The Dragon and the Viper

6th Moon, 259AC

"I know that look, Rhaella will not go back on her word. She would rather abandon her position and privileges than marry Aerys." Aegon looked at his second son and heir.

"The prophecy," Jaehaerys murmured through misty eyes. The words of that old woman are repeated in his mind.

`Upon the day the moon covers the sun, a red shadow shall bring forth the end of peace and a vicious war will swallow the thrones.

The war will bring the Sun`s wrath and the dragon shall rise once more.

From the heir's seed the Dragonlord will be born.

A new era shall begin, an era of Gods and Magic.

And shall be then, when the sky turns to ice, a broken heart shall mark a world of light.`

"Jaehaerys"

`War is the clearest sign, a war that in some way affects the Martells- no, the sun could refer to someone else. Like the "heir's seed", it could be me or Aerys, even Duncan could be a candidate since he was the heir for a good part of his life. Or it could refer to a descendant of-`

"Jaehaerys!"

The crown prince jerks his head up and looks at his father startled.

"I called your name several times, are you alright, son?" The king looks at him with concern.

"Yeas, yes. I was just... thinking." Jaehaerys rubs his temples and winces. Prophecies are never easy to interpret, they are riddles that only seem to make sense once fulfilled. The prince did not usually believe in this kind of thing, he was a man of science and facts, for him prophecies were nothing more than idiotic nonsense. But that woman...

"About that prophecy." It is not a question, Aegon states a fact.

"This one is different, father, what I felt when that woman spoke, that was not natural." Jaehaerys still can't explain the events of that day, the visions and the feelings in the depths of his being.

"If you had told me this a few years ago I would have doubted your sanity, but lately my dreams-" Aegon shakes his head, the first time he had these dreams he was still a child. In those days they were frequent but the young prince ignored them, thinking them the fruit of the wild imagination of youth. As he grew up those dreams vanished, but in recent times there is no night in which he does not see dragons dancing in the sky.

The king sighs.

"But even if it's real, don't forget that prophecies are riddles that predict events that could happen tomorrow, or could happen a hundred years from now."

"Yes father." Jaehaerys is reluctant in his response but has to acknowledge the truth in his father's words. There are many records of prophecies that only came true centuries after they were made.

"As for Rhaella, we can't force her to marry Aerys."

"For a girl to refuse her father's orders... It's unacceptable."

"Must I remind you that your wife did the same thing?" Aegon looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

Jaehaerys looked away, his cheeks red with embarrassment.

"As for the prophecy, if it is really going to happen in our time we can find another way to make sure the dragonlord stays in the family." The king's eyes shine with cunning. "But we'll talk about those things another time, I have a meeting with Princess Dorna soon."

"Of course," the prince acknowledges the dismissal and bows his head before leaving the room.

The king sighs again and looks out the window, the views from this room are quite good, he can see the Sept of Baelor and the Dragonpit in the distance.

"I am too old for all of this, I miss my days traveling carefree. Oh, Aerion, why did you have to be such an idiot back then. If only you hadn't attacked that girl, if I hadn't asked Dunk for help... Then I would be a free prince and uncle Baleor and my dear cousin would have to deal with all this."

The king remembers his childhood, the infamous tourney that changed everything, the Tourney of Ashford. Lord Ashford was celebrating his daughter's birthday and many important lords were invited. Aegon, then a boy, was the squire of his older brother Daeron. His brother was a drunk and a coward, instead of going to the tourney he stayed in an inn to get drunk. He even shaved off his hair so they wouldn't be recognized as Targaryens. It was at that inn where he met a young knight named Dunk, Aegon decided to follow the wandering knight and become his squire. Daeron was not a good knight, nor a good teacher, and Aegon wanted to be a true squire to a true knight.

He left his drunken brother and followed the knight to the meadow where the tourney was held, mistaking him for an orphan Dunk took pity on him and accepted him as his squire. Those days were glorious for the little prince, but all good things have to come to an end. His other older brother, Aerion, decided that the play performed by the puppeteers was an offense against the Targaryens so he threatened the poor traveling artists. Aegon, terrified, ran and called for help from Dunk, who came running. Seeing the prince mistreat a girl, Dunk didn't think twice before hitting Aerion.

Dunk saved the traveling artists but was captured by the guards, attacking a blood prince is a crime that is paid for with the amputation of the offending limb. Since Dunk punched and kicked Aerion they were going to have his hand and leg lopped off. The crown prince, Baelor, sided with Dunk but there was little he could do for just then Maekar returned with Daeron (having gone looking for him himself) and the drunken prince said that Aegon had been kidnapped.

Accused of attacking a prince and kidnapping another, Dunk's days seemed to come to an end. Aegon's words fell on deaf ears, for the boy already had a reputation as mischievous and a lier. Baelor proposed a trial by combat, more precisely a trial of the Seven. Seven warriors against seven warriors.

Baelor himself fought for Dunk and it was in that battle that he got deathly wounded. Maekar hit him in the head with his mace in the chaos of combat. After winning Dunk, Baelor went to congratulate the young knight and when he was going to take off his helmet he realized that he couldn't, it was dented. Touching his head, he felt a gelatinous liquid and as if someone had cut the strings of a puppet, the prince fell to the ground. Baelor Targaryen died, his son Valarr would die shortly after of a fever.

"Things would be very different if father had been harsher on Daeron and Aerion, a drunk and a madman, and he refused to see it." Aegon's mutterings were interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Come in," he called out.

Dorna Martell stepped into the room, and a part of Aegon goes back fifty years to the memory of another woman, another Martell. In his mind's eye, his grandmother's form stalked into the room and Aegon felt like a boy of nine about to be scolded for skipping his lessons to play with the castle's stray cats.

The king blinks twice and the ghostly form of Myriah Martell vanishes.

"I thought we could play a game while we talked, Princess Dorna." Aegon pointed to a table with a chess board already set up. "I have sent for a jug of our best wine, Dornish red, as you prefer it." The king takes two glasses and fills them with wine.

"I'm not opposed to the idea. And I would never turn down good wine." Dorna accepts the glass of wine and notes with mild amusement that the king had even bought one of the chess tables with matching chairs sold by his grandson. The set is very aesthetic and elegant but she knows very well how much little Doran overpriced it. `My little merchant, fleecing poor fools for all their worth. Even kings are not spared.`

They both took seats, Aegon sat on the black side and Dorna on the white side.

"You can have the first move, princess."

"How very kind of you." The princess responded as she made her first move. She moves her pawn to e4.

The king moves his pawn to e5, directly facing the white pawn.

Dorna smiles.

`He wants to block my way`

"Interesting move, your grace."

"According to the official chess manual, to control the center is to control the game."

"That manual is quite basic, my king." Dorna moves one of her knight to f3. "Controlling the center allows you to move your pieces towards the opponent`s king more easily, but someone truly savvy about the game can exploit their opponent's focus on the center to their advantage."

Aegon hums and moves his pawn to d6, Dorna quickly moves another pawn to d4.

"Would you sacrifice a pawn that easily?" the king asks. He moves his bishop to g4, deciding not to capture that pawn.

"To get what you want, you almost always have to sacrifice something." The pawn on d4 advances to e5, capturing the king's pawn.

"Certainly." The king agrees and moves his bishop to f3, capturing the princess's first knight. "And what are you willing to sacrifice to achieve victory?"

"I could ask you the same question." Dorna moves her queen to f3, capturing the king's bishop.

None of them answer that question.

`Did she fall in my trap or did I fell into hers?` the king wonders as he makes the next move. He moves a pawn to e5, capturing a white pawn.

This game is more than a simple game of chess, it is a battle between two leaders, between their wills and wits.

Aegon started playing chess a few years ago when the game had become very popular among the nobility, the king quickly became fond of the game, preferring it to cyvasse. It is a game where one has to plan all his moves ahead and try to predict the opponent's reactions. The king found it challenging and exhilarating. Unfortunately not many dare to play seriously against the king, fearing that defeating him would be received as an insult. His sons are one of the few that do, and Aegon regularly plays against Jaehaerys and Duncan, Aethan Velaryon is another opponent he faces quite often and one of his fiercest rivals.

In these years the king learned that a game of chess could well be a war under the right conditions, a war that does not involve more people than the two opponents but what is at stake is as valuable as a real spoils of war. And this is one of those occasions.

Dorna moves her right bishop to c4. The king moves his knight to f6. The princess moves the queen to b3 and the king moves his queen to e7.

"It's quite curious," comments the king.

"Hmm?"

"For the queen to have more power than the king. The king is supposed to be the most powerful man in the kingdom but in this game he is the most fragile piece, the one that has to be protected continuously." Dorna moves her knight to c3 and the king responds by moving a pawn to c6.

"Isn't that the case in real life? If the king dies, the kingdom is lost." Dorna moves her other bishop to g5.

The king pauses and frowns at the board.

`She could use the bishop to capture my knight, but then I could use my queen to capture her bishop. That's what she wants me to do, it's a trap.`

"Indeed, the king is the kingdom, if the king falls so does the realm." Aegon answers.

The king moves another pawn to d5. The princess moves her remaining knight to b5. Aegon responds by moving his pawn to b5, capturing Dorna's last knight.

The princess doesn't seem surprised, in fact she hides a smile behind her wineglass as she moves her bishop to b5, capturing the pawn.

`!` Aegon realized his mistake, the bishop put his king in check. `No, it's still too early.` He moves his knight to d7, blocking the path of the bishop.

Dorna has castled queenside.

Aegon moves his rook to d8, protecting his most important piece with a barrier of rook, knight, queen, pawn, and bishop.

`That says a lot about his character, as a king and as a person` The princess took a sip of wine and made her next move, she moved her rook to d7, capturing a knight.

"As for why the king's piece is so restricted, it's pretty obvious." Dorna chuckles as she watches Aegon narrow his eyes before advancing his rook to d7, capturing her rook. "My grandson's words were: The king is meant to lead and command, not to fight on the front lines. The king's strength lies in the people who serve him, in his vassals and his armies."

The princess moves her remaining rook to d1.

Aegon was disturbed by the explanation, the idea that the king had no real power on his own terrified him.

`But is nothing new, my crown and throne are only pieces of metal, it is my name and the value others give to that name what makes me the most powerful man on the continent. I'm not the most martially fit, nor the smartest, but I am a Targaryen. A Targaryen... Many times I have questioned the value we place on lineage.

Dunk is a better man and knight than any other, he is the most honorable and loyal of all, and he was born in some corner of Flea Bottom not in some castle nor manor. If a man's origin matters so little, who says there isn't a peasant somewhere who would make a ten times better king than me? Or someone who would be a better warrior than Aemon the Dragonknight.

The smallfolk rarely get the chance to develop his talents, Dunk was lucky but he was one in millions.`

Aegon knows that his ideals, his dreams, are frowned upon by his vassals. Nobility regard smallfolk as little more than animals, to them commoners have little value and exist to be used. He wants to change that, he wants to create a world where everyone can become a knight or a scholar, where a commoner can sit on the Small council alongside a Lannister or Arryn as equals.

`Since my strength currently lies with those who oppose my dream, I must find power elsewhere.`

Aegon thinks of his ancestors, the Conqueror conquered Westeros with 5000 men and 3 dragons, Aegon I's army was practically decorative, his true power layed in the dragons. Dragons, that was the true power of the Targaryen dynasty. And if he-

The princess clears her throat.

"I don't think I put you in such a difficult position that you spend half a day thinking about your next move." Dorna jests.

Aegon blushes and turns his attention back to the chessboard.

"My apologies, princess." He moves his queen to e6.

Dorna moves her bishop to d7, putting his king in check.

"Now you can spend half a day thinking about your next move." she smirks.

Aegon chuckles and moves his knight to d7, capturing the bishop.

Dorna advances her queen to b8, putting Aegon back in check, he takes the opportunity to capture her queen. With a smirk he moves his knight to b8.

The princess doesn't bother to hide her smile.

"I believe this is Checkmate." She moves her rook to d8, trapping the enemy king between a rook and a bishop.

Aegon freezes and stares at the board with wide eyes, he looks at the rook and then at the bishop.

"That bishop..." he mutters, remembering when the princess put it on g5 earlier in the game. He looks at her in disbelief. "How many moves ago-"

"This game was over 8 moves ago." She responds with a sharky smile.

"I never stood a change." Recognizes Aegon after going over the moves in his mind.

"You did, once, but then decided to get in my way." Aegon knows that the princess is not referring to the game of chess.

"What do you want?"

The princess looks at him solemnly.

"I know you, dear cousin. I know how stubborn and obstinate you are. You won't change your mind, your obsession with these dragons of yours is stronger than any argument I could make. But I also know that you did not lose yourself in your dreams , you clearly see the storm ahead. I came here to tell you that I have decided to prepare my legions."

"Tell, not ask." For a ruler to gather their banners without the king's permission would be seen as a sign of rebellion.

"Tell." Confirm the princess.

Aegon opens his mouth but quickly closes it.

He has known Dorna since he was still a child, he still remembers when his great-aunt Daenerys held them both in her arms as she told them stories of past heroes. They were never particularly close but they always saw each other as family, Aegon knows her better than most and knows very well what Dorna's true ambition is.

`Dorne, everything for Dorne. The safety and prosperity of her kingdom is her highest priority. If the Iron Throne becomes a hazard for her kingdom... What will stop her from claiming independence?`

A few decades ago that question would not have been so terrifying, the wars against Daeron I Targaryen had decimated the Dornish population and wealth significantly. Exact numbers are hard to come by, Aegon doubts anyone even in Dorne knows, but many Maesters speculate that of the population 2.5 million, half a million, maybe more, perished. The vast majority were peasants killed by Daeron the Young Dragon's army, poor souls whose villages and towns were pillaged in search of provisions, or due to the great famine that occurred in those years.

With the Tyrells in control most of the trade ceased, which meant that the Dornishmen had to buy food from other kingdoms. Lyonel Tyrell went to great lengths to force the Dornishmen to buy food from his kingdom in order to enrich himself further. Being as greedy as he was, Lyonel overcharged up to five times the price. Pride doesn't feed the stomach so many Dornishmen agreed to buy from the Reach through gritted teeth.

The transaction was made, the gold paid, and it was the Tyrells' turn to fulfill their part, but Lyonel Tyrell did not plan the matter. He did not plan how to transport large amounts of food through the desert, transporting food to the population that lived on the coast or near the border with the Reach was easy but taking it to areas in the middle of the desert... The caravans advanced at the pace of snail on the desert roads and with the heat the food spoiled much faster.

Hundreds of thousands of Dornishmen starved to death, something that was neither forgotten nor forgiven. After regaining control, the Dornishmen made sure to make their oppressors pay, for every death, for every child, for every woman, and for every man. The deaths of the men of the Reach were the most painful, especially that of Lyonel Tyrell. Some say that his death lasted years, something that no one can verify since no Dornishman opened his mouth and the body was never found.

The great decline in the population as well as the wealth of the kingdom made it a low level threat as they would not be able to form a large army nor would they have the resources to sponsor such an army. With Dorne concentrating on recovering, the Iron throne did not see them as a threat, the victories of Daeron I had emboldened the inhabitants of the realms and the vast majority believed (and continues to believe) that Dorne is a weak kingdom that they could subjugate at any given moment (they don't bother to remember how many soldiers died in that conquest, and how little it lasted). With the marriage of Daeron II and Myriah Martell, Dorne no longer presented any threat; they were now an ally of the Iron Throne. Alliance that deepened even more with the marriage of Maron Martell and Daenerys Targaryen, with that union Dorne joined the Realms.

But that is not the case anymore.

Dorne's population has not only fully recovered, but is increasing at an unprecedented rate. The courtiers jeer and call them rabbits and other slurs. Comparing them with rabbits does not seem so farfetched, because according to information from the Master of Whisperers in the last five years more children have been born in Dorne than in all the other kingdoms combined. Not only that, given the increase in the wealth of the kingdom, these children are well fed and well cared for, and with the new sanitary and health practices, infant mortality dropped from 4 out of 10 children to 1 out of 20.

Aegon and his advisors predict that within fifty years the population of Dorne will equal that of the Reach (12 million).

In every way Dorne is becoming a power that could alone surpass the other kingdoms combined, in the future that is. An economic and technological power that will control the seas and trade routes.

The king knows it, he knows very well that antagonizing them is something they would end up paying dearly for.

`And she knows it well, if she were to declare the independence of Dorne my dynasty would be doomed.`

It would be easy for the Dornishmen to become independent. They would only have to blockade the Prince`s Pass and no army could enter Dorne by land. They have enough ships to fend off the Royal Fleet and besieging the kingdom would be pointless, with the revolution in Agriculture started by their golden prince they no longer depend on anyone when it comes to food.

`And if they were to become independent, what would prevent other kingdoms from following her example?`

Aegon can already see it, with Dorne gone other more ambitious kingdoms would see the opportunity to declare their own independence. The Iron Isles will be first, followed by the North. The next one will be the Vale. The only ones that would remain loyal would be Stormlands and the Reach. Stormlands by their ancestral alliance, plus Rhaelle Targaryen is married to the current Lord Baratheon. The Reach because the Tyrells do not have enough power to become independent, their position as rulers of the Reach is constantly being questioned by other houses and they depend on House Targaryens to maintain their position.

`Other houses could start a war against the Tyrells to claim their position, Hightower or Rowan most likely.`

Riverlands will try to stay neutral and take the side that benefits them the most. As for the Westerlands, Tytos is too weak to try to claim independence but the same couldn't be said for Tywin. That boy has a spine of steel and a cunning mind, his friendship with Aerys is quite fragile and Aegon saw dangerous ambition in those cat eyes...

`No, if Dorne becomes independent it will start a catastrophic web of events that will end with the doom of my House.`

All this without taking into account the threats from overseas.

Aegon feels his years crush him and he sighs wearily.

"Fine," the king finally answers. "Do it your way."

The princess, who had been looking out a window while the king was pondering, turns and looks at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I wasn't asking for permission." She says before getting up from the chair. "I've seen what I wanted to see, have a good day, Aegon."

She leaves the room and the king feels a chill run down his spine.

`Aegon? No titles or formalities, when was the last time she used just my name? It was when I was still Egg-`

That is not a good omen.

`No- Never mind, once I hatch those eggs my strength will be mine alone.` Aegon looks at the black king piece on the board, caught between a rook and a bishop, and takes it in his hands. He squeezes it in one hand until the points of the marble piece dig into his palm. `I will be a true dragon, I will fulfill my dreams and I will not be threatened, not by bastards from the east and much less by my own vassals!`

***

NOTE: Chapter 100!!!!! We are at approx 180k words!

It seemed appropriate to me that for this chapter to revolve around two of the most powerful leaders of the moment. It is a moment that I have been foreshadowing since the beginning of the novel; Aegon VS Dorna.

Unlike in the beginning Dorna no longer considers Aegon, their alliance, to be that important. Now she knows that Dorne can thrive on its own and even surpass the other kingdoms combined after a few generations. But the Blackfyre threat is serious and a civil war in the Realms would lead to a Blackfyre victory so Dorna has no plans to leave the Realms, for now.

FOR NOW, keywords.

The future is uncertain and who knows what will happen, the plans of the Princess of Dorne are only hers, not even her kids know.

Aegon himself is not a bad guy, he is a man who could have adapted quite well to the twentieth century (early), his mentality is very revolutionary but frowned upon by the nobility.