The Prince of Dorne

Chapter One

The worst day of his life dawned on Dorne as any day ever did, bright and beautiful. The sound of wooden training spears filled his ears, every muscle in his body was sore and aching. But that was nothing new to him, every day since he had turned four had ended with him being sore and aching and tired. His uncle Oberyn's lessons demanded no less from him.

Obara was his cousin but she held nothing back when it came to fighting him, she was bigger and stronger than him though she had not trained as long as he had when it came to the spear. But alas, that was only in the matter of years. He had been learning how to be a ruler as well, how to add numbers in his head and politics while all the while, Obara had spent every second of every day, devoted to her spear.

The wooden spears became looked with one another and Lewyn tried to push her over but it was like trying push a bolder up a hill by himself, Obara would not be moved. Obara stared at him for a moment, let out a laugh, and spat in his eye. Lewyn let out a cry and stumbled back, the wooden spear swing at his feet knocking him to the ground and the point digging into his stomach made him groan. "You cheated!"

"And now, you are a dead man, little Prince." Obara pulled her spear back and tossed it into the air for a moment, catching it with one hand. "Some would call what I did dishonourable, but I would chose victory over honour every time. Make sure that you do as well." With that Obara tossed her spear aside and stalked back inside the Water Gardens.

Lewyn laid their groaning for a time until his uncle came to help him up. "Obara is right you know, honour is all well and good. But it doesn't matter if honour causes you to lose a battle. Honour, is not worth your life." His uncle mussed his hair up and Lewyn let out a noise, a mixture of both confusion and complaint as he considered what his uncle met.

"But great uncle Lewyn always says that honour is the most important thing in the world." He spoke, his tongue darting back into his mouth and instinctively going to where the empty socket in his gum was from where Obara had hit him in the face. Papa and Mama had both been so furious, at Uncle Oberyn and Obara as well and they almost made him stop training but it had been Uncle Lewyn who had told them that little boys were always going to get bruises, princely ones needed them.

Mama had still been unhappy about it but Papa had conceded and the training went on, but he always ended the days with bruises on top of bruises but he didn't really mind so much, each bruise was a lesson and the more he tried, the less bruises he always had and he had even started to give Obara some of her own, though he hadn't as of yet been able to knock any of her teeth out. "Except Family, that's what he always said."

His uncle nodded and knelt in front of him. "Family is all that matters, you need to remember that. You need to keep your Lady Mother and your sister safe. But what you also need to do, is make sure that your Father remembers that. At the moment, he doesn't seem to care much at all." Lewyn frowned, he knew what his uncle was speaking off.

When Uncle Oberyn came back from the tourney at Harrenhal, spitting venom about how Aunt Elia's husband had dishonoured her in front of all the great lords and ladies in all of Westeros. When he had heard it, he had been so angry. Aunt Elia was sweet and kind and so pretty and the thought of someone hurting her filled him with anger.

Uncle Obeyn's anger hadn't died and he remembered recalling that he could do with a nap but no matter how he slept, his anger only grew. It only got worse when word came that Aunt Elia's husband had ran off with a woman who was betrothed to another man. Lewyn didn't know who the woman was, but whoever she was he knew that he hated her as much as he hated Aunt Elia's husband.

He didn't know much, but he knew that the next word that came from North of the mountains was war. His Father had sent birds to all of Dorne and raised a host of ten thousand men which he had sent marching up the Kingsroad not a week ago when the King had commanded him to do so. That made Uncle Oberyn even angrier, he had told father that he should have sent more men and himself to command, His father replied that men were still needed in Dorne and so was his uncle.

When word came back that almost all those men had died on the banks of the Red Fork, well, it only made to make Uncle Oberyn angrier and Father more detached. The death of Great Uncle Lewyn, who had been placed in command of the Dornish host, had stung as well. And now Aunt Elia was all alone, trapped in the Red Keep with his baby cousins and without any family to protect her.

He opened his mouth to defend his papa, for really what could he do? He could raise another host in time but it wouldn't be any larger than the first and if they all died then there would be no more men that he could send North but before he could speak, a man in livery appeared, painting from being out of breath. "My princes, you are both required to attend Prince Doran in his solar, at once."

Uncle Oberyn frowned but held out his hand for Lewyn to take as the walked inside and through the halls of the Water Gardens, he had never known the gardens to be devoid of laughter but now that most in Dorne had known someone who had marched, the laughter and the smiles had been replaced with sniffles and tears and it seemed to him at that time, that the joy would never come back.

Mother was waiting for them outside of Father's solar, holding Arianne in her arms and crying silently as he held his baby sister tightly. She looked up and gestured for Lewyn to come to her. He went over to her and she pulled him into a hug and Lewyn felt a kiss being pressed to the top of his head. Uncle Oberyn and Mother spoke for a time a time but he couldn't make any of it out as he felt Arianne tugging at his curls. "Papa sad." She whispered. He frowned and held her hand tightly.

He heard his Father's solar door open and Uncle Oberyn stepping inside and closing it behind him. For a few moments, there was only the sound of talking from behind the door and then he heard a scream that sounded more like a man than the animal and the sound of something shattering against the floor and the door slammed open and he heard someone storming off, but when he tried to pull away to look at who it was, Mother held him even tighter as the footsteps faded into the distance.

His Mother pressed another kiss to the top of his head and she tilted his face up to look at her, their amber eyes locking on to one another. She sniffled and gave him a wobbly smile. "Go and speak with your father, my Love. Be brave. Be brave." She almost pleaded and Lewyn frowned when his mother let go of him and held Arianne that little bit tighter.

Lewyn turned and walked over to the solar, for the first time in his life he was afraid of going to speak with his Father. He was sitting at his desk, a pitcher of wine smashed on the ground. His head was buried in his hands and when he looked up from them, his eyes were red and tears were rolling down his cheeks. "Son, sit down."

Lewyn walked over to the chair and sat down at it, his stomach felt like it was a giant pit as he stared at his Father. He never felt more afraid in his entire life. "What's happened?"

His Father's lips quivered for a moment and he had to close his eyes and Lewyn watched as he seemed to gather his strength before he spoke again. "A few nights ago, King's Landing was sacked by Lord Tywin Lannister of Casterly Rock, King Aerys was killed by one of his own knights, Lord Tywin's son. But Lewyn, your Aunt Elia and her children...they were killed."

The world ended then and there, the news had killed him in a matter of moments since he heard it. There was no way that the pain he wasn't feeling at that moment couldn't kill him. He felt his shoulders shaking and a pair of arms wrapping around him and holding him close as he sobbed and screamed and begged for it to all be over.

He was going to kill them all. He was going to kill them all. He promised, he promised Aunt Elia who used to rest him on her lap when he was younger and fed him slices of blood oranges, he promised Rhaenys who he remembered holding like she was the most precious thing in the world, he promised Aegon who he never had the chance to met.

And he promised himself as well, all the pain he felt would be nothing compared to what he was going to bring on to those that had hurt him, his own and who profited from their pain.

He promised.

End of Chapter One


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With much love,

DiscordantSymphony