(Aerion's POV)
"Well...." I said as I scrubbed blood off my armor with a wet rag, "That was something..."
I was by a stream as several men were walking about near me, next to a camp set up by some Tyrell forces I met up with. After a whole day of nothing but fighting and cutting people down, I decided to take a small break and clean my armor. The more dried blood that builds up, the harder it'll be, especially if there's small pieces of guts sticking to it, impeding my movement.
"Lord Aerion!" a knight walked up to me, "Word has reached us about Prince Daeron's movements up to the Riverlands. Before doing that, he crushed several groups of our forces. It'll be a tough fight, the entirety of Ormund Highttower's Host."
I nodded as I looked up to see Vermithor across the stream, sleeping peacefully, "Aye, it would be." I said as I kept scrubbing the blood off, "And with Aemond's defeat, I reckon Vhagar would be flying throughout the realm, laying waste. I should've finished that Old Hag off...."
"We sent a letter to Dragonstone." He said, "Queen Rhaenyra would know that you're with us."
"I appreciate the hospitality, of course." I said, "But I rather none of you die a needless death if I am not there. Daeron has proven himself to be quite capable and if he clashes with the Tully forces further up, Daemon will surely do something about it. I would handle the Hightower Host, sure, but I need to wait and see what the enemy's move is. Ormund won't do much, he'll be too wary. My guess is he'll try to move his forces up to the Riverlands. If he leaves a portion of his army at Tumbleton, we can attack it. I'll deal with the majority and the rest of the Tyrell forces clean up. Send word to Lord Tarly, have him gather the Tyrell Host and move in on my orders."
"Right!" He said before walking away
I looked back down at my armor, the majority of the blood was fully removed. My cloak was soaking in water, being cleaned off completely.
I could definitely attack the Hightower Host completely, take the majority of them out before Daeron or Aemond intervene. The is only one problem with that; Daemon. I still have no idea what he's planning. He hasn't been doing much from what I hear, having his Host take territories and repel Green-Loyalists. If I do all the work, chances are that he'll move said Host to the Capital and try to take it for himself.
Of course, that is my assumption. But a letter did reach me from Lord Elmo, claiming that his men only fight for Queen Rhaenyra and Daemon is the leader only due to Caraxes, as a deterrent.
My worry is that Daeron will perform too well and Daemon acts. I don't know if he's capable of killing his own nephew, but what worries me is that he'll definitely be harmed.
I sighed, "What a predicament...."
I can definitely destroy the Hightower forces, that much I'm confident about it. But if I do things too early, I might play into Daemon's plans. There is no way he isn't planning something, it reeks of him. However, if I do things too late, people will die. The last thing I want is men to die on the battlefield when I could've done something about it.
Then again, thousands have already died by my hand, bathing them in flames. They happened to make the wrong choice and side with my enemy. As much as I hate to admit it, casualties are expected.
The only thing I have to look out for is Aemond and Vhagar. I was able to outclass them in a battle but the next time we meet, he'll be even angrier and will not retreat so easily. I had told him that he was not on my level when it comes to dragonriding. He didn't believe me and paid the price.
One would say that I could ended things right there, killing Aemond and taking out Vhagar in the process. That might've gotten The Greens to reconsider this war and could've possibly surrendered. But I will not kill my own Kin, no matter what. Aemond had to understand that fighting me is futile.
I am no ordinary man, I know that much. I have shed so much blood that I might be considered a monster. I have to do what it takes to win, to get Rhaenyra on the throne.
"Nothing will matter when the Realm is dead..." I said softly, "When the Long Night comes...all of us are doomed if we're not ready."
I don't know if Aegon is capable of leading the realm but I do know this; Viserys chose Rhaenyra for a reason. He was a Dreamer, like Helaena. If he saw something, him choosing Rhaenyra meant that she's meant to be on that Throne.
Unless he was wrong.
"Now's not the time for that..." I whispered, "Too many lives were lost based on his decision. I have to commit now...."
I stood up and looked up to the sky.
"Viserys...." I thought to myself, "Were you wrong? Or is this part of what you saw? You were so sure of it, that Rhaenyra needed to be on that Throne."
"I pray that you were not wrong."
************
(Third Person POV)
A few days after Aerion's bloody exploits, the War has taken the toll on the realm. Prince Daeron Targaryen has pushed Tully forces further up to the Riverlands as Ormund Hightower's Host has moved up.
Aerion and his forces of Tyrell bannermen had attacked and broken several portions of the Hightowers up. Throughout those couple of days, Aerion had taken the fight on horseback, attacking the Hightower armies and cutting down hundreds of men in the process, supported by hundreds of men led by him.
The reason for these sort of attacks was to avoid being detected by the Hightower forces, who were already on guard for a Dragon attack. With Daeron further up, they had no way of defending themselves so they took safe routes that would shield them from being spotted on dragonback. However, this left them easily open to be spotted by infantry troops. Aerion had foreseen them and had placed hit-and-run tactics with his small forces.
Doing these types of attacks, Aerion was able to break apart the rear of the Hightower Host, killing hundreds, nearly thousands of men. This was done much slower due to the pace of their attacks. Whenever there was a battle, the men tried to run away from Aerion but were littered with arrows. If they weren't shot down, they were cut down by Aerion Targaryen.
It is safe to say that despite having the numbers, the Hightower Host were still suffering losses against Aerion Targaryen.
What frustrated them was that Vermithor was not used during these few days. The Bronze Fury was merely resting, gorging on the livestock offered by the Tyrell forces. Aerion wanted to save his strength should Vhagar be involved.
To the Riverlands' side, Daeron had been able to push the Tully forces, but not fully defeating them. Joining them was Aemond on Vhagar, who was able to take back to flight, despite her wounds. The appearance of the One-Eyed Prince struck fear into the Rivermen and three distinct battles were won over the course of those three days.
However, Daemon Targaryen was not fazed one bit. Vhagar was still sluggish, but not completely impeded by her wounds. This fact told Daemon that should another skirmish between dragons happen, Vhagar would be at a disadvantage by herself. However, Vhagar was not alone. This fact had Daemon reconsider striking.
So he waited. He decided to wait for the right opportunity.
On Dragonstone's side, Rhaenyra had come to a decision. Due to the sudden assassination attempt on her, she deemed it unsafe for her children to be there. If they could sneak on the island, they would most definitely attempt to take their lives as well.
She had decided to scatter them across safe locations in the world; Visenya to the North, Aegon and Viserys to Essos, and Rhea to The Vale.
The reasoning for these decisions was rather unknown but Rhaenyra had traded letters with Lord Stark who decided to take in the Princess in Winterfell. As for Rhea, the Vale was rather untouched by any battles so she thought that Runestone would be an appropriate location to keep her safe, with the Royce Knights.
Visenya was to be taken to the North by Prince Lucerys who was more than glad to undertake this endeavor. A message was already sent to Winterfell, they should expect the Princess.
Whatever happened from this point on, was unable to be predicted by anyone. And that included Aerion.
Aerion would later blame himself for any future events that take place during this civil war.