84
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114 AC
Sunspear
Daeron Nymeros Martell
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""Go on, you should be fine with them."" I extend my arm which is going numb from having a baby dragon clung to it for hours.
"Why did you bring a hatchling back with you when you left to drop off an egg to avoid having too many hatchlings?" Rhaenyra approaches and immediately starts showing off her displeasure for me being longer than I said I would.
"My sweet Wife it is so nice to see you, I have missed you like the stars miss the night sky, like the mo-" She cuts me off by standing up on her toes and sealing my lips with hers, her arms have a hard time going around my neck because of the baby belly getting in her way.
"Just be silent and kiss me without all the drama." She smirks with both her hands going down to her stomach.
"I missed you two more..." I mutter quickly before pressing a kiss on her dress-covered stomach which causes Rhaenyra to huff and playfully slap at my head having likely heard me.
"It should not be too much longer." I raise a brow at my Wife as I notice some others finally making their way outside where I landed which is a small side yard where Albion and Balerion made a 'nest'.
Though I know both prefer the Water Gardens and the small 'Dragon Pit' that they have occupied one of Gaelithox's massive caves. The giant black dragon has made many caves using his flames and digging them out, a big help in the construction of the future home of many dragons.
"It won't be too much longer and we will have two more babes, I can feel it in my bones." Rhaenyra nods at her own words with a happy smile as she also notices we are no longer alone and decides to step to my side embracing me as best as she can.
I am about to speak up seeing my Son in my mother's arms and how excited he looks, a few half-common tongue words and half Valyrian words escaping him as he wiggles around. But seeing the 'stowaway' who I am calling Sunfyre wing his way over to Myriah and stop her in her tracks I go wide-eyed.
""Where did you come from?"" Myriah asks in pure confusion but cradles her own much smaller pregnant stomach protectively as the small golden dragon hunches and locks its eyes on her belly.
"I brought it from Dragonstone, it clung to me like a spoiled child and so I just brought it with me." Sunfyre shakes like a dog trying to get water off of itself before attempting to climb Myriah's skirts. "Its name is Sunfyre." I watch with a lot less nervousness than the others in the yard who were thrown off by the sudden entrance of a 'wild dragon'.
"Think it likes the baby?" Rhaenyra speaks my thoughts and I hum in thought.
"This dragon has been very different from any others that I have seen so it's hard to tell. It shouldn't have known about Myriah or her baby, so it's next to impossible it clung to me for a potential bond. Maybe it just likes the smell of Rhoynar-Valyrian and is sniffing her out..." I try to come up with a valid reason for the small hatchling's actions but it's hard not to see its interest in the small pregnant swelling of my Sister.
Sunfyre seems content to rub its head against the baby bump as Myriah holds it like a stinky dog at arm's length. I can't help but smile seeing how she looks off-put by the tiny hatchling even though it is acting sweet. I know she wanted her own dragon's offspring to hatch for any baby she has so this development is going against her wishes.
"Kepa!" Aegon finally makes his way to me as he 'spurs' his grandmother's sides with his feet and holds his arms out to me in a way that shows his intentions.
""Sweet boy, be nice to your Grandmother or she will drop you on your head as she did me."" I scoop my Son out of my mother's arms even as she glares at me with annoyance.
""Your Father jumped from my arms or rolled off the bed, I never once 'dropped' him even though he likely would have just bounced back up into my arms."" A fond smile replaces the annoyed look as she likely slips down memory lane, I can't help but remember how I was back when I was testing 'feather falling'.
I need to keep a close eye on this little guy... as soon as he realizes falling does not hurt like his 'instincts' might tell him he is going to be a even more wild.
""Daeron liked to fall I take it?"" Rhaenyra asks with ill-concealed amusement as she leans further against me and I feel a kick in my side from one of my unborn children.
""Why yes he did, he would simply just roll off of something if he was left alone for even a moment. I started calling him my little dragon the third time he did it, he simply wanted to fly no matter if it was the last 'flight' he took as he fell and cracked open his head or lived. But it got worse when he could walk and run... don't get me started when he learned to climb and made his way up the side of the golden spear tower and leaped from its peak."" I shift uncomfortably as my Wife giggles, though I make sure to cover my Sons ears lest he gets any ideas.
Can't be too careful with this little fella... I see the gleam in his eyes as if he understands fully what is being said. A small smile with some teeth in it is all he offers me as I cover his ears and shake my head at him.
""No jumping."" His soft giggle at my whispered words sends a chill down my back at the hell that is coming on the horizon.
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114 AC
Pentos
Daemon Targaryen
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"I can hardly see how my trust has been repaid fairly." I half joke and am half serious as Melisandre paints my bare chest with blood as I lay strapped to a table.
She continues her 'ritual work' as she speaks loudly in some foreign tongue that I have a suspicion is from Asshai as she told me about not long ago. The red woman who I extended my 'trust' to leans down and kisses my forehead as she stands behind the table away from the corpses burning away at the other side of the table.
"You have to act like this is working or they will figure out this is not really the ritual they requested." She quickly whispers against my forehead and I do my best to lay still and not tense up.
They think I am drugged, at least the men with the horn do, the men who died and their blood spread upon the horn likely knew I was not as we shared drinks this whole gathering.
Melisandre goes back to chanting almost like she is singing and I pay less attention to the men around the horn and more to what she is doing. The red woman I took an interest in because of her help in ridding me of my frozen demon is a beautiful woman. She is not tall nor is she short but she fills out her red priest robes as if they are painted onto her like the blood painted onto the horn.
Her blood-red eyes remind me so much of Caraxes scales and how they shimmer in the light of day. Her hair is a mix of metallic and blood like a stained blade after a long battle, something that I found I enjoyed the sight of almost as much as Valyrian silver and gold. Her voice carries an accent I have never heard but reminds me of Mysaria at the same time, though I find myself in this moment enjoying Melisandre's smooth voice quite a bit.
If not for the massacre that took place moment ago I might would find myself enjoying this 'play' even though it's not something my tastes would ever seek out... nor will I let it happen again.
""He is ready."" Melisandre speaks up in Valyrian and a slave is dragged to the horn and thrown at the base of it.
""Sound the horn and the beast will be at our command, we will make those Damn Dornish pay for what they have done. Myr and Tyrosh will not stay on our knees like the Lyseni plan to, we will have our freedom and then burn the Dornish for what they have done."" I go wide-eyed hearing the man's words and what they mean sends a chill over my skin as the slave is whipped until he stands up and brings his mouth to the horn.
My eyes lock with Melisandre and she gives away no emotion but her lips move as she faces me and can not be seen by those behind her.
'Trust' if I read her lips right...
""The whores of Lys are used to being on their knees."" One man jeers from the side before spitting on the ground as many others laugh, but my eyes are now locked on the slave attempting to blow on the horn.
I feel a tightness in my chest as my ears ache hearing the guttural sound coming from the horn, other men fall over as the slave finally manages to sound the horn. I can see blood leaving the slave's ears and eyes like a waterfall but he does not stop as the sound grows louder and louder.
Melisandre stands firm looking at me as the horn gets loud enough to make me fight against my bindings to try and cover my ears. Slowly she looks around as if she is unaffected by the ear-shattering noise that is attempting to kill everyone in the room. She nods after looking around the room and walks toward me, a slow painful pace that ends in me being released and able to cover my ears.
Flames break down the far wall, crimson flames leaving a familiar blood-red maw that quickly consumes a majority of the room and silences the horn. The men who fell to the ground and the corpses butchered for whatever strange ritual this was are all consumed in Caraxes flames.
"What the hell even was this?!" I question loudly finding it hard to hear, but my eyes do not leave my mount who is clawing his way into the building in an attempt to get at the horn that was blown.
"The start." Melisandre responds as she stands beside me watching my dragon grab the horn in his mouth and drag it out of the building.
I feel the desire to strangle this bitch but I can't help my curiosity and she is the only one with answers. She spoke of threats and whatever this was likely could have been one if not for her obviously ruining the attempt. They somehow wanted to use that horn to steal my dragon and likely would have killed me in the process... this is not something I can allow to be repeated.
"Speak everything that you know, starting with the horn." My hand still finds her throat even though I do not plan to kill her, the red ruby collar on her neck glows as my thumb brushes against it.
"I will tell you everything, but as far as the horn goes it is called Dragonbinder... or at least it was called that." Crimson flames light up the room as Caraxes takes his obvious frustrations out on the horn that both hurt me and pissed him off.
I can't help but smile watching through the hole in the wall my mount made how he melts the horn down to a puddle, the throbbing in my head eases a bit seeing the object that hurt me turned to nothing.
I eye the rest of the room as I keep a hand on the red woman's throat, my mind spins at what 'could' have happened and I grow angry at the thoughts. Myr and Tyrosh will pay... Pentos to if they knew this was going to happen, I know for certain the Prince of Pentos the man I once called a friend was on the side of the men who were behind this.
I will show them all Fire and Blood for daring to do what they did and for even so much as thinking about stealing my bonded mount.