Daemon
He did so love travelling on Caraxes. Daemon Targaryen, Prince of the Blood and uncle to Queen Dowager Rhaenrya as well as father to Lady Rhaena and Baela Targaryen had always had the bug for three things, travelling, women and fighting. It was why he had spent so much time fighting in the Stepstones and elsewhere in Essos once King Jacaerys had informed him that he was no longer needed as commander of the city watch. It was why he had spent a lot of time in Pentos with his friends there, it was why Laena had died. His love of travel and fighting had earnt him many enemies over the course of his life, and his wife had paid the price for it. Sweet Laena who had always been his staunchest of supporters when Viserys or Rhaenys had tried to be condescending of his attitude toward his duty, she had stood by him through thick and thin, and how had he repaid her? By allowing some daft bastard with a knife and some pretty girls to fool him whilst he slit Laena's throat.
Daemon was still convinced to this day that the killer had been sent by Ser Otto Hightower, the man had never liked him, but had known well enough that when Viserys had died Daemon would be the only one left from their original conspiracy to put Viserys on the throne, before both brothers grew some sense. Daemon was convinced that Ser Otto had ordered Laena killed so as to make it look like Jacaerys and Rhaenrya had done the deed, he knew things had never been easy between his niece and his wife, after the rumours that Daemon had slept with Rhaenrya, completely untrue of course, his niece was a lovely woman but he was not one to divulge in even that level of depravity! The one thing that he was grateful of was that his girls had been spared the hardships that he had faced on some of his travels as a youth. Rhaena was so sweet and gentle, she would make the perfect wife for Ser Addam Velaryon and if the fool did anything to upset her, Daemon would ensure he never saw another day. Baela was his fierce young daughter she reminded him a lot of Laena with her quiet strength and passion, though many commented that she was a lot like him.
Baela was betrothed to Prince Valarr- King Valarr now- and they seemed to be a match made in heaven. The prince seemed deeply in love with Baela, it seemed he had been since both kids had been young, and it seemed much to Daemon's amusement that Baela knew this full well and was taking full advantage of it. Though of course when the war had broken out, Aemon had ordered Rhaenrya, Addam Velaryon and Baela to remain in Dragonstone to defend the island fortress. Daemon could only guess how much that would frustrate his daughter, not being able to be part of the fighting whilst her love was away winning glory for himself. Valarr had taken Duskendale, though admittedly it was lightly held, the tougher task had been for the Prince to take Rook's Rest which still had a garrison of some 500 men, Lord Staunton was not as much a fool as Lord Darklyn and had the sense to leave a garrison behind. Daemon knew about the taking of Rook's Rest due to his sources in King's Landing even on the green council itself Daemon had allies. Valarr and Rhaenys had taken Rook's Rest both of their dragons proving more than enough to deal with Ser Lewyn Rivers and his hatchling of a dragon.
Even though Aemon had died over Rook's Rest, Daemon was determined to fulfil the mission he had been given. Bring the Vale's full martial commitment to the field and the Greens would be destroyed in the Riverlands. Daemon had left Dragonstone with the girl Nettles, he was not sure if that was truly her name or not but found he did not truly care. She was a delightful girl this Nettles, she had tamed the dragon Sheepstealer by feeding the dragon sheep for everyday before they had left Dragonstone, and she was fierce and sharp of mind and wit, a very entertaining companion, and Daemon would have considered taking her to bed, but for the fact that she was his daughters' age. Shaking his head slightly Daemon turned his focus back to the matter at hand, bringing the full force of the Vale behind them. Lord Joffrey Arryn was but a boy of eight, his sister Lady Jeyne was but thirteen and though Lord Marcus Royce acted as regent for the boy lord, Daemon knew from the brief conversations he had had with the girl that it was truly Lady Jeyne who was in charge. As such the girl had finally consented to discuss the true reason why Daemon had come here with his dragon and Nettles and her dragon. As Daemon was shown into the Lord's solar he saw the girl sitting there dressed in the blue of her house, with Lord Royce standing behind her, looking as imposing as ever. Daemon nodded to them both and then took the seat in front of the girl, Nettles sat to his right.
"My lady I thank you for seeing me today," Daemon began. "I am sure that by now you are aware as to the purpose of my visit."
Lady Jeyne Arryn smiled slightly and said softly. "I am fully aware of why you are here Prince Daemon. You wish for my brother to give you the armies of the Vale so that you may rid the Riverlands of the King's troops who hold it in his name. Tell me my prince why should my brother send his men with you when King Aegon holds King's Landing and the Westerlands? Why should the Vale give you anything when you appear to be losing?"
Daemon chuckled slightly and was about to reply when Nettles said heatedly "Don't play daft girl, you know that we will win back Riverrun and then take King's Landing. To not aid us would be as good as treason, and even your mountains and hills won't be able to defend you from dragonfire!"
Daemon looked at her reproachfully, she was a lively girl but sometime she needed to learn how to be quiet. Lady Jeyne took no offense and merely laughed then. "Ah but you see my lady, the Targaryens never took the Vale during the conquest, we bent the knee voluntarily. And besides my question was directed at Prince Daemon not yourself."
Daemon hid a smile behind his hand, and then replied "Well my lady, it is as Nettles said You must know that we hold Duskendale and Rook's Rest, we are advancing closer and closer on to the capital each day. And besides you must also know that the man who calls himself King Aegon is no king, but a usurper hell bent on taking power for his own selfish gain. You must have heard of how the Riverlands are burning under the influence of the bastards that hold Riverrun under the so called King's direction? What is there to say that this false King will not turn his attention to the Vale next, one of Prince Maegon's bastards still lives here does he not?" He smiles slightly at the look of momentary panic that crosses Lady Jeyne's face, not many people are aware of Gaemon Stonefyre, but Daemon is, he made it his duty to be aware of the man the minute he learnt that war might break out.
Lady Jeyne looks at him and then says. "Lord Gaemon would not betray King Valarr, no more than we would. The Lords of the Vale remember the oaths they swore to King Aegon the dragon and King Maegor and King Vaegyl, and the help that was given to us after the second Tarling War and the second faith militant uprising. We shall not forget them for as long as we live. How do you propose this alliance would benefit my family and people though my prince?"
Daemon looks at the girl then, who acts so much like a grown woman it reminds him of Laena and says. "A marriage and a guarantee of protection by the Iron Throne. From this day till the end of time."
It is now that Lord Marcus Royce, Lord of Runestone and Regent of the Vale shows any sign of interest, he moves slightly forward closer to Lady Jeyne and says. "A marriage my prince? To whom?"
Daemon knows that the man thinks he means himself, but he does not wish to wed again, not after Laena died, he could never put a wife of his in danger again. "To Prince Aegon my lord. A marriage between the Prince and Lady Jeyne, to seal the alliance, and make Lady Jeyne a princess."
Daemon sees the disappointment on Lord Marcus's face and knows that his earlier suspicion has been confirmed as accurate. Lady Jeyne speaks then. "A marriage for myself, how kind my prince. But I must ask would it not be more prudent for my brother Lord Joffrey to marry the Princess Aleana, they are of a closer age are they not?"
Daemon smile once more and says. "That may be so my lady, but I am sure you can agree that it would be more prudent for Prince Aegon to marry yourself before your brother weds, so as to make sure the Iron Throne is much more secure as is your brother's hold on the Vale."
"And what lordship would Prince Aegon receive once this war is over and supposing we all survive?" Lady Jeyne asks.
Daemon smiles once more, the lady truly was very smart even at her young age. "Oldstones my lady. I am sure you know that Prince Aegon has a claim to the seat through his mother. He would become Prince of Oldstones once the war is done."
Daemon sees the hint of want in the lady's eyes. Lady Jeyne is but a young woman after all, likely she still dreams of knights and beautiful lands, and Daemon having grown up in the Riverlands knows that it just that, like the songs describe it as. The heart of the faith and the Old Gods where the sacred Isle of Faces rests though Daemon has never truly believed in the gods not since they took his mother. The Lady Jeyne speaks with Lord Marcus for a long time after that and then eventually turns to him and says. "Very well my prince. I shall write the declaration today and get my brother to affix his seal to it, and then the armies of the Vale shall be yours."
"My thanks my lady." Daemon says and then he gets up and walks with Nettles back to their rooms. As they stop in front of Nettles room Daemon turns to her, and momentairily finds his breath leaving his body, she looks a dream in a brown dress with her hair down long against her back, the urge to kiss her is strong. Instead he merely says. "Sleep well my lady, tomorrow we have a long and busy day in front of us."
The next day Joffrey Arryn affixes his seal to the letter his sister and Lord Marcus Royce drafted out declaring for Valarr, and the raven is sent out to the various lords of the Vale as well as the declaration of the banners being called. Over the next two weeks that it takes for the Lords of the Vale to arrive and for the party to move to the Gates of the Moon, Daemon receives a stream of reports from his sources in King's Landing as to the enemy's movements and tactics. It seems that Aegon the usurper has struck an alliance with Dorne, Prince Daeron will wed the daughter of the current ruling Prince of Dorne in exchange for the Dornish sending troops to deal with the host being raised by Lord Borros Baratheon. Highgarden and the Reach now firmly belong to the Greens, Lord Gormund Hightower having smashed a host commanded by Lord Tarly at the Honeywine. Prince Aemond the true threat for Daemon to consider, continues to exert his control over the Westerlands, Ser Tyland Lannister opened the gates to the man after both his father and brother were killed during the fighting at Sarsfield, for that he has been named Lord of the Rock. Daemon begins to wonder whether or not Aemond will ever come east again or whether he will remain in the West. Such thoughts do little though to ease his nerves, nerves he gets before every fight ever since he was eighteen. The Lords of the Vale have assembled at the Gates of the Moon their numbers 30,000 strong. Lord Marcus Royce decrees that 5,000 of that number shall be left behind to defend the Vale should an invasion come from the sea. The rest march west with Daemon and Nettles leading the way on Caraxes and Sheepstealer respectively.
As he sits atop Caraxes the lands look small beneath him, and he marvels at just how powerful being a dragon rider truly makes him, sometimes he thinks he can understand why Viserys seemed so enthralled with becoming King in their youth. Then there are the times that they stop to rest and he sees the destruction that this war has wrought to the Riverlands, and he sees the people fleeing the destruction looking hungry and desperate, and he feels nothing but contempt for his nephews. Nettles herself usually so quick to make a comment or a joke, seems to be silenced by looking at the destruction before them, fields burnt to dust, animals and people a like slaughtered. Daemon has seen such destruction before, during the third Tarling war and during the times when he mounted Caraxes to fight in Dorne and the Stepstones and even in the Free Cities when Jacaerys and Lord Daven decreed the fighting there could be detrimental to the peace they had worked so hard to bring about.
They are camped on the eastern bank of the Trident when Lord Royce comes to find him and ask him the question Daemon is sure all the Lords of the Vale have been dying to ask for some time. "Will we make battle here my prince or will we head straight for Riverrun?"
Daemon is silent for a moment and then says. "We have made no secret of the fact that we are camped here and the men are ready for a battle are they not Lord Royce?" Royce nods. "Then we shall wait here. Ser Aelix Rivers and Ser Baelon Waters will come to us. Both men are old and experienced aye, but they are both bastards and are keen to prove themselves loyal to the usurper they will come here to prove their mettle and that will be their undoing."
"But my prince will the girl be ready for dragon on dragon fighting? After all Ser Baelon rides one of the bigger dragons to live in Westeros and both rider and dragon have a ferocious appetite. Would it not be wiser to call for Lady Rhaenys or perhaps even his grace King Valarr?" Royce asks
And though his concern is valid, Daemon shakes his head. "No The King must remain in Duskendale for now to make sure we do not lose the advantage we have. Lady Rhaenys should remain in Rook's Rest for now until we know more of their plans." Also so that she could not see what was happening between him and Nettles, his cousin had always been far to perceptive for her own good.
Lord Royce nods slightly then and leaves the tent. A few minutes later Nettles enters and Daemon knows she must have been standing outside the tent the whole time. He greets her with a kiss and then says. "For how long were you outside my lady?"
She says. "For all of it. Do you think I will be able to deal with the Cannibal and Ser Baelon?"
"Yes," Daemon says and when she looks unconvinced he kisses her and says. "Ser Aelix Rivers will go for you, Ser Baelon and I have unfinished business. Grey Ghost is no match for Sheepstealer, will not be a match for Sheepstealer at the least, Grey Ghost has grown up in comfort, your dragon has fought for everything she has."
"What of you and Caraxes though? I do not want to lose you."Nettles says tugging on the front of his shirt bringing him forward.
"We shall both be fine. We have fought many battles, and I know Ser Baelon well. He is fierce and a tough fighter but predictable." Daemon replies.
Nettles nods and then they give themselves to each other and leave thoughts of the upcoming battle behind them. Three weeks later as the first of the snows heralding winter arrives so too do Ser Aelix Rivers and Ser Baelon Waters on their dragons Grey Ghost and the Cannibal, along with 5,000 Riverlords and some 10,000 men sent by Prince Aemond from the Westerlands commanded by Lord Temperance Reyne. Ser Baelon is just as Daemon remembers him, age has not reduced his build nor his confidence, a confident air surrounds the man. Lord Rodrick Dustin and Barth Stark also arrive flying Valarr's banners and bringing with them some 5,000 men.
Daemon kisses Nettles once before they both mount their respective dragons and then they are up in the air, roars and fires being raised down on the men below, their screams and the smells of cooked and charred meat are the most prominent things to Daemon through his visor. And then a roar comes from near him and he sees Grey Ghost hurtling toward him, the dragon's body slams into Caraxes and Daemon is momentarily surprised by this that he does not respond and neither does Caraxes, he expected Ser Baelon to come after him not Ser Aelix. The when he feels a sword being shoved close to him he retaliates. Swinging his own sword and then urging Caraxes on the fighting begins again.
The dragons crash into each other again and again, clawing and biting and smashing over and over until both dragons and riders are bloody. Daemon's mind is taken up with many things, one of them including how Nettles is doing and why Ser Baelon has gone after her and not him, it is he who Ser Baelon hates not Nettles. He has no time to truly think more about it when he hears another roar and then feels his whole body shake as Caraxes and Grey Ghost smash into each other and then begin the long descent down toward the Trident. Fire continues to be unleashed by both dragons as their descent continues, and for a moment Daemon thinks that this is how he is going to die. Eventually, both dragons pull up and fly away from the river only to resume their fighting.
Fire both red and white engulfs the sky, and Daemon can feel its heat around him. He hears roars and screams of the dying men below him, of Nettles and Sheepstealer he sees no sign and he feels panic for a long time and Caraxes seems to reflect his panic by breaking of the chain of fire with Grey Ghost and lunging straight at the other dragon and Daemon sensing an opportunity throws his sword at Ser Aelix and roars with triumph when his throw strikes true and the sword pierces through Ser Aelix's armour. Caraxes takes advantage of Grey Ghost's distress by latching onto the dragon's neck and biting down hard and then bringing his claws up to grapple with the other dragon's body before eventually nullifying the dragon enough to rip his head off. With Ser Aelix and Grey Ghost dead, their bodies plummeting down toward the Trident, Daemon is able to turn his attention toward finding Nettles and Sheepstealer.
Daemon scans the area for a long time and though he can see the hordes of men fighting and dying below him, the fact that there is fighting going on suggests that Ser Baelon is still alive, whether Nettles is or not is another question. Eventually he finds her looking beaten and bloody but mercifully still alive, Sheepstealer working hard to take her to safety. He spurs Caraxes on and when he gets near to them both he is horrified to see she's bleeding worse than he thought. A dozen different little wounds lie across her body, her armour broken and her clothes beneath torn. Sheepstealer is also bleeding from many, many wounds. Daemon shouts. "Nettles, where is he? Where did Ser Baelon go?"
He is deeply worried by the fact that it takes Nettles so long to reply and even more worried by the fact that she slurs her words when she answers him. "Gone, to… King's Landing or the Westerlands… not sure… Took men with him."
Daemon then has Caraxes guide Sheepstealer down to spot where he knows they can rest and recuperate. Once they have both landed he jumps off of Caraxes and goes to untie Nettles from her saddle, that done he carries her to a spot near the river and begins taking things out of his saddlebag looking for something to stop the bleeding. It is while he is doing this that he hears the sound of a horn being blow and the roar of soldiers shouting victory. Looking up to see who it is that could be cheering, he sees Valarr's banner being flown by the men, the Bronze Dragon halved with the three headed red dragon on black, and he breathes a sigh of relief. He goes to Caraxes then and gets his dragon to roar, which gets and even louder cheer from the men. Before Lord Rodrik Dustin arrives, wounded and scarred but still breathing, Nettles is still awake but quickly losing consciousness. "My prince," Lord Dustin greets him. "What may I do for you?"
"I need a maester and quickly!" Daemon says, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart.
"Of course, Mullen!" Dustin shouts and a great big fat man with a large belly ambles over, and begins looking over Nettles treating her wounds and reducing the loss of blood. Meanwhile Daemon turns to look at Dustin, and the man reports the events of the battle to him. "We lost some 20,000 men my prince. Lord Marcus and Lord Barth amongst them. Ser Otho Rivers is dead, slain by mine own hand, and Lord Temperance Reyne fled back when Ser Baelon came a calling."
It is this piece of information that Daemon wishes to know the most about. "Do you know where the man went? Riverrun or to the Rock?"
"I know that he did not go to Riverrun my prince. He shouted something about retreating but leaving Riverrun to rot as is." Lord Dustin replies.
Daemon nods then says. "Send men to Riverrun just in case, we shall join them there."
He then watches Lord Dustin ride off and give orders for that to happen, when he turns to look at the maester the man turns to him and says "She will be fine, but she should not fight in anymore battles my prince."
"Why is that?" Daemon asks.
"Because she is pregnant." The maester replies, and Daemon begins to feel his world turn upside down.
Eventually after five days of rest and Nettles driving herself mad, they leave for Riverrun and find Lord Dustin already there Lord Simon Tully grateful for having his castle freed, and he bends the knee and recognises Valarr as his king. Daemon meanwhile spends much time with Nettles, wondering how it is that he is going to be a father once more, considering they have tried everything to avoid such a scenario happening especially in this time of war, Nettles herself refuses not to partake in the fighting, and as such argues long and hard with Daemon about it stating "I am no feeble witted girl who knows not how to take care of herself Daemon. I taught myself how to live and how to tame a dragon before I even met you. I will be just fine!" Daemon's arguments fall on death ears and when the raven comes from Duskendale stating that they are to take part in the attack on King's Landing, Nettles simply saddles up and asks when they will be leaving. He has his hands full now Daemon realises.