"Great lord of dragons, where will the fleet take us?"
The gaunt old man among the slaves asked the question fearfully. He was a Lysene, a teacher sold into slavery because he could not repay his debts, and among these imprisoned slaves, he was one of the most knowledgeable and respected.
Yet as he stood on the deck, watching the two great dragons circling overhead, his voice trembled no less than those of the slaves around him.
Aegon hesitated as well.
He looked toward Daemon, hovering above and to one side. Most of these people were slaves-
Under the laws against slavery in Westeros and Braavos, these slaves would automatically become free people once they set foot on land outside the Free Cities.
But the problem was that they could neither be sold nor easily resettled.
Taking them back to King's Landing was impractical, while freeing them here would mean leaving them to fend for themselves among the reefs of the Stepstones.
Daemon noticed the hint of difficulty on his face. His lips curved slightly as he reassured him, "Don't worry. Your uncle still has somewhere in the Stepstones to settle them.
Surely you don't think that when I invited you, my favorite nephew, to my former 'domain,' I intended for the two of us to sleep in the open and live off the land?"
He was well practiced at handling such matters.
Apart from women and children, those who became slaves were mostly young laborers and craftsmen of various kinds.
Given a stable environment, surviving would not be difficult.
During the war in the Stepstones, he had intercepted the Triarchy's slave ships on numerous occasions, and every captured ship brought another group of slaves who needed somewhere to live.
At first, it had indeed been chaotic, but eventually a