Chapter 7: The House of Dragons

Rhaegar let out a grunt as his waist was tightened with white bandages dipped in peppermint oil. It was supposed to bring down pain and he hoped that it would work because he was having a lot of pain from his ribs. Apparently, taking a full-blown kick from a grown man while wearing chainmail was a bad idea. That was a lesson he took to his heart and he would not repeat the same mistake ever again if he could help it.

At the same time on his left hand, a wound was packed in with bandages and some honey. These measures would do so for now before they could reach the safety of Tumbleton.

"How're you feeling, my prince?" asked Baelium sporting a concerned frown on his face.

"I think you were going easy on the training yard. That bandit kicked me with enough force that I nearly saw heaven." said Rhaegar and groaned painfully when he tried to adjust his position on the bed.

Well, it was bound to be painful considering he was lying on top of a type of bed that looked hardly anything like a bed. It was just a pile of clothes on the ground and on top of that he was lying down recovering from last night's ordeal.

"We are so sorry my prince. We don't have anything better for you to lie down." said Polts the fisherman with shame. It was the same fisherman that Rhaegar had befriended in the village yesterday. He was glad the man survived.

"Oh no. You and your family have been gracious hosts to me Polts." He reassured the fisherman who had little in his life and had yet shared what he had with all of them.

Despite his efforts, the man looked like he was horribly embarrassed in his supposed failure in treating royalty. To distract the man Rhaegar latched on to the other members of Polts.

"Introduce me to your family Polts."

That excited the fisherman who pulled his children forward.

"My eldest son, Colts." The fisherman introduced an older boy that looked like he was old enough to twenty. A well-rounded face greeted him with an awkward smile and Rhaegar, in turn, gave a small smile.

"Well met."

"Then my youngest son Dols." said Polts pushing a young boy of seven. The young boy was so shy that his cheeks and ears were red. Although, that was preferable to the black soot covering the boy's hands and face.

"Are you really a prince?" asked the young boy only to receive admonishments from his father and brother.

Looking at the innocent face of Dols made him think about his own younger brother Maegor. Last night he had nearly died and when the bandit had kicked him down the first face that sprang to his mind was of Maegor. Perhaps it was his subconscious mind trying to communicate something to him. He shook those thoughts away for the time being and smiled at the young boy. He beckoned him closer and he waved off the apologies from the rest of the family.

"If anybody should doubt when you say that you met a prince show them this." said Rhaegar as he handed Dols his own silver ring that had the insignia of House Targaryen.

"My prince you shouldn't have to do that." said Pols

"And yet I have done so. I do have a brother of a similar age and children no matter their birth ought to be treated as children." said Rhaegar as he patted Dols on his head. The small boy was staring at the ring in utter fascination and happiness. At that moment he wished he had something truly useful he could gift to the family.

"We ought to move to Tumbleton today my prince." Interjected Baelium

"Oh! I had hoped we could stay for a day."

"Not with your condition and that of the men. In the castle, the wounds could be treated properly. Besides we would be imposing on the people of this village."

"You are right. The people of this village have enough problems to worry about." He said thoughtfully. "So when are we going?"

"I was hoping we could move by noon. It will give us time to treat those who are seriously wounded and gives our men some resting time." Belgium suggested.

"Hmm. That's alright then. I suppose we move at noon." Rhaegar assented before frowning at his sworn shield. "Where is Ser Addison?"

"Overseeing the men and burying the dead." said Baelium

"Oh. How many did we lose and what about the villagers?" asked Rhaegar with a grimace.

"We count three men, my prince. The death toll among the Smallfolk is not certain. We are looking for survivors and we have to search for the burnt houses to get an exact number."

Rhaegar closed his eyes and prayed for those poor souls. He didn't pray to any god but just made a wish that their souls would rest in peace. He was someone who derided prayer and religious apparatuses in his world but lately he had found some peace of mind in praying. He knew that he was outsourcing his issues to an imaginary omniscient being in the sky. When faced with the kind of shit that he went through even a staunchest atheist would find solace in religion. Already he could feel a headache settle in as his rational mind argued with his irrational faith using logic and cold hard facts.

"Let me get some rest Ser Baelium. Will you be joining Ser Addison?" he asked as he briefly disengaged from his thoughts with his eyes closed.

"I will stay by your side, my Prince. A moment I am away you managed to injure yourself. It is a failure on my part and I am not keen on making that same mistake again." said Ser Baelium with a huff.

Rhaegar could feel that the knight was trying to cheer him up with some banter but he had no wit to spent after last night's events. The blood and gore nauseated him and thinking about that incident forced him to relive those events. It was hard to take those sensations out and for some reason, each moment of last night's battle was imprinted in his conscious with stark clarity.

Till last night he had never thought a battlefield would feel like that. He felt dirty and no matter what he felt that feeling would not go away.

Till yesterday he had never killed anyone in his life. He had not even killed an animal to his knowledge. Even when he stayed in King's Landing he had not harmed any animals. He knew that he was expected to kill or maim another living being when the situation called for it. When he decided to seek out the bandits he thought he would be ready but he was not.

He had thought that he would be killing the worst criminals and would bring justice to those who were suffering. He didn't feel he committed justice last night.

No! What he did last night was murder. And through that murder, he contributed to justice.

He killed a bandit who was hell-bent on killing a lot of people for his pleasure. By killing those bandits he stopped any future victims of that bandit. That was the only significant achievement of last night's events. He also most likely saved this village from annihilation. But in the process, he felt he became a part of something and he wasn't sure whether that was something he could live with.

He wished he could just fall asleep because closing his eyes was not only proving to be ineffective but it was contributing to making him queasy. He felt as if blood was sticking on to his hands and itched to wash it away. A portion of his mind argued that his hands were clean but his senses were not agreeing with that thought.

It was confusing and it was scary. He was a bundle of emotions and he doesn't know what he was going to do about it. But one thing he could agree on was that if he had the chance he would murder the one responsible for sending him into this world. He didn't care if it was gods, an ASB or the bloody Easter Bunny. He was going to kill that bloody thing even if it was the last thing he would do.

*******

"Your grace, a raven arrived from Tumbleton." said Maester Gorme

Aegon accepted the scroll of parchment from the Maester who was a travelling companion in his procession.

Your grace,

We have succeeded in routing out the bandits within the time you graciously allowed. The Prince personally slew the bandit leader, the self-proclaimed Black Septon. We lost three Crownlanders in the battle but managed to save a village from the vices of the bandits. We resume our journey on first light.

-Ser Addison Hill

"I see. It seems my son has dealt with these bandits." said Aegon as a proud smile blossomed on his face.

"Your grace. Shall I oversee the arrangements you asked for?"

"Yes… Yes, indeed Maester Gorme. Do see to those arrangements." said Aegon distractedly never taking his eyes off from the piece of parchment in his hand.

The Maester moved away in a hurry to carry out his orders and he finally took his eyes away from the parchment distracted by his son's dragon taking to the sky. He watched as the aptly named Starfyre glide through the sky perhaps in reflection of Rhaegar's success. Dragons have been known to be extremely intelligent and empathic with its riders.

He had hoped his son's hunt for the bandits to bear some fruit. But he never imagined that Rhaegar would kill the bandit leader. This made his plans all the more effective and simpler.

Aegon had come to realize that dragons alone won't be enough to control the seven kingdoms. Visenya had warned him of this fact even before he launched his conquest and at that time he had dismissed her concerns. The battle of Gulltown and his disastrous attempt to conquer Dorne had proven the wisdom in his sister's warnings.

To his defence the consecutive victories he enjoyed against Harren the Black and the combined Lannister-Gardner armies had emboldened him. He had even tried to use diplomacy with Dorne for a unification. It was only when those efforts failed he went for war despite Visenya's concerns. On doing so he lost Rhaenys and her fall shattered the invincibility of dragons.

He proved that what happened to Meraxes was a lucky shot by burning Dorne to the ground in the following year. Despite that, the Dornish war revealed dragons can be killed in battle. Not only did he failed to conquer Dorne he also made his vassals question his authority. He had Dorne on the ropes and he was determined to wipe out the Dornishmen completely but his vassals forced him to pull back the armies and abandon his dream of a unified Westeros.

He had miscalculated the resolve of the Dornish and the troops of his vassals paid their price. It was then that he saw the inherent weakness in his power. He had no blood relation or economic dominance over his vassals and hence he couldn't hope to control them indefinitely with the threat of Dragonfire. This had let him know that House Targaryen had to ingrain themselves into the local culture to generate goodwill among his vassals and the people of his realm.

To that end, he began a rapprochement with the Faith hoping to generate goodwill by showing his deference to the Seven. Although, that was a half measure as he knew that the polygamy and incest practised by his House were seen in a bad light. But that would not matter with Aenys marrying a Velaryon.

He had tried to build better relationships with other lords like Edmyn Tully whom he even named as his Hand. But all of those measures were not as effective in generating respect and loyalty toward House Targaryen. One of the crowning achievements of his reign was that he managed to generate goodwill among the Lords of Crownlands and the Narrow Sea. His Small Council was filled with lords from these two regions.

But this was not enough in his opinion and he realised he would always be limited in his efforts to promote loyalty from the lords of Reach, Westerlands, Stormlands, North and Vale. Even the Riverlords who should have felt a spark of loyalty for his aid in saving them from the yoke of the Ironborn were unreliable. He didn't even make an effort to cultivate loyalty from the Ironborn. Those pirating lunatics were inconsequential for his plans in building a better kingdom.

Where he failed he thought that his children might succeed. He was painfully aware of his heir's limitations. But Rhaegar was whom his hopes and dreams of a better unified Westeros rested on. When the time came Maegor would also join Rhaegar and with three heads the House of Dragons will achieve wonders.

He was sure of it and that's why he gave certain leeway to his second-born son. Rhaegar was smart and was skilled in befriending people. His son had the natural charisma to make friends and his benign nature made people trust Rhaegar.

Aegon could already see a bright future of his legacy. Aenys would take over as King in his place. Rhaegar will be by his brother's side being the one to attract attention and loyalty from the lords and the people of the realm similar to Rhaenys. Maegor would grow to be a warrior that would make the enemies of House Targaryen tremble replacing Visenya.

And thus the history of Westeros will be changed by three dragons. His dream may not come true in his lifetime but he will ensure that his legacy will complete the dream. The dream of a unified Seven Kingdoms growing under the shadow of three heads of the Dragon.

All of that will come to pass but first, the tale of Rhaegar has to be spread. His son may be smart but he will need help to spread his influence. As of this moment, bards will sing songs of Rhaegar's bravery. He will ensure every corner of his kingdom will hear of Rhaegar's victory over the bandits. This will not be the first but it will be a start and he had learned the valuable lesson in starting small.

Aegon looked at the rising sun from atop the Stonebridge across the Mander. He would wait for his son to reach Stonebridge and by then he was sure the tales of his son's bravery would spread. He smiled in satisfaction at the rising sun and let the wind carry the parchment into the clean waters of the Mander.