2 Chapter 2: Welcome to the Horde

Chapter 2: Welcome to the Horde.

Darkness turns to blinding light as my eyesight adjusts to the scorching sun of the Dothraki Sea, i look around and see giants, or at least what look like giants since I'm still a 4 year old child, I'm surrounded by people either in leathers or walking bare chested only covered from the waist down and all around me is a field of leather tents, children are running around unsupervised while adults don't pay them any attention or seem to care for their security.

And older woman walks out of the tent, she has white hair and has a bit of a hunchback, she Is carrying a woven basket full of what with my enhanced senses i can smell are herbs and chemical ingredients, the little clay containers rattle ever so slightly when the older woman approaches a man standing near me with small steps, she does not say anything, just shakes her head and walks away.

I can see the Young man in his early 20s next to me clench his fists and jaw so hard I'm sure he is cracking some teeth. without saying a word he walks in, i can hear some soft spoken words here and there and then the man walks out and keeps the flap open while looking at me, i get the hint and walk inside, it will take some time to adjust to the body of a 4 year old, but I'm sure SSserum will help with that.

Inside the tent it smells strongly of burning herbs, like incense but on steroids, or maybe its my senses that are being overloaded due to SSserum. I try to bottleneck the sensory overload and focus on my heartbeat as suggested by many superheroes with these problems, it seems to help. the first thing i see when i walk in is a brazier with tiny trails of smoke coming out of it, then there are bedrolls on the floor and a woman laying on the floor, she looks like what a patient with terminal cancer would look like, barely skin over bones, deathly pale and clearly on death's door.

"Come Ogatto, come here, I don't have much time left in this world" says the woman laying down on the floor. I approached her and kneel. She has golden hair even though she is in her mid to late 20s her hair was already starting to grey, probably due to her condition. "See that little silver chest on the corner?" she asks, barely able to move her head, I nod. "bring it here my son" I did as commanded, fetched the small square silver box, it was ornamented with intricate designs, but where the lock was there was only a small pointy sharp pin. Boy I don't like where this is going "press your thumb on the lock, it will sting just a little, but don't worry" she said, and coughed repeatedly.

Don't worry? this is some blood magic box you want me to open mother. For f*ck sake woman have some sense of self preservation, in Planetos magic you don't touch, not even with a pole arm. After resigning myself I did as told and surprise surprise my blood opened it, inside was a folded silver piece of cloth and on top of it a ring.

"Put your blood on that ring, it's a ring of holding, it was made by your grandmother for your grandfather, you were expected to inherit it when you were old enough, I know it's too soon but you have to take it now, it belongs to you." And my grandmother was a blood witch, YAY! This keeps getting better and better.

I do as told and place the ring in my right index finger, the ring shrinks and starts to morph, now instead of a plane ring it has detailed engravings of what I think are lion head roaring and a galloping Stallion (imagine Ford logo), the ring is flat and wide almost a finger phalanx wide. Have I mentioned that I did not like where this was going?

"Take the cloth out, it's our coat of arms" After taking the silver piece of cloth and unwrapping It. It showed a red lion with a forked tail roaring and it had golden claws. nope, nope nope, Deity of reincarnation you are not doing this to me? Was it all that tentacle hentai?

"my real name is Clarisa Reyne, Daughter of Ser Reynard Reyne who escaped the Castamere mines through a hidden tunnel, he made it to Essos and met a woman, a shadow binder from Ashai, they fell in love and had me. your grandfather passed away 9 years ago, before dying he made me promise that i would continue the line, that we would have our revenge. it's your duty as the last Reyne, as the Heir to Castamere ''

She was barely able to keep talking and started to cough, I helped her to turn to the side to help her cough out the fluids in her lungs and spit it out. she was drowning in her own blood, probably tuberculosis or pneumonia contracted due to her weak condition after drinking the alchemical potion.

"What about Grandmother, is she still alive?" I ask, my mother shakes her head weakly. well shit. thrown right under the bus from the very beginning, Reyne, and with no living relatives except Qotho.

"You have to take back what belongs to us, you have to avenge our blood, my son, Ogatto Reyne" she finishes speaking and falls asleep, breathing very weakly but still breathing. Before leaving I folded the coat of arms and placed it back inside the ornamented box then stored it inside the ring, to my surprise there are already things inside the ring, but I will check them later.

I walk outside the tent and find my father Qotho standing there with his blood shot eyes and clenched jaw showing his fury, well that and his white knuckles from how hard he is holding his Arakh, without much of a word he walks back in and I hear some sort of prayer or him singing something before a distinctive smell of iron hits my nose.

He gave her a mercy kill, the woman he loved, no wonder he will hate me, every time he looks at me I will be the living walking reminder of what he just did right now. f*ck me things are getting complicated and I only been in this body for 20 minutes.

I decide to leave my now newly grieving father alone, for at least the next week. I'll find my way around the camp, there is always something to do. At least I think so. I just walk away in the direction of the sun. after a few tents i find a space in between two of them, take off my boot and place the ring in my big toe, it shrinks and adapts.

It's a bit uncomfortable at first, but much better and safer than a child walking around with a golden ring in his hands surrounded by thieving raiding savages.

While walking towards the center of where the Khalasar is camped I decide to get a feel for the ring and what is inside, one is the box with the coat of arms, a westerosi style long sword, there are coins, not many, around two dozen, don't know if they are gold silver or copper, only that they are coins, will have to check later when alone and in a safe place, then we have some kind of rations i presume, i think since it's a SpatialRing they should still be good, same as the jugs full of a liquid i assume is water. a bed roll, some kind of rope and a tarp. This seems like a starter pack for an adventurer that got isekaid. The only problem is that I'm 4 years old.

Sighting I keep on walking, while on my way towards the center of the camp I see a Dothraki man drag a female slave inside a tent, yeap. typical Dothraki sh*t going down, not like I can do anything about it.

Before I realize I'm Standing in front of a giant tent, it must be Drogo's tent, and I'm at the center of the Khalasar camp. Where to go now?

Clashing sounds of metal and people fighting somewhere nearby draws my attention and i walk in that direction, arriving at what seems to be a sparring ring i see some of the Ko of the Khal and other warriors Sparring, they are mock fighting, Instead of standing in the middle I go to the shade of a tent and sit, observing them.

Using the Eidetic Memory granted by SSserum I'm engraving every move in my brain, every pattern, the position of their feet. Each new fight I discover something new.

They start to leave and by that time I already see that the sun is setting and the sky is turning red on the horizon, time to get back I suppose, not much of a choice since I don't really know where to sleep, or where to get food/water.

Remembering the way back was easy, it was just following a "street" made of tents back to where my mother was laying ill, I can not get sick so it does not matter to me, only thing is that i hope my father has taken care of the body and left so I can have some rest tonight.

After arriving I use my Enhanced Hearing to try to find out if he is still inside, the smell of blood is still there but it's faint, hard to perceive at this point, after confirming that it's empty I walk in, the bedroll and skins where my mother laid are gone. so is my father and the body. I hope at least he gave her a decent funeral.

Grabbing one of the furs that were laying around, I prepare to make a bed. Before that I examine the room, there is a small table with pitchers on it, and two stools. besides that the brazier that is no longer lit and the furs on the floor. After examining the pitchers I find out one has wine and the other one water, I yoink the pitcher with wine and store it inside the ring, it can be used to barter later. I smell the water and it smells fine, not that I can catch dysentery anyway. After finishing the pitcher of water I store it in the ring too, because it can be useful later on. I also store one of the extra furs in the ring just in case, you never know, better be safe than sorry.

Placing one bedroll on the hard floor, a fur on top of it and preparing another one to cover myself with.

Before going to sleep I decided to check the items in my ring. Disappointing but expected the sword is not Valyrian Steel, still it's a westerosi straight sword, it's sharp and fancy with gold plated guard, what you would expect of the sword of a rich eccentric noble. It has a crimson scabbard with the tip of it being golden and decorated. I conclude that this must be the sword my Grandfather used. It's well maintained but the blade has seen some use and it's fairly worn in from all the sharpening done to it, I store it back inside the ring

Then the coins. 3 gold dragons, 10 silver stags, 4 golden round coins with a hole in the middle and the rest are 3 silver squares and 5 copper triangles. Not a clue of their worth or where they are from, but gold and silver have their worth on Its own, i store them back fast.

The rations and the water jugs, the rations remind me of pemmican and the water is water, both of them still seem fresh even after years of what i assume storage.

The rope was made of hemp and around 30 feet long and the tarp was just that tarp, and 8 feet by 8 that had been either oiled or waxed to make it waterproof, I did not know how to tell the difference.

At least I will not be exposed to the elements if I get kicked out of here.

I drifted to sleep only to wake up a few hours later, my enhanced senses told him someone is entering the tent, I peeked from under the pelts and saw Qotho drunk as a skunk stumble in and drop where my mother used to lay, immediately passing out, probably did not seen me while hiding under the pelts due to the fact that there are no candles lit and I'm sleeping in a corner.

Morning came and it came with a grieving hungover Qohto who decided to give me a kick in the ribs for breakfast before telling me to get out and walk. He could barely stand. I don't know what he was going to do with me.

We arrive at a small sparring circle and Qotho has procured two Arakhs from somewhere along the way, he throws me one, enhanced reflexes and coordination, i catch it by the handle and try swinging it but it to big for me, SSserum might have made me grow a bit faster and stronger than someone my age but I'm still a toddler for f*ck sake. Out of nowhere he swings and if it was not for my SSserum reflexes I would have either lost the head or had my throat cut wide open, instead he just hits the Arakh I was holding out of my hands, it flies for a few feet before falling on the ground.

"Pick it up" he grumbles.

i walk, pick it up and this repeats, again, and again and again, all of his attacks would have killed me if i was not enhanced, no wonder he does not have kids neither in the Books nor the show, he probably killed them all right after his wife died. At the 6th time that he was going to do this I saw him making a wide horizontal slash, but instead of retreating I let go of the sword, dash forward and punch him in the nuts with a boxing 1 2 combo from back on earth. His facial expression told me he was not expecting that at all.

I pick up the Arakh I was given and leave the bend over and in pain Qohto behind as I make it back to the tent, and start planning.

By what Qotho knows i have not eaten in more than 24h and he does not give a damn, so i have to secure food for myself, water is easy, there are barrels of it loaded in carts near where our tent is, problem is that I would need to barter for food, but offering coin for it would make me seem weak, bartering goods is ok, but buying things with coin is considered weak from the point of view of the Dothraki, why? hell if i know, its their culture, just like its normal for them to murder and r*pe.

So food is number 1 as of now, even if i get kicked out of Qotho's tent i can still make some kind of shelter with what i have inside my ring. but for this morning idiocy I'm stealing another pelt from him, why? because why not? He can't prove that I have it and even if he suspected me and kicked me out I do not see myself under his roof for much longer. He almost killed me 6 times this morning.

It's time to explore and find out about how to earn my keep here and what to do to survive in this brutal society, I get up and store the Arakh inside my ring, no point in hauling that thing in my hinds but as I'm making my way outside a flash of metal almost brains me, only got saved due to my reflexes.

I feel a sharp pain going from my hairline down my brow and to my cheek on the left side of my face, the sensation of warm blood running down my face shocks me for a second and Qotho stumbles with the point of his Arakh bloody, he looks at me and scoffs before saying "that is for hitting me in the nuts you little shit" he then turns and walks out.

I'm losing blood, and I don't know how good my SSserum improved healing is. I need a healer, at least someone to stop the bleeding. I summon my Arakh and channel my inner Dothraki.

Walking outside the tent i see Dothraki passing by, then i see some slaves, one of them is going somewhere, i approach him from behind, Spartan kick him in the back of the knee making him stumble and fall down he turns to look at who attacked him only to see a blood covered child holding an Arakh almost as big as the kid was. I press the Arakh pointy end to his neck and ask in the coldest and most menacing my childish voice can muster "where are the healers?" Slave.exe seems to have stopped working so I reboot him with a kick to the shin

"Wise Malahe's t-t-tent is not ff-f-ar from here" he stutters half of it.

"Then lead the way or perhaps those eyes of yours are useless, might as well do you a favor and remove them since you are not using them" blood kept dripping on the dirt floor. the slave gets up and starts to move in a hurry leading me in a direction, after crossing a few tent rows i catch the scent of herbs.

" I know the way now, get lost" I grumble at the slave that leaves power walking away as fast as he can.

Arriving at the entrance of the tent I let myself know instead of barging in.

"is this the Tent of Malahe the healer?" I ask as politely as the Dothraki language allows, why? because in the battlefield there are 2 people you do not piss off or f*ck with by any reason whatsoever, first one is the doctor and the second is the cook. both for obvious reasons, and right now, surrounded by this savages was like a battlefield for me.

"Yes" comes a smooth voice from inside.

"I need healing and its time sensitive" I reply still not walking in since i was not invited.

"Then what are you waiting for? come in" she says and the tent flap opens allowing me in, i sit and try not to get everything covered in blood. She looks shocked to see my state but the shock only lasts for a second.

She is a woman in her mid to late 30s, she is sporting a healthy suntan but you can see that her natural skin color is lighter due to the tan lines around her neck and sleeves of her tunic. I can tell that she used to be quite a beauty but her age and lifestyle has caught up to her and her youth is starting to fade, if it was still him from back on earth he probably would not mind hitting on her.

"You young and reckless children playing with swords, you are lucky to not have lost the eye, you should know that is dangerous to go swinging Arakhs at each other when you don't know what you are doing" and i just burst out laughing opening the cut I had in my cheek once again, it just stopped bleeding. After catching my breath I answered her.

"It was not another kid that did It, it was my father, and he knows what he is doing, he is one of the blood riders of the Khal" I just shake my head and chuckle

Malahe did not want anything to do with family affairs especially if they involved someone close to the Khal.

after stopping the bleeding she just groaned as she looked at my face then proceeded to walk outside and talk with someone, when she returned she said I send the neighbor's boy to fetch a friend of mine he is good with the needle, maybe he can save your face from being a total mess" i just shrugged and kept on waiting.

Malahe kept working without talking to me, grinding herbs in a mortar and pestle. After a while, maybe 20 minutes an old man entered carrying a basket and just shook his head "my my, well let's see what i can do'' I could hear a chain rattling under his robes. A Maester of the citadel? What is a Maester doing here? Whatever, better let him work and ask questions later. After he was done.

"What is your name, old man?" i asked the stranger only to get a scoff in return and him saying under his breath "Younglings this days"

"Kycelian," he answers while packing his utensils.

"We will meet again, Kycelian" I say with certainty.

"I sincerely hope not" he answers while turning to leave

"Well, someone has to take this needlework off my skin. I would do so myself if I could see it but as you can see it would be impossible for me to do it alone" I finished saying.

he looks back at me says "come find me in a fortnight or if it gets swollen and starts to fester" i nod

"I'm in your debt Kycelian" i finish saying before he leaves the tent

After that Malahe just put some herb paste she has been grinding in her mortar and pestle for a while on the wound and tells me to scram. i thank her too and tell her that this debt will not be forgotten, then leave.

Ok time to steal some food and see what i can do to find a place to sleep, but since i can't just use my holding ring out in the open and be labeled a Maegi or something along the lines, so i just fix the Arakh to my belt and it looks ridiculous (imagine Guts but its a kid with an Arakh instead of Guts with Dragonslayer)

using my nose I locate the place where they are making food, huge campfires are lit and cauldrons are dangling left and right, it's a gigantic camping feast, only its not, It's just where people make their food, most of the cooks are slaves or eunuchs.

I look for where the food is being distributed, this big a Khalasar without a market has to have a system to feed everyone, finally I find some old lady handing over bowls of what seems to be some kind of soup to people waiting, not in a line mind you, god forbid the dothraki make something in an orderly way, it's more like a group of people that are congregated in a crowd in front of the woman.

I step at the back and wait, slowly I'm advancing towards the woman, when it's my turn the old crone looks at me funny, probably because of my recently acquired injury, she hands me a bowl of soup and no spoon, after looking around i see that they are just drinking it out of the bowl, When in Rome do as the Romans do, so i follow suit.

It tastes a bit sweet, but savory at the same time. There are tough pieces of meat of what I assume or at least hope is horse meat and not dog. After finishing the soup I bring the clay bowl back to the pile like everyone else.

I listen to the talk between the Locals and pick up an interesting conversation

D1(Dothraki Rider 1): "for how long do we have to wait for the tribute? the Khal should have let us raid this frail city" ok i pick up that we are not on the move because we are waiting for tribute from a city to the Khal, probably slaves and food.

D2: "Bah, You have horse dung for brains, the khal is still young and has proven himself already, there is no need to fight, he leads 25 thousand warriors and with every victory he gets more, there is no need to waste Riders in this small city and the only reason you are complaining is because you want to swing your Arakh at something" his friend said laughing "if you are so bored go Stab your other Arakh somewhere meanwhile we wait" he finished saying while chucking

D1: "Even after a while that gets boring" grumbled the first Dothraki.

And that is enough of me eavesdropping on these two idiots, following my initial plan I track where the fresh food is coming from and it's a bunch of tents that look like storage, there are carts in the back full of supplies. 'bingo', I approach, and walk past the guards like I belong there, they look at me because I'm quite the character with my face having a fresh wound and me carrying an Arakh on my back, they laugh at my expense but do not try to stop me, but they do keep an eye on me, I can almost feel their eyes making sure I'm not stealing anything.

I just walk past the carts and keep on walking into the sea of tents. right now it's not the time, that will be tonight. Returning to where my mother's tent was, I found the place empty, no tent, only compressed grass resembling the shape of where the tent used to be, and I find a Dothraki Rider taking the spot for himself, well by taking I mean making a few slaves erect a tent there.

Its smaller than my mother's so maybe I can set up my shelter next to him and claim the spot? but I don't want to have my stuff stolen from me, the things I have inside my ring are my only possessions after all.

I look at the cart the Dothraki is using and see many items on it, some of them are treated skins, there are sacks of what I would assume either food or some other bulky item, and a chest, after casually checking if the coast was clear I enact the plan.

Plan is simple, just walk by and yoink it with the ring, the chest is bigger than me so I can not be blamed for stealing something that is impossible for me to carry.

The Dothraki Warrior that is stealing… well more like claiming my mother's spot is screaming orders to the slaves like if he knows better than them, he is basically bossing them around, I pass by and Yoink the Chest and keep on walking,

I don't know if he even noticed me in the first place, what he will notice is that he does not have his chest in a bit.

After 1 minute of walking I start hearing screams of Rage from far back.

Looking back I see an enraged Dothraki running around trying to find who stole his chest. I can't help but chuckle at that.

I head towards where I saw the Ko of Drogo fighting yesterday, while walking I check my newly liberated chest and it's contents.

1 chest medium size. (well duh)

3 pieces of what I think are some kind of jewelry (a small metallic chain and medallions with gems in them).

1 stack of some kind of cloth, but it's much thinner and fine so I assume something like silk.

and an assortment of daggers and knives, Finally what feels like an Arakh but a shorter and smaller version of it, kind of like the difference between a two handed sword and a short sword.

I find a place between two tents, drop my fully sized designed for striking from horse back Arakh from back to the floor and then while stepping on it I just store it, then I wish the new one to appear, its shorter and more manageable, still for my size this makes it look like a great sword, but I can work with this.

After arriving at the Sparring ground I have to hide because Qotho is there and he will most likely kill me if he sees me here, so I hide in the shadow between two tents while memorizing their every move.

Stealing the food that night was so easy it was almost laughable, two guards for 8 carts, both of them half asleep and not paying any attention, a badly lit area that allowed me to sneak up and steal 2 medium size sacks full of bread, then a basket full of apples. and finally the jackpot, a slab of 2 pounds of either cured or salted meat.

I decided to withdraw while I was still winning. The carts were full to the brim so I doubted they would notice.

As for where to sleep? I think I will just camp next to Malahe's tent. There was enough space between her and the neighboring one for me to fit for the night.

Tomorrow is another day. I told myself as I laid down beneath the canvas roof, I stored the Short Arakh in my ring and was sleeping with a long dagger in my hands.