The light of dawn was beginning to suffuse the eastern sky. Jaehaerys Targaryen sat on a slab of black stone poking up from the sand, polishing the Valyrian steel blade that had felled his sworn shield. He was trying to get the dried blood off of it, but the more he scrubbed, the less likely it seemed he would be able to remove the stain. With the wrist of his sword hand broken, the work was slow and difficult.

The only reason Jae had kept the blade was because it was lighter than regular steel, and he needed to be able to hold it in his left hand. He'd named it Windsong, after his father, who had been known as Aegon the Windrider. Legend had it that Jaehaerys' father had bedded Lady Jeyne Arryn, the Maiden of the Vale, (as well as half of the women of her court) while squiring in the Eyrie, thus earning him his nickname. The boy didn't know how much of that was true. Probably not much.

Jae watched the waves go out and come in again. There was a host of tiny dead squid on the the beach, a few of them stuck in the endless cycle of churning waves just on the edge of the black sand. He counted thirteen before tasting iron in the back of his throat. Shaking his head, the young knight saw drops of crimson fly from his face. Esgred was right, he thought. It's going to kill me, one of these days. He lowered his head and let the blood trickle from his nose, as he tried his hardest to wipe Ser William's from the cursed sword. What would he think of this? Would he want me to take the sword? Or should I have left it where it fell? The boy did feel a little regret, felt a little sick whenever he looked at the sword. Yet it was Valyrian steel. It was sharper than regular blades - he had seen this one shatter Ser William's after all - and if he needed to, he was sure he could sell it for a fortune. Could buy a ship with it, if anyone around these parts was trustworthy. Like as not, if he tried that, they'd laugh in his face, slit his throat, and steal the sword anyways.

The dead squid mocked him with their blank stares. Around the boy, he could hear monkeys whooping in the trees, chasing insects and mating wildly. Colorful birds sang and conversed; a small one with red and blue feathers landed on a stone in front of Jaehaerys, pecking at a dead squid. The forest was alive, it seemed, though not with men. He hadn't seen a pirate in days.

It began to rain, lightly at first. I hate the rain, Jae thought miserably. I'm not meant to get so wet. Jaehaerys used his fingernail to scrape against the edge of the blade, under a flake of dried blood, and managed to peel it off. That's how it's done. Smiling, he went to pull another dried droplet off when he heard the flapping of leathern wings. Above him sailed the black dragon, coming from the east with the rising sun. From over the water he flew. What he had been doing out there, Jaehaerys hadn't figured out. It's the rain that's brought him in. Dragons don't do well in rain. He'll be looking for a place to hide, to get some rest. Now's my chance.

Standing up and sheathing his sword, Jaehaerys made his way west, back towards camp, where he had seen the dragon going. With any luck, the beast would land nearby, and he'd be able to reach him. Back in camp, a small fire was sputtering and smoking. Rhaena and her knight sat around it, huddled up in rags and old clothes, talking. The other soldier who had survived, a man from King's Landing named Lync, was off hunting for breakfast. They didn't even notice when Jaehaerys crept back into camp. What if I was a pirate? He shivered. I'll need to have a talk with Ser Edric about keeping guard.

"No, it's madness," Ser Edric was saying. He already sounded drunk. "Absurd. How are we going to take a ship with a dragon? It'll burn the whole thing down!"

"How are we to get home then?" Rhaena asked. Jaehaerys could detect strain in her voice.

"I say we use what coin we have to buy passage back. I have a little gold, and more silver. If we could just find somewhere to go…"

"This place is all pirates, Ser. I don't know how many of them offer safe passage to Westeros."

"Aye, may be so. But we must try. This dragon business… I don't like it. The boy doesn't know what he's doing. How is he supposed to catch it? You're Targaryen, Rhaena. What do you think?"

"I do not know how one tames a dragon. We're only given the eggs when we're babies. I assume when the dragon hatches, it will bond with the child it was given to, and by adulthood, they both trust each other enough for the dragon to be ridden. But a feral dragon… I have never heard of how one of those could be tamed."

"He'll get himself eaten, or worse… burned alive."

"That's Jae for you," Rhaena sighed. "He can be so daring sometimes. I don't think he knows the danger he puts himself into."

An army of colorful birds were sitting in quiet rows in the trees, watching this conversation, tilting their heads and clicking their beaks. Slamming his foot on some branches and causing several of the birds to take flight, Jaehaerys alerted the two that he was walking back. He pretended he hadn't heard what they had said.

"Jaehaerys?!" Ser Edric's gruff voice was thick with surprise. "Where were you?"

"Taking a piss," the boy replied glumly.

The knight eyed the bundle of blankets on the ground not far from him, where he had thought the boy was still sleeping. When Jaehaerys walked past that makeshift bed further west, to the other edge of the camp, the man spoke again, "And where are you going now?"

"Taking another."

"Oh, come off it, Jae!" Rhaena said. "Don't go wandering off again!"

The boy's green-and-gold-flecked indigo eyes met hers. "You know that's not what I'm like, sister. I never wander off."

And so Jaehaerys wandered off, out of the camp, after the dragon. Ever since the war started, there haven't been any pirates around. He felt recklessly safe. Against a man, he stood little chance, but he liked his odds against the native wildlife… well, most of them anyways. He had yet to see any of those giant apes or painted cats the other slaves had gossiped about in Mudtown.

The air smelled of wet grass and mud, but he could detect smoke and burning wood too, and he followed that scent half a mile to a hill of gnarled trees. An ancient tree had sprouted fifty feet into the air, its branches as numerous as there were Targaryens in the world. Its roots had dug deep gashes in the hill, as had the roots of the trees around it, leaving a hole the size of a small gate below them. In front of this hole, the grass was torn to mud, and a pile of bones lay scattered about. Hogs and cattle and sheep, it looked like to Jaehaerys, all charred black, some of it melted. Jaehaerys liked the way the rain sounded when it bounced off the bones. The air was rank with the odor of burning fur. The boy wiped blood from his nose.

The dragon's in there, he told himself. He swallowed, trying to remain calm. I will not let him see my fear. I am a dragon too. Dragons do not fear other dragons. I am not like the other men he may have seen. He will soon know that. I have the blood of old Valyria in me. It is my right to ride a dragon. The boy approached the cave cautiously when out of a side bush, a little lizard came scrambling out. Its scaly bony body was covered in spots of green and black and orange, and when it saw Jaehaerys, it stood up on two legs and hissed. A flap of skin under its neck sprung up around its head, surrounding it like a pretty flower (Jaehaerys didn't think it was pretty at all). It began spitting at the boy. Calmly, he drew his blade and cut off the beast's head with one fell stroke. Its slumped into the graveyard of bones, its blood being swept away into the mud by the falling rain.

I'm good with my left hand, he thought. At least when they cannot parry my blows.

He heard a deep grumbling coming from inside the cave as he approached it. Holding his breath, Jaehaerys sheathed his blade and walked up to it. He felt naked, but he wasn't trembling. That's good. Fire cannot kill a dragon. I am a dragon. He stepped to the edge of the cave and spoke:

"Hello?! Dragon?!"

A low roar replied, arrogant and hungry. Two suns of molten gold bloomed into existence to peer at him from the darkness. The boy began to tremble.

"Dragon," he said. "I am Jaehaerys Targaryen, son of Aegon Targaryen. My father was a dragonrider, as was his father, and his father before him. My whole family has raised dragons, ridden them, bred them. We are one in the same," he said earnestly. "And I will be your new master, dragon. You will see, I am not like the other men you have encountered."

He tried to sound as confident as he could, as steadfast and cool. The eyes blinked twice, and then he saw a flame rising from below them. When it spewed out at him, Jaehaerys had only a moment to fling himself aside, lest he be cooked like the bones behind him. Getting up, Jaehaerys, returned to the mouth of the cave.

"Dragon! You will not…!"

He saw a new batch of flames being roused. This time, the dragon's dark form slithered towards him, its ebon teeth as long as swords, spread apart, bloody, hungry. It was coming to eat him. But I'm a dragon, he thought.

Maybe he was. But Jaehaerys' instincts kicked in at that moment, and he found himself running back through the forest, back towards his sister and the knight who didn't believe in him. Maybe he's right, the young knight thought. Maybe I cannot tame a dragon.


"My uncle was a bear-tamer. Never liked him much," Ser Edric grunted, taking a swig from his wine pouch. "Smelled of wet fur and dried mud, and he was damn near useless with a sword. Heard he ran off and joined a sellsword company in Volantis after he was caught buggering my brother." The man chuckled humorlessly.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Jaehaerys asked, annoyed.

"Be-cause," the man burped, "he told me a story once… 'bout how he used to get the bears to do what he wanted. He'd feed them lots of food, get the beasts nice and happy, and that made them less aggressive. Afterwards, a whip was all it took."

"And you think this would work for dragons too?"

The knight shrugged. "You're the one who said they're smarter than men, my prince."

Perhaps a man like you. "We will try it," said the boy with the silver-blond hair. "It is our only hope."

The knight gave him a dour look but nodded all the same. "Very well, my prince," he spoke, grabbing a bow. "Let's get that dragon his dinner."

They trekked off into the forest together, for it would not be safe to leave Rhaena by herself, and the other three would all be needed to hunt. They made their way towards the dragon's lair, so that whatever they caught wouldn't have to be hauled very far. By now the rain had stopped, and the trees were alive with crying monkeys, brown-furred and wide-eyed, and a seemingly endless variety of bright-feathered birds. Both Ser Edric and Lync held bows, but Jaehaerys only had his sword drawn; with his broken wrist, he could not hope to pull back a bowstring. When the older men peeled off to hunt their quarry, Jaehaerys stayed with Rhaena, handing her the bow that had been his when he and Ser William had gone out hunting several days before.

Showing her how to nock and arrow and aim was a difficult task, and Rhaena was not very strong to begin with. He guided her hands, telling her just how far to pull the string back, and how to aim. The girl missed her first three shots, but on the four, she took a fat orange-feathered bird in the wing. When it tried to flee, its wings sputtering, the bird fell off its branch to thrash in the bushes below.

"I caught one!" Rhaena shouted with glee.

"That won't even be half a bite for the dragon," Jaehaerys noted. "You'll need to put an arrow through at least a hundred of those before we start filling the beast's belly."

"Fine, Jae," his sister, said, pulling the arrow out of the now-dead bird. "You always have to ruin my fun, don't you?"

She's never gone hunting before, he realized. "You did good. I didn't get my first kill that easily." He patted her shoulder and noticed the sadness in her eyes.

Turning away, Jae looked for the knight and the guard. When he found them, he was not disappointed. They had caught half a dozen monkeys, three tattooed lizards, all strung up by their necks on a rope on Ser Edric's shoulder, and even managed to find two fat hogs, which they were dragging through the undergrowth.

"Bastards wouldn't go down," Ser Edric complained. "Took five arrows for this one, seven for that."

"We need more," Jae said. "The dragon is big. If we are to fill his belly, we need to give him a proper feast."

Ser Edric looked up, anger etched in his wrinkles, sweat pouring down his dirty tan face. "Aye, but it won't be much longer until we're out of arrows and out of time."

"That'll do, Ser. Take this meat there," he pointed. "Leave it in front of the hill with the big dead tree. The dragon is inside."

"Won't he come out to eat now, if I do that?"

"I don't think so. He likes to hide. He's scared of people. He doesn't want to confront us if he doesn't have to. We'll have to leave the area before he thinks it's safe to come out. He won't be coming out of that cave, even for a little bit of meat."

Once the first batch of premium dragon food had been placed in an appetizing pile in front of the dragon's graveyard of bones (Rhaena's bird was surely the cherry on top), the four returned to forest, searching for bigger game, such as hogs and fat monkeys. As Jaehaerys cut his way through the thick foliage, he came upon a clearing, where he saw a hog with its head buried in a mess of fur, eating viciously. When it looked up at Jaehaerys, its mouth was dripping with blood. It's eating a brindled man, the young knight saw. He raised his sword.

"Come on then," he goaded the beast. "Try to eat me."

From the bushes behind, Ser Edric popped out, shooting an arrow into the lumpy animal's rump. The hog was frightened by this and began to charge forward, towards Jaehaerys. He swung his sword at it when it got close, lodging his blade in its neck. Yet, he had not the strength to slice all the way through the flesh. As the hog barreled past him, squealing and bleeding, he was knocked over and lost the blade. He saw a blur of steel as Ser Edric went running past him after the beast, and stood up, brushing wet mud from his hair. If only I hadn't broken my hand… I would not look like such a fool.

He found the hog not far away, collapsed in a pile of leaves, bleeding out. Ser Edric stood over it, pulling arrows out of its backside. He wrenched Windsong free from the bone it was stuck in and handed it back to its master.

"Thank you, Ser." Ser Edric grunted and didn't look at him.

The day grew later, and by evening, they had collected several more hogs and monkeys, and were dragging the last batch of them to the pile they had made for the dragon. Around them, birds sat on branches, watching with curiosity. Some screamed and some clicked their beaks; the monkeys were long gone, fearful of the arrows. They are smarter than these birds. Just like a dragon is far wiser than any of them. That worried Jae. He didn't know if this plan would work. And if it didn't… what else could they try? He clenched his blade. We'll have to try to sell Windsong. He thought that was even riskier than trying to tame the dragon, though. The only things less predictable than dragons are men.

Rhaena was carrying a handful of bleeding monkey carcasses, her face blank and dirty. Jaehaerys, who was dragging a young hog with one hand, came up beside her. She looked over at him coldly and then returned her gaze towards looking ahead.

"What?" he asked.

"Do you think this is wise? Truly, Jae?" she spoke after several moments pause. "Perhaps Ser Edric's plan wasn't so foolish. Compared to this… I'd take my chances against pirates."

"You aren't the one who has to fight them."

"But how will a dragon get us home? We cannot storm a ship with a dragon. He will reduce it to ashes."

"I know. I've already thought about this, Rhaena. You don't have to worry. We're going to take a pirate ship that's at dock, with most of its crew off in some winesink or buying slaves. The dragon will protect our backs as we sneak onto the ship and take it over. The crew will not stand against us when they see we have a dragon with us."

His sister sighed, brushing her long silvery hair out of her eyes. "Sounds more like another one of your dreams than a real plan, Jae. This dragon…"

"His name is Neryalax," Jaehaerys interrupted, "and he's going to get us out of this green hell."

She scoffed. "Neryalax? Daeron's unborn dragon?"

Jae nodded.

"Really now? You're playing games like he used to?"

Their eyes met, ire radiating between those deep pools of purple. "Daeron saw the value in dragons."

"And what did that get him?" Rhaena asked angrily.

"I didn't say this would be easy! I'm doing all I can. Do you think I wanted things to go like this?"

She looked away from him and continued walking. She's hurt. That's why she's lashing out.

The group was coming upon the cave when from either side of them, the bushes rustled. A dark blur abruptly shot over Jaehaerys' head, and he heard inhuman growling follow. The boy dropped his hog and spun around. There were two painted cats with black fur and yellow spots, tearing into Ser Edric's fat hog. They were the size of large wolves, though Jaehaerys could see their ribcages; they were clearly starving. Desperate. Willing to face us for food. The man had drawn his sword and was approaching one of them, shouting loudly. The animals did not take heed of his warnings and continued to devour bloody flesh. Lync drew his own blade as well.

When the older knight reached the first cat, he lunged to the right, slicing it cleaning across the back. The painted cat growled menacingly and jumped back, its head lowered to the ground, its back feet standing straight up, as if it was about to pounce. Ser Edric did not take the bait and stood far enough back, his sword pointed at the beast.

Then someone screamed, and the second painted cat was on Ser Edric's back, clawing into the spaces between his armor with thick black claws. Ser Edric's blood was the same color as the hogs' and monkeys'. Lynch came slicing at the second painted cat, ripping its back to shreds and causing it to jump off the man. Jaehaerys saw the first cat creeping up towards their group again, its teeth bared, its fur now soaked in blood. Its silver-green eyes were wild with trepidation.

They are hunting us as they would any other animal. One is trying to distract Ser Edric while the other hits him from behind. He could see it now; the painted cat that Ser Edric and Lync did not have their gazes trained on was slowly moving forward, still ready to pounce. The boy felt a surge of adrenaline move through his veins. He raised his sword, yelled, and charged the cat. It leapt around him as he swung carelessly. Jae caught it in its belly, tearing through several layers of skin and muscle, but not sticking it with a mortal blow. The boy twisted around to chase after the predator, but his foot caught on a root and he tripped, losing his sword. He beheld the cat jump on Ser Edric's back again and bite him hard in the neck.

Guilt spread across Jaehaerys' body. He stumbled up, looking for his sword. He saw Windsong nowhere, so he drew his knife and ran at the cat. Ser Edric had collapsed under its weight, and Lync was hacking at it madly. When Jaehaerys reached them, he punched his knife into the cat's spine, causing it to release its grip on the knight. When it shrieked and looked over at him, Lync swung his sword and decapitated the feral predator in one fell swing.

The other beast screamed and growled and paced before them. Two men stood guard, with Ser Edric lying there, bleeding into the mud. This cat perhaps thought better of risking it all for a little pork, and with another sneering growl, it bounded back into the thick jungle.

Lync stood guard, lest the cat come back, while Jaehaerys and Rhaena rushed over to the wounded knight. He lay there on his stomach, bleeding out. His wounds were severe, but not mortal, Jaehaerys instantly saw. None of the claw scrapes were deep enough to be lethal, and the bite in his neck hand only penetrated an inch or so into his skin. They sat the man up against a nearby tree and tried to wipe away his blood. But neither of them was a maester, and they didn't have any clean bandages either. They could stay the leaking wounds, but Jae knew they would almost certainly become infected; the two Targaryens did the best they could with the wounded knight, tying his neck up with an old rag, but there was nothing they could do beyond that.

"Seven fucking hells!" Ser Edric groaned, feeling his neck. "Those are some nasty bastards. Bigger than any shadowcat I've faced."

"Are you okay?" Jaehaerys asked.

"Yeah, I'll manage. Let's go. Get this over with." The knight stood up, stumbled forward gingerly, and slung Jaehaerys' hog over his shoulder, leading them on.

He hates my plan, and he hates me. He's trapped in his duty. Jaehaerys bit his lip and sheathed his sword. I wasn't a good knight today. I was supposed to protect them. I should've killed that cat. But I couldn't. I'm weak. I'm not the knight Ser William thought I would be. Jae grabbed the half-eaten hog carcass and dragged it onwards to the pile.

As the sun began to sink behind the horizon, the light was fading fast. The group positioned all of the food outside of the dragon's cave, dragging the carcasses up to the cave's entrance. Then, they retreated to the forest's edge, far enough back that they hoped the dragon wouldn't sense they were there, but close enough that they could see him feast.

And feast the dragon did. The black-scaled monster soon came to the entrance of the cave. He looked around, as if he expected this to be a trap. When no trap was sprung, the dragon sunk his face into the pile of meat, and Jaehaerys could just make out the small puffs of flame it used to cook the meat.

By nightfall, the great dragon of Sothoryos had eaten its fill of the day's catch and returned to its cave. At that point, Jaehaerys knew what he had to do. He looked at Rhaena, the weak Ser Edric Thorne, and even the random guy named Lync, then set off for the cave.

When he reached it, he called for the dragon again. There were its eyes, clothed in blackness, watching him intently. He once again told the dragon who he was, that he just wanted to bond with the poor lonely flying lizard, and that he needed its help to get home. He promised the dragon a safer home in Westeros, where he could engorge himself upon as much mutton as he wanted, and he would never have to worry about pirates or fell beasts, or the heat of this place anymore.

And what did that get Jaehaerys, the master bargainer? Well, another face full of flames came his way, and he was forced to run, or burn. As content as he was, with so much meat in his belly, the dragon still seemed too cautious, too fearful of Jaehaerys to let him get close. I don't even know if he can understand me. I hope he can, because if he can't… well that makes things a lot more difficult.

He returned to camp with the bad news.

"Wine's out," was all Ser Edric said in response, throwing his empty wineskin away. "Damn shame there isn't any more Arbor gold out here."'

"You can have more when we get home, Ser," Rhaena said sweetly. "It'll be soon, I promise."

"We go out tomorrow," Jaehaerys resolved. "If the dragon sees a pattern, understands that we have been feeding him for several days, maybe that will gain us his trust."

Rhaena gave him a dirty look. The boy ignored her. Protect them, Ser William said. I cannot do that with my own skills with a sword. Even if my sword hand wasn't broken, I'm not sure I'd be much protection. They need true protection… a dragon to hold all the monsters of this world back with its cleansing flames. And they will be protected, soon. The dragon will break before I do.

Yet as Jaehaerys laid down to sleep, he couldn't help but think of the look Rhaena had given him, the words she and her sworn sword had spoken about him, the way he hadn't been able to save Ser Edric from that painted cat. He stared up at the stars in a desolate sky, as distant at home, listening to the echoing whoops of monkeys and all the bugs making music. He felt so alone. What would Ser William do? Would he try to sell the sword, try to find passage back on a slaving ship? Or would he support me in this?

The boy rolled over and shut his eyes. He didn't know the answer. If I did, all of this would be so much easier.


That night, Jaehaerys Targaryen dreamt of floating above the clouds and being surrounded by a wall of flames. He dreamed of drowned dragons and a pile of bones placed neatly atop a hill. Is that the hill overlooking Harvest Hall? He tried to imagine his first sparring session Ser William Selmy, but he couldn't remember the knight's face. The hill dissolved away, and there before him stood Rhaena, her cheeks pale as milkglass, her eyes red and raw. She pulled down her dress to reveal one breast, the nipple erect and pink. He went for it, but she stepped back, smiling sheepishly. That was when he noticed her lips were blue. And when he kissed her, she felt as cold as ice.

When his lips left hers, Rhaena fell backwards, into the water. "I'm going home, Jae. Back to where I belong," she sang sweetly. "Come join us. Everyone's here. Don't you want to join us?"

"I won't," he replied, the tears frozen against his cheeks. "It's too cold."

"That's what I said," she laughed. "But look at me now."

He sprinted from the water's edge, across the beach, past the burning forest, looking for the boat home. He called for Cossenello desperately, but no response came. The woods crackled and danced with flames around him. He liked the heat. He went for it, running into the smouldering jungle. There he found a brindled man squatting over his brother Daeron, pulling the entrails from his open belly. Daeron was giggling and pointing at the sky.

"Look, he's coming!" the boy was was yelling with delight. "He's coming! My dragon! There he is, there he is!" The boy clapped his hands, but when Jae called for him, he didn't respond.

The brindled man looked up at Jae, a mouthful of intestines hanging from between his teeth. The boy screamed.

And then he was returned to the world, and it was not his scream he was hearing. Lync was knelt on one knee before them, a spear thrust through his chest from behind. Blood oozed out between his chainmail, and his bloody hands were wrapped around the point of the spear, trying to push it back, as if doing so would undo his wound.

Lync's screams were wet gurgles, and he sprayed bright red blood everywhere he yelled, even splattering Jaehaerys' face with some. The boy was on his feet in a moment, as was Ser Edric, who despite his wounds, looked to be no slower than he had been two days ago. Like a shadow, a man came from behind the tree Lync had his back to, and slit the guard's throat with a rusty knife.

"Shoulda killed me when you had the chance," the man said in a deep voice. He thrust his shoulders back and drew a curved sword.

"Rhaena, behind me," Ser Edric barked.

"Two on one ain't an even fight," the pirate smiled. He had long curly black hair, oily and full of flecks of grey. His face was windswept as a castle on the Iron Islands. This is the same pirate Ser William captured in Yeen… the same man who escaped from us a few days ago. When the smile formed on his lips, it looked as if a crack had formed in stone, an ancient, dry wound. "Let's change that."

He whistled, and soon three more pirates sidled out of the bushes. One held a bow, another a spear, the third a short sword. Four against two. Not good odds when Ser Edric is wounded and I can't use my sword hand.

"Back!" ordered Ser Edric.

The path sloped up to the dragon's den, and now, at least, they had the high ground. But the further they went back, the closer they got to the slumbering dragon. If he feels threatened, he'll bathe us in dragonfire. And then fighting the pirates wouldn't matter at all. Maybe it wouldn't matter anyways. One of them had a bow; another held throwing spears. Closing the gap between those two would be troublesome, especially since Jaehaerys knew he and the older knight would have to duel the two swordsmen first.

I'll need to take the pirate out quickly, but I don't know if I can. He had never practiced sword fighting with his left hand, nor had he ever parried a full blow with that hand. He didn't like his odds. Jaehaerys tried to grip Windsong with both hands, but the pain was too great. He let out a gasp and felt dizzy.

"End of the road," the pirate was saying. "No one's getting out of here alive."

Ser Edric pointed his sword at the former prisoner. "Maybe none of you will walk away from here, but I'm not planning on dying today."

"Don't matter what yer plannin', old man!" the pirate with the bow spat. "Yer life's ours."

Ser Edric glanced Jaehaerys' way. He's relying on me as much as I'm relying on him. The pirate chief twirled his blade, as if bored. "On with it. I don't have all day."

"You'll regret your impatience!" Ser William stepped forward, swinging his sword in violent arcs of silver. The clang of steel against steel rang out in the new day.

Jaehaerys' belly rumbled. He stepped up to the other swordsman, cautiously circling around him. As of yet, the two other pirates simply stood back and watched. Maybe they're dumb enough to wait for us to kill their friends. He prayed that was so.

The heat of the morning was rising; it was getting hotter, more humid than it had been in several days. Jaehaerys felt sweat rolling down his back, but he still wished he had armor. I don't like the look of this one. He's got crazy eyes. Indeed the pirate did. When he charged Jaehaerys, spittle ran from his mouth, and he spun his sword behind his back. Jaehaerys' nearly lost Windsong when their blades clashed for the first time. But he didn't. Maybe I can duel this one.

Though his left arm was by far the weaker of the two, Jaehaerys was able to parry several blows and even make a few haphazard slashes at his foe. Across from him, Ser Edric dueled calmly against the other pirate. In the background, Jae saw the other two readying their weapons; The spear-thrower threw his first spear at Ser Edric, though it sailed past him into the cave beyond. The second one took him in the leg, causing him to stutter and fall to one knee. The other pirate was on him like a hungry wolf, eager for blood.

The old knight would not give up so easily.

He parried the blow and punched the pirate with his armored fist. The man dropped like a sack of noses, screaming, as Ser Edric rushed the spear thrower. That man seemed half drunk, which meant he was perfect company for Ser Edric. His spear throws were off-target by a mile. They sailed around, some almost hitting Rhaena, many of them flying into the cave beyond. When Ser Edric reached him, the pirate dropped his spears and began to engage the knight in sword-to-sword combat.

Across from this, the bowman was aiming at Jaehaerys, though he couldn't get a good angle on the boy. Maybe not being able to kill this pirate is working to my advantage. He knew as soon as he defeated his foe - if he did - the bowman would loose a feathered arrow into his heart.

There was a low rumbling coming from behind them, almost as if the earth itself was moving. Jaehaerys couldn't look around; that was the fastest way to getting his head cut off. He remained focused on the pirate in front of him, slicing and parrying, smacking steel against steel. His arm was quickly growing tired. Yet, even when Rhaena screamed from behind, he did not turn. He couldn't.

It was not until a river orange flames rolled past him that Jaehaerys did. There in the mouth of the cave stood the dragon, black-scaled, golden-eyed, and stuck in the shoulder with two spears. He spit his tendrils of dragonfire at the two pirates with Ser Edric, and Jae saw all three of them go up in flames. Rhaena was screaming in the background. The eyes of the pirate in front of Jaehaerys' had gone wide, and he began to run off into the forest. The bowman shot his first arrow at the dragon, its point bouncing off the great beast's armored hull. The dragon roared, loud enough to bring Jaehaerys to his knees. Then, the boy watched as the man was torn in half, his upper torso ripped from the ground in one sideways swipe from the dragon Daeron had once named Neryalax. The man died screaming, swallowed (half) whole.

The very air seemed to pop and explode with heat. A torrential wind blew about, decimating the trees around. The dragon lurched forward, moving across the ground like a tattooed lizard, chasing after the one pirate who had fled. Jaehaerys looked back at Rhaena and shouted, "Come on, now's our chance!"

Her eyes were red and raw, and she was shaking. "Bu-but… Ser Edric…"

"We can't save him now! Come on! The dragon's our only hope!"

And after him they ran. Neryalax hadn't touched them with his flames; he hadn't attacked them. But the dragon had gone after the pirates. Perhaps he had gone after Ser Edric too. More likely he was caught in the crossfire. It was a short sprint through the jungle, which had become as quiet as a night on the summer sea. Everyone and everything has fled; they cannot stand against a dragon. It was eerie, the quiet. The birds, the monkeys, even the bugs were completely silent, as if death had overtaken the forest.

The pirate's camp was situated not far from Jaehaerys'. That would be why they were able to find us this morning. There were a dozen other men there, some sitting around fires eating or conversing with one another, others sparring or patrolling about. All jumped to their feet when they saw the dragon come into camp. It was a bizarre scene, surreal almost. Jaehaerys didn't feel like he was there, like he was a part of it. It was more like a dream, like something his uncle Jason had told him in a story: a dragon fighting a group of men in the middle of the forest - and a prince and a princess chasing that deadly monster for the wild hope that it was their only protection.

This is madness. What are we doing?

The men drew their blades, their bows, their axes and spears and knives. These were mad men. Maybe they thought their combined strengths could defeat the beast. And perhaps they were not wrong. While Neryalax blasted a group with flames, others charged him, chopping at his sides with their sharp weapons. He crushed one between his teeth, but there were too many. Others were making Neryalax bleed, and he couldn't get to them fast enough. Jaehaerys couldn't just sit back and watch the butchery unfold.

He was charging head-long into hell. Fires swirled about. Burning men screamed, their eyes melting down their faces like milky tears. Jae caught one in the back of the neck with Windsong who was hacking at Neryalax's legs. He sliced another's bare back open, and stabbed his blade through the skull of a third. The heat was becoming unbearable. Jae's face went numb. He felt nothing. He was reacting, not thinking.

There was a spear sticking out of the side of the dragon, courtesy of a particularly unskilled spear-thrower. Jaehaerys ran up to it and tried to pull the long pole out. When he did, he saw that the iron tip of it had melted. Out sprouted a smoking fountain of golden blood. The dragon screamed and spun around to face Jaehaerys.

Neryalax, the prince thought. He faced the dragon, his sword lowered, his body unmoving. He felt no fear, even as the dragon roared in his face, blood and bits of flesh dripping from its wide mouth. Eat me if you will, he thought, elsewise, I'm taking you as mine.

The dragon's eyes flickered and burned. It stared at Jaehaerys for a moment, until another spear hit him on his blind side. Then, Neryalax blasted the remaining pirates with flames. A wall of fire grew around them. The trees, the grass, the foliage, even the native birds and other wildlife that had hidden themselves deep in the jungle, were aflame. It was the end of the world. He saw Rhaena's silver-blonde hair bobbing beyond the sea of flames and then it was lost. He called for her; there was no reply. The dragon's back tensed; its scales rippled, and it growled softly. Golden blood dripped down his scales, sizzling and burning the dust away into a crater.

Jaehaerys ran forward. He didn't know what he was doing. It was all reflex. When he grasped the dragon's spikes and pulled himself onto its back, when he hunkered down against its warm scales, when he felt the beast's leathern wings start flapping about him, he thought of nothing. Soon, they were moving forward, faster than Jae had ever gone. He felt warm wind screaming through his hair, the feeling of being picked up, and when he next looked down, the boy saw the forest as a small burning land being left behind. Colored birds were in the sky, hooting and tumbling about in swarms. Neryalax snapped at one, catching it in his mouth. They soared onward; Jaehaerys' heart was in his throat, his hands were shaking, even as tightly as he was holding onto the spike on Neryalax's back, just behind his neck.

For one single moment, just when they came above the clouds and Jaehaerys beheld the world as he had never seen it before, the Targaryen prince was saturated with euphoria, powerful enough to take his breath away. So this is what everyone else felt like when they rode their dragons for the first time, he thought. How much more he hated that his had never hatched, that he had been forced to wait this long.

Yet, as they flew, Jaehaerys' mind returned to those haunting violet eyes of his sister. Protect her, he heard Ser William pleading with his dying breath. A true knight protects those who cannot protect themselves.

"Neryalax!" he yelled hoarsely. "Go back! We cannot leave my sister behind!"

But the dragon flew on, deeper into Sothoryos, as if he had never heard Jaehaerys Targaryen speak.