Seasmoke followed Vermithor down towards the maw of its entrance
into the Dragonpit, peeling off to slowly glide into one of the great
openings that ringed the Dragonpit, to alight into its roost.
From the sun, where it was visible through the palls of smoke and
ash that choked the air all around Kings Landing it looked to be late
in the afternoon and despite having eaten hours ago he was not
hungry, tired yes, but hungry no.
He snorted in amusement in his head at that, the stench of
dragonfire broiled meat was still cloying in his nostrils, and he
wondered if he would ever be able to eat grilled meat ever again, a
spasm clenching his guts at the thoughts of food.
Hugh and he had cut great swathes through the forces of the
Stromlands with dragonfire, and their enemy had routed, fleeing the
battlefield in disarray, which Hugh had proceeded to use as an
excuse to visit utter devastation upon the retreating foe. He would
not be surprised if tens of thousands had been burned alive before
they had reached the dubious safety of the Kings Wood, which Hugh
had then proceeded to set alight to deny the escaping men any
cover or safety.
Even now the Kings Wood still burned on the horizon, great curtains
of smoke filling the southern sky, the land in and around the
Blackwater Rush to the south of Kings Landing a plain of ash,
blowing this way and that, the dust that was all that was left of men,
horses and the martial might of the Stormlands spinning in the wind,
reduced to nothing but windblown motes. Further patches of grey
ash were splashed here and there further to the south, evidence of
where they had caught fleeing men and immolated them for their
trouble.
And while they had been busy with this a vicious uprising of sorts
had been raging in Kings Landing, this he had learned from various
flag signals that had been passed to them as they had approached
Kings Landing. Hugh had circled the city for a while before deciding
that a few blasts of dragonfire would do the trick to extinguish the
worst of the fighting and rioting that seemed to accompany the
uprising. They had circled the Red Keep several times, he thought
that Hugh would land there, but instead Hugh led them back to the
Dragonpit to land there instead.
Dismounting and handing Seasmoke over to the care of the dragon
handlers in the Dragonpit he pulled his various saddlebags and kit
from Seasmoke's harness and with help from two of the guards in
attendance he made his way out into the great central space of the
building.
Here he found Hugh busy stripping off his flight clothes and instead
dressing in his partial plate, assisted by some of the guards, he
decided that he too should probably do the same, gesturing for help
from the guards that accompanied him.
Hugh's face and clothing was darkened by a layer of ash, a wineskin
of water was passed to Hugh who drank and mouthful, spat out a
black jet of water, took another drink and spat it out again, before
swallowing the rest. Another wineskin was handed to Hugh, who
took a quick swig, before pouring the rest of the water over his head
and face, rivulets of smoke and ash blackened water running down
his face and over his armor.
Two wineskins were handed to him by some of the attending guards,
who all looked nervous and jumpy, like they were expecting to be
assailed by an enemy force at any second, and some wore the
obvious cuts and bruises of recent combat. He did the same as
Hugh with the water, washing the thick layer of ash and gunk from
his mouth, before washing his face and hair to get the worst of the
ash out of it.
"I need to know what is going on in the Red Keep," Hugh
announced, one of the Dragon keepers replying, "the signal flags
show that all is well your Grace."
"No, I don't… fully trust them… I need to send somebody up there to
verify that all is well and it's not some fucking trap…"
"Your Grace, some of the Gold Cloaks are outside, clearing away
the….remains of the earlier fighting…."
"Excellent, get me their senior officer," snapped Hugh, turning to him
and saying. "I've got a very, very bad feeling about this Addam…"
"How, how do you mean Hugh?" he asked, wondering what his
friend was talking about.
"The Red Keep has bodies strewn all around when we overflew it a
few moments ago, I'm not sure that I can trust the flags flying that
indicate everything is all right."
As they waited for the Gold Cloak officer to be brought in he watched
as their respective dragons were coaxed into the central space,
where they were further coaxed and mollified into allowing the
dragon handlers to check them over for wounds. The tears and rents
in their wings were obvious to all, but the dragons were checked for
other smaller, less obvious wounds. Barrels were fetched and
brushes were dipped into them, and the dragon handlers proceeded
to daub parts of the dragons with a purple-colored liquid. The
dragons not particularly liking this treatment, but after a few
applications of whatever this was both settled down, if still somewhat
grumpily, to allow their wounds to be dressed with whatever the
liquid was.
A Gold Cloak captain came up to them and saluted, Hugh returned
the smashed right fist to left chest salute of the Gold Cloaks.
"Captain, I am in need of someone you trust to ascertain the
situation in the Red Keep, dispatch them at once and have them
report back here immediately personally!"
"At once your Grace!" the man replied and gave a quick bow and
rushed off to carry out Hugh's orders.
"Should, should we not, well follow them?" he asked.
"And walk into a potential ambush? No, for now we wait Addam,
much as I hate to and remember 'fools rush in where angels fear to
tread'…."
And so they waited, until the Gold Cloak officer returned, to report
that the Red Keep was secure after some fighting.
Hugh immediately ordered that he and Addam needed horses and a
mounted guard to proceed to the Red Keep at once, horses and
guards were provided from the Dragonpit Guard and a section of the
Gold Cloaks, who were mounted. Prince Daemon had equipped
each section of the Gold Cloaks with a small number of troopers who
were mounted, which were often used as messengers, but which
could act as a mounted escort as required.
They made their way through the Streets of Kings Landing, the
Square of the Dragons was in places several inches deep in the ash
of burnt corpses, with what looked like hundreds of bodies strewn all
around. Some of the buildings around the square were still burning
fitfully and a contingent of Gold Cloaks was patrolling the Square to
prevent looting and to add to the defenses of the Dragonpit.
There was evidence of looting and rioting in various places,
contingents of Gold Cloaks were out in force, but smashed buildings,
fires and general chaos abounded. Nobody went to trouble their
progress though, as they made the great square before the Red
Keep, the Square of Kings, and trotted up to the gates of the Red
Keep, which were barred and closed.
A rather frosty exchange between the Gold Cloaks captain, the
captain of the Red Keep guard atop the walls of the gates and Prince
Hugh broke out, until the gates were finally opened, and they
entered the lower bailey of the Red Keep.
A knight came up to them as they were dismounting, bearing his
house colors he noted and bade them follow him, which they did,
noting that the company of soldiers that had come with the Knight
followed them, with swords drawn.
He wondered at this, until he started to see the evidence of heavy
fighting all around, bodies sprawled and slumped, guts, blood and
torn flesh splashed across the ground and up walls, and the stench
of a privy left open to the sun hanging over everything, almost but
not quite masking the ever-present smell of smoke and ash.
Entering Maegor's Holdfast the evidence of the fighting was even
more apparent, parts of the keep looked more like an abattoir than a
castle, broken furniture and fittings strewn about, blood pooled on
the floors and still dripping from the walls, bodies hurriedly pushed to
one side, some still slumped where they died.
He noticed Hugh become more and more concerned the deeper and
higher they went into the Holdfast, he could feel panic and terror
radiating off his friend, see it on his face and in his eyes. He also
noticed that the Gold Cloaks started to more closely surround Hugh
and become equally wary and on edge.
They turned a corner to find Lord Corlys and a contingent of his
guards ahead, outside some living chambers.
Hugh let out a strangled cry and dashed forwards, bowling several
men out of the way and ran into a room with a smashed open door, a
hoarse, bellowing cry coming from the room, Hugh's voice wailing
with anguish he suddenly realized.
He halted before his grandfather who placed a hand on his shoulder
and shook his head, sadness in his eyes, he then noticing that his
father was clad in armor and that it, and that of his men was
splashed and stained with blood, there were some bodies also
scattered around, some of his father's men, others dressed in a mish
mash of gear.
Hugh stumbled out of the room, blood smeared across his hands,
tears streaking his face, but his jaw was bunching and tensing with
rage, his eyes almost blazing with fury.
"A cloak, someone give me a fucking cloak!" he shouted, spittle
flying from his mouth.
One of his grandfather's guards gave him his cloak, Hugh grabbed it
from his hand and disappeared inside, returning a minute later. "Set
a guard over this room, she, she is not to be left alone until I return,
is that clear?"
His grandfather made a small gesture with his head and two of his
men took up guard on either side of the door.
"Tell me… do we have who did, who did this?" Hugh ground out
between gritted teeth.
"There are seven men similarly dressed to these scum," here his
grandfather kicked one of the corpses, "in custody, they were
apprehended after a fight in the lower reaches of the Holdfast, we
believe they were attempting to escape via some of the hidden
tunnels that are supposed to riddle the Holdfast. It's likely how they
gained entrance in the first place."
"Seven?" croaked Hugh, who suddenly started laughing hysterically,
until he suddenly stopped, as if his throat had been cut.
"Seven it is then, bring them to me, I will be in the gardens to the
south of the Great Hall."
"Your Grace," his father said, putting a hand in a fatherly manner on
Hugh's shoulder, but Hugh reacted as if stung, throwing off his
father's hand and snarling, "bring them to me Lord Corlys, they laid
hands….and worse…..on the person of, of… of my WIFE!" Hugh
roared. "I WILL have my justice Lord Corlys, and let no man, NO
MAN! Stand in my way!"
With this Hugh stormed off, anger radiating off him like the heat off a
furnace, his father gave a hand gesture and the Knight and the men
who had brought them here set off to follow Prince Hugh.
"Father?" he asked, already knowing the answer, but he had to ask.
"Princess Rhaena is dead, raped and murdered by this scum," here
he gave another kick at one of the corpses at his feet, and not a
gentle kick either. "Queen Alicent, her daughter, King Aegon the
Pretender, Prince Maelor, Otto Hightower, all dead. Princess
Jaehaera, Prince Aegon and Prince Viserys are missing, also
believed dead. It was, it was a slaughterhouse lad, one could
scarcely know who was a friend and who was a foe at times."
"Gods above!" he exclaimed, feeling bile and gorge rise in his throat,
he was just able to turn away before the contents of his stomach
came up in a noisy, sour rush.
After his stomach had finished cramping he wiped his mouth with the
back of his hand and stood back up, his grandfather handing him a
wineskin, he took a big swig of well-watered wine, swirling it around
his mouth before spitting it out, taking another swig and swallowing
this one.
"Prince Daemon and Prince Aemond are also likely dead, their
dragons crashed into the Great Sept while fighting," he did not
mention that said dragons had been liberally hosed with dragonfire
before they crashed, and that he had joined Hugh in this, well his
dragon had, so there was that…..
"Well then… that makes Prince Hugh the only remaining Targaryen
likely left alive, does it not?"
"Father?"
"If that is the case, we had best attend to our new King eh lad?"