Chapter 11: Peace is an Abyss (3/4)

Raziel Baratheon:

"What the fuck is that anyway?" The sworn shield of Prince Raziel Baratheon asked the boy that he is supposed to guard. "Because that doesn't look like a giant bird?

Both the Prince and his sworn shield were currently standing in front of the remains that Raziel identified as the Winged Knight. The reason why is because the armor that the skeleton was wearing resembled the armor from the drawings that depicted the Winged Knight. Either that, or that was a really good replica, which might be the case since the armor doesn't look too bad for something that is supposed to be thousands of years old. But at the moment, it wasn't the remains of the legendary figure that interested them. It was the strange piece of cloth that was. Raziel Baratheon and Sandor Clegane spend the next ten minutes trying to get the thing that was covering the tree. The thing that was supposedly the giant Falcon that the legendary Winged Knight has flown on top of. But the moment that they took the thing off the tree, they realized that it wasn't really a Falcon, despite having the image of one painted into it.

"Some type of cloth, but none that I've ever seen before." The Prince answered the question. But whatever it was, it was quite impressive, since it probably has been there for more than a thousand years and it's still intact. "I have to admit, if this is the fabled giant Falcon that he supposedly flew on top of, I am very disappointed." Raziel always assumed that the so-called giant Falcon was actually a Griffin, despite the fact that the existence of such a creature was never really confirmed. But, how did you fly on this thing? He asked himself as he looked at the armored skeleton. And how did you end up here and that end up on top of a tree? The little boy asked the important questions as he held the pieces of rope that were tied to the Winged Knight's body.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind came from the hole that was above them. And as soon as it reached the two of them, the strange piece of cloth opened itself and flew out of the ground, pulling Raziel into the air with it. "WOAH!" Raziel screamed in surprise as he flew alongside the piece of cloth all the way into the air. "Wow..." He said as he held tightly, being able to see the lake from above with the moon reflecting into the water through the hole on the ceiling. Moving his head up, the Prince saw as the strange piece of cloth was completely open now, then he moved his head down and noticed that he was falling down slowly. Noticing that he was going to fall in the water, Raziel tried to move to the side, and he managed to do that by pulling one of the ropes. It worked, and he ended up shifting his direction to the side, allowing him to descend safely into the side of the lake, away from the water.

Once he landed, he already had the answers to his questions. It took Sandor a few minutes to walk all the way to the Prince. "So... That big blanket..." He tried to ask and Raziel had to admit that it did look like a big blanket.

"Basically, it works by forcing air into the front of it and creating something that resembles a wing that slows down your fall." That was Raziel's theory after the accidental test that he just conducted. "From afar, it may have seemed like he was flying but in reality, he was simply falling down slowly." The Prince wasn't really speaking to Sandor, he was making an observation out loud. So simple, yet so ingenious... That was Raziel's opinion on the discovery. The fabled "giant" Falcon that the Winged Knight used to fly, was in reality a device made from an unknown cloth used to slow down someone's fall. The boy didn't know whether to be disappointed or impressed, in truth, he was both.

"So, it wasn't a giant bird that he used to fly, but a giant blanket that he used to give the impression that he was flying." Sandor pointed out what disappointed him with a smirk. "So much for the legend."

"Truth, but it's still quite impressive." Raziel agreed with him on that regard.

"How did he die then?" Sandor asked as he moved his head to look at the tree that the remains were next to. "There was nothing wrong with the big blanket since you flew on it, so how the hell did it end up on the tree."

"I don't know," There is no way to tell how he was killed since his corpse was a skeleton now. "Maybe he was trying to get inside the cave or something." The hole is right above the tree, so it made sense.

Despite being happy with the discovery, Raziel ended up remembering why they were in that cave to begin with. Realizing that he was wasting precious time that he should be using to look for Mya, the boy simply looked at the thing that belonged to the Winged Knight and made a decision.

"What are you doing?" Sandor asked.

"Folding it," Raziel bluntly responded. "It's mine now." He decided to take it for himself, so he folded into a roll. "It's not like he needs it anyway." Since he was dead. After he finished folding it and wrapping it with the "old" rope that was tied to it. This rope is way too sturdy, and it should be centuries old... The rope was resistant enough to handle his weight. He tied the rolled up cloth on his back, right besides his bow. "I'll send someone to retrieve his remains later." He told Sandor. "But right now, we have to focus on what we came here for." Mya was still out there and he needed to find her before something happened. "Or what I came here for and you are simply doing your duty by accompanying me, but that is mostly the same thing." It's actually pretty light, I thought it would be heavier. Raziel thought as he finished tying the device on his back.

"Hm..." Sandor simply made a noise in response. "What now?" He asked the Prince.

Raziel looks around and notices that there isn't any other path to go except for the one that they came from. "Sadly, go back and try a different path since there isn't any other path to go from here." The boy spoke in a slight annoyance. But then he realized a funny irony. I found the remains of a legendary First Man figure of the Vale from the Age of Heroes thousands of years before the coming of the Andals... by tossing a coin. If that was indeed the Winged Knight, since Raziel still has some doubts due to the state of the armor, but since the strange device is made of materials that Raziel is incapable of identifying, maybe the armor is made of some type of special metal or something that existed thousand of years ago. It wouldn't be far-fetched since the secret of how to make Valyrian steel was lost and dragons went extinct, maybe it's some type of material that was prominent thousands of years ago but it's not-existing now. The Prince theorized. But, I'll think about that later. "Come on." He took his oil lantern from Sandor's hand before signalling him to follow him.

After making all the way back to the entrance where the four pathways were located, the two of them wasted no time in taking the pathway that was besides the one they took. Mostly because Raziel still believes that Mya may have run straight into that path due to the lack of lighting. So the two quietly entered the pathway, ready for anything that came their way. WIth the Prince still relatively confused about what exactly happened to the rest of the men that were being led by Bronze Yohn. Raziel simply assumed that they decided to carry on with their mission despite the decreased number. If that is the case, Raziel will simply not intervene since he trusted the abilities of Yohn Royce to solve this mess, he was only worried about Mya.

Carefully taking each step forward with the oil lantern illuminating their way. But he couldn't help but notice that the way was considerably longer than the previous one they took and he didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Before, he took a few more steps forward and smelled something.

"Is this..." He sniffed the smell that was in the air. "Cooked meat." Without a shadow of doubt, that was the smell of meat being cooked.

"Look." Sandor pointed forward before grabbing his oil lantern and covering off the light of it.

Once he did, Raziel noticed that there was some light up ahead, and by the smell , it could be a campfire. Immediately, he proceeded to grab his bow and proceeded to signal Sandor to follow him slowly. Normally, sworn shield should go ahead, but he trusts his ability with a bow enough to go on ahead. Besides, he could get behind Sandor quickly if it comes to that.

Sandor put off the light of his oil lantern as the two slowly approached the light that was up ahead.

Slowly and quietly, they moved forward until they arrived at a corner that thankfully, gave them a spot to take cover. Taking cover and peeking on the side of the wall, Raziel saw something.

It turns out that the pathway actually leads towards an open area of the mountain, since he saw an open space with grass, trees and rocks. But sadly, there was also a camp in that open area.

"Great..." That was Raziel's response to what he was seeing at the moment.

There were at least ten people on that camp, all of them were clearly members of the mountain clans. They were sitting around the campfire, eating, sleeping and one of them was taking a shit next to a tree in front of everyone. Filthy savage. Raziel thought as he looked away in disgust. Well, no sight of Bronze Yohn and his men or Mya. Raziel was relieved, mostly because he wasn't seeing any corpse there. But what exactly are they doing? They were obviously camping, but why at that precise spot instead of the entrance of the cave.

What should I do? Leaving them there would cause more problems later, especially if there's more of them around the cave. But I don't know if Sandor and I can take all of them by ourselves. The Prince thought as he observed the camp. From afar, he was able to tell that the trees kept the moonlight from illuminating their surroundings and the light of the campfire only goes so far. "Hmmm..." It only took him a second for him to formulate a plan. "I have a plan, if you hear me calling, attack." He instructed Sandor.

Before the scarred man could speak, Raziel crouched and moved out of the cave towards the camp. Not necessarily the camp but the area around it. The area was relatively vast, with a dense set of trees surrounding it. It's this the other side or... Raziel wondered as he sneaked through the area without being seen by the group of Mountainmen. Being able to observe their positions as he moved.

Five of them were around the fire eating, four of them were sleeping on the grass a few steps away from the fire and one of them was taking a shit right next to a tree.

I just need to distract the ones that are awake, I just hope it works. The Prince thought as he slowly made his way around the campfire to analyze the area.

"Aaaaahhhhh..." Sadly, he ended up getting near the savage that was taking a shit. "Fuck... Ahhhhhh..." Raziel had to pinch his nose because the smell was absolutely hideous and his grunts sounded like an animal giving birth. The boy then looked around to see how far that savage was from the others. As soon as he saw how far he was from the others, Raziel pulled out the small sword that was strapped on his hip. "Ahhhhhh-"

"Excuse me." Raziel spoke in a low voice to call his attention. When the man moved his head to look at the Prince, the boy stabbed the small sword into his throat and covered his mouth with his left hand to keep him from making any noise. Killed while taking a shit, my father would laugh so hard. He thought as he watched the man die before his eyes while laughing quietly. It took a few seconds for the man to die before his eyes. One down, nine more to go. Pulling the sword off the savage, the body fell forward, which saved Raziel the trouble of trying to drag its fat carcass out of sight. "Hmm..." But he was soon forced to cover his nose as he was now standing next to the man's shit. Ironically, that also gave him an idea. Worth a try... Despite how repulsive it is. Removing the helmet that he took from Robyn's uncle, he placed the bronze colored helmet on the ground and used the small sword to pick the shit off the ground and place it inside of the helmet. Then he took some leaves that were on the ground and also placed them inside of it. After doing that, he reached inside of the left pocket of his breeches and pulled out a small bottle that was filled with oil that he brought for the oil lantern.

After pouring the oil into it and placing the bottle back on his pocket, he picked the filled up helmet up and moved through the shadows all of the way towards a tree that was a few steps away from the campfire. Placing the helmet filled with shit on the ground, Raziel reached inside the other pocket of his pulled out a piece of flint and a piece of steel from his pocket. It took three strikes to create a spark that the group thankfully didn't hear due to them screaming at one another. The spark was enough to light what was inside the helmet on fire, and once it took it off, the boy ran away as fast as he could in order to go around the campfire.

The spot where he put the helmet was due to the fact that it was in the opposite direction of the group that was sleeping on the ground. So Raziel quickly made his way towards them and hid in the shadows as he awaited to see if his little plan was going to work. It took a few seconds for the five of them to sense the smell that was coming from the fire that he started. Or at least it's what he assumed to be the case due to the faces that they were making. A few seconds later, one of them stood up and went to check the source of the smell. And a few more seconds later he yelled at the other ones to apparently go see the flaming helmet.

The moment that the five of them went to see the helmet that he set it on fire. Raziel wasted no time in drawing his Valyrian steel dagger in a reverse grip and immediately ended the lives of the savages that were sleeping on the ground. He killed all four of them in the exact same way, by delivering quick stabs on their throats, one by one. Once the four were dead, he placed his dagger back on the sheath, stood up from the ground, pulled out his bow and an arrow and prepared himself to shoot at the remaining Mountain men. Come on... He was ready.

"NOW!" Raziel yelled in order to call Sandor, because as soon as one of them appeared in his line of sight, he fired the arrow and it landed on his eye socket.

The moment the man dropped dead on the ground. The other four noticed that they were under attack and tried to grab their weapons that were near the fire. Raziel was about to shoot more arrows as soon as they reached their weapons. But, he didn't have to, because Sandor closed the distance and swung his battle axe vertically into the face of the first Mountainman that he approached. The second Mountainman tried to attack him afterwards, but it was futile because Sandor punched him in the face with his left fist, before grabbing him and pushing him towards the fire with him falling on top of it. The third one one tried to swing his axe horizontally on him, but Sandor evaded by taking a step back and the axe landed on the first clansmen that he killed. Sandor then responded by grabbing him by the neck and pushing him to crash into the fourth Mountainmen, who seemed to be searching for his weapon. Once the two crashed into one another, they stumbled into the ground and Sandor swung his axe downwards into the chest of one and placed his foot into the other's throat, clearly applying pressure on it in order to suffocate him. As he did that, the one that he tossed on the fire stood up and attempted to pull out the fire that was on him, but Raziel decided to put him out of his misery and simply shot an arrow on his chest.

"That went well..." Raziel commented as he approached Sandor.

"What's this smell?" Sandor asked as he kept strangling the clansmen with his foot.

"Shit mixed with leaves and lantern oil." Raziel responded as he scratched his messy black hair. "Don't kill him yet, he may know what is going on." He instructed the scarred man.

With that Sandor removed his foot from the savage's throat and grabbed him by the top in order to lift him off the ground. The clansman was an ugly man with a long and filthy looking beard that had pieces of meat on it. The Hound then held him by the arms and made him face the Prince.

"I am going to ask you a few questions and you will answer me, each question that you don't answer, my big friend over there will hurt you, understand?" The boy with blue eyes informed the ugly savage as he tried to break free from Sandor's hold. "I asked you a question and you didn't answer... Sandor, kindly show him what will happen if he doesn't answer my question again." Raziel requested his sworn shield.

The Hound obeyed the Prince and immediately threw the savage into the ground and proceeded to break his right arm. "AAAAAHHHH!" The savage yelled in pain afterwards.

"Are you going to answer my questions now?" Raziel asked as he folded his arms. But all the savage did was grunt in pain as he waited for an answer. "No answer again, Sandor..."

"Nah! Nah!" The savage finally spoke. "Oggru 'ill 'peak" It introduced himself as Oggru in a strange way to speak that Raziel assumes that it's because of missing teeth.

"You could have avoided a broken arm if you just spoke sooner." Raziel pointed out as he stood in front of him. "Which clan do you belong to?" His knowledge of the Mountain clans of the Vale were limited but he did read the book, Mountain and Vale by Archmaester Arnel, where he listed the most notorious mountain clans in his work. Which are; Black Ears, Burned Men, Howlers, Milk Snakes, Moon Brothers, Painted Dogs, Redsmiths, Sons of the Mist, Sons of the Tree and Stone Crows. There are also smaller clans, usually formed after splitting off from one of the major ones in various feuds, but they rarely last very long before being either re-assimilated back into larger clans or destroyed by the knights of the Vale. Very rarely, a minor clan might survive and grow into a major one: the Burned Men are an offshoot of the Painted Dogs who split off from them soon after the Dance of the Dragons.

"I'm 'rother of the Moon Brothers." He answered his question as Sandor pressed his foot on his back to keep him down .

"Is your clan the only one present in this area?" Raziel asked.

"Only Moon Brothers in a cave..." He answered as he tried to move his broken arm.

"Have you seen a girl with black hair like mine pass through here?" Raziel asked him the question that he wanted to know the most.

"'o, 'o woman... O'ly man with 'shinning armor." The man answered in a way that Raziel barely understood. But he knew that he heard correctly when he said that he saw no woman passing through there.

But.

"Man with shining armor?" Raziel noted that part. "What happened to them?" The Prince asked since he doesn't see anyone else around.

"Cliff..." He told Raziel as he pointed to the direction where the tree where he left the helmet filled with shit next to.

"Cliff?" Moving his head to the direction, he signalled Sandor to keep holding him before he moved towards the direction to see.

Walking towards the direction quickly to see. Sadly, he passed through the helmet that was still burning and the smell of shit was still strong. Pitching his nose, he moved towards, passing by several trees until he saw what Oggru was talking about. Around thirty steps away from the campsite, there was a cliff that led to considerable fall. "Oh no..." Carefully, he looked down.

He could see four corpses down there, although he couldn't see them properly, they were obviously some of the soldiers that were accompanying Bronze Yohn. They stole their armor and equipment. The soldiers were stripped down but there were some pieces of clothing left on them. Raziel sighed at the sight and wondered if they died because of the fall or if they were killed before that and they just tossed their dead bodies afterwards. He really didn't know which one was worse. Thankfully, Bronze Yohn wasn't in between them but he really didn't know how many of the men that were accompanying him were still around.

Having had enough of the sight, Raziel made his way back to Sandor and Oggru. Where Oggrun was grunting in pain on the ground because of his broken arm. Once he was back however, he didn't really pay any mind to them, instead, he looked around in order to see if there's any other entrance or way out of there. After a short search, he saw no way out but the path that they came through. Another dead end. He thought in a slight annoyance. What is this, the cave of dead ends?

Raziel only had two more questions for Oggru. "Why were you people camping at this spot?" He asked the savage he grunted in pain.

"Ahhhh..." He moved his head to look at the Prince. "'e 'eparated and were told to wait and attack." ,

"How many of you are there?" He asked the most important question.

"We 'ere many when we came." Oggru explained. "But men in fancy armor killed some and you killed some."

"So, in order words, not as many anymore." Raziel pointed out and Oggru nodded.

"Only the ones with Ulf." He responded to Raziel.

"Ulf?" Raziel assumed that to be the leader.

"Ulf son of Umar." Oggru gave him his father's name as well, which Raziel assumes to be a custom or something.

"Alright, no more questions." The Prince doubted that Oggru had any more information to give him. "I am grateful for your cooperation," Raziel then picked up an axe that was on the ground. "and I will spare your life because of it." With that, the boy smashed Oggru in the head with the blunt part of the axe, knocking him out coldly.

"Hmm..." Sandor seemed amused by what Raziel just did. "What now?" He asked.

The young boy didn't respond to him right away, first, he turned his back to him and walked towards the fire, then he pulled out his cock and started to piss on the fire. Shouldn't have drank so much water. Once he pulled the fire out with his piss, he said. "Go back and try a different path." He responded before putting his cock back on his breeches.

"You pick this one," The moment they arrive back at the center of the pathways of the cave, Raziel decides to leave this one to Sandor. "Left or right?" The handsome boy asked the scarred man as he stood there with the oil lantern at hand.

"The one that smells like piss." Sandor answered right away.

"Any specific reason for that choice?" Raziel asked in curiosity.

"No." He bluntly responded.

"Alright," Raziel accepted his answer before he signalled him to follow him. "Let's go."

Once again, quietly, the two of them walked through the pathway that smelled like piss. With Raziel hoping to either find Mya or Bronze Yohn at the end of it. According to Oggru, the remaining Moon Brothers were accompanying someone named Ulf. The boy thought as he moved forward with the oil lantern illuminating their path. Maybe Bronze Yohn is dealing with them at this moment. He could only hope.

In a way, he was still a little confused about how this cave wasn't discovered before. Especially if those are really the remains of the Winged Knight next to that tree. Maybe it was because the other entrance was well hidden or it was blocked until now, but he can't know for sure. What he does know is that this entrance really needs to get closed before the other Mountain Clans find out about it. It seems that only the Moon Brothers came through this cave, but it is possible that they told more clans about it.

He wondered if the path that they took this time led to the other entrance. Honestly, Raziel was expecting another dead end for some reason. But he kept on moving anyway because he won't stop until he finds Mya, one way or another.

Suddenly, when he took a step forward, he accidentally kicked a rock. "What?" But when the rock rolled forward, he heard a noise. That turned out to be the rock falling down a hole. "And I was right, another dead end." He commented as he inspected the hole.

"Whoever pissed at that spot probably fell down there." Sandor pointed out the obvious.

"Probably..." Raziel agreed.

The hole seemed quite deep and he wondered how deep it was. Reaching inside his pocket once again, Raziel pulled out the bottle that contained oil for the lantern and pulled the small sword from his hip. He poured the oil on the blade and set it on fire to make an improvised torch. Here we go. Once it was on fire, he proceeded to toss the flaming sword down the hole.

"MYA!" The moment the blade hit the bottom, Raziel caught sight of the bottom of it. Where the person that he was searching for was. The fall was considerable and she apparently fell while she was running away. "HEY!" Raziel yelled at the ground. Oh no, is she dead?" He asked himself as he observed her.

"The fall isn't high enough to kill someone, unless she fell on her head." Sandor pointed out to him as he also looked down.

"But it's high enough to break something, which is the only reason why I haven't jumped down to check on her." Raziel replied as he thought about a way to get down there to check on her. How do I get down there? I didn't bring any rope. Raziel thought as he tried to formulate a plan to get down there. Wait. Then he remembered something. The Winged Knight's device that was on his back. Maybe... The Prince took the device off his back and unfolded before holding the end of one side and tossing the other down there. Thankfully, it was long enough to reach the bottom. "Hold this please." Raziel requested Sandor.

Sandor did it without question.

Raziel then placed the oil lantern behind Sandor before saying. "Hold it tightly and when I say pull, you pull, understand?"

He gave a simple nod as a response.

"Thank you." Raziel said to him, before he grabbed the strange cloth and used to descend the hole to check on Mya.

It took a minute for him to reach the bottom of that hole, and once he did, he immediately grabbed the flaming sword and ran to check on Mya. "Mya?" To his relief, she was alive. She was breathing, but there was a bruise on her head, indicating that she hit her head on the fall. Looking closely, he also saw that she had a cut on her arm since he could see some blood and after some further examination, her ankle seemed to be swollen. The fall did quite the damage, but thankfully it was nothing fatal. He was relieved. "You are going to be okay, I'm gonna get you out of here." Raziel told the unconscious girl in a very soothing tone while caressing her head before he kissed her on the lips. But then he noticed something. You pissed yourself Mya? She smelled like piss and he noticed that her bottoms were wet. Doesn't matter, I need to get her out of here. He thought as he placed the flaming blade on the ground and proceeded to pull her with a bit of difficulty towards the direction that he descended from. And I was right, another dead end. Raziel actually noticed that there was nothing going forward besides that hole since the sword was illuminating the way forward and the path had nothing but a wall. Dragging Mya all the way towards the strange cloth, and placing her on the wall, thankfully the strange rope that was tied to the device was at one of the ends of it. So Raziel tied on Mya's hip before yelling. "Pull it now." He ordered Sandor.

The Hound obeyed the Prince's orders and started to pull Mya, luckily, the rope held on nicely. Which was something that impressed Raziel since that rope should be a thousand of years old. As Sandor pulled Mya up Raziel moved to regain the small sword in order to inspect that hole. Why is Mya the only one here, if they were exploring this path shouldn't it be... Oh I see... There was actually the corpse of a woman in that hole as well, right at the opposite direction from the one that they came in. Approaching the corpse, Raziel came to a conclusion. You probably fell when they were exploring all of the pathways and instead of helping, they simply marked this area as dangerous. By the looks of it, the woman hasn't been dead for long which supports his theory. Poor Mya probably ran to this area after the battle started and due to the lack of lighting, she fell down and hurt herself. Raziel looks at the woman before moving his head to look at the unconscious Mya, who was reaching the top as Sandor finished pulling her up. This could have been her fate if didn't come here, left to rot in the dark. Raziel was certain that no one would have searched for her otherwise. The mere thought of Mya ending up like this poor woman in front of him was enough to make him depressed. Moving his head back, he saw that Sandor tossed the device again, so Raziel took one last look at the dead woman before making his way out of that hole. Piecing the flaming sword on the ground before he climbed back.

"Mmmm..." Raziel grunted as he climbed the piece of cloth that is supposedly, the "giant" Falcon that belonged to the Winged Knight. It took him less than a minute to climb it and once he reached the top, he came across Mya and Sandor. "Thanks." He thanked the scarred man.

"Can we get the fuck out of this cave now?" Sandor seemed to have had enough of that cave and was eager to get out of there.

"Wanna race to the entrance?" Raziel asked as he took the Winged Knight's device and folded to put it back on his back. "Would you kindly carry her for me, please?"

The Hound didn't respond to him, he simply moved towards Mya and picked her off the ground to carry her. Raziel simply nodded before moving to grab the oil lantern in order for them to make their way out of that cave. Taking a final look at Mya, who didn't look like she would be waking up at any time soon, before he signals Sandor to follow him as they make their way back from where they came. I still haven't found Bronze Yohn, but I'm not really worried about him since he can take care of himself. Finding Mya was his priority there and now that he found her, all that he wanted to do was make his way back to the Redfort and have a Maester tend to Mya's injuries. I wonder if they noticed my absence in the castle, I don't really care to be honest, though Jon would be very upset if he finds out about this. Raziel thought. The moment we get back to the Gates of the Moon, I'm going to order Nestor Royce to tell me who Mya's father is. He made up his mind, the only reason to why he hasn't done that yet was because Mya didn't want to cause trouble to her father so Raziel tried to find out secretly, but she almost died because of this and it simply angered Raziel that she is put to care for Mules while being the daughter of a highborn. The Prince is aware that there is a certain stigma that comes from being born as a bastard. They are said to be born from lust, lies, and weakness, and as such, they are said to be wanton and treacherous by nature. That was something that he did not believe, and he simply can't imagine Mya being wanton or treacherous. I'm pretty certain that he knows who he is simply because he probably ordered the knight that took her to the Gates of the Moon after her mother passed away and I really don't care if her father doesn't want Mya to know who he is. He made up his mind about that.

Eventually, Raziel Baratheon, Mya Stone and Sandor Clegane arrived back at the spot where the different pathways were located. "Was there really not a reason why you chose the pathway that smelled like piss?" He asked him out of curiosity.

"If you were a little girl surrounded by soldiers and savages trying to kill each other and had to run inside of a dark cave, scared and alone, wouldn't you piss yourself as well?" Sandor pointed out his logic to him.

"Considering that I really needed to piss while we were dealing with that group of savages just not long ago... Probably..." He actually saw some logic behind it, and actually feels bad over the fact that Mya had to go through that. She probably was so scared that she couldn't hold it anymore. Raziel thought as he looked at the unconcious girl. "Let's make sure that she's not in a dark cave when she wakes up." He told his sworn shield before preparing to make his way back to the exit. "AHH!" Only to get startled when he sees someone coming out of the last pathway.

"AHH!" The one that came out was startled as well. He was a boy that seemed to be a few years older than Raziel, he was short and stout, with fair skin, shoulder-length, shiny, light chestnut brown hair and was un-styled. He also had tired, wide, brown eyes, angled lips and bony cheeks. He had a thin torso with no apparent muscle tone, a slender neck, wide hips, narrow shoulders, and gentle looking hands. The older boy wasn't wearing anything other than brown breeches. "My Prince?!" Raziel recognized him as Brendan Egen, the son of Ser Vardis Egen, a knight of House Egen and captain of the household guard at the Eyrie. He was also one of the squires of Bronze Yohn.

"Brendan Egen, right?" He asked in case of him being mistaken, he nodded in response in confirmation before bowing to him. "Why are you only wearing breeches?" He asked as it was quite cold.

"F-forgive me, my clothes were taken from me." He apologized as he hugged himself due to the cold.

"Here," He handed his cloak to the boy, it wasn't enough to cover him completely but it was enough to at least cover his torso." What happened? Where's Bronze Yohn?" The Prince asked Brendan as he wrapped his cloak around his torso and covered himself with it.

"The savages, they took us by surprise and wiped us out completely after half of the soldiers ran away." He explained to the Prince.

"I am aware of that." The Prince pointed out. "Is Bronze Yohn dead?" He asked the important question.

"No," The man responded immediately. "Lord Royce is alive." He informed him and the Prince was relieved to hear that. "The savages took the remaining that survived and held us prisoners in order to exchange us for weapons and armor."

"And they sent you to deliver the message." Raziel already understood the situation. "How many are there?"

"Around fourteen, my Prince." The older boy responded to him. "They are all camping at the end of that path." By some unfunny irony, the only path that they didn't take clearly leads to the other entrance to this cave that Bronze Yohn and his man were searching for.

"And of Bronze Yohn and his man?" He asked.

"Three, four if you include me." And he answered.

"Great, and what is the message?" He needed to know the danger.

"To bring an entire carriage filled with weapons and armor until the end of dawn otherwise they will kill Lord Royce and the rest of his men." Brendan explained to the Prince clearly very unease about the situation.

Raziel simply sighed in response, mostly because of the level of stupidity of the savages. There is absolutely no way that Brendan will be able to make it back to the Redfort and bring back an entire carriage of weapons until the end of dawn, so unless this is just some type of nonsense that they are playing to torture poor Brendan, they are a bunch of lackwits. The Prince really had an urge to just leave this be and go back to Redfort with Mya, but then he realized that Jon will be very disappointed if Bronze Yohn died in the mission that he requested him to partake in. So he made a decision.

"Brendan, carry on with your duty go back to the Redfort to deliver the message." Raziel told the squire. "But I have a mission for you."

"What is it, my Prince?" Despite the situation, he seemed eager.

"My friend, Mya Stone, is injured and she requires someone to tend to her injuries." He explained to the man while pointing at the unconscious Mya. "I need you to take her back to the Redfort with you and had the Maester look at her injuries." That was his mission for the squire.

"It would be my honor, my Prince." The boy seemed to be eager. "But, what are you going to do?"

"That is none of your concern." Raziel bluntly told the squire before signalling Sandor to hand Mya to him. "If I get back to Redford and find out anything happened to her, you will pray to any god who listens that they send the Stranger to come collect you." Justifiably, Brendan was terrified by what he just heard due to the Prince's menacing tone. "Now, go, there's a Mule not far from here, you can use him to ride back to the Redfort." I'm sure Muddy will be okay with him riding him if Mya is present. "Mistreet the Mule and the same outcome will occur, understand?" He asked the squire.

"Ummm... Yes... My Prince." The barely dressed squire answered him.

"Get a move on then!" The Prince demanded, and Brendan simply nodded and carried the unconscious Mya out of the cave. Honestly, Raziel felt bad in leaving Mya at the hands of someone he barely knows, but he knows that House Egen was a very honorable family, so he truly believes that he will do what he was told to do.

"What is the big plan now?" Sandor asked him.

"Try to save Bronze Yohn."

Thanks everyone for reading this chapter, your support means everything to me.

NOTE: I KNOW I SAID NO MORE PREVIEWS BUT I GOT A LOT OF REQUESTS FOR A HOUSE OF THE DRAGON FIC, SO I PUT A SMALL PREVIEW FOR WHAT A FIC WRITTEN BY ME WOULD BE LIKE.

Q AND A:

Great work. Would you consider doing a house of the dragon fic?

Preview at the end of the chapter.

Well, even if you cruelly ruined my hopes for a romantic line with Mia and I'm disappointed in that..it's still nice to read the scenes with her

Honestly, the chance is actually still there.

Because now that I wrote it, the brother and sister attraction came out really naturally, so yeah.

the incest is strong here

More on Cersei's side than Raziel's

Sorry about this don't bother replying just wanted to say

For a handmaiden for Mya meant to include as a more serious suggestion Myranda Royce

Would have included Myranda from the Dreadfort as one for Arya if she wasn't staying at said Dreadfort

Can I say as well when Raziel gets to Storms End can it be noted that while Renly is miserable at the castle and bitches about the weather constantly Raziel feels right at home in the fierce storms

Speaking of the other land where Raziel won't learn much from his host at Riverrun hope we see Raziel humiliate Edmure and his friends so Lymond Goodbrook, Patrek Mallister and Marq Piper in a sparring match overseen by Brynden who I guess is the master of arms at Riverrun and watched by a delighted crowd that includes Alayne

Already did.

Interesting idea...

Sadly, Myranda will probably want to stay with her father after Raziel chops his legs off as punishment.

Haha! Sounds accurate.

Maybe...

Obrigado pelo capítulo incrível Autor-San!

De nada

When I checked first thing in the morning and saw that chapter 25 was up knew today would be a good day

Got to love with how concerned he is for Mya that the whining of younger men with Royce blood in them is something he has absolutely no time for and I loved getting his thought process on why he decided to knock Andar out and then just telling everyone to hurry up and cut his arm off

Also that's two men who have lost an arm around Raziel now haha

Hm you know what with Muddy hope he leaves the Vale with Mya given how attached the donkey is to Mya and being her favourite and all

Okay this might just be me reading in to much to it but with the scene with Raziel and Sandor riding to the cave with how Sandor was speaking with Raziel I don't know it just tells me that he's grown comfortable around Raziel even if he hasn't noticed it himself after all do you think the Hound ever spoke Joffrey the way he spoke to Raziel and yeah it's his literal job to guard Raziel but I like to think Sandor has grown to like his charge

Liked getting Raziel showing off his archery skills again and got to love him leaving which path they'd take up to a coin toss

Now then finding the remains of the Winged Knight and his falcon was definitely unexpected still quite a find and thought the man in reality had fuck all to do with House Aryn I'm sure Jon will have his remains brought to the Eyrie to be kept where ever the dead Aryns are buried

Also finding the remains of his falcon is another big deal I mean one it proves that giant falcons existed in the first place or rather giant eagles either way it's quite a find that I'm sure will have Jon putting the bones on display in the Eyrie's throne room course the Eyrie will see a uptake in guests coming to see the dam thing haha

So I hope the next chapter has Raziel finding Mya and as a extra bonus I guess Bronze Yohn and his forces alongside her I can just see how after this whole deal the tales are told and spread how Prince Raziel bravely entered the caves and saved his sister and the noble Bronze Yohn Royce and his knights and also discovering the remains of the legendary winged knight and his eagle and you know proving those giant birds did actually exist

Or you know maybe the winged knight actually rode a Griffin and it was changed to a falcon as the story changed over the years

Now I'm not sure if Razeil would have to learn from Renly to take advantage of his own immense charisma seems like that's something he would be able to do himself he's certainly smart enough to honestly when it comes to what he can learn from Renly there's not much if you ask me the only thing that comes to mind is Raziel learning a even more extensive grooming routine

But yeah I think Raziel is smart enough to capitalise and take full advantage of his immense charisma without Renly

With Alayne bringing Arya to watch Raziel fuck other woman and then encouraging her to get in bed with Raziel even with Mya and Jon trying to block that I see them failing in the attempt one because of Arya's own interest in seeing and taking part in said fucking and also Alayne herself I don't see Jon and Mya being able to prevent Alayne from doing anything and if she wants to bring Arya in to the bed room she would bring her in

Plus by the time Jon or Mya would learn about it and if they said anything to Alayne it would just go over her head while she likely reminisces about Raziel fucking her and Arya plus maybe Sansa to haha

With the dagger don't you love how we talk about possible origins for it and then house of the dragon comes along and is like hey here's the origin of the knife haha

Hm with the dance of the dragon era Oc I'd go Rhea and say in this timeline Daemon and her actually fell in love

Regardless hope Mysaria is one of the many woman that love the Oc a lot haha.

I'm glad...

That's Raziel to you.

Except that this one, he was indirectly responsible for.

He would give him to Mya as a gift.

Kind of... Not being a little shit like Joffrey kind of improves their relationship greatly.

The high quality bow certainly facilitates. He was going to pick one randomly anyway, so it was simply more interesting for him to test his luck.

Probably.

It wasn't really a falcon.

He kind of becomes a bit of a legend in the Vale for two major things.

It wasn't really a living thing that he flew on.

Kind of...

Yup...

Well...

Hahahaha... yeah...

I doubt it, Daemon really didn't care for her and honestly, I don't think even their son cares about her.

Mysaria is his mother, even if she didn't gave birth to him. Sadly, the one that loves him the most is Rhaenyra, not in a good way. (As for Khia, imagine a young Alcina Dimitrescu.)

Quick side note in a future letter from Myrcella can learn that Jaime has entered say two different melees and won them to kinda prove to the Westerlands he's still a good swordsman even with him only having his sword hand say he won a melee held at the Banefort and Silverhill

Now was thinking back to when you confirmed that Myrcella would have Joy Hill soon to be Lannister and Jeyne Westerling as her handmaidens or ladies in waiting or just lady companions however you want to phrase it made me start thinking of other ladies in Raziel's future court that will have their own such attendants and suggestions for who they'd be

Margaery - would have her cousins like Elinor and her other numerous ladies

Sansa - could have Wynafryd and Wylla Manderly perhaps Alys Karstark to

Arianne - some of the sand snakes of course haha well Obara could technically be a sworn sword and aside from the snakes she could have Sylva Santagar and Allyria Dayne to

Alayne - could have Roslin Frey and Bethany Blackwood

Myrcella - alongside Joy and Jeyne we could see Desmera Redwyne

Mya - a girl named for Henrietta Woodhull

Daenerys- Falia Flowers and Missandei

Now random thing but with Missandei despite her knowing literally every language in the world could Raziel teach her a language that being the Old Tongue of the first men and can I assume she'd be his herald but have Raziel tell her after his official titles just use at max three of his monikers otherwise she'd be there all day calling them out I also hope Raziel gets her in his service before she's sold to any other master so her training to be the worlds greatest translator is completed and then bam she's immediately in Raziel's service… and hopefully his bed not long after

Also maybe Missandei could hold onto her old collar for some times when she is in Raziel's bed haha

I'm also a tad bit curious if Raziel is being observed by Leaf just a random thought I had to be honest haha

Another thought I had is during his fosterings around the Kingdoms will we see Raziel celebrate his name day

If Raziel desires to change the name of a Valyrian steel sword that comes into his possession hope he actually names it something like Lady Elenei named of course for the daughter of the Sea God and Wind Goddess and hope he also name's something else the Lady Argella

Been meaning to say for a while actually with Raziel seemingly having Rhaegars harp and all that when it comes to his view of Rhaegar I hope Raziel doesn't have that high a opinion of him because to me at least Rhaegar always comes across as a delusional sociopath with his actions

Actually when it comes to Dany's family hope Raziel states some levels of admiration for Aegon, Visenya and Rhaenys with Visenya being the one he most admires, Maegor for essentially just keeping his family in power, and the likes of Rhaenyra and Viserys II etc while looking down on the likes of Baelor the Blessed

So is it safe to say in the future when Raziel is king if he's finding someone annoying while he's sat on the Iron Throne while not visibly showing it Symeon and if you do give him one his red Direwolf would rise up from their place at the foot of the throne and stalk towards and around the individual that is annoying Raziel

I also hope Raziel has no intentions of rebuilding the dragon pit as it was and if he does rebuild it any dragons living there have more room let's say

Last question have you ever thought about changing something from the sack of Kingslanding and that being Rhaenys secretly survived to and is hiding in Dorne as one of Oberyn's daughters

Actually last last thing when he gets to Dorne during his first time training the yard hope Raziel finds himself spending the whole day defeating and humbling challenger after challenger not breaking a sweat besting Daemon Sand easily and he ends the day defeating even Prince Oberyn

I was literally planning on doing that.

I'll think about it.

Raziel will actually find her before she gets sold to an official master.

Well...

Not really, only when he goes beyond the wall.

Sometimes.

He would probably name his sword in more interesting names like Storm Queen or something like that. (He prefers to give cool names to his things.)

His opinion is this: "You want my personal opinion on Rhaegar Targaryen? He was sad and miserable fool that spent most of his life being sad over an event that he was way too busy being born during it to actually remember and dedicated every single second of his pathetic life to his obsession with a bloody prophecy that he read about while ignoring his father's madness, his mother's suffering, his wife and children's safety and the Kingdom that he was so obsessed with "saving" that ended up in a war that only happened because of something that he did. And the part that angers me the most is that, no one other than a selected few actually really knew him as a person but every single bloody idiot that simply saw or spoke to him a few times, idealizes him simply because he was beautiful, despite the fact that he literally didn't do anything remarkable when he was alive other than winning a few tourneys against accomplished warriors, but when it came time to face my father in a real battle, he got completely smashed by his warhammer even though my father was outnumbered and worn-out from fighting several battles before that one. Honestly, I would love to see if Rhaegar Targaryen would be remembered so fondly if he actually looked like him." (Points at an ugly guy that was cleaning dog shit.) "No offense." (Hands the guy a coin to buy a drink or a prostitute later.)

He's actually a fan-boy of Vesenya and enjoys drawing parallels between her and Dany (Dany actually wants to play that role for Raziel.) and he does sympathize with Maegor, because despite his cruelty, he got several things done during his reign. He actually thinks that Rhaenyra was justified and that the Dance of Dragons was a giant waste of time since she practically won in the end anyway and they should have just let her be Queen. He firmly believes that Viserys II killed Baelor the Blessed and he thinks that it was the right thing to do because Baelor was a good for nothing fanatic. (He will actually list everything wrong in his reign to Sansa, after she claims that he was a great King.)

He would probably keep Symeon next to the Throne or something...

Nah, he doesn't believe in keeping pets locked up. (Unless they misbehave but...)

Yes, I actually did... She was originally my original plan for the Dornish Companion (I originally planned on having Elia, secretly sneaking Rhaenys out of King's Landing and sending her to Dorne on the same day Aerys sent Viserys and Rhaella to Dragonstone in the beginning of the Rebellion and replaced her with a girl with Dornish features. But I kind of discarded that idea, because I just saw it as being too contrived.) I kind of planned on having her despise Raziel at first and even trying to kill him multiple times, but she'll eventually warm up to him and the two would kind of develop a Rick and Michonne type of relationship. (She would be similar in personality with Rhaegar, kind of emo girl that looks like she's sad most of the time which would be a constrast with Raziel's personality but she's exceptionally sweet like her mother when she wants to be. She would actually be a talented warrior with her weapon of choice being two short swords that she dual wields.) But I ultimately discarted but I may go back to it if the writting feels natural when it come to her.

Daemon Sand, yes. (Raziel will actually fight him for real.)

Oberyn, he may not have the chance of fighting him other than some friendly sparring.

you know you could have Margery and the girls start bringing sansa over to a more... sharing mindset.

Well...

saltpeter? what so he's going to make guns or... bombs? Fireworks Maybe? well unless he's trying to preserve meat, make toothpaste for sensitive gums, or make fertilizer all of which seam unlikely then hes making gunpowder.

Gunpowder already existed in China during the Middle Ages and there has been several indications and mentions of something that resembles Gunpowder in the series.

cool and creep at the same time.

That's the point.

did you see the latest episode of house of the dragon?

Yup...

Preview of a possible future story:

{

"Daegon?!" Someone calls his name while shaking him drastically. "Daegon, wake up!"

Opening his deep purple, Daegon Targaryen caught the sight of his paramour. "Khia, what is going on?" He asked the Lengii woman as he tried to handle the awful headache caused by all of the wine that he had drank the previous night. What kind of wine was that? He thought in deep confusion, since he has been drinking wine since he was a child and none has ever made him this drunk before.

"The Kingsguard is here for you, your uncle has ordered you to be brought upon him." The very tall woman informed him with a lot of concern on her face.

Daegon was justifiably worried considering that his uncle never calls him. "Why?" The beautiful boy asked as he stood up from the bed and started to put his clothes back on. "What the..." Looking down to put his small clothes on, he noticed that there was blood on his cock. " Did I fuck someone last night?" He genuinely wondered since there was some blood on his cock and there was no way it was his.

She cleaned his cock with a piece of cloth. "Yes..." There was something off about her answer and Daegon immediately didn't like what it was.

"Who?" He asked as he put his black breeches on as soon as she finished wiping the blood off his cock.

Before his Paramour could answer him, the Kingsguard barged into the room that was residing uninvited. Daegon immediately recognized the two as the identical twins, Erryk and Arryk Cargyl. They were both armed with long swords, and looked somewhat angry with him for some reason. Immediately, Khia shielded him from the two as Daegon put his boots back on.

"Princess Rhaenyra was the one that tricked him, he didn't do anything wrong!" Khia defended him as she towered over the two knights, but Daegon was confused.

"What is that about my cousin?" He asked as he finished putting his boots on and stood up.

"Yes, Princess Rhaenyra tricked him into bedding her." One of the twins spoke sarcastically, but Daegon didn't know which one it was.

"WHAT!?" Daegon reacted to what he just said in shock. "When did I bed Rhaenyra?!" He asked Khia.

The eight feet tall woman moved her head back to look at him, before signalling him to look at the bed, which had a bit of blood on the sheets. Did Rhaenyra... Poor Daegon touched his face in deep frustration. Deep breaths, uncle Viserys knows that Rhaenyra has been obsessed with me since we were children. The horrible events that resulted from Rhaenyra's jealousy reappeared in his mind. The time when Rhaenyra scarred a girl's face beyond recognition with a pair of scissors just because Daegon said that she was prettier than her. The time when she ordered a sell-sword to shove a hot iron inside of a woman's cunt just because she heard a rumor that she took Daegon's first time with a woman that allegedly belonged to her. And the list just goes on. I just have to explain to him that she took advantage of me when I was too drunk to think straight and he wi... WHO AM I KIDDING, WHO THE FUCK IS GOING TO BELIEVE THAT THE HEIR OF THE IRON THRONE FORCED HERSELF INTO HER COUSIN WHEN HE WAS DRUNK?! He thought in deep frustration.

"The King has demanded that Prince Daegon be brought before him, so come peacefully." One of the twins spoke politely.

Daegon was about to comply, but then a very unpleasant thought came into his mind, and he decided to ask his paramour for the information that he needed. "Khia, was my father or my mother here last night?"

One of the twins was confused. "Rhea Royce died giving birth to you." He pointed out to Daegon.

"I am not referring to the Bronze Bitch." Daegon replied without bothering to look at the man who mentioned the woman that gave birth to him.

"Ummm... Prince Daemon wasn't here last night but... Lady Mysaria was." She answered his question.

"Fuck... Mother..." Did father, mother and Rhaenyra orchestrate that?!

"Wait?" One of the Knights called his attention, but Daegon was too busy in his annoyance with his family's machinations. "You call your father's harlot, mother?!" One of the twins was downright disgusted by that.

Hearing that made Daegon grind his teeth in rage.

"And he calls his own mother Bronze Bitch, how repulsive." The other twin decided to join his brother. "Considering he has the exact same taste in women as his father, I can't say I'm surprised." He said that while looking at Khia.

"At least this one is very attractive and exotic looking, the one his father go is jut-AAHHH!" Before he could finish what he was saying, Prince Daegon delivered a very hard kick into his stomach, which caused him to stumble back colliding with the mirror on the wall.

"You fucking cunt!" Daegon yelled as the other twin tried to draw his blade to use against Daegon, but before he could pull the blade out, Daegon grabbed his right wrist and pushed, making him unable to pull the sword out.

"AAAAHHHH!" Afterwards, Daegon put his hand on his helmet and shoved his thumb into his left eye, gouging his eye out as he did. That caused him to let go of his blade, only for Daegon to pull the blade out himself. Then he kicked him in the knee, causing him to drop to one knee and then pulling his helmet off with his left hand before shoving the sword at the back of his neck.

"NO!" His twin brother screamed in pure horror as his brother was killed in front of him. "I'LL FUCKING-However, as soon as the other twin has stood up and drawed his sword to attack him. A hooded figure entered the room and stabbed him in the back of the head with a dagger and Daegon just stood there and watched as he fell to his knees with a blade on the back of his head. Unsurprised by what just occurred, Daegon grabbed the dagger that was lunged on the back of the Knight's throat and pushed even deeper, until it pierced through his neck completely and came through the front as well. "Aaahhhh..." It was the sound that the Kingsguard made as Daegon pulled the dagger off his neck.

"You two came into this world together, it's only fair that you two will leave it together as well." The hooded figure spoke in morbid amusement as the Knight died in front of her.

"Mother." The hooded figure was none other than Mysaria. "What the fuck is going on?" Daegon asked her calmly as he dropped the sword and the dagger on the floor and sat down on the bed, with Khia approaching him and tenderly touching his shoulder.

"I can't explain now, your father awaits you at the throne room." Mysaria bluntly told him as she approached the bed and picked a piece of cloth that Khia handed to her to wipe the blood off his face.

"Fuck... Really?" He was visibly angry at her for helping Rhaenyra trick him like that.

"Really." She wiped the blood off his face and gave him a tender kiss on the lips. "We all have our roles to play, even you."

Daegon Targaryen could only sigh in annoyance, because there is absolutely no way that this whole mess was going to end well for him.

}