THE DRAGONTAMER

Before dawn in rain-soaked Meereen, Quentyn Martell lies awake, torn between duty and fear, rejecting Gerris Drinkwater’s attempts at distraction. Resolute, he declares this his destiny and gathers with Gerris and Archibald Yronwood, donning Brazen Beast disguises supplied by the Tattered Prince’s agents, and taking a whip to mimic Daenerys’s mastery of Drogon.

They enter the Great Pyramid via a side gate using the pass-word “dog,” admit a butcher’s cart laden with meat and hidden chains, and meet Windblown leaders Pretty Meris and Caggo Corpsekiller. Guided by Quentyn’s memory of the route, they descend to the dragons’ iron doors, only to find a serjeant and three guards immune to the password.

Violence erupts: Archibald kills the basilisk-masked serjeant with his hammer; Gerris and crossbows drop two more; Caggo beheads the last. Arch smashes the lock, and the doors shriek open, blasting them with heat and ash. Inside, Quentyn confronts Rhaegal, who devours a flung sheep; Viserion emerges from a burrow in the scorched brick above.

As Viserion drops between them and the exit, Windblown chaos ensues. A crossbow bolt glances off the white dragon’s neck, drawing glowing blood; Viserion seizes and incinerates the shooter. Quentyn, desperate to prove himself, cracks the whip and commands Viserion to “down,” momentarily drawing the dragon’s attention.

Roused by the commotion, Rhaegal sweeps in. A blast of furnace heat engulfs Quentyn; his whip catches fire and, in an instant, he is burning. Gerris and Arch shout warnings as the scene collapses into flames and ash, the attempt to claim the dragons ending in catastrophe and Quentyn’s ruin.