Viserys had told her that the last Targaryen dragons had died no more than a century and a half ago, during the reign of Aegon III, who was called the Dragon bane. That did not seem so long ago to Dany. “Everywhere?” she said, disappointed. “Even in the east?” Magic had died in the west when the Doom fell on Valyria and the Lands of the Long Summer, and neither spell-forged steel nor storm singers nor dragons could hold it back, but Dany had always heard that the east was different. It was said that manticores prowled the islands of the Jade Sea, that basilisks infested the jungles of YiTi, that spell singers, warlocks, and aeromancers practiced their arts openly in Asshai, while shadow binders and blood mages worked terrible sorceries in the black of night. Why shouldn’t there be dragons too?
“No dragon,” Irri said. “Brave men kill them, for dragon terrible evil beasts. It is known.”
“It is known,” agreed Jhiqui.
“A trader from Qarth once told me that dragons came from the moon,” blond Doreah said as she warmed a towel over the fire. Jhiqui and Irri were of an age with Dany, Dothraki girls taken as slaves when Drogo destroyed their father’s khalasar. Doreah was older, almost twenty. Magister Illyrio had found her in a pleasure house in Lys.
Silvery-wet hair tumbled across her eyes as Dany turned her head, curious. “The moon?”
“He told me the moon was an egg, Khaleesi,” the Lysene girl said. “Once there were two moons in the sky, but one wandered too close to the sun and cracked from the heat. A thousand dragons poured forth, and drank the fire of the sun. That is why dragons breathe flame. One day the other moon will kiss the sun too, and then it will crack and the dragons will return.”
Bane 祸害
Mage 魔术师
韦赛里斯曾告诉她，坦格利安家最后的一条龙大约死于一个半世纪以前，当时是伊耿三世统治时期，他因而被人称为“龙祸”。对丹妮而言，这似乎不是那么遥远的事。“到处都一样？”她失望地说，“连东方也是？”当末日降临瓦雷利亚和永夏之地时，魔法也随之在西方绝迹，魔咒加持的宝剑、预测天气的风雨歌师以及巨龙统统都无法挽回。但丹妮总是听说东方的情形不同，据说蝎尾狮仍旧出没于玉海列岛，蛇蜥也依然盘据夷地丛林。据说呤咒师、男巫和云空法师公然活跃于亚夏，缚影士与血巫更在夜阑人静时施行骇人妖术。为什么不可能有龙存活呢？
“没有龙了。”伊丽说：“勇者屠龙，因为龙是可怕的怪兽。大家都知道。”
“大家都知道。”姬琪表示同意。
“有个魁尔斯商人跟我说龙是从月亮里钻出来的。”金发碧眼的多莉亚一边在火炉上烘干毛巾一边说。姬琪和伊丽的年纪与丹妮差不多，她们都是在父亲的卡拉萨被卓戈毁灭时被抓来当了奴隶。多莉亚年纪稍长，将近二十。伊利里欧总督是在里斯的一家妓·院里找到她的。
丹妮好奇地转头，湿湿的银发飘扬在眼前。“从月亮来的？”
“他告诉我月亮是颗蛋，卡丽熙。”这位里斯女孩道，“天上原本有两个月亮，但其中一个运行得太靠近太阳，受不住高热，就爆炸了。成千上万只的龙从中涌出，吸收了太阳的火焰，这就是为什么龙会吐火。有朝一日剩下的那个月亮也会亲吻太阳，然后也会爆炸，龙便将重返人间。”