With the ferocious great dragon Quicksilver there, even the bravest warriors and soldiers of House Peake could hardly hold their ground.
As the brothers who had followed them from Oldtown chanted at the tops of their voices, Bloodworm Quicksilver stretched out his long neck and swept the walls of Starspoke with fire like a flamethrower, setting more than half the defenders stationed there ablaze.
Daemon found it immensely satisfying.
"To think those stinking brothers could actually strengthen Quicksilver's fire just by chanting. That girl Danyla really knows what she's doing!"
With the great dragon leading the assault and two thousand members of the Oldtown Garrison surrounding the city, Daemon and his men took Starspoke in less than four hours. Of its hundred-odd warriors and more than eleven hundred soldiers, fewer than three hundred survived.
To stir up trouble, Earl Peake had already mobilized every armed man in his domain. Apart from the thousand soldiers he had taken away with him, all the remaining forces of Starspoke's earldom were here. Once these men were dealt with, the entire earldom became a lamb waiting for slaughter.
After disposing of the defenders on the walls, Daemon rode Quicksilver up to Starspoke's castle and blasted its gates open with a burst of dragonfire. The Oldtown Garrison followed close behind, slaughtering the core members of House Peake like ravenous wolves. Their victims had scarcely any ability to resist left.
Soon, the Oldtown Garrison had secured the entire castle, with its thousands of years of history. Leaving Quicksilver in the castle courtyard, Daemon settled leisurely into the seat of honor and began sipping wine.
The garrison members clearing the battlefield tossed the bodies, already stripped bare, straight in front of Quicksilver.
A few of the bolder men even gestured at Quicksilver as they shouted,
"Eat! These