Chapter Text
110 AC, off the coast of Grey Gallows
Through the spyglass, the ships looked like toys, gently floating across the water like a child moving them in a bath. For a fleeting moment, I felt sorry for them, before I crushed that feeling, I could dwell on it later. Quickly returning the spyglass to my bag, a snap of the whip spurred Vermithor forward, flying in a circle twice before climbing into the air. Out of the corner of my eye, two small blurs of red and one of grey alerted me that the maneuver had been spotted.
With another snap, Vermithor tucked in his wings and dove, shielding me from the worst of the winds as they rushed by, the ships growing larger and larger. When they were close enough, I snapped the whip again, Vermithor's wings spreading to turn the dive into a glide, just above the ships and their masts.
"Dracarys!" I called with a snap of the whip, and Vermithor obeyed, unleashing a jet of golden flames onto the decks of the ships in our path. Even pitch burned as dragonfire spread along it. Gritting my teeth, I did my best to block out the screams of suffering and death as Vermithor climbed into the air again. Three more roars erupted to my left, as three more dragons descended, each unleashing their own streams of fire upon the fleet.
After the second sweep, what was left of the fleet was complete pandaemonium, the stench of burning flesh spreading up even into the air where I flew. A roar alerted me to Caraxes coming around for another sweep, and I saw a moment too late what father was about to do. At once, Caraxes shot fire into the water, where at least half of the surviving sailors had jumped, boiling it to steam with a loud hiss. Echoes of screams rang out as men were boiled, finally pushing me over the edge. With a careful turn, I positioned Vermithor at an angle and retched over the side. None would know but the fish.
With a spin and a flip, Caraxes signalled for the other dragons to follow. After wiping my mouth, I snapped the whip for Vermithor to follow. With practiced ease, Caraxes landed on the closest shoal, followed closely by our backup, Vhagar and Meleys. It took only minutes to finish off the stragglers, the entire naval "battle" hadn't even lasted 10 minutes. We all dismounted and gathered in the circle created by our dragons.
"Lucerys," father said, snapping me out of my revere. "You're shaking." I stopped dead, realizing that yes, I had been. Embrassment rushed to my face as I looked away, rubbing my arm absentmindedly.
"Sorry, Father," I said. "It won't happen again." A scoff sounded as he reached towards me, his hand lightly touching my head to ruffle my hair.
"First one takes you the hardest," he said, quietly. Huh, maybe he does know how to— "before you know it, this will be no harder than slaughtering chicken." Never mind. I took a deep breath and held my wrist to prevent it from shaking and looked back at him, a hesitant smile on my face as I nodded.
"Daemon!" a voice called from behind me. I turned and saw Rhaenys, black hair blowing in the wind, marching over to us. "What in the Seven Hells made you think bringing children was a good idea for this?! Moreover, how did I let you and Corlys convince me of it? Both of them are shaking. Mother's Mercy, do neither of you have any sense?!" Glancing behind her, I saw Laena standing there, face almost as pale as Mysaria's, staring blankly out at the ocean.
"Both will be required to do this one day. Better for them to be accustomed to it early, so they won't hesitate," he said, frowning in her direction.
"Hah! Maybe they won't need to start wars to soothe the ache on their pride," Rhaenys barked out. Father's hand tightened around Dark Sister's hilt for a moment, before he took a breath and let go of it. I, unfortunately, couldn't hide my giggle at that, halting as soon as Father's glare turned to me.
"Oh, you think it's funny, do you?" he said, the previous warmth in his tone replaced by ice. My eyes widened and I shook my head. A cold smile accompanied a tight grip on my shoulder. "Mind yourself when others are about, show some respect." I nodded as rapidly as I could, and in an instant, the grip was gone. Father ruffled my hair and turned back to Rhaenys.
"Well, at least my attempts at being heir weren't laughed at by the lords of the realm," he shot back. Rhaenys rolled her eyes. Oh no, here we go again.
"Well, the Small Council certainly did, your son was considered before you were, and he was six." At that, my eyes searched for Laena, who had finally stopped staring at the water and looked over at the two arguing yet again. A shared nod followed a moment later. While Father and Rhaenys continued to bicker, I quietly slipped around to Vermithor and climbed atop my saddle, wrapping my chains before snapping his whip. Vhagar followed close behind as we returned westward.
As soon as I was in the air, I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. After a large battle, and the worst of war, the two just couldn't stop arguing and tearing into each other. Hopefully they don't start tearing each other's clothes too, I thought, before quickly shaking my head. I did not want that image anywhere in my head… but it already was. Of course it was.
Some time later, we finally arrived back on Bloodstone, and the large stone-wooden encampment that acted as the capital of father's Kingdom. The "Royal Palace" itself was no larger than a small holdfast. Made entirely of stone, but looked rickety enough that a strong wind might blow it down. Or maybe a dragon sneezing in its general direction.
In all, it was a rather pitiful display. Those that had come originally had been so optimistic, idealists. And most of them were dead. It was nothing compared to Runestone's ancient walls that looked like nothing could bring them down. Father had brought me along, promising an adventure, while also telling me that Corlys Velaryon needed both a squire and a guarantee for their alliance. Each island had been a slow slog, to clean out any fleets and hiding guerillas among the small villages. Despite the slow slog, it had been going well. Too well, as it turned out.
Within a few months of Father crowning himself, the Triarchy had formed an alliance with the Dornish to trap our forces on both sides— albeit, all out war was likely to only last a few months if this rate of ship loss continued. And from what Lord Corlys had told me, this war was extremely unpopular in Dorne, despite their attempts at "dragon, must smash!" attitude, as well as the landowners of the disputed lands who were fearful of a dragon burning their livelihood.
A light smack on my arm broke me out of my thoughts, as a seemingly very annoyed Laena stood in front of me.
"Lucerys, will you listen! Father said for us to tell him about the events of the battle!" she said, as if she'd said it multiple times already. "It's like Sunstone all over again, you're never looking where you need to be. Father told you to watch the battle, and you made Laenor do it. Laenor!"
"Laena, you weren't even there-" I began, hoping to defend myself, but that was very much fleeting.
"He can't keep a secret from me to save his life! And you can't watch anything longer than it takes you to think!" I couldn't argue with that, much as I really wanted to. "Now we are going to see Father! And if you say anything about those two again…"
"He's going to ask, you know he will," I said as I began to be dragged off by the arm.
"Shut. Up," she snapped back, glaring at me for a moment.
Before continuing our march up to the small stone building that had once been a fish market, now turned into the Stepstones headquarters of the Velaryon fleet. Inside, the finely tanned man himself sat behind a desk, reading over various papers and dictating something to his other squire, that was being swiftly written down. Upon catching sight of us, Corlys immediately stopped and handed a piece of paper over to the other boy.
"Joffrey, take that to the Maester," he ordered. The boy nodded and ran out, sparing a small smile at me as he left.
"And where are—" he began, but Laena interrupted.
"Arguing again over who got passed over worse," she said. Corlys stopped for a moment, then put a hand on the bridge of his nose.
"I'll have Laenor fly out when he arrives to see who survived," he said, a chuckle under his breath. Without my father breathing down my neck, I let myself laugh at that one. He then walked over to us and placed a hand on each of our shoulders, speaking quietly.
"First battle is always hard, certainly it was on me. There's nothing to be ashamed of if you were scared or overwhelmed. Gods know I was. The first time I ever fought pirates I retched overboard. Only time I ever did that," he said with a small smile. I couldn't hide my own look of shock, the idea of Lord Corlys… I blinked myself back to consciousness and gave a nod. Out of the corner of my eye, Laena seemed to have a look of relief on her face.
"Oh? Please elaborate, the story of the Sea Snake being sea-sick sounds quite interesting," I said, amused, grateful for the distraction.
"Little… bastard," he said with a smile as opposed to 'little shit'. "So, I was actually not very far from here," he started recounting, and slowly the jarring experience they had just been through began to fade.