Against a Great Dragon's dragonfire, almost none of humanity's defenses would do much good, let alone against Myracis's astonishingly powerful flames.
With Danyla's magical energy empowering her, Myracis took less than half an hour to utterly destroy the defenses Hellholt had believed could hold off a Great Dragon.
The fierce, battle-hardened elite of House Uller left to guard the castle held out for less than four hours before the Stormlands army subdued them all.
The Stormlands army marched the few dozen surviving Dornish soldiers and several thousand residents of Hellholt straight to the Grand Canal to perform hard labor. Only a few hundred smiths and their families were allowed to remain.
While looting the wealth of House Uller's castle, the Stormlands army discovered a large quantity of golden ore in a warehouse. Thinking it was gold ore, the soldiers excitedly rushed to report it to Lord Swann and the others.
"Gold ore?!"
Upon hearing the news, Lord Swann and the others hurried over. But when he saw the ore covered in tiny golden cubes, his excitement immediately gave way to disappointment.
"Though this ore looks much like gold, it isn't gold ore. It's Yellow Iron Mine, also known as fool's gold."
"No wonder the river downstream from Hellholt became the Sulphur River. This Sulfur Iron Mine must be the reason. It seems there should be a large deposit near Hellholt."
"Yes, and wherever Sulfur Iron Mine occurs, gold or copper deposits often occur alongside it."
"Who would have thought this barren Dorne Desert was actually a hidden gold mine!"
Meanwhile, Danyla was directing Myracis and the young dragons in performing a Funeral Rite for the dead. More than a dozen warlocks, their bodies covered in runes, were also bound to the Cremation Platform.
Under the dragonfire, those warlocks did indeed