Chapter Summaries

Danyla argued that she should travel to Oldtown on Dreamfyre to bring the Hightowers to King's Landing, despite the council's concerns about the danger. When Grand Maester Runeter defended House Hightower, she accused him and the Citadel of compromised loyalties and scheming to control dragons, until he spat blood and collapsed unconscious.

• Danyla told King Jaehaerys and the council that Mund Hightower had paid her to take him on Dreamfyre and insisted she could safely bring the Hightowers to King's Landing.
• Lord Lyman Beesbury, King Jaehaerys, and Lady Florence warned Danyla that House Hightower might endanger her, but she argued that the urgency of the theft and assassination plot demanded action.
• Grand Maester Runeter defended Earl Monto Hightower and Mund Hightower, prompting Lady Florence to rebuke him for judging by personal feelings instead of evidence.
• Danyla accused Runeter of favoring House Hightower and warned that she would investigate the Citadel as well as Oldtown.
• Danyla condemned the Citadel's arrogance and its desire to control knowledge and dragons, and Runeter spat blood before collapsing unconscious.

After Danyla’s outburst about the Citadel, Jaehaerys and the Small Council grew wary of its influence. The chapter explained how House Hightower built and funded the Citadel, Faith, and Hightower, leaving its long-standing network of wealth and information firmly in place.

• Grand Maester Runeter fell to the floor after Danyla’s verbal assault, and Jaehaerys and the other councilors considered what her remarks implied about the Citadel.
• The chapter described the Citadel’s origins, its Conclave, its maester training system, and its authority over the Grand Maester and seasonal notices.
• House Hightower emerged as the Citadel’s principal patron, having funded its construction and protected it for generations.
• The narrator explained that House Hightower preserved its wealth and position by surrendering to conquerors rather than risking Oldtown’s trade and prosperity.
• The chapter connected the Hightower, Citadel, Faith, and maester system to House Hightower’s control of information and enduring influence across the Seven Kingdoms.

After the Small Council meeting, Danyla warned Jaehaerys about the Citadel and was ordered to bring House Hightower members and a new Grand Maester from Oldtown. She then took Jaehaerys to the Dragonpit to attempt hatching a dragon egg, where a captive white-haired young man claimed to be the king’s bastard son, Ulf.

• Jaehaerys ordered Earl Manderly Redwyne to become Master of Ships and summoned Oggian to serve as Master of Whisperers.
• Jaehaerys told Danyla to bring House Hightower to King's Landing and retrieve a new Grand Maester from the Citadel in Oldtown.
• Danyla told Jaehaerys she suspected the Citadel posed a threat to House Targaryen's dragons, but urged him not to act rashly based on prophecy.
• Danyla offered to show Jaehaerys a method for hatching dragon eggs, and he eagerly agreed.
• Danyla and Jaehaerys brought a petrified dragon egg to the Dragonpit and dripped their blood onto it while chanting in Old Valyrian.
• A bound white-haired young man freed his mouth and shouted that he was Jaehaerys's bastard son, Ulf.

Danyla and King Jaehaerys burned the Faceless Man, Ulf, and Grand Maester Runeter on a pyre, but the flames revealed that Danyla was unharmed by fire. Immersed in visions of the past, she discovered the dragon Urrax and ended the chapter holding Urrax’s reddish-brown Dragon Egg in the flames.

• Danyla and King Jaehaerys ordered their dragons to burn the three captives, killing Ulf and the Faceless Man while Grand Maester Runeter remained bound on the pyre.
• Danyla put her injured hand into the fire and watched its wound heal, prompting King Jaehaerys to call her the Unburnt.
• Danyla saw visions of the Faceless Men, the Citadel, and a reddish-brown dragon laying eggs and hiding four of them beneath dragonglass.
• Danyla recognized the dragon in her vision as Urrax, one of the five dragons said to have come to Dragonstone with Balerion.
• Danyla walked into the pyre, picked up Urrax’s reddish-brown Dragon Egg, and crouched naked among the flames as King Jaehaerys stopped the Dragonkeepers from approaching her.

Danyla hatched a copper-red dragon from a petrified egg after her visions triggered her to breathe fire. King Jaehaerys named the hatchling Urrax and warned Danyla never to explore Old Valyria.

• Danyla discovered that the place where Urrax sheltered was an abandoned dragon lair on Dragonmont and wondered if its four Dragon Eggs remained hidden.
• The visions sent poisonous mist rushing at Danyla, and she cried "Dracarys!" to burn it away as energy poured into her and the Dragon Egg.
• The petrified egg broke open, and a copper-red hatchling emerged and solidified into flesh and blood.
• King Jaehaerys covered Danyla with his cloak, then took the hatchling into his arms after it recognized his presence.
• Danyla told King Jaehaerys that she had seen Urrax badly injured in her vision, and he warned her never to explore Old Valyria.
• King Jaehaerys named the hatchling Urrax, calling him House Targaryen's nineteenth living dragon.

Danyla escorted King Jaehaerys back to the Red Keep after their secret visit to Holy Flame Island, where he introduced the hatchling Urrax. The next morning, Danyla asked for more dragon eggs, while Daemon revealed that the three eggs stolen by Mund Hightower had vanished among the Stepstones pirates.

• Danyla escorted King Jaehaerys to the Red Keep on Dreamfyre while he rode with Urrax on his shoulder.
• Danyla returned to her rooms, where Rhaella and Margaery helped her wash the grime from her body in a scalding bath.
• The next morning, Danyla asked Jaehaerys for more dragon eggs as a reward for sacrificing her hair for House Targaryen’s dragons.
• Daemon arrived and asked Danyla to lend him a Valyrian steel sword; she agreed on condition that he recover the three dragon eggs stolen by Mund Hightower.
• Daemon reported that he and Rhaenys had found no trace of the eggs, while Viserys had ridden Vhagar to block their route to Volantis and the eggs might now be with Stepstones pirates.

Daemon reported on the Kingdom of the Three Daughters and the Stepstones, while Jaehaerys decided to watch their conflict and deal with Braavos after House Hightower. Danyla recovered four fossilized dragon eggs on Dragonstone, gathered nine dragons, and departed for Tarth before heading to Oldtown to confront House Hightower.

• Daemon told Jaehaerys that Rhaenys was watching the Kingdom of the Three Daughters and the Stepstones pirates, and Jaehaerys ordered them to keep observing rather than provoke the Nine Free Cities.
• Daemon called for retaliation against Braavos for sending Faceless Men after Danyla, but Jaehaerys said they would settle that matter after resolving the conflict with House Hightower.
• Danyla rode Dreamfyre into Dragonmont and uncovered four fossilized dragon eggs, then delivered them to the incubation chamber in the Cremation Tower.
• Danyla summoned her dragons and asked Rhaenyra to help Syrax with cremations while she traveled to Oldtown to demand justice from House Hightower.
• After Rhaella prepared their supplies, Danyla led nine dragons toward Tarth to meet her followers.

Danyla led nine dragons on a high-speed flight over the Narrow Sea, while Seasmoke joined the pursuit and Laenor panicked as he watched him go. The dragons reached Sharp Point as a storm gathered over the sea.

• Jason Lannister and Tyland Lannister watched Danyla lead nine dragons into the air and discussed Mund Hightower's theft of the dragon eggs.
• Danyla commanded the dragons to fly at full speed, and Dreamfyre surged ahead with Danyla and Rhaella aboard.
• Himolos caught up with the other dragons as they raced over the sea, while the dragons rescued from the Dragonpit showed renewed health and strength.
• Laenor Velaryon watched the dragons pass High Tide, and Seasmoke took flight to chase after them, alarming Laenor.
• Danyla's dragons and Seasmoke flew past Sharp Point as a storm formed over the Narrow Sea.

Danyla sought shelter from a storm at Stonedance, where she was welcomed by Lucifer and Earl Gormon Massey. While Danyla waited through the storm, Gormon’s wife gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl.

• Danyla landed outside Stonedance and asked Lucifer Massey to bring livestock for her hungry dragons, paying him a hundred gold coins.
• Myracis flew toward Seasmoke, and the two young dragons called to each other in the sky.
• Earl Gormon Massey welcomed Danyla with bread and salt and explained that his wife was having a difficult labor with twins.
• Danyla sent Rhaella to bring Dragonfire Wine to the countess as the storm began.
• A maid announced that Gormon’s wife had given birth to a boy and a girl.

At Stonedance, Danyla helped Earl Massey’s wife deliver twins and gave the newborns precious gifts. After the storm cleared, Seasmoke tried to take sheep before Danyla gave the order, and her dragons attacked him, leaving his wings badly injured before she stopped them.

• Danyla congratulated Earl Massey on the birth of his twins and was thanked for helping his wife recover enough to deliver them.
• Rhaella gave Danyla a dragonbone dagger and a diamond necklace as gifts for the newborns.
• After the storm passed, the castle servants brought more than two hundred sheep for the hungry dragons.
• Seasmoke lunged for the sheep, and Myracis attacked him when he ignored her warning.
• Little Balerion, Grey Ghost, Vhagar, and Myracis mobbed Seasmoke until Danyla ordered them to stop through their telepathic bond.
• Danyla found Seasmoke badly wounded but alive, and noted that Dreamfyre ranked highest among the dragons under her command.

Danyla and the dragons left Massey's Hook after celebrating the birth of Earl Massey's children, Robin and Elena, whom Danyla named. On the flight to Tarth, the dragons fished in the calm sea, and the group arrived at the Isle of Sapphire.

• Danyla let the dragons eat the goats at Massey Castle, while Myracis scrounged food from the others and injured Seasmoke ate the remaining flock.
• Earl Massey asked Danyla to name his newborn children, and she named them Robin and Elena.
• After lunch, Danyla visited Earl Massey's wife, then departed with Rhaella and the dragons while Seasmoke cried after them.
• On the way to Tarth, Myracis, Grey Ghost, Amoros, and Antheros caught fish and roasted them, while Himolos repeatedly swallowed seawater.
• Danyla and the dragons reached Tarth, whose clear blue waters had earned it the name Isle of Sapphire.

Danyla visited House Tarth, where young Brienne met Myracis and the household welcomed her. After drinking and falling asleep beside the moonlit sea, Danyla dreamed of a prophecy warning that the dragon had three heads and that darkness would rise from the ocean.

• Danyla arrived at Evenfall Hall, where the Earl of Tarth and his family greeted her.
• Brienne asked to touch Myracis, and Danyla let the girl feel the dragon’s warm wing.
• Danyla sent Dax and his brothers with a hundred Unicorn Mercenary Company warriors toward Oldtown.
• The Earl of Tarth’s family hosted Danyla, and the dragons fed on cattle and horses.
• After drinking, Danyla fell asleep while watching the moonlit Narrow Sea.
• Danyla dreamed of a prophetic song about the dragon having three heads, ocean shadows awakening, and a choice between burning glory and icy sorrow.

After a dragon dream left Danyla gravely ill, Myracis burned a pale blue presence out of her shadow and she recovered. Danyla then arrived at Oldtown, where her dragons destroyed the garden beside the Hightower, and she began to feel sick again near a greasy black stone at its base.

• Danyla woke from a dragon dream and spent two days bedridden while Rhaella cared for her.
• Myracis breathed fire at Danyla’s shadow, drawing out and swallowing a shrieking wisp of pale blue smoke.
• Danyla recovered, flew around Tarth on Dreamfyre, and then set out for Oldtown with her dragons.
• Danyla led the dragons into a garden beside the Hightower, where they wrecked nearly everything except the weirwood.
• Danyla felt nausea and dizziness return when she saw the greasy black stone at the base of the Hightower.

Danyla arrived at the Hightower, where she sensed powerful magic in its blackstone and met Earl Hightower and his family. As the Hightowers prepared to go to King's Landing, she demanded two hundred thousand gold dragons per person for the dragon ride.

• Danyla's dragons wrecked the Hightower garden and made temporary lairs, while Myracis and Dreamfyre settled near the weirwood.
• Danyla recovered her strength by the weirwood and sensed concentrated magical energy in the Hightower's blackstone foundation.
• Earl Hightower greeted Danyla, received King Jaehaerys's decree, and agreed to gather his family for the journey to King's Landing.
• Emily and Alyssa attended Danyla, who learned about the Hightower maesters and the Citadel's medical practices.
• Dax and the Unicorn Brave Companions arrived in Oldtown, prompting Earl Hightower to offer compensation and the adult men of his house for judgment.
• Danyla told Earl Hightower she charged two hundred thousand gold dragons per person for the flight to King's Landing and said Dax's men had come to escort the payment.

Danyla pressured Earl Hightower into accepting the royal family’s demands and securing seven million Gold Dragons for the Holy Flame Fleet. While exploring Oldtown in disguise, she reached the Sailors' Sept and heard a hostile crowd denouncing her and defending House Hightower.

• Danyla warned Earl Hightower that House Hightower could lose its titles and family if it continued resisting, and he agreed to provide the demanded gold.
• Earl Hightower had chests of coins delivered to the Holy Flame Fleet, totaling seven million Gold Dragons.
• Danyla declined a banquet and went to explore Oldtown, where she saw its busy port, waterways, and institutions tied to House Hightower.
• Danyla, disguised in men's clothing and accompanied by Dax and the others, reached the Sailors' Sept near the docks at dusk.
• A crowd near the Sailors' Sept defended House Hightower and cursed Danyla as a cruel dragon-riding princess.

Danyla countered House Hightower’s campaign against her by using her dragons to kill septons who were inciting crowds, then turned the people’s anger toward the Hightowers. She and the Watcher staged two more attacks as they moved on to other gatherings.

• Danyla sent Dreamfyre and Myracis to drop boulders on a septon and the crowd at the Sailors' Sept.
• Ygr blamed the deaths on the Seven’s wrath and urged the crowd to condemn House Hightower and the septons.
• The Watcher used hallucinogenic powder while Ygr stirred the people against the Faith and House Hightower.
• Danyla realized House Hightower was using the Faith and the Citadel to influence commoners and nobles.
• Danyla and the Watcher staged two more falling-stone attacks at gatherings where septons were preaching.

Danyla and Ygr used Watcher's hallucinogenic drug and staged provocations to turn Oldtown's crowds against House Hightower and the Starry Sept. Tens of thousands converged on both targets, and Ygr led the attack on the Starry Sept as the mob overwhelmed its defenders.

• Danyla helped Dax and Kai incite crowds to march on the Starry Sept while she took Watcher and the rest of her Personal Guard to other gathering sites.
• Danyla and her Personal Guard manipulated a septon's speech and the surrounding crowd until he led a mob toward the Hightower.
• Danyla's guards quietly removed people who tried to stop the procession, while Oldtown's garrison was depleted by the transport of seven million gold coins.
• Ygr led more than ten thousand people to the Starry Sept and accused its septons of being the targets of the Seven's punishment.
• Ygr's giant eagle seized the Starry Sept's golden Seven-Pointed Star Emblem, and Ygr urged the crowd to attack.
• Ygr and the Unicorn Brave Companions killed septons blocking the way as the mob stormed the Starry Sept and assaulted its bishops and defenders.

Under the Watcher's drug, the Oldtown mob overwhelmed and killed the septons defending the Starry Sept, while the bishops barricaded themselves inside. As the mob began battering the doors, a blaze lit the sky near the Hightower.

• The drug-crazed mob attacked the septons, and a rioter killed the burly septon after he fought back and was wounded.
• The mob killed or trampled the other septons who had rushed to the front of the Starry Sept.
• The bishops sealed the doors and windows, and the fat High Bishop claimed the mob would not dare enter the sacred sept.
• A tall, thin bishop mocked the fat bishop, who then headed toward the treasury for safety.
• Two hours later, the mob battered the Starry Sept's main doors as a blaze lit the sky near the Hightower.

Earl Hightower scrambled to protect the dragons as rioters stormed the Weirwood garden, where Danyla began a sacrificial incantation. Nine dragons unleashed their fire on the crowd and absorbed a strange energy from the dead, while Himolos and the others began eating the corpses to gain more of it.

• Earl Hightower ordered Hobart to gather men, protect the dragons, and meet Princess Danyla, who had not yet returned from sightseeing.
• Danyla returned to the garden on Dreamfyre and chanted a Valyrian sacrificial incantation as energy from the Weirwood flowed into the dragons.
• The Weirwood intercepted a powerful, chilling energy from the blackstone beneath the Hightower and transformed it into vitality for Dreamfyre and the other dragons.
• Danyla commanded the nine dragons to attack, and their dragonfire burned the advancing rioters while the dragons absorbed energy released by those they killed.
• Himolos ate about a hundred scorched corpses and felt a soothing energy spread through her body, prompting Aposos and the other dragons to join her.

Danyla’s dragons burned through the rioters as mercenaries looted Oldtown and her forces seized the River-Locking Towers. At the docks, disguised mercenaries boarded Pentoshi merchant ships, where a scrawny soldier dropped a Jeweled Whip.

• Danyla’s magic let Dreamfyre and the other dragons sustain their flames, killing thousands and trapping the rioters in the burning streets.
• Hedge knights and mercenaries exploited the chaos to loot Oldtown’s wealthy district and set fires.
• More than two hundred mercenaries from the Firekiss Garden set out to seize merchant ships at the docks.
• Danyla’s Unicorn Brave Companions captured Oldtown’s two River-Locking Towers and began raising the chain across the Whispering Sound.
• Mercenaries disguised as House Hightower knights boarded Pentoshi spice merchants’ ships under the pretense of searching for fugitives.
• A scrawny mercenary stumbled into a spice merchant and dropped a Jeweled Whip as the leader threatened him.