Chapter Summaries

Redd and Douglas discovered that the enormous hoard of gold carried a sinister power, and Redd warned Douglas not to touch it. Redd claimed his Dragon blood had protected him, but the danger remained unconfirmed as they planned to observe the gold for several days.

• Redd ordered the officers and legion commanders to control their soldiers and threatened anyone who acted rashly.
• Douglas urged Redd to transport the gold to Dragonstone, warning that news of the hoard could draw Essos powers such as the Kingdom of the Three Daughters and the Qohor-Norvos alliance.
• Redd touched a gold bar and felt Cursed Power try to invade him, but his Dragon blood destroyed it.
• Redd said rival powers would give him an excuse to attack their city-states if they tried to seize the treasure.
• Douglas nearly touched the gold, but Redd grabbed his wrist and warned him not to.
• Redd confirmed the gold was suspicious and said they needed several days to observe it, while insisting his constitution had protected him.

Redd discovered that the golden bricks from the Rhoyne stored magic and carried a powerful curse, and he suspected the curse’s source lay beneath the river. A search by skilled slave soldiers uncovered hidden underwater channels, ancient ruins, and a strange, scalding current.

• Douglas hurried off to find Marcus and recruit loyal, battle-hardened guards for the dangerous mission.
• Redd examined a golden brick and found that it could store magical energy while retaining the curse sealed inside it.
• Redd realized the gold had turned the ancient city into a vast magic array and resolved to study it for a way to break the curse.
• Redd noticed that riverbed bricks held a more active curse than those from the underground palace and suspected its source was at the bottom of the Rhoyne.
• Redd sent skilled slave soldiers to search underwater, and after nearly half a day they found a network of channels, ancient building fragments, and a fiercely rushing current that released scalding bubbles.

Redd investigated a dangerous undercurrent in the Lands of Sorrow but, unable to send divers or persuade King Ghidorah to explore it, decided to draw out whatever lurked below. He ordered the fleet and troops to retreat, assuring Douglas and Marcus that he had a way to recover the gold, while the departing slaves looked back at Gold Mountain and its promise of freedom.

• Douglas reported the undercurrent’s danger to Redd, who ordered the fleet to the river above it and learned that its powerful current and extreme heat made exploration impossible.
• Redd tried to enlist King Ghidorah to investigate underwater, but the beast resisted, so Redd decided to lure the unknown creature out instead.
• Redd ordered Douglas and Marcus to withdraw the fleet and troops from the Lands of Sorrow immediately.
• Douglas and Marcus asked about the gold, and Redd assured them he had a way to retrieve it after everyone was safely withdrawn.
• The fleet and the hundred thousand slaves left the island castle, while the soldiers guarding Gold Mountain looked back at the gold and the freedom it might buy.

After the slaves departed, Redd stored the Gold Mountain in his system space and prepared for the Rhoyne’s strange rising waters. King Ghidorah detected several powerful creatures in the river, so Redd summoned Aegon as Stone Men emerged from the water and a colossal wave surged toward shore.

• After the last contingent of slaves left, Redd touched the Gold Mountain and stored all its gold in the system’s storage space.
• As night fell, the Rhoyne rose without rain and flooded the abandoned camps, leading Redd to suspect something beneath the river was awakening.
• King Ghidorah detected several powerful, unfamiliar life pulses in the deepest part of the riverbed and relayed the discovery to Redd.
• Redd used his mental connection to summon Aegon from Braavos, and Aegon flew toward the Lands of Sorrow.
• The Sealord suppressed unrest in Braavos after Aegon’s sudden departure caused panic.
• Countless Stone Men emerged from the Rhoyne, and a huge wall of water swept toward the bank.

Redd and King Ghidorah attacked the hidden force beneath the Rhoyne, exposing a trapped purple Dragon fighting a giant turtle and a giant crab. The purple Dragon remained pinned down and increasingly petrified as Redd recognized it as the legendary Dragon King.

• King Ghidorah carried Redd into the air as the Dream Bridge collapsed, and the Stone Men summoned waterspouts that targeted them.
• Redd ordered King Ghidorah to hold off the waterspouts with a hurricane and blast the undercurrents in the riverbed.
• King Ghidorah raised much of the Rhoyne into the sky and struck the targeted riverbed with three Gravity Beams, opening a crater.
• A purple Dragon erupted from the crater amid strange flames and fog, revealing a battle with a giant turtle and a giant crab.
• The turtle’s high-pressure water extinguished the purple Dragon’s flames, while the crab’s foam worsened its petrification and the river kept it from flying.
• Redd recognized the besieged purple Dragon as the trapped Dragon King.

Redd joined the battle after hearing the purple dragon call for help, ordering King Ghidorah to attack the Old Man of the River and the Crab King. The attack split the enemies apart, but the purple dragon and Crab King both suffered severe injuries as King Ghidorah blocked the Old Man of the River from returning to the fight.

• The purple dragon called to its kin for help, and Redd decided to intervene because it bore the blood of true Dragons.
• Redd ordered King Ghidorah to attack the Old Man of the River and the Crab King, and King Ghidorah’s Gravity Beams pierced Rhoyne’s water barrier and sent the turtle flying.
• With the Old Man of the River driven away, the purple dragon scorched the Crab King with Dragonfire while the Crab King’s foam began petrifying the dragon’s scales.
• The Crab King’s shell cracked and exposed its flesh to the flames, while the injured Old Man of the River charged back toward the fight.
• King Ghidorah descended to block the Old Man of the River, and Redd warned it not to fight him in the river and told it to draw him ashore.

King Ghidorah battered the Giant Turtle, cracked his shell, and pinned him down to drain his strength as he tried to escape. When Redd saw Purple Dragon being attacked by living coils of river water, he decided to wait until King Ghidorah finished with the turtle before helping, leaving Purple Dragon watching in dismay.

• King Ghidorah slammed the Old Man of the River into the ground and blasted him with a Gravity Beam, cracking his shell.
• The Giant Turtle fired a powerful jet of water at King Ghidorah, but his wings blocked it without taking damage.
• Redd ordered King Ghidorah to attack, and King Ghidorah tackled the fleeing Giant Turtle and bit into the junction between his shell and neck, draining his strength.
• Redd saw river water form giant pythons that coiled around Purple Dragon, but decided Purple Dragon was not in immediate danger and continued watching King Ghidorah.
• Purple Dragon saw Redd look toward him, then watched him turn away, his brief hope fading.

The Purple Dragon burned away the water binding him, freeing himself at the cost of severe burns, while Redd revived the dead giant turtle and named it Ice Turtle. King Ghidorah drove back the Crab King, but the Rhoyne surged into a towering wall of water and descended on King Ghidorah and the Purple Dragon.

• The Purple Dragon unleashed Dragonfire on the water restraining him, freeing himself but scorching his own body in the process.
• Redd ordered King Ghidorah to help the Purple Dragon, then revived the dead giant turtle and named it Ice Turtle.
• The newly revived Ice Turtle nearly toppled Redd before obeying his command to lie still, and Redd collapsed from exhaustion.
• King Ghidorah struck the Crab King and sent it crashing into the river.
• The Rhoyne rose into a colossal wall of water and crashed down toward King Ghidorah and the Purple Dragon.

King Ghidorah and Purple Dragon fought the underwater overlord as towering waves flooded the area, while Redd survived by sheltering inside the ice turtle. King Ghidorah freed Purple Dragon from the currents and struck Crab King, then unleashed a crushing gravitational field as the river began gathering another wave.

• Redd hid inside the ice turtle as the overwhelming waves swept across the land and drove King Ghidorah and Purple Dragon into the river.
• King Ghidorah escaped the currents with its gravitational field and flew into the sky, while Purple Dragon remained trapped underwater.
• King Ghidorah fired Gravity Beams around Purple Dragon, disrupting the currents and helping it break free.
• Crab King ambushed Purple Dragon and petrified its right wing with white foam, preventing it from flying away.
• King Ghidorah struck Crab King with purple lightning, splitting its shell and shattering a pincer before it sank beneath the river.
• As the river began forming another towering wave, King Ghidorah unleashed a powerful gravitational field downward.

Redd escaped the expanding whirlpool on King Ghidorah and Aegon arrived to rescue the Purple Dragon and Ice Turtle. The Crab King was killed, but the whirlpool tightened its grip on the Purple Dragon even more strongly.

• The Ice Turtle froze the river, but a huge whirlpool formed and began pulling in the Ice Turtle and Purple Dragon.
• Redd escaped the whirlpool by leaping onto King Ghidorah and flying clear of the danger.
• Aegon arrived and grabbed the Purple Dragon, but water whips dragged it downward and trapped him in a struggle.
• The Ice Turtle took the Crab King's petrifying foam attack on its shell while King Ghidorah fired a Gravity Beam that pierced and killed the Crab King.
• The water whips tightened around the Purple Dragon and increased their suction despite the Crab King's death.

A waterspout killed the Ice Turtle and tore the Purple Dragon in half, forcing Redd and his companions to flee with the dying dragon. When Redd revealed that the soul-separation ritual had been lost, the Purple Dragon demanded his blood.

• A vast waterspout swept the Ice Turtle into its core and shredded it, then ripped the Purple Dragon's body in two.
• Redd ordered a retreat, and King Ghidorah and Aegon carried him and the unconscious Purple Dragon to high ground.
• The Purple Dragon woke and begged Redd to free it from its ruined body using the soul-separation ritual.
• Redd said the ritual and other ancient magic had vanished after Valyria's destruction more than eight hundred years earlier.
• The despairing Purple Dragon suddenly demanded that Redd give it his blood.

Redd rejected the dying Purple Dragon’s offer to join the Second Dragon King’s family, insulting its claims of honor. The Purple Dragon attacked Redd’s soul, but the strike barely affected him, leaving him alert to the danger.

• The Purple Dragon offered Redd its blood and a Soul Mark in exchange for joining the Second Dragon King’s family, but Redd stepped into the protection of King Ghidorah’s body.
• Redd rejected the offer and mocked the decline of the Valyrian Freehold and the Dragon King bloodline.
• The Purple Dragon tried to unleash Dragonfire, but Aegon forced its head into the ground and crushed its jaws shut.
• The Purple Dragon sent a soul attack at Redd, who endured a brief pain and quickly recovered.

Redd had Aegon devour the Purple Dragon and the ancient soul hidden inside it, then reviewed his gains and ordered the army to retreat from the dangerous Lands of Sorrow to Volantis. The mysteries beneath the waters remained unexplored as the fleet withdrew.

• Redd ordered Aegon to swallow the Purple Dragon after its Soul Impact failed to harm him.
• Aegon bit through the Purple Dragon’s neck and crushed and devoured it while the soul inside pleaded and cursed.
• Redd watched without intervening until Aegon had consumed the Purple Dragon’s final bones.
• Redd checked the System Interface and found that his Energy Points totaled 66,451.
• Seeing the ominous whirlpool and dangerous conditions in the Lands of Sorrow, Redd ordered everyone to retreat to Volantis.
• The fleet and slave legions began withdrawing in an orderly fashion.

After witnessing a human-dragon fusion, Redd ordered Volantis to gather every surviving record of the Valyrian Freehold. As greyscale spread across Essos and the kingdom of the Three Daughters faced a deadlocked war in the Stepstones, he prepared to meet its envoy and assess the alliance’s limits.

• Redd ordered Volantis to collect all histories, journals, genealogies, and legends connected to the Valyrian Freehold.
• Redd considered the spread of greyscale through Essos and told Pentos’s officials to use their own judgment in dealing with Stone Men refugees.
• Redd learned that Tyrosh, Myr, and Lys were fighting the allied forces in the Stepstones while worrying about his expansion into the disputed territory.
• Redd ordered Douglas to admit the envoy from the kingdom of the Three Daughters and decided to question him about the alliance’s position.
• A composed, slightly stout middle-aged envoy entered Redd’s study.

Redd rejected Milos Farman’s attempt to use the Three Cities’ anti-dragon weapons as leverage and ordered him expelled from Volantis. Milos was shown out after Redd threatened to hang him if he did not leave at once.

• Milos Farman delivered greetings from the Archon of Tyrosh, the Prince of Myr, and the Governor of Lys to Prince Redd.
• Redd demanded to know what the Three Cities wanted and what price they would pay, citing the problems at Lands of Sorrow Ridge and the war in the Stepstones.
• Milos claimed that weapons developed with Dorne, including enormous Scorpions and throwing spears, could bring down dragons.
• Redd mocked the comparison between House Targaryen’s dragons and King Ghidorah, then ordered Douglas to remove Milos from Volantis.
• Douglas formally directed Milos to leave, and Milos briefly froze before regaining his composure.

After Milos Farman met secretly with suspected Qohori envoys, Douglas warned Redd that Qohor and the Kingdom of the Three Daughters might be forming an alliance against him. Redd ordered heightened surveillance and stronger defenses while prioritizing the consolidation of Volantis and the search for Valyrian treasures.

• Milos Farman left Volantis, then secretly met suspected Qohori representatives at a secluded estate outside the city.
• Douglas's intelligence network uncovered the meeting, and Douglas reported his concerns about a possible alliance between Qohor and the Kingdom of the Three Daughters to Redd.
• Redd said Qohor wanted help ending the spread of Greyscale and the Kingdom of the Three Daughters wanted to secure its rear before competing for the Stepstones.
• Redd ordered Douglas to closely monitor both countries, especially their military movements and communications between important figures.
• Redd ordered inspections and repairs of defenses in Pentos, Volantis, and other coastal regions, while focusing on consolidating Volantis and gathering information about Valyrian treasures.

Redd received news that 80,000 Dothraki were attacking Seahoru Town and suspected the invasion might be a probe arranged by hostile city-states. He ordered Marcus to take 50,000 troops north to reinforce the town, leaving Marcus committed to defending it.

• A messenger reported that tens of thousands of Dothraki Screaming Warriors were assaulting Seahoru Town.
• Redd suspected the Dothraki attack was timed to test his strength after tensions with the Kingdom of the Three Daughters and Qohor.
• Redd summoned Marcus and ordered him to lead 50,000 troops north to reinforce Seahoru.
• Redd asked Marcus about his chances of holding the town, and Marcus vowed to defend Seahoru even at the cost of his life.

Redd sent Marcus north with fifty thousand slave soldiers and Aegon to fight a border war, while he watched the campaign as a test of Marcus, the army, and his system. As the army departed, Redd turned his attention to the Dothraki Sea and considered how difficult it would be to eliminate the Dothraki threat.

• Redd assigned Aegon to support Marcus on the campaign, and Marcus accepted the command with renewed confidence.
• Marcus gathered resources and prepared an elite force of fifty thousand slave soldiers overnight.
• At dawn, Marcus led the army north from Volantis while Aegon flew above the marching troops.
• Redd watched the army depart and planned to assess Marcus's command, the soldiers' strength, and whether the system could collect energy without his presence.
• Redd studied a map of the Dothraki Sea and considered how to eradicate the Dothraki from the grasslands.

Redd considered attacking Vaes Dothrak to draw the scattered Khalasars into a decisive confrontation, but postponed the plan while he awaited Marcus’s performance at Seahoru Town. Marcus arrived with fifty thousand soldiers to find the town besieged by more than eighty thousand Dothraki, and twenty thousand enemy cavalry charged his prepared formation.

• Redd reasoned that an attack on sacred Vaes Dothrak could force the Khalasars to unite, allowing him either to subdue or destroy the Dothraki.
• Redd decided to hold position for the time being and watch Marcus’s campaign while monitoring the Kingdom of the Three Daughters and Qohor.
• Marcus led fifty thousand battle-hardened slave soldiers to the vicinity of Seahoru Town, where over eighty thousand Dothraki cavalry under three Khals had surrounded the town and raided nearby villages.
• The three Khals assembled twenty thousand elite cavalry and sent them charging toward Marcus’s formation.
• Marcus’s soldiers stood in a tightly organized formation, prepared to counter the Dothraki charge.

Marcus prepared his slave legion to withstand the Dothraki cavalry and create an opening for Aegon and the Demon Dragon to strike. The Dothraki began their assault with mounted archery, and arrows penetrated the legion’s shield wall.

• Marcus arranged the soldiers into a spear-and-shield formation, binding each squad of ten together to prevent retreat.
• Marcus watched the Demon Dragon circle overhead and planned to hold the Dothraki long enough for Aegon to attack.
• Twenty thousand Dothraki cavalrymen approached the fifty thousand-strong slave legion and began firing arrows from horseback.
• An officer shouted for the soldiers to raise their shields, and the slave legion formed a defensive wall.
• Three volleys struck the formation, but arrows slipped between shields and fell among the men behind the front ranks.