AN: Obligatory thanks.


Rhaenys X

Rhaenys awoke with a start, a pounding pain on the side of her head making her wince. Her dazed vision could barely make out the flickering flames of a couple of braziers, which did only little in providing light.

"Rhaenys? Are you awake?"

Aegon. Her brother. Yes, they had been ambushed by those cloaked men and their Unsullied. She remembered. Her Uncle Oberyn as well.

"Y-yes, Aegon...where are we?" she asked faintly while trying to regain her bearings.

Sitting up from the cold floor, Rhaenys gingerly pressed the palm of one of her hands against the side of her head, grunting at the sharp pain. Her head and face felt sticky as well. She was sure that she had been bleeding. That must have annoyed their ambushers. She recalled the cloaked men ordering the Unsullied to not cut them nor to cause them to bleed in any other way.

"In a dungeon of some manner," Aegon answered. "Oberyn is still unconscious."

A moment later she heard shuffled steps coming closer and someone sliding down the wall next to her. Upon feeling Aegon's arms wrap around her shoulders, Rhaenys allowed herself to lean into his bare chest and exhale in relief.

"They took our weapons and clothing," he told her, but she could only chuckle.

"You still do not know me well enough, little brother. I am hurt and disappointed." Lifting her hips from the ground, she felt around her now dirtied silk smallclothes with careful and trained fingers, until she felt the blunt end of the steel needle she was looking for. Carefully, Rhaenys pulled the needle from between her thighs beneath the undergarment, rested her behind on the ground again and showed Aegon the needle with its cork cap in the dim light. "Manticore Venom, little brother. In case of an emergency."

Aegon gave her a wide-eyed look, a strangled sound escaping his throat. "You just have...that on you, the whole time?"

Responding with a sharp, feral grin, Rhaenys waved the needle lazily in front of him. "I am always prepared, Aegon."

He chuckled nervously, then, with a weak grin, he pressed a kiss on her lips, making her chuckle into his mouth.

Pulling away, his wary eyes still on the poisoned needle in her hand, he spoke up again. "Their leader came to question me about Dany's whereabouts earlier. He might come again to ask you. We'll ambush him then."

She nodded, albeit with a frown. "They don't know about Dany?"

Shaking his head, Aegon sighed while running his fingers through his shaggy, thick, locks. "It appears so. I have a feeling that we have stumbled into another conspiracy entirely."

Rhaenys scoffed. "Of course. The last Targaryens have dragons and suddenly everyone wants something from them. We cannot trust anyone but ourselves."

"You are right, sister. And there shall be no mercy from this day on," Aegon swore with fire in his eyes. "Those whose goal is to harm mine shall die."

"Good." She leaned over to press her lips against his cheek before gingerly standing up to look for her uncle.

Only now did she notice that they had been put in a large cage. It felt damp and dirty and dust was floating in the air. The stench of sweat was prominent and she knew it didn't just come from them, even if there was no one else she could spot in here. At the far end, on the ground, was her uncle. He had an ugly and painful-looking bump growing on his forehead. Kneeling next to him, she gently shook him awake. He groaned and moaned and swung at her with an arm, but opened his eyes eventually.

"Careful, uncle," she whispered as he sat up with obvious pain.

"Seven hells, my fucking head…"

"We have been captured, uncle," Rhaenys explained softly. "We are in a dungeon somewhere and our captors are, apparently, unaware of Dany's whereabouts."

Uncle Oberyn took a moment to gather his thoughts, then nodded slowly. "This is about something else, then…"

"It appears so."

His tired yet sharp gaze locked onto hers. "Your venom?"

She showed him the needle.

He nodded, pulled her close with a strong hand at the back of her head and pressed his lips onto her temple, thankfully missing the bump that she was surely growing. "Show these men why you are the Red Viper's niece."

Rhaenys gave him a predatory grin in return, walked back to Aegon, sat down next to him and waited.

Thankfully, it didn't take more than a few minutes for a man in those black and hooded cloaks to appear, deliberately walking down the stairs after stepping through the door to the dungeons. The man had his hood not pulled up, however. His long, black hair, cleanly shaved face and piercing dark eyes were unhidden from view.

"Ah, young king. I see your sister-wife is awake at last." The man oozed arrogance, though Rhaenys could not say what he could have possibly done to earn it.

"No thanks to your lot," she retorted, her eyes narrowed at him. "Who are you? What is it you want from us?"

"At least you appear to be more talkative than your brother." Aegon scoffed at that. "What we want is your blood, of course. Royal blood of Old Valyria, the blood of the dragon you are so proud of – there is power coursing through your veins and such power belongs to our God."

"You want to sacrifice them, I understand, but why not just kill me?" her uncle wondered aloud from his corner. She had to agree, though she was far from wanting her uncle dead.

"When would we ever have another chance to sacrifice a Prince of Dorne?" The man shook his head and stepped closer to their cage, his arms spread from his body. "The Black Goat will feast tonight and it will be a lavish, magnificent and prestigious affair. The other priests were not interested in sacrificing you, but let us be honest – who will miss you? Who will wonder where you have disappeared off to? And even so, your blood and the blood of your dragons is too valuable not to sacrifice to the Black Goat." He smirked at Aegon and her. "If it weren't for your blood, you would be nobodies here. You would be sold to the slave market at best, dead at worst and no one would shed a tear either way."

"Oh, my brother in Dorne would be most curious," her uncle commented idly. "Don't underestimate him because he appears quieter and gentler than I. His wrath is not something to be trifled with."

"An unfortunate encounter with a Dothraki Khalasar has led to your untimely demise." The cloaked man shrugged. "It has happened countless times before and will happen countless times again. But enough of this idle talk. Where is the Mother of Dragons?"

"We don't know. We were looking for her as well," Rhaenys answered, glaring at the man.

Aegon stood up and walked towards their captor, only a few steps and the steel bars separating them. "We have heard rumours, however, that the nobility of your city had plans to take her." Her brother took another step forward, his voice hard and cold when he spoke again. "We want her back."

"And where have you heard that rumour?" The man asked, his instant anger audible as he stepped closer as well.

Before Aegon could answer, however, another man, younger than the one before them, barged through the door of the dungeons and stood at the top of the stairs, causing the man to turn around. "Divine Archon! The dragons are loose in our city! Our men have failed to capture them!"

"You have tried to capture dragons?!" Rhaenys was laughing loudly. She could not believe such audacity.

"Get out!" The man – the Divine Archon, apparently – barked out.

The younger man did so, quietly, and the Divine Archon rubbed his temples with his fingers.

That was the moment they had been waiting for. Aegon launched forward with his arms slipping through the bars, seized a fistful of the Divine Archon's cloak and pulled him backwards against the bars. Before he could cry for help, Aegon had an arm wrapped around his mouth and nose, while Rhaenys grabbed an arm, removed the cork of her needle with her teeth and plunged the poisoned needle right into his exposed forearm.

Aegon grimly held on to the struggling man, his frenzied movements turning to brief spasms before he stopped moving and breathing entirely. All of it took no more than mere seconds.

"Search him for keys," Aegon ordered, even as she was already doing so.

Her brother was the one to find a keyring, however, and after trying a few, they managed to open their cage's door with a loud creak.

"What now?" she asked while looking around in the hopes of finding their clothing and weapons, but such luck turned out to be unlikely, as she had expected. "We cannot possibly just march out and hope to be ignored."

"No, but with the dragons loose, their attention might be drawn away from us for the moment," her uncle stated. "They are also arrogant. You don't interrogate prisoners without guards."

"Let us catch our breath in here for a moment," Aegon spoke up. "They will have to send someone down here to look for this Divine Archon. It will be an opportunity for another ambush." He looked around the dimly lit dungeon, the two braziers doing only very little in terms of illumination. "Our sole escape route goes through this door and I would rather not bet my chances in going unarmed against an unknown number of Unsullied."

Rhaenys nodded in agreement. "I will follow your lead, little brother," she said and took his hand in hers. Aegon broke his serious expression for a brief look of gratitude towards her.

"I approve as well, but we better find a good place for an ambush," her uncle warned and indicated for the wall by the stairs, just out of sight of anyone descending them.

They followed Uncle Oberyn and pressed their bodies against the wall at the bottom of the stairs, straining their ears for any noise. They waited and waited until the seconds prolonged into several long minutes. After a certain period of inaction, Rhaenys began to worry that it may be several hours before someone would think to come and check on their missing Divine Archon.

"Did you hear that?" her brother suddenly asked in a hushed whisper, sounding shocked and surprised.

Rhaenys frowned and concentrated even more than she had done before to strain her ears until she could – yes, indeed, she heard it now. Very faint, seemingly very far away, but the unmistakable and youthful roars of dragons.

"That other one had been right, after all." Uncle Oberyn chuckled. "He must have seen them earlier or another of their lot did and reported it."

"Whichever it is, it plays –"

Aegon stopped whatever he wanted to say and pressed himself tightly into the wall while holding his breath, prompting her and her uncle to follow suit.

The door to the small dungeons had opened and hasty, descending steps were audible, quickly followed by a gasp.

"D-Divine – Div– the Divine Archon is dead! The sacrifices have –"

His yells turned into a startled yelp as Uncle Oberyn jumped out from his hiding place and reached forward. She could hear the man tumbling down the stairs. A smash and the sound of crunching bones were followed by desperate choking, gasps and gurgles. Moments later, Uncle Oberyn tossed the body towards the Divine Archon's.

"I have a feeling that this will quickly become rather boring, your Grace," he stated with a grin.

"That may be so, Ser, but I would rather we survive this so we can find Dany." Aegon then gave her uncle a small smirk. "Nothing is stopping us from spinning a fanciful tale of fighting hordes of Unsullied with our bare hands while wearing nothing but our undergarments, of course."

Her uncle chuckled and she knew he was restraining himself.

"I am sure Dany would believe you in a heartbeat, little brother," Rhaenys said with a huff and a roll of her eyes. She couldn't stop herself from silently giggling at the notion, however.

Curse you, Aegon, for putting these silly pictures in my mind.

They kept waiting for a while longer. The minutes passed by, but no one else came. It was enough to tear at Uncle Oberyn's already rather thin patience.

"I will look through that door and see if it is safe to get out of this place," he told them. "You stay here and do not move until I say so."

"Be careful, Ser," Aegon told him and Rhaenys nodded in agreement.

She pressed into her little brother, clutching his arm nervously and in search of comfort. Uncle Oberyn was not a man of brute force. He was elegance, quickness and well-measured strikes. Usually, she admired him for it, but right now she hated it. Every step of his was so light and silent, no matter how much she strained her ears, she simply could not hear him.

Her breath hitched a bit when she heard the creaking of the door and her heart was pounding painfully in her chest, threatening to break through her ribcage.

Silence followed and a moment later, her uncle startled the both of them when he suddenly appeared at the bottom of the stairs again and motioned for Aegon and her to follow him.

Releasing a breath of relief, Rhaenys followed Uncle Oberyn and Aegon up the stone stairs.

Just looking through the open door, it was clear that they were either in a manse or in a place of worship. Well-polished marble stone in a bright room or hallway came into sight, so unlike the rough slabs of dirty stone their small dungeon had been made of. The moment they stepped through, it became clear that this was a small storage area of sorts, with various shelves and chests lining the walls. Clothing and other fabrics were spilling from a few chests and the shelves were filled with vials of blood.

"Well, this place is rather well-furnished for being just a storage room," Rhaenys remarked with a raised brow as she touched the smooth and clean walls.

"There!" Aegon pointed at the ground where their things had been carelessly left.

She quickly went and looked for her leather straps and throwing knives and daggers. Without wasting further time, she fastened them onto her thighs and waist. Then, she quickly slipped on her dress, frowning severely at the tears.

"This was a fine piece of fabric! Ugh, I am so very mad right now," she groused.

"I'll get you a new one," Aegon promised as he hastily pulled up his breeches and pressed his lips onto hers, "but we have to leave now," he added with urgency.

The scabbard of his Valyrian steel sword was properly secured on his waist and he swung the beautiful weapon skillfully a few times. Giving a satisfied nod, he sheathed it again.

Her uncle, already dressed and clutching his spear with both hands, nodded towards them. "Let us leave and find Queen Daenerys."

Before they did anything else, however, they heard the high-pitched cries of the dragons again and, this time, so much closer than earlier. Then, the unmistakable sound of them breathing fire followed and soon the cries of battle and the clash of steel.

Her heart was in her throat, but Rhaenys nodded. Uncle Oberyn took the lead again, opening the only door leading outside and immediately evaded a spear headed towards him.

"The Masters' sacrifices have escaped!" Even when calling out a warning, the monotone of the Unsullied did not waver in the slightest. Even the battle just several paces behind them appeared to be unable to excite them.

Two eunuch guards marched inside, their wooden shields held high and their spears at the ready.

Aegon charged forward with an upwards swing, one of the Unsullied prepared to take the hit with his spear. The Valyrian steel and Aegon's pure strength cleaved cleanly through the immaculately worked wood, cutting the spear in half. If the eunuch was surprised, he didn't show. Instead, he swung out with his shield towards her brother, but Aegon dodged it. It gave her the chance she had waited for, however, so she drew her dagger and threw it, the blade sinking shallowly into the guard's neck. It was enough of a distraction for Aegon, who swung his sword high and promptly beheaded the Unsullied with a mighty yell, the body of the eunuch just collapsing onto the floor and the head following with a wet splat.

She turned to see her uncle using his dagger instead of his spear, swerving past spear thrusts and shield bashes with uncanny agility and his cocky smirk, promptly adding a slit throat to the multiple cuts he had given the Unsullied before.

After collecting her dagger from the headless, dead eunuch on the floor, which became quickly slick with pools of blood, Rhaenys followed Aegon and her uncle outside of the building and onto the large grounds of wherever it was they were. Her eyes widened at the sight before them.

A dozen or so sellswords she recognized from the Wolf Pack were engaged in a fierce melee with the Unsullied guards while Sundancer, Arrax and Jadewing rained thin streaks of dragonfire from above upon any of the cloaked men they could reach. She saw Ser Barristan and Commander Pahryl fighting side by side against many Unsullied guards trying to encircle them. The old knight fought with such deadly speed and grace, she barely trusted her own eyes, for it should be impossible considering Ser Barristan's advanced age. He nimbly avoided the Unsullied's spears and struck decisively whenever the opportunity arose.

The sellsword commander, by stark contrast, was brute force and raw power. He took their assaults head-on with his large shield, unmoving like a rocky cliff standing strong and proud against crushing waves. He retaliated with swings of his massive mace, crushing heads, arms, legs and ribs and even sending one or two of the eunuchs into the air with the sheer strength of his attacks.

Rhaenys then saw Dany, glancing frantically around, just far enough away from the battle to not be in immediate danger.

"Come on!"

Aegon charged again, his battle cry loud and the fury in his blood unmistakable. He was a dragon and his fire was his blade.

Uncle Oberyn followed him with a spear thrust into the back of one of the Unsullied. The Wolf Pack sellsword, who had been clashing with the eunuch soldier, gave him a grim nod before rushing off to help his comrades. Her uncle quickly pulled out his spear and charged at another group of incoming Unsullied soldiers, his eyes burning with a thirst for vengeance.

Rhaenys, after shaking herself, joined the men into the fighting. She reached into her dress to take a throwing knife and hit a fleeing cloaked man in the back with it. He fell promptly onto the ground with a pained yelp. She quickly rushed towards him, rolled him over and sliced his throat open, warm blood immediately coating her fingers.

No mercy.

"Rhaenys!"

She turned to look at Dany, who appeared close to tears with relief and Rhaenys could only nod in return, barely holding her own emotions back. Now was not the time for tears of happiness. Now was not the time for any kinds of tears.

Rhaenys then was startled when her golden Sundancer landed next to her, got himself a happy hug and rubs down his long and scaly neck before he freed himself to burn even more of their foes.

A reinforcement of Unsullied now entered the yard and joined the fray, led by even more cloaked men, but it did not deter their dragons. Those who made it past the initial columns of fire, the Wolf Pack took on.

One of the eunuchs marched towards her. She quickly rolled away from the spearhead and pulled a throwing knife from the strap around her thigh with her left hand. She aimed low and the blade embedded itself in his thigh. Her opponent did not falter. He kept thrusting his spear at her and she kept dodging, waiting for a good opening. Her dagger firmly grasped in her right hand, she dodged a shield bash and ducked under the spear, slashing at his arm, drawing blood.

It was still not enough to deter the Unsullied, however, and a hard shield bash sent her tumbling back to the ground and short of breath. A wild screech from Sundancer followed, however, and a moment later the eunuch was engulfed in flames, pale golden veins dancing in the red and yellow and orange.

A firm and gauntleded hand helped her up and she turned to face Commander Pahryl, but had to crane her neck high to even look at him in the eyes instead of staring at his blood-splattered breastplate. "Be careful, little Queen. A real battlefield does not compare to a training ground."

Rhaenys had to admit that he was right as he led her through the large grounds of wherever they were, no matter how much it hurt her pride. Fighting these deathly and disciplined Unsullied was simply a different experience entirely, compared to training with her cousins and Uncle Oberyn.

Turning to her left, she saw Aegon overwhelming an Unsullied with raw power, his angry swings of his sword sending the eunuch stumbling backwards before he cut his stomach open, spilling his guts onto the floor with a downwards slash of his sword. All around her, the sellswords were making a fighting withdrawal and started to form a loose circle close to their position.

Suddenly, she was wrapped in thin arms, the scent of sweat and Daenerys invading her senses.

Dany sobbed into her neck. "I was so worried!"

"I know, Dany, I know, so were we!" Rhaenys held her aunt close before freeing herself with great reluctance from their tight embrace.

Taking a glance behind her, she realized that the fighting had apparently come to a close.

Blood and blackened stone were staining the grounds. Arms, legs, guts and heads were strewn across the makeshift battlefield of what she now recognized to be a prominent house of worship of the Black Goat.

"Arrax! Jadewing! Sundancer!" Their dragons were about to tear into the burnt flesh of one of the fallen but heeded Dany's firm voice. Whether they understood or were just startled by the tone of her aunt's command, Rhaenys could not say.

"I will not allow them to get used to human flesh," Daenerys stated into the silence that followed.

"Aye, I approve of that decision."

The words came from the approaching Aegon, who stared at Dany as if she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Rhaenys shared that particular sentiment without hesitation and could only smile with teary eyes when Daenerys threw herself into her little brother's arms, ignoring the blood and sweat soaking his tunic. Unable to restrain herself, she joined in the embrace. She couldn't help but laugh wetly, through snot and tears, when – most likely – Sundancer butted at her behind with his snout.

They were finally together again.