A red sun waned over the knolly and wooded foothills of the Red Mountains as the air lighten and a coolness, which could only be indicative of the approaching dusk, wafted through the trees. It was the picture-perfect image of a summer evening as the sounds of children running and laughing breathlessly penetrated the otherwise serene landscape, as they broke out from the forest into an open meadow.
"Don't worry Princess! I will save you!" shouted one young boy, whose short, clipped silver-golden hair waved in the wind of his run. His dark red tunic, laced in blacked trimming, made of some of the finest material which spoke of his noble birth, was ruined with splotches of mud making his black embroidered three headed dragon look brown.
"Not so fast you fiend! She is ours. You will have to go through the both of us if you wish to succeed!" shouted another boy whose unruly black hair swayed in front of his grey eyes as his black finery, the exact opposite of the boys in front of him was dressed, was too covered in mud. Next to him stood the last young boy, whose stature was slightly taller than other two boys, stood next to the black-haired boy. His silver hair and piercing violet eyes divulged his royal birth and black finery matching the boy next to him. "Yeah. You'll have to go through the both of us if you want the Princess."
The boy dressed in red smirked, switching the grip of his wooden sword and holding it over his head ready to strike. "You act like that is a challenge, I am the greatest knight to ever live! I am a Dragonknight!" the boy went to rush the other two as both took up defensive stances. "Quick! My lady, take the princess and escape! We will hold him off!" the silver haired boy shouted at an equally silver-haired and violet eyed girl, who grabbed the short brown-haired girls' hand and ran off with her toward the trees. "Come princess we must leave while we still have time!"
As the made deeper in forest, the ancient and old trees towered over them, making the already darkening sky even darker under their canopy. They both stopped, panting and red cheeked from their running. "Dany." The girl panted, "I think we may have run too far; I can't even hear them anymore." The younger girl Dany, taking deep breathes to steady herself, scanned around the area around them taking in the quickening blackness of the forest. "I think your right Rhae-Rhae, should we go back the way we came in?" Dany looked up to meet the other girls' soft brown eyes who was looking just as concerned as her. "Mayhaps. But which way is the way we came in?" they both moved slowly toward the way the thought they came from. Two pairs of eyes darting around their surroundings looking for any sign of the way they came from. Their eyes, growing with panic as they heard stillness of a dark forest as the large canopy silenced any noise from coming in. "It's getting darker. I told the boys we should have went back to the palace once the sun turned red!" Dany said, her tone conveying her anxiousness about being in the dark forest "They never listen!". The older girl strengthened her grip on Dany's hand.
"Don't worry Dany, I think we're going the right way. I remember passing the dead tree when we ran in here" she said as the passed an old, dead tree which looked as if it had been brunt up ages ago. "Besides if its not, the guards and my mother will surely be coming to fetch us soon."
Dany looked up at her, her violets eyes showing her concern to the world. "You think so Rhae?" Rhae looked at her and put on a small smile "Of course Dany! Imagine the trouble the guards would be in if they left two Princesses alone in the forest. Father would be furious." Rhae saw Dany's posture start to relax and felt her small hand squeeze hers. Rhae looked away and towards the small path the were walking on. "Besides," she said "Those idiot boys should- "She was cut off by the sound of twigs snapping from directly in-front of them. Rhae grabbed Dany by her shoulders and put her behind her, shielding her from whatever was coming toward them. "Rhae…" Rhae could hear the fear in Dany's voice, so she looked up toward the noise, squared her own shoulders. "Whose there!?" she yelled down the path, trying to keep her voice confident and even "If you mean us harm, know that harming Princesses of the Seven Kingdoms means death!"
She could hear footsteps now, as the increased level of crunching leaves and twigs snapping happened faster and faster. She was about to shout again when she heard-
"Rhaenys! Daenerys!" a form emerged from the shadows of the trees, the silver-golden haired boy dressed in red came forward panting, his chest rising and falling fast, and his usual very fair complexion marred by his rosy-red cheeks. "I found you! Why did you two run so far into the forest. Were you trying to get lost!" the boy said breathlessly from his run. Rhaenys felt a twinge of anger well up in her chest "Idiot! Why would be trying to get lost!" The boy adorned a sheepish look on his face as he rubbed the back of his head. "I didn't mean it like that Rhaenys, I only meant it in jest." He said with both his hands raised in front of him in a placating manner.
"Daemon." The boy in red, Daemon, looked toward Dany. "Where are Aegon and Aemon at? How come they're not with you?" Daemon rolled his violet eyes, they are back at the meadow" he said pointing directly behind him "They were too scared to run in here in the dark, said we should just wait for the guards to come" Daemon looked to Rhaenys with a small smile on his face. "But I wasn't going to wait and I'm not afraid of the dark." Rhaenys gave Daemon a soft smile as well, as the three of them heading back up the path out of the forest. They could see the shapes of torches up ahead, indicating were Aemon, Aegon and the guards stood. Dany ran at the sight of the torches yelling "Egg! Aemon!".
Rhaenys stopped walking, grabbing Daemon's hand halting him as well as he turned around to look at her. Rhaenys bit her lip "Thank you for coming for us. Dany was starting to get really worried." Daemon looked at her with a smile. "Just Dany?" She scowled at him and crossed her arms across her chest "What are you trying to say? You think I was getting worried? A Dragon is never scared!" Daemon laughs and smiles at her, she loves to hear him laugh because he always sounds so pure and jovial, like he's heard the funniest jest in Westeros. Daemon looks at her with mirth in eyes "Of course not Princess, I would never dare say that you were scared. But as your ever loyal knight it is my duty to forever and always protect you!" Rhaenys felt warm at his words. She knows that all the knights her family has are sworn to protect them with their lives, especially the Kingsguards. But hearing the words come form him made her feel a different way, even in her ten name-days old life she knows she holds great affection for the boy in red.
"You idiot" she says with affection and moves closer to him and gives him a chaste kiss on his cheek, which turns even rosier at the action. Daemon brings a hand up to touch his cheek and looks shyly at Rhaenys' equally shy face. He clears his throat with a "Ahem… we should probably go back now so Ser Oswell doesn't have a fit" "Of Course, you're right, we don't him any angrier than he mayhaps already is." They walk back up the path toward the torches and finally exit the forest. "Princess! They you are, we were getting worried you had gotten lost. They're graces were getting very upset that we had lost you." Ser Oswell Whent said, Rhaenys know he was mad at them for running away from him, Ser Jamie, Ser Barristan and losing the Kingsguard in the previous wooded area before they had run out onto the open meadow.
She watched as Daemon was telling Ser Oswell that it wasn't exactly their fault that the white cloaked knights lost them when they ran through the forest and that it was their heavy armor that slowed them down. She chuckled inwardly at the unimpressed look Ser Oswell was giving back to Daemon. She knew that he was trying to make the situation better by downplaying the seriousness of the Princesses and Princes' getting lost in the dark actually was. Eventually they made the way back toward the palace where her mother and father would surely be waiting for them. She could see the palace now, Summerhall had always been a summer retreat for her family, and she knew that something tragic had happened to the palace in the past as construction in some sections was still happening. She was brought out of her musing when she heard Ser Oswell ask who had won the game.
Daemon shouted "It was me obviously! I defeated the two knights who were sworn to protect the Princess. That means I won!" Daemon always had a way, even at the age of 9 name-days, of making what he said sound like he was right. A talent, Rhaenys thought, that she hears many of the people on her father's small council possess.
"You didn't win because we stopped playing the game when we couldn't find Daenerys and Rhaenys. The whole point is to actually reach the Princess, not just beat her knights!" her brother Aegon, the Crown Prince, said in an effort to put, in Daemon's eyes, a sure win at the game back to only ten instead of one-and-ten wins. How she remembers exactly how many times Daemon has won, she doesn't know. Only Rhaenys does know that he has won many times more than Aegon has and only two more than Aemon. She remembers hearing Ser Arthur talk to her and Daemon's father about how, Aemon and him both would grow up to a great swordsman one day.
She hears her younger brother Aemon, who at 8 name-days old has always been a mediator between Aegon and Daemon as they always constantly argue with each other. "How about we just call the game a truce, Daemon didn't win nor did we lose, we just act like it didn't happen."
Daemon scowled and glared at the ground "That's not fair! Aegon is just mad that he is a shit swordsman and that I beat him so fast, its not my fault that he sucks at it" Oh great, Rhaenys thought, that's not going to make things any better. She knows her brother better than anyone, and she knows that he always takes things very personal and has a quick temper so as he explodes in anger all she can do is cringe at the volume of it.
"How dare you! You can't talk to me like that!" She sees him get in Daemon's face and points a finger in his face. She can only watch helplessly has both boys go red in the face in anger. "I am your Crown Prince you can not talk to me like that! If you ever say something like that again I'll… I'll…" Daemon scowls and shoves Aegon's hand away from him, "You'll what!? Beat me with a sword? As if you could."
Just as Aegon looked ready to pounce on Daemon and tackle him to the ground. She can see Aemon become feed up with the two arguing and he marches up to them and pulls them apart. "That's enough! Egg! Daemon! Stop it, you two are acting like little babies! Just stay away from each other until we make it back to the palace or I'll knock the both of you over the head with my own sword! Got it!" Aegon and Daemon both glare and walk away from each other, with Aegon going next to Dany by Ser Jamie and Daemon coming back to walk next to Rhaenys as they resumed their walk back to Summerhall.
Silence followed their return to Summerhall as the walked through the giant doors that lead into the main entryway of the palace where Rhaenys could see her Father and Mother standing and waiting for them. She could see the disappointment on their faces, and she starts to feel ashamed of the panic they must have felt at their little disappearing act. Standing behind them she can always see the remaining members of her father's Kingsguard in Ser Arthur Dayne 'The Sword of Morning', Ser Gerold Hightower the 'White Bull', Ser Jonothor Darry, and Ser Mandon Moore. Rhaenys saw her mother, Queen Elia says something to her father and him nod in agreement before walking towards the group of dirty children. She stopped before them and gave them all a critical look over.
"Well, I hope you all have had fun out there in the mud because due to your running away from the Kingsguard, you will all be inside the palace tomorrow having your lessons." Rhaenys let out a long groan along with everyone else to that announcement. "Now," Her mother said, "All of you go up to Daenys Hall and prepare for your baths because after that you will be going straight to bed after dinner. Now get a move on." As the group of children made their way to Daenys Hall, Rhaenys looked back to see Ser Oswell talking with her father, probably to give his report she thought. Ahead of her Rhaenys saw Aegon and Daemon talking, surprisingly they were not yelling at each other again and saw them clasp arms as Aegon went into his room. It seems like they made up all by themselves Rhaenys pondered. Rhaenys and Dany's room was further down the hall to separate the boys from the girls, but she stopped by Daemon's room before he went inside.
"Hey," Rhaenys said with soft brown eyes meeting vibrant violet ones. She could start to feel her muscles aching from all the running and her skin itching from all the grass they rolled around in throughout the evening. "Did you mean what you said in the forest when you found Dany and I?" She saw Daemons eyes scrunch up in confusion as he tried to recall the memory of what he may have said. She decided to spare him the confusion and just say it plainly.
"That you are always going to be my loyal knight, that you will always protect me, that you will always be there for me?" She'll admit, she added that last part of the question. But she hoped Daemon wouldn't notice that.
She could see his eyes brighten and a smile grow on his face and then it was gone suddenly, and his face grew as serious as a nine name-day old could and he spoke. And Rhaenys knew then, that she definitely held a great affection for Daemon Blackfyre. "Of course, My Princess," He spoke, "I will always be there to protect you. And I will always be your most loyal knight. I will always be yours."
AN: Hello everyone! This is my first time writing a story that I intended for anyone to ever read and it is also my first fanfic story ever. This story has been in my head forever and I always thought "What if..." and this is the result. The Asoiaf universe is massive and so I may mess up on somethings. The ages will be true to the story, be forewarned, but I am unsure if there will be anything explicitly sexual in this story. This story will mainly focus on the protagonist Daemon Blackfyre but will heavy feature Rhaenys Targaryen, Jon Snow (Who goes by Aemon Targaryen) Dany and a few others. The next chapter will be set further in the future. I hope you enjoyed this prelude and hope you come back for more, and please tell me what you think!
