The Age of Daenerys Targaryen

Part 68: Duel in the clouds

Kenzai pushed his war mask, which showed a demon face, in front of his face, while Hi-no-uroko left the ground behind him. The people of Braavos - and Empress Daenerys, who circled high above the city on Drogon - would probably notice him at that moment.

It took Daenerys a moment to grasp what she was seeing. It had to be an illusion, for this huge, fiery red dragon flying straight towards her could not possibly be real. Then the Empress realized that what Bran, Jon and Kinvara had seen was just coming true. It didn't matter who the dragon and its rider - whom Dany now saw on the beast's back - were. All that mattered was that they were obviously after her.

For a moment she thought of fleeing, but immediately dismissed the thought. Drogon might be able to outrun the larger dragon, but then Braavos would be at the mercy of the strange rider. And he would keep chasing Dany, maybe even hunting her children.

So she suppressed her fear and turned Drogon towards the new enemy.

Kenzai was surprised to see the black dragon flying towards him. Somehow the samurai had expected the Empress to try to avoid the encounter. On the other hand, Daenerys Targaryen would not have come this far if she had no fighting spirit.

Kenzai felt for the pocket in which he kept his shuriken, also known as throwing stars, and fished one out.

In the meantime the dragons had caught up with each other and were circling each other like two fighting dogs. Kenzai aimed his throwing star at the Empress.

Dany drew Flame from its scabbard while Drogon and the red dragon maneuver in circles, waiting for the right moment to pounce on each other. She wasn't sure what the blade would do for her now, but holding it in her hand gave her a reassuring feel of control.

The man - Daenerys assumed it was a man, anyway - who was sitting on the back of the enemy dragon wore a strange, red-enameled lamellar armor and a black helmet with neck protection. His face was covered by a terrifying war mask. He was just picking up something and making a sweeping motion. The whirring of the approaching throwing blade was almost drowned in the roar of the dragons, but when Daenerys saw the flash of metal, her instincts, hard-earned in training with Jaqen H'ghar, came to life. Flame leaped forward and deflected the throwing blade that would otherwise have struck the Empress's face.

Seeing Daenerys fending off the shuriken with ease, Kenzai cursed himself for underestimating her. He should have expected that the Empress had received combat training.

But the samurai still had a dozen more throwing stars left. And even if that didn't help, Hi-no-uroko's superior strength and size should bring the key advantage.

Daenerys fought off more throwing blades from their unknown enemy. She wielded the short sword as precisely as if it were an extension of her right arm. Meanwhile, the two dragons attacked each other tooth and nail. Dany could only hope that Drogon would hold his own against his bigger rival. What luck that Dany was tied to the saddle, otherwise she would have been thrown off and fallen into the depths.

On the ground, however, the dragon fight did not go unnoticed. Tyrion, Sam and Jon were having breakfast in 'The Sealord's mug' when the roar of the beasts lured them outside. The people in the streets watched with open mouths the drama that was unfolding in the sky.

Jon's heart stopped when he saw Drogon and a larger red dragon wedged together like two fighting birds of prey and dash towards the roofs of the city in a nosedive. At the very last moment they broke away from each other and rushed only a few meters above the houses, only to then pounce on each other again.

Kenzai growled in frustration as Daenerys fought off his last shuriken. She couldn't be that good! It took more than ordinary weapon training to be able to deflect a dozen well-aimed throwing stars with a sword blade under these conditions. And yet the Empress had made it.

Well, then he would do it differently. The samurai grabbed his tachi and waited for the moment when the movements of the two dragons would bring him within reach of Daenerys.

The enemy had stopped throwing blades at her, but Dany was on guard. Just now, the fighting dragons rushed past the huge broken sword that the Titan of Braavos raised into the air. Drogon held up well in battle, dealing just as much as he pocketed. Both dragons were already bleeding from numerous wounds. Up until now they had only spat fire sporadically, and if so, it was more in an attempt to dazzle or irritate the enemy, because dragons were fire-resistant.

Daenerys too. Did that also apply to the other rider? It was worth a try.

"Dracarys!", Dany shouted, hoping Drogon would understand.

But then the warrior came into hand-to-hand range and struck the Empress with a curved sword that was as strange as his armor. The force of the blows almost tore Flame out of Dany's hand while parrying, while the dragons bit each other again and screwed through the air in a corkscrew motion. Above and below alternated very quickly.

Kenzai let out a cry of rage as the Empress parried his fifth blow and the Valyrian steel made a deep notch in his tachi. He was ridiculed by a petite woman barely half his size! And Hi-no-uroko had a harder time against Drogon than he had hoped.

The samurai had to find a way to end the fight quickly before things got out of hand. He instructed his dragon to break away from Drogon and dive into one of the low lying clouds.

The sudden retreat of the enemy took Daenerys completely by surprise. She never believed for a moment that he had given up. Sweat ran down her forehead and her sword arm ached as she looked around.

Under cover of the cloud, Kenzai exchanged his damaged tachi for his naginata. It was a blade nearly three feet long, attached to a one and a half meter wooden shaft. When he was ready, the warrior directed Hi-no-uroko back into the open sky, then let him fly from above towards Drogon. He held the naginata in his rigth fist, ready to push. The Empress would not be able to parry. Not if Kenzai had the momentum of Hi-no-uroko's nosedive on his side.

When Dany saw the attacker above her, there were only seconds before the impact. The enemy had aimed a kind of glaive on her.

Thanks to her trained reflexes, she managed in the very last split second to bend her body so that the blade missed her by a hair's breadth. Then she thrust Flame into the mouth of the demon mask. She then collided with the opponent's armored body and passed out.