The young highborn maids tittered and blushed as Addam tried to
make conversation with them, the gardens of the Red Keep were
sheltered enough that the blustery winds coming in off the
Blackwater Bay did not make the temperature uncomfortable. So,
these maids were still able to wear what was apparently 'summer'
fashion, which appeared to Addam's eyes to consist of less material
than was usual, and in some cases decent. Not that he was
complaining, but it necessitated wearing a longer than was usual
doublet, to hide the incessant cock stand he found himself sporting.
The conversations seemed to always centre on his dragon and what
it was like to ride it, with enough sly inuendo from the elder, or bolder
maids to make Addam blush, adding further to his discomfort.
Thankfully Hugh came to his rescue, requesting his presence and
that of the other dragonriders, apparently there was something for
them to discuss. The highborn maids were equally all a flutter around
Hugh, who did his best to be polite and to ignore them, much to their
disappointment.
Once out of earshot Hugh whispered, "you were in need of a
wingman to rescue you young Lord, you were drowning, not waving."
"Erh, thank you, I think" replied Addam as Hugh led him further away
from the gardens "I suppose the dragonriders are not required for a
meeting of some sort?"
"You suppose correct my friend" came Hugh's reply, making Addam
feel somewhat relieved. Meetings of the dragonriders required Ulf,
Prince Daemon and Queen Rhaenyra, people who made him
nervous.
"But, the 'alert posture' is being scaled down to a single dragon 'on
alert' as opposed to two dragons and their riders, a new schedule
will be posted, starting next week."
"Oh?"
"Yes, apparently Vhagar has been located, in the Reach with
Tessarion and the armies of Lord Ormund Hightower. For now, we
need not fear a surprise attack. But I doubt the dragons, or the
armies of the Greens will stay still for long."
"What, what do you think the Greens will do Hugh? I mean, we, we
have the former King, his mother and most of the previous Small
Council in our hands, we have more dragons, and we have Kings
Landing…."
"This is a… a what you might call a 'civil war', a strange name I know
Addam, but one that pits family against each other. These wars are
always bloody and are never easily resolved and leave a legacy of
bitter resentment and hatred for decades afterwards."
"That sounds, depressing" replied Addam, not knowing what more to
say on the matter.
"Aye lad, it is. War is not all heroics and fair maidens waiting for their
loves to return. We are lucky in that we ride dragons; we don't have
to slog through the mud and the blood, but our chance of being killed
are actually much higher than that of the average peasant levy."
"How so?" Addam asked, not sure he was understanding correctly.
"There are eighteen, I mean ten and eight dragons with riders in this
war, six of them are either too small to be ridden or their rider was
unable to mount them due to other issues…."
"You, you mean Queen Haelena don't you?"
"I do yes Addam, anyway, that leaves ten and two dragons 'available
for operations' as it were, of these ten and two dragons two are dead
with their riders and one is missing, its rider incapacitated by injuries
suffered in air-to-air combat. That works out at a one on four casualty
rate, how many battles do you know of where one in four knights fell
in combat?"
"Erh, I don't know, I suppose not many?"
"Aye, not many indeed, usually losses are in the order of one in ten
or one in nine in a battle, we dragonriders have double the casualty
rate of other combatants Addam."
Addam said nothing in response, wondering where exactly Hugh
was going with this.
"Fret not Addam, I am not turning craven on you or anything like that,
just making sure that you don't misunderstand what it is we are
doing here. Our role is vital, crucial to the success of our Queen's
endeavors, but it is not without risk to ourselves, we are not
invulnerable."
"It's the dragons isn't it Hugh, this is all about the dragons!" Addam
retorted; his mind suddenly clear as to what Hugh was trying to say.
"Yes, it's all about the dragons, they must live Addam, they must not
be sacrificed to win this war. Dragons make the armies of the High
Lords obsolete Addam; they make the position of the Targaryen's
unassailable on the Iron Throne. And yes, I know you are a Velaryon,
but you share blood with the Targaryens and your ancestors hail
from the Freehold also. The great Lords of Westeros will always be
plotting and scheming and without dragons how long do you think
they would stay subservient to the Iron Throne? A decade or two,
perhaps a generation at most. With dragons to enforce the peace the
realm will prosper, and senseless deaths heaped on the alters of the
ambitions of the Andal Lords will vanish."
"You, you believe that to be so Hugh?"
"Aye I do, I also fear that this war could lead to the end of dragons,
something which would be a disaster for all of us Addam."
"Truly, you believe that dragons could go, could go extinct?"
"They could, if enough are killed yes, dragons are magic and magic
is needed to birth them, the less dragons in existence the less eggs
will hatch, it could be that enough dragons are killed that no more
eggs hatch Addam."
"That, that is….."
"I know, a terrible thing to contemplate."
"Aye Hugh, terrible….you, you seem to love the Targaryen's, and,
and their dragons…."
Hugh gave him a wan and wistful smile before he continued,
seeming to have been collecting his thoughts and carefully
marshalling his words "they have been good to Dragonstone, and
good to Westeros, major wars, before this current situation, were
unheard of. The lands were united and at peace, something of a
codified set of laws was implemented, life was better for most than it
was in the era of the 'warring states' before the conquest."
"I. Hugh, I mean….."
"Say what you have to say Addam, you won't offend me" Hugh
smiled at him.
"You, you are, sorry you were a, a smallfolk, a blacksmith….and…."
"Why would I have these concerns, why would I have these cares for
others beyond eating the next day?"
"Yesss….."
"We are all not like Ulf and Nettles you know?" replied Hugh, letting
out a small, sad sounding laugh "though too many of us are in truth.
Smashing hot iron all day sometimes gives you time to think, and it is
amazing what you can pick up in taverns, especially those in ports.
With enough information and enough time to think, you can
formulate a pretty accurate picture of the world beyond your forge
and Dragonstone."
"Hrrmmmm, I see…." Came his reply, not really seeing at all if he
was honest. But he supposed Hugh was just very cleaver, and that
was the explanation for it. Or that Hugh was much older than he
looked, for it seemed to Addam that Hugh sounded like a man with
many years of hard and sorrowful experience behind him.
"You think that the Greens will march on Kings Landing?" Addam
asked, remembering back to a question he had asked a few minutes
ago", wondering what the man would have to say on the matter. He
wondered what would happen now that they held the capital and had
eight dragons to their enemies two.
"I don't know if I am honest, they may have a massive advantage in
men but as the field of fire proved, that is negated by dragons. And
we have more dragons than they do, their only way to win would be
to find some way of neutralising our advantage in dragons."
"How would they do that?"
"Poison, assassination, treachery, the usual weapons of the weaker
side. You notice that all the dragonriders are always accompanied by
a coterie of guards at all times?"
This was true, he had ten guards assigned to him at all times, as did
Hugh and Ulf, the Prince, the Queen and the Princess also had their
own guards. Nettles despised such protection and the strange, dark
little waif rarely resided in Kings Landing anyway, preferring to spend
most of her time on Dragonstone with her mount.
"I have heard that Princess Baela is going to move back to
Dragonstone soon…"
"Yes, to guard the place, its currently vulnerable to attack, with
Nettles and Sheepstealer based there also that should give pause to
any attempt by the Greens to attack. That is another way we could
be defeated, by being 'defeated in detail', split into smaller packets of
dragons and overwhelmed by Vhagar, who can take any of our
dragons, with the exception of Caraxes, possibly."
"So our supposed superiority, might not be as….telling as we
believe?" asked Addam.
"Yes, unfortunately, there is an old Valyrian saying 'it's never over
until the fat lady sings."
What a strange saying Addam pondered, while out loud he said, "so
there is more fighting to come then?"
"Oh yes, much more I suspect, there will be more than enough
treachery, horror, waste and stupidity to last a lifetime for all of us
before this is over."
They walked along in silence for a few moments, before Addam
asked "will you dine with grandfather and I tonight? I would very
much like if you could join us Hugh."
"I'm afraid I cannot, I have prior arrangements unfortunately."
"Oh, anything, well, interesting?"
"Oh yes, in the Yi-Ti sense of the word."
Addam did not know what Hugh was talking about, but that did not
sound very pleasant.