Progress on Clinton's end had also gone more smoothly than Viserys had expected.
After Volantis sent troops into the Land of Long Summer, its ally Myr assembled an army of nearly ten thousand mercenaries and free citizens to join the fighting.
What they did not know, however, was that the deadly "gold" had already seeped inside their walls.
Clinton had arranged for some of the Golden Company's elite soldiers to slip into Myr ahead of time, disguised as merchants, sailors, and even wandering musicians. Their mission was to seize the gates before the Golden Company launched its attack.
The operation began at midnight.
The eastern gate was the first to fall. A few mercenaries disguised as drunkards "happened" to get into an argument with the gate guards. Amid the uproar, more dark figures emerged from nearby houses, their daggers and longswords slashing the guards' throats before they could react.
There were no alarm bells, no battle cries. The heavy gates opened amid pools of blood. Outside the city, a sea of torches flared in the darkness, and the Golden Company's main force of fifteen thousand charged straight inside, as though they had risen from beneath the earth.
Once the Golden Company's main force entered the city, battle cries finally shattered Myr's peace. Its defenders woke from their sleep and hastily rallied, only to find enemies on every side, with a blade liable to plunge into their backs at any moment.
Fires broke out in several parts of the city at once, spreading chaos and panic. Little by little, resistance within the city crumbled.
When dawn broke again, the banners flying over Myr had been replaced by House Targaryen's red three-headed dragon on a black field.
Meanwhile, on the Gravel Road outside Myr that led to the Land of Long Summer,