Chapter Summaries

Danyla returned to the Cisland Peninsula, where the dragons had grown stronger and the settlement had expanded into a trading and industrial hub. After helping forge enough Valyrian steel for fifteen hundred sets of equipment, she decided to use five hundred sets to outfit cavalry.

• Danyla flew through the night to Cisland on Dreamfyre, whose strength and endurance had greatly improved.
• Little Balerion, Grey Ghost, Vhagar, and the other dragons greeted Danyla, and she saw how much they had grown and how their hunting had strengthened them.
• Medrick expanded Cisland’s trade with northern lords and oversaw an underground fortress equipped with hot-spring heating, furnaces, and workshops.
• Danyla and Master Ohn smelted the two sea dragon skeletons with existing Valyrian steel, creating enough material for fifteen hundred sets of equipment.
• Danyla and Master Ohn decided to forge five hundred sets of cavalry equipment, including armor and weapons, with bronze runes to protect riders and horses.

Medrick developed Hot Springs Falls Village and expanded farming and trade across the Cisland Peninsula. Danyla approved plans for more settlements and a fortress near the Wall, while Medrick warned that their ambitions stretched their people and resources thin.

• Medrick’s workers grew improved staple crops and pasture grass, using hot springs and dragon dung to enrich the soil around the Cisland Peninsula.
• Medrick established Hot Springs Falls Village, where insulated homes, hot water, heated kitchens, and a sheltered dock helped settlers prosper.
• Danyla gave high-yield seeds to Bear Island, and Earl Mormo traded for more seeds and pasture grass after seeing their success.
• Medrick arranged to establish four more villages and build a military fortress near the Milkwater and the Wall’s Shadow Tower to guard against Wildling raids.
• Danyla approved the plans and proposed bringing the Free Folk south of the Wall, while Medrick cautioned that Cisland’s development and their other commitments strained their resources.

Danyla planned Cisland’s development and prepared for threats from the White Walkers, while violence erupted across the realm as Earl Royce was shot, Oldtown faced an Iron Islands attack, and forces converged at Riverrun. The chapter left Oldtown under siege and the Poor Fellows’ escort facing Borros and Tyland Lannister’s forces.

• Danyla warned Medrick that the White Walkers were real enemies and planned for Cisland to become a northern production and trade hub.
• Danyla moved five young Lizard-Lions to the swamps near Moat Cailin and killed more than a dozen adult Lizard-Lions to protect them.
• An unknown archer shot Earl Royce as he warned the assembled nobles against private wars.
• Iron Islands longships approached Oldtown, and Rouge placed the city under martial law as its defenses prepared for an attack.
• Forces led by Laena’s siblings, Borros, and Tyland Lannister met the Vale cavalry escorting the Poor Fellows at Riverrun.

Earl Royce was killed by a hidden arrow, triggering a bloody battle between the Vale cavalry and the Reach alliance, Poor Fellows, and Mountain Clans. Rhaenyra arrived on Syrax, and Harold’s forces joined the fighting, turning the tide against the besieging forces.

• An unknown archer shot Earl Royce through the throat, and Earl Redfort led the Vale cavalry in a furious charge against the Thirteen Acorns Alliance.
• The Vale cavalry shattered the Reach forces, and Earl Redfort killed Richard Rodden, Jon Roxton, and Roger Crane while Maester Ollie and Brother Eustace were trampled to death.
• The Poor Fellows and surviving Mountain Clans joined the battle, surrounding the Vale cavalry and inflicting heavy casualties.
• Rhaenyra arrived at High Heart on Syrax and ordered the combatants to stop, but most ignored her and some moved against the dragon.
• Harold led the Gold Cloaks, Dragon Guards, House Blackwood soldiers, and House Frey soldiers into the fight, while Rhaenyra and Syrax unleashed Dragonfire on the Poor Fellows and Mountain Clans.
• Harold’s arrival and Rhaenyra’s attack turned the tide of the battle.

Harold and Rhaenyra helped crush the forces gathered against Danyla at High Heart, while Daemon urged them to kill the prisoners. In the Mountains of the Moon, hooded dwarfs awakened three ancient dragons, leaving a new threat loose near the Mountain Clan villages.

• Harold led the Dragon Guards in a charge that broke the Vale warriors out of their encirclement, then helped defeat the Thirteen Acorns Alliance and slaughter the Mountain Clans and Poor Fellows.
• Rhaenyra used Syrax to rain dragonfire on the battlefield, chanting Funeral Rite prayers that strengthened the dragon's fire and magic.
• The Reach soldiers surrendered, and Harold's men took the remaining stragglers prisoner before gathering the dead and discarded weapons into a pit for cremation.
• Rhaenyra cremated the corpses with Syrax, while Daemon returned and suggested throwing the prisoners into the fire pit; Harold retained supreme command at High Heart.
• Hooded dwarfs chanted outside a cavern in the Mountains of the Moon, awakening three ancient dragons that devoured livestock before the dwarfs fled.

Vale knights clashed with the Poor Fellows outside Riverrun, and Borros Baratheon led the Stormlands soldiers into the fight despite Tyland Lannister’s warnings. The surviving Vale cavalry fled after suffering heavy losses, while their leaders threatened Borros with the Vale’s wrath.

• Vale knights explained that they had arrested Poor Fellows who attacked them while they pursued Mountain Clan bandits.
• Tyland warned Jason that they were being used as pawns and urged House Lannister to stay out of the conflict.
• The Poor Fellows attacked the Vale cavalry, who charged through them and inflicted heavy casualties.
• The Green-Eyed Dwarf persuaded Borros to attack the Vale knights, and Borros led the Stormlands soldiers into battle.
• Duke Tully arrived and ordered the fighting to stop, but the combatants ignored him.
• The Vale knights cut a path through the Poor Fellows and escaped, threatening Borros with the Vale’s wrath.

Ironborn pirates attacked Oldtown, but Rouge, Danyla, and the Oldtown Garrison prepared the city’s defenses and shelters. The attackers suffered devastating losses to wildfire and ballista fire, while the Garrison held the watchtowers above the harbor.

• House Bulwer spotted the Ironborn fleet entering Whispering Bay and lit its beacon, prompting Oldtown’s Garrison and Rouge to raise the alarm.
• Rouge opened parts of Oldtown’s underground complex as a refuge, while Mungo and the other great houses mustered forces to answer the Hightower’s beacon.
• The Oldtown Garrison raised the harbor chain, evacuated smaller ships up the Honeywine, and moved cargo from the remaining large vessels into hidden underground warehouses.
• An Iron Islands fleet of more than a hundred vessels reached Oldtown and came under fire from flaming arrows and wildfire-filled ballista bolts.
• Ironborn crews landed beneath the watchtowers and tried to storm them, but the Garrison hurled wildfire jars down the cliffs and burned the attackers.

Verehos and the Ironborn besieging Oldtown turned to Rhodos’s sinister ritual after suffering heavy losses. Verehos blew a blood-activated black horn to summon the Drowned God’s Emissary and sleeping Son, and its eerie call spread across the bay and nearby settlements.

• Earl Drumm and other Ironborn nobles demanded that Verehos act after wildfire and flaming arrows devastated their ships.
• Verehos waited with Rhodos, the supposedly returned Priest King, who announced that Ironborn blood would awaken the Drowned God’s Son.
• Rhodos produced a black horn, and Verehos slit the throats of his salt wife and a mute slave to soak it in their blood.
• Golden runes appeared on the horn as it absorbed the blood, then faded after it was drained.
• Verehos blew the horn, and its unsettling call reached the Oldtown garrison and people as far away as Blackcrown and Three Towers.

As the eerie horn awakened dark forces across Oldtown, enormous Octopus Monsters attacked the Lookout Towers. The Garrison used wildfire and ballistae to burn and fatally wound several monsters, but more still approached.

• The horn blast darkened the skies and waters around Oldtown, while the Great Dragons woke beneath the Hightower and Amoros stayed behind to guard five Dragon Eggs.
• Enormous Octopus Monsters emerged from the sea and smashed the tops of the Lookout Towers, killing the guards stationed there.
• The Garrison recovered and hurled wildfire jars at the attacking tentacles, setting them ablaze and driving the monsters into a violent retreat.
• The monsters' thrashing waves threatened the ships, while more dark shapes appeared offshore and the tower squad leaders realized their wildfire supply was running low.
• The Garrison fired ballista bolts carrying wildfire jars, striking two Octopus Monsters in the head and setting them ablaze as the defenders cheered.

Jason and the Garrison soldiers used wildfire to kill several sea monsters, but a giant creature destroyed the watchtower and swept Jason into the sea. Aposos, Antheros, and Himolos fought the monsters while twenty more gathered outside Oldtown’s docks.

• Jason killed two sea monsters with wildfire-tipped bolts, then fired again and accidentally destroyed an Iron Islands ship and nearby longships.
• Jason hit a giant sea monster, which smashed the watchtower and hurled him into the sea as wildfire engulfed the cliff.
• Aposos arrived and attacked the giant sea monster with dragonfire, while Antheros burned and devoured another sea monster.
• Himolos crushed a fifty-meter sea monster’s head and carried its roasted body into the sky to eat.
• Aposos hauled the giant sea monster partly out of the water, but twenty other sea monsters gathered near Oldtown’s docks and devoured floating corpses.

Antheros, Himolos, and Aposos battled and ate sea monsters while the Ironborn fleet entered Oldtown's harbor. Rouge's garrison repelled the attackers with wildfire ballistae, setting monsters and longships ablaze.

• Antheros hunted and devoured the heads of sea monsters, while Himolos attacked and ate a much larger one.
• Aposos killed a giant sea monster after its tentacles coiled around him, then landed on a reef to feast.
• The sea monsters tore away the chain blocking the river, allowing the remaining Iron Islands Longships to enter Oldtown's harbor.
• Earl Drum and the other leaders discussed Oldtown's defenses, but Verehos ordered Rhodos to use the sea monsters to destroy the docks.
• The monsters' waves smashed most of Oldtown's piers, but the Dragonstone Defensive Wall held against them.
• Rouge ordered the garrison to fire its wildfire ballistae, striking sea monsters and setting more than a dozen Iron Islands Longships ablaze.

The Ironborn fleet suffered heavy losses from Oldtown’s wildfire as Verehos urged his warriors to trust in the Drowned God. Beneath the city, a vast surge of magical energy began affecting Amoros, her dragon eggs, the Targaryen children, and raven eggs, leaving the source and consequences of the surge unfolding.

• Gansor explained the wildfire’s power to the Ironborn leaders, while Verehos rallied them to keep faith in the Drowned God despite their losses.
• Danyla’s household registration and evacuation system moved Oldtown’s residents into prepared underground shelters in less than two hours.
• Rhaella and her siblings began feeling hot, cold, and increasingly powerful heartbeats while sheltering underground.
• Magical energy poured from the weirwood beside the Hightower into Amoros and the five dragon eggs, leaving Amoros ravenously hungry.
• Maester Ruiven discovered that all the raven eggs on Raven Island had begun hatching ahead of schedule as Oldtown’s weirwoods absorbed the surging magical energy.

A sudden tide of magical energy hatched ten white ravens and six dragon hatchlings from five eggs beneath the Hightower. As sea monsters charged Oldtown, Amoros hunted one for food and returned to feed her hungry newborns.

• The ten remaining white raven eggs hatched, and the raven chicks began demanding food from their caretakers.
• Amoros felt the magical energy surge through her and the five dragon eggs beneath the weirwood, which hatched six strong, unusually large dragons, including golden and yellow twins.
• Amoros left for Oldtown's docks to satisfy her hunger while Aposos, Antheros, and Himolos resumed fighting the empowered sea monsters in Whispering Bay.
• The sea monsters grew more savage and charged toward Oldtown, while Amoros caught one and burned its head before eating it despite its tentacles constricting her.
• Amoros returned to the weirwood dragonpit and fed pieces of the sea monster to her six hungry hatchlings.

Amoros and her hatchlings grew stronger by feeding on sea monsters and the magical energy around the weirwood, while the remaining monsters became more resistant to wildfire and attacked Oldtown's docks. Antheros and Aposos killed sea monsters, but Himolos was trapped by a giant creature's tentacles as more monsters closed in, prompting Rouge to order the ballista crews to fire.

• Amoros finished digesting a sea monster, then flew back to Oldtown's docks with her five rapidly growing hatchlings.
• Rouge ordered the ballista crews to fire wildfire-laden bolts at the sea monsters, but their magical energy helped them withstand the flames and heal their wounds.
• Antheros seized a wounded sea monster, killed it with dragonfire, and carried it away to eat.
• Himolos attacked a giant octopus at the docks, crushed its head, but was burned by wildfire and pinned down by its tentacles.
• Aposos killed another sea monster and began eating it while Himolos remained trapped and more sea monsters approached.
• Rouge ordered the ballista crews to target the sea monsters closing in on Himolos.

Oldtown’s defenders and the great dragons destroyed the sea monster army, though wildfire and the creatures’ attacks caused heavy casualties and damage. As the Ironborn watched, the city and sea began to shake, and a vast shape emerged in black vapor from beneath Oldtown.

• Rouge ordered the ballista crews to fire wildfire-loaded bolts at the six sea monsters attacking Oldtown’s docks.
• The burning sea monsters smashed parts of the dragonstone walls and wildfire stores, killing hundreds of guards and forcing Rouge to lead survivors underground.
• Amoros and Himolos devoured the burning sea monsters, while Antheros and Aposos killed the last two still thrashing.
• The Ironborn watched the sea monsters die, and Verehos announced that something was coming as the magical-energy tide surged.
• Oldtown and the surrounding sea shook, cracks split the streets, and black vapor rose from underground with an enormous shape writhing within it.

A grotesque monster emerged in Oldtown, destroying the city and attacking the great dragons as it drew people toward it. A golden hoop suddenly appeared and dissolved the monster, leaving Vaegon gravely wounded and the dragons recovering from the golden energy.

• Amoros fled Oldtown with the hatchlings after sensing evil power, while Aposos, Antheros, and Himolos watched the black vapor rising over the city.
• A gigantic, corpse-like monster emerged, drew people toward it with its gaze, and crushed Oldtown before plunging into the harbor and capsizing the Archipelago Fleet.
• Antheros dived to stop Vaegon from approaching the monster, but a tentacle seized and hurled her away.
• Aposos and Himolos attacked the monster with dragonfire, but it caught both dragons in its tentacles.
• A golden hoop flew over the monster and dissolved it, releasing golden energy that healed Antheros and drew Amoros back with her hatchlings.
• Antheros found Vaegon barely alive after the monster's tentacle spikes had severed both his legs.

The Heavenly Golden Hoop converted the hideous monster’s energy into golden nourishment, rapidly healing and transforming Antheros and the dragons around Oldtown. As the battle continued, Aposos and Himolos remained gravely wounded, while Amoros brought her six hatchlings to feed and grow.

• The Heavenly Golden Hoop shrank the hideous monster and spread golden energy that healed wounded sea monsters and strengthened Antheros, who fed on the revived creatures.
• Aposos fought the hideous monster’s tentacles despite his wounds, while Himolos escaped one tentacle and burned it, though both dragons remained near death.
• Golden energy surged toward Himolos’s belly and formed five vortices.
• Amoros returned to Oldtown with her six hatchlings, whose bodies grew larger and developed three toes under the golden energy.
• Amoros fed her hatchlings pieces of sea monster, and the golden, green, blue, white, red, and yellow dragons jostled or settled into places to eat.

The Great Dragons fought to survive as Amoros’s hatchlings rapidly grew, while Aposos and Himolos died from their wounds. Their souls entered two of Himolos’s seven eggs, which hatched into dragons resembling them.

• Amoros fed her rapidly growing hatchlings and hunted another sea monster as their hunger continued.
• Antheros attacked the transformed squid restrained by the Golden Hoop, but it escaped beneath the sea after spraying black ink.
• Antheros rescued the unconscious Aposos and tried to wake him, while his life continued to fade; Himolos drew in golden energy as her own strength failed.
• Himolos laid seven crimson eggs that absorbed the golden energy, and Rouge emerged from the underground chamber to find Aposos and Himolos dead.
• Aposos’s and Himolos’s souls entered separate eggs, which hatched into red dragons resembling the two deceased Great Dragons.

After the monster devastated Oldtown Bay, the golden energy healed many wounded survivors, though thousands had died. The surviving Ironborn tried to seize Oldtown, but Rouge’s Garrison ambushed them as Amoros cared for the newly hatched dragons.

• Several hundred Ironborn and hundreds of Oldtown Garrison soldiers survived their injuries, while the disaster killed thousands in Oldtown and nearly wiped out the Ironborn expedition.
• Rouge embraced his returning men, ordered the Holy Flame Fleet to be notified, and prepared the Garrison to defend Oldtown from the Ironborn.
• Gansor and Earl Drum urged the surviving Ironborn to capture Oldtown, while Rhodos sat dazed with the Kraken Horn and Verehos joined the advance.
• Amoros burned Rhodos and swallowed him with the damaged Kraken Horn, then fed roasted monster tentacle to the hatchlings from Himolos's Dragon Eggs.
• Rouge’s Garrison unleashed arrows on the Ironborn as they approached the docks, killing more than half before over a thousand defenders surrounded those who reached shore.

Rouge defeated the Ironborn at Oldtown, while the dragons fed on the sea monster and its remains; six hatchlings emerged and joined the brood. As Oldtown rebuilt, conflict spread through the Riverlands, leaving the Seven Kingdoms braced for a wider crisis.

• Rouge captured the Ironborn and secured three Valyrian weapons, though he worried about how to explain the deaths of the two great dragons to Her Highness.
• Six hatchlings flew to the bay, breathed dragonfire for the first time, and joined Antheros and Amoros in devouring the sea monster’s remains.
• Rouge directed the salvage of Oldtown’s ships, and Mungo and other vassals arrived to help rebuild the city.
• The Dragonkeepers had the two great dragons forge dragonstone from the rubble, while Amoros and her brood settled by Himolos’s body and Rouge preserved Aposos’s body underground.
• Reports of the Ironborn attack spread as rival forces gathered near High Heart, the Poor Fellows persisted, and House Brune invaded House Blackwood’s lands.
• King Jaehaerys issued only verbal warnings, and cautious houses sealed themselves off as unrest threatened to engulf the Seven Kingdoms.