The Age of Daenerys Targaryen

Part 43: An unexpected encounter

During Daenerys's absence, Doniphos and the State Secretaries had taken care of the affairs of state alone, but now the Empress had a lot of work to do. Decisions that only she could make had to be made and Dany wanted to take her time. In the past, through naivety, impulsiveness, or simply ignorance, she had often made mistakes that had caused others to suffer. Having good intentions wasn't enough to be a good ruler.

Today, for the first time in weeks, Daenerys had an afternoon off. She sat alone on her garden terrace and enjoyed the view of the city and the sea. Rhaegar and Viserys were tutored by the teacher Dany had recruited, and Drogon and the two young dragons went on a foray into the sparsely populated area east of Volantis. Later Dany would practice a bit with Jaqen H'ghar, but now she just enjoyed doing nothing and letting the sun shine on her. The scent of lemon blossoms hung in the air, a smell that reminded Dany of her childhood in Braavos, of the big house with the red door where...

Daenerys couldn't tell what she had warned. A movement in the corner of the eye, so fleeting that it could have been imagination, a barely noticeable draft of air or just her instinct, which had been sharpened by the merciless training with Jaqen H'ghar.

In any case, she suddenly threw herself aside. She saw the striking blade of a dagger, just missing her throat. She quickly rolled away on the ground to gain distance from the attacker.

"You have been trained," stated a woman's cold voice. A voice that somehow sounded familiar to Dany...

The Empress jumped up and looked around for something to use as a weapon. She grabbed a small table and held it in front of her with both hands like a shield. Now she also saw who her attacker was. It was Arya Stark. She wore a tiger cloak uniform.

"You ?!", Daenerys said. "I thought you were dead?"

Arya smiled coldly. "That's what I thought of you too." She tossed her dagger into the air and caught it again casually. "When I heard of your resurrection, I knew that I had to make sure that you no longer burn down cities."

"Wait ...", Dany began, but Arya suddenly made a leap towards her. The Empress threw the table at her and called loudly for help. The Stark dodged the furniture effortlessly and in return flung her dagger at Daenerys. With an evasive role, she managed to just avoid the projectile. She took a handful of earth in her fist and tossed the dirt in the face of her opponent while Arya was drawing a narrow sword.

"Defending yourself won't do you any good", said the other woman, wiping her eyes clear with her hand. "Better get it over with."

The Empress called for help again. She knew that if no one intervened, she would only have a few moments to live. Since she was unarmed, her newly acquired fighting skills against someone like Arya Stark would not help her much.

Arya chased Daenerys across the terrace. When she had almost caught up with the Empress, she suddenly spun around. A figure dressed in a gray robe parried her sword blow with a wooden staff.

"What is a girl doing here?", asked Jaqen H'ghar.

"Go away", said Arya. The Stark girl seemed to know Jaqen, but if she was surprised to see him here, she didn't show it. "I have to kill this so-called Empress before she returns to Westeros and kills my family."

"A man can't let that happen", Jaqen replied calmly. He stood between Dany and Arya. His little green dragon Daarion was sitting in one of the lemon trees and hissing at Arya.

The princess now attacked the Faceless Man directly. Jaqen parried all blows with his staff. Suddenly, so fast that Dany barely noticed, Arya shook a second dagger from her sleeve.

Instead of attacking Jaqen, she aimed past him at Daenerys. The man was able to deflect the projectile with his staff so that it missed the Empress by several meters, but now he was for a moment without cover. Arya took the chance immediately and stabbed with her blade. Jaqen couldn't get out of the way in time and was hit in the left shoulder.

But then the guards were finally there. Four Imperial Guard fighters and a dozen tiger cloaks stormed onto the terrace.

"I want her alive!", Daenerys shouted.

The guards surrounded Arya and attacked her from all sides. Still, the woman managed to wound two of her opponents before being struck down with a club. The Stark princess was immediately tied up. The wounded guards were taken care of by their comrades, while a servant called a doctor.

Daenerys rushed to Jaqen's side. The assassin pressed a hand against his injured shoulder. The gray fabric of his robe turned red.

"I owe you my life", said the Empress. She looked worriedly at the growing blood stain. "Someone will take care of you in a moment."

"It's just a flesh wound", said the redhead.

"It doesn't look like that", Dany said seriously. Meanwhile the paramedics arrived, followed by Kinvara. The High Priestess understood the situation immediately. She gently forced Jaqen to sit on a bench.

"Let's have a look at it", said Kinvara. She slipped Jaqen's robes from his torso. Daenerys saw no reason to look away. Those who had lived with the Dothraki for a while were used to seeing half-naked men.

But what appeared under the blood-stained fabric made both women gasp. Jaqen H'ghar's chest was disfigured with terrible scars - scars from wounds that no human could have survived. The heart had apparently been pierced once with a lance or a spear, and the upper body showed traces of blunt violence everywhere.

The Faceless Man grinned at Daenerys and Kinvara as Daarion perched on his good shoulder. "Yes", he answered the unspoken question. "The man was dead once too."