Early the next morning, Liu Qian woke refreshed, taking care not to disturb the beauty still sleeping soundly beside him.
He dressed and went to the castle's highest terrace.
A long, majestic dragon's cry split the sky.
A vast shadow fell as an enormous red dragon, nearly ninety feet long, swooped down and landed steadily on the terrace.
Its scales gleamed like molten rubies in the morning sunlight, and each beat of its wings stirred scorching currents of air.
This was his mount, Blooddance.
As the world's magic slowly revived, these magical creatures had begun growing much faster as well.
Liu Qian gently patted Blooddance's thick neck and leaped into the Dragon Saddle.
Without a single attendant, he rode the dragon into the sky alone, heading straight north toward Braavos.
He was going there to vent his fury!
Several days later, the outline of Braavos appeared on the horizon.
This Free City, known as the "Secret City," was built upon a series of separate islands and marshes, with countless broad waterways running through it, replacing the carriages and pedestrians common elsewhere.
Thousands of small boats constantly plied the crisscrossing channels, the boatmen's calls mingling with the sound of flowing water and the clamor of cargo being loaded and unloaded at the docks.
At the city's outermost edge, guarding the harbor entrance, stood the legendary colossal statue, the Titan of Braavos.
It stood towering into the clouds, its enormous body gleaming in the sunlight, its eyes fixed on every ship seeking to enter the waters of Braavos, as though it might unleash a thunderous roar at any moment.
The Sealord's Palace stood on an island in the center of the city. Though not renowned for its size, its elegant arches and exquisite towers proclaimed power and wealth.
Not far away lay