Arc 4 - Dorne Part I

In the end Ikarus stole from 5 castles, getting a total of 1471 golden dragons and a couple of hundred silver stags. More than enough money to be able to live in peace for a couple of years.

And to his delight, he finally made it to Dorne.

He followed Kingsroad to a bridge. The river that passes below empties into the Sea of ​​Dorne.

`10 days, 10 long days` he sighs with exhaustion.

The journey has taken its toll on his body and the hardest part is yet to come: crossing the desert.

He has two options.

The safest is to follow the coast of the Sea of ​​Dorne to Sunspear. By following the coast he will not run the risk of getting lost but he will have to cross much more distance. At least 400 more kilometers.

The second option is the riskiest. Cross the desert until he finds the Scourge River and then follow it until reaching the Summer Sea. Once in the sea he will have to go north and after about fifty kilometers he will reach Sunspear.

The fast route is the most dangerous, when crossing the desert he will be in danger of getting lost.

But with the second option it will take at least one more day to reach his destination. He only has about two days left to reach Sunspear before the slave ship.

`It's only about a hundred kilometers to the river.`

He looks at the stone road before him. If he follows the Kingsroad he will reach Yronwood, if he follows the bank of the river whose name he does not know he will reach the Sea of ​​Dorne.

His expression is conflicted, he closes his eyes tightly and clenches his fists.

"For Aemon."

***

He follows the Kingsroad for half a day and as the sun begins to set he sees the castle of House Yronwood in the distance.

The lands surrounding the castle are fertile, the forests are abundant and the grass is green. The nearby mountains are rich in tin, iron and silver.

The castle follows the fashion of the rest of Westeros with little Rhonar influence.

`It's a House of First Men, no Rhoynar`

A fifteen meter high gray stone wall surrounds the castle. At the foot of the wall there is a moat, you can only enter the castle through the three gates guarded by guards day and night.

The castle has 6 big towers. The highest reaches a height of 30 meters while the lowest are about 25 meters high.

The inner castle has three buildings.

The Main Hall is six stories high and made of dark gray stone.

The First Keep has a round shape, like that of a tower. It is only three stories high and is in a rather dilapidated state. Many windows are missing, the stone is cracked in many places, especially on the upper floors, and parts of the roof are sagging.

The New Keep is a four story tall rectangular building, its stonework is noticeably newer than the other two buildings.

Yronwood has a one-acre Godswood, in its center stands a weirwood with a carved face.

`This house still follows the religion of the First Men.`

Near the castle there is a village with about 2000 inhabitants.

Ikarus enters the village and notes that it is richer than Barrowtown.

`Barrowtown had about 15,000 inhabitants but this village is richer`

Many of the buildings are made of some type of brick, the main street is paved with stone and the people are much better looking. Their clothes are of better quality, they are neither so dirty nor malnourished.

`Dorne despite being much smaller and having mostly a worse climate is wealthier than the North.`

The North has been stagnant for millennia while Dorne has continually had to adapt to survive. When the Andals arrived the Dornishmen at first fought against them like all other regions but in the end they realized that the fight would lead them nowhere, only more and more lives would be lost. So the Dornishmen fused Andal culture with their own, thus houses as old as the Dayne of Starfall acquired Andal customs like chivalry. Today, House Dayne is recognized throughout Westeros as the birthplace of many of the continent's greatest knights.

When the Rhyonar arrived a thousand years ago the same thing happened, the cultures merged.

The desert gave birth to capable and skilled men and women, with great adaptability.

Ikarus walks through the market and buys supplies for five days in the desert: a barrel of water and food.

The smallfolk gasp at the sight of a boy carrying a barrel half his size on his shoulder.

`It is somewhat annoying to carry a barrel on my shoulder but water is very important in the desert`

***

Ikarus leaves the village whose name did not learn and continues his journey.

Kingsroad ended in Yronwood so the rest of the way is on unpaved roads.

Kingsroad was the great project of Jaehaerys I, called the Old King. Jaehaerys built an extensive network of roads to connect his kingdoms, the project taking decades to complete but his efforts were more than rewarded. Trade increased tremendously, the links between kingdoms grew and the power and influence of the Targaryen dynasty reached its highest point.

Jaehaerys intended his descendants to continue his project and increase the road network even more since his project only connected the main Houses, it did not cover the entire continent. But that project was forgotten by kings who did not see the benefits of such construction.

The Kingsroad runs from The Wall to the border of Dorne.

Dorne was not part of the Seven Kingdoms in that era so the road network does not go all the way to Sunspear. Dorne joined the Seven Kingdoms a century later with Daeron II's marriage to a Martell princess and his little sister's marriage to the Prince of Dorne.

Neither he nor any of his successors ever thought to extend the Kingsroad to Sunspear.