalry with such force that they shattered under the impact of their attack. Hundreds of men and horses cried out in pain from the initial clash, many dead and more injured as Harry's cavalry pressed their attack.

The will of the enemy broken they took flight, Harry's men cheered full of bloodlust and cut down those they could before turning back towards the enemy infantry and blew the signal their commander had ordered as they charged.

-x-

If you could have seen the battlefield from above you would notice that the original bow shape that Harry's men had assumed now was inverted into a V-shape that the enemy was forcing themselves deeper into in an effort to force their way through Harry's men. Pressure inside grew greater as men became so packed together that they could not lift their swords due to their arms pressed so firmly together. Harry's men in the centre struggled to hold the enemy back while the flanks held strong.

Harry however could barely keep track of how things were progressing given he was with his men in the thickest action with more than a few injuries, mostly bruises and a cut across his cheek from a spear that had come way too close for comfort.

Then he heard the signal horn from his cavalry and with his magic amplifying his voice called out.

"INFANTRY TURN INWARD!"

The men on the flanks turned as commanded just as the cavalry arrived at the rear of the enemy infantry, blocking any escape. With one last burst of energy Harry's men, holding spears and swords at the sides or above their shields counterattacked enough to stop the enemy momentum who were confused at what was happening.

Then the smarter enemy soldiers realised what Harry had done.

A sense of horror descended on the trapped soldiers as they suddenly realised just what trap that they had fallen into. Harry and his men began to slash and jab, forcing their way forwards, pressing hard against the enemy soldiers who had begun to panic and lost all cohesion.

Screams of pain and fear filled the area as the slaughter continued, the ground was slick with blood and entrails, severed limbs and other body parts of the dead and some slipped only to be trampled by their own people as they were forced forward or back depending on whose side you were on. The sights, sounds and smells of that day would be ingrained on their memories and dreams for years to come. None of them had ever seen or heard of a slaughter on a scale of this conducted in a single day.

-x-

Harry watched as any prisoners they had cared to take were stripped and disarmed, while healers tended to the wounded. The prisoners would dig the graves for the slain, make themselves useful alongside his own men and given the scale of that job in might take a few days. His own forces had lost twenty thousand men, some of whom had been with the army since the beginning and the mood in the camp was somewhat sombre but compared to the losses the enemy had taken it was a mere footnote.

A hundred and thirty thousand slain, their bodies literally covered the field. Death on a scale none of them had ever imagined, Harry especially as he helped with the work his mind dwelling on all the lives he had broken today ready to thrown up at any moment. For every death there was a family in mourning, lives broken.

A father, a brother, a husband, a son taken at his hand.

He had never felt so wretched, wishing he had never left Westeros. How much pain might he have saved them then? He wondered and retired to his tent, ignoring the harsh look of Fa Chian who regarded the slaughter as a waste and while Harry would agree wholeheartedly with that, he was more than a little angry at the old man too. If he had known a better way then why had he not revealed it? And if he didn't then who the hell was he to judge?

He had done what had to be done to unify the country and end the constant state of civil war, he hated that to do it had slaughtered so many but what else could he do? Harry decided there and then that while he would always regret his actions he would not dwell on them, he had to move on but how could you do that with something like this he wondered?

One thing for sure though Harry thought to himself as he got a much needed drink, he was going to find somewhere he could be alone for a while. He needed to clear his head.

Yin, a few days later…

Thirty thousand men and their prisoners marched into Yin where they were greeted by a cheering crowd that lined the streets as they rode or marched, throwing confetti and waving banners from their windows. Harry kept his face impassive as the cheers filled his ears, the men seemed happy he noticed probably enjoying the attention. He decided to let them have it, after all they had worked hard.

He sooner than he would have liked found himself at the gates of the palace while most of his men stayed in the city to enjoy themselves. Fa Chian rode behind him without saying a word, the two men had not spoken since the Battle of Gar'etha as it was now being called and frankly Harry did not give a toss. The old man had wanted him to stay and fight but gave no help in how to do it. If he had no better suggestions then what concern was it of his how Harry had dealt with the threat?

Dismounting Storm he made his way to the throne room with Fa Chian and a party of his best men, the servants all bowed and smiled at the sight of him glad Harry supposed that he had stopped their city from being attacked. Harry gave each a slight nod as he continued on, finally arriving in the throne room which was full of music and colour in celebration of his victory. On his large and elaborate throne the God Emperor sat looking at Harry as if he were his best friend, which instantly put Harry on guard as he knew full well the jealousy and arrogance of the man. He would have to watch his back but for the moment he turned and listened to what the God Emperor to say as he rose from his throne to speak.

"My subjects, today is the greatest day of my reign. So many of the usurpers to my power, lay dead on the plains like the animals that they are. Perhaps the greatest battle in history was fought and won by my general and my troops." He said looking as he tried to look as big and imposing as he could, but still looked like a very small man trying to compensate for his own shortcomings. The clapping of the court and cheers of jubilation sounded very much like it was staged and Harry could see amongst them glares from many of the courtiers, who had no doubt intended to use the situation to their advantage until Harry had come along.

"For his great service by name Harry Tyrell as the Golden Sword of Yi Ti." There was a gasp in the room which implied that this was some sort of ceremonial position and given out very infrequently but for what achievement he was not sure. Harry might be the first person he realised to receive it in a very long time, another thing for the courtiers to be jealous about which made Harry glad he would be leaving soon.

But the God Emperor was not done yet and instead added. "I give you the sword that comes with your position and my own seal as proof of your accomplishments in my name and under my direction." The man nodded to a servant who stepped forward with a medallion made of pure gold, stamped with the symbol of the God Emperor and an image of Yi Ti on the reverse. Then there was the sword which Harry believed to be called a Dao, a single edged sword with a slightly curved tip sometimes referred to as a sabre but this one was clearly not meant to be used in battle. The hilt had been made of what looked like pure gold and stamped again with the God Emperor's Mark and decorated with a dragon motif. The steel was clearly of the finest quality and the scabbard itself was also decorated with a dragon motif in pure gold along with what look like jade. It was an expensive looking sword Harry thought and impressive in its own way given how much effort was given to expressions of vanity was that he gladly accepted both of them mindful of where he was and said nothing but bowed deeply.

But the God Emperor apparently was not yet done and then said.

"Bottles of wine, silks, gold, artwork, books, glassworks, weapons and banners of those who defeated are all yours in my eternal gratitude. A feast will be held tonight at the great victory as more of my treacherous subjects returned to the fold and my army grows ever larger." The God Emperor said his smile wide that Harry was not so naive and saw in his eyes look of sick anticipation, whatever he was being given he was unlikely to keep and suspected he would probably be dead by morning. So he decided to keep up with appearances for now and then vanish at the first opportunity even if he had to miss the feast where he would probably be poisoned.

After all it would be easy for the God Emperor to claim that that his enemies had done it in revenge of Harry defeating them or failing that that he had been unable to tolerate their food, well Harry thought to himself as he bowed to the God Emperor and then left for his room you will be in for a shock.

-x-

When he arrived in his room he discovered that the God Emperor had actually been true to his word and all of the so-called rewards that he had been promised were waiting there for him. It was an impressive collection and would take up several of his chests that he had stored up to hold it all, but at least they would be able to furnish a castle if he ever got what of his own he thought.

After packing it all up he decided to go for a walk before he made his escape to make sure that no one realised he was about to run, when suddenly he heard a cry of some sort nearby. Confused he walked over to the window of his room and looked outside only to see an absolutely horrible sight.

All the high born male prisoners that he had taken throughout his campaign where suspended in cages along the courtyard, exposed to the sun and stripped naked but more crucially they were all dead. Harry was absolutely frozen as he looked upon the mass of corpses left on display like some gruesome art show, the injuries on their bodies revealing the manner of their death, a great many small cuts inflicted over a long period of time which bled slowly be surely. The Lingering Death Harry thought with shock also known as Death by a Thousand Cuts, one of the most painful and prolonged agonies and forms of execution practised in all of Essos.

He had been assured when he started this that the prisoners he had taken would be hostages, prisoners yes but otherwise would not be killed. His anger began to grow, the Princess had promised them that this sort of thing would not happen and it seems she was not a woman of her word. He seized his pack and strapped it to his back ready at a moment's notice to get out of here if he had to, he would first though go and see the Princess and demand an explanation of this. If the men had been treated to this he did not even want to think about what would happen to the women and the girls he had taken prisoner. Pulling the hood of his leather coat over his head to hide his face and casting a notice me not charm on himself he quickly left his room and started moving through the corridors without being noticed by the guards until he found his way into the Princess's own quarters where she and her husband sat on one of the sofas. Seeing them there seemingly without a care in the world only made Harry angrier, so he cancelled charms as he burst of the door shocking both of them.

"Harry! What are you doing here?" The Princess Bathi asked straightening her dress which was nearly slipping from the shoulders, her husband was about to ask the same question but Harry silenced him with a firm glare which then was turned on the Princess herself. Harry's anger boiled inside him, asking his own question instead of answering hers.

"You lied to me about our prisoners. I saw them in the courtyard! What have you done with the other ones? Answer me." His mood was so soured that he ignored any courtesy that might be expected of someone of her rank to be given.

The princess looked shattered by the question and her gaze fell to the floor, her husband likewise both looking ashamed until she answered the question.

"My father's power remains as absolute now in the palace as it was when you left. Moment that the prisoners arrived he would have them put to death using the method that you just saw. I tried to convince him not to do it but he was determined to see them suffer although I was able to wed the females to allies of mine here at court which has only increased my own power so thankfully now I'm in a position to strike him and assumed the throne myself. I promise you Harry I had no idea it would happen, and my first order of business when I become Empress will be to have the practice banned. I'm so sorry I had never meant to mislead you." Tears were forming in her eyes as she looked at him and while he could sense that while she was indeed telling the truth the tears were not genuine, he could tell her body movements were too perfect for it to be natural, another attempt at manipulation. So he told her in a voice that could have rivalled the Wall of the North for how cold it was.

"I am leaving this accursed country now, and I hope that you succeed in your efforts but I wish to never see any more of this place. Goodbye God Empress." And with that Harry immediately left the room and a very unsettled Princess behind. He went to the stables retrieved Storm and with Orion on his shoulder, he rode out of the Palace towards the harbour. His only stop was to acquire the things that he'd missed getting when this business with God Emperor had started, the rice seeds and knowledge to grow it before heading straight to the nearest ship that would take him away from here.

The hustle and bustle of the port was unfortunately making it very difficult for him to make any progress and his temper only kept mounting until the cry of someone drew his attention towards the sky. He looked up and saw of great creature that seem to be almost swimming through the sky, its long body graceful as it ducked in and out of the clouds undulating occasionally as it moved. Its head was enormous, larger than any ship Harry had ever seen, with rows of white sharp teeth and its scales mass of different reds and yellows. It was a Sky Dragon Harry thought to himself and all his bad mood was temporarily forgotten as he watched the majestic creature that had not been seen for hundreds of years appear over the capital.

Harry was transfixed as he looked at the enormous creature, so much so that he nearly jumped when someone started talking behind him.

"Beautiful beings aren't they?" Harry turned around and his hands went for his swords, anticipating an attack and they firmly stayed on the hilts as he realised that it was the faceless man, the one with the red and white hair that he had met in Braavos again.

"So it was you that I saw before." Harry said his irritation returning very quickly. He did not trust these people at all and now would seem that one was following him. So he decided to ask the first question that had popped into his mind. "Why are you here?"

The faceless man did not seem perturbed by Harry's scowling face, in fact he smiled even wider. He told Harry in a matter of fact kind of way.

"You have done well in assembling your own fortune and learning the skills that will one day serve you very well in the great game, but now you need to go to the ruins of Valyria. Interest in visiting the place has been whispered by a number of individuals who we would prefer not to discover the vast resources that lie there still, a certain pirate in particular. So you must go immediately to recover everything of value that still lies in that shattered cities, so does not fall into the wrong hands. Your powers should protect you, after that you are free of us to travel as you wish. Fate will guide you to where you need to be after that."

Harry was momentarily struck dumb by what the faceless man was asking him to do, given the destruction that had shattered the Valyria Peninsula he did not imagine there would be much there left to salvage. But that being said if any magical knowledge at all that survived not to mention dragon eggs potentially and the knowledge of how to hatch, train and breed them it could well be worth the trip. The toxic gases that filled the air and doomed many of the people who tried to visit the ruins in the past would not necessarily be a problem to him because he had the bubblehead charm, it would be relatively easy to engrave a mask with a runic version of the charm allowing him to breathe as long as he had it on and his tent could be modified with the same charm to give him a safe haven while he explored the ruins. It was however still one hell of a risk given that he did not know what was inside the ruins of the freehold so we had just one question to ask to see if it would be worth it.

"I will be free of you and your kind's meddling?" Harry asked him and the faceless man continued to smile and said.

"Indeed, you have much to do as do we. Many pieces still have to be put into place before the greatest game begins. So will you go?" The faceless man asked him and Harry sighed deeply feeling they was going to regret this before he answered.

"Where is the ship going nearest to there? It seems I have a boat to catch."