King's Landing 305 AC.
Malora.
Clarity was something she was beginning to enjoy, hearing one voice in her head instead of many was such a relief to both her senses and her sanity. Just knowing that the visions you saw were ones that were true and not something made up to fool you or confuse you or to drive you mad, was something she welcomed. As was having a purpose and so when the king and queen had asked her to look to King's Landing, she'd had done so willingly.
What she had seen had scared and terrified her at first, until she'd then been shown another way and while that way also scared her, it excited her also. To go from a situation where countless thousands of people, where a dragon and people that the king and queen cared for would fall, to one where few would, was a clear enough sign to her of why she was to be by their side. To then have her vision confirmed by a red priestess, was a sign that it was not only her gods that were invested in their success.
" I saw King's Landing awash in green flames, your grace. I saw Rhaegal fall into them and burn and I saw many men fall." Malora said as she looked to the king and queen.
" Lady Kinvara?" the queen asked as her husband reached out to touch her hand.
" I saw the same, my queen, I saw those with you burn amongst many people of the city. Ser Davos, Ser Jaime, Ser Jorah and Ser Brienne, his grace's sister and the blacksmith and the white wolf all fell as did the green dragon." Kinvara said.
" My wife, I?" the king asked and both she and Kinvara shook their heads.
" I did not see your fate, my king, nor her graces." Malora said as Kinvara agreed with her.
" So we attack and we lose most of our men and those we care about, is there another way?" the queen asked worriedly.
" Cersei Lannister is the key, your grace. She must be sidelined and it's only his grace who can get close enough to do so." Kinvara said as Malora looked on.
" What, how?" the queen asked and Malora told her.
She knew there had been arguments, both in front of them and when they had left. It pained her that her words had caused those arguments but the things she'd seen had been clear and after she had spoken to Kinvara once again to find that she too agreed, she felt the better for it. Malora looked on while the mummery was played out, the king had made other plans and there were those not here who would play their roles in what was to come. The city however would stand, the dragons would live and the king and queen would reign, of that she had no doubt.
Malora looked to her father as the king walked towards the city, his eyes both on Aegon and on her at the same time and she saw the relief on his face when she nodded to him. She listened as the queen quietened all those around her who were arguing and as she bid them join her in her tent so that she could explain what was going on. Malora and Kinvara both would be needed and so she looked to the red priestess and nodded as they began to walk away from the meeting place.
When she had first gotten her senses back, as the voices in her head had all faded away to just the one and she had been shown the future she was to help bring about, Malora had asked and been told the why of things. How they had made a mistake and left the choosing of who came next to a man who was ill-equipped to do so. She'd been told that he had thought it was the bonds of blood that would be needed for what was to come and so had chosen a boy who shared blood with the Prince that was Promised. A boy who turned out to have his own agenda and wishes and who had corrupted what the Three-Eyed Raven was supposed to be.
To watch and never interfere, to remember and yet not take part, that had been the mistake they'd made and it was one they would never make again. Soon she'd have all the powers that the Three-Eyed Raven had, she'd have control over them, and just like with the Red Priestess and the mission she was on from her god, Malora was on one from her own. It was one she wouldn't fail and as she entered the tent and took her place with Kinvara behind the queen, it was one she relished.
"Be seated." the queen said and Malora watched as the Princess of Dorne, the Lords of the Reach and The Stormlands, and the Warden of the West took their seats.
"Your grace, what just happened? Why is his grace speaking in such a way and why is he negotiating with Cersei Lannister of all people." Princess Arianne asked her voice angry but at events and not at the queen, Malora believed.
"Do you know anything of the powers of the Red Priests, Princess Arianne? Or what a greenseer is? Do any of you?" the queen asked.
"I know what a greenseer is, your grace." her father said and Malora smiled at him as he did so.
"Power? Greenseer?" Ser Daven asked confusedly.
"Lady Kinvara." the queen said turning to the red priestess.
"R'hllor gifts some of his faithful with the power to discern things, Ser Daven, to see things in the flames." Kinvara said simply and to the point.
"The future? You're saying you see the future?" Ser Daven scoffed.
"The past, the present the future. I saw a man who though he wishes to be married feared the lady didn't see him as he did her, a man who worried that he'd not find that which he now believes he found." Kinvara said cryptically and Malora saw Ser Daven gulp.
"Lady Malora." the queen said turning to her.
"A greenseer is gifted by the Old Gods to see things also, we don't see them in the flames but we see as Lady Kinvara does." Malora said.
"Lord Leyton was aware of my husband's truth long before anyone else in Westeros, due to Lady Malora's abilities. Is that not so my lord?" the queen asked her father.
"It was your grace, my daughter has a gift, one I don't understand but one I believe in truly." her father said looking to her.
"And this has to do with what just happened, how?" Princess Arianne asked.
She listened as the queen spoke to them about what they'd seen, Malora watching the worried looks on their faces when the mention of Wildfire was made. Ser Daven more than any looking worried by the thoughts of it, though her father's look was just as panicked. When they told them of the mummery the king had just portrayed she could see the impressed looks though there was confusion too. Princess Arianne again being the one who asked the question that was no doubt on other's minds.
"But how can you be certain that Cersei won't just harm the king or take him hostage?" the princess asked and Malora was surprised at how concerned she seemed to be by the idea of it, something that the queen seemed equally surprised by.
"Lady Malora." The queen said looking to her.
"Cersei Lannister's greatest wish was to marry Prince Rhaegar, it was her dream, and even now all these years later she still holds a drawing she made as a child of them together as her most treasured possession. Aerys put paid to that ever becoming a reality and so for all of her life it's been something that was unobtainable to her. Like with every person who wants what they cannot have, it becomes an obsession, a goal that must be achieved." Malora said.
"Prince Rhaegar is dead, my lady." Ser Daven said.
"His son however is not." the queen said to nods as it dawned on them what the king planned.
She watched as they were given orders to ready the attack, to make it look as if it was imminent and that all they were waiting for was the word to do so. Her father looked at her and she shook her head, letting him know that she was needed here and so she would speak to him later. The queen didn't wait too long after they had gone to speak and when she did, she made her meaning very clear.
"I like this not, though you both claim it necessary and I fear for those I lead, my husband, the father of my child is at risk because of what both of you claim to be the only way to succeed. Should he fall, should I lose the man I love then I swear to you both, my dragons will see to your ends." the queen said and she looked to Kinvara to see there was no worry or doubt in her face and she smiled as there was none in her heart also.
King's Landing 305 AC.
Arya.
Jon had come to her and spoken about the tunnels under the Red Keep, asking her how well she knew them and was she certain that she could navigate them. Though she was certain she could, she still welcomed the map that Lord Varys had drawn for her as well as having Ghost with her too. The two boats had landed in the cove at the hour of the wolf and Arya felt that to be most apt. The wolves were finally back in King's Landing after all and this time they had brought dragons with them.
Lord Connington and his men made their way into the city while she led, Sandor, Gendry, and a group of unsullied deeper into the cove. Arya smiling when she saw the way in was just as she remembered it and after Gendry lit some torches they began to move through the tunnels. Once or twice she almost got lost and she found that Varys's map was not as helpful as she'd hoped it would be, Ghost though was more than its equal. The white wolf refusing to go down some tunnels and leading them down others instead.
When they finally reached their destination, she climbed up the ladder and opened the small hatch. Bidding the others to remain she entered the room and was soon looking around the Queen's Chambers, Arya sighing when she found them empty. A part of her wished to just wait here for Cersei, to kill the woman as soon as she saw her and end it all then and there. Yet for whatever reason, she was not here and she wondered why that was. Climbing back down the ladder she told the others they were where they needed to be. Arya then taking a seat beside Gendry and across from Sandor.
"Is it the Queen's Chambers that are above us?" Gendry asked.
"Aye, it is, she's not there though, lucky for her." Arya said her annoyance clear.
"Bloodthirsty fucker aren't ya." The Hound said with a chuckle.
"She deserves her blood spilled." she said to a nod from him.
"Aye, no cunt has ever deserved it more, apart from her son, or her father, maybe her brother too the little fuck." The Hound said.
"What about your own brother?" she asked knowing how he felt about The Mountain that Rides.
"His blood only deserves to be spilled by me." he replied, his voice determined and Arya didn't need to look at him to see the expression on his face, it was one she herself had worn for those on her list over the years.
"Do you really think your brother should do this?" Gendry asked looking at her, the darkness barely broken by the torch he still held in his hand.
"Jon is the best person for this, he killed the Night King." she said misunderstanding what Gendry meant.
"I mean with him being the king, should he be risking himself so?" Gendry asked and Arya felt a shiver down her spine.
"I tried to tell him not to, I told him I could do it, I have the training but…." she said her voice shaky.
"What did he say?" Gendry asked.
"He said that he'd not send his little sister into a danger that he was afraid to face himself." she said with a smile as she remembered the look on her brother's face when they'd spoken.
"I need to ask him, about us." Gendry said as she glared at him.
"Why? He doesn't decide what I do or who I wed." she said angrily.
"He's the king, Arya, and your brother. I know no man tells you what to do and from all you've said about him I doubt he'd even try."
She chuckled as he said that as she knew he was right, she and Jon had already spoken on her future and he'd made it clear it was her future, her choice, and whatever she chose he'd love her and still be her brother after it.
"Then why?" she asked.
"I'm a bastard, Arya." Gendry began.
"That doesn't matter, Jon thought he was one for all his life and he wouldn't care." she said with certainty.
"I'm a bastard who's to marry the King's sister, the Princes Arya of Winterfell." Gendry said.
"I'm not a fucking princess, or a Lady, for fuck's sake I thought you of all people would understand that." she said frustrated.
"I understand, but you are both whether you like it or not, it's how people will see you and how they see me. I need to speak to him, to let him know that I love his sister and despite my birth, no man is better for her than I."
Arya reached out her hand and took his, holding it tightly as they sat in the dark. He was her choice, who she wished to be with and while she still didn't wish to be the Lady of Winterfell and to rule the North, she did have a plan for their future and one that fixed the problem of the Stark in Winterfell.
"If you two are going to fuck, do it somewhere else." the Hound said and she tried to kick the man only to find he was too far away from her.
Instead, she leaned against Gendry's shoulder, and soon she was drifting to sleep. Her dreams were of woods and a large wolf leading a pack through them as it hunted for food to bring back to its pups. She found herself smiling as she watched through Nymeria's eyes, the three dark wolf pups all eating well as their mother looked on. Arya feeling her wolf's happiness as it watched over them. While she had missed her every day since she'd seen her on the road to Winterfell, she knew that Nymeria had chosen her own path, her own life, and had done so on her own terms. Her wolf was everything she had ever wished herself to be and she took comfort in that.
"It's time." she heard the voice say as she was woken, Arya looking to see Gendry standing with his hand out to help her up.
"How do you know?" she asked as she stood up and wiped the sleep from her eyes.
Gendry motioned to Ghost who was looking up at the hatch, Arya seeing an almost eagerness on the white wolf's face. She moved to the ladder and quickly climbed up and found herself once again in the Queen's Chambers and once again they were empty. Arya looking around them and wondering where the hell Cersei was, and why she was not here. Moving to the door, she opened it just a crack and looked out into the hall, there were some guards but not many and she felt they could take them easily enough.
Hurrying back to the hatch, she gave the signal to Gendry and the Hound and the unsullied. Arya laughing quietly as they somehow managed to get Ghost up the ladder. A combination of The Hound's brute strength and the white wolf himself, managing to force him through the hole. He'd just gotten through when she heard the door open and she moved to see who had entered the room. With Needle in her hand, she was on the girl before she could speak, her hand over her mouth and Needle at her throat.
"Where is the queen?" she asked softly.
"The King's Chambers." the girl said.
"Alone?"
"With the King." the girl said.
"How many guards?" she asked.
"Four and Ser Robert Strong."
"I'm going to tie you up and leave you at the bottom of the ladder, it's that or kill you. Of you make a sound you'll leave me with no choice." she said looking to the girl's frightened eyes.
"I won't, please don't hurt me." the girl said her voice pleading, and Arya found she had no desire to, no wish to, which surprised her somewhat.
After tying her up and leaving her at the bottom of the ladder, the Hound moved a large statue onto the hatch just in case and they moved to the door. Taking another look out into the corridor she saw there were only three guards in sight. Arya turned back to the others and held up her fingers to let them know what they faced. She waited until the guards had turned away and then giving the nod to those with her, they moved from the room.
The spears flew through the air and Ghost moved quicker than even them, Arya looking on as two men fell to the ground and the third to the white wolf. With all three dead they moved quickly, Gendry and the Hound moving the bodies into an empty room and Arya looking down the corridors while trying to figure out which way to go.
"The King's Chambers?" she asked and the Hound shook his head before moving past her and walking off to the left.
"I guess it's this way then." Gendry said and she smirked at him as they followed.
King's Landing 305 AC.
Jon Connington.
They moved through the darkness of the city, their golden uniforms covered in rags and tattered clothing. He, Balaq, Lysono, Franklyn Flowers, Tristan Rivers, Duncan Strong, and Brendel Byrne. Seven men with one goal, one purpose, to see Harry Strickland, and those who had turned on them were made to pay. That no one paid them any attention only showed just how pisspoor a leader Strickland was. Outside the gates, an army that was six or even seven times their size along with two dragons awaited while inside they acted as if they had nothing to fear.
Patrols were sparse, guards even sparser, and just looking around at the defenses that had been erected made Jon weep for the men who served this fool. Each member of the Golden Company had fought and bled and was as brave as any man should be and yet under Strickland, they were being led to their doom. He looked to Balaq and Lysono and could see they were thinking as he was, the looks on their faces ones of disgust and dismay. There was a resolve there too though and so it was that he concentrated on. Jon allowing their resolve to fuel his own and if the gods were truly on their side then perhaps they could save these men here tonight.
When they reached the Tyrell Manse, he was again taken aback by just how poorly defended it was. Was it Greyjoy's death? Their own disappearance? Or was it just that Strickland was as poor a commander as they all knew he was? Whatever the reason for it, Jon was not a man who refused a gift such as this and so after they had snuck over the walls and made their way to the entrance, he and the others quickly removed their tattered rags.
"What if it's a trap?" he heard Tristan ask Brendel, the laugh he heard then bringing a smile to his face.
"Then we're fucked Rivers." Brendel said to chuckles "But Homeless Harry isn't smart enough to lay traps and before I meet my gods I intend to see that man is fucked but good."
When the first of the guards looked their way, Jon saw him turn away, the gold they wore was enough to show them as friends. It was the second man who realized there was something wrong and it was Balaq who ended him. Jon looking on as the arrow caught the man flush in the chest and hearing Duncan Strong say that was for Old John Mudd. The first guard looked to the fallen man and then to them, moving at first to raise the alarm, and then he stopped and moved closer towards them.
"Griff, Lysono?" the man asked and Jon looked on as Lysono moved to him.
"Dara is that you?" Lysono asked.
"We were told you were dead, that the dragons had sent blades in the night to end you?" Dara asked.
"Blades were sent but it was Homeless Harry who wielded them." Lysono said and Dara looked to see Brendel and Duncan nod that it was true.
"For fuck sake. I take it you're here to gut the cunt?"
"We are, what side are you on boy?" he asked with his hand on his sword.
"I stand with the men of the Golden Company, Griff, the true men. I'll not be alone in that, let me lead, I'll point out who you can trust." Dara said and Lysono nodded to him, so Jon agreed.
Moving through the manse with Dara in the lead they found more than one man willing to join them and by the time they reached the main hall, there were almost twenty of them. Dara told them that those closest to Strickland were given more freedom, allowed to drink more and not take part in drills and he spat on the ground as he heard it. Myles Toyne had been a good man and true, he'd have never allowed the company to fall to these depths and though he had been called the Blackheart, it seemed to him that it was Strickland all the while who should have been named as such.
"How drunk will these men be?" Duncan asked Dara, the man smiling when he answered.
"Very."
"More than likely these are the fuckers who attacked us, I say we show them the same mercy they did our brothers." Brendel said.
"Them and then Homeless Harry." he said and saw the nods as Dara opened the door.
They moved as one, Jon's sword cutting down two men before they rose while Balaq's arrows flew straight and true. While the men who'd joined them fought and killed any they faced, those who had been in that room that night didn't just bring death with them this one. They brought fury, vengeance, and wrath and Jon too played as keen a role as any did in the carnage. Any man unlucky enough to fall to their blades would welcome death when it came and for some, it wouldn't come soon enough.
"Strickland?" he asked the clearly disturbed Dara and was pointed in the direction of the bed-chamber.
He moved fast, a part of him worried that Homeless Harry would have heard the fighting and ran like the coward he truly was. Opening the door though he should have expected what he saw, Harry lay in his bed with a young girl, both of them still asleep while around them his men had been killed. Even in his death, it would seem that Strickland would prove himself to be a poor soldier and an even worse commander.
Jon reached down to the bed and grabbed the man by the hair, the scream he made was one that he enjoyed hearing as he did the look of terror on his face. He saw Lysono throw the girl some coin and move her along as he then dragged a naked Harry Strickland from the room, Lysono picking up Blackfyre as he followed after him.
"Jon, please, it wasn't me." Strickland said, his voice grating on him as he begged, the rest of his words heard but not cared to be by him.
"I swear it Jon, I didn't know it was our men we were to attack."
"I tried to get out of the contract when we did."
"The company Jon, I'll bring the company to your side, to your prince's side."
"He is my king and you Strickland should really shut the fuck up. No one here cares what you have to say." he said as he kicked the man in the chest and knocked him to the ground, Harry falling in front of the other six men that he'd tried to have killed.
"Balaq, please. Tristan, Duncan, you know me." Harry staid crawling to each of the men.
"Mores the pity, for it's to my shame that I named you my commander." Duncan said.
"You betrayed us all Harry, good men are dead because of you. Loyal men who served the company well and put coin in your pocket and you saw them dead." Lysono said, his voice full of bitterness and regret.
"It was the queen, Jon, we could take her down, together, we could rule." Harry said and Jon laughed.
"There is an army outside our gates that will soon see the true king and queen rule, you stupid fuck. As for you, you'll not see the morrow."
"Jon please, gold, I can give you gold." Harry said pleadingly and Jon looked to Lysono who handed him Blackfyre.
He nodded to each of the men and watched as they took out their daggers, Jon smiling as he looked back to Strickland and saw the terrified look on his face.
"Remember our words, Harry. Beneath the gold the bitter steel." he said with a nod as one by one the men moved toward the traitor in their midst.
He looked on as Franklyn took an ear and as Tristan took another, as Balaq cut a finger and Lysono took something much larger and more precious. Duncan took an eye while Brendel just buried his dagger deep into Harry's stomach. Jon then moved forward and as Lysono and Balaq held his arms and pushed Strickland down, Jon readied Blackfyre to take his head.
"For all those who fell because of a worthless piece of shit like you." he said as he swung Blackfyre and took the man's head.
He watched the head roll and the blood pool from where the body fell, Jon then turning to look at the six men who each felt just as he did. Justice had been served this night but the night was not over and they had much work to do to make ready for the morrow.
"Send for the other captains, have them brought here." Jon said looking to Dara and the men with him.
"What are we going to do, Griff? Dara asked.
"We're going to take this city for our king and open the gates for our queen." He said with a smile as he looked down at Blackfyre and pictured it on Aegon's hip.
King's Landing 305 AC.
Aegon.
The eyes of both the city and the woman he walked with were on him as he walked through King's Landing. Aegon could hear the comments being made and he wondered was Cersei's hold on information so lax or was something else at work. Chants of Dragonking, King in the North, and Rhaegar's son grew in volume the closer they got to the Red Keep. That those chants didn't seem to upset Cersei one bit and if anything seemed to make her walk a little taller and grip his arm a little tighter, only served to prove true what both Kinvara and Malora had said.
Though truth be told even had there been no such chants, the truth of those words would have been made clear by just how Cersei had looked at him both during the parley and now as they walked through the city. It made him even more hopeful that this plan could work and they could take the city without either devastating it with their own attacks or more worriedly with Cersei's use of wildfire. Aegon knowing that it was that and the thoughts of them losing so many people, including those they cared about, that had in the end made Dany agree to this plan.
She had not wished to and he himself had no desire to risk so much, but the thoughts of Rhaegal falling after what he'd gone through with Euron and of so many others losing their lives here today, was just too much to bear. No matter that it would have been Cersei Lannister and not he or Dany who had used Wildfire, it would still be their family that was in some way blamed for it. His grandfather's work somehow finished by both him and Dany and he couldn't allow his love to live with such a shadow over her life. It had been hard enough to live with the shadow of her father for her in some respects as it was and Aerys had never been able to bring the wildfire to bear truly.
It was ironic when he thought of it, his grandfather, her father, was known as the mad king and his name was synonymous with the use of wildfire. Yet other than with his other grandfather, he'd used it sparingly. Meanwhile, it was the Lannisters who'd actually used it to kill large numbers of people, both in Blackwater Bay and in the Sept of Baelor. Yet to the realm it would always be House Targaryen and not House Lannister who'd be tarred with the stain of it forever.
"You're most quiet, my king." Cersei said and Aegon turned to smile at her, seeing her own smile soon appear.
"I must confess to being intimidated slightly by you, your grace. Never before have I seen a true queen so in complete command of all around her and it's both intimidating and dare I say it, exciting." he said and saw her nostrils flare just a little.
"And I had thought you a savage at one point, your grace, I must beg forgiveness for it." she said looking deep into his eyes.
"At one point, perhaps I was but I now save my savagery for a more true setting. I find that at times it's good to let the beast out to play, your grace." he said and he swore were they alone then he'd perhaps have been attacked such was how she looked at him, Cersei breathing deeply and letting her tongue lick her lips before they began to walk again.
It made him sick to his core, to flirt with this, this monster of a woman and yet he knew he had to play his part. He had to get her alone and vulnerable and then hope that Arya and the others did what they needed to do. When she turned from him, Aegon closed his eyes and found himself back in his tent, his wife, their babe, and Lyarhaex soon on his mind instead of the crazed lioness that held his arm so tightly.
" You should not do this, my love." Dany said.
" I must, we cannot allow her to use wildfire, she cannot be allowed to set the city ablaze." he said brushing his fingers over her face.
" You risk too much, Aegon, once again you risk far too much." she said moving from him, Aegon looking at her as she sat up in the bed and almost seemed to wrap her arms around herself.
" When I was brought back I had no true idea what that was for." he began, Dany still not looking at him but she was listening much to his relief "I thought it was to prepare the realm for the Night King and the Army of the Dead, to warn people and to gather a force large enough to beat him."
" You did beat him." Dany said and he saw a small smile on her face.
" We beat him. We, you and I, together. I could not have done it alone, Dany, I was never meant to."
She turned to look at him and he could see the worry in her eyes as she did so and it pained him deeply that he was the cause of that worry. It was something he had hoped he would never be, something that he wished he'd never see in her, and yet rather than be the one to take all her worries away, he was now the reason for most of them.
" Yet you once again are doing something alone." she said and though there was no accusation, the words still stung.
" I must play my part, as must others but I am not alone, I've not been alone since I met you. You, me, our babe, the dragons, we are a family Dany, no matter if we're parted for a moment, an hour or a day, we are a family and we will both never be alone again." he said reaching out and glad when she allowed him to take her in his arms.
" Promise me you'll return to me." she said softly.
" I told you that we will see our children born, Dany, see them grow. We will be there for them always, unlike our own family who weren't able to be there for us. I promise you that I will return and the life we are to share together is only at its beginning. I swear it on the old gods and the new." he said.
He opened his eyes to find he was now walking down a corridor and the door he was being led to was a large one. When it was opened he heard Cersei send for food and wine and she bid him take a seat, Aegon doing as she asked and smiling at her as she did so. It was time to be a mummer once more and he only hoped that he could play the role as long as it was needed. The gods had granted him favor by bringing him back, he prayed they had more plans for him and that Malora and Kinvara were truly their servants.
"Shall we, my king." Cersei said as the meal was placed on the table.
"We shall, my queen." he said and saw her smile as broadly as she had since he'd agreed to the parley.
They ate, Cersei drank the wine as if it was water while he sipped his own and poured some of it out when she wasn't looking at him, which was only very briefly he found. Whether she believed what she was doing was a seduction of some sort or not, he played along as best he could. Finding it harder to do than he had at first imagined it and noticing a change come over her face as she became displeased by his feigned interest in her. Knowing he had to change tack, he decided it was for the best if he spoke of things that she would enjoy and he begged his father and mother's forgiveness for the lies he was about to speak.
"When I found out the truth of myself, I was as you can imagine quite shocked." he said as he took a sip of the wine and looked over the glass at her.
"As was I, though the more I look at you the more I must admit that it's clear you're his son." Cersei said and he could see this change in conversation was what she wished for.
"My father left me letters, letters I expected would speak of my mother." he said and saw her frown "Yet they did not, they spoke of his regrets instead." he said immediately perking her interest.
"Regrets?" she asked curiously.
"Of a life not lived and a match not made. One which I was unaware was a possibility but one that it seemed my father very much wished for." he said and he could see her breathing faster as she moved in her chair.
"A match to whom?" she asked almost pleadingly.
"To the woman he loved truest of all, to you, my queen." he said and he swore she almost fainted in her glee.
Aegon looked at her as she closed her eyes and almost collapsed back into the chair, feeling his stomach turn as he realized she was in a state of almost euphoric bliss. When she opened her eyes and looked at him, he knew he had to continue, the distraction had to hold and this it seemed was the way to achieve that.
"It was why I was so eager for this meeting, your grace. So I could see what it was about you that my father was so very keen on." he said and he saw her narrow her eyes as she looked at him, a smirk on her face while she waited for him to elaborate. Aegon not doing so for a moment and so she asked him impatiently such was her need to know that he'd found it.
"And have you found what you were looking for, my king?" she asked eagerly.
"Your beauty was well known to me of course, even from when I was a boy who thought himself a bastard. Even at Winterfell I had heard tales of the beauty of Cersei Lannister." he said and saw her almost swell up pridefully "Then I had the great fortune of seeing that beauty for myself, may I be candid, your grace?" he asked.
He was surprised that she couldn't answer, her nod one that was vigorous and her eagerness for him to speak more was clear.
"The first night that I saw you, I pleasured myself with thoughts of you. I was but a young boy laying in a bed in Winterfell while you shone like the very sun itself in it's Great Hall."
"You did." she said smiling fully as she licked her lips.
"I did, as I nearly did again that night after the parley in the Dragonpit." he said and she looked at him curiously.
"Why not that time?" she asked curiously.
"I was no longer a boy, your grace and so my hand wouldn't have been nearly enough." he said and he heard the little gasp she took "When I saw you today, those feelings rose up once more but there was something else that struck me too."
"What?" she asked almost demandingly.
"That I could see it, why my father had thought you to be the perfect woman to be his queen, why he had wished to name you as such and why he had those regrets."
"And what would you do were you your father?" she asked staring at him, her eyes almost devouring him as she spoke.
"I'm not my father, your grace but I would seek to do what he could not. I would seek an alliance with a queen that the realm could unite behind. But that's only what the king in me would, do, I find that as much as I wish the king in me to be who guides my actions now that we're alone, it is the beast in me who does."
He hard the scuffling outside and he rose to his feet, as did Cersei, Aegon though stared at her, and she at him almost challengingly.
"What does the beast want?" she asked her breathing shallow, her hands barely able to hold onto the table.
"To take you." he said moving towards her.
He saw her swoon and then he was behind her as the door opened, the guards bursting in and Cersei torn between looking to them or to him. The Maester that wore the pin of the Hand looked at him, the Queen, and then the guards while Aegon moved quickly. Cersei almost collapsed into his arms as he stood behind her, the knife in his hand now on her throat and as she rubbed against him and waited for him to do likewise, it was the Maester who spoke.
"The city has fallen, your grace, this is a mummery." the Maester said, though she barely heard him so keen was she to be with him and him alone.
"Out, out all of, you, leave me with my king." Cersei said and as she moved the knife nicked her and she moaned loudly thinking it to be some game he was playing.
"I will gut her here in front of you, so if you don't wish her dead you should throw down your arms." Aegon said and finally, Cersei seemed to understand the position she was in.
The Fall of King's Landing 305 AC.
Dany.
The longer it went without a signal the more she worried, not even Ser Davos's return making her feel any better about things. Drogon was doing his best to calm Rhaegal down, the green dragon was worried about Aegon, just as much as Dany was. Around the walls of King's Landing, the army stood ready to attack on her orders. Dornishmen, Reachmen, Stormlanders, Westerlands men, Unsullied, her Dothraki, and the Dragons all just waiting for her to order them forward. Yet Dany waited and hoped the signal would come and that the plans that Aegon had risked himself for would be proved to be true.
When it did she almost couldn't believe it, the men on the walls that manned the scorpions falling to the ground or being taken prisoner by the Golden Company and the gates opening and men quickly riding out and heading their way. Seeing that it was some of the men that Jon Connington had brought with him the night before who were now riding towards her, she knew the first part of the plan had been completed. Dany waiting until Lysono and Franklyn reached her before then giving the order to march into the city.
"We have the walls, the gates, and are moving to the Red Keep, your grace." Lysono said.
"Lord Jon?" she asked.
"Has taken men to go to the king."
"Then we march." she said to a nod from the man as she turned around to give the order "Accept any surrender and know that the Golden Company are our allies once more, they are not to be attacked." she shouted seeing Lysono's relieved look.
She moved to the dragons as did Ser Jorah, Ser Brienne, and Ser Jaime, all of them climbing up onto Drogon's back though it was Rhaegal who flew first. By the time they were in the air, her army was marching forward. Grey Worm and Qhono leading her men while Lord Leyton, Ser Daemon Sand, Ser Daven, and Lord Edric led their own. Rhaegal reached the gates before her and as she flew over them herself, she could see the soldiers below her had already surrendered to the Golden Company.
Dany followed after Rhaegal and saw the Red Keep in the distance, her thoughts now on the green dragon and on her husband who was somewhere inside. She hoped that when she reached it, it would be to see Aegon standing victorious and to find the war to be over. The fear she felt that it would be to something much worse was something that she fought down and convinced herself was not to be.
"Together, we will be together." she said softly as Drogon flew.
The Hound.
Six men had fallen and he'd not even wet his sword, the unsullied and the white wolf acting like greedy fuckers and moving far more quickly than he, the bastard smith, and the wolf girl. Sandor could see the nervousness on the wolf girl's face as she worried about her brother. His own bore a completely different expression as he thought about his brother and the vengeance that was to be his. He was excited and it was a feeling he'd not known for many a year, one that he'd almost believed he'd never feel again.
Their fight had been coming ever since Gregor had caught him with that toy and by day's end, either he or his brother would be gone from this world and into another. He heard the wolf girl ask the bastard smith to hurry, her worry for her brother threatening to rob her of her senses. Sandor couldn't allow that to happen and while he was sure there was no one in this world he truly loved anymore, she was perhaps as close to that for him as he would ever find.
"Your brother will be well, wolf girl. I told you he's a mad fucker who runs into danger but he always returns." Sandor said.
"He has no sword, no weapons." she said back to him.
"He is a fucking weapon." he said with a chuckle that she didn't much appreciate.
"Heads up, there are more of them here." Gendry said stopping the conversation and as they turned the corner it was to meet a large group of men.
Sandor enjoying the thought of finally facing some action and so the smile he wore was a true one as he moved forward. It was not to be much of a fight, the white wolf was like ten men, Sandor admired it's lethality as it dispatched one man and moved on to the next in the blink of an eye. The Unsullied moved as one, their spears and training both too much for the men they faced. Even the bastard smith seemed much more accomplished in killing than he'd expected, Gendry wielding his war hammer like he'd been born to do so.
As for the wolf girl, she was perhaps the only one of them who could keep up with the white wolf's movements. Sandor looking on as she danced her way past one man whose throat she slit before moving to the next one. He used his greatsword as he always did, power, strength, and ferocity his biggest attributes, and these men in red were no match for any one of them. Three men he killed by the time it was over, one less than the wolf girl and four less than the greedy fucking wolf.
"We're almost there." he said as they moved on, the King's Chambers now in view and there were few guards between them and it.
Fewer by the time he reached the door as the white wolf and the Unsullied once again took all the fun out of his day. Though when they did make it through the door itself, he felt his fun was just about to begin. He saw the king holding a knife to the lion bitch's throat and the guards were now torn between moving to her or to them. Then he saw the man he came for and after that, he could see nothing else in the room.
"Brother." he shouted as Gregor drew his sword and then there was chaos.
He saw a brief flash of golden hair running from the room, the dark hair of the king or who he thought was the king moving after it. The guards who had been still were now fighting the Unsullied and the wolf girl and bastard smith, and he and Gregor were crossing blades finally. Watching his greatsword glance off the armor he felt his anger grow. Without it, his brother was nothing, slower than he, less skilled than he, true he had him beat on strength but it was the heavy plate that truly saved Gregor more than anything.
Using his sword almost more as a bludgeon than a sword, he began to crash it down hard on the armor, and seeing his brother stumble as he tried to block the blows gave him hope that he would find a way past the heavy plate. When he was hit by Gregor's head and felt the bone in his nose break he stumbled backward and barely managed to get out of the way when his brother's greatsword swung his way. He moved from the room to recover and Gregor followed, the two of them almost unable to use their swords in the hall and soon enough he found himself in a large and open space. The map of the realm under his feet and the sky over his head making him smile.
"It seems the gods want to see your death, brother, I'll see they're not disappointed." he shouted to an even louder roar from Gregor.
His brother's next sound was unintelligible and more a grunt than words and was soon lost in the noise as their Greatswords met once more. Again he cursed the armor as his own began to crack and break while his brother's held firm despite how heavy the blows he caught it with. When he felt the blood at his side he knew that Gregor had pierced his armor and it angered him greatly. Sandor slamming his greatsword down hard against his brother's helm and seeing him stumble. He moved towards him and brought the sword down even harder onto his brother's arm. Almost smiling when Gregor's sword fell to the ground, only to feel his own arm break and his sword fall when his brother clubbed him a heavy blow and caught him square on the bone.
"Why won't you just fucking die." he shouted as Gregor grabbed him, his hands gripping Sandor's throat and soon taking the air from him and he felt himself slipping away.
He saw the wolf girl move toward his brother and he shook his head, he was his, and even should Gregor win, he'd not accept another taking him from this world while he still lived.
"Sandor." she shouted and he saw her hold the Valyrian steel dagger in her hand, he nodded and she threw it his way.
How he caught it he couldn't tell, as he was beginning to see only darkness, but he did, and with everything he had, he slammed it into Gregor's neck. He felt his brother's hands drop from his neck and he breathed in as deeply as he could. Gregor falling to his knees but still alive as Sandor ripped the dagger from his neck and then pulled off the helm. This thing in front of him had been his brother once, now he was something much different. Ugly, misshapen, and Sandor felt that he now looked just as corrupted on the outside as he always had on the inside.
"Die you fuck." he said as he slammed the dagger down on Gregor's head.
He fell to the ground, tired and bleeding but he would live, the wolf girl coming to him and making sure he would make it before she took the knife from Gregor's head .
"The Golden Company men are here, they'll keep you safe, I have to find Jon." the wolf girl said and he nodded.
"I'll be alright, go find your brother." he said and she nodded before moving away "Arya." he called out and she stopped to look back at him "Thank you." he said and as she moved away he felt a peace that he'd never known before.
Jon Connington.
After gathering all the captains and with both Strickland dead and him now in possession of Blackfyre. Not to mention the fact that there was a rather large army outside the gates as well as two very large dragons. Jon found that taking command of the Golden Company had not been hard. Once he'd done so he'd sent Balaq and the others to take the city, deal with the scorpions, and open the gates while he and a large contingent had moved on to the Red Keep.
Each moment he went without actually seeing that his king was safe and unharmed was absolute torture for him. Jon though proud that the king was taken part in things himself was more than worried that he'd risked himself so. Only the thoughts of wildfire and what that would do to the city and to his men had been enough for him to not raise an even larger objection. That and the fact that he wasn't yet in a position of trust enough to do so. He knew the queen and the Hand had raised their own objections and if they couldn't convince Aegon to allow someone else to do what he was doing, then Jon would only have wasted his time.
Moving through the city was easy enough, the Golden Company easily dwarfed the Gold Cloaks, and the few Lannister men that the queen had under her command and the Iron Born were no more. So it wasn't until they reached the Red Keep itself that they were even questioned and when the men tried to stop them, it was there that the fighting began. Despite having Blackfyre, it was his own sword he wielded, Jon cutting down men as he fought his way inside while all around him the Golden Company men easily dealt with any and all who tried to stop them. They fought through the corridors and other than some men with crossbows who managed to kill one or two of the men with him, they made good time but they were yet to find any sight of the king.
"Aegon, where is he?" he asked some soldiers who they had surrounded.
"Who?"
"Aegon Targaryen, the king, where is he?" he shouted to confused looks "Jon Snow?" he said angrily.
"He ran towards the courtyard, that way." one of the men said and Jon was moving yet again.
When they reached him, Jon found himself almost panicking, there were guards between him and the king and the knife he held in his hand would do Aegon no good against the men that moved towards him. Many years earlier Jon had been forced to run for his life as that day at the Stoney Sept had come so very close to costing him more than his reputation. When all was lost and they had needed to retreat and he had run faster than he had thought possible, today he ran faster still.
The men behind him moved just as quickly and as he got close enough, he pulled out Blackfyre and shouted.
"My king." he said as he threw it in the air, the sword seeming to spin as it flew over the heads of the men between Aegon and him.
Jon looked on in relief as it landed close to the king, Aegon picking up the sword and some of the men who had been facing him now faced Jon and his own men. Even as he fought his way through them to get to Aegon's side, Jon found himself looking on as his king wielded Blackfyre as if he was born to do so. The sword of kings was back in Targaryen hands for the first time in almost a hundred years and it was in the hands of a Targaryen who was skilled enough to wield it.
He killed two men in the same time that the king killed five, Jon relieved when finally the men who hadn't fallen to their swords then knelt and surrendered. His time to enjoy it though was brief as the king looked around frantically.
"Cersei, I have to stop her, she means to see the city burn." Aegon said and before Jon could say anything to him, he was racing off with Jon and some of his men following behind as quickly as they could.
Cersei.
He had lied to her, played her false with tales of his father and as she ran she was certain now that he was not truly Rhaegar's son. Jon Snow was just as she had always thought he was, a bastard wolf who now dared to play a dragon and who had tried to fool a lioness. She would not have it though and she'd see him, his Dragonwhore, and the entire city burn.
Cersei had broken free during the confusion when The Hound had gone for his brother and while a part of her had wished to stay and watch Ser Robert kill them all, her mind had screamed at her to run and see them burn and so run she had. The cut on her neck from the knife the bastard had held to it was a shallow one, more an annoyance than any true injury and yet it hurt her all the same. How had she been so foolish? How had she allowed him that close? Was it grief? It must have been, it must have been the grief she felt for her love, that could be the only reason, couldn't it?.
Even running for her life, her mind was more troubled about what had happened in that room than what was to happen now. Cersei was more upset that he'd proved to be false than she was concerned that she may die here today. That she knew that before she fell she'd see them all fall first was the only other clear thought she had, that and she needed to find her men, she had to find the right men to see her plans accomplished. Qyburn? Where was he? Was he dead? Does the bastard have him? She couldn't be certain and as she finally made it out of the Red Keep and into the courtyard, she found that it didn't matter.
"Burn them, Burn them all." she shouted as she saw some of her guards in front of her, the men looking at her in confusion and then Cersei looking on in horror as men in gold attacked them.
She looked around frantically, both for an escape and for men to carry out her orders, finding no sight of the former but there were more of the latter somewhere, she knew there were. Running once more, Cersei looked over her shoulder, the bastard had been chasing after her but she'd lost him and she found herself laughing giddily at that. A dragon would have caught her but not a bastard wolf, no wolf could outrun a lioness.
How long she ran for she didn't know, only she was out of breath and there were few of her men and more of the ones in gold around her. She stopped to gather her thoughts and her breath and once she had, she knew what she needed to do. Running once more she saw him over her shoulder, his black hair and deep purple eyes almost clear to her even though he was some distance behind. In front of her she saw them and smiled, these men would see her right, they would help her see the city burn she thought as she raced towards them.
"Burn them, Burn them all." she shouted, and then she found herself stopping, the men were in flames and the black dragon was moving her way.
Cersei saw the silver hair of the Dragonwhore, the white cloaks of men behind her and for a brief moment, she swore she saw Jaime on the dragon's back. She knew though it was not him, he would never betray her, he was her other half, they belonged together. Turning back she saw the dark hair of the bastard wolf getting closer. Her eyes were torn between him and the black dragon in front of her and Cersei for the briefest moment panicked as she began to shout out the words.
"Burn them all."
"Burn them all."
"Burn them all."
Then all of a sudden she felt the strangest sensation, one moment she was on the ground calling for a city to be burned, and then she was in the air. The city was soon below her and the sky above seemed larger than it had ever been. Her eyes tried to focus and she saw him then, his silver hair, his indigo eyes, his black armor covered in rubies. He had come for her, when she had needed someone the most he had come for her and as she looked to him, she smiled. Only to then watch him fade from her view and to see the true horror of the situation she was now in.
The green dragon was smaller than his larger black brother, yet he was just as large compared to her. She was gripped tightly in his claws and they were beginning to squeeze ever tighter. Below her, the city that should have been hers now belonged to another and there was no one to come to her aid, no one to rescue her or even to hold her hand as the darkness began to close in. She felt the claw squeeze ever tighter, her breaths grow ever shorter and as she realized that she was about to die, she had only one thought and it was to be the last words she ever spoke.
"Valonqar." she said as Rhaegal squeezed the life from her.