4
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111 AC
Dragonstone
Daeron Nymeros Martell
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Three days, it took three days of feeding the dragon one time a night before it pressed its nose against my brother's chest. Soon they were off into the air and I was thankful as the sheep farmer got smart and left a dog out today from what I can see. He likely would not do that if he thought it was Sheepstealer so he is on to 'something' and left the dog to alert him.
It's midday and I am just sneaking around and hunting fish to survive, Bear Grylls would be proud of me.
I can remain nice and cool by freezing some water and laying my sleeping roll down on top of it and relaxing like that during the heat of the day. Similar to what I do in Dorne, freezing a pond and laying furs across it to rest in comfort.
I haven't been all lazy, since Lewyn didn't need my help constantly I have been scouting caves and eventually found a dragon. Well, two dragons that did not appreciate my company when their growls threatened to bust my eardrums. A bronze a bit bigger than Sheepstealer and a silver a bit smaller than Sheepstealer, both seemed to not like my presence.
Vermithor and Silverwing are my last resort, if I can not find something in a few more days I will try to claim one of them but I am unsure of the success. I think Vermithor will just burn me on sight, his last rider disliked my mom and probably hated me so it makes sense. I have a few more sections of the Volcano to check that are accessible that I will search and see what I can find. If I don't find anything else I will try to claim Silverwing.
Good Queen seemed to be nice and loved her daughter, maybe her dragon will not want to see me burned alive.
Hopefully.
But for now, I will eat my fish and relax before I go climbing again and hopefully find something more accepting of my presence.
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111 AC
Dorne - Sunspear
Lewyn Nymeros Martell
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Flying all night and into the next afternoon I finally spot Sunspear, dragons are much faster than I expected. It is quite the challenge to guide Sheepstealer but the annoyance of having to fix the flight path every now and then is overshadowed by the thrill. I am high in the sky looking down onto the world and it seems so much smaller from here.
I smile thinking about my brother who is likely still hunting around back on Dragonstone, he was so excited his eyes seemed to glow like they sometimes do. When I mounted Sheepstealer I don't think I have ever seen such a wide smile on his face just before we took to the sky.
""Land!"" I shout and the dragon dips its head and holds its wings out gliding in toward Sunspear.
I wonder how many people are seeing this and freaking out?
I spot the grey dragon who we guessed is Grey ghost resting in one of the palace yards curled up like a cat. The grey dragon raises its head and sends out a warning noise as Sheepstealer gets closer.
""Land on the other side!"" I pray my words are understood as we get closer to the palace and Sheepstealer starts flapping its wings hard to come to a stop.
Sheepstealer feet hit the ground and then the joint of the wing where the claws are hits next almost sending me off the back. I hold onto a spike Infront of me for dear life as I get tossed around. The dragon goes still after lowering its chest to the ground and I look around and see we are in a different yard within the palace and start climbing down.
""Where are you even going to stay? I have no idea how we will keep you in the palace you take up the entire training yard."" A rumble in Sheepstealer's chest brings a smile to my face as I climb down with the help of its wing.
It takes me longer than I would like to admit to get to the ground and by the time I do I see my sister and mother standing at the entrance to the training yard. I wave and walk toward them before hearing Sheepstealer move behind me and I turn to see the nose of the dragon. A massive head that could easily swallow me if the mouth was open, yet I only feel excited and no fear.
""I am going to see my family, I will see about getting some sheep brought to you so go ahead and rest after that flight."" The already small sheep population in Dorne will plummet, we will have to have some brought in and bred just for my mount.
"You did it!" Myriah squeals in excitement before she jumps at me with her arms wide causing me to catch her in a hug.
"I did, it was surprisingly easy once we started tossing sheep at the hungry glutton." She giggles into my chest before breaking the hug and looking at the massive brown dragon who has already closed its eyes.
"That dragon is Sheepstealer if I am right, it is one of the biggest still alive with only two or three being bigger. I think so at least, Vermithor is younger if I remember right but is around this size, and above them is Vhagar and the Cannibal who is hard to get an estimate on. Cannibal stays to itself and as its name states and eats other dragons so no one tries to search for it and instead tends to give it a wide birth." Mom hugs me while telling me everything she remembers about the dragons, the proud smile makes my heart feel light.
"Where is father?" She snorts and looks over her shoulder.
"He was coming with us before he had to run off to tell the men not to try and shoot the scorpions at the massive dragon descending. Grey ghost snuck in so quietly that almost no one saw him until Myriah was dragging me out to the yard to see her 'partner'." I see my sister nod while holding a hand on her chest.
"It was the most fun I ever had, it took me two days to fly here with Grey ghost getting anxious every time we would pass over a large castle. I had to talk with him for quite a while but he eventually got comfortable landing in Sunspear but only lets me come to feed him. He has only flown off one time to go get food on his own but was back in a few hours and has slept a lot." I am about to ask if they have any ideas where they will stay at when I see my dad approaching.
"You managed to get a big one!" His excitement is clear even from the distance and I am surprised to not see any of his faithful guards.
They are probably giving the dragons as much space as possible, mom and Myriah have dragon blood so Sheepstealer is ignoring them. I would expect that to change if some spearmen all flooded out into the yard to get a look at the dragon.
"What about Daeron?" Myriah suddenly asks before I can speak up again and I shrug.
"He found what he thinks are Silverwing and Vermithor but got growled at in a very uninviting way so he said he will scout around a bit more before he goes for one of them. He is hoping to find one where he won't get killed trying to approach it and in his mind, Vermithor looked ready to burn him." I know he is not one to get scared easily so if he is backing off it is probably right.
"I see, well let's hope he will arrive soon on his own and does not get caught on that island. I am certain word will reach King Viserys within a day if it has not already. The first thing he will do is try and look into which dragons are missing and they will search the island." I purse my lips and wonder if I should have waited with him but he seemed confident on his own.
If he is not here in a day or two I will fly back and look for him, I want to try and get a saddle made up even if it's a temporary one that won't last.
"I need a saddle, the sooner the better and I need to find out how they guide the dragons other than with Valyrian. It is hard to shout for hours to go left or right and the dragon gets bothered by it as well." My sister nods in agreement and my dad gives a sly smile.
"I already have some of the best saddle makers I could find and even managed to hire a dragon keeper from Kingslanding in advance almost a year back. I was preparing for this day but didn't expect you three to run off on your own." His sly look turns serious and I feel the sweat on my back go cold.
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111 AC
Dragonstone
Daeron Nymeros Martell
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Stumbling through a massive cave I found something that sent a shock through my body and it wasn't because of the Shimmer for once.
In front of me is a carving on the wall, in my own mind it can only be the carvings of the children of the forest. The cave entrance was high on the Dragonmont and looked nothing like the one in the show but that can easily be explained like most differences I have seen.
The carvings have a rich history of conflict and men and giants along with the children uniting together. A man with a glowing white sword managed to kill a blue-eyed pale skinned man and the rest ran away. The wall was built and the children started to be hunted once the mutual threat was gone. But they managed to carve a warning of the blue-eyed men returning and men and giants and children of the forests once more joining to fight.
A key difference in these carvings is the addition of dragons flying above the 'alliance of the living' with a silver hair rider on its back.
Showing this to someone obsessed with prophecy like Viserys would likely have him go completely mad. He would cut the stomach of the woman he loves open to get a son he saw in a dream. This world leans heavily on the show from what I have seen and I imagine that event will happen the same way unless I try to intervene but before I can I need a dragon.
With a dragon I have a voice to use anywhere I go, the voice of the Prince of Dorne is not loud enough. I need the voice of a dragon rider that they will want to hear out instead of ignore or fight, Viserys is known for peace anyway so I expect it to go well as long as I get a dragon of my own like my siblings.
I care not for the prophecy of the new long night, it won't happen in my life so it is not a priority and instead I will focus on my own goals. I can set some things up to have the 'realms of men' in a better position but I won't go out of my way and slave after a cause I won't even see bloom in my life.
I hear a crunch under my boot and look down and lift my foot to investigate the odd sound, I see an odd 'scaled' stone. Leaning down I grab a piece and crumble it in my hand and my mind starts spinning, a dragon egg.
A hatched dragon egg, or a broken dragon egg but either way it means a dragon is here or was. I didn't expect to see anything after seeing the carvings on the wall and am not looking for a hatchling anyway.
I would rather risk getting eaten by Vermithor than claim a baby dragon, Lewyn would never let me live it down if I showed my face with an ankle bitter.
I raise my torch and see more eggs shells, too many eggshells, and odd bleached rocks. My eyes widen identifying the rocks, not as stone but bone, very big bones. A skull the size of a child that belongs to a dragon is half smashed, and other crushed bones scatter the floor.
Then I feel it, the ground moving and a loud scrapping that vibrates the air in the cave.
Raising the torch higher less than twenty feet in front of me is a pile of bones that is moving as a large black head slides across them. The grinding and shaking stops as the glowing green eyes bore into my very soul. Horns hook around the head and jagged teeth are exposed as the jaw slowly opens.
My magic drug-making heart accelerates like a sports car as I feel my senses sharpen and my instincts scream at me to move. Time itself seems to slow as a green glow lights up in the massive dragon's mouth. I move my hand and launch my water at its face freezing it on contact before I spin on my heels and run for my life.