King Ghidorah's appearance undoubtedly sparked widespread panic on Dragonstone. Alarm bells soon rang out, and he could see several soldiers on the castle battlements pointing at the sky and crying out, scrambling in every direction to spread the news.
Some were trying to operate the long-abandoned defensive ballistae. He remembered those ballistae standing there back when he had still lived on Dragonstone.
Just then, a thought flashed through Viserys's mind. If he dove down now and set those warships and towers ablaze with dragonfire, retaking Dragonstone would surely be child's play. But he did not want to spread himself too thin. Sooner or later, Dragonstone would be his again.
He suppressed the impulse and merely had King Ghidorah circle twice above the island. The dragon's roars echoed over Dragonstone, as though proclaiming the return of dragons, before he continued flying south.
But he had just noticed someone-more precisely, a woman: Melisandre. Dressed in red, with red hair, she had appeared atop the castle tower when King Ghidorah roared.
Viserys had not expected her to be here. After all, Renly was still alive and facing off against Stannis. He had assumed that, with the timeline moved forward, Melisandre would still be in Asshai.
Still, Viserys paid her little mind. He had already formed a basic alliance with R'hllor, so Melisandre posed no threat to him. And although she was a fairly important character in the original story, the thought that she was a hundred-year-old woman left him feeling distinctly uncomfortable.
After another long stretch of flying, the shape of the Westerosi coastline began to change. Rugged cliffs and rocky bays gradually gave way to gentle beaches and river mouths, while the familiar green vegetation shifted toward the grayish-yellow hues unique to Dorne.
The air also grew noticeably warmer and drier. Even