Chapter 14 Drogo's Funeral
"More than 200 people, no more than 100 of them can fight, and the elite howling warriors are only 60 of your khas's people. They..." Jorah paused, with a look of pity on his face, and sighed: "It can be predicted that a small number of the old, weak, sick and young will die in the long journey in the future."
"What about supplies?" Dany frowned and asked.
"We can guarantee that everyone has a horse. There are only more than 200 cattle and sheep in total. The water source. After the kars left, the stream was barely enough for us to use, but it was a bit far, about five kilometers away."
Dany was puzzled and asked: "There is not even a blade of grass nearby. What do the horses and sheep eat these days?"
"There is reddish-brown devil grass between the cracks in the rocks. Although it is hard and tough, it is enough for the horses to eat, but this situation will not last long. The resources here have been exhausted, and we must move." Lakharo warned her.
"Where to?" Dany's heart moved, and she tested the horsemen, "What are your plans next? If I reorganize this little Khas into a Khals, and let the four of you become my bloodriders, do you accept it?"
Dany's words seemed to cause great trouble to several horsemen warriors. After thinking for a while with a frown, Quirrell refused first, "This won't work. I would be ashamed to be a woman's bloodrider, and there are only three bloodriders."
Dany looked at the next person, and Ago lowered his eyes, "I can't swear that only men can lead the Khals."
"You are Khaleesi, and only Khaleesi," Lakharo continued, "I will ride side by side with you to Vaes Dothrak under the Mother of God and protect you from danger until you join the old women of Dosh Khaleen. Beyond that, I can't make more promises."
"I"
"Okay, I understand," Dany interrupted Jhogo without waiting for him to speak. "Let's put this aside for now. Our first priority is to send the great Khal Drogo back to the Kingdom of Night."
Knight Jorah suddenly stood up from his cross-legged position and drew out his sword with a 'swoosh' sound. The sharp edge of the sword dazzled Dany's eyes.
Then Jorah Mormont knelt on one knee and placed the sword at Dany's feet. "Your Highness, I swear to serve you and obey all your wishes, even if it means sacrificing my life."
He glanced at the four centaurs around him and announced in a sonorous and powerful voice: "I swear by the sword in my hand and the human-bear emblem of my family that no one can take you back to Vaes Dothrak unless you are willing. You don't need to join the Dosh Khaleen."
The four centaurs looked at each other, and their almond-shaped black eyes flashed with confusion and anxiety.
It seems that even in the Westeros where rituals and music are in ruins, there are also loyal ministers with noble character!
Although Ser Jorah's purpose was not pure, and his loyalty was more due to unrequited love, Dany was still very happy.
"According to the Dothraki tradition, the khal will ride his horse in the flames to return to the arms of the horse god, so I order you to lead the knights to collect all the firewood, dead grass, and vines that can be burned."
This is a bitter and cold place where it is impossible to live for a long time. Dany must leave as soon as possible.
Hearing that Dany was going to cremate Drogo, the two bloodriders who had been depressed once again left Drogo's bed. They also had to prepare their own bags.
"You go out first, I want to end his pain and humiliation." Dany said to the maid beside her.
Drogo had not woken up for four days. Half of his chest was black and rotten, but he still had a faint breath. This was both painful and a great humiliation for him - a great cavalry warrior should not lie on the bed all the time.
Dany spent three minutes using a feather pillow to help him get rid of it, and then cut open his rotten flesh, emptied the pus and blood, and filled his chest with sticky ointment.
Irri and Jhiqui cleaned Drogo's hair and body, and then Dany washed his long hair, braided it again, and wrapped it with a series of small bells.
There were more bells, gold, silver, and bronze, bells that would announce his coming to his enemies and make them fearful, even in the realm of the dead.
Then Doreah dressed him in horsehair leggings and high boots, and tied a heavy belt covered with gold and silver medals around his waist.
Irri and Jhiqui worked together to lift Drogo's broad, thin body and helped him put on a painted vest to cover the scar on his chest.
Although the vest was old and faded, it was his favorite.
Dany had planned to hold the funeral tonight, but by the time the sun set, there was no wood. Jhogo had gone the farthest, riding twenty kilometers north, almost back to the territory of the Lamb People.
"They shot at me with bows and arrows. Lamb People don't like horse people," Jhogo said angrily.
Isn't this nonsense? You guys are like cutting leeks. Every year, you go south from the Horse King City to the Great Grass Sea and go to the Laza River Basin to "cut grass valleys". It seems that you regard the sheep people as the "first luck of the new year".
Uh, this year seems to be particularly evil. Two khals fell in the "novice village" in a row.
Jhogo soon became excited again and said, "But I met Oddo's khals. They heard that I was preparing the khal's funeral wood and offered to help us conquer a village as a sacrifice."
Oddo was also Drogo's former bandit. The khals he separated were not large. Most of them were eaten by Bonor and Jaco. There were more than 40,000 roaring warriors. Bonor took away 20,000, Jaco took away 10,000, and the remaining more than 10,000 warriors were divided up by a dozen bandits. One khal only had one or two thousand warriors.
Of course, in the vast Dothraki Sea, khals of several thousand people are the norm. Similar to Drogo before, he is a rare overlord on the grassland.
"Khal Oddo has bad intentions. He is probably under orders from Bono and the others. He has been waiting in the north to wait for you." After Jhogo left, Jorah said solemnly, "Princess, what do you think? You tried to subdue Quaror before, and they obviously don't want to return to Horseking City to be dosh khaleen, so we seem to be trapped.
And your khas is loyal to you, but he also has his own will - the tradition of the Dothraki for thousands of years."
Dany gave him a comforting look, "You will understand this problem in two days."
The next day, at dawn, Qotho rode alone to the north to the place agreed with Oddo. At noon, he brought back a large group of horses.
Ten knights of Oddo escorted two hundred sheep slaves, who were tied together with ropes and looked desperate.
There were also a dozen slaves driving more than ten carts.
The carts were piled with bundles of chopped firewood. Yes, there were also carts of castor oil.
"These slaves will accompany us on the journey of night." Qotho said coldly.
Dany wore loose sand silk pants and a pair of knee-high sandals, and a Dothraki painted vest similar to Drogo's.
"The khal has you and five hundred of his most loyal warriors with him, not those cowardly sheep slaves." She rejected the other's plan of martyrdom without hesitation.
"You--" Qotho raised his whip, with a vicious look on his face.
"Behave yourself, I'm the boss here!" Dany said coldly.
Quirrell and Jorah were beside her, and behind her, Aggo and Rakharo were aiming their bows at Qotho.
Hundreds of people worked all afternoon. Before sunset, the firewood was piled into a square five meters long and wide, four meters high, with the hollow filled with straw, shrubs, bark chips and hay. This was the "master bedroom" of the khal.
On the funeral pyre was placed the treasures of Khal Drogo: his blanket, painted vest, saddle and reins, the whip given by his father when he came of age, his arakh that had killed Khal Ogo and his son, and the huge dragon bone longbow.
Jhogo was going to put the weapons that Drogo's bloodriders had given to Dany as a bridal gift on the pyre, but she stopped him.
"Those are my things," she said to him, "I want to keep them."
After thinking about it, Dany took the two people back to the foot of the hill and dug a layer of red soil in a corner of the earth and stone, revealing several cowhide bags the size of cement bags.
"Clatter"
The tail of the bag was lifted, and a dazzling golden river splashed out. The golden area was actually full of gold medals the size of a child's palm.
Drogo had ten boxes of gold medallions. Dany dug up three of them and buried them. Of the ten boxes thrown away, thirty percent were filled with brass medallions.
Thousands of people were scrambling to find them. They couldn't even tell which boxes were thrown away, so how could they know that Dany had mixed them up?
The savage and honest centaurs had not yet evolved such a routine.
A layer of gold medallions was spread over the khal's treasures, and then a few bales of hay were placed on top.
Qotho and Haggo looked solemn as they carried Drogo's body out of the tent, and the Dothraki watched in silence.
They laid him on his pillows and silk quilt, his head facing the Mother of Mountains in the far northeast.
Rakharo led Drogo's red mount, tall and fierce, his body as red as coal fire, his fur as smooth as the most precious silk, a beast that few in the world could rival, even the white lions of the grassland dared to bite.
The Dothraki were a harsh and ruthless people. According to their custom, they never named animals. Otherwise, Drogo's mount would have a name that would be passed down through the ages, just like the famous horses in ancient China.
The horse was particularly obedient today and was obediently led to the east side of Drogo's funeral pyre.
As if it knew its fate, it raised its head and barely reached Drogo's head, licked his face, and its agate-like eyes dripped two strings of crystals, wetting Drogo's hair and pillow.
Then it ate a shriveled apple handed to it by Dany, stamped its hooves on the spot, raised its head and neighed for a while before it calmed down.
Facing the axe blade that Rakharo chopped at it, it showed no fear and did not dodge. It was chopped to the ground neatly.
The horse people piled firewood on the horse's body to build a platform, using the trunks of small trees and branches of large trees. The firewood was placed from east to west, symbolizing the rising and setting of the sun.
Kotho and Haggo built a slightly lower platform to the north and south of Drogo, which was also covered with property and weapons. They also brought their own mounts and, like Drogo's red horse, fed them an apple and beheaded them with an axe.
The funeral pyre belonged to the two blood guards. They cleaned themselves and laid down on it with arakhs in hand.
Extending outward along the blood guards' platform, the horsemen built a long third platform with branches. Drogo's platform was four meters high, the blood guards' three meters, and this one was two meters high. It was covered with dry leaves and dead branches, from north to south, symbolizing black ice to blazing fire.
Five hundred human heads were stacked in order on the third funeral pyre, the heads of the warriors who died with Coholro. Finally, the soft pillows and silk quilts were piled on the top, making it very high.
Well, Coholro's own head was placed next to Drogo.
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(End of this chapter)