Jaehaerys
Jaehaerys watches as his cousin walks out of his tent and he feels a dead weight settle in the pit of his stomach. He knew that Laecareys would more than likely not bend the knee or accept the proposal that he had put forward, the boy was still so imbued with the concepts of honour and duty and his upbringing by Jeyne Westerling and more importantly his grandfather Gerold Westerling had imbued in him the sense of putting immediate family above his other relations. The battle now seemed inevitable, especially with Jaehaerys' goodbrother Jorah Stark now suitably riled up due to the way the meeting with Laecareys had gone, that no other course would be able to quell his or his bannermen's lust for blood.
He sighed and wondered how on earth they had come to this path. When his grandfather Aegon the dragon had died, Jaehaerys had been but a young boy, the lands rested in a peace, what with two of the dragons from conquest still around and more dragons being born, the faith seemed cowed and the lords of Westeros still seemed to willing to bend the knee to the Targaryen foreigners. Then Jaehaerys' father had ascended to the throne and the Faith Militant had rebelled, bringing with them scores and scores of men whose faith was admirable, but whose common sense was deeply lacking. Jaehaerys father and mother had been cut down before his own eyes, he had been but a boy then, and his uncle Maegor had taken the throne. Sometimes he wondered what the world would be like if after his uncle had died he had ascended to the throne and not Vaegyl, for whilst he was not a warrior like his cousin, he did have more patience and more political savvy of that much he knew, then again there was no point thinking of what may have been, there was a battle to fight and win.
He put on his armour- silver with red encrusted rubies on it- and walked out with his sword in a sheath on his back, he turned to speak with his goodbrother and told him in a severe tone. "My cousin has an army of some 20,000 men with him, made up of men hardened by their fighting in the Riverlands. We have only some 15,000 men, not enough for a direct assault even with Quicksilver here. I want you to split the force into two, you shall lead one of the hosts, and attack Laecareys army from the left, I shall lead the other and attack from the right. His commanders will be over confident after their victories in the Riverlands; they will not expect a divided force. Is that understood?"
Jaehaerys saw his goodbrother grimace slightly before he nodded and said "Yes my prince."
"Good," Jaehaerys said. "I want Laecareys captured and brought before me alive. He will make for a very valuable hostage should the need arise."
"Do you think the usurper will really try and ransom his brother back?" Jorah asked curiously.
"I know not what my cousin will do anymore. Let us hope there is some humanity left in him, if not things may not go so well for us or them." Jaehaerys replied grimly. He bid his goodbrother farewell and then walked toward where Quicksilver was resting, his silver head buried deep within the shade of his wings. Jaehaerys reached out and moved his hand across his dragon's scales, this dragon had been his father's mount and after the Black Dread and Vhagar was one of the biggest and oldest dragons in Westeros. "Soon this will all end my boy and then we can mourn Alysanne and Silverwing in peace." Jaehaerys whispered to his dragon, he heard the beast make a mournful noise somewhere deep in its throat, and he felt the pain of Alysanne's death well up inside of him once more. What was life without his wife, his companion?
He sighed once more and mounted Quicksilver, bringing with him his whip, the dragon walked on its claws towards the right flank of the northern army where he was greeted by Aled Bolton the Lord of the Dreadfort. "My Prince, what would you have us do?"
Jaehaerys looked down from Quicksilver's back at the man, who seemed more dead than alive and simply said. "Charge at them, Laecareys will have put his archers on the ruined battlements, I'll take care of those, charge the men on foot, bring them down. Spare no one."
He saw the man nod, before he drew his sword and said in a loud clear voice. "We fight to free the Riverlands from these usurpers and the traitors. We fight for justice." This was met by a loud roar of approval, Jaehaerys dug his heels into Quicksilver's flanks and then he was up in the air, Quicksilver gave a terrifying roar that sent many of the birds flying in a panic from the nearby trees. He put on his helm, and then as he saw the battlements getting closer he whispered the word "Dracarys" and Quicksilver unleashed a jet of silver fire, that burnt the walls of the ruined castle and brought down perhaps three or four of the archers if their screams were anything to go by.
The response was almost immediate, arrows came whirring toward them, Jaehaerys used his whip to move Quicksilver to the left of the arrows, and he watched out the corner of his eye as the arrows sailed harmlessly by, he urged his dragon closer and repeated the word used previously, another jet of silver flame came out of Quicksilver's mouth and more archers were bathed in fire, some died screaming where they stood others fell to their deaths crying out for relief.
Beneath him the battle raged, the gates of Oldstones- ruins more like- had been opened and men wearing the livery of the West had come charging out in great numbers, he could hear the crashing of swords, the clanging of steel on steel and the odd curse as men fought each other, a quick glance down showed him that at the moment they had the advantage, so far he could not see Laecareys anywhere, could not see his white cloak or even the banner that would be his.
His attention was brought back to his own battle when he felt an arrow sail past his head, Quicksilver roared, and Jaehaerys saw his dragon unleash multiple jets of fire, that bathed the battlements in silver fire the archers there began falling down in their men began falling down screaming for their death. A shout from below brought Jaehaerys attention to the ground, and he saw many of the men fleeing from the direction of the castle, briefly he could not understand why, and then he heard it, a roar that sounded primal and angry, a dragon was there.
Daemon and Firefree had finally emerged from their hiding, Firefree was a red dragon with beautiful red scales and horns of pure white on his head, but the sight of them flying toward him and Quicksilver merely filled Jaehaerys with a cold rage, these two were responsible for his Alysanne's death, for her dragon's death, and he would make them pay. The two traitors stopped before Jaehaerys and Quicksilver, and Quicksilver let Jaehaerys anger show by growling menacingly at the two of them.
Daemon laughed. "Is this how you greet us cousin? With an army and a threatening dragon?"
Jaehaerys scowled and raised his helm and said coldly. "You forfeited any right to acknowledge blood ties to me when you rose in rebellion with your traitor of a brother."
Daemon sighed loudly. "Oh come now cousin, you know Aegon would make a much better king than Vaegyl. Vaegyl is too rash, and has too much impulsiveness to be a truly great king. Besides the faith would never bend to him, no they have bent to Aegon though, why not allow that great brain of yours to understand this and bend the knee to Aegon. Why do you persist in fighting for a lost cause?"
Jaehaerys was silent for a moment before replying. "There is no honour in fighting for traitors and cutthroats cousin. Aegon has no right to claim that he is the rightful king, that is just a lie spun by your grandfather and mother to justify their treason. Vaegyl is a much better king than Aegon could ever be. The High Septon has even admitted that the Militant arm shall be put to an end once this foolishness is done."
Jaehaerys heard his cousin laugh once more. "The High Septon? Oh you mean that blathering idiot in King's Landing or the Starry Sept wherever it is that he has hidden himself. That man is no more the High Septon than I am our grandfather come back from the grave. Septon Loren is the High Septon now, elected and chosen by those of the Faith Militant the people in the Faith that count."
Jaehaerys sighed once more, Daemon laughed again and said "But of course there is the matter of cousin Alysanne between the two of us is there not? Shame she had to die, we could have used her and your smartness in getting Vaegyl to stop this madness, but she just would not bend."
Jaehaerys felt his blood begin to boil at his cousin's impudence, but did not deign to reply. Daemon sighed then and said softly, but loud enough for Jaehaerys to hear him. "Then I guess it comes to a fight then, between the two of us and our dragons? Let us see what you can do cousin."
Both men drew their swords, both dragons roared cries that echoed in the silence, as men from both sides stopped fighting and laid down their weapons to watch as the dragons began their dance. Firefree the younger and nimbler of the two dragons crashed into Quicksilver with a great force, but immediately broke away when it sensed a response coming from the bigger dragon. Jaehaerys urged his own dragon closer toward his cousin and when he got close enough he dug his heels in and watched as Quicksilver bathed Firefree and Daemon in silver fire, though was unsurprised when both emerged from the jet unscathed. Firefree responded by blowing his own jet of fire onto Jaehaerys and Quicksilver, and whilst the heat was scorching neither Jaehaerys or Quicksilver suffered any burns, seeing this Firefree slammed his body straight into Quicksilver's body once more, and this time the force of impact caused both dragons to come crashing down toward the ground.
Both dragons veered upwards though before they actually hit the ground and with tooth and claw fought each other, drawing blood on both of themselves, Jaehaerys and Daemon clashed swords, their steel ringing through the now silent grounds, no man on the ground, not even Prince Laecareys dare do anything whilst the two giant beasts fought on in the air. A deafening roar signalled the ending of the fighting between the two dragons, and those who survived the Battle of Oldstones would later recall the savage ferocity with which Quicksilver ripped Firefree's red head from its body, and devoured it in two massive bites. They would recall the cold look of pleasure on Prince Jaehaerys face as he swung the sword and beheaded Prince Daemon and ordered his head mounted on a pike outside the gates of the ruined fortress Oldstones.
Victory had been won for Prince Jaehaerys and the northmen, though Prince Laecareys seeing that all was lost had retreated with some 500 men- the survivors from the battle- back to Riverrun to later warn his brother and grandfather of what had occurred. Though of course Jaehaerys and his men did not know this at the time, and celebrated their victory most heartily, though both the prince and his dragon were wounded during the fighting and would most likely not be able to march straight for Riverrun, and so it was decided that a few weeks rest would them all a world of good.
It was during one of these weeks of rest that a scout came from a foraging south of Oldstones and through the Whispering Wood and reported the sighting of a massive host on the march. A council of war was convened and the suggestions of whom the possible host could be were debated. "It is likely either Gerold Westerling or Tybolt Lannister. Aegon will not be foolish enough to march from the safety of Riverrun himself, not with Daemon and Firefree dead." Jaehaerys said tiredly.
"But what of Prince Laecareys, the boy fled like a craven once he saw his brother dead, do you not think he would try and gain some of his lost pride by leading this attack on us now, when we are down in numbers?" Mors Snow asked.
Jaehaerys sighed and said "Because Laecareys has likely returned to the West through the pass way in the Golden Tooth. Our sources within their camp report that Lord Lannister only left a token force as well as his fool of a son Gerion to defend the Rock, he'll want more men there. Aegon won't march from Riverrun, not till he has more dragons. No this is either Lannister or Gerold Westerling."
"So what do you wish for us to do my Prince?" Jorah Stark asked.
Jaehaerys turned slightly to look at the man, and said seriously "Take the attack to them, first figure out how many men they have and then proceed accordingly, capture Lannister and the West shall shake, and Aegon shall have to come out to fight."
The lords nodded and scouts were sent out, they came back and reported varying figures of the westermen host marching toward them, some scouts said 3,000 men others said 10,000 men but all agreed that it was led by Lord Tybolt Lannister. When Jaehaerys heard this he smiled slightly and said to Jorah Stark, "If it is Lannister they have sent to lead this host, then that means they are desperate to win, they must be facing desertion and the threat of the riverlords rebelling."
"Why is that My Prince?" Jorah asked.
Jaehaerys took a deep breath and said "Because Aegon for all that he is winning is a coward, he will never send his grandfather away from his side so long as the old man lives. He needs his advice now more so now than ever that Daemon is dead; otherwise Lannister will want to march straight for King's Landing to sit his daughter on the throne beside Aegon, no matter the cost. They hold the faith by a tenuous grasp at best, and the Riverlands have always been a volatile region, though with my Alysanne's death they will be more so, the Riverlords do remember as well my lord of Stark."
Three days later a battle that history and the singers would later call the Battle of Last Reed was fought between the northern host made up of 5,000 northmen led by Lord Jorah Stark and 7,000 westermen led by Lord Tybolt Lannister. A bloody battle was fought, many men died and many men made names for themselves that day, no man more so than the Lord of Winterfell, who wielding Ice swung his sword and sent many men to meet the stranger, whilst in the process losing the sight in his left eye and his left hand. The battle ended when Tybolt Lannister was captured, and brought in chains to Prince Jaehaerys back at Oldstones, close to 5,000 men had died during the fighting.
Tybolt Lannister spoke not a word when questioned, and so it was decided to bring him with them as they marched on Riverrun to free it from whomever had been left in charge of its command by Aegon, for all agreed that the man would not still be there himself. Prince Jaehaerys and his dragon Quicksilver having recovered from the wounds they had picked up at Oldstones led the march flying high in the sky. Arriving at Riverrun however, they found the gates to the castle flung wide open, two men greeted them, one was a gaunt looking Ser Robin Tully, and the other man appeared to be the castle maester Ullrick. Jaehaerys dismounted from Quicksilver and greeted his uncle warmly, and accepted his condolences for Alysanne's death.
Entering the solar that had once been his grandfather's and then his cousin's he asked his uncle where his good sister and nephew were. It was then that Jaehaerys learnt the horrifying truth, before they had left Riverrun Aegon had ordered the Westermen to put Lady Genna and their babe of a son Jonos be put to the sword along with most of the castle garrison. Leaving behind only Ser Robin and Maester Ullrick, Jaehaerys was horrified when he heard this, as were the northern lords who heard it. This now meant that Ser Robin was Lord of Riverrun and would need to marry so as to continue the Tully line, what with Harrold being in King's Landing and being somewhat less prone to women.
The only good news that came from their stay in Riverrun as they waited for Vaegyl to arrive was that the riverlords hearing of their lord's wife and son's death and hearing of the fleeing of the usurper and his men had all resworn their allegiance to Riverrun and to Vaegyl. A raven came three moons after Jaehaerys had arrived in Riverrun written in Vaegyl's bold hand, the message was simple, he was stay in Riverrun and then once Vaegyl arrived they would march into the Reach and deal with Ser Jasper Florent and the rebellious reach lords and deal a cruel blow to Aegon. Vaegyl also wrote that Aemon now had a newly hatched dragon, whom he had named Meleys the Red Queen. He also wrote that word had come from the Westerlands of the hatching of two dragons for Aegon's son and nephew.
In the seventh moon of the 62nd year after Aegon the Dragon's landing, the war of dragons seemed no closer to finishing than it had three moons ago when Balerion had burnt Gawen Westerling alive.