The Chronicles of Valyria,
Book 1 Resurrection
Chapter 15
The Greatjon stood on the prow of the Spear of Dorne with Prince Oberyn next to him. The two men stared at the faintly illuminated form of Bloodstone in the distance. The island was lit by torches and the outline was illuminated by the weak light of pre-dawn.
The attack had been timed thus that every group of ships would reach their designated target at dawn, so hopefully they could catch them by surprise, but still have full visibility during the battle.
"It is too quiet," the Greatjon muttered to no one in particular, but Oberyn answered none the less.
"I agree, we have roughly fifteen more minutes until we reach the shore, but my gut is telling me that we will be spotted before we can properly form up our men. My scouts have kept an eye on the traffic in the islands and if their guesses are correct, we are dealing with over 50 ships and more than 5,000 pirates, on this island alone.
The one the Ladies have chosen is expected to house about 4,000 pirates and maybe 40 – 45 ships. The rest should have an easy job, as the lesser islands are mostly just small fishing villages with no real defenses, ideal targets for Ironborn reavers."
The Greatjon nodded slowly and replied, "I know, I just hope we have the time to form up our men in a decent battle-line, before they start raining down arrows on our heads." To this Oberyn replied with a single nod before he turned around and left to make sure the men on their ship were all ready for battle.
Dagmer Cleftjaw stood at the helm of his new flagship, the Kraken's Vengeance, and looked out over the sea ahead. The largest squadron of the Iron Fleet, 150 ships, was spread out around them and they were making good time towards their new target.
The new orders had come as a surprise, but after reviewing all the facts, he agreed that it was better to revise their original plan. If his calculations were correct, they would reach the island half an hour after dawn, which would hopefully be just in time.
Around midnight, Aurora and Gabrielle were slowly circling above the island of Grey Gallows, they were observing their target and what they saw thus far was very satisfying. The island consisted of half a dozen villages and around the coast and a single fortified wooden keep on the top of a small hill.
With their enhanced eyesight, they could see a small number of patrols walking around the island but it was a far cry from any organized military force. Discipline and order where nowhere to be seen and filth and piles of rotting food where everywhere.
"What do you think?" Gabrielle asked telepathically.
"Start at the villages, see if my theory is correct and then use them to take the keep."
"Let's get to it then."
They both dove down on silent wings and landed between two villages. They changed back to human form and carefully made their way towards one of the villages. They entered one of the huts on the edge and found a filthy barracks, barely worth the title, which was occupied by about two dozen sleeping men.
Aurora barricaded the door to keep anyone from getting in, while Gabrielle crept towards the sleeping pirates. She carefully placed her bare right hand on the head of the nearest pirate, and clapped her still armored left over his mouth, to keep him from alerting the others.
As soon as the cold steel of her glove touched the man, his eyes snapped open but Gabrielle's grip was too strong to break. Gabrielle closed her eyes and after taking a deep breath, she dove into the man's mind.
The memories she saw confirmed what they already thought, these men were nothing short of monsters. She saw as the man she held, as well as dozens of others, attacked defenseless merchant ships, and raided coastal settlements. She watched as they enslaved the people they captured, raped the women and killed the weak.
With a grim expression, she removed herself from the man's mind and shared a look with Aurora, who had saw the same through their link. Her wife nodded a single time and having received the confirmation that what they were about to attempt was justified, Gabrielle took another deep breath and again dove into the man's mind.
This time she didn't watch the memories, but wiped everything she came across. She removed every aspect of the man's personality, his name, his memories, his mannerisms, his sense of right and wrong, his sense of self-preservation, his ability to feel pain, everything that divined the man was taken away. She replaced them with knowledge of fighting and warfare, everything that a soldier needed to know was planted in the man's mind leaving him an emotionless and completely obedient killing machine.
When she was done the man just looked ahead with a blank look in his dull eyes. The only thing that was left him of him was a body that could speak and understand orders, but was unable to feel, to think for himself or to do anything he was not ordered to do. In other words, they had just created the perfect soldier. What took the Good Masters of Astapor years to do, Gabrielle had just done in less than a minute.
When she removed her hands from the man, he stayed where he was until Gabrielle whispered, "Stand up." The man did as commanded and silently stood up from his bed before he stood at attention, waiting for new orders. They ignored the man for now, and went to each of the other beds to do the same to those men.
Ten minutes later they had 23 completely obedient soldiers and as a final test, they went to the worst they had found, a man who had done more cruel acts than they could count.
When she stood before the man, Aurora asked, "Who are you?"
In a blank tone the man replied, "I am no one, my life does not matter, only my obedience does."
Aurora nodded approvingly before pulling a knife from her boot. She handed it to the man and said, "Cut you throat."
Without hesitation, without doubt, the man took the knife and without even flinching, he pulled the razor-sharp blade across his own neck, opening a cut half an inch deep. While the blood poured from his throat, the man handed the knife back to Aurora, seconds before he slumped to the ground, dead.
"Hmm," mussed Aurora with a calculating look on her face. "Impressive, I had expected him to at least flinch."
"Yea, me too." Gabrielle was less emotionless than Aurora. She understood that it was necessary, but that didn't mean she had to like it.
They left the men in the 'barrack', and went to the next one. Over the course of the next 40 minutes, they made their way from hut to hut, wiping the memories of every men they found and turning them into loyal elite soldiers.
When dawn arrived, they had been to five of the six villages and 'recruited' nearly 3,000 men. After a while they discovered that they could do entire groups at the same time, if they caught them sleeping. The mind is weakest when it is asleep, so it made it more easy to break them.
When the first light of dawn rose above the hills, they split up their forces, 1,000 men would go with Gabrielle to the last village, while the rest would take the keep with Aurora.
Their plan went off almost without a hitch. The men who took the last village were able to completely surprise their former comrades, allowing them to capture most and only having to kill a few dozen.
The men who were sent to the keep were allowed in, before they quickly and ruthlessly overwhelmed the guardsmen. However, someone managed to blow a horn and raise the alarm, so they were forced to fight, but the initial hesitation of the pirates to fight against what they thought were still their own men, allowed Aurora's soldiers to quickly cut down most of them, while only losing a dozen of their own.
When the last of the pirates were either slain, or captured, Aurora and Gabrielle searched through the keep to look for anything that might be of importance to them. In the dungeons, they found dozens of prisoners, mostly young women and girls who had been abducted for obvious reasons, but also some merchants who were being held for ransom and half a dozen knights.
The prisoners were quickly released and given blankets to warm them. Seeing as some hadn't eaten for days, they were led to something that faintly resembled a dining hall and given a semi-decent meal of what they could scrounge up for provisions.
Initially the former prisoners were afraid of the former pirates, until Gabrielle got the bright idea to have them all cover their heads so that they wouldn't be recognized by anyone. They had already decided to take the men with them, they would be the ideal vanguard when taking Tyrosh, but it was important that they weren't revealed as what they had been before.
When everything had been put in order, they had given temporary command of the island to one of the knights who had a decent understanding of how to run a keep, Aurora and Gabrielle decided to go and check on the progress of the others. The smaller islands would no doubt have already fallen, but the toughest nut to crack was Bloodstone, and especially the keep of the same name.
During the war of the Ninepenny Kings, Maelys the Monstrous had erected a strong keep on the island, which was taken rather easily as he was foolish enough to leave the safety of his walls to face the Targaryan army on the field. But till this day, the keep stood strong, built against the side of a cliff, with walls 50 feet high and large square towers which held catapults and could house many ranks of archers.
During their scouting trip the previous day, which they had done after they had dropped the twins, Yara, Ashara and Elia off at Sunspear, had revealed an even greater threat though. In the large natural harbor of bloodstone, lay not only the expected fifty-or-so pirate ships, but also two score of heavy dromonds. These were not ordinary merchant ships, but heavily armed warships with ballistae and catapults on board.
Even worse though was the fact that each of the ships carried around a hundred men-at-arms, raising the number of expected defenders to well over 9,000, which meant that their invasion force was outnumbered by more than 2,000 men.
This had prompted them to send Dagmer Cleftjaw with another 7,500 men to help them out and hopefully arrive in time to prevent a slaughter of their troops. It had been too dangerous to warn the Greatjon and Prince Oberyn in person, as their dragon forms could be spotted from many miles away during daylight and they had not the time to search for them at night.
As soon as Prince Oberyn set foot on the island of Bloodstone, he knew that his gut feeling was right. As soon as their ships had been spotted, hundreds upon hundreds of men poured out of the great keep that rose above the harbor. However, these were not simple pirates in rugged linen clothes, these were what appeared to be professional soldiers in padded leather tunics reinforced with small bronze rings sewn onto it.
Rank upon rank of soldiers streamed out of the keep and from the harbor, where they saw a fleet of heavy dromonds laying at anchor, in addition to the hundreds of pirates that came running wildly towards them.
"Fucking eastern cunts," Oberyn could hear the Greatjon growl besides him and he couldn't help but agree. They were in for one heck of a fight.
To their surprise, the islanders allowed them to form up in a proper battle line before they closed for battle, the reason soon became clear though. Many hundreds of archers formed up behind the soldiers and as soon as they were in range, they unleashed a hail of arrows that came soaring through the sky towards them.
"TAKE COVER". The Greatjon bellowed next to him and all of their men ducked beneath their shields, if they had one, or else sought cover behind their comrades. The beach was completely devoid of any natural cover so the arrows found every hole in their defenses.
Cries erupted from all around them as at least fifty of their men were hit. The next salvo hit even more of their men and it soon became clear that they needed to reach their enemies' lines if they wanted to even have a chance at winning this.
"ADVANCE, QUICKLY." Oberyn bellowed to his men and he ran forward, followed by the Greatjon and the men who were able to. They left more than 200 wounded and dead behind when they left the beach, and even more fell during their advance. It was the longest 200 yards of Oberyn's life.
When they finally clashed with the front line of their enemy, Oberyn had already lost nearly 600 men. They broke upon the lines of the enemy like a great wave hitting the beach, despite their shining armor, the enemy were not hardened soldiers. The heavily armored knights in full plate steel were able to shrug off the arrows during their advance and now they brought the full strength and quality of their training and weapons to bear on their enemies. Steel clashed with steel, swords pierced bronze armors, heavy maces and war hammers crushed limbs beneath their blows, and all the while, the archers kept firing on the stragglers behind the frontlines.
Oberyn was in the middle of facing a trio of enemy spearmen, when one of them was suddenly hit in the back by a crossbow bolt. As the man fell in the bloodied sand, Oberyn was able to see across the enemies lines. To his confusion, but also great relief, he saw a large grim man, with long white hair and a great scar disfiguring his mouth, leading a host of Ironborn reavers and Dornishmen.
The second assault caught their enemies in the rear and now that they were forced to fight a battle on two sides, their lines quickly crumbled. The soldiers surrendered or tried to flee, but the pirates knew that there was no escape, so many chose to fight to the death.
A few hundred of the enemy made it back into the keep, and after locking the gates behind them, they manned the walls and prepared to defend against a storming of the walls.
On the field of battle, Oberyn and the man who had led the second attack stood face-to-face, not entirely sure what to think of the other until a loud booming voice interrupted their staring contest.
"I never would have thought I'd say this to a fucking Ironborn, but by the Old Gods am I glad to see your ugly face, Dagmer Cleftjaw."
Dagmer turned to the source of the voice and said with a smirk, "It's been a while hasn't it, still overcompensating for something else I see, Greatjon."
The meaning behind his words was obvious and the Greatjon turned red and made to strike at Dagmer, if not for Oberyn stepping between them.
"That will be enough of that for now. You two ladies can figure out who has the biggest cock, after we have taken that castle." The Greatjon's only response was to huff in indignation and turn his back towards the other two while muttering curses under his breath.
Having succeeded to temporarily keep the peace, Oberyn turned to the castle and started to figure out a plan to take it, while his and Dagmer's men cleared out the pirates and remaining soldiers who had taken refuge in the villages or were attempting to flee by ship.
It took them less than three hours to hunt down the last of the pirates, who had been hiding in an artificial cave hidden under one of the docks in the harbor. In the end Bloodstone, more than earned his name, Oberyn had lost more than a third of his 7,000 men, and Dagmer's force had suffered an additional 600 dead and 200 seriously wounded.
When their remaining 10,000 men were gathered before the walls of the keep, readying themselves for a charge at the walls with a makeshift ram and rickety ladders, a horn blast was heard from one of their lookout posts on the eastern side of the island.
When they all turned towards the source of the noise, they saw a familiar silver-blue dragon flying towards them with great haste. The massive dragon landed before the keep and Aurora slid down from the saddle using the rope.
She removed her helmet before nodding to Oberyn and the Greatjon, and slapping Dagmer on the shoulder saying joyfully, "How did it go you old sea dog, where you in time to save the noble gentlemen?"
Dagmer replied with a smirk and said, "Aye, we were. They had already started the party without us, but what can you expect, after all they didn't know we was coming to help them out."
Aurora chuckled a little at the man's sense of humor, it was the exact same she herself had and it was the reason why she found his company so enjoyable. Turning to Oberyn she asked, "So how are matters going here, I see you are trying to storm the keep but I would like to suggest an alternative approach."
Oberyn shook his head, focusing back on Aurora and replied, "Well we have destroyed the main body of their forces, thanks to Dagmer and his forces, but a few hundred have retreated back into the keep so we will have to get them out by force. But if you know a better way that won't end in massive casualties, I'm all ears."
Aurora gave him a dark grin and said, "Just wait and see." Putting her helmet back on, Aurora marched to the closed gates and grinned to herself, 'Well, I guess it's time to quote Ghostbusters."
She reached the gates and said with a grin, "I came."
She took her axe in hand and focusing her power to it she set it ablaze with blood-red dragonfire, "They saw."
Striking the axe down on the middle of the poorly maintained gates, the wood crumbled instantly under the power of the strike and fire spread quickly to the doors, consuming them in seconds and opening the way into the fortress. "I Kicked their asses."
When the fires died down around her, she came face to face with the frightened defenders, who held their long spears with shaking hands and hid behind their shields.
Removing her helmet once again she stared some of the men into the eyes and immediately saw the fear within them. Speaking in bastard Valyrian, which she had learned how to speak through Rhaegar's memories, she said "Drop your weapons now, and you have my word that none of you shall be killed. Resist, and I will kill every last one of you."
As expected, all of the men dropped their weapons and fell on their hands and knees in surrender. Aurora whistled a single time to get Oberyn's attention and motioned for him to lead his men into the fortress.
The remaining 500 men were quickly taken prisoner while Aurora singled out one of their commanders for further interrogation.
Dragging the man apart, none to kindly, a sour smell told her the man had soiled himself in his fear and looking at him she saw he was on the brink of fainting. "Don't worry," she told the man, "I have given you my word that no harm would come to you, and I'll keep my word. You need not fear for your live."
The man seemed somewhat reassured but was still pale as a corpse when Aurora sat him down on a chair in a dark corner beneath one of the towers. "Now I want you to tell me everything you think might be important for me to know, like who are you, why are you here, where did you came from? And why in the Seven Hells would you put untrained peasants in shining armor against experienced veterans in heavy steel? What idiot decided that it was smart to leave the 'safety' of your walls?"
The man started to talk so quick that Aurora had trouble understanding him, so she had him stop and start over on a slower pace.
"We are from Port Yhos, a large town that was conquered by the great city of Qarth, about two decades ago. We were sent here as part of an agreement between Qarth and New Ghis, we were sent here to escort an attack force that would strike at King's Landing with the help of Ghiscari dragons, but they never came back."
"Yea," said Aurora while lazily scratching her head, "that would probably be because we killed all of them except one, who escaped with some very valuable prisoners. So I could hold you all responsible for aiding a devastating attack on the capital city of the Seven Kingdoms."
The man nodded fearfully before he continued his story. "The one who commanded us was injured during a training accident a week ago, and his replacement ordered us to attack. We had no choice in following his orders, and if we don't obey, the Pureborn, those are the rulers of Qarth, would destroy our entire town."
"And where is this so-called replacement?" Aurora asked darkly.
"D… d… dead." Stammered the man, "Slain in the battle by those savages who attacked us in the rear."
Aurora let out a deep sigh at the man's words before standing up and saying, "Thanks for your cooperation." Turning to a trio of Ironborn who stood nearby she added, "Put him with the others but treat them better than the pirates, they did not come to be here of their own free will."
The men nodded and quickly led the man away. Aurora lazily walked toward the main keep, where she was soon joined by Oberyn, and a bickering Greatjon and Dagmer. To her amusement, the two men were arguing about the size of their manhood, and who had the biggest. Apparently Dagmer had shown his to the Greatjon and the Northman was now arguing for the fact that, 'it is not the size that matters, but what you do with it'.
"If you ladies are done arguing, perhaps we could go and find the treasury, I am very curious to see what those pirates managed to scrounge up over the years." Both men looked slightly disgruntled that their argument had been broken up, but they followed her none-the-less as she made her way into the keep.
They entered a dimly lit tunnel that led into the stone of the cliff against which the keep had been build, and they followed it deep into the earth. Apparently, there were large natural caves on this island, as the caverns and tunnels were too large to be made by human hands. On the way, they encountered the occasional pirate who had sought his refuge in the tunnels, but they were quickly killed.
Following the directions Aurora had torn from the mind of one of the pirates, they finally reached a large heavy wooden door which was reinforced with thick steel bands. The doors were firmly shut and they wouldn't budge, no matter what they tried. After a few minutes Aurora, had had enough and said, "Get out of the way, if they won't bend, I'll break them."
The trio of men quickly got away from the doors and went to stand a few dozen ft behind Aurora. Turning to the door she did the same as she did to the stone wall on Dragonstone. She cupped her hands and made a bright red flame appear, before turning it into an inferno by blowing at it.
The blood-red flames licked at the door and immediately they started consuming the dried wood. The steel bands turned white hot very quickly and after only a minute or two, the remains of the door shattered under their own weight. The flames kept burning happily but Aurora doused them with her powers so that they could see what lay behind them.
The cavern that appeared before them was one of the largest they had seen so far, and it was filled with an incredible wealth. 4 decades of piracy had amassed a treasure to rival the wealth of a small kingdom. Mountains of gold and silver were piled in every corner, chests filled with silks, jewels and fine earthenware decorated with gold and silver were scattered all around them.
"WHO DARES TO BREAK INTO MY DOMAIN?" a voice suddenly roared throughout the cavern and they saw a large man, pale of skin, around forty years of age, bald and armored in full plate steel. The man was standing in front of an alcove in which they could just see the contours of a bed.
Aurora was not at all impressed by the man and said calmly, "We have come to reclaim the Stepstones for the Iron Throne and add the territory to the Seven Kingdoms. So who are you to stand in our way?"
The man roared in anger and spat, "I am the only king of the Stepstones. My father built this keep to ensure our house would have a safe place to wither the storms of fate. I am Haegon Blackfyre, son and heir of Maelys I Blackfyre, rightful king of the Seven Kingdoms."
Looking mildly impressed, not gaping in surprise like her companions, Aurora looked at the man with different eyes and studied his looks more closely. He had violet eyes, a rather large nose, small ears and a big scar on his neck.
"Well then," Aurora said dryly, "If you really are who you claim to be, then we have a little problem. You see, we fight for King Rhaegar, who now sits on the Iron Throne and we have no intention of letting anyone live who could try to take it from him. So, make your choice, die here, or be executed in King's Landing, I don't care."
The man was seething in anger and from his side he drew a large, hand-and-a-half longsword in his left hand, and a flail with two large metal balls, each on a separate chain in the other. The flail looked like a fearsome weapon, but it was the sword that drew their attention.
Its blade had a distinctive dark grey ripple pattern and the cross guards were both shaped like a snarling dragon head made of blackened metal. The pommel was decorated with a single egg-sized ruby and the handle itself was black leather wounded with silver threat.
Before any of the man behind her could react, Aurora said, "Get back, he's mine. That sword is Valyrian steel, none of your weapons stands a chance against that." The trio recognized the wisdom in her word and they stepped backwards until they were a safe distance removed from Aurora and the man who was now charging at her.
Aurora dropped her axe and drew the swords from behind her back before taking a ready stance and waiting for Haegon to reach her. This would not be a fight or the axe, as with it she could not block attacks from two sides at the same time.
With a loud yell the man swung the flail at her head as soon as she was in range and because she had left her helmet with Gabrielle, who was sleeping in the midday sun before the walls, Aurora was forced to dodge the swing as even with her healing powers, a direct hit from such a weapon would do immense damage to her face and could potentially kill her.
As she dodged the strike with the flail, Aurora attacked with her right sword, stabbing it at the man's gut, but he parried it with his sword and the sound they made when the two swords clashed echoed through the cavern.
Striking again, now with her left sword she thrust it at Haegon's right shoulder, in an attempt to disarm him but he saw the move coming and dodged it, retaliating with a strike of his own sword, which caught Aurora in the side but filed to penetrate her breastplate.
Over the next five minutes they traded a flurry of blows, neither really able to get the upper hand. it was clear that Haegon had received excellent instruction as he used his weapons with deadly precision. Only Aurora's super human reflexes allowed her to dodge most of his attacks and her armor neutralized the others. But she did receive a hit from the flail to her left hand, which dented the metal of her gauntlet and broke her little- and ring fingers. In return she had scored a hit on Haegon's left thigh, penetrating the steel of his armor, drawing blood and slightly hampering his movement.
After they traded a few more blows Aurora finally saw an opening, Haegon had raised his flail for a strike at her left shoulder, but at that moment he left his right side vulnerable. Quickly attacking with her right sword, she trapped Haegon's blade and stabbed her left sword into his right side, slipping through steel and flesh until it hit the back plate of his armor.
Haegon roared in pain and fell on one knee while dropping his flail, and sword and pressing both hands to the sword still embedded in his lower body. Aurora let go of the sword stuck in his body and grasping the other with two hands, she struck Haegon's head from his shoulders with a single swing.
With a grimace of pain Aurora dropped her sword and grasped her left gauntlet with the right and she carefully removed the damaged metal glove, careful not to further damage her hand. The last two fingers were twisted into an odd angle and she immediately saw that not only where the bones broken, but they were dislocated as well.
In the meantime, the three men had joined her and while Dagmer and Oberyn were inspecting the man's sword, the Greatjon went to stand with Aurora and looked at her ruined fingers. "Those are gonne have to be reset if they are to heal properly."
Aurora nodded and clenching her jaws she growled, "Hold my left hand in place." He did as she said and when he had a good grip, Aurora took a hold of her little finger and with a loud groan, she pulled on the broken finger to set the bones back in their correct place. After repeating the procedure with her ring finger the Greatjon released her hand and Aurora carefully stretched her finger to feel if they were back in their proper place, they were.
Picking the gauntlet up from the floor she put it back on to keep her fingers in the proper place before she picked up her sword from the ground and pulled the other one from its position in Haegon's corpse. After cleaning the blades with a piece of silk from a crate, she put the swords back in their scabbards and joined the others who were now all admiring the sword.
Clearing her throat to get their attention, Aurora held out her right hand and Oberyn placed the sword into it. As soon as she held it she noticed it, just like Ice, Brightroar, and Heartsbane, the sword had a feel of magic over it and she instinctively knew the swords name. "This is Blackfyre, the sword of the Targaryan Kings."
The other three stared in awe at the sword in her hand until she snapped her finger to get their attention and said, "This will remain under us, I will keep this sword until I see Rhaella again, she will keep it safe until Rhaegar is ready to wield this sword. Blackfyre was meant to be used by the king, and so it shall be again once the King proves himself worthy to wield it."
They all nodded, they knew the symbolism of this sword and the grief it had caused during the Blackfyre rebellions, and while Aurora removed the swords scabbard from Haegon's corpse and strapped it to her belt so it hung next to the short sword, the Greatjon picked up the flail and gave it a few test swings.
Apparently, he didn't find it completely to his satisfaction, as he handed it to Dagmer with the words, "Here, I think this is more your kind of weapon, and besides, these balls are definitely bigger than yours."
Dagmer ignored the insult but accepted the weapon with an interested expression on his face. He emulated the Umber's actions and gave the weapon a few test swings. After swinging it around a few times, he slammed the balls against the wall of the cavern where they left two small craters.
"I'm gonne keep this one," Dagmer said with a grin and turning to the Greatjon he added with a smirk, "This shaft is nearly as effective as my own, if what your niece told me is true."
With a snarl the Greatjon yelled, "SO IT WAS YOU WHO TOOK HER," before storming at Dagmer and punching him in the face with his right fist. Before he could hit him again however Aurora had seized his hand and twisted it behind his back.
The blow had broken Dagmer's nose and blood was pouring from the tip of his scar, which had been torn open by the force of the blow. While Oberyn helped him stem the bleeding, Aurora looked irritated between the two men. "I want an explanation and I want it right now." She growled out."
"That monster kidnapped and raped my niece." The Greatjon bellowed.
"I fell in love with his niece and took her with me to the Iron Islands where I married her." Dagmer replied whilst trying to not choke on the blood that still poured from his nose.
Aurora sighed and before she replied she grabbed Dagmer's face with her left hand and used her right to set his nose back in the proper place. Placing her right index finger before each hole, she sent a small burst of fire into each to sear the arteries and stop the bleeding.
When Dagmer stopped bleeding, she grasped his hand and dove into his memory to see what if what he had said was true. She saw Dagmer leading a raid in the North, capturing a pretty girl in the process and indeed taking her back to the Iron Islands. She watched as over time the girl's behavior changed and from hating him she started to fall in love with him. It had taken nearly a decade for the girl to get used to her new life, but now, thirty years later, she was running things at the islands as if she had been born there and had born Dagmer three sons and a daughter. All of which had reached adulthood and were leading their own lives.
Sighing again Aurora removed herself from Dagmer's memory and asked, "Where is she Dagmer?"
"I left her in Dorne with the other women and children. She didn't like it but I put her in command to make sure everything goes smoothly during my absence."
The Greatjon looked confused at their interaction and asked hesitantly, "Wait, so Alys is still alive and in Dorne?"
Dagmer nodded and replied, "She is. We are married and she is my second in command, we have four children and we are happy together. I admit that we had a rocky start, but eventually she opened up to me and now we love each other dearly."
"And he speaks the truth? Jon asked to Aurora, having witnessed her ability to see others memories during the trials.
Aurora nodded and said, "Yes, he speaks the truth but I suggest you ask Alys when you see her as you won't believe his word for it."
With a nod the Greatjon accepted her words and briskly turned away from Dagmer. While he walked back up the tunnel he said over his shoulder, "You can be sure that I will."
