Hello everyone. Sorry for the delay. My sister's wedding is coming up soon, and here in India it is a very lengthy and energy consuming process, esp. for Bride's brother. With me being constantly on move, it was difficult to write even a single chapter. Even this chapter is not checked for errors as much as others are. I did what I could, but it might seem the chapter was rushed. The last scene would be expanded upon in the next chapter.
Thank you for being with the story, and keep reading. :D
ELIA MARTELL
As the Dragon soared over the Kingslanding, all she could think was how it would feel while falling from so much height. Even with all the arrangments, Jaehaerys had made, there was a good chance that they would fall off. They were tied to the Dragon's back with a single rope. It would hold Aegon and Rhaenys but not her and Ser Jaime. She was still praying to every deity she knew of, cursing Jaehaerys under her breath when the Dragon( Drogon, her mind supplied) leveled off. This created a large area for them to be seated, removing most of her problems. A murmuring could be heard from the Kingsgaurd behind her, who was trying to console a still crying Rhaenys. She was worried about her daughter, as in the past two days, all she had done was cry. None of the usual mischievousness and pretty smiles had appeared on the 4-year-old girl. Another jolt from the Dragon brought her out of her thoughts. Looking around, she saw that they were turning towards the Kingswood. There was no way for her to know how the Dragon would know where Starfall is except to hope that Jaehaerys had thought about that.
What felt like hours later, she felt the Dragon descending. During the entire journey, her thoughts had moved from everything that happened to everything that might occur. Jaehaerys also kept coming up in her mind, which she did not find too repulsive. Her marriage to Rhaegar had been one of friendship, not love, so while her husband's death did pain her, she was not overly affected by it. Ser Jamie, at that moment, decided to poke her, pointing towards something downwards. Fidgeting a little in her place, she looked down, noticing that they were flying above a river surrounded by desert. Since there were only a few waterways like this in Dorne and the fact that she could see mountains on both sides of the river, it was clear that they were over Torrentine. A few minutes later, a very familiar castle outline confirmed her hunch. Somehow, the Dragon had brought them right where it was planned. Promising herself to inquire Jae about it later, she started preparing herself for a busy time ahead. The first task on her list would be calming the people in Starfall, who must indeed be panicking right now. As Drogon circled lazily around the castle, she was wondering where the large Dragon would land. She could also see the line of guards holding bows that were pointing towards them. Not knowing how to get the Dragon to land, she tried to poke it with her legs but was sure that the beast didn't even notice it.
Finally, after completing three more turns around the large rock, it eventually turned towards the castle's center. By now, the guards had stood down a little, most probably after seeing her and Ser Jaime riding the Dragon. The Courtyard, which she knew was large enough as of Red Keeps, felt relatively small as the Dragon landed in it. No one approached them for a few minutes, but as soon as Ser Jaime got off with Rhaenys, guards started filling the area. She could feel the rumble in the Dragon's body as it tensed and growled at them. Not knowing how to calm it down, she nearly jumped off with Aegon, and then ordering it to fly off. She was sure the Dragon was amused at her attempt, as it snorted a small amount of smoke at her before lifting off. Taking a deep breath of relief, she turned around, coming face to face with Lord Dayne, Arthur, and Ashara's father. The older man stared at her for a few moments before bowing.
"Welcome to Starfall, your grace. It seems like you had an interesting journey."
After so many days of tension and grief, the familiar greeting of a man she considered her Uncle broke her control. She couldn't comprehend when Aegon was taken away from her, when they were escorted to Lord Dayne's solar, or when a very pregnant Ashara joined her in a crying embrace. All she remembered was crying heavily, knowing she was safe now. A few hours later found her talking to Lord Dayne at the gate of Starfall, making final preparations to leave for the Tower of Joy. Aegon would stay with Ashara, but Rhaneys had thrown a big tantrum at being left behind, and so was going with them. After a lengthy argument, Lord Dayne had agreed to send only a small number of people with her, namely the maester, two midwives, and only four guards. When he had told her that it would not be safe, she had pointed towards the large black mass resting outside the castle. Ser Jaime was staying behind too with Aegon, although not without a healthy protest. With such a small group, they would be able to reach the Tower quite early. As her horse crossed the gates, she sent a mental prayer.
"Hold on, Lya. I am coming... and so is your son's Dragon." She added the afterthought at seeing the Black Dragon rise and fly above them.
By the end of the day, they had crossed the High Hermitage and reached the approach of Princess pass. At her guard's advice, she decided to camp there for the night instead of riding ahead. She was thinking about looking for a safe place, but it became unnecessary a moment later. Drogon landed some distance a small distance away from her and sat down. Hoping her thoughts were right, she ordered them to camp around the Dragon, making her and Rhaney's bed right near the beast. Her daughter had stopped crying and was now babbling something to the Dragon, who seemed to be paying attention to her. It didn't escape her attention that the maester was looking at the Dragon and her daughter with pure disgust. Something had to be done about the grey rats and their masters, House Hightower. Rhaegar had told her his doubts and the information he had collected. If she ever found out that it was true, rivers of blood would flow. For now, she kept note of keeping her children away from the maesters.
The next morning, they rode once again with the first light. She asked Drogon to fly high above them and only come down when they had reached the Tower. Her appreciation for the massive beast increased when it sort of nodded its head. After another six hours of riding, they got the Tower just as Sun reached right above them. The three Kingsgaurds, all in their greyed armor and weapons drawn, relaxed after recognizing her. Before she could dismount, one of them was there to help her. She recognized the bat-like helmet of Ser Oswell Whent. Disregarding the other two, she looked straight at Arthur.
"How is she?"
"She is fine, your grace. Wh..."
Not giving him any chance to speak, she walked forward with Rhaneys in her arms, gesturing the maester and midwives to follow him, but after a moment of thought, she decided to leave the young girl behind. The Kingsgaurds were all too happy to take care of her, and with that, she climbed the stairs of the Tower of Joy.
JAEHAERYS TARGARYEN
Seeing Oberyn Martell curse his entire ancestry should have been either insulting or amusing, if not for the situation's seriousness. In his old world, the Baratheons and the city people had been very, very lucky. With the amount of Wildfire stored under the city, a single spark at the central storage would start a chain of explosions, blowing the city and everything around it to the smithereens. He had no idea how it had not happened in his old world amid all the drama that went on there.
Right now, his mind was trying to work on how to solve this problem. The Wildfire had to go that was clear, but where and how, that he was not sure about. The only two options that seemed to him were emptying the city and blowing it up except the Red Keep, start everything from scratch or evacuating the city, and extracting the Wildfire. But either of those options would take a lot of time, resources, and his attention, the former quite a lot. The incessant cursing of Martell irritated him enough to point that he snapped.
"Prince Oberyn, I know how my family was, but if you could put your mind to managing the Wildfire than cursing them, I would be more happy."
The younger Prince of Dorne huffed before nodding.
"The Wildfire has to go. It is not stable enough to be left in its place, too dangerous. A single spark could blow up everything."
He had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at the obvious statement. The Prince continued.
"I saw that people were being evacuated from the places of the major cache. We can continue doing it and then have the men carry out the Wildfire one by one. Dump it somewhere and burn it, maybe."
He shook his head.
"No, the Wildfire would go North. Where would we get the men? We need an army of soldiers for this, men who know how to follow what they are commanded to. A simple man could make a mistake and end everything. And the Targaryen army is scattered around the Crownlands, your troops are in Stormlands, and the city guards are in disarray."
"There are armies of two Kingdoms sitting outside the walls." Prince Oberyn observed after a few minutes of silence.
He shook his head once again.
"I can't ask them to do..."
Words died in his mouth as he considered multiple thoughts. Eddard Stark was going to become an uncle to one of the Prince of the Kingdom. He could ask help from the Warden of the North upon it with a minimal chance of refusal. However, some of his other plans would have to change. With the North's army staying here, he won't have the men to subdue House Tully, not until he could gather the royal army back. There was also the matter of Eddard Stark wanting to meet his sister, the betrayal of Lysa Arryn and Littlefinger, and finding what House Baratheon was up to. He had no idea if Jon Arryn would agree to his requests or even listen to the truth without any proof. After another few minutes of thinking, he had a basic plan in his mind.
"Prince Oberyn, how many men do you have in the Stormlands?"
"Nearly 3000", the answer came.
"We need to find Robert Baratheon and the rest of his forces before he does something worse. I don't like the fact that we don't know what he and Hoster Tully are thinking."
"The army of the Reach.."
"Is inconsequential right now. If Queen Elia was right, Randyll Tarly must be on his way here. I can deal with the rest of them. Would your men be able to find out Robert Baratheon?"
Seeing the man nod, he stood up from his seat.
"Send the Raven, my Prince., and then take command of the forces in the city. Let the evacuation continue as I have ordered."
"And where would you be?"
A small smile appeared on his face.
"Hopefully, getting an army."
As they walked out, he remembered another thing.
"Prin..."
"Call me Oberyn, your Grace. I don't like to stand too much on formality."
He looked at the man who he might have called Uncle one time.
"Very well, Oberyn, you have to call me Jae then. The assassin that attacked Queen Elia and her children is with Pycelle, who suggested my father to open the gates for the army of Westerlands. The men of the same army were involved in the first assassination attempt. I am sure they have a lot of answers that we need. If you could pay a little attention to them...?"
A disturbing gleam came on the Prince's face.
"It would be my pleasure, Jae."
With that, Oberyn nearly ran towards where Pycelle and the assassin were. Wondering about the sudden change in the man's attitude, he walked towards the Courtyard. He should be using a horse for traveling, but after spending so much time with Dragons, it just didn't feel right. Cannibal was grumbling at him when he mounted it, most likely the reaction to his plans.
"Don't worry, you will get your chance, but first we need to handle other things."
The response of the Dragon was just to jerk him around as they rose up. He rolled his eyes as they flew towards the rebel camp. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the Lannister group approaching the city walls. He wondered about going back but then decided to leave it to Prince Oberyn to handle the prickly Lord. When he arrived at the Rebel camp this time, Eddard Stark was already present to meet him. He wondered how he could address the man he thought as his father so casually, then shrugged it off. At his request, Lord Arryn also joined them. Once he had put his shortened proposal before them, along with some of the facts, it didn't take them long to come to a decision. Eddard Stark had immediately agreed to lend a part of the Northern army for the job, with the rest leaving back for the North. Vale's army would leave along with them, with only Lord Arryn and a small contingent of men staying behind. Both Lords had listened to his words about Lysa Arryn, Littlefinger, and Hoster Tully, and agreed to look into it more. They both had even provided him with a small number of soldiers, who would accompany a still injured Ser Barristan to gather the forces of the crown. He had forgotten about the Kingsgaurd and had to hide his embarrassment when Lord Arryn mentioned it.
When the Sun started going down, he walked away from the Northern camp. From the first light of the next day, the men of North and Vale would join the men inside the city in carrying out the Wildfire, which would be placed on ships that would travel to Eastwatch by the sea. Eddard Stark didn't know about that, and by the time he would learn about the Wildfire, it would be too late. The Warden of the North would be leaving for Starfall the next day, along with a few companions, leaving Lord Umber to command the forces present in the city. Lord Karstark would be taking the rest of the army back. With nearly the same plans for Jon Arryn, he finally had an army to work with.
Walking back towards his Dragon, he turned his mind towards another significant problem; what to do with the Lord of Westerlands and his realm.
REVIEW REPLIES
I have something speical planned for Riverlands. Hope it would work out. Thank you for your words. I will add the reaction of major players at the news of Jon and his dragons.
INFINITYMASK Yeah, Rhaegar and Lyanna did. But ift was unfair to put all blame on them. People just seem to forget what Brandon Stark did.
STRAWHATD Yeah, it just came out at the moment. won't happen agaon. Thank you for your words.
LOSTINTHEDARKNESS Thank you.
BELLASWAN 11 You are pretty mcuh right on the track for what I am plannign for the fic.
LALAMB That and the words about Power are pretty good.