The Chronicles of Valyria,

Book 1 Resurrection

Chapter 3

The first sign that they were to late was Aurora sniffing at the air when she could smell fire in the distance. The second sign was that refugees came fleeing up the Kingsroad far below and ahead of them. The third sign was the weak glow in the distance, indicating a large fire.

Gabrielle cursed when she realized it and Aurora dove downwards to find Rhaegar. Now she cursed the decision to stay with the army, instead of flying ahead to King's Landing. It was Rhaegar who had insisted that they stay with them, so as not to invoke an attack from the city watch. They may not have been used for a very long time, but the walls of King's Landing still held weapons capable of bringing down dragons.

When they landed on the Kingsroad, in front of Rhaegar who rode at the head of the quickly marching army with Lyanna, Eddard, Jon and Hoster, all it took was three words, "We're too late."

Rhaegar started giving orders immediately. "Eddard, you come with me and all the men on horseback. Jon, Hoster, you follow with the infantry as fast as possible. Lyanna, you stay here, I'll send for you when it is safe. Ser Gerold, Ser Barristan, Ser Oswell and Ser Arthur, you stay with her. Prince Lewyn and Ser Jonothor, you're coming with me."

Turning to Gabrielle, who towered far above them he added, "Bring them fire and death. Teach the Lannisters that they're not the only ones who pay their debts."

Aurora stretched her body in anticipation of battle, and with a deafening roar, she launched herself into the sky and flew quickly towards the burning city in the distance.

It took her only a few minutes to fly the two score miles and with a roar that echoed with a terror from ages past, she descended on the part of the Lannister army that was still outside the gates. During their descent they noticed a second host approaching the city, not 2 miles out.

The entire city stood still when they heard Aurora's roar. When the enormous dragon descended on the Lannister army, the citizens cheered and the Lannisters despaired. Aurora opened her mouth when she flew over the army and unleashed a great torrent of red flames. Hundreds burned to their deaths and the army panicked. They tried to take refuge in houses and behind the walls but it was of no avail.

Aurora's fire killed thousands outside the walls but many more were within and she did not dare unleash her fire upon the city, where it could spread and kill tens of thousands of innocent people.

When nothing remained alive outside the walls, Aurora landed between the fire and the smoke and used it as cover to change back in her human form. By that time the second host had reached the city and they saw a man, wearing full plate over mail and boiled leather and holding a Valyrian steel greatsword in his hands, leading the host.

They approached the man with axes ready and from underneath Gabrielle's helmet came the words, "Identify yourself, are you friend or foe of King Rhaegar."

The man dismounted his horse before removing his helmet and stating, "My name is Randyll Tarly, Lord of Horn Hill and my allegiance lies with Prince Rhaegar."

Gabrielle and Aurora likewise removed their helmets and Aurora said, "That is good to hear Lord Randyll, we have heard much about you. Please order your men to follow us into the city, we have some bloody work that needs to be done."

If Lord Randyll was surprised to see the two women than he didn't show it. He merely nodded and handed the reins of his horse to a squire before addressing his men. "MEN OF HORN HILL, these last days have been hard on all of us. We have all lost friends and comrades to those lions over there, but as you can see, we do not stand alone on this day. SO FOLLOW ME NOW, AND LET'S KILL SOME LIONS."

The army roared in agreement and with Aurora, Gabrielle and Lord Randyll in the lead, the remaining 15,000 men from Horn Hill charged into the city.

Because they were no longer airborne, they didn't notice a large part of the ships that had been anchored in the harbor leave the city. As soon as Tywin had heard the dragon's roar, he had moved as many of his men towards the harbor as he could gather. Laden with riches they took every ship they could get their hands on and set sail out of Blackwater Bay. Tywin Lannister's plan had succeeded. He had managed to flee the city with more than half of his original force of 55,000 men, and the more than 250 ships they had taken were laden with gold and other riches.

Meanwhile Aurora and Gabrielle were making their way towards the Red Keep. Followed by Lord Randyll and his men, they cut a bloody path through every Lannister soldier they came upon and soon the citizens joined them. Small groups of battered gold-cloaks and citizens armed with axes and scavenged swords and spears joined behind them as they carved a bloody path through the Lannister men that still remained in the city.

They led by example, the great battle axes they wielded drank the blood of a thousand dead Lannister men and with every life they took, the heavy black steel seemed to shine with delight, as if it reveled in the bloodshed. Besides them Lord Randyll cleaved one Lannister after the other with Heartsbane, he more than proved the rumors Aurora had gained from Rhaegar's mind.

Slowly but steadily they made their way to the Red Keep. They were relieved to find the gates firmly closed and the Lannisters packed beneath their walls. They fell on them from behind and when the Lannisters turned around to face this new threat, the gates of the Red Keep opened and the 500 men strong garrison attacked the Lannisters in the rear. They were crushed between hammer and anvil and none escaped.

Before they could rejoice in this small victory, they saw something that made their hearts stop.

A small side tower of Maegor's Holdfast was burning. From the memories Aurora had taken from Rhaegar she knew what that tower was. The rooms of Elia and her daughter were in that tower, along with the orphan boy who was known as Aegon.

With a speed no one would have expected from the heavily armored figures, Aurora and Gabrielle stormed towards the holdfast, the drawbridge was down but they found the gates closed. It took them only three blows with their mighty axes before the beam that kept the gates closed broke.

Storming up the many stairs, they followed their memories from Rhaegar and took the swiftest route to the tower of the prince, knowing in their hearts that they would be too late.

It took Rhaegar, Eddard and the 10,000 horsemen with them, just over an hour to reach the burning fields outside the open gates of King's Landing. They bore witness to the death and destruction that the dragonfire had wrought around them, burned corpses in molten steel covered the ground as far as they could see and fires were still burning all around them. As he witnessed the destruction Rhaegar thought to himself, 'what ungodly terror have I unleashed upon this city'.

They led their men into the city where they found the saddening, but unfortunately familiar sights of a city that was being sacked. Corpses littered the streets, women and young girls lay naked on the streets, their bodies bloodied and broken, while their husbands, fathers and brothers lay besides them, their throats cut open or their bodies hacked to pieces.

In the distance, thick black smoke clouds indicated that large parts of the city were on fire. Screaming could be heard from every direction and the smell of burning flesh and death was all around them. Suddenly a great explosion came from the direction of Flea Bottom and to his shock, Rhaegar saw distinct green flames rising above the roofs of the slums.

The farther they traveled into the city, the more they noticed that the bodies that still littered the street were increasing numbers of Lannister men, while the citizen victims become more and more sparse. It was somewhat heartening to find the occasional men in green with a red archer on the chest, men from Horn Hill, meaning that the defenders didn't stand alone.

As they hurriedly rode through the streets, Rhaegar noticed that many of the Lannister men had large gaping wounds, or were completely cut in half. Thinking about the battle axes he had seen Aurora and Gabrielle wield, he felt the shivers run down his spine, those poor souls never stood a chance.

When they finally reached the Red Keep they saw the massacre of Lannister troops laying before its walls and when Rhaegar saw the burning tower, he went pale with worry before the blood of the dragon awakened within him. With a mighty roar he drove his horse on and on horseback he thundered through the hallways of the Red Keep until he came upon the broken gates of Maegor's Holdfast.

Fearing the worst he left his horse at the gates and sped up the stairs towards his and Elia's chambers. When he approached the room he felt the heat getting more intense but it didn't bother him. He dove into his rooms, only to crash straight into a black, steel breastplate. A little dazed by the force of the impact he was picked up like a sack of potatoes and carried out of the burning chamber.

Gabrielle placed Rhaegar on the nearest chair before she headed back into the flames to continue searching for his family. They had already found Elia, the poor woman had been raped and her neck had been broken, and she lay on the ground staring with lifeless eyes towards the ceiling.

Aegon they had found in his crib, the poor boy had his head smashed in with a heavy golden candlestick, which lay besides him in the crib.

But no matter where they looked, they couldn't find Rhaenys, the three-year-old girl was just gone. They carried the two bodies they had found, out of the flames and carefully placed them on a bed in one of the other rooms, before covering them with a blanket. They were not a pretty sight to behold.

When they exited the room again they found Rhaegar still dazed and seated on the chair where Gabrielle had left him. He was in shock and no discernible words came out of him.

Having enough of his behavior, there would be time to mourn later, Aurora slapped him a few times in the face and brought him back to reality. When his indigo eyes met with Aurora's sapphires she said softly, "We have found Elia and Aegon, but we can't find Rhaenys, do you have any idea where she could be? Is there a hiding place where she could have gone?"

Rhaegar softly shook his head and said, I don't know, maybe to Viserys's room, she liked to play there."

"Where is that?" asked Gabrielle quickly.

"One floor above us, stairs at the end of the hall and then the third room on your left."

They raced upstairs and following Rhaegar's directions they found the room. It was immediately clear that they had found the right room. The young prince lay on his bed, his small chest was riddled with stab wounds and he was bled dry. He had been stabbed at least half a hundred times and his lifeless lilac eyes still held a look of fear to them.

Gabrielle sighed softly before walking over to the bed and closing the boy's eyes. She pulled a blood free blanket from the bed, not an easy task to find one, and wrapped the young prince in it. Meanwhile Aurora was searching the room for any trace of Rhaenys but they once again came up empty handed, Rhaenys was gone.

Gabrielle picked up the small body from the bed and carried him downstairs where they found Rhaegar kneeling before the bed where they had left the bodies of Elia and Aegon. He had pulled back the covers and held one of Elia's hands while he wept shamelessly.

Gabrielle carefully placed Viserys on the bed and at Rhaegar's pleading expression she answered softly, "Its Viserys, Rhaenys was nowhere to be found, we haven't found the queen either."

At those words Rhaegar sucked in a deep breath and said, "Mother." He gave a last saddened look at Elia's broken body before he pulled the covers up again and hurried out of the room.

In quick succession they checked the king's chambers, the queen's chambers, and about every room Rhaegar could think about but to no avail, the queen and the princess were not to be found. Finally, they made their way to the throne room where they found a sight they did not expect.

Eddard Stark stood before the Iron Throne and was yelling at a young man with golden blond hair who sat in it. They saw three corpses lying on the floor before the throne. Two wore the black and brown of the Pyromancers and the final one wore richly embroidered clothes of red and black and was the mad king himself. He had been stabbed in the back.

The young man on the throne turned out to be no one else than Ser Jamie, the eldest son and heir of Tywin Lannister himself. His sword with the golden handle was laying on his lap and it was still covered in blood.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE BOY," Lord Eddard yelled towards the boy on the throne, "Even though that man was mad, he was still your king. You are a Kingsguard, YOU SWORE AN OATH to protect him with your life, not to stab him in the back."

"What are you yelling about Lord Stark. With the Targaryans out of the way, your friend Robert can claim the throne. Isn't that exactly what you have been fighting for, for the last year?"

"That was what we were fighting for, until my sister told me the truth. Robert and your father have planned all this, but guess what, not all Targaryans are dead."

"I know," Jamie Lannister answered nonchalantly. Either he hadn't heard Eddard or he just didn't care. "The queen and the Princess Rhaenys have fled to Dragonstone after Rhaegar left, but don't worry, my father is sailing there as we speak so it won't be much longer until they are dead as well."

At this point Rhaegar had heard enough, he walked angrily up the dais towards the throne and looked down upon the young Lannister who looked as though he saw a ghost. "Tha… that… that is impossible, Robert k… k… killed you at The Trident, my father wrote me s… so himself."

"Your father lied Jamie, and now you will pay the price for his crimes. Did you kill Elia, Aegon and Viserys as well?" Rhaegar's voice was soft but laced with anger.

The boy shook his head frightfully and said, "N… n… no, I opened one of the secret p… p…passages for G… G… Gregor Clegane and S… Ser Amory Lorch. They went after them and t… t… told me to k… kill the king. I… I… haven't seen them since."

"You're disgusting," Rhaegar snarled before he backhanded him across the face, breaking his nose in the process, and dragged him from the Iron Throne. He threw him at the feet of Aurora and Gabrielle and Jamie looked fearfully upwards to the closed helmets.

"Throw him in a black cell, I'll deal with him later. But for now we need to get to Dragon Stone and alert the royal fleet that they should stop Tywin at all costs."

Jamie started laughing at those words and said mockingly, "You'll never get there in time. My father is hours ahead of you."

"Wait," Rhaegar told Aurora while she was dragging the disgraced Kingsguard away. "We'll take him with us. See if Tywin is more agreeable if we feed his favored son to a dragon."

A muffled laugh came from beneath the black helmet and Aurora dragged a panicking Jamie back towards the throne.

Tywin Lannister was standing on the back of the Prince Viserys and looked back behind him at the burning city in the distance. He hoped that Jamie had gotten away, his son was a great warrior, but even he was no match for a dragon. In hindsight it may not have been such a good idea to tell Jamie that Rhaegar was dead, in his arrogance he may do something that could cost him dearly.

Turning to the horizon ahead of them he could see the island of Driftmark, behind it the Targaryan stronghold on Dragonstone. It would be less than a hundred miles until they reached the open sea and freedom. He would sail south-east, to visit his new friends and perhaps there, he could take some time to think. No doubt Rhaegar would send his dragon rider to Casterly Rock, he could only hope that Cersei had done as he told her and got out of there as soon as she could.

He didn't care what would happen with Tyrion, that little shit has always been a thorn in his side and he hoped Rhaegar would be so kind as to get rid of him. Looking at the setting sun, he decided to turn in for the night and headed to the cabin he had taken for his own.

The journey to Dragonstone was relatively short, compared to the one to Dorne, but it still took them about an hour to get there. The full moon was up and they had to stay out of sight of the stolen fleet in order for their plan to work.

The passenger list was rather short, Aurora was flying and in the saddle on her back were, Gabrielle, Rhaegar, Lyanna, Ser Barristan, and Ser Arthur. The rest of the Kingsguard had remained in the city to stand vigil by the bodies of Elia, Viserys and Aegon. The body of Aerys had also been laid in the same room, but with obvious less care than the other three.

Temporary command of the city had been left in the hands of Jon Arryn. Eddard Stark had been given command of their united forces and tasked with keeping the peace in the capital, while Hoster Tully had been given the task of removing the signs of the battle that still remained everywhere you saw. It was a grim task, as tens-of-thousands lay dead in the streets and everywhere you looked, you saw plundered houses and burned out shops. Flea Bottom had been ravished by the explosion and the ensuing fires had spread out over large parts of the city. Few people knew that it was thanks to Aurora and Gabrielle, and their control over every kind of fire, that the fire hadn't spread to the entire city. But still, the dead were innumerable and it would take a long time before the city would recover from its wounds.

Randyll Tarly had been given command of the cavalry forces and was sent back to Highgarden to gather what remained of the army of the Reach and to bring Lord Mace to King's Landing. The Lord of House Tyrell had not made himself very popular in Rhaegar's eyes, after Lord Randyll had told him what had happened when they were attacked by the Lannister host.

A lot had happened since they had reached the city at noon but Rhaegar had one particular memory he would remember for the rest of his life.

When they began to make up a report of the damage done to the capital, the High Septon and the Most Devout themselves had shown up at the steps of the Red Keep, demanding that they be allowed to enter and speak to Rhaegar. It just so happened that the one put in charge of keeping everyone out who did not need to be there, was the Greatjon Umber.

He had stood directly in the doorway with six of his own house guards, all big, broad men with thick beards and wielding massive two handed swords which they were leaning on. The two bald, short, and rather obese men, came walking towards the keep as if they owned the place and demanded to be allowed to enter.

"Step aside peasant," the High Septon said on a denigrating tone. "We demand to be shown to Prince Rhaegar immediately, we have matters of the utmost importance to discuss with him."

The Greatjon stared at them for over a minute without saying a word until he spit on the ground, right in front of the High septon's feet and said, "No."

Both men were obviously not used to be told 'no', and they started throwing an incredible tantrum on the steps, drawing a small crowd of onlookers, mostly gold-cloaks and Northmen, until they had drawn Rhaegar outside, out of pure annoyance that someone would be so rude to disturb the peace at such a dark moment in the history of the once great city.

Rhaegar was flanked by the helmeted Aurora and Gabrielle and since he came out of a side-door, the two clergy men had not seen him yet and he waited patiently until they would notice him, which took only a minute or two.

"Ah, Prince Rhaegar," began the High Septon, but he was immediately interrupted by the Greatjon who said,

"That's, King Rhaegar for you, you dry cunts."

Rhaegar grinned softly at the Greatjon's words, he had never liked the two men, but because of their positions he had avoided disrespecting them, until now. "I'm quite busy, so please tell me what you want and then get the hell out of here. I'm sure there are many people in the city who could use your help right now."

The two men looked insulted at Rhaegar's words, which was exactly what he intended, and the Most Devout scoffed, "Our services are not for the common rabble, and since you haven't been crowned yet, it's still Prince Rhaegar, but if you desire it we will get to the point.

During the sack, the Great Sept of Baelor was damaged. And since it was your absence that allowed the Lannisters to sack this city, we demand that the crown pays for the repairs."

The only reaction they got out of Rhaegar was a slight raising of one eyebrow a fraction of an inch, but the Greatjon and his men scowled at the angry faces of the two men.

When the High Septon tried to say something, Rhaegar interrupted him and with barely contained anger, he said, "My wife, my son, my brother, and my father have been murdered, my mother, and my daughter are missing. The streets of this city are still littered with the corpses of the poor victims of the sack, half the city is in ruins and the other half has been plundered, and you dare to demand this from me, and at this time.

I will give you one warning, you are going to leave now, and when you return to the Great Sept, you will tell all of your people to get out into the city and help as many people as they can. If you refuse you will not like the consequences because I'll…."

He was interrupted by the High Septon who screamed in rage, "You will mind your place boy, we are the leaders of the faith and you will do as we say or we will…" They would never find out what they would do as at that moment Aurora had had enough.

She grabbed both men by the throat, the High Septon in her right hand and the Most Devout in her left, and with no apparent effort she raised them 2 feet from the ground before snarling, "I don't give a single fuck who you think you are, but you will show your King the respect he deserves. It is my opinion that the faith has been given way too much power the last few decades and it's about time that something is done about that."

She gave both men an extra squeeze before throwing them on the ground where they landed in an undignified display as their robes where torn where they caught on the spikes of Aurora's gauntlets.

When the men had stopped taking ragged breath's, Rhaegar addressed them again in the same cold, angry tone as before. "I have always prayed to the Seven, all of my life, but never did I receive an answer from them.

Three days ago, on the eve of battle, at the banks of the Trident, I had my darkest hour. I prayed to the Seven for guidance and for help, but again they remained silent. When I went for a walk to clear my mind, I came upon an ancient Weirwood tree. I knelt before the tree and for the first time in my life, I prayed to the Old Gods.

I begged them for help, I prayed for strength to be able to survive the trials that lay ahead of me, and do you know what happened? They, answered. I had never asked anything of them before, I had never prayed to them, never brought any sacrifices, never worshipped them in any way but still they answered me. They showed me how to contact them," at those last words he motioned to Aurora and Gabrielle before continuing.

"They are the Last of the True Dragon Riders of Old Valyria. With their help I defeated Robert Baratheon without spilling a single drop of blood. They are the ones that broke the Lannister army, and they are the ones who will help me make this country united and strong again.

So now leave, before I ask them to take their dragons and tear down that entire wretched building." The High Septon and the Most Devout didn't know how fast they had to leave his sight ere he decide to send his riders after them.

When they approached Dragonstone, they were all glad to see that the royal fleet was already preparing to set sail. Apparently they had heard about the sack and if they were planning on helping the city, or to stop Tywin, they didn't know, but it was good to see that they would be ready to set sail soon.

Aurora flew above the courtyard and was slowly circling downwards so as not to scare her passengers with a dive landing, when it happened. Someone must have seen them and thought them a threat, as the great ballistae on the walls started to shoot their deadly projectiles at Aurora. Four of the heavy, 8-foot-long steel spears hit her in the chest but the scales there were so thick that they didn't penetrate, however three others hit her unprotected wings.

When Aurora was hit she roared in pain and the entire island froze for a second before the men on the ballistae continued firing.

They were still out of earshot so Rhaegar couldn't order them to stop firing, and Aurora folded her wings and dived towards the courtyard in an attempt to get to the ground before she was shot out of the sky.

They dropped roughly a thousand feet in a few seconds and when Aurora spread her wings again to prevent them from crashing, they fired another volley from the walls, and this time they hit true. As soon as they were within earshot Rhaegar yelled, "STOP FIRING, I'M RHAEGAR." But it was already too late.

One of the spears hit Aurora in the shoulder of her right front leg and went straight through. Another hit exactly between two scales on her right side, sliding under and penetrating two feet into the flesh beneath. The others pierced her wings on more places and with another roar of pain, they crashed to the ground, a few hundred feet outside of Dragonstone and luckily out of sight of the garrison.

To the fortune of her passengers, Aurora landed on her belly so they were just shaken a lot, but luckily unharmed. They could hear orders being given in the fortress and assumed that the garrison would be send out soon to come find them.

In the meantime, Gabrielle had jumped from the saddle as soon as Aurora had landed and quickly went to her right side to remove the two spears that were still stuck in her body. When they were out, Gabrielle cut off the saddle and to the amazement of Arthur, she changed back into her human form.

She laid on the ground and didn't move as Gabrielle sprinted towards her and lifted her from the ground yelling, "I NEED A HEALER." For the first time since they met her, Rhaegar, Lyanna, Barristan and Arthur could hear panic and fear in her voice.

Rhaegar quickly ran towards her with the other three hot on his heels and he led her quickly towards the fortress. Barristan and Arthur each struggled to pick up one of the heavy Battle axes the ladies had left behind and quickly followed them with Lyanna in front of them.

They entered the courtyard and went into a well lit corridor that led to the maester's chambers. In the torchlight of the corridor they could see the large hole in her breastplate where the spear had wounded her in the side, and a steady stream of boiling hot blood ran from it and from her right shoulder as well as from under her back-plate.

When they reached the closed door to the maester's study, Rhaegar knocked but Gabrielle didn't have the patience to wait and kicked the door open before rushing in. She almost literally ran over the maester, a relatively young man with shoulder long brown hair and a kind face, before placing her partner carefully on the table in the centre of the room.

Turning to the maester she growled, "I need a lot of fresh water, clean rags, needle and thread, and two bottles of rum or something similar." The maester looked confused and more than a little disgruntled at almost being ran over by some aggressive stranger before being ordered about by said stranger.

"DO IT," yelled Rhaegar to the young man and he sprang into action while Gabrielle removed her helmet before carefully inspecting the hole on the side of Aurora's breastplate.

She turned to Lyanna and said, "Help me remove her armor."

Lyanna approached her to help, but Barristan said quickly, "Save your strength princess, I'll help her."

Gabrielle shook her head again and said a little more calmly now, "No Ser Barristan, I want you, Rhaegar and Arthur to leave this room now. There is nothing any of you can do and I don't want any of you to see her half-naked."

Ser Barristan actually got a little blush on his cheeks as he realized why Gabrielle had asked Lyanna in the first place and the three men quickly left the room, passing the maester in the hallway who came running back from some store room with the things Gabrielle had requested. Just as they left the room, Gabrielle yelled after them, "Make sure no one touches the blood that spilled from her wounds, it'll burn everyone and everything that touches it."

As soon as the maester had put the requested items on the table next to Aurora's unmoving body, Gabrielle literally kicked him out and locked the door behind him.

She quickly returned to the table where Lyanna assisted her with removing the armor. First was the thick fur cape that was attached to the breastplate with two large silver clasps.

Next were all the weapons, the two swords on her back, the one on her hip and the two long daggers. The great battle axes had been put against the wall of the study by Barristan and Arthur before they left the chamber.

Then were the shoulders which were attached by a series of thick leather strings that had to be untied. The breastplate was held in place and attached to the back-plate by a series of smaller black steel clasps, two on each shoulder and six on each side.

When all the clasps were open Gabrielle lifted the breastplate off and put it on the ground before they started to remove the arm plates. The upper and lower arm plates were quickly untied and the elbow-guards were likewise removed. The armored gloves were taken off as well before Gabrielle lifted Aurora's torso from the table and with the help of Lyanna removed the silver-colored mail she wore beneath the plate.

Dropping the mail on the ground Gabrielle quickly unbuttoned the padded leather shirt beneath and removed that as well revealing a, once white, linen shirt that was almost completely drenched with blood. She quickly warned Lyanna not to touch the bloody shirt and taking a knife from her boot, she cut the linen shirt apart and revealed Aurora's bare chest.

A large hole was located right next to her kidney. It was more than an inch in diameter and bleeding heavily. A similar hole went through her right shoulder and several smaller open wounds were bleeding on her back and her shoulders.

Lyanna gasped at seeing the wounds and Gabrielle cursed before she opened one of the bottles of rum and poured its contents directly into the open wound on her side. Aurora started struggling and Gabrielle quickly handed the bottle to Lyanna before restraining her partner. Lyanna kept pouring the rum into the wounds until the second bottle was empty as well.

When the wounds were cleaned by the alcohol in the rum, Gabrielle told Lyanna to take a few of the clean rags and to press them onto the wounds on her back. When that was done, Gabrielle carefully lowered Aurora's body to the table again and shocking Lyanna, Gabrielle drew a second dagger from her boot and pulled it past her left wrist.

The skin parted and a generous flow of blood streamed from her wrist. She held her wrist above the hole in Aurora's side and let her blood drop directly into the wound. After a few seconds she did the same with the wound on her shoulder before taking a clean rag and with Lyanna's help she tied it tightly around the cut.

Next she picked up the needle and thread, and she carefully stitched the wounds together until they were reduced to small lines that kept giving off the occasional drop of blood.

Carefully laying Aurora on her chest, Gabrielle repeated the process with the wounds on her back until all of them were neatly stitched together. What Gabrielle did next surprised and shocked Lyanna, she balled her fist and when she opened it again it revealed a small ball of sapphire blue fire, which she threw at the bowl of water.

Half the water evaporated immediately and the other half was boiling instantly. Dropping a few of the rags into the boiling water, Gabrielle started cleaning the blood from Aurora's body. When she was clean again Gabrielle lowered her onto the table and said to Lyanna, "And now we wait. She should be fine in a few minutes."

Lyanna stared at her disbelieving until she said, "A few minutes? I have seen men die from much lesser wounds. I'd sooner say that we'd be lucky if she lasted the night."

Gabrielle smiled a little sad smile and replied, "We are not like men, Lyanna, but you probably already knew that. We were sent here by the Old Gods to help Rhaegar prepare the seven kingdoms for the return of the Long Night. We are not immortal, but we're as close as mortals can get, meaning that we do not age and heal very, very fast.

We are the last of the true blood ancient dragons that once inhabited this world. The gods have long ago given us human forms, to be able to walk amongst men, but we always kept our ability to change back into our true form at will. Aurora changed back into her human form to allow me to heal her, as it would be much more difficult to heal her dragon body because of the size of it."

Lyanna nodded weakly at Gabrielle's explanation, she was a little overwhelmed by it all and though she didn't mean to, she couldn't help but study Aurora's bare chest. From the moment that she met them, she was curious how they looked beneath all that armor, as with it they were bulkier than any men she knew.

Aurora's stomach was covered by clearly defined muscles and so was her upper chest and her shoulders. Her arms were likewise covered by muscles and she guessed they would have to be, in order to perform the feats, she had seen her do in her duel with Robert.

Her belly was decorated by a small, heart-shaped ruby that hung from a short silver rod which was pierced through the skin on the upside of her bellybutton. Her nipples were likewise pierced, but with silver rings, each an inch in diameter. Each ring had a small ruby set at the lowest point that seemed to envelop the two ends of the ring. Lyanna tried to inconspicuously look at the rings and didn't notice the naughty grin that adorned Gabrielle's face when she noticed it none-the-less.

"Don't worry," Gabrielle said with a large grin on her face, "you're not the first one to stare."

Lyanna turned beet-red at Gabrielle's words and stammered, "I… I… I…."

Gabrielle put a soft hand on her shoulder and said, "Relax, it's nothing to be ashamed of. Aurora and I are very open about our bodies to other women. We don't allow the touch of a man, but we regularly share our bed with other women."

Lyanna slowly lost the red color in her cheeks until she slowly nodded and asked, "Why, why are there rings in her…"

"In her nipples?" Gabrielle finished with a grin, "It greatly enhances their sensitivity and when we're having sex," Lyanna started blushing again at Gabrielle's bluntness, "it feels great when they are pulled on or twisted. If you want, we can do yours too, when you're done with breastfeeding that little one growing inside you. I promise you you'll love them, as will Rhaegar, all men do."

Lyanna didn't know what to say, one the one hand she very much liked the idea, but on the other hand she wasn't sure if she wanted to shove a couple of needles through her own nipples.

"When you two are done gossiping about my body, could you perhaps help me get up, I'm still a little stiff." Aurora's voice was tinged with a tone of humor and when Gabrielle and Lyanna looked down they saw a big grin plastered on her face and to Lyanna's amazement, the wounds in her side and shoulder were just gone. Not a trace remained of the gaping wounds that were still bleeding greatly not ten minutes ago.

Gabrielle quickly helped her partner get up and when her back was shown to her, Lyanna noticed that it was decorated by a large tattoo of two scaly and leathery wings, that covered her entire back. The base of the wings were on her shoulder blades and the rest fanned out over her back and down past the waistband of her lower-body armor. The tattoo was done in black and red ink, the exact same coloring as Aurora's real wings when in dragon form.

"Wow," Lyanna said softly when she saw the tattoo.

Aurora and Gabrielle both looked at her and Aurora said with a small grin, "You like it? It's where our real wings are hidden when in human form."

Lyanna nodded and said on a soft tone, "I once saw a sailor in White Harbor with a tattoo of a naked mermaid on his chest, but it wasn't as beautiful as that one. Ever since I saw that sailor I wanted a tattoo as well, but father always forbade it, he said that my future husband probably wouldn't like it and it was not befitting for a 'proper lady' to 'desecrate' her body like that."

A single tear escaped her eyes when talking about her father but she quickly brushed it away and squared her shoulders.

In the meantime, Gabrielle had helped Aurora put her armor back on and to the surprise of Lyanna. It didn't show a single scratch where the two large holes had previously been. Seeing her gob smacked expression Gabrielle explained, "Our armor is magical, it automatically repairs itself when our bodies are healed."

Lyanna just nodded weekly, a little overwhelmed by everything that she had seen since arriving at Dragonstone half an hour ago.

When Aurora was once again fully dressed they opened the door and stepped outside where they found Rhaegar, Ser Barristan, Ser Arthur and the maester waiting for them. All four men looked amazed to see Aurora walking again as if nothing had happened, when barely half an hour ago she had been shot out of the sky and crash-landed on the island.

"How, how, how," was all Rhaegar could say while looking at Aurora.

"We'll explain everything once we have found your mother and daughter." Gabrielle said softly and Rhaegar's eyes widened. In the chaos that followed their 'landing' he had forgotten everything else and he immediately turned around and ran towards the main keep, to find the two missing members of his remaining family.

Author's note:

As you all probably realized, I made the sack of King's Landing a whole lot worse than it was in canon. Trust me, it has its reasons, as this story will not be for the faint of heart.

I always figured Lyanna to be somewhat like Arya, wild, adventurous and mischievous in nature, but with a heart of gold underneath. At times she might act a little strange or childish, but don't forget, she's only barely sixteen and halfway through her first pregnancy.

Aurora and Gabrielle are a bit different from the previous story for those of you who have read it. They are a bit darker and at the same time a little more willing to 'let go'. Especially Aurora will have her childish moments when she behaves more like a spoiled little girl, than a 5000-year-old demigod.

Their characters could be described a bit as that of aristocratic punkers. They know exactly how to behave as proper nobility but they prefer to just do everything their own way and fuck the consequences.

I hope you all liked it so far and continue to follow the story. Please review as I love to hear from all of you. But please, if you have to criticize me, do so constructively because nobody likes to get flamed. If I don't know what I'm doing wrong, then I can't work on it.

Same goes for any grammar mistakes I (dealyflame his faithful beta) may miss. I'm not perfect and know there are things I may miss or even get wrong. I wonder if he'll notice I hijacked the end of his note?

Hope to see you all next week,

MM