Sunfyre folded his wings and slowly descended in front of Hull's shipyard. His golden scales blazed in the near-noon sunlight, while the gale from his wings swept up wood shavings and dust, making the sails drying nearby snap and crack.
The crowd gathered outside the shipyard to watch the commotion cried out and scrambled backward, clearing a broad space for the golden beast.
Still, a few bold shipwrights poked their heads out of the docks. So eager were they to watch that they had even forgotten to put down their hammers and planes.
On Sunfyre's back, Aegon first unfastened the dragon saddle's "safety belt," then swung himself down.
Robin followed close behind. The ten-year-old's legs were still trembling when he landed-probably half because this was his first dragon ride, and half because they had flown so fast.
Grey Ghost slipped silently out of the clouds and landed on a pile of ropes behind Sunfyre, silver-gray scales gleaming softly in the sunlight.
The dragon curled up its tail and swept its pale silver, slit-pupiled eyes over the surrounding crowd. Once satisfied that no other dragons nearby posed a threat, it settled down to digest the smoked meat in its belly.
The open ground outside the shipyard, however, was a complete mess.
Several overturned wooden barrels lay across the road. Their fresh water had spilled everywhere, mixing with the sawdust and shavings on the ground to form muddy puddles.
A cart used to transport timber lay tipped over at the dock entrance, its ropes scattered across the ground.
Amid this chaos, the three boys-Adrian Thorne, Robert Darklyn, and Rosso Bracken-were confronting Harlan Uthero and the two Braavosi attendants he had brought to last night's banquet.
Calling it a confrontation was generous. It looked more like three boys beating three grown men into