After the fall of Vaith and the execution of Beslon the Bad, the Dornish forces under Ser Baduin Santagar and Ser Laurent Dalt occupied Vaith while planning—in concert with Krazdan Big Nose, the new captain of the Bright Banners—what they would do to liberate Godsgrace from King Daeron’s garrison there. The next day, the former pit fighter from Meereen led the greater part of the Bright Banners eastwards, loaded with much of the coin they were paid for cutting their banners and joining the rebels. A week later theyreached Godsgrace. There they were allowed to enter the town, under the false pretense that they were reinforcements sent from Beslon Smallwood after having defeated the Dornishmen. Their welcome was short-lived, however—that evening, they slaughtered much of the garrison, tore down the Targaryen royal banner, and raised up the banner of the Martells and the Bright Banners.
All seemed to be going well for the Free Cities sellswords, until a haggard Dothraki horseman arrived at the city gates ...
Little did Krazdan and his fellow sellswords know, the Dornishmen planned a betrayal. A day after Krazdan’s force departed, the Dornishmen called an assembly of the remaining sellswords in the early morning. Arriving in undisciplined ones and twos or small groups at the designated place, a courtyard of the castle, They were slaughtered to a man by the Dornishmen, and some said that their deaths were often slower and more painful than necessary, but others would reply it was well deserved after all their crimes—not least the slaughter of every man and boy over twelve in Vaith, done at Beslon the Bad’s orders perhaps, but done none the less. Only one man escaped, a drunken Dothraki who slept overlong in a brothel, and heard rumor of it. Escaping over the town’s walls, the Dothraki was able to kill two Dornish spearmen and steal away on a sandsteed, leading to a hot pursuit into the desert.
The warrior arrived, after an arduous journey, a day ahead of the Dornish force after most of it—under Dalt and Santagar again—departed Vaith for Godsgrace, clearly with the intention of visiting unto Krazdan the same as he had visited unto Godsgrace’s garrison. Warned by this Dothraki sellswords, Krazdan considered trying to hold Godsgrace against him ... but realized that either way, the Bright Banners would never be welcome. Instead, he commanded the sellswords to sack the town before flying away to the coast to try and find ships to take them to safety across the narrow sea. For four hours, they ravaged in the town, raping and looting, setting fire to homes and other buildings, before they fled. When the Dornishmen arrived a day after, the town gates were opened to them by a brutalized population, but one that was glad of their arrival.
And now with Godsgrace in Dornish hands, matters now focus on Yronwood and on Sunspear. At the southern end of the Boneway, Yronwood remains held by the most powerful of the king’s garrisons, and the Ullers and Qorgyles have moved to besiege it. At Sunspear and the Planky Town, there are fears that Oakenfist is waiting for reinforcements to come from the Arbor before he launches an assault to regain them. News from beyond the mountains reports that the stormlords have gathered near Blackhaven, with the giant Ser Sarmion Baratheon leading them, and already Lord Manwoody’s forces—swelled now with volunteers, spears of the smallfolk—are said to have begun to clash with their outriders as they prepare to march into the Boneway.
And news adds more, of King Daeron’s preparations, the great fleet he has gathered to carry a host to Dorne, and of his use of the hostages he holds in the Red Keep to further his aims. The marriage of one heiress, and it’s said the betrothal of more, suggest a steadfast determination in the Young Dragon to have his way…