The Melee

Helaena couldn't help but feel an intense worry as she was escorted up to the royal box by Jace's sworn sword. She didn't understand why he was even joining in the first place, it was so dangerous and Jace had already been through enough as of late. Wouldn't it be better for him to relax? To take a moment to recover from what happened to him in Valyria. She had seen bits of what happened when she visited him, she had seen the monster that invaded his dreams. Even now it gave her shivers, the overwhelming darkness that had engulfed Jace's mind by the end of it. Jace had never told her what had happened to that monster, in fact he never really talked about Valyria at all.

She knew that she wasn't very bright and that her interests were slightly weird. But Jace had always said she was smarter than she thought and that there was beauty in the way she saw things. The years she was away from Jace were the worst of her life, she knew it wasn't his fault but she missed him terribly. Seeing him put himself in danger again, the idea that he could die and leave her forever. It was too painful for her to bear. She loved him, with all her heart, she knew she did.

Jace didn't know this of course, there was a moment when he had bought her that special bug that she was going to say it but they had been interrupted. She would tell him though, after the tournament she would tell him the truth. After that her father would hopefully be convinced to betroth them.

Helaena looked over to Daella, she was beautiful, much more so than she was, and she was also in love with Jace. Though how could she blame her, he had rescued her from a life where she would be forced to sell her body for gold, and they had both survived Valyria together. She loved Daella, she was a friend, and a sister that she had long wanted. It would hurt her when she found out that her and Jace would be marrying.

Daella turned to Helaena and smiled "Is everything okay?" She asked.

Helaena forced a smile in return. "It's fine," she replied.

She didn't know what to do.

...

Jace was glad he wore his great helm as the smells assaulting his senses were overwhelming. He understood not everyone could clean themselves often, but you'd think you'd at least make yourself as presentable as you can when you come to such a grand affair. The two men standing in front of him wore rusty armour that looked more iron than anything, the others wore leather that seemed to not fit them. 'Are these sellswords or brigands?' He thought to himself.

Though when he thought about it there wasn't much difference, one was paid and the other was not. He felt his blood rush with excitement as he got closer and closer, the matches were quick, it seemed skill level was not accounted for as some of the matches seemed pretty unbalanced. Jace looked over to the arena next to his and saw a fully armoured knight fighting against what looked like a farmer with a sword. It wasn't fair, but very little about this tournament would be. The ones with the better swords, the better armour, the better training, they would go through and those were usually knights and lords.

Jace heard the mumbling of a few in front saying how they hadn't banned the use of multiple weapons in this tournament. He raised his eyebrow at that, he hadn't even considered bringing another weapon, yet it was second nature to these men. 'I still have a lot to learn...' he thought to himself before stepping forward again. His turn was fast approaching, it was a shame he couldn't spot his opponent as the arena lifted too high off the ground.

"RAAAAAAHHH!"

Jace moved his head and stood up on his tip toes so he could see what was happening in the arena. A man one of the largest he'd seen, at least half a head taller than Hugh Hammer had caught his opponents sword hand, he then grabbed his head and lifted him up before smashing him down against the arena floor. He hadn't even unholstered his axe, he'd just caught the man's swing and overpowered him.

The man then stomped on his hand making his opponent scream out in pain. 'Was this really a melee?' Jace thought to himself. He had not seen many tournaments in his life but the ones he had seen were more about showcasing a persons skill of arms, whether it be the sword, the mace, the axe. This seemed more like a mockery of a melee. Though when he thought about it more, the King had said he wanted this one to be different, different from the boring Melees they usually did.

Jace took his meaning to mean that of the blood melee, not the actual melee itself. He'd need to be more careful.

In the royal box where Helaena had just finished being chided by her mother she looked out to the different fights that were occurring and she frowned. "Are they normally this violent?" She asked.

Both Aegon and Aemond snorted at her question causing her to look down at her feet with her cheeks burning.

"I wondered the same thing King Viserys," Princess Aliandra asked coming to Helaena's defence. She was sat next to Helaena and Daella and had saw how embarrassed she was.

"Right you are Princess Aliandra, I thought it may be interesting to change the rules for this melee," Viserys said with a wide toothy smile.

"Oh what rule changes did you enact?" Prince Qoren asked, his curiosity piqued.

"No rule changes, there are just no rules," Viserys said before laughing.

"Use your fists, use a bow, use two swords, even bring a damn horse, there are no limitations!" Viserys shouted out proudly. In the corner his brother Daemon smirked, he was one of the few people who knew what Jace was doing, he thought it would be quite interesting to see how he handled this. The wise thing to do would be to forfeit, but Jace was too young to be wise, he'd do the entertaining thing, at least entertaining for Daemon.

The Rogue Prince moved his seat from the corner until he got a good view of the area. "Finally taking an interest I'm surprised," Rhaenyra said as she sat next to her husband Laenor who held their youngest son on his lap.

"I think this'll be quite an interesting Melee," he replied, his gaze not turning away from the arena.

Meanwhile Helaena felt like she'd just been thrown in cold water. 'No rules!' She thought to herself, had her father been afflicted with some form of madness. Her gaze then travelled to an arena where she watched a huge man grab and smash his opponent down onto the floor before stomping on him. "Does that include allowing death father?" She asked her voice cracking slightly.

"Mmm," Viserys hummed as he turned to her. "Oh yes death is very much on the table, it's why I've decided to change the prize and raise it to 80,000 gold dragons," he said.

"You could buy yourself quite a bit of land and an impressive house built on it with such a purse, no wonder there are so many competitors," Princess Aliandra said with her eyes wide.

"Most of them won't even make it past the first round," Aegon said with a snort.

There were quite a few of the small folk joining the melee, some didn't even have swords and were carrying pitchforks or daggers. While the rest of them found it entertaining, Helaena and Daella found it sad, what their lives must be like for them to risk it so brazenly.

"Do not feel sad for them little ladies," Edryck whispered from behind.

"How can we not, so many will die today," Daella said as she squeezed her hands together.

"They will, but while some may be there because they have no choice, most are down there because they have a dream," he replied.

"A dream?" Helaena said with her eyebrows creased.

Edryck nodded. "Everyman at one point in their life dreams of being the strongest in the world," he said.

"For nearly all it won't happen, but when you're down there on the arena and you have just beaten your opponent, the crowd cheers for you, it's the closest most men get to that dream. And I have to admit there is no other feeling that can compare," he explained with a wistful smile.

"Will he be okay?" Helaena whispered her eyes wide and full of concern.

Edrycks smile widened "If he can't win against this lot then I'll probably cry and drink myself to sleep tonight."

Those weren't the comforting words Helaena hoped to hear, but they were better than nothing. "Do you know where he is?" She whispered again.

"Arena 4," he replied. How Edryck knew this she didn't know, but when she looked she couldn't find him. 'He must not be on yet,' she thought. Though when the next match was finished she could see someone who was pretty short, but not enough for it to be suspicious walk onto the arena. Her eyes widened as she realised it must be him.

Down in the arena Jace gave his slip to a man by the stairs, if he won then he'd receive another stamp and if he lost it would be burnt. His heart beat fast as he walked up the steps of the arena, he needed six stamps to go into the finals. This was the beginning for him, he would win, he wouldn't let his training be for nought.

As he stepped onto the platform he saw his opponent do the same. His opponent was clearly a sellsword, he wore leather but wore a steel breastplate, he was maybe a head taller than Jace was. He wore no helmet, and had nothing to defend his legs. 'He's likely fast,' Jace thought to himself. He'd learnt that most people tried to capitalise on their strengths, if he wore no armour around his legs it meant he was confident he wouldn't be hit there. 'Or he can't afford it,' Jace thought again.

"Fighters ready!" The announcer for their arena shouted out.

Jace quickly drew his sword, he'd forgotten how fast paced these were. He must've looked ridiculous as he nearly stumbled taking his sword out. Another thing he found strange as he had not been offered a blunted training sword, so he had brought his own.

The man across from him laughed as he drew out his own short sword that he held in a low stance. "Give it up boy you're as green as they come, I don't want to have to soil my boots in your blood!" He spat out with a grin showing yellow crocked teeth.

Jace frowned but he did not reply, his voice hadn't broken yet and he imagined his high pitched voice wouldn't make him look any better.

"FIGHT!"

The man rushed towards Jace who squared his footing, he carried he sword on his right side when he ran, limiting the angles he could swing. Jace prepared to counter whatever swing or thrust he'd throw at him, only he did neither of those. Jace's eyes widening as he jumped forward and kicked him straight in the chest force the air out of his lungs and making him role back.

The man laughed at him as he raised his sword and brought it down, Jace rolled out of the way and then lunged into a forward roll to gain some distance, but it wasn't much as it seemed his analysis was correct about the man and he valued his speed. He was upon Jace just as the boy turned around, his sword thrusting forward, Jace pivoted on his feet while slashing his sword downwards which parried his sword off.

'That's not a training blade...' Jace thought to himself. His shock was only to his detriment however as the sellsword managed to punch him in the face which rung his ears as he stumbled back. Jace cursed himself before ducking under breath a backslash, he then lunged forward under neath the man's arm before shouldering him, despite his small size he was able to unbalance the man. Jace then spun with his sword and hit his wrist with his sword which caused him to grunt in pain and drop his sword.

He was such an idiot, how could he not realise the whole melees rules must've been changed. Edryck definitely knew, and he didn't tell him on purpose, likely to teach him a lesson. 'I'll need to get a real sword after this,' he thought to himself.

Jace watched as the man's sword clattered to the ground. Jace put the sword against the man's neck and in the deepest voice he could muster he said. "Yield."

The man was in shock at one moment, then he looked at Jace's blade and laughed. "Yield to a fucking training blade, like fuck," he said before grabbing the blade with his hand and yanking it. Jace couldn't overpower a grown man so he had to let go, instead he moved over to the man's sword intent on using it, but he kicked it out of reach. The sellsword then drew a dagger and launched at him from the ground, Jace avoided it and slipped behind him. He may be fast but Jace was faster, and he couldn't stop him from getting his original training blade back just in time to parry another strike.

The man roared as he swung at Jace and tried to lunge at him, but Jace kept himself calm and collected as he used his swords longer reach to keep him at bay. A training blade it may be but it was still a piece of steel, one that would hurt if hit with. Which the man soon discovered when he tried to use his arm to block a slash from Jace.

"AAAHG!" He screamed as he held his arm. Jace followed through with a move Maegor had taught him. He pushed off his right foot then his left, then he let his hips twist before he pushed back off his right foot. His sword whistled through the air before it connected with the man's head.

Like a puppet with his strings cut the man collapsed to the floor. He'd been knocked out cold by the strike, there was also a line of blood trailing down his face, training blade or not that was a hard strike and Jace had managed to cut a deep groove.

"Winner: Mystery Knight!"

The man announced before ushering him off the platform. Before he left however he picked up the man's short sword. "Hope you don't mind," he said to the unconscious form before leaving. He took a deep breath as he stepped off the stage, he'd won his first match, it felt great. Though there were a few things he was disappointed in himself at.

"Here you have your first stamp go down to arena 5 for your next match," the man said as he handed him back his slip.

Jace nodded before taking it and walking to the next arena over, he needed a drink, his mouth felt like he'd just eaten one of Vermax's scales. "Hey poncy prick!" A voice called from the stands. Jace turned his head and his eyes widened when he saw Sara standing behind a wooden barrier with a large grin on her face.

He made his way over to her. "I thought you'd be in the box," he said.

Sara shrugged. "Too fancy for my tastes, they even have little gold forks to eat fruit with... bleh," she said sticking her tongue out.

Jace chuckled from behind his helmet. "I'll make sure you're on the upper dais for the feast tomorrow," he said.

Sara punched him gently in the chest. "You better bloody not," she said though she was still smiling.

"How'd you know it was me up there?" Jace asked.

Sara snorted "The size, quality of armour, the fact you're the only one here who has a training sword."

"Okay okay I get it," Jace said interrupting her.

"The way you fight like you've got a stick up your arse," she added.

Jace pushed shoved her but she was already giggling. "Here," she said as she reached down and handed him a cup.

"What's this?" He asked as he tilted his helmet up slightly.

Sara shrugged. "A juice made from a fruit in Essos, it tastes good though, I imagine you're thirsty," she said.

Jace tilted it and drank deeply from it nearly gulping down the whole thing. "That is good..." Jace said with a sigh. Fighting for real took up a lot more energy than sparring, it must be the excitement or the risk involved but when he'd finished he was parched.

"Sorry for drinking your drink," he said with a sheepish smile. He said as he handed the mug back to her.

Surprisingly her cheeks started to darken as a smile spread across her face. "You'll have to treat me to one later then," she said.

Jace smiled. "Gladly, but for now I could use a squire," he said as he fisted a couple gold coins from his pocket.

"A woman as your squire? How scandalous," she said dramatically.

"Well I only accept the best, think you can handle it," Jace said as he leaned forward on the barrier.

"I'm not sure you can afford me my lord," she replied as she leant forward as well.

"I don't know... I am pretty poncy," he said with a grin.

"How poncy?" Sara asked, her face warming and her eyes flickering slightly.

"Probably the ponciest person here... with a few exceptions," he said looking at the box.

Sara giggled, it was different from her usual laughs, Jace liked the sound of it. 'She really is pretty,' Jace thought to himself. Not in the same way Helaena and other Targaryens were. Hers was different, but no less alluring.

Sara flicked his helmet "Come on my Lord, you better get to your next match, while your humble squire goes and gets your something to eat," she said as she grabbed the gold from his hand and walked off though her hand did linger for a moment before she took the gold.

Jace smiled before pulling the helmet back down and heading to arena 5 where there was a shorter queue than before. Standing in line he didn't have to wait long before he was on the platform with his next opponent. This one was a bit more disappointing, it was a bit maybe fifteen name days, he was strong but the muscle was built from plowing fields not swinging the sword. Speaking of, in his hands was not a sword but a axe, well saying to was an axe would be generous, it was more like a hatchet. How he had gotten to the second round was a mystery to Jace, but considering he was he wouldn't underestimate him.

"Fighters ready!"

Jace drew out his borrowed sword and tensed the muscles in his legs as he got ready to rush the lad, he'd take initiative this time.

"FIGHT!"

Jace rushed forward closing the distance before them at a fast pace. His opponent didn't look too shocked in fact he didn't look like he was going to defend himself at all. Jace got closer and closer until the boy drew his arm back like he was going to swing, and then he threw his axe. Jace's eyes widened and he barely avoided the thrown axe as he dived forward.

When he was on the floor he heard the boy scream and charge him with a dagger. This must've been his strategy, pretty dirty but no less effective and in this tournament definitely something that could trick a knight. Jace quickly got to his knees and slammed the flat of his blade into the boys knee, the boy helped and fell over but he still tried to grab Jace and stab him.

Jace grabbed the side of his wrist and pushed it to the side as he held the sword against his neck.

"I yield!" The boy screamed.

"Winner: Mystery Knight"

Jace sighed as he let go and started walking off the stage. He couldn't lie he was slightly disappointed with the melee thus far, despite the fact he'd almost lost the first bout it wasn't because of his swordplay. That's what he truly wished to test, otherwise how could he improve as a swordsman. Though he supposed it was good in a way that he was fighting a good variety of fighters, he'd gotten too used to fighting Cregan and Edryck.

Receiving his slip he headed to arena 6 where he once again stood in line. He wondered where Cregan was, he must've been equally as disappointed as he was. He wasn't worried about his friend, Cregan was older and stronger than he was, he'd do fine in this melee.

Not long later Jace was on the platform for his third fight. This one looked promising, he was a knight of the emblem was any indication, he had a long sword and wore pretty fancy armour. Based on the colours he'd guess he was somewhere from the Reach, the land of knights and flowers.

"Fighters Ready!"

Jace drew his sword, this would be a real fight against someone who'd been training for years. Jace smiled underneath his helmet, he wanted to fight, he wanted to win.

"FIGHT!"

Jace moved forward though he was more cautious this time. The knight in front of him was wearing full plate armour, his sword wasn't the best quality so he'd need to aim for the gaps in the armour. Jaces sword was also shorter than his meaning he'd need to get closer, not ideal when the man was a couple times stronger.

Jace rushed the last couple of metres and swung his sword in a diagonal slash, one the man parried off before transitioning into his own slash. Jace pivoted out of the way, he tried to knock his helmet with the handle of his sword but he barely scraped it. 'I can't wait to grow,' he thought to himself before he had to jump back as the knight thrust his sword forward, though he wasn't done there as he brought his sword up into an overhead strike, Jace managed to parry it off but the power in the strike tripped him up. The knight went to take advantage by stepping on his legs, but Jace rolled back onto his feet before crouching down and lunching forward into a roll, moving behind the knight.

Lots of armour meant slow, meaning Jace was able to recover from his roll and slash his back, though only the sound of metal scratching sounded out. 'Full plate... resistant to slashes,' he thought right before the knight back handed him which rattled his head. He hoped Sara didn't see that, she'd definitely be laughing her arse off; he'd been so used to fighting enemies without full plate that the attack was just instinctual.

"Surrender Ser, I shan't give you another chance," the knight boomed from behind his helmet.

Jace recovered from the ringing in his ears before gripping his sword tightly. "I thank you Ser, but the only way I'll leave this arena is if I'm being carried out," Jace said deeply from behind his helmet.

"Commendable," the Knight said before continuing the fight.

His slashes were fast and his thrusts strong, but Jace managed to dance around the knight while slowly causing damage himself. They entered long clashes where Jace was able to fend off multiple strikes while striking at his elbow joints and hitting underneath his arms. Jace was getting tired though he wasn't as tired as the man before him, moving in full plate armour must've been exhausting if you're constantly fighting.

Jace stepped forward he held the flat of his sword against his arm as he deflected a thrust he then swung his blade towards the man's helmet which made a loud ringing sound, though the man as professional as he was didn't drop his sword, he slashed out as Jace managing to cut a light gash into his arm. Jace through his sword into his left hand before bringing it down on the man's wrist, the sword fell out of his grasp. Jace then stepped forward putting his foot behind the man and shoving with all his strength.

The man fell to the ground with Jace above him holding his sword to his neck.

"I yield..." the knight said as he panted beneath his helmet.

"Winner: Mystery Knight"

"I'm sorry..." Jaden said as he tried helping the man up.

"What for lad, you won quite splendidly as well," he said as the larger man got to his feet.

"I didn't win because of my skill, I won because I outlasted you, that's not a true win," Jace said quite disappointed in himself.

The knight laughed however. "An enemy won't say that to you on the battlefield, nor will you be concerned about to when you've fought in a true death battle."

He then clapped Jace on the shoulder. "One should always aim to improve themselves, winning with honour is good, winning with skill is better, however winning is still winning, the lessons you take away from this fight will stick with you I hope," the knight said.

Jace nodded. "They will," he replied.

"Good, now go and I wish you luck in your next matches," he said as he started to walk off the platform.

Jace did the same retrieving his slip and heading towards the next arena. The next few fights were less exciting than his bouts with the nights. First he had another sellsword that used two axes rather than swords, he was interesting to say the least. Though in the end he relied on speed, and since Jace was faster he lost. The next fight he had was against a lords son who had a good sword and good armour but he lacked the true aggression needed to fight, something that Jace had in common, though he'd been developing it throughout the day.

He had five stamps and he was finally at his last arena. After this he would either go back to the box or he would be going into the blood melee tomorrow. When he moved onto the platform he found it strange as his opponent not only had a sword, but a bow as well. In fact he had quite a few weapons on him. He was dressed in dark leather armour with only a few places enhanced with steel.

Up in the box both Edryck and Daemon frowned as they saw Jace's next opponent. In fact Edryck moved closer to the balcony so he could watch closer. Helaena noticed this and she moved up from her chair to follow him. "Is there something wrong," she asked as he looked up at the dornishman.

"He's not a regular warrior," Edryck whispered back.

"What do you mean? What is he?" Helaena asked.

"He's an assassin," Daemon said as he joined both of them. Despite the worry in his eyes he still had a smirk on his face. Meanwhile Edryck was trying to decide whether or not he should get involved, Jace had explicitly ordered him not to, but his opponent would be aiming for the kill.

"Leave him," Daemon said cutting the man out of this thoughts.

"He hasn't fought anyone like that before," Edryck said.

"It'll be good for him then," Daemon said.

"Not if he's dead," Edryck replied.

"Dead!" Helaena said loudly prompting both men to shush her.

"He will be fine, Jace has survived much worse," Daemon said trying to reassure her but doing a piss poor job.

Edryck didn't say anything and only looked to the arena hoping that Daemon was right.

"Fighters Ready!"

Jace got his sword out, if the man had a bow he would need to close the distance between them quickly.

"FIGHT!"

(AN: Here we go, the first part of the melee, I think I'll do three parts for it. The third being the actual blood melee. After that will be the joust and after that will be the ending to the arc which has already been hinted at. What is Maester Orwyle doing???? Anyway I'm starting to develop the romance, I can only really base this off my own experience, when did you guys start noticing girls? For me it was around that time. Anyway hope you enjoyed the chapter.)

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