Tower of the Hand

Drogo's party reaches the edge of the Dothraki Sea. Daenerys is riding with her entourage, including Ser Jorah, Irri, her khas (bodyguard),¹ and Viserys. Illyrio had counseled Viserys not to make the journey and offered the comfort of his manse, but Viserys refused to leave Drogo's side until he receives his promised crown. A sudden impulse takes Daenerys, and she decides to ride out into the grasses of the Dothraki Sea, leaving orders with Ser Jorah for no one to follow her. Daenerys thinks back on her journey thus far. The journey was not easy for Daenerys at first. Riding on horseback all day has left her sore and bloody. Drogo's lovemaking at night made it even worse. She was almost ready to kill herself when she had a dream of being purified by dragonfire. From that point on, she became stronger and more confident. She also took an interest in the beauty of the land around her. The party made their way through the hills around Norvos, past villages of white stucco, forded four rivers, traveled down ancient Valyrian roads, and passed through the Forest of Qohor.

Daenerys's reverie is interrupted when a furious Viserys rides out to scold her for having Ser Jorah command him not to intrude, but Daenerys stands up for herself and shoves him away. Viserys is about to respond when Jhogo rides up and coils his whip around Viserys's neck. When Daenerys sees him on the ground red-faced and sobbing, she realizes what a pitiful creature he really is. She orders his horse taken away, a dreadful insult and humiliation amongst the Dothraki. Daenerys is afraid afterward that she has woken the dragon and that Viserys will hurt her later, but Ser Jorah tells her that Rhaegar was the last dragon and Viserys is merely the shadow of a snake. She realizes that he would make a terrible king and that he will never retake the Seven Kingdoms. Back at camp, she notices that her stone dragon eggs are unusually warm.² As Irri, Jhiqui, and Doreah bathe her, she asks about dragons, but they tell her they are all gone. Daenerys recalls that Viserys told her the last Targaryen dragons had died a century and a half ago during the reign of Aegon III, who was given the epitaph Dragonbane. That night she talks with Doreah late into the night about sex, and when Drogo comes, she pleases him so thoroughly that he calls out her name at his climax. When they are on the far side of the Dothraki Sea some time later, Daenerys, now fourteen, realizes she is pregnant.