Cherazza 9

287AC

She watched as the line of half-man slaves were brought in to the pyramid, and she had to admit that they were a fascinating sight, despite her distaste for the method by which her father had acquired them. The Sothoryosi shamaness had come through in full it seemed. The boat carrying the lot of them had arrived this morning, and now they walked in chained lines into the lower part of the pyramid, waiting to be trained.

They were a motley and disfigured lot in the whole, animalesque features blending into mostly humanoid shapes seemingly without rhyme or reason. They were bastard children of old Gorgossos all, the descendants of the abomination which the sorcerers of the city had molded of man and beast before the Red Death had cast it into a ruin. Their bloodlines were now spread all across Sothoryos by the slaving that had been done to those who survived, Agazmon was of such a line.

These on the while looked much more bestiary than him, however. Where her father's slave-trainer bore some resemblance to a Rhino, most of these new slaves had the features of multiple creatures, likely due to the mixing of bloodlines. Some stood taller and broader than most normal men, bearing features of gorillas, elephants and other great creatures, while others were small or lanky, one even had legs that seemed to be reversed in direction, like those of a goat, beneath rough patches of fur and skin.

Most were of an ugly or disfigured bent, likely to make poor bed-slaves and be sold down to Astapor or to the Yellow Whale, for he loved collecting such tortured creatures, but a few she suspected would work well enough in her father's trade. The larger males would certainly serve well his purposes, and some of the females with scales or feathers might look attractive if properly taken care of, their exotic features being a selling point.

Still, the menagerie of monsters being led into her home was not truly what was occupying her mind. Rather, that would be the training Viserys was undergoing in one of the cleared out storage chambers. At first, she had watched the lessons, not wanting to be away from him, but she found quickly that she could not stand the sight of him being hit, even on the service of learning.

She had tried to bring it up with him, perhaps to replace Illoryan, but he had simply stated that it was probably necessary in order to learn the sword when she had asked him, and that he liked Illoryan, but that she could replace him if she so desired.

Obviously, she couldn't do that now. There were precious few things or people that Viserys liked, and she couldn't separate him from one of them just because of her own discomfort. Thus she tended to come out here to the balcony and watch the streets when his practice was in session.

It was in session an uncomfortable amount of the time, for Viserys had thrown himself into it with a wild abandon. It would be a source of concern if she did not understand why he did so.

"Lady Cherazza, we are finished." The thick accent of the swordmaster rang out, and she felt a smile creep onto her face as she turned around.

"I will be there in a moment."

She walked into the innards of the pyramid and found the designated training room just down the hall. It was a stone chamber strewn with woolen mats, and it smelled strongly of sweat from its two occupants. Illoryan was a man of average build, but he seemed to make up for with flair, hair dyed in multiple colors, and clothes which seemed to possess all the colors known to man quilted throughout them. He held in his hand a wooden practice sword and twirled it around easily.

"Your Dragon-Prince here is a fine student my lady, but I suspect you already knew that. He has grasped the forms much more quickly than I did when young, but then I lacked a good and skillful teacher." The man banged his own chest lightly, chuckling to himself in his boisterous manner. "Still, at this rate, he will have all the basic forms mastered within the year, and then we can move to more advanced techniques, such as how to fight beasts or men with shields."

"That's… good," she said, turning to the boy in question. In the time that he had been hers, he had continued to grow noticeably healthier from the emaciated boy he had once been, and he seemed to stand a little straighter too in his short red robe. He was currently leaning on his own practice sword, seeming to have mostly recovered from the session. "How are you feeling Viserys?"

"Good, Mistress, I am making progress." He said simply, nodding towards the swordmaster and then turning back to her. "Would you like me to serve you dinner now?"

"That sounds nice," she said, glancing up and down the boy. "Then we'll get some ointment onto those fresh bruises." While she didn't enjoy seeing her beloved dragon get hit, the application of ointment that followed was always the highlight of her day. She didn't want to take him into her bed until she was sure that he could choose to do so, but that didn't mean she didn't appreciate the view.

"Yes mistress, I will go bring food from the kitchen at once."

As Viserys departed and she watched him go, the swordmaster spoke up from behind her. "You should make sure that he is eating properly too. Lots of meat if you want him not to grow stunted."

She rolled her eyes at the suggestion, obviously, she already was, and she made sure he ate it too, ordered it even if she needed to.

After all, Her Dragon needed to grow big and strong. That way no one would ever be able to hurt him again.