Chapter 37 – The Riding Storm Arrives
POV: Aerion Targaryen
The reports came daily now.
The scouts spoke of a tide of hooves, an ocean of riders stretching across the horizon, kicking up a storm of dust that darkened the sky. The Dothraki horde—a hundred thousand strong—moved like a living thing, a city without walls, surging ever forward.
And it was coming for them.
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Final Preparations
Aerion stood at the highest point of the ruins, watching the horizon, his blood calm but his mind sharpened.
His orders had been given. Every man knew his role. There was no room for error.
The spearmen stood in deep formations, shields locked, spears planted firm in the ground, a wall of death waiting to meet the charge.
The archers took their positions on the walls, arrows dipped in oil and fire, ready to turn the sky into a storm of burning death.
The cavalry waited on the flanks, hidden behind the ruins, their horses silent, their riders still.
Every trench was dug, every pit was set, every barricade was reinforced.
They had prepared for this moment—now, they had to survive it.
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A War of Blood and Fire
The Dothraki fought like beasts, wild and untamed, their strength in their speed, their chaos, their fury. They charged without fear, wielding their arakhs like extensions of their own rage, trusting in horse and steel to break all before them.
But Aerion's army did not fight like men.
They fought like dragons—precise, merciless, unrelenting.
This battle was more than blood and steel.
This was the test.
Victory would mean the road to Westeros lay open before him. It would mean he had the strength, the discipline, the will to carve his name into history.
Defeat was unthinkable.
And his family—the House of the Dragon—waited across the sea.
Daenerys.
She was still in chains, still trapped in a life that was never meant for her.
She was his sister, his blood—and he would not leave her to be a savage's prize.
This battle would decide everything.
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The Earth Trembles
Then it came.
A distant sound at first, like the low rumble of a gathering storm.
The hooves of a hundred thousand horses.
The ground shook beneath them, the tremors rolling through the ruins, dust spilling from the shattered walls. The wind carried the distant war cries, the screams of a people who knew no fear, no mercy, no defeat.
Aerion drew his sword.
"Steady."
The horns of the Dothraki screamed into the night.
The storm was here.
And the battle had begun.