After Saewan successfully opened the first breach in the walls, he rode the great dragon Seasmoke on a swift sweep along Yronwood's defenses, strafing them with dragonfire.
In barely a few quarters of an hour, Seasmoke's searing dragonfire had set all the guards and supplies on Yronwood's four walls ablaze.
Seasmoke was still a subadult, measuring less than twenty meters in length, roughly the same size as Daenerys's Drogon when he returned after leaving home in Game of Thrones.
But in the year or so since forming his bond with Saewan, he had fought countless battles and grown far stronger than he had been at the same point in the original history.
Seasmoke beat his wings powerfully and swept over Yronwood's walls like a silver storm. The gusts raised by his wing membranes sent elderly sentries and young boys staggering in all directions.
His scorching dragonfire immediately blasted the giant crossbows positioned on the walls to pieces. The supplies piled there caught fire in an instant as well.
The barrels of oil intended for the city's defense burst under the heat of the dragonfire. Scalding oil mingled with blazing flame, swiftly reducing the nearby guards and supplies to ashes.
Among the surviving guards, a one-armed smith directed his hunchbacked apprentice in operating the last Scorpion, viciously firing a massive bolt at Seasmoke.
Sensing the incoming bolt, Seasmoke avoided the deadly shot with a graceful climbing roll. Then a single blast of dragonfire set the last Scorpion and the guards around it ablaze.
Meanwhile, Markris had led a squad of his elite men through the breach in the collapsed wall. At their head, he hurried toward the north gate.
The first breach Seasmoke had deliberately blasted open was only a few dozen meters from the north gate, so Markris and his