Chapter 56

The Next day marked a historic day for the Empire as an Imperial decree was issued. The decree stated that the remaining free cities of Myr, Tyrosh, Lys, shall be placed under Imperial rule and all slavery will cease to exist and anyone who doesn't follow this decree will be put to death.

The Decree also stated that all cities in Slavers Bay will no longer be independent and will be placed under Imperial rule and all forms of slavery will come to an end and all slave masters and slavers traders are sentenced to death.

This decree rocked the entire Continent as the last remaining free cities were rushing to defend themselves against the imperial army, which was on the march with a force of 70k men led by Julius Caesar.

Maximus and the rest of the 50k men headed to Slavers Bay. It took no less than two weeks for the news to reach Westeros. A simple war over Volantis had turned into a massive war to end slavery in the last remaining free cities and in Slaver Bay.

Once again, the Empire was expanding its borders and becoming even more of a threat to the world. Although this was the case, not many of the common people saw it that way, only the Lords seen it as a threat. And even then they can't do anything about it.

While this was going on in Essos in Westeros, Ned Stark had found out about the secret which the queen has been hiding, and he was shocked to have found out about it and was going to confront the queen about it.

But he was already wary since he had been attacked by Jaime Lannister who blamed him for what his wife did when she captured Tyrion Lannister luckily he survived the fight, but now he had to walk with a cane since his leg was badly injured.

He still mustered up the courage to go and confront the queen, but before he could the figure from a few months ago appeared again "Lord Stark a pleasure to see you well my lord" said the figure

Ned turned around and asked, "Have you brought another message from your Emperor" Asked Ned

"Something like that, he said to be careful when dealing with Cersei Lannister since she is always scheming and plotting for her next move and once she knows that you know her secret then she will act against you and if that happens then you risk your daughter being put in harms way" Said the figure

"she would never, there would be too much at risk if she acts against my daughters" Ned didn't believe that Cersei would act against his own daughters because of something he knows but if only he knew the truth

The figure sighed since this was expected, "His Majesty suspected this would happen so in case things take a turn for the worse, and you can't get your daughters out of the city then we have men waiting by the docks who will take them to safety" Said the figure

"How can I trust you or your Emperor" Asked Ned

"You can't but if you confront Cersei things will start to change for the worse for you, and you will need an ally to help you plus the Emperor doesn't like Cersei, and he sees you as a respectable man whom he respects" Said the figure

Ned thought about it a little, since he wasn't sure. But before he could answer, the figure spoke

"Unfortunately I must leave since you have company, but I will come back later to get your answer" The figure disappeared as a guard approached Ned asking him who he was talking to.

"Nobody I was just thinking out loud but what do you want" Said Ned

"Queen Cersei would like to meet with you in private, Lord Stark, Please follow me" Ned reluctantly followed the guard to where Cersei was at.

Once at the room where Cersei was waiting, the guard let Lord Stark into the room while he closed the door and stood guard.

In the room, Cersei was facing the window looking at the city before she turned around, "Lord Stark I've heard some interesting things about" Said Cersei

"So did I" Said Ned as he looked at her face, seeing the bruise mark from Robert slapping her "Has he done this before" Said Ned referring to Robert slapping her.

"No, Jamie would have killed him, my brother is worth a thousand of your friend" Said Cersei

"Your brother? Or your lover" Asked Ned

Cersei then began to go on with her little speech about how the Targaryen's used to Wed brothers and sisters for 300 hundreds. At the end of her little speech after she threatened Ned and walked out of the room thinking that she was playing a game that she was winning, but in reality she wasn't.

She was the one being played as she was falling right into Maximus hands, since once Robert comes back from his hunt injured and on his deathbed she will start to make her moves. While she makes her move, Maximus will also make his move.

Back in Essos the two armies of the Empire were approaching their designated locations and would soon start conquering the cities.

Sallen Vynelar was hold up in Astapor with the last remaining slave forces that were able to escape the battle. With their defeat, many of the Magisters didn't want to invest in buying slaves and more mercenaries to fight, since it would be useless to fight against the forces of the Empire.

Many of them hope that if they surrender, they will be treated fairly. But not all of the Magisters thought like this, since others didn't want to surrender, but they were still stuck with the fact that they had no army since most of the soldiers that they had were in the army and now the only soldiers they have are some slave guards who won't be able to stop the Imperial army.

As the Magisters are stuck with a decision, the Imperial army draws closer by the day and the first city in their path was Mantarys which stood no chance at all in fighting against the Imperial forces.

The Imperial fleet had been brought from their port in Pentos and is helping both armies in fighting against port cities.