Chapter 113 - Cartharys (Patreon)

Year 9,898 of the Faerûnian Calendar, Cartharys, Valyrian Freehold, Essos

Returning back to the Cartharys from the Volantis took the newly established Trifarian Mercenary Company several weeks as they were also protecting the caravans of the Clan Ferros and the Ferros Chamber of Commerce.

They were in charge of protecting a lot of war materials that were designed to be delivered to the Valyrian Legions stationed in the Cartharys, as the Valyrian Legions were already in great numbers in the city.

Right now, the Cartharys were rather different from what it was when Valkorion left the city a few months ago to the Orange Shore. Right now, not just the city but also the entire Cartharys Administration Area is under very strict martial law and lockdown due to the Goblinoids in the Painted Mountains.

Apparently, according to the rumors that they heard, there were a few High Sequence Extraordinary Goblins, Hobgoblins, and other Goblinoids that rose among them, which was complicating the situation, and a few of the villages and even one small town were razed to the ground by the goblinoids. 

The creatures were insatiable in their hunger for more and more destruction but also for more food and resources. For everyone included, the push of the goblinoids toward the Cartharys could happen at the moment, so the Freehold had already acted accordingly, and they closed down the entire region.

Nowadays, only the ones with special permits can enter or leave the region. There were a few exceptions to this rule, especially to the Adventures of the Adventurer Guild or the Mercenary Companies that were already gathering in the Cartharys from most of the Essos.

Aside from that, even the roads were desolate, sans some patrol teams from the Valyrian Legions and occasional Dragon Riders who were patrolling the skies. As they approached the gates of the Cartharys after passing by several military checkpoints, suddenly, the ground shook with a huge roar.

"Rooooaaaaarrrr!!!"

Not only Valkorion but practically everyone else recognized it as the roar of the True Dragon.

Valkorion looked up and saw an almost breath-taking image of the True Dragon that was flying above the skies of the Cartharys and patrolling the area as the roar of the Dragon almost scared the Dragons to death, and even the Glaurung looked pretty disturbed by the roar of the True Dragon.

The True Dragons were above the hierarchy, far above the Drakes, even though Glaurung was a Great Magma Drake. 

The True Dragon was truly a magnificent beast, covered in dark, almost black scales with sharp silver-like horns protruding from its head and spine. Its wings were expansive, leathery, and lined with deep purple membranes that matched the woman's attire. Its eyes glowed with a fierce, otherworldly purple hue, exuding power and intelligence. The dragon's posture is both protective and aggressive, ready to fight or defend its rider at any moment.

The True Dragoon had a body length of around 90 meters and wings of around 110 meters, which signified that the beast was a Rank 3 Extraordinary Creature and it was most probably an Elder Dragon. 

What made it even more fearsome was the fact that the True Dragon was covered in armor... all of its four legs were armored, together with the belly and other weaker spots were also armored, which was rather standart for the Valyrian Dragonlords. 

After the war with the Rhoynar and the deaths of several Elder Dragons at the hands of the Rhoynar Beyonders and Prince Garin the Great, the Shrouded Lord that exploited the weaker spots in Dragon's bodies, the Valyrian Dragonlords used armor to protect their Dragons.

However, what captured Valkorion's attention was the rider of the True Dragon that was flying above the Cartharys.

For the first, it was a woman who appeared to be the rider of the True Dragon. She was dressed in dark, intricately designed armor with a mix of black and deep purple tones, with long, flowing platinum blonde hair. 

She wore a suit of black armor engraved with several runes, but one thing that stood out was the Sigil. 

A Sigil of the House Belaerys.

The entire city of Cartharys was under the rule of the Belaerys Family of the 40 Dragonlord Families and the 1st Seat of the Triarchy of the Valyrian Freehold, the closest thing that the Valyrian Freehold had to the ruling house.

It seemed that the situation was indeed that grave when the House Belaerys was already sending their own members to the Cartharys, and whom they sent was also the interesting choice because he could see that the woman that was riding the True Dragon was very young. 

Probably no older than Valkorion, meaning that she must be the core member of the Belaerys Family.

Within the 40 Dragonlord Families, some had more members, and some had fewer members. 

For example, the Tenebraenys Family was fairly small and had only a few members at its peak, but not more than thirty, which was rather an average number for the Dragonlord Family.

The Targaryens right now, according to all information, had less than ten members; in fact, there were only five of them or so, which was on the other end of the specter, and they were a very small family.

The Belaerys were a huge family that was publically known to have more than three hundred members alone and an unknown number in the collateral branches, and perhaps even more of the ones that were thought to were long ago deceased.

The numbers were important to the Dragonlord Families for two reasons.

Beyonders and True Dragons.

Every member of the Dragonlord Families had a predisposition to be Beoynder of the Draconian Pathway that much Valkorion knew. And every member of the direct lineage of the Dragonlord Family had the predisposition to become a Dragon Rider and enter into the Pact with a True Dragon.

So, in this case, it was true that quantity was important.

In the case of the Dragonlords, quantity also meant quality.

Yet the bigger Dragonlord Families were only powerful on the surface. Beneath it, there was another serious problem that was plaguing them rather severely, which was brutal and vicious infighting and extreme cases of factionalism.

Most of the biggest Dragonlord Families were internally broken into many factions that, in some cases, hated each other to the core, and killing each other wasn't really that weird in the Valyrian Freehold.

So, while Houses like the Belaerys were indeed very powerful on the surface, it was rather a fragile kind of power that was made out of glass.

One push and it would shatter into countless pieces. 

Valkorion knew that if not for some Angels that were overseeing some of these Families, then they would have descended into the civil war long ago. Yet, even the Angels of the Houses, like Belaerys, needed to act carefully because they were assuming mainly the role of the mediator and maintaining the balance within the Family.

"Calm down and maintain the ranks!"

Valkorion shouted at the men and women of the Trifarian Mercenary Company to maintain their ranks as they were soon in the Cartharys, but due to the appearance of the True Dragon, the horses went nervous, and some attempted to run away.