GOT: The Great — Chapter 160 - He Not Only Refuses to Surrender — He Has Launched an Attack Against Us

Daenerys lay on her side, head resting on a goose-feather pillow, her silver-gold hair spread across it like molten moonlight.

Irri was curled beside her, black hair loose over her shoulders, wearing nothing but a thin gauze wrap. Candlelight filtered through the gauze onto her brown skin and turned it honey-warm.

When Drogo was away, Daenerys would call Irri, Jhiqui, or Doreah to share her bed. Tonight was Irri's turn.

She closed her eyes and let herself enjoy it.

BOOM!

The sound hit like a fist. Daenerys's whole body snapped rigid. Irri's fingers went still. She lifted her head, dark eyes wide with alarm.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Stone on stone. One impact after another.

Daenerys was out of bed before she'd thought about it, snatching the cloak from the chair back and throwing it around her shoulders. Her fingers were shaking too badly to tie the cords. She tried twice, failed twice, and gave up. She left it hanging loose and stepped barefoot onto the cold stone floor.

She pulled the door open and ran into the corridor.

A few torches burned along the walls, their flames shuddering with each impact.

Unsullied stood outside her door, spears perfectly upright, eyes beneath iron helms flat and dark as river stones. No fear on their faces. No tension. Not even curiosity.

"Where is Missandro?" Daenerys asked.

"Here." He came jogging around the bend in the corridor.

His Common Tongue was fluent now, but urgency brought the accent back — his words lifting at the ends.

Daenerys's cloak had fallen open. Her chest was bare, still glistening in the firelight from where Irri's mouth had been. Missandro stood in front of her and looked her in the eyes. He did not look down. Not once.

To the Unsullied, a woman's body was no different from a man's.

"We are under attack, Khaleesi," he said.

"Who?"

"Not yet clear. Commander Grey Worm has already gone to the battlements. Lord Barristan is with him."

"Take me there."

Missandro nodded once and turned.

Daenerys went back into the room, crossed to the wardrobe, and pulled out a long dress. She stepped into it, found a pair of soft-soled boots and pulled them on, then gathered her hair behind her head and tied it off without looking.

Irri was still sitting on the bed, naked, clutching the blanket to her chest. Daenerys walked to her, bent down, and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Stay in the room. Lock the door."

Irri nodded.

Missandro led the way. Two Unsullied fell in behind Daenerys.

The corridor was long. Two turns, then a spiral staircase winding upward. At the top, the wall-walk opened before her.

Sea wind poured through the crenellations and snapped her cloak like a flag.

Barristan Selmy stood at a merlon, white cloak billowing, hand resting on his sword hilt, eyes fixed on the darkness beyond the walls. Still as carved stone.

Grey Worm stood a few paces to his left. The Unsullied had already formed ranks, standing silent in the shadows along the battlements.

"Your Grace." Barristan turned and gave a slight bow.

"Khaleesi." Grey Worm said it first in Valyrian, then switched to the Common Tongue. "We are surrounded."

Daenerys stepped to the merlon and looked out.

Shipbreaker Bay. A dozen ships spread in a wide arc across the water, their trebuchets being loaded even as she watched.

Another volley. Flaming stones arced off the decks, trailing fire across the night sky, and slammed into the walls of Storm's End.

BOOM. BOOM BOOM.

The impacts came in a chain. Stone chips and sparks scattered in every direction.

But the walls of Storm's End were ancient and impossibly thick — so thick that even dragonfire had never burned through them. The trebuchet stones struck and left nothing. No cracks. No gouges. They shattered against the surface and the fragments tumbled down into the rubble at the base of the walls.

"Who is attacking us?" Daenerys asked.

Something complicated moved through Barristan's voice.

"Lord Selwyn of Tarth."

Daenerys turned to look at him.

"Brienne's father."

"The same," Barristan said. "He has refused to surrender. Instead, he attacked."

"How dare he." The disbelief in her voice was genuine. "Does he know who he's fighting?"

"If he dared to come, he knows." Barristan's gaze shifted toward the shore. "They are landing."

Daenerys narrowed her eyes and looked toward the coastline.

Torches stretched along the beach in an unbroken line, hundreds of them, at least. Beneath the torches, dark shapes were dropping from landing boats into waist-deep water and wading ashore. Armor caught the firelight in dull flashes. Spear-tips rose in a row like teeth.

Grey Worm stepped forward. "I will take troops and stop them."

"Wait." Barristan raised a hand. "The coastline is too long. We don't have the numbers. Inside these walls, you can hold ten to one. Out in the open, your Unsullied get cut apart."

Grey Worm's lips pressed into a line. He didn't argue. He knew Barristan was right.

The coastline around Storm's End wound for miles. Tarth's army could land anywhere they chose. There were only a thousand Unsullied in the castle. Spread them out and they'd vanish without a trace.

Daenerys set her hand on the merlon. The stone was ice-cold, its rough surface biting into her palm.

She looked at the torches. At the soldiers wading ashore. At the dark shapes of ships rocking on the water.

"Drogo is already on his way back. He took Virren — he'll come here next. At his pace, 2 or 3 days at most." She paused. "We hold the castle and wait. When Drogo arrives, we hit them."

Barristan looked at her. "A wise decision."

Grey Worm nodded and turned to begin assigning defensive positions.

Another volley came in. One stone caught a merlon dead-on. The crenellation exploded, chips raking across the shields of the nearest Unsullied with a sharp clatter.

Daenerys stepped back behind the merlon. "Ser Barristan. Can they breach Storm's End?"

"Before Khal Drogo burned the gates open with dragonfire, no one had ever taken Storm's End." Barristan's voice was steady. "You have nothing to fear, Your Grace."

She stayed behind the merlon and watched the torches burn beyond the walls. Listened to the stones hammer against the castle, one after another, going nowhere.

"You should go back and rest," Barristan said. "It's still hours until dawn."

"I can't sleep."

"If you stay here, we spend half our attention guarding you instead of the walls." His tone was gentle but firm. "Go back. I'll send a report every half-hour."

Daenerys nodded. She turned and walked down from the battlements.

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