JOFF
Joff had never ridden so far in his life.
The winds whistled past his ears as Tyraxes soared in the endless blue. Cold and rushing, the winds wakened an urge in Joff to stay there forever. His heart raced. He was flying.
He wanted to put his arms out and soar like his dragon, but he remembered Jace's words when Jace untethered Tyraxes in Daenys's Yard. "Remember, Joff," Jace said,"I will only take you to the Vale if you do three things for me. At all times, you must keep Tyraxes's saddle chained to your belt, you must keep both hands on the reins, and you must obey every one of my commands, even if I tell you to flee and abandon me. If you have a problem with any of those conditions, I will leave you here on Dragonstone." Joff had agreed, though he knew that he would never abandon Jace, even if Jace told him to.
They flew off Dragonstone's cliffs two days ago, and have been flying ever since. Ser Humfrey had supplied the dragons with three days' worth of provisions, the customary supplies for a journey on dragonback. Jace's Vermax was larger and faster, and sometimes he would have to curl back for Joff to catch up. Joff swore that one day Tyraxes would be as fierce as even Vhagar and the Black Dread, and no dragon shall match Joff's.
Jace had them spend the night in the skies, not trusting any of the Vale lords until they reached the Eyrie. Joff offered to keep watch, but Jace bade him sleep. Jace spent the entire night awake to keep watch over both of them as Joff slept in Tyraxes's saddle. Joff had been excited, pretending that he was one of the ancient heroes who slept in their saddles as they rode to war. He stayed awake half the night, talking to Jace about Ser Owen of the Rainwood and Symeon Star-Eyes and the Winter King, until Jace commanded him to sleep.
"Did you dream last night, Joff?" Jace had asked Joff when he woke, the winds battering both of them as their dragons soared forward. Joff noticed that there were dim circles beneath Jace's eyes, but Joff knew that they were marks of war. Jace must be proud of them.
"I did," Joff answered,"I dreamt that I was standing in the Red Keep. You sat the Iron Throne, and all the traitors were chained at our feet. That is a good omen, right? That is what shall come true."
"It's a good omen," Jace agreed,"but it shall only come true if you do well today."
"Are we arriving at the Tyrie?" Joff asked, smiling.
Jace nodded,"In several hours, we shall see the Eyrie above the mountains. You should first see the seven slender white towers on top of a snow-white peak that the Valemen call the Heaven's Hand, and we shall fly towards the shortest and widest of them wherein is the Eyrie's High Hall. Lady Jeyne Arryn is wont to come and greet us, as we are two dragons at her door." "When she greets us," Jace's voice thickened,"I will be the one who will land on the castle and act the envoy to speak with her. You are to remain in the air on Tyraxes. If there is anything amiss, I shall wave my hand and you shall flee at once to Dragonstone. Is that understood?"
"Yes," Joff said, then frowned,"What do you mean, if anything is amiss? Is Lady Jeyne going to attack you? If she does, I'm going to burn the Eyrie to the ground."
"Do not speak like that," Jace snapped, then bowed his head,"Lady Jeyne is like to welcome us, but the hearts of men change as the wind blows." He looked up at Joff,"I will not ride with you to the Eyrie unless you agree with me on this. If Lady Jeyne attacks me, you are to abandon me and ride at once for Dragonstone. It is most like that Lady Jeyne would capture me for the usurper, at which case you must ride for Father and Mother and return with them to rescue me."
Joff nodded,"If anything is amiss, I shall ride for Dragonstone to tell Father and Mother and come back to rescue you."
"I shall depend on it," Jace said, then reached into his satchel,"I think it is time for us to break our fast."
They bade Vermax and Tyraxes hover in the air as they ate salted jerky and dry biscuits, taking two swigs from their canteens of water. Then, they were off again towards the Eyrie, flying above the snow-coloured peaks.
Staying here is not so bad, Joff thought now as he soared above the Mountains of the Moon, watching holdfasts emerge and disappear as dots below. The fires on the mountain beacons were no more than small yellow pricks of light. He knew why the dragonlords were kings of the world.
The Eyrie emerged in sight, at first like any holdfast, a pinprick on the ground. Then, Joff glimpsed those seven white towers looking like a giant's fingers in the distance as they reached up from the mountain the Valemen called the Heaven's Hand.
"Remember," Jace shouted as he urged Vermax ahead, and Joff followed him on Tyraxes. Joff imagined that Jace would urge Vermax into the clouds, and Joff would follow there. They would soar until the Eyrie's towers lay large below, and they could see men scrambling on the battlements like ants. He saw in his mind Jace yelling: "Now," and dove from the clouds. Joff would follow his brother, coming out over the Eyrie as the lady and her retinue came out of the castle to kneel and swear their swords to Jace and their mother.
"Remember," Jace yelled at him, and Joff jolted his eyes open,"Come slow to the castle. Don't let them think we're to attack them, else they'd loose arrows at us. Remember to keep back whilst I descend to the High Hall."
Joff obeyed Jace's command, and he followed Jace as they approached the Eyrie slowly, watching as men gathered on the battlements beneath the banner of the falcon and moon. Jace had them circle the castle one time beyond the range of arrows to tell the Eyrie of their presence, and then flew towards the short and wide tower that Jace had called the High Hall. Jace landed outside the huge bronze doors, maneuvering Vermax to settle beneath a stone statue of a winged knight. Joff did as he was bid and remained in the air with Tyraxes, hugging to his green dragon's black crest as he watched Jace wait below. Jace was staring up at the great stone statue's stern face when the bronze doors to the High Hall opened.
Exiting first was a host of twenty bronze-armoured knights, each with wings on his helm, ten lining each side of the courtyard as they held their steel swords to the skies. Then came twenty more warriors of steel-armour, their swords also bare, marching forward and forming a crescent moon. Last of all emerged the falcon-and-moon banner of the Arryns of the Eyrie, beneath which marched a slender woman with long blond hair and shining blue eyes. She had two tall handmaids at her side and a giant guard behind her who bore her banner.
The slender woman approached Jace, and Joff saw that she only came up to Jace's chest. "My apologies, my prince," she said,"You did not send word of your coming, and I did not have time to arrange a more stately welcome."
"It is all well, Lady Jeyne," Jace said,"I cannot ask any more than what my lady has kindly given."
"Yet my prince came here to ask for more," Lady Jeyne said,"You have come to ask for the Vale's banners, have you not?"
"I have not come to ask from you, my lady," Jace said,"I have come to give you a gift."
"And what may that be?" Lady Jeyne asked.
"Your rights," Jace answered.
Lady Jeyne laughed,"My rights are not yours to give."
"Then who has given you your rights?" Jace said,"I would say your father, but such gifts are being presently disputed across the realm, where daughters are being stripped of the rights they inherited from their father."
"Particularly upon the Iron Throne," Lady Jeyne said,"where I heard the daughter was stripped of her rights by the son."
"If such usurpation can happen upon the seat that rules the Seven Kingdoms," Jace said,"who shall stand against such usurpations in the kingdoms beneath the Iron Throne?"
"I know of usurpers," Lady Jeyne said,"Thrice have mine own kin sought to replace me. My cousin Ser Arnold is wont to say that women are too soft to rule. I have him in one of my sky cells, if you would like to ask him. My knights defeated him, but I have other cousins, and I cannot defeat them all. The Vale shall not rest under my finger until a daughter's rights are no longer questioned. I do not think it shall ever come to that, but it shall be very sweet to have a woman sit the Iron Throne."
Jace nodded,"Beneath my usurper uncle, every lady across the realm will have their rights questioned by their male kin. But my mother shall shield all your rights."
"Your mother," Lady Jeyne's smile wilted,"I hear that she has wed Prince Daemon. A quaint choice, and not one I would make. Was it not Prince Daemon who abandoned the Vale's Lady Rhea for a King's Landing whore?"
"I cannot make apologies for Father," Jace said,"but I can promise that House Royce shall be compensated duly for his damages."
"Father?" Lady Jeyne said,"You call the rogue prince Father?"
"A son cannot choose his father," Jace said,"Only make do with whom he has."
Lady Jeyne did not smile, but her frown died,"Your Prince Daemon used his first wife most cruelly, it is true…but notwithstanding your mother's poor taste in consorts, she remains our rightful queen, and mine own blood besides, an Arryn on her mother's side. In this world of men, we women must band together. The Vale and its knights shall stand with her… if Her Grace will grant me one request."
"What might that be?" Jace asked.
"Dragons," Lady Jeyne answered,"I have no fear of armies. Many and more have broken themselves against my Bloody Gate, and the Eyrie is known to be impregnable. But you have descended on us from the sky, as Queen Visenya once did during the Conquest, and I was powerless to halt you. I mislike feeling powerless. Send me dragonriders."
Jace turned and beckoned for Joff to ride forth, and Joff saw that Jace was smiling. As Joff landed Tyraxes in the courtyard to the gasps of the crowd, Jace ran over. Joff waved him away, undoing his own chains and sliding down from his saddle.
"I have your dragonrider with me, Lady Jeyne," Jace said, as he brought Joff forward,"This is my brother Joffrey, who shall remain at the Eyrie with his dragon Tyraxes to stand guard over the Vale."
"Joffrey?" Lady Jeyne said, turning to Joff,"My prince has the same name as my cousin." She turned to the large knight that carried her banner,"Raise your visor, cousin." As the knight raised his visor to reveal a lean hawk-like face, Lady Jeyne turned back to Joff,"This is Ser Joffrey Arryn, my Knight of the Gate. He should be standing vigil over the Bloody Gate as of now, but with all the tidings in King's Landing, I thought it best to recall him. I need true men at my side."
"And I shall be true to my lady," Joff said,"so long as I serve beneath your roof."
"One more thing, my prince, before I kneel to you," Lady Jeyne said to Jace whilst smiling a wicked smile,"It is a rare occasion when the Vale has the honour to host a dragon prince. It should come that the Lady of the Vale wishes for the welcome to be suitably…lovely." "No Arryn has ever had a taste of a dragon prince," Lady Jeyne said,"but I should like to. Either of you princes would do. Pleasure me to my climax with your tongue, and I shall swear the Vale's swords to you."
Joff felt blood rush to his face, and he looked to Jace. He was surprised to find that Jace's face remained as still as the stone winged knight. "Shall I do it here?" Jace asked,"or shall my lady prefer your chamber?"
Lady Jeyne laughed,"Never mind, my princes. It was a cruel jape, and I hope my princes shall forgive me. I more prefer the company of Jess and Alayne. I would not have my prince kneel to me. It is my duty to kneel to you. The swords of the Vale shall be yours from this day until my last day." And with her words she raised her dress and knelt, followed closely by her maids and all her warriors upon the High Hall's courtyard. They were kneeling to Jace, and Joff felt discomforted being the only one standing. He backed away from his brother, and bent the knee.
"Arise," Jace's voice echoed in Joff's ears,"May the gods bless you, true to the one true queen." As Joff rose, he felt the winds whistle again past his ears, the cold winds on top of the mountain.
"Would my prince stay for a feast?" Lady Jeyne asked,"Prince Joffrey should know his new home."
"If my lady offers us bread and salt," Jace said,"I shall be happy to oblige."
"I thought you'd never ask," Lady Jeyne waved her hand, and two serving girls emerged from the crescent moon of knights carrying two steel trays. The one with brown hair went before Jace, kneeling as Jace took a bite off the bread and put it back, granting the rest to the maid. The other maid, the one with blond hair, knelt before Joff. Joff felt all the eyes of the yard upon him as he took a bite off the bread. It was good, and soon Joff soon found that he stuffed it all in his mouth. It was then when he remembered that it was custom to take only one bite and grant the rest to the servant that presents the bread and salt.
It was to show the generosity of the guest to the castle, for salt was an expensive commodity. He looked before him, and the serving girl was frowning. Joff looked away, but the same frown was on Lady Jeyne's face. Jace was looking at him with his gaze of disapproval.
"Could my lady show my brother the castle?" Jace said, and Joff breathed when every eye was on Jace again.
"It shall be my pleasure," Lady Jeyne said.
Lady Jeyne was showing them the high balcony of the Maiden's Tower when Joff dared to speak with Jace again. The lady had given the two of them time alone atop the highest tower of the Vale, feeling the winds blow onto their face as the the mountains loomed in mist below. Even the castle seemed small from the tall balcony.
"I'm sorry," Joff said,"It was my first time acting an envoy, and I did not think."
Jace was silent for a long time, but then he answered: "It's alright, Joff. There's no lasting damage done. Just remember. The first time I met a great lord, it was our great-granduncle Lord Boremund a year before he gave up his ghost. Grandmother was there with me, but I swear that I wet my trousers as I met my great-granduncle in all his glory. He was a very large man." Jace laughed,"Grandmother excused the smell by saying that Meleys had recently laid an egg." He then turned to Joff,"Live a few more years, visit a few more castles, and you'll become used to it as I have."
"Used to it," Joff laughed,"Were you truly going to pleasure Lady Jeyne when she asked it of you?"
"Oh, that," Jace said, his smile dying,"Joff, you need to learn to read between the lady's words." "Remember that when she asked me that," Jace said,"she had already agreed to swear her swords to our mother. We made good on her condition to give her a dragonrider."
"Aye," Joff said,"So her words were just a jape, not mattering at all."
"Most would think it a jape," Jace said,"as they think that they had already won their victory and let their guard down. But the blood of the dragon is ever vigilant, the blood that flows through you and I."
"What did she want?" Joff asked.
"When the lady declares for Mother," Jace said,"she does not just declare for her. She declares also for me, Mother's heir who shall sit the Iron Throne after her. She wants to test me, but she must wait for Mother's cause to behind us. Absent of Mother, she can look to see whether I would still bend to the Vale. Quite a vulgar test, but such is the test that young boys will never see."
"She knelt to you," Joff said,"Not mother."
Jace turned and walked away, his sea-blue cloak swirling after him. Joff could only follow.