Riverrun
Robb Stark
"Surrender the castle, old man, we will hang your grandnephew if you don't!" Black Walder yelled in front of the castle gates. The Freys were thousands, while they were hardly five hundred men, despite that, they had enough resources to hold the castle for two years, the Frey army didn't have two years, they were desperate and desperation makes men do stupid things.
"Show me that he's with you and I'll lower the bridge for you!" The Blackfish replied with his raspy voice and an irreverent tone.
The Freys were thousands, but more than a half of the army was more stupid than the common people, the other half was composed of lazy soldiers, tired of the siege. None of them noticed when they entered into the castle, the Brotherhood without Banners and him arrived a few days before.
"Fucking Freys!" The Blackfish said as he spat on the ground. "I want our best archers shooting down any raven that they send to King's Landing." He ordered.
"I'll make sure of that" Robb replied and went to find the archers.
He walked through the courtyard, the same courtyard where his mother grew up, he started thinking about her, about Sansa, Arya and Jon, Bran and Rickon, disappearing was worse than death for him, living with the hope of not being alone was driving him to sleepless nights full of nightmares that left him shivering, he thought about Greywind, a giant wolf, alone in the forest. He thought about his wife, Roslin and his unborn child, he held no love for his wife, hut his child was a different thing, his own blood captive at the Twins.
He barked his granduncle's orders and went to the main hall to find Thoros, a man who could bring the dead to life again could be capable of calm his mind.
The red priest was sitting on a chair next to the fire, he was drunk as always, but his eyes were fixed on the flames, hypnotized by those burning logs.
"What are you looking at, Thoros?" he asked.
"The flames, Young Lord, they speak an old language, only the servant's of the Lord of light can understand their language." Thoros replied a little disturbed.
"Why are you so nervous?" Robb asked concerned by his friend's behaviour.
"The flames are talking bad things, the Krakens are breaking havoc through this world, the Reach, the sunset sea and the Riverlands." The priest replied with horror.
'Krakens?' he thought, but his doubts didn't last long, he remembered Theon's sigil, a golden Kraken, the Greyjoys were ravaging the kingdoms again. "You said the Riverlands, can you know where they are?" he asked.
"No, my friend, but I see more things, a flame a black flame is traveling with one of the Krakens and..." he stopped for a moment.
"And?" Robb asked impatient.
"And a wolf, a dying wolf laying on the sand, he looks angry and yet so desperate. These aren't good signs, my friend." Thoros said. "I need another drink" he added as he rose from his chair and walked out to find more wine.
His last word remained in Robb's head, a dying wolf...
Meereen
Jon Snow
"Your dragon is big enough to be ridden." Tyrion told him. "Just like your ancestors did a hundred years ago." He added a bit excited.
Jon chuckled at his words, the dwarf was a despicable man in some aspects, but he grew find of him anyway, all the things they experienced when they were young, at least Jon had his siblings and Arthur, Tyrion just had his brother, the same brother that lied to him just to please Lord Tywin.
"And how am I supposed to ride Caraxes? I thought that he would grow slower." He replied.
"Your dragons are special, your aunt's... Children and Caraxes, they are the signal of magic coming back to our world, stronger than ever." He said and noticed Jon's puzzled look, the dwarf sighed and continued. "When I was a boy, my uncle Gerion gave me a few books about dragons, I always wanted a dragon, and I spend many days reading those books, well... in one of them, a Maester wrote that dragons were creatures that used magic as their source of energy and vitality, maybe Maester Aemon can corroborate those words." Tyrion said and looked at the old man sitting next to them at the table.
"mmm... Those are probably words of Maester Harwyn, some people took him by a fool, but based on what my old eyes and ears have seen and heard, I would dare to say that Lord Tyrion is right." He said with his weak voice.
"Have you seen anything else related to magic, Maester?" Jon asked curious.
"Well... I lived almost all my life in a castle next to a giant wall made of Ice, if that's not enough for you, I can talk about what the Wildlings talked when they arrived at Castle Black." The Maester took his time to catch his breath. "You can ask Tormmund if you wish, the Wildlings speak about wargs, men who can control animals at their will, Greenseers, children of the forest, wights and the worst of all... The white walkers."
"White walkers?" Tyrion asked letting out a chuckle.
"I have seen a wight before, Lord Commander Mormont was killed by one." Jon said. "Old Nan told us that wights were connected to the White walkers." He added looking at his burned hand.
"You can't be serious..." Tyrion said but Maester Aemon cut him off quickly.
"You said that magic was returning to this world, my Lord, and it is true, a dark threat raises in the real north, it is real, just like the threat that is about to fall upon us and this city." The old maester said. "But we must focus in the present, a dragon can be ridden we have many proofs of that, now we must build a proper saddle for a dragon."
"First we need to size Caraxes, I don't know if he will let Lord Tyrion get too close." Jon said warily.
"That's something that you can decided, I have seen your dragon, how it looks at you with respect and love, before riding it you must feel that you can control it." Lord Tyrion said.
Tyrion was right, Caraxes was different from Dany's children, he always obeyed his words, even some of his thoughts without hesitation, Dany had to control Balerion and Rhaegal, he just had Caraxes and the bond between them grew stronger each day.
"Then we shall visit him." Jon declared getting on his feet.
"Visit him?" Tyrion asked with fear.
"I can't bring him to the city, I wouldn't be able to control him with so many people around." Jon replied.
"I always wanted to visit a dragon's lair when I was a boy, fascinating." The dwarf replied a bit nervous.
They rode outside the city gates, they needed to do it fast, they were running out of time their dragons were their only hope, and it would be much safer to ride a dragon instead of just barking orders to them.
Caraxes was sleeping inside a natural cave, charred bones were scattered on the ground were they were standing, it was dark, very dark, but a little hole in roof let a little sun ray pass and illuminate part of the cave, Jon walked in.
Suddenly a deep growl started ringing in his ears and two red eyes shone in front of him, the growls started to disappear as Jon walked closer, Caraxes started growling softer, almost like a cat that Jon saw in the market. He patted the dragon's snout gently and Caraxes pushed him softly.
"I need you to come with me, boy." He said as he slipped his hand over the red scales, there was almost nothing but a hint of the white hatchling that travelled on Ghost's back.
Caraxes followed him out of the cave, but suddenly stopped when he saw Jon's companions, he raised his head ready to bath Tyrion and Arthur on his red fire, but Jon stopped him.
"NO!" he yelled at the dragon. "They are friends." He said and stood between both grabbing each man by their hands. "You see? Friends, they don't want to harm us, Ghost is here too" he said pointing at the silent direwolf.
Caraxes lowered his head then and placed it in front of Jon, he caressed the red scales to calm him, and it worked. "You better hurry, I don't know if he will let you stay near much longer." Jon said a little nervous.
Tyrion Lannister
Tyrion walked hesitantly toward the dragon, his hands were shaking, since he was a little boy, the only thing that he wanted to see was a dragons and here it was, laying right in front of him, he thought about those times when he talked about dragons with Tysha, oh Tysha, where was she?
"I will need help, Ser Arthur, would you like to help me?" he asked a little annoyed.
The sword of the morning just moved after Jon Snow gave him a subtle nod. "Alright, Lannister what do you need?" he asked.
"We need to know the size of his back, to build the saddle, the reins and straps will be adjusted once we place the saddle on his back." He said and the legendary knight proceeded to help him.
They sized Caraxes back, a hard task for a dwarf, but he was the smartest, and healthiest, man in Meereen, maybe Maester Aemon's fat steward would help him with the design, Lord Tarly's son was smart but coward. Tyrion chuckled at that.
"Mhm, just one more to be sure and… it's done." He said gently. "We are ready to go now, Jon Snow." He added walking away from the dragon. He was about to reach his horse when he saw the creature's eyes, red like blood, like House Targaryen sigil. He remembered his uncle Gerion's stories, now those eyes were looking at him, only a fool would deny that experience.
"Can I touch him?" he asked.
"Haven't you touched him enough for today?" Jon Snow replied with annoyance at his words.
"Don't talk to me like that, boy, I just wish to touch your dragon's snout and be the first Lannister who touches a dragon." He replied.
The northern boy, nodded with resignation then, that made Tyrion smile deep inside, he walked closer and reached for the dragon's snout with his tiny hand, suddenly everything faded for him, there was just him and the dragon, the creature's respiration was hotter than the dessert where they were standing, a little tear travelled down his cheek.
"We need to go; the queen will need us." Arthur Dayne recommended, and Jon Snow confirmed it.
"Leave, boy." Jon Snow said and the dragon took flight, beating his long wings in the air.
They were riding back when an idea emerged from his mind, the boy Aegon, was a Targaryen, would he be able to control the dragons like his aunt, or his brother? It was a good way to prove if he was a real Targaryen and not a Lysene boy.
"Have you shown your dragon to your brother?" he asked.
"No, I don't, but he has been close to Daenerys dragons, the smaller allowed him to stay close for more than five seconds, but the big ones, they despise him." Jon replied with a note of anger.
"Do you hate your… brother?" he asked with the intention of find the truth behind Jon Snow's stoic attitude.
"I don't hate him, but I don't know him, and he just arrived here…" He said but Tyrion cut him off.
"Asking for your lover's hand?" he asked and noticed the glare that Jon directed at his little figure. "I'm a dwarf, Jon Snow, not a blind man nor a fool, well… I can be a fool from time to time, but I see how you look at her and I noticed how Jorah Mormont hates you."
"The dwarf is right, you're too predictable." Arthur Dayne added as he chuckled.
Jon Snow, the bastard of Winterfell, Rhaegar's last living son with a questionable legitimacy, was in love with his aunt, a funny thing for Tyrion, but it wasn't so horrible, at least they weren't siblings.
"What will you do?" he asked.
"Support Daenerys and take part on his conquest." He replied plainly.
"Jon Snow… I never thought that you wanted to be king." Tyrion jested
"Neither do I, but here we are, if the woman that I love is a queen, then let me be her king." The northern boy said proud. "But first we will defeat those masters, then I will take what is ours."
"What is ours… well you speak like a leader if that pleases you." Tyrion said grinning.
Aegon Targaryen
"The bastard is a problem… We need your aunt, your grace." Lysono Maar, the master of spies of the Golden Company said as he played with a knife. "At least we can convince your cousin to join us in our journey, he will give us Dorne."
"My cousin is a fool, he's the second in line to reign Dorne his words have no weight for me." He replied with frustration. "I can bed his sister though, but first we need to meet her."
Jon Snow, Aemon Targaryen, he ruined his plans having allies in Meereen, taking his aunt from him, a bloody bastard, he would never be his brother, he needed to get rid of him, he needed his aunt's dragons and the way to do it was very simple, but it had to be planned with cunning and intelligence to succeed.
"A couple of sharp knives, that's all we need," he said calmly looking at Lysono's knife.
Jon Snow
"The enemy is near, we will need to take out the scorpions before unleashing the dragons, our scouts found the camps where they were building some of them." Ser Barristan said as he pointed the map.
"Then send a couple of riders to harass them, tomorrow we will fight with all our strength and we will crush them." Daenerys said with a confident tone.
They were outnumbered, but the dragons were the main strength, a dragon flying against a legion was enough to break their formation, they weren't unsullied.
"It will be done, Khaleesi." Jhogo replied bowing his head.
"What about the Golden Company, can we count with them?" she asked looking at Aegon and Jon Connington, both men were standing on a corner without participating.
"just of it's necessary, I recommend having them on the rear just if the city falls." Jon Connington said respectfully.
"I assume that that's a yes." Daenerys said a little annoyed. "Jon will lead the charge with twenty thousand men, Ser Barristan and Ser Jorah will lead the infantry in the center, we will push as one single unit against their center, while Jon and Ser Arthur will chase their cavalry, we need to keep them away from their infantry and ours, once the center is broken we will unleash Balerion and Rhaegal over them, Vhagar will take care of the ships blocking the bay with the support of the Yermaki fleet, they are near waiting for the signal to attack." She repeated the strategy that they planned for weeks.
"They will surround the city, dear Aunt, how would we manage to avoid that." Aegon asked naïvely.
"Ser Oswell will command the forces inside the city, he's one of the most capable men in this room, he and Belwas will keep them at bay while we finish the bulk of their forces, the rest of them will see us unorganized and scattered, they will try to chase us, but we will ride away from the city, until we regroup and strike back those who will chase us, we will surround them and finish them, in that way we ease the intensity of the siege." She replied at that, Jon felt proud of how she managed to remember every small detail, how she invested herself in the plan to succeed, to guarantee the freedom of her people.
"I will organize the troops then, your grace." Ser Barristan bowed and left the room with many of the commanders.
"You speak like a queen, for sure." Jon chuckled; they were alone.
"Maybe I can give you one or two lessons about how speaking more regally" she said giggling.
A wonderful woman, that was Daenerys for him, and yet the world tried to oppose to them.
"You'll be a wonderful queen." He said placing his hands on her waist.
"When I was a girl, I never thought that I would be the one leading this people, I always lived on my brother's shadow, always afraid and weak." She said wrapping her arms around him.
"And here we are… Together, for now at least." He said, trying to calm her down.
"Would you accompany? Once we get our home back?" she asked him looking like a little girl, her amethyst eyes were full of hope and love.
"I don't know if I'm capable of that, I wasn't raised to think like that" he replied, worried of how she would react.
"Don't think like that, this is our reason, since you were a bastard boy in Winterfell and I was a girl living afraid of her own brother, we found ourselves for one reason." She said with the sweetest tone that he ever heard.
"That is what you want?" he asked looking at her with love, she loved him and didn't see him like a threat, together they were just two young adults, there were no crowns nor power, just love.
"Be with me, build a new world with me, this is our reason, we do it together." She pleaded, he noticed that she was about to break in tears.
"Then it's done." He replied and kissed her deeply, the taste of her lips was like honey and so they took out their breath with each passing second, with each sweet kiss.
The night came and the horizon was illuminated by the enemy camps. The streets were flooded with soldiers getting ready for the battle and the siege, Galvart Snow oversaw the burning of the scorpions and Brown Ben Plumm too, both men showed Daenerys that they were trustful.
"Can we help you with anything, My Lord?" Ser Gerris Drinkwater asked politely, Quentyn's companions grew fond of him after realizing what kind of man Jon was, the fact that he saved Prince Quentyn's life helped too.
"I'm no lord, Ser, I'm a knight just like you." He said giving the knight an assuring smile. "Would you prefer to ride with me tomorrow or face the siege from this night until dawn?" he offered.
"I will have to ask Prince Quentyn, his desires of glory have grown larger after seeing dragons, Unsullieds and a khalasar." The knight replied and gave him a subtle bow before leaving him alone again looking at the illuminated horizon.
'Quentyn Martell wants to die' he thought and chuckled, a man who looks for his father approval is always in danger.
He stopped thinking when he saw many lights rise high in the sky, the siege was starting.
"Take cover" a man yelled in Ghiscari.
"Be ready to extinguish the fire, protect the oil!" Ser Oswell barked orders down at the gates.
Soon Jon noticed that the fleet started attacking the city with trebuchets too, burning projectiles flying towards the city, towards the pyramid. Dany, Sansa, Rhaella, they were inside.
The first projectiles started hitting the walls and structures, the night sky was lightened with fire, buildings started to burn and men ran to fight the flames, and then the Pyramid began to suffer the scourge of the enemy, brick fell near him, but he did not care, he needed to find his family.
He walked inside the pyramid to find a group of unsullied escorting Sansa and his grandmother to a safe place, their chambers were getting hit by the rocks.
"Where's Dany?" he asked them quickly.
"She was supposed to be in her chambers, Grey worm was looking for her." Rhaella said before coughing because of the dirt in the air.
They had to resist the attack, they were testing them with each rock they threw over the city, they were strong enough to resist, he was sure of that. The pyramid trembled with each impact, but between the dust and the noise Jon saw something suspicious, a dead guard of the throne room, he didn't look hit by rubble, his throat was cut open, he had his short sword in hand.
Jon did not like that and pushed the heavy doors of the throne room to find more clues, Dany was alright, he felt it deep inside him and Grey worm was in charge of evacuating her from the Great Pyramid. What he saw inside the throne room left him speechless, there, undaunted with the situation was sitting Aegon, his half-brother.
"What's the meaning of this!" Jon demanded an explanation.
"The battle for Meereen has begun, I suppose." Aegon said with his usual irreverent tone.
"Did you kill those men? Why? " he needed answers.
"Come closer my dear brother, unless you don't care about a Dothraki whore's life" Aegon said and two of his men emerged from the shadows with Irri, one of Dany's maidens and friend. "I have seen that this bitch here is my aunt's favourite." He said squishing Irri's cheeks with his hand.
Jon felt his blood boil, he couldn't resist the anger and walked inside, he fought many battles in the past, he killed the mountain, he knew that he was able to kill three men, he trained for that while Aegon was studying how to be a bloody king.
"I had enough of this." Jon said unsheathing Longclaw, and the sound of Valyrian steel clashing against common steel filled the room, the first man sent a blow to his leg, but Jon stepped back quickly enough to avoid it, then he had the upper hand, in a few seconds the man fell on the floor grasping his throat, Longclaw pierced the chainmail like butter.
Then Rolly Duckfield walked forward to face him, Jon parried many of the young knigth's blow and slammed his fist against his face making him fall on his back.
His brother had a disturbing smile on his face now, Jon noticed it and turned around to block the attack of a blonde man, he looked like a valyrian man, but something was different in him, they locked their swords and looked at their faces with hate, they didn't know each other, but it wasn't necessary, they were just two men trying to kill the other.
"For the king" The man said then and took advantage of their locked swords to stab him in the abdomen with a dagger.
Jon felt the stinging pain immediately and fell on his knees trying to catch his breath, he needed to get up and fight. The man was walking away from him as a group of men, Rolly Duckfield among them walked towards him with their knifes.
A wounded against multiple enemies is a dead man, he knew that, but what kind of knight would give up and die without fighting. With all of his strengths he stood up and rose Longclaw to face the enemy, he saw everything blurred but managed himself to deliver a blow that was easily blocked by the man in front of him, the stab came after that and the pain again reign over his body.
"For the king" the man said too.
One by one they stabbed him in the name of their king, when Rolly's turn came, Jon saw the indecision in his eyes, the anger and the pain were burning inside him, murdered by his own brother and his men.
Aegon walked forward to speak with him in his last moments. "I hope you liked fucking my aunt, bastard, but now she will have to ask for my help to conquer the Iron throne." He said with malevolence.
Jon mumbled something then, his mouth was filled with blood and he could not breathe properly, he needed to stop everything in that moment, erase Aegon's existence from the world, even if he had no more strength.
"What are you saying?" Aegon asked him mockingly and leaned towards him to listen more clearly.
"You… are just a … just a beggar king." Jon said and pulled Aegon's feet making him loose balance, a second later Jon was trying to stab him with his dagger, but he only managed himself to make a clean cut from Aegon's chin that travelled to his eyebrow.
Aegon yelled in pain then, his left eye was gone, and his face was marked forever, a soft penitence for a kinslayer. Some men pulled Jon away and dragged Aegon screaming out of the throne room.
"Burn in seven hells, Bastard, in seven hells!" Aegon yelled as they dragged him out until they were gone.
And there, alone with just Irri to help him, he sat down leaning on one the columns of the throne room, his blood spilled on the floor. There he thought in Ghost, Caraxes and Dany one last time. He wanted to sleep and so he did, dying was an exhausting thing, now he knew that. Irri's voice pleading him to stay awake started to fade until he heard nothing more.
"Dany… Ghost…" were his last words.