Hey everyone this is the start of my side story that I wanted to combine with my RWBY story. See how team RWBY and friends react to reading Fire and Blood. I do not own RWBY or Game of thrones only my OC's everything else belongs to their respective owners and FIRE and BLOOD belongs to George RR Martin. Enjoy :)
Fire and Blood in Remnant
Targaryen History
The morning Sun rose into the sky of Remnant and the Red comet burned just as brightly off to the side as it always did. However, that didn't matter to a certain someone.
"Whoo-hoo," Draegon shouted and smiled. He was flying on Drogon today and it was a feeling that never got old. All of the clean air blowing in his face and free from any problems. It has been a week since the incident down at the docks as Drogon flew over the city of Vale and people who were just getting up and started to work stopped and looked to see Drogon roar as he soared through the sky. Drogon made a dive towards the ocean and stuck his head into the water. When he lifted it up, he had a bunch of tuna that were big were in his mouth. Two fell out of his mouth and since they were flying it came right at Draegon. He smiled and caught them before they could hit his face.
"Thanks, Drogon the baby's and Blake are going to love this," Draegon said and Drogon growled in compliance. Soon they flew back towards Beacon Academy and landed on Drogon nest. Once Draegon was off Drogon blasted the fish in is mouth with fire and started eating.
"I'll see you later pal I have to go check on our new family members." Draegon as he patted Drogon one more time before he headed back to the dorms. Beacon academy was a lot quieter because most of the students were on a two-week vacation before the Vytal festival happened. Some teams like his team and JNPR teams stayed at their dorms during the break, while others like CRDL thank goodness went home. Draegon arrived to his room and knocked to make sure his friends weren't changing but when he got no answer, he opened the door to see RWBY wasn't there.
"I guess they went for breakfast," Draegon said before he heard a scuffle sound. He moved over to a pen that was under his Hammock and covered in a blanket. He lifted the blanket to see the red, silver, and bronze baby dragons sleeping in but woke up at the smell of him and the fish and started making little screeches.
"Well good morning to you to, I bet your all hungry," Draegon said as he held out his arm and one by one, they climbed up onto his shoulders and arms. He walked to the cafeteria and saw that some people were eating breakfast and talking to each other but when Draegon came in everyone stopped talking and looked to see the three baby dragons hanging on him and started to whisper to each other.
"There are more dragons now," one said.
"They look cute," another said.
"Yeah, well wait till they get as big as that big one then will see if their still cute." Another person said.
"At least even the Grimm have become afraid of the big one," another said and Draegon could hear them all but he didn't care. He walked up to one of the cafeteria chefs and showed him the two-tuna fish.
"Would you mind gutting them and cooking them well done please?" Draegon asked and the chefs nodded and took them. Once Draegon had his breakfast ready they brought him a big plate of the cooked tuna diced up. He took it and saw Yang wave him down so Draegon walked over carrying his food the Dragons food and the Dragon themselves. Once he sat down team RWBY started gushing over them immediately.
"There so cute," Ruby gushed. "I want to pet you," Weiss gushed. "I want fish and there cute," Blake blushed. "Draegon and the Dragons look cute especially when he has no shirt, ggggrrrrr," Yang said. Draegon rolled his eyes and blushed a little before he places three well done pieces of fish in front them. The babies started to devour the meat and Blake quickly swiped a small piece of meat but she spit it out. "Yuck, why is it so burned?" she asked. "Dragons like their food really cooked and since they can't breathe fire yet I have to cook it for them or ask someone else to," Draegon replied. "So, when do you thing they'll be able to breath fire?" Ruby asked. "Who knows they're only a week old," Draegon replied and was about give them more fish but found out the plate was empty. Everyone looked in shock and saw the Dragons burping and small puffs of smoke could be seen. "I guess sooner than we think," Draegon said and the rest of team RWBY laughed. "Have you thought of any names for them yet?" Weiss asked and Draegon shrugged his shoulders. "I have a few ideas but I'm still not one hundred percent sure," Draegon said and the three babies looked up at him.
Later everyone was in their rooms. Draegon sat in his hammock playing with the red dragon while the silver and bronze slept. Blake read a book and Weiss was studying for next semester. Ruby and Yang were playing video games but once Yang beat Ruby, she got bored and laid on her bed and looked at the red comet in the sky. "Ugh, I'm bored isn't there anything interesting to do? Come on let's go out with a Yang," Yang asked but her friends ignored her because they didn't want to hear her awful puns. Yang pouted and continued to look at the comet. "Hey what do you think about that comet? What is its purpose for showing up?" Yang asked and RWB shook their heads having no idea but someone else did. "It's the return," Draegon said as the silver and bronze dragons woke up and played with the red one. RWBY looked at him in confused, "The return of what?" Weiss asked from the desk. "Dragons," Draegon said and team RWBY didn't buy it so Draegon had to explain. "That comet appeared once before a long time ago when my mother hatched Drogon and his brothers, and now it appeared the night these three hatched." Draegon said but team RWBY gave him skeptical looks as if they weren't buying it. "Whatever it's the truth." Draegon said as he turned his attention back to the baby Dragons. Yang was still bored, she looked over at the bookshelf and saw the sticky note that Draegon wrote at the beginning of the semester.
"So, what's so special about that book Draegon?" she asked as she pulled it out from the shelf and looked at the title "FIRE and BLOOD, isn't that one of your sayings?" Yang asked only to see Draegon snatch it out of her hands. "Yes, and I left that sign they're for a reason it's not meant to be read," Draegon said a bit upset. "Why? I've been meaning to ask if I could read it but I kept looking at the sign and couldn't find the right time," Blake spoke up from her book. "It's complicated," he said. "Then explain it to us, come on Draegon you can trust us," Ruby spoke up and he now had all of team RWBY's attention on that book. "I do trust you, it's just I'm afraid what will happen if I read this book to someone else." Draegon said and walked out of the room carrying the book while the three babies jump onto his back. The rest of team RWBY followed him as he kept walking. Once he was outside team RWBY realized he was going to Drogon but their curiosity was greater than their fear. "Come on Draegon why don't you read to us instead, would that help?" Ruby asked but Draegon shook his head. "What would help?" Jaune asked as he and the rest of team JNPR appeared. "Hey guys were trying to get Draegon to read about his family but he doesn't want to, he's afraid." Yang said and team JNPR nodded before Nora broke the silence. "Did your family do something weird and your worried we'll laugh?" she asked. "No, my family might have done somethings that you wouldn't like and you may hate me for what they did," Draegon answered. Everyone nodded until another voice interrupted them. "You shouldn't let that discourage you Draegon because as our friend Doctor Oobleck always says history teaches us not to make the same mistake," Ozpin said as he walked forwards with Glynda, Port, and Oobleck. "What are the teaches doing here?" Yang as and Glynda answered. "We guard this school even during vacations to make sure the kids who stay behind don't get into any trouble young lady," she narrowed her eyes at Yang and Ruby and Jaune who looked guilty of something but no one knew. "Is there anyone else that now has their attention on my family's book," Draegon shouted in frustration and no one else answered and a tumble weed blew by. "Draegon give us a chance, were your friends," Ruby said and gave him the puppy eyed look with Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Nora giving it to him as well. Draegon sighed.
"Alright fine books are meant to be read and not collect dust," Draegon said slowly and team RWBY and JNPR cheered while Ozpin, Port, and Oobleck nodded and Glynda remained neutral. "Give me an Hour and will meet over there to read it," Draegon said as he pointed to a grassy field at the school covered in shade by the trees. Everyone nodded and left but the teaches stayed behind. "Do you want some help Draegon?" Port asked. "Please," Draegon said as he put the babies down and got to work.
After and hour team RWBY and JNPR returned to see chairs where you could spread your legs out along with snacks on table but what was really weird was a large poster the had continents no one has ever seen. Ozpin and Draegon were looking at it and were talking. "I've been around a lot of places Draegon and this is somewhere I've never seen before," he said. "I know I was just as confused as you were but these are real continents and where my ancestors lived," Draegon clarified and looked to see the two teams and the rest of the teachers were looking at them. Draegon nodded and took the book out as the teachers and friends all sat down around him and Draegon sat in a chair with the maps behind him. "Before I begin, I want you all to know that once you learn this information you cannot unlearn it, do you get what I'm saying," Draegon said and some nodded but Ruby, Jaune, Weiss, and Nora looked confused. "What I mean is their will be violence and there will be sexual things on it but I'll try to censor it." Draegon said and they nodded. "Don't worry Draegon I may be younger than everyone else but I can handle it," Ruby said and Yang gave Ruby an arm hug. "Yeah, well I might still cover your ears." Yang said with smile while Ruby struggled to break free. Draegon sighed and opened the book and everyone was silent but before Draegon read a stomp was heard and Drogon appeared and laid off to side of them. It seems he wants to listen as well. The babies were wrestling with each other but Drogon growled at them and all three settled down. "Just promise me that all of you won't judge me for what my ancestors have done?" Draegon asked and everyone nodded. Draegon began to read.
"The timeline for my family is a bit weird for right now it's 325 AC, and all the Targaryen's made a name for them selves in 114 BC," Draegon said and Ren spoke up. "What do the AC and BC stand for?" he asked. "It represents the timeline from a certain event wear my most famous ancestor King Aegon Targaryen the first of his name conquered 7 kingdoms. Well 6 actually but he beat down the seventh one so much that both sides sued for peace. BC stands for Before the Conquest and AC stands for After the Conquest." Draegon said and everyone nodded and understood. "Well let's get started." Draegon said.
"The Targaryens were of pure Valyrian blood, dragonlords of ancient lineage. Twelve years before the Doom of Valyria (114 BC), Aenar Targaryen sold his holdings in the Freehold and the Lands of the Long Summer, and moved with all his wives, wealth, slaves, dragons, siblings, kin, and children to Dragonstone, a bleak island citadel beneath a smoking mountain in the narrow sea." Draegon said as he pointed to where Valyria was and where Dragonstone was and everyone including the teaches got snacks out to enjoy themselves with them. Draegon continued.
"At its apex Valyria was the greatest city in the known world, the center of civilization. Within its shining walls, twoscore rival houses vied for power and glory in court and council, rising and falling in an endless, subtle, oft savage struggle for dominance. The Targaryens were far from the most powerful of the dragonlords, and their rivals saw their flight to Dragonstone as an act of surrender, as cowardice. But Lord Aenar's maiden daughter Daenys, known forever afterward as Daenys the Dreamer, she had foreseen the destruction of Valyria by fire. And when the Doom came twelve years later, the Targaryens were the only dragonlords to survive." Draegon paused for suspense and Nora raised her hand. "So, one of your ancestors saw the future and it protected your family from being killed?" She asked and Draegon nodded while Nora whispered wishing she could have dreams of the future. "Do you have dreams Draegon?" Pyrrha asked and Draegon looked at Drogon who was looking right back at him. "Sometimes but it's mostly about my mom," Draegon said sadly making everyone wonder what happened to her.
"Dragonstone had been the westernmost outpost of Valyrian power for two centuries. Its location athwart the Gullet gave its lords a stranglehold on Blackwater Bay and enabled both the Targaryens and their close allies, the Velaryons of Driftmark (a lesser house of Valyrian descent) to fill their coffers off the passing trade. Velaryon ships, along with those of another allied Valyrian house, the Celtigars of Claw Isle, dominated the middle reaches of the narrow sea, whilst the Targaryens ruled the skies with their dragons." Draegon decided to pull out a red laser to point to different parts of the map so everyone can see where their locations are.
"Yet even so, for the best part of a hundred years after the Doom of Valyria (the rightly named Century of Blood), House Targaryen looked east, not west, and took little interest in the affairs of Westeros. Gaemon Targaryen, brother and husband to Daenys the Dreamer, followed Aenar the Exile as Lord of Dragonstone, and became known as Gaemon the Glorious. Gaemon's son Aegon and his daughter Elaena ruled together after his death. After them the lordship passed to their son Maegon, his brother Aerys, and Aerys's sons, Aelyx, Baelon, and Daemion. The last of the three brothers was Daemion, whose son Aerion then succeeded to Dragonstone. The Aegon who would be known to history as Aegon the Conqueror and Aegon the Dragon was born on Dragonstone in 27 BC. He was the only son, and second child, of Aerion, Lord of Dragonstone, and Lady Valaena of House Velaryon, herself half Targaryen on her mother's side. Aegon had two trueborn siblings; an elder sister, Visenya, and a younger sister, Rhaenys. It had long been the custom amongst the dragonlords of Valyria to wed brother to sister, to keep the bloodlines pure, but Aegon took both his sisters to bride. By tradition, he would have been expected to wed only his older sister, Visenya; the inclusion of Rhaenys as a second wife was unusual, though not without precedent. It was said by some that Aegon wed Visenya out of duty and Rhaenys out of desire." Draegon said and team RWBY, JNPR and even Glynda and Doctor Oobleck had their mouths opened in shock. Ozpin and Port were a little shock but remained neutral. "Your ancestors…" Weiss broke the silence in shocked. "Yep, they did it because who do you trust and care for more than your own family." Draegon said still seeing the shocked looks on their faces. "If it makes you feel better, I'm kind of creeped out about it as well probably because I'm an only child and even some of my ancestors married outside the family." He continued. "This is a lot to process," Blake said just as shocked. "Can I just read to help take your minds off it you will be hearing incest marriages for a while so I'm sorry in advance. I did tell you to brace yourself and not Judge me." Draegon looked back into his book and read.
"All three siblings had shown themselves to be dragonlords before they wed. Of the five dragons who had flown with Aenar the Exile from Valyria, only one survived to Aegon's day: the great beast called Balerion, the Black Dread. The dragons Vhagar and Meraxes were younger, hatched on Dragonstone itself." Draegon said and all of a sudden, the three babies perked their heads up which Draegon noticed and smiled that it gave him an idea. "Interesting fact, I think that Balerion was a few years younger than Drogon when he left Valyria and Drogon is 25 years old right now almost 26," Draegon said and everyone looked at Drogon who just let out a snort while he watched them.
"A common myth, oft heard amongst the ignorant, claims that Aegon Targaryen had never set foot upon the soil of Westeros until the day he set sail to conquer it, but this cannot be truth. Years before that sailing, the Painted Table had been carved and decorated at Lord Aegon's command; a massive slab of wood, some fifty feet long, carved in the shape of Westeros, and painted to show all the woods and rivers and towns and castles of the Seven Kingdoms. Plainly, Aegon's interest in Westeros long predated the events that drove him to war." Draegon read "There was something about Westeros that had Aegon's attention," Draegon said as he pointed to the continent of Westeros. "I still don't get how there isn't any maps or history of this Westeros or Essos," Weiss said and Port nodded also being suspicious. "Well, our current history goes only back 80 years of the war maybe my family new about it an decided to stay out of it because they had problems of their own," Draegon replied while Ozpin narrowed his eyes thinking that he had more knowledge past the 80 years and still never heard of the Targaryen's.
"The Westeros of Aegon's youth was divided into seven quarrelsome kingdoms, and there was hardly a time when two or three of these kingdoms were not at war with one another. The vast, cold, stony North was ruled by the Starks of Winterfell. In the deserts of Dorne, the Martell princes held sway. The gold-rich westerlands were ruled by the Lannisters of Casterly Rock, the fertile Reach by the Gardeners of Highgarden. The Vale, the Fingers, and the Mountains of the Moon belonged to House Arryn…but the most belligerent kings of Aegon's time were the two whose realms lay closest to Dragonstone, Harren the Black and Argilac the Arrogant. From their great citadel, Storm's End, the Storm Kings of House Durrandon had once ruled the eastern half of Westeros, from Cape Wrath to the Bay of Crabs, but their powers had been dwindling for centuries. The Kings of the Reach had nibbled at their domains from the west, the Dornishmen harassed them from the south, and Harren the Black and his ironmen had pushed them from the Trident and the lands north of the Blackwater Rush." Draegon moved his laser pointer from section to section of Westeros and everyone followed along.
"King Argilac, last of the Durrandon, had arrested this decline for a time, turning back a Dornish invasion whilst still a boy, crossing the narrow sea to join the great alliance against the imperialist "tigers" of Volantis, and slaying Garse VII Gardener, King of the Reach, in the Battle of Summerfield twenty years later. But Argilac had grown older; his famous mane of black hair had gone grey, and his prowess at arms had faded. North of the Blackwater, the riverlands were ruled by the bloody hand of Harren the Black of House Hoare, King of the Isles and the Rivers. Harren's ironborn grandsire, Harwyn Hardhand, had taken the Trident from Argilac's grandsire, Arrec, whose own forebears had thrown down the last of the river kings' centuries earlier. Harren's father had extended his domains east to Duskendale and Rosby. Harren himself had devoted most of his long reign, close on forty years, to building a gigantic castle beside the Gods Eye, but with Harrenhal at last nearing completion, the ironborn would soon be free to seek fresh conquests." Draegon spoke in suspense while everyone was curious about the different families. "Your ancestor decided to Conquer them all, why?" Glynda asked still unsure about his reason. "Because he wanted to, because he could," Draegon said as he looked at Westeros since he has never seen it before.
"No king in Westeros was more feared than Black Harren, whose cruelty had become legendary all through the Seven Kingdoms. And no king in Westeros felt more threatened than Argilac the Storm King, last of the Durrandon, an aging warrior whose only heir was his maiden daughter. Thus, it was that King Argilac reached out to the Targaryens on Dragonstone, offering Lord Aegon his daughter in marriage, with all the lands east of the Gods Eye from the Trident to the Blackwater Rush as her dowry. Aegon Targaryen spurned the Storm King's proposal. He had two wives, he pointed out; he did not need a third. And the dower lands being offered had belonged to Harrenhal for more than a generation. They were not Argilac's to give. Plainly, the aging Storm King meant to establish the Targaryens along the Blackwater as a buffer between his own lands and those of Harren the Black." I was glad to know he was faithful to his sisters/wives," Draegon said and team RWBY looked at him and nodded as well.
"The Lord of Dragonstone countered with an offer of his own. He would take the dower lands being offered if Argilac would also cede Massey's Hook and the woods and plains from the Blackwater south to the river Wendwater and the headwaters of the Mander. The pact would be sealed by the marriage of Argilac's daughter to Orys Baratheon, Lord Aegon's childhood friend and champion. These terms Argilac the Arrogant rejected angrily. Orys Baratheon was a baseborn half-brother to Lord Aegon, it was whispered, and the Storm King would not dishonor his daughter by giving her hand to a bastard. The very suggestion enraged him. Argilac had the hands of Aegon's envoy cut off and returned to him in a box. "These are the only hands your bastard shall have of me," he wrote." "Sheesh that's a little dark all because he was a Bastard," Yang said a little angry. "What is a bastard exactly mean? Aegon and Orys had one parent but their other parent was different." Ruby asked. "It means that the parents were never married when the child was born so it's considered a sin back in the old days," Draegon answered. "Well, I'm glad people don't worry about that now unless their cheating on their spouses," Pyrrha said and everyone nodded.
"Aegon made no reply. Instead, he summoned his friends, bannermen, and principal allies to attend him on Dragonstone. Their numbers were small. The Velaryons of Driftmark were sworn to House Targaryen, as were the Celtigars of Claw Isle. From Massey's Hook came Lord Bar Emmon of Sharp Point and Lord Massey of Stonedance, both sworn to Storm's End, but with closer ties to Dragonstone. Lord Aegon and his sisters took counsel with them, and visited the castle sept to pray to the Seven of Westeros as well, though he had never before been accounted a pious man." In Westeros people believed in seven gods and sometimes called them the new gods, however people believed in all sorts of gods I don't know which is real," Draegon said and they nodded.
"On the seventh day, a cloud of ravens burst from the towers of Dragonstone to bring Lord Aegon's word to the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. To the seven kings they flew, to the Citadel of Oldtown, to lords both great and small. All carried the same message: from this day forth there would be but one king in Westeros. Those who bent the knee to Aegon of House Targaryen would keep their lands and titles. Those who took up arms against him would be thrown down, humbled, and destroyed. Accounts differ on how many swords set sail from Dragonstone with Aegon and his sisters. Some say three thousand; others number them only in the hundreds. This modest Targaryen host put ashore at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush, on the northern bank where three wooded hills rose above a small fishing village." "He's really going to do it, your ancestor is going to conquer seven kingdoms," Blake said shocked and Draegon nodded. "Yep, because he had something no else did," Draegon said and looked at Drogon and the three babies. Everyone else nodded.
"In the days of the Hundred Kingdoms, many petty kings had claimed dominion over the river mouth, amongst them the Darklyn kings of Duskendale, the Masseys of Stonedance, and the river kings of old, be they Mudds, Fishers, Brackens, Blackwoods, or Hooks. Towers and forts had crowned the three hills at various times, only to be thrown down in one war or another. Now only broken stones and overgrown ruins remained to welcome the Targaryens. Though claimed by both Storm's End and Harrenhal, the river mouth was undefended, and the closest castles were held by lesser lords of no great power or military prowess, and lords moreover who had little reason to love their nominal overlord, Harren the Black. Aegon Targaryen quickly threw up a log-and-earth palisade around the highest of the three hills, and dispatched his sisters to secure the submission of the nearest castles. Rosby yielded to Rhaenys and golden-eyed Meraxes without a fight. At Stokeworth a few crossbowmen loosed bolts at Visenya, until Vhagar's flames set the roofs of the castle keep ablaze. Then they too submitted." Draegon paused for suspense and Nora spoke silently "It begins," she said and everyone looked at her while Ruby, Jaune, and Yang laughed.
"The Conquerors' first true test came from Lord Darklyn of Duskendale and Lord Mooton of Maidenpool, who joined their power and marched south with three thousand men to drive the invaders back into the sea. Aegon sent Orys Baratheon out to attack them on the march, whilst he descended on them from above with the Black Dread. Both lords were slain in the one-sided battle that followed; Darklyn's son and Mooton's brother thereafter yielded up their castles and swore their swords to House Targaryen. At that time Duskendale was the principal Westerosi port on the narrow sea, and had grown fat and wealthy from the trade that passed through its harbor. Visenya Targaryen did not allow the town to be sacked, but she did not hesitate to claim its riches, greatly swelling the coffers of the Conquerors. This perhaps would be an apt place to discuss the differing characters of Aegon Targaryen and his sisters and queens." Draegon said catching everyone's attention. "I was wondering when we were going to learn about their personalities." Weiss said and RBY nodded because they wanted to learn more about the two sisters of Aegon.
"Visenya, eldest of the three siblings, was as much a warrior as Aegon himself, as comfortable in ring mail as in silk. She carried the Valyrian longsword Dark Sister, and was skilled in its use, having trained beside her brother since childhood. Though possessed of the silver-gold hair and purple eyes of Valyria, hers was a harsh, austere beauty. Even those who loved her best found Visenya stern, serious, and unforgiving; some said that she played with poisons and dabbled in dark sorceries. Rhaenys, youngest of the three Targaryen's, was all her sister was not, playful, curious, impulsive, given to flights of fancy. No true warrior, Rhaenys loved music, dancing, and poetry, and supported many a singer, mummer, and puppeteer. Yet it was said that Rhaenys spent more time on dragonback than her brother and sister combined, for above all things she loved to fly. She once was heard to say that before she died she meant to fly Meraxes across the Sunset Sea to see what lay upon its western shores. Whilst no one ever questioned Visenya's fidelity to her brother-husband, Rhaenys surrounded herself with comely young men, and (it was whispered) even entertained some in her bedchambers on the nights when Aegon was with her elder sister. Yet despite these rumors, observers at court could not fail to note that the king spent ten nights with Rhaenys for every night with Visenya." Draegon said making everyone look at his sword Dark Sister and Draegon followed their gaze "Yep Dark Sister was made for Visenya and she was a gifted warrior but I personally don't think she was a dark sorcerer, and even though Rhaenys liked other men's attention her heart belonged to Aegon so no one cheated on each other," Draegon answered. "So, who are you descended from on the female side or did their descendants marry to close the gap?" Jaune asked. "I'm descended from Rhaenys as is all my other ancestors, Visenya only had one son and that was it, which I'll explain when we get to that part," Draegon answered.
"Aegon Targaryen himself, strangely, was as much an enigma to his contemporaries as to us. Armed with the Valyrian steel blade Blackfyre, he was counted amongst the greatest warriors of his age, yet he took no pleasure in feats of arms, and never rode in tourney or melee. His mount was Balerion the Black Dread, but he flew only to battle or to travel swiftly across land and sea. His commanding presence drew men to his banners, yet he had no close friends, save Orys Baratheon, the companion of his youth. Women were drawn to him, but Aegon remained ever faithful to his sisters. As king, he put great trust in his small council and his sisters, leaving much of the day-to-day governance of the realm to them…yet did not hesitate to take command when he found it necessary. Though he dealt harshly with rebels and traitors, he was open-handed with former foes who bent the knee. This he showed for the first time at the Aegonfort, the crude wood-and-earth castle he had raised atop what would henceforth and forever be known as Aegon's High Hill. Having taken a dozen castles and secured the mouth of the Blackwater Rush on both sides of the river, he commanded the lords he had defeated to attend him. There they laid their swords at his feet, and Aegon raised them up and confirmed them in their lands and titles. To his oldest supporters he gave new honors. Daemon Velaryon, Lord of the Tides, was made master of ships, in command of the royal fleet. Triston Massey, Lord of Stonedance, was named master of laws, Crispian Celtigar master of coin. And Orys Baratheon he proclaimed to be "my shield, my stalwart, my strong right hand." Thus, Baratheon is reckoned by the maesters the first King's Hand." Draegon held Blackfyre and smiled at it. "You really admire him don't you," Ren said and Draegon nodded. "All my ancestors did, he's not my favorite ancestor but he did something no one ever could do he united seven kingdoms." Draegon said with praise.
"Heraldic banners had long been a tradition amongst the lords of Westeros, but such had never been used by the dragonlords of old Valyria. When Aegon's knights unfurled his great silken battle standard, with a red three-headed dragon breathing fire upon a black field, the lords took it for a sign that he was now truly one of them, a worthy high king for Westeros. When Queen Visenya placed a Valyrian steel circlet, studded with rubies, on her brother's head and Queen Rhaenys hailed him as, "Aegon, First of His Name, King of All Westeros, and Shield of His People," the dragons roared and the lords and knights sent up a cheer…but the smallfolk, the fishermen and fieldhands and goodwives, shouted loudest of all." Everyone looked at Draegons jacket to see the same symbol on his back and a smaller one on the front. "The symbol represents Vhagar, Meraxes, and Balerion also known as the big three, since they were the only three dragons to be used in this conquest," Draegon said and that confirmed everyone's thoughts on how the symbol had been made.
"The seven kings that Aegon the Dragon meant to uncrown were not cheering, however. In Harrenhal and Storm's End, Harren the Black and Argilac the Arrogant had already called their banners. In the west, King Mern of the Reach rode the ocean road north to Casterly Rock to meet with King Loren of House Lannister. The Princess of Dorne dispatched a raven to Dragonstone, offering to join Aegon against Argilac the Storm King…but as an equal and ally, not a subject. Another offer of alliance came from the boy king of the Eyrie, Ronnel Arryn, whose mother asked for all the lands east of the Green Fork of the Trident for the Vale's support against Black Harren. Even in the North, King Torrhen Stark of Winterfell sat with his lords bannermen and counselors late into the night, discussing what was to be done about this would-be conqueror. The whole realm waited anxiously to see where Aegon would move next. Within days of his coronation, Aegon's armies were on the march again. The greater part of his host crossed the Blackwater Rush, making south for Storm's End under the command of Orys Baratheon. Queen Rhaenys accompanied him, astride Meraxes of the golden eyes and silver scales. The Targaryen fleet, under Daemon Velaryon, left Blackwater Bay and turned north, for Gulltown and the Vale. With them went Queen Visenya and Vhagar. The king himself marched northwest, to the Gods Eye and Harrenhal, the gargantuan fortress that was the pride and obsession of King Harren the Black." "Divide and conquer," Port said guessing Aegon's plan and Draegon nodded.
"All three of the Targaryen thrusts faced fierce opposition. Lords Errol, Fell, and Buckler, bannermen to Storm's End, surprised the advance elements of Orys Baratheon's host as they were crossing the Wendwater, cutting down more than a thousand men before fading back into the trees. A hastily assembled Arryn fleet, augmented by a dozen Braavosi warships, met and defeated the Targaryen fleet in the waters off Gulltown. Amongst the dead was Aegon's admiral, Daemon Velaryon. Aegon himself was attacked on the south shore of the Gods Eye, not once but twice. The Battle of the Reeds was a Targaryen victory, but they suffered heavy losses at the Wailing Willows when two of King Harren's sons crossed the lake in longboats with muffled oars and fell upon their rear. In the end, though, Aegon's enemies had no answer for his dragons. The men of the Vale sank a third of the Targaryen ships and captured near as many, but when Queen Visenya descended upon them from the sky, their own ships burned. Lords Errol, Fell, and Buckler hid in their familiar forests until Queen Rhaenys unleashed Meraxes and a wall of fire swept through the woods, turning the trees to torches. And the victors at the Wailing Willows, returning across the lake to Harrenhal, were ill prepared when Balerion fell upon them out of the morning sky. Harren's longboats burned. So did Harren's sons." I think I forgot to mention this but a lot of people are going to be killed so you should brace yourself and interesting fact there has been no mention of Grimm or even Faunus in Westeros or Essos," Draegon making everyone nod and became worried about the bloodshed.
"Aegon's foes also found themselves plagued by other enemies. As Argilac the Arrogant gathered his swords at Storm's End, pirates from the Stepstones descended on the shores of Cape Wrath to take advantage of their absence, and Dornish raiding parties came boiling out of the Red Mountains to sweep across the marches. In the Vale, young King Ronnel had to contend with a rebellion on the Three Sisters, when the Sistermen renounced all allegiance to the Eyrie and proclaimed Lady Marla Sunderland their queen. Yet these were but minor vexations compared to what befell Harren the Black. Though House Hoare had ruled the riverlands for three generations, the men of the Trident had no love for their ironborn overlords. Harren the Black had driven thousands to their deaths in the building of his great castle of Harrenhal, plundering the riverlands for materials, and beggaring lords and smallfolk alike with his appetite for gold. So now the riverlands rose against him, led by Lord Edmyn Tully of Riverrun. Summoned to the defense of Harrenhal, Tully declared for House Targaryen instead, raised the dragon banner over his castle, and rode forth with his knights and archers to join his strength to Aegon's. His defiance gave heart to the other riverlords. One by one, the lords of the Trident renounced Harren and declared for Aegon the Dragon. Blackwoods, Mallisters, Vances, Brackens, Pipers, Freys, Strongs…summoning their levies, they descended on Harrenhal." "People stared to believe he could actually conquer the seven kings and maybe do better than the other rulers." Draegon said making Ozpin wonder what his descendants did but Draegon had mix feelings about them.
"Suddenly outnumbered, King Harren the Black took refuge in his supposedly impregnable stronghold. The largest castle ever raised in Westeros, Harrenhal boasted five gargantuan towers, an inexhaustible source of fresh water, huge subterranean vaults well stocked with provisions, and massive walls of black stone higher than any ladder and too thick to be broken by any ram or shattered by a trebuchet. Harren barred his gates and settled down with his remaining sons and supporters to withstand a siege. Aegon of Dragonstone was of a different mind. Once he had joined his power with that of Edmyn Tully and the other riverlords to ring the castle, he sent a maester to the gates under a peace banner, to parley. Harren emerged to meet him; an old man and grey, yet still fierce in his black armor. Each king had his banner bearer and his maester in attendance, so the words that they exchanged are still remembered. "Yield now," Aegon began, "and you may remain as Lord of the Iron Islands. Yield now, and your sons will live to rule after you. I have eight thousand men outside your walls." "What is outside my walls is of no concern to me," said Harren. "Those walls are strong and thick." "But not so high as to keep out dragons. Dragon's fly." "I built in stone," said Harren. "Stone does not burn." To which Aegon said, "When the sun sets, your line shall end." It is said that Harren spat at that and returned to his castle. Once inside, he sent every man of his to the parapets, armed with spears and bows and crossbows, promising lands and riches to whichever of them could bring the dragon down. "Had I a daughter, the dragonslayer could claim her hand as well," Harren the Black proclaimed. "Instead, I will give him one of Tully's daughters, or all three if he likes. Or he may pick one of Blackwood's whelps, or Strong's, or any girl born of these traitors of the Trident, these lords of yellow mud." Then Harren the Black retired to his tower, surrounded by his household guard, to sup with his remaining sons." "Is he really going to kill them all? I mean I think this Harren deserves it but still…" Pyrrha asked and Draegon nodded his head. "When a Targaryen makes a promise, we keep it even if it's more of a threat." Draegon said and everyone became nervous.
"As the last light of the sun faded, Black Harren's men stared into the gathering darkness, clutching their spears and crossbows. When no dragon appeared, some may have thought that Aegon's threats had been hollow. But Aegon Targaryen took Balerion up high, through the clouds, up and up until the dragon was no bigger than a fly upon the moon. Only then did he descend, well inside the castle walls. On wings as black as pitch Balerion plunged through the night, and when the great towers of Harrenhal appeared beneath him, the dragon roared his fury and bathed them in black fire, shot through with swirls of red. Stone does not burn, Harren had boasted, but his castle was not made of stone alone. Wood and wool, hemp and straw, bread and salted beef and grain, all took fire. Nor were Harren's ironmen made of stone. Smoking, screaming, shrouded in flames, they ran across the yards and tumbled from the wall walks to die upon the ground below. And even stone will crack and melt if a fire is hot enough. The riverlords outside the castle walls said later that the towers of Harrenhal glowed red against the night, like five great candles…and like candles, they began to twist and melt as runnels of molten stone ran down their sides. Harren and his last sons died in the fires that engulfed his monstrous fortress that night. House Hoare died with him, and so too did the Iron Islands' hold on the riverlands. The next day, outside the smoking ruins of Harrenhal, King Aegon accepted an oath of fealty from Edmyn Tully, Lord of Riverrun, and named him Lord Paramount of the Trident. The other riverlords did homage as well, to Aegon as king and to Edmyn Tully as their liege lord. When the ashes had cooled enough to allow men to enter the castle safely, the swords of the fallen, many shattered or melted or twisted into ribbons of steel by dragonfire, were gathered up and sent back to the Aegonfort in wagons." "Woah," Jaune said at the slaughter of everyone in a castle and everyone else was shocked that a dragon could melt stone. "Is there a reason Aegon is collecting all these swords?" Glynda asked. "Maybe he's a weapons nut like Ruby," Yang said and Ruby pouted. "Yes, there's a reason, a special reason that will be explained soon.
"South and east, the Storm King's bannermen proved considerably more loyal than King Harren's. Argilac the Arrogant gathered a great host about him at Storm's End. The seat of the Durrandons was a mighty fastness, its great curtain wall even thicker than the walls of Harrenhal. It too was thought to be impregnable to assault. Word of King Harren's end soon reached the ears of his old enemy King Argilac, however. Lords Fell and Buckler, falling back before the approaching host (Lord Errol had been killed), had sent him word of Queen Rhaenys and her dragon. The old warrior king roared that he did not intend to die as Harren had, cooked inside his own castle like a suckling pig with an apple in his mouth. No stranger to battle, he would decide his own fate, sword in hand. So Argilac the Arrogant rode forth from Storm's End one last time, to meet his foes in the open field. The Storm King's approach was no surprise to Orys Baratheon and his men; Queen Rhaenys, flying Meraxes, had witnessed Argilac's departure from Storm's End and was able to give the Hand a full accounting of the enemy's numbers and dispositions. Orys took up a strong position on the hills south of Bronzegate, and dug in there on the high ground to await the coming of the stormlanders. As the armies came together, the stormlands proved true to their name. A steady rain began to fall that morning, and by midday it had turned into a howling gale. King Argilac's lords bannermen urged him to delay his attack until the next day, in hopes the rain would pass, but the Storm King outnumbered the Conquerors almost two to one, and had almost four times as many knights and heavy horses. The sight of the Targaryen banners flapping sodden above his own hills enraged him, and the battle-seasoned old warrior did not fail to note that the rain was blowing from the south, into the faces of the Targaryen men on their hills. So Argilac the Arrogant gave the command to attack, and the battle known to history as the Last Storm began." "This Orys sound like quite a strategist," Port said liking him more and more.
"The fighting lasted well into the night, a bloody business and far less one-sided than Aegon's conquest of Harrenhal. Thrice Argilac the Arrogant led his knights against the Baratheon positions, but the slopes were steep and the rains had turned the ground soft and muddy, so the warhorses struggled and foundered, and the charges lost all cohesion and momentum. The stormlanders fared better when they sent their spearmen up the hills on foot. Blinded by the rain, the invaders did not see them climbing until it was too late, and the wet bowstrings of the archers made their bows useless. One hill fell, and then another, and the fourth and final charge of the Storm King and his knights broke through the Baratheon center…only to come upon Queen Rhaenys and Meraxes. Even on the ground, the dragon proved formidable. Dickon Morrigen and the Bastard of Blackhaven, commanding the vanguard, were engulfed in dragonflame, along with the knights of King Argilac's personal guard. The warhorses panicked and fled in terror, crashing into riders behind them, and turning the charge into chaos. The Storm King himself was thrown from his saddle. Yet still Argilac continued to battle. When Orys Baratheon came down the muddy hill with his own men, he found the old king holding off half a dozen men, with as many corpses at his feet. "Stand aside," Baratheon commanded. He dismounted, so as to meet the king on equal footing, and offered the Storm King one last chance to yield. Argilac cursed him instead. And so, they fought, the old warrior king with his streaming white hair and Aegon's fierce, black-bearded Hand. Each man took a wound from the other, it was said, but in the end the last of the Durrandon got his wish, and died with a sword in his hand and a curse on his lips. The death of their king took all heart out of the stormlanders, and as the word spread that Argilac had fallen, his lords and knights threw down their swords and fled. For a few days it was feared that Storm's End might suffer the same fate as Harrenhal, for Argilac's daughter Argella barred her gates at the approach of Orys Baratheon and the Targaryen host, and declared herself the Storm Queen. Rather than bend the knee, the defenders of Storm's End would die to the last man, she promised when Queen Rhaenys flew Meraxes into the castle to parley. "You may take my castle, but you will win only bones and blood and ashes," she announced…but the soldiers of the garrison proved less eager to die. That night they raised a peace banner, threw open the castle gate, and delivered Lady Argella gagged, chained, and naked to the camp of Orys Baratheon." "How traitorous," Weiss said and all the females nodded. "It was either surrender or be burned alive. The naked part was a bit overboard but no else wanted to die," Ren said trying reason with everyone. "Don't worry you'll all like Orys in this next part." Draegon said and everyone listened.
"It is said that Baratheon unchained her with his own hands, wrapped his cloak around her, poured her wine, and spoke to her gently, telling her of her father's courage and the manner of his death. And afterward, to honor the fallen king, he took the arms and words of the Durrandon for his own. The crowned stag became his sigil, Storm's End became his seat, and Lady Argella his wife." "She fell in love with him because he treated her with respect and didn't want to kill her father, he was trying to stop it," Draegon said making everyone respect Orys.
"With both the riverlands and stormlands now under the control of Aegon the Dragon and his allies, the remaining kings of Westeros saw plainly that their own turns were coming. At Winterfell, King Torrhen called his banners; given the vast distances in the North, he knew that assembling an army would take time. Queen Sharra of the Vale, regent for her son Ronnel, took refuge in the Eyrie, looked to her defenses, and sent an army to the Bloody Gate, gateway to the Vale of Arryn. In her youth Queen Sharra had been lauded as "the Flower of the Mountain," the fairest maid in all the Seven Kingdoms. Perhaps hoping to sway Aegon with her beauty, she sent him a portrait and offered herself to him in marriage, provided he named her son Ronnel as his heir. Though the portrait did finally reach him, it is not known whether Aegon Targaryen ever replied to her proposal; he had two queens already, and Sharra Arryn was by then a faded flower, ten years his elder." "Yeah, that wasn't going to work, a good try but Aegon loved his sisters more," Draegon said and Jaune remembered some of his parents' friends that were a couple years younger were looking at him that way but his sisters blocked them and smothered him. Jaune shuttered remembering it.
"Meanwhile, the two great western kings had made common cause and assembled their own armies, intent on putting an end to Aegon for good and all. From Highgarden marched Mern IX of House Gardener, King of the Reach, with a mighty host. Beneath the walls of Castle Goldengrove, seat of House Rowan, he met Loren I Lannister, King of the Rock, leading his own host down from the westerlands. Together the Two Kings commanded the mightiest host ever seen in Westeros: an army fifty-five thousand strong, including some six hundred lords great and small and more than five thousand mounted knights. "Our iron fist," boasted King Mern. His four sons rode beside him, and both of his young grandsons attended him as squires. The Two Kings did not linger long at Goldengrove; a host of such size must remain on the march, lest it eat the surrounding countryside bare. The allies set out at once, marching north by northeast through tall grasses and golden fields of wheat." "Woah that's a big army, it might even rival Remnants population," Pyrrha said. "True but remember there were no Faunus or Grimm," Draegon said and everyone nodded.
"Advised of their coming in his camp beside the Gods Eye, Aegon gathered his own strength and advanced to meet these new foes. He commanded only a fifth as many men as the Two Kings, and much of his strength was made up of men sworn to the riverlords, whose loyalty to House Targaryen was of recent vintage, and untested. With the smaller host, however, Aegon was able to move much more quickly than his foes. At the town of Stoney Sept, both his queens joined him with their dragons—Rhaenys from Storm's End and Visenya from Crackclaw Point, where she had accepted many fervent pledges of fealty from the local lords. Together the three Targaryen's watched from the sky as Aegon's army crossed the headwaters of the Blackwater Rush and raced south. The two armies came together amongst the wide, open plains south of the Blackwater, near to where the goldroad would run one day. The Two Kings rejoiced when their scouts returned to them and reported Targaryen numbers and dispositions. They had five men for every one of Aegon's, it seemed, and the disparity in lords and knights was even greater. And the land was wide and open, all grass and wheat as far as the eye could see, ideal for heavy horse. Aegon Targaryen would not command the high ground, as Orys Baratheon had at the Last Storm; the ground was firm, not muddy. Nor would they be troubled by rain. The day was cloudless, though windy. There had been no rain for more than a fortnight. King Mern had brought half again as many men to the battle as King Loren, and so demanded the honor of commanding the center. His son and heir, Edmund, was given the vanguard. King Loren and his knights would form the right, Lord Oakheart the left. With no natural barriers to anchor the Targaryen line, the Two Kings meant to sweep around Aegon on both flanks, then take him in the rear, whilst their "iron fist," a great wedge of armored knights and high lords, smashed through Aegon's center." Draegon read but shook his head. "When I read this part for the first time, I already figured out Aegon's plan." He said and some of the teachers' eyes widen as they just figured it out.
"Aegon Targaryen drew his own men up in a rough crescent bristling with spears and pikes, with archers and crossbowmen just behind and light cavalry on either flank. He gave command of his host to Jon Mooton, Lord of Maidenpool, one of the first foes to come over to his cause. The king himself intended to do his fighting from the sky, beside his queens. Aegon had noted the absence of rain as well; the grass and wheat that surrounded the armies was tall and ripe for harvest…and very dry." Team RWBY and JNPR caught on to what was about to happen.
"The Targaryens waited until the Two Kings sounded their trumpets and started forward beneath a sea of banners. King Mern himself led the charge against the center on his golden stallion, his son Gawen beside him with his banner, a great green hand upon a field of white. Roaring and screaming, urged on by horns and drums, the Gardeners and Lannisters charged through a storm of arrows down unto their foes, sweeping aside the Targaryen spearmen, shattering their ranks. But by then Aegon and his sisters were in the air. Aegon flew above the ranks of his foes upon Balerion, through a storm of spears and stones and arrows, swooping down repeatedly to bathe his foes in flame. Rhaenys and Visenya set fires upwind of the enemy and behind them. The dry grasses and stands of wheat went up at once. The wind fanned the flames and blew the smoke into the faces of the advancing ranks of the Two Kings. The scent of fire sent their mounts into panic, and as the smoke thickened, horse and rider alike were blinded. Their ranks began to break as walls of fire rose on every side of them. Lord Mooton's men, safely upwind of the conflagration, waited with their bows and spears, and made short work of the burned and burning men who came staggering from the inferno. The Field of Fire, the battle was named afterward. More than four thousand men died in the flames. Another thousand perished by sword and spear and arrow. Tens of thousands suffered burns, some so bad that they would remain scarred for life. King Mern IX was amongst the dead, together with his sons, grandsons, brothers, cousins, and other kin. One nephew survived for three days. When he died of his burns, House Gardener died with him. King Loren of the Rock lived, riding through a wall of flame and smoke to safety when he saw the battle lost. The Targaryens lost fewer than a hundred men. Queen Visenya took an arrow in one shoulder, but soon recovered. As the dragons gorged themselves on the dead, Aegon commanded that the swords of the slain be gathered up and sent downriver. Loren Lannister was captured the next day. The King of the Rock laid his sword and crown at Aegon's feet, bent the knee, and did him homage. And Aegon, true to his promises, lifted his beaten foe back to his feet and confirmed him in his lands and lordship, naming him Lord of Casterly Rock and Warden of the West. Lord Loren's bannermen followed his example, and so too did many lords of the Reach, those who had survived the dragon fire." "War is never a happy ending but Aegon overcame it with his own power and the power his sisters and dragons had." Draegon said and everyone nodded at all that death. Port, Oobleck, and Glynda looked at Drogon who was still watching the babies and Draegon followed his gaze. "Yes, I would," Draegon said and everyone looked at him some confused. "If we were at war, I would choose the side I thought was right and Drogon and I would burn the enemy in order to stop them from hurting innocent people. You can hate me if you want but I won't hesitate to kill my enemies or else suffer from them coming back to kill someone I care about." He finished Ozpin nodded and motioned his hand for Draegon to continue.
"Yet the conquest of the west remained incomplete, so King Aegon parted from his sisters and marched at once for Highgarden, hoping to secure its surrender before some other claimant could seize it for his own. He found the castle in the hands of its steward, Harlan Tyrell, whose forebears had served the Gardeners for centuries. Tyrell yielded up the keys to the castle without a fight and pledged his support to the conquering king. In reward Aegon granted him Highgarden and all its domains, naming him Warden of the South and Lord Paramount of the Mander, and giving him dominion over all House Gardener's former vassals. It was King Aegon's intent to continue his march south and enforce the submission of Oldtown, the Arbor, and Dorne, but whilst at Highgarden word of a new challenge came to his ears. Torrhen Stark, King in the North, had crossed the Neck and entered the riverlands, leading an army of savage northmen thirty thousand strong. Aegon at once started north to meet him, racing ahead of his army on the wings of Balerion, the Black Dread. He sent word to his two queens as well, and to all the lords and knights who had bent the knee to him after Harrenhal and the Field of Fire. When Torrhen Stark reached the banks of the Trident, he found a host half again the size of his own awaiting him south of the river. Riverlords, westermen, stormlanders, men of the Reach…all had come. And above their camp Balerion, Meraxes, and Vhagar prowled the sky in ever-widening circles." Draegon stopped with a bit of anger for some reason and Ruby noticed it. "Draegon you, okay?" she asked. "Yeah, it's just every time I read about the Starks or the Lannister's I get angry for some reason, I asked my mom and she said that it's her anger that I'm emitting. Both of those families did something to her but she wouldn't say," Draegon said and everyone seemed confused so Draegon continued and decided he'll figure out this anger another time.
"Torrhen's scouts had seen the ruins of Harrenhal, where slow red fires still burned beneath the rubble. The King in the North had heard many accounts of the Field of Fire as well. He knew that the same fate might await him if he tried to force a crossing of the river. Some of his lords bannermen urged him to attack all the same, insisting that northern valor would carry the day. Others urged him to fall back to Moat Cailin and make his stand there on northern soil. The king's bastard brother Brandon Snow offered to cross the Trident alone under cover of darkness, to slay the dragons whilst they slept. King Torrhen did send Brandon Snow across the Trident. But he crossed with three maesters by his side, not to kill but to treat. All through the night messages went back and forth. The next morning, Torrhen Stark himself crossed the Trident. There upon the south bank of the Trident, he knelt, laid the ancient crown of the Kings of Winter at Aegon's feet, and swore to be his man. He rose as Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, a king no more. From that day to this day, Torrhen Stark is remembered as the King Who Knelt…but no northman left his burned bones beside the Trident, and the swords Aegon collected from Lord Stark and his vassals were not twisted nor melted nor bent." "It was noble of him to sacrifice his crown to protect his people," Ozpin spoke with admiration and the other teachers nodded.
"Now Aegon Targaryen and his queens parted company. Aegon turned south once again, marching toward Oldtown, whilst his two sisters mounted their dragons—Visenya for the Vale of Arryn and Rhaenys for Sunspear and the deserts of Dorne. Sharra Arryn had strengthened the defenses of Gulltown, moved a strong host to the Bloody Gate, and tripled the size of the garrisons in Stone, Snow, and Sky, the waycastles that guarded the approach to the Eyrie. All these defenses proved useless against Visenya Targaryen, who rode Vhagar's leathery wings above them all and landed in the Eyrie's inner courtyard. When the regent of the Vale rushed out to confront her, with a dozen guards at her back, she found Visenya with Ronnel Arryn seated on her knee, staring at the dragon, wonder-struck. "Mother, can I go flying with the lady?" the boy king asked. No threats were spoken, no angry words exchanged. The two queens smiled at one another and exchanged courtesies instead. Then Lady Sharra sent for the three crowns (her own regent's coronet, her son's small crown, and the Falcon Crown of Mountain and Vale that the Arryn kings had worn for a thousand years), and surrendered them to Queen Visenya, along with the swords of her garrison. And it was said afterward that the little king flew thrice about the summit of the Giant's Lance, and landed to find himself a little lord. Thus did Visenya Targaryen bring the Vale of Arryn into her brother's realm." "That was a threat," Ren said surprised. "Yep, it was low but Visenya would do whatever it takes to win," Draegon said.
"Rhaenys Targaryen had no such easy conquest. A host of Dornish spearmen guarded the Prince's Pass, the gateway through the Red Mountains, but Rhaenys did not engage them. She flew above the pass, above the red sands and the white, and descended upon Vaith to demand its submission, only to find the castle empty and abandoned. In the town beneath its walls, only women and children and old men remained. When asked where their lords had gone, they would only say, "Away." Rhaenys followed the river downstream to Godsgrace, seat of House Allyrion, but it too was deserted. On she flew. Where the Greenblood met the sea, Rhaenys came upon the Planky Town, where hundreds of poleboats, fishing skiffs, barges, houseboats, and hulks sat baking in the sun, joined together with ropes and chains and planks to make a floating city, yet only a few old women and small children appeared to peer up at her as Meraxes circled overhead. Finally, the queen's flight took her to Sunspear, the ancient seat of House Martell, where she found the Princess of Dorne waiting in her abandoned castle. Meria Martell was eighty years of age, the maesters tell us, and had ruled the Dornishmen for sixty of those years. She was very fat, blind, and almost bald, her skin sallow and sagging. Argilac the Arrogant had named her "the Yellow Toad of Dorne," but neither age nor blindness had dulled her wits. "I will not fight you," Princess Meria told Rhaenys, "nor will I kneel to you. Dorne has no king. Tell your brother that." "I shall," Rhaenys replied, "but we will come again, Princess, and the next time we shall come with fire and blood." "Your words," said Princess Meria. "Ours are Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken. You may burn us, my lady…but you will not bend us, break us, or make us bow. This is Dorne. You are not wanted here. Return at your peril." Thus, queen and princess parted, and Dorne remained unconquered." "Wow she's got guts for an old lady," Yang said impressed and the rest of team RWBY nodded. "Yeah, but this was just the start of the bad for the Targaryen's," Draegon said.
"To the west, Aegon Targaryen met a warmer welcome. The greatest city in all of Westeros, Oldtown was ringed about with massive walls, and ruled by the Hightowers of the Hightower, the oldest, richest, and most powerful of the noble houses of the Reach. Oldtown was also the center of the Faith. There dwelt the High Septon, Father of the Faithful, the voice of the new gods on earth, who commanded the obedience of millions of devout throughout the realms (save in the North, where the old gods still held sway), and the blades of the Faith Militant, the fighting order the smallfolk called the Stars and Swords. Yet when Aegon Targaryen and his host approached Oldtown, they found the city gates open and Lord Hightower waiting to make his submission. As it happened, when word of Aegon's landing first reached Oldtown, the High Septon had locked himself within the Starry Sept for seven days and seven nights, seeking the guidance of the gods. He took no nourishment but bread and water, and spent all his waking hours in prayer, moving from one altar to the next. And on the seventh day, the Crone had lifted up her golden lamp to show him the path ahead. If Oldtown took up arms against Aegon the Dragon, His High Holiness saw, the city would surely burn, and the Hightower and the Citadel and the Starry Sept would be cast down and destroyed. Manfred Hightower, Lord of Oldtown, was a cautious lord and godly. One of his younger sons served with the Warrior's Sons, and another had only recently taken vows as a septon. When the High Septon told him of the vision vouchsafed him by the Crone, Lord Hightower determined that he would not oppose the Conqueror by force of arms. Thus, it was that no men from Oldtown burned on the Field of Fire, though the Hightowers were bannermen to the Gardeners of Highgarden. And thus, it was that Lord Manfred rode forth to greet Aegon the Dragon as he approached, and to offer up his sword, his city, and his oath. (Some say that Lord Hightower also offered up the hand of his youngest daughter, which Aegon declined politely, lest it offend his two queens.) Three days later, in the Starry Sept, His High Holiness himself anointed Aegon with the seven oils, placed a crown upon his head, and proclaimed him Aegon of House Targaryen, the First of His Name, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm. ("Seven Kingdoms" was the style used, though Dorne had not submitted. Nor would it, for more than a century to come.) Only a handful of lords had been present for Aegon's first coronation at the mouth of the Blackwater, but hundreds were on hand to witness his second, and tens of thousands cheered him afterward in the streets of Oldtown as he rode through the city on Balerion's back. Amongst those at Aegon's second coronation were the maesters and archmaesters of the Citadel. Perhaps for that reason, it was this coronation, rather than the Aegonfort crowning on the day of Aegon's landing, that became fixed as the start of Aegon's reign. Thus were the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros hammered into one great realm, by the will of Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters." "Woah, they did it," Weiss said astonished. "It was Aegon's vision, he wanted Westeros for the future of Targaryen's he just needed to conquer one more kingdom," Draegon said with admiration.
"Many thought that King Aegon would make Oldtown his royal seat after the wars were done, whilst others thought he would rule from Dragonstone, the ancient island citadel of House Targaryen. The king surprised them all by proclaiming his intent to make his court in the new town already rising upon the three hills at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush, where he and his sisters had first set foot on the soil of Westeros. King's Landing, the new town would be called. From there Aegon the Dragon would rule his realm, holding court from a great metal seat made from the melted, twisted, beaten, and broken blades of all his fallen foes, a perilous seat that would soon be known through all the world as the Iron Throne of Westeros." Draegon said and Drogon looked at him and growled. "Okay why is he mad?" Jaune asked. "Because Drogon destroyed the Iron throne, he hated it and destroyed it," Draegon said making everyone shocked.
"The long reign of King Aegon I Targaryen (1 AC–37 AC) was by and large a peaceful one…in his later years, especially. But before the Dragon's Peace, as the last two decades of his kingship were later called by the maesters of the Citadel, came the Dragon's wars, the last of which was as cruel and bloody a conflict as any ever fought in Westeros. Though the Wars of Conquest were said to have ended when Aegon was crowned and anointed by the High Septon in the Starry Sept of Oldtown, not all of Westeros had yet submitted to his rule. In the Bite, the lords of the Three Sisters had taken advantage of the chaos of Aegon's Conquest to declare themselves a free nation and crown Lady Marla of House Sunderland their queen. As the Arryn fleet had largely been destroyed during the Conquest, the king commanded his Warden of the North, Torrhen Stark of Winterfell, to end the Sistermen's Rebellion, and a northern army departed from White Harbor on a fleet of hired Braavosi galleys, under the command of Ser Warrick Manderly. The sight of his sails, and the sudden appearance of Queen Visenya and Vhagar in the skies above Sisterton, took the heart out of the Sistermen; they promptly deposed Queen Marla in favor of her younger brother. Steffon Sunderland renewed his fealty to the Eyrie, bent the knee to Queen Visenya, and gave his sons over as hostages for his good behavior, one to be fostered with the Manderlys, the other with the Arryns. His sister, the deposed queen, was exiled and imprisoned. After five years, her tongue was removed, and she spent the remainder of her life with the silent sisters, tending to the noble dead." "That folks are why you should never rebel against a Dragon if you don't have a big enough army," Draegon said and everyone nodded. "But what about Dorne?" Blake asked. "I'm getting there," Draegon said making everyone suspense on what Dorne could do to the Targaryen's.
"On the other side of Westeros, the Iron Islands were in chaos. House Hoare had ruled the ironmen for long centuries, only to be extinguished in a single night when Aegon unleashed Balerion's fires on Harrenhal. Though Harren the Black and his sons perished in those flames, Qhorin Volmark of Harlaw, whose grandmother had been a younger sister of Harren's grandsire, declared himself the rightful heir "of the black line," and assumed the kingship. Not all ironborn accepted his claim, however. On Old Wyk, under the bones of Nagga the Sea Dragon, the priests of the Drowned God placed a driftwood crown on the head of one of their own, the barefoot holy man Lodos, who proclaimed himself the living son of the Drowned God and was said to be able to work miracles. Other claimants arose on Great Wyk, Pyke, and Orkmont, and for more than a year their adherents battled one another on land and sea. It was said that the waters between the islands were so choked with corpses that krakens appeared by the hundreds, drawn by the blood. Aegon Targaryen put an end to the fighting. He descended on the islands in 2 AC, riding Balerion. With him came the war fleets of the Arbor, Highgarden, and Lannisport, and even a few longships from Bear Island dispatched by Torrhen Stark. The ironmen, their numbers diminished by a year of fratricidal war, put up little resistance…indeed, many hailed the coming of the dragons. King Aegon slew Qhorin Volmark with Blackfyre, but allowed his infant son to inherit his father's lands and castle. On Old Wyk, the priest-king Lodos, purported son of the Drowned God, called upon the krakens of the deep to rise and drag down the invaders' ships. When that failed to happen, Lodos filled his robes with stones and walked into the sea, "to seek my father's counsel." Thousands followed. Their bloated, crab-eaten bodies washed up on the shores of Old Wyk for years to come." Glynda shook her head. "Are all these families crazy barbarians?" she asked. "More or less," Draegon answered.
"Afterward, the issue arose as to who should rule the Iron Islands for the king. It was suggested that the ironmen be made vassals of the Tullys of Riverrun or the Lannisters of Casterly Rock. Some even urged that they be given over to Winterfell. Aegon listened to each claim, but in the end decided that he would allow the ironborn to choose their own lord paramount. To no one's surprise, they chose one of their own: Vickon Greyjoy, Lord Reaper of Pyke. Lord Vickon did homage to King Aegon, and the Dragon departed with his fleets. Greyjoy's writ extended only to the Iron Islands, however; he renounced all claim to the lands House Hoare had seized upon the mainland. Aegon granted the ruined castle of Harrenhal and its domains to Ser Quenton Qoherys, his master-at-arms on Dragonstone, but required him to accept Lord Edmyn Tully of Riverrun as his liege lord. The new-made Lord Quenton had two strong sons and a plump grandson to assure the succession, but as his first wife had been carried off by spotted fever three years earlier, he further agreed to take one of Lord Tully's daughters as his bride. With the submission of the Three Sisters and the Iron Islands, all of Westeros south of the Wall was now ruled by Aegon Targaryen, save Dorne alone. So, it was to Dorne that the Dragon next turned his attention. Aegon first attempted to win the Dornishmen with words, dispatching a delegation of high lords, maesters, and septons to Sunspear to treat with Princess Meria Martell, the so-called Yellow Toad of Dorne, and persuade her of the advantages of joining her realm to his. Their negotiations continued for the best part of a year, but achieved nothing." Draegon read. "It begins," Nora said again and everyone gave her an expression that said really.
"The start of the First Dornish War is generally fixed at 4 AC, when Rhaenys Targaryen returned to Dorne. This time she came with fire and blood, just as she had threatened. Riding Meraxes, the queen descended out of a clear blue sky and set the Planky Town ablaze, the fires leaping from boat to boat until the whole mouth of the Greenblood was choked with burning flotsam, and the pillar of smoke could be seen as far away as Sunspear. The denizens of the floating town took to the river for refuge from the flames, so fewer than a hundred died in the attack, and most of those from drowning rather than dragonfire. But first blood had been shed. Elsewhere, Orys Baratheon led one thousand picked knights up the Boneway, whilst Aegon himself marched through the Prince's Pass at the head of an army thirty thousand strong, led by near two thousand mounted knights and three hundred lords and bannermen. Lord Harlan Tyrell, the Warden of the South, was heard to say that they had more than enough power to smash any Dornish army that tried to stand before them, even without Aegon and Balerion. No doubt he had the right of that, but the issue was never proved, for the Dornishmen never offered battle. Instead, they withdrew before King Aegon's host, burning their crops in the field and poisoning every well. The invaders found the Dornish watchtowers in the Red Mountains slighted and abandoned. In the high passes, Aegon's vanguard found its way barred by a wall of sheep carcasses, shorn of all wool and too rotted to eat. The king's army was already running short of food and fodder by the time they emerged from the Prince's Pass to face the Dornish sands. There Aegon divided his forces, sending Lord Tyrell south against Uthor Uller, Lord of the Hellholt, whilst he himself turned eastward, to besiege Lord Fowler in his mountain fastness Skyreach." "Most effective strategy, by cutting off their own supplies of food and water the invaders won't be able to have it either," Dr. Oobleck spoke.
"It was the second year of autumn, and winter was thought to be close at hand. In that season, the invaders hoped, the heat in the deserts would be less, water more plentiful. But the Dornish sun proved unrelenting as Lord Tyrell marched toward Hellholt. In such heat, men drink more, and every waterhole and oasis in the army's path had been poisoned. Horses began to die, more every day, followed by their riders. The proud knights discarded their banners, their shields, their very armor. Lord Tyrell lost a quarter of his men and almost all his horses to the Dornish sands, and when at last he reached the Hellholt, he found it abandoned. Orys Baratheon's attack fared little better. His horses struggled on the stony slopes of the narrow, twisting passes, but many balked completely when they reached the steepest sections of the road, where the Dornish had chiseled steps into the mountains. Boulders rained down on the Hand's knights from above, the work of defenders the stormlanders never saw. Where the Boneway crossed the river Wyl, Dornish archers suddenly appeared as the column was making its way across a bridge, and arrows rained down by the thousands. When Lord Orys ordered his men to fall back, a massive rockfall cut off their retreat. With no way forward and no way back, the stormlanders were butchered like hogs in a pen. Orys Baratheon himself was spared, along with a dozen other lords thought worth the ransom, but they found themselves captives of Wyl of Wyl, the savage mountain lord called Widow-lover. King Aegon himself had more success. Marching eastward through the foothills, where runoff from the heights provided water and game was plentiful in the valleys, he took the castle Skyreach by storm, won Yronwood after a brief siege. The Lord of the Tor had recently died, and his steward surrendered without a fight. Farther east, Lord Toland of Ghost Hill sent forth his champion to challenge the king to single combat. Aegon accepted and slew the man, only to discover afterward that he had not been Toland's champion, but his fool. Lord Toland himself was gone. As was Meria Martell, the Princess of Dorne, when King Aegon descended upon Sunspear on Balerion, to find his sister Rhaenys there before him. After burning the Planky Town, she had taken Lemonwood, Spottswood, and Stinkwater, accepting obeisances from old women and children, but nowhere finding an actual enemy. Even the shadow city outside the walls of Sunspear was half-deserted, and none of those who remained would admit to any knowledge of the whereabouts of the Dornish lords and princess. "The Yellow Toad has melted into the sands," Queen Rhaenys told King Aegon. Aegon's answer was a declaration of victory. In the great hall at Sunspear, he gathered together what dignitaries remained and told them that Dorne was now part of the realm, that henceforth they would be his leal subjects, that their former lords were rebels and outlaws. Rewards were offered for their heads, particularly that of the Yellow Toad, Princess Meria Martell. Lord Jon Rosby was named Castellan of Sunspear and Warden of the Sands, to rule Dorne in the king's name. Stewards and castellans were named for all the other lands and castles the Conqueror had taken. Then King Aegon and his host departed back the way they had come, west along the foothills and through the Prince's Pass. They had hardly reached King's Landing before Dorne erupted behind them. Dornish spearmen appeared from nowhere, like desert flowers after a rain. Skyreach, Yronwood, the Tor, and Ghost Hill were all recaptured within a fortnight, their royal garrisons put to the sword. Aegon's castellans and stewards were allowed to die only after long torment. It was said that the Dornish lords had a wager over who could keep their captive alive the longest whilst dismembering them. Lord Rosby, Castellan of Sunspear and Warden of the Sands, had a kinder end than most. After the Dornishmen swarmed in from the shadow city to retake the castle, he was bound hand and foot, dragged to the top of the Spear Tower, and thrown from a window by none other than the aged Princess Meria herself." "Sheesh, well Aegon and his sisters burned so many people so this is almost nothing," Jaune said and Draegon gave him a look that made Jaune shut up.
"Soon only Lord Tyrell and his host remained. King Aegon had left Tyrell behind when he departed. Hellholt, a strong castle on the river Brimstone, was thought to be well situated to deal with any revolts. But the river was sulfurous, and the fish taken from it made the Highgardeners sick. House Qorgyle of Sandstone had never submitted, and Qorgyle spearmen cut down Tyrell's foraging parties and patrols whenever they strayed too far west. The Vaiths of Vaith did the same to the east. When word of the Defenestration of Sunspear reached the Hellholt, Lord Tyrell gathered his remaining strength and set off across the sands. His announced intention was to capture Vaith, march east along the river, retake Sunspear and the shadow city, and punish Lord Rosby's murderers. But somewhere east of the Hellholt amidst the red sands, Tyrell and his entire army disappeared. No man of them was ever seen again." "Well, that's spooky," Nora spoke.
"Aegon Targaryen was not a man to accept defeat. The war would drag on for another seven years, though after 6 AC the fighting degenerated into an endless bloody series of atrocities, raids, and retaliations, broken up by long periods of inactivity, a dozen short truces, and numerous murders and assassinations. In 7 AC, Orys Baratheon and the other lords who had been taken captive on the Boneway were ransomed back to King's Landing for their weight in gold, but on their return, it was found that the Widow-lover had lopped off each man's sword hand, so they might never again take up swords against Dorne. In retaliation, King Aegon himself descended on the mountain fastnesses of the Wyls with Balerion, and reduced half a dozen of their keeps and watchtowers to heaps of molten stone. The Wyls took refuge in caves and tunnels beneath their mountains, however, and the Widow-lover lived another twenty years. In 8 AC, a very dry year, Dornish raiders crossed the Sea of Dorne on ships provided by a pirate king from the Stepstones, attacking half a dozen towns and villages along the south shore of Cape Wrath and setting fires that spread through half the rainwood. "Fire for fire," Princess Meria is reported to have said. This was not something the Targaryens would allow to go unanswered. Later that same year, Visenya Targaryen appeared in the skies of Dorne, and Vhagar's fires were loosed upon Sunspear, Lemonwood, Ghost Hill, and the Tor. In 9 AC, Visenya returned again, this time with Aegon himself flying beside her, and Sandstone, Vaith, and the Hellholt burned." Draegon read. "Would you have done that if you were Aegon?" Blake asked. "Maybe, they hurt my army when I tried to take it by force they spat on my offers of peace so maybe, but I would focus my power by cutting the head of the snake off and that would be the Martells," Draegon answered leaving Blake unsure.
"The Dornish answer came the next year, when Lord Fowler led an army through the Prince's Pass and into the Reach, moving so swiftly that he was able to burn a dozen villages and capture the great border castle Nightsong before the marcher lords realized the foe was upon them. When word of the attack reached Oldtown, Lord Hightower sent his son Addam with a strong force to retake Nightsong, but the Dornish had anticipated just that thing. A second Dornish army under Ser Joffrey Dayne came down from Starfall and attacked the city. Oldtown's walls proved too strong for the Dornish to overcome, but Dayne burned fields, farms, and villages for twenty leagues around the city, and slew Lord Hightower's younger son, Garmon, when the boy led a sortie against him. Ser Addam Hightower reached Nightsong only to find that Lord Fowler had put the castle to the torch and its garrison to the sword. Lord Caron and his wife and children had been carried back to Dorne as captives. Rather than pursue, Ser Addam returned at once to Oldtown to relieve the city, but Ser Joffrey and his army had melted back into the mountains as well. Old Lord Manfred Hightower died soon after. Ser Addam succeeded his father as the Lord of the High Tower, as Oldtown cried out for vengeance. King Aegon flew Balerion to Highgarden to take counsel with his Warden of the South, but Theo Tyrell, the young lord, was most reluctant to contemplate another invasion of Dorne after the fate that had befallen his father. Once again, the king unleashed his dragons against Dorne. Aegon himself fell upon Skyreach, vowing to make the Fowler seat "a second Harrenhal." Visenya and Vhagar brought fire and blood to Starfall. And Rhaenys and Meraxes returned once more to the Hellholt…where tragedy struck." Draegon said with a bit of anger before he looked at everyone. "For the record I'm not accusing any of you but I wouldn't try this on Drogon because when I go into battle with him now, I make sure his Aura is protecting all his weak spots since his scales are tough." Draegon said and everyone nodded and wondered what he meant but Draegon answered.
"The Targaryen dragons, bred and trained to battle, had flown through storms of spears and arrows on many occasions, and suffered little harm. The scales of a full-grown dragon were harder than steel, and even those arrows that struck home seldom penetrated enough to do more than enrage the great beasts. But as Meraxes banked above the Hellholt, a defender atop the castle's highest tower triggered a scorpion, and a yard-long iron bolt caught the queen's dragon in the right eye. Meraxes did not die at once, but came crashing to earth in mortal agony, destroying the tower and a large section of the Hellholt's curtain wall in her death throes. Whether Rhaenys Targaryen outlived her dragon remains a matter of dispute. Some say that she lost her seat and fell to her death, others that she was crushed beneath Meraxes in the castle yard. A few accounts claim the queen survived her dragon's fall, only to die a slow death by torment in the dungeons of the Ullers. The true circumstances of her demise will likely never be known, but Rhaenys Targaryen, sister and wife to King Aegon I, perished at the Hellholt in Dorne in the 10th year After the Conquest." Draegon said with sadness. "I cried when I first heard this part because I always thought Dragons were invincible but my mom told me that Drogon used to have two brothers and they died similar to Meraxes," Draegon said and everyone felt sorry for him even though it happened over 300 years ago.
"The next two years were the years of the Dragon's Wroth. Every castle in Dorne was burned thrice over, as Balerion and Vhagar returned time and time again. The sands around the Hellholt were fused into glass in places, so hot was Balerion's fiery breath. The Dornish lords were forced into hiding, but even that did not buy them safety. Lord Fowler, Lord Vaith, Lady Toland, and four successive Lords of the Hellholt were murdered, one after the other, for the Iron Throne had offered a lord's ransom in gold for the head of any Dornish lord. Only two of the killers lived to collect their rewards, however, and the Dornishmen took their reprisals, repaying blood with blood. Lord Connington of Griffin's Roost was killed whilst hunting, Lord Mertyns of Mistwood poisoned with his whole household by a cask of Dornish wine, Lord Fell smothered in a brothel in King's Landing. Nor were the Targaryens themselves exempt. The king was attacked thrice, and would have fallen on two of those occasions but for his guards. Queen Visenya was set upon one night in King's Landing. Two of her escorts were slain before Visenya herself cut down the last attacker with Dark Sister." "That's such an awesome sword," Ruby said and Draegon nodded. "Your ancestor was really angry," Yang spoke. "Wouldn't you if that happened to Ruby," Draegon said and Yang nodded. "However so would I, but I won't let that happen to any of you," Draegon said making everyone smile that Draegon would do whatever he could to protect his friends.
"The most infamous act of that bloody age occurred in 12 AC, when Wyl of Wyl, the Widow-lover, arrived uninvited at the wedding of Ser Jon Cafferen, heir to Fawnton, to Alys Oakheart, daughter to the Lord of Old Oak. Admitted through a postern gate by a treacherous servant, the Wyl attackers slew Lord Oakheart and most of the wedding guests, then made the bride look on as they gelded her husband. Afterward they took turns raping Lady Alys and her handmaids, then carried them off and sold them to a Myrish slaver." Everyone present began to hate Dorne more and more.
"By then Dorne was a smoking desert, beset by famine, plague, and blight. "A blasted land," traders from the Free Cities called it. Yet House Martell still remained Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken, as their words avowed. One Dornish knight, brought before Queen Visenya as a captive, insisted that Meria Martell would sooner see her people dead than slaves to House Targaryen. Visenya replied that she and her brother would be glad to oblige the princess. Age and ill health finally did what dragons and armies could not. In 13 AC, Meria Martell, the Yellow Toad of Dorne, died abed (whilst having intimate relations with a stallion, her enemies insisted). Her son Nymor succeeded her as Lord of Sunspear and Prince of Dorne. Sixty years old, his health already failing, the new Dornish prince had no appetite for further slaughter. He began his reign by sending a delegation to King's Landing, to return the skull of the dragon Meraxes and offer King Aegon terms of peace. His own heir, his daughter Deria, led the embassy. Prince Nymor's peace proposals encountered strong opposition in King's Landing. Queen Visenya was hard set against them. "No peace without submission," she declared, and her friends on the king's council echoed her words. Orys Baratheon, who had grown bent and bitter in his later years, argued for sending Princess Deria back to her father less a hand. Lord Oakheart sent a raven, suggesting that the Dornish girl be sold into "the meanest brothel in King's Landing, till every beggar in the city has had his pleasure of her." Aegon Targaryen dismissed all such proposals; Princess Deria had come as an envoy under a banner of peace and would suffer no harm under his roof, he vowed. The king was weary of war, all men agreed, but granting the Dornishmen peace without submission would be tantamount to saying that his beloved sister Rhaenys had died in vain, that all the blood and death had been for naught. The lords of his small council further cautioned that any such peace could be seen as a sign of weakness and might encourage fresh rebellions, which would then need to be put down. Aegon knew that the Reach, the stormlands, and the marches had suffered grievously during the fighting, and would neither forgive nor forget. Even in King's Landing, the king dared not let the Dornish outside the Aegonfort without a strong escort, for fear that the smallfolk of the city would tear them to pieces. For all these reasons, Grand Maester Lucan wrote later, the king was on the point of refusing the Dornish proposals and continuing the war. It was then that Princess Deria presented the king with a sealed letter from her father. "For your eyes only, Your Grace." King Aegon read Prince Nymor's words in open court, stone-faced and silent, whilst seated on the Iron Throne. When he rose afterward, men said, his hand was dripping blood. He burned the letter and never spoke of it again, but that night he mounted Balerion and flew off across the waters of Blackwater Bay, to Dragonstone upon its smoking mountain. When he returned the next morning, Aegon Targaryen agreed to the terms proposed by Nymor. Soon thereafter he signed a treaty of eternal peace with Dorne." "What was in the letter?" Pyrrha asked. "Whatever it was it made Aegon go on guard so it must have been bad," Ren said and Draegon nodded.
"To this day, no one can say with certainty what might have been in Deria's letter. Some claim it was a simple plea from one father to another, heartfelt words that touched King Aegon's heart. Others insist it was a list of all those lords and noble knights who had lost their lives during the war. Certain septons even went so far as to suggest that the missive was ensorceled, that it had been written by the Yellow Toad before her death, using a vial of Queen Rhaenys's own blood for ink, so that the king would be helpless to resist its malign magic. Grand Maester Clegg, who came to King's Landing many years later, concluded that Dorne no longer had the strength to fight. Driven by desperation, Clegg suggested, Prince Nymor might have threatened that, should his peace be refused, he would engage the Faceless Men of Braavos to kill King Aegon's son and heir, Queen Rhaenys's boy, Aenys, then but six years old. It may be so…but no man will ever truly know." Draegon read. "So, they finally had a son born from incest," Glynda said cautiously. Draegon nodded. "My grandma and grandpa on my mom's side are brother and sister. Nearly all of my ancestors married their siblings I told you this would be happening," Draegon said.
"Thus ended the First Dornish War (4–13 AC). The Yellow Toad of Dorne had done what Harren the Black, the Two Kings, and Torrhen Stark could not; she had defeated Aegon Targaryen and his dragons. Yet north of the Red Mountains, her tactics earned her only scorn. "Dornish courage" became a mocking name for cowardice amongst the lords and knights of Aegon's kingdoms. "The toad hops into her hole when threatened," wrote one scribe. Another said, "Meria fought like a woman, with lies and treachery and witchery." The Dornish "victory" (if victory it was) was seen to be dishonorable, and the survivors of the fight, and the sons and brothers of those who had fallen, promised one another that another day would come, and with it a reckoning. Their vengeance would need to wait for a future generation, and the accession of a younger, more bloodthirsty king. Though he would sit the Iron Throne for another twenty-four years, the Dornish conflict was Aegon the Conqueror's last war." "Everyone eventually gets tired of war," Ozpin said speaking from experience.
"Aegon I Targaryen was a warrior of renown, the greatest Conqueror in the history of Westeros, yet many believe his most significant accomplishments came during times of peace. The Iron Throne was forged with fire and steel and terror, it is said, but once the throne had cooled, it became the seat of justice for all Westeros. The reconciliation of the Seven Kingdoms to Targaryen rule was the keystone of Aegon I's policies as king. To this end, he made great efforts to include men (and even a few women) from every part of the realm in his court and councils. His former foes were encouraged to send their children (chiefly younger sons and daughters, as most great lords desired to keep their heirs close to home) to court, where the boys served as pages, cupbearers, and squires, the girls as handmaidens and companions to Aegon's queens. In King's Landing, they witnessed the king's justice at first hand, and were urged to think of themselves as Leal subjects of one great realm, not as westermen or stormlanders or northmen.
The Targaryens also brokered many marriages between noble houses from the far ends of the realm, in hopes that such alliances would help tie the conquered lands together and make the seven kingdoms one. Aegon's queens, Visenya and Rhaenys, took a special delight in arranging these matches. Through their efforts, young Ronnel Arryn, Lord of the Eyrie, took a daughter of Torrhen Stark of Winterfell to wed, whilst Loren Lannister's eldest son, heir to Casterly Rock, married a Redwyne girl from the Arbor. When three girls, triplets, were born to the Evenstar of Tarth, Queen Rhaenys arranged betrothals for them with House Corbray, House Hightower, and House Harlaw. Queen Visenya brokered a double wedding between House Blackwood and House Bracken, rivals whose history of enmity went back centuries, matching a son of each house with a daughter of the other to seal a peace between them. And when a Rowan girl in Rhaenys's service found herself with child by a scullion, the queen found a knight to marry her in White Harbor, and another in Lannisport who was willing to take on her bastard as a fosterling." "This was all before she died while they were at war with Dorne," Draegon clarified making everyone nod.
"Though none doubted that Aegon Targaryen was the final authority in all matters relating to the governance of the realm, his sisters Visenya and Rhaenys remained his partners in power throughout his reign. Save perhaps for Good Queen Alysanne, the wife of King Jaehaerys I, no other queen in the history of the Seven Kingdoms ever exercised as much influence over policy as the Dragon's sisters. It was the king's custom to bring one of his queens with him wherever he traveled, whilst the other remained at Dragonstone or King's Landing, oft as not seated on the Iron Throne, ruling on whatever matters came before her." "That's not fair," Nora said and everyone nodded. "Its just how things were back then," Draegon said simply.
"Though Aegon had designated King's Landing as his royal seat and installed the Iron Throne in the Aegonfort's smoky longhall, he spent no more than a quarter of his time there. Full as many of his days and nights were spent on Dragonstone, the island citadel of his forebears. The castle below the Dragonmont had ten times the room of the Aegonfort, with considerably more comfort, safety, and history. The Conqueror was once heard to say that he even loved the scent of Dragonstone, where the salt air always smelled of smoke and brimstone. Aegon spent roughly half the year at his two seats, dividing his time between them. The other half he devoted to an endless royal progress, taking his court from one castle to another, guesting with each of his great lords in turn. Gulltown and the Eyrie, Harrenhal, Riverrun, Lannisport and Casterly Rock, Crakehall, Old Oak, Highgarden, Oldtown, the Arbor, Horn Hill, Ashford, Storm's End, and Evenfall Hall had the honor of hosting His Grace many times, but Aegon could and would turn up almost anywhere, sometimes with as many as a thousand knights and lords and ladies in his train. He journeyed thrice to the Iron Islands (twice to Pyke and once to Great Wyk), spent a fortnight at Sisterton in 19 AC, and visited the North six times, holding court thrice in White Harbor, twice at Barrowton, and once at Winterfell on his very last royal progress in 33 AC. "It is better to forestall rebellions than to put them down," Aegon famously said, when asked the reason for his journeys. A glimpse of the king in all his power, mounted on Balerion the Black Dread and attended by hundreds of knights glittering in silk and steel, did much to instill loyalty in restless lords. The smallfolk needed to see their kings and queens from time to time as well, the king added, and know that they might have the chance to lay their grievances and concerns before him. And so, they did. Much of every royal progress was given over to feasts and balls and hunts and hawking, as every lord attempted to outdo the others in splendor and hospitality, but Aegon also made a point of holding court wherever he might travel, whether from a dais in some great lord's castle or a mossy stone in a farmer's field. Six maesters traveled with him, to answer any questions he might have on local law, customs, and history, and to make note of such decrees and judgments as His Grace might hand down. A lord should know the land he rules, the Conqueror later told his son Aenys, and through his travels Aegon learned much and more about the Seven Kingdoms and its peoples." "He knows how to be a good king, by spending time with his subjects they like him more and don't rebel," Port said and everyone nodded in agreement.
"Each of the conquered kingdoms had its own laws and traditions. King Aegon did little to interfere with those. He allowed his lords to continue to rule much as they always had, with all the same powers and prerogatives. The laws of inheritance and succession remained unchanged, the existing feudal structures were confirmed, lords both great and small retained the power of pit and gallows on their own land, and the privilege of the first night wherever that custom had formerly prevailed. Aegon's chief concern was peace. Before the Conquest, wars between the realms of Westeros were common. Hardly a year passed without someone fighting someone somewhere. Even in those kingdoms said to be at peace, neighboring lords oft settled their disputes at sword point. Aegon's accession put an end to much of that. Petty lords and landed knights were now expected to take their disputes to their liege lords and abide by their judgments. Arguments between the great houses of the realm were adjudicated by the Crown. "The first law of the land shall be the King's Peace," King Aegon decreed, "and any lord who goes to war without my leave shall be considered a rebel and an enemy of the Iron Throne." King Aegon also issued decrees regularizing customs, duties, and taxes throughout the realm, whereas previously every port and every petty lord had been free to exact however much they could from tenants, smallfolk, and merchants. He also proclaimed that the holy men and women of the Faith, and all their lands and possessions, were to be exempt from taxation, and affirmed the right of the Faith's own courts to try and sentence any septon, Sworn Brother, or holy sister accused of malfeasance. Though not himself a godly man, the first Targaryen king always took care to court the support of the Faith and the High Septon of Oldtown." "The hardest Job for a King is to make sure there is peace in the realms. Anyone can make war, it's keeping the peace that is challenging," Port said and everyone nodded.
"King's Landing grew up around Aegon and his court, on and about the three great hills that stood near the mouth of the Blackwater Rush. The highest of those hills had become known as Aegon's High Hill, and soon enough the lesser hills were being called Visenya's Hill and the Hill of Rhaenys, their former names forgotten. The crude motte-and-bailey fort that Aegon had thrown up so quickly was neither large enough nor grand enough to house the king and his court, and had begun to expand even before the Conquest was complete. A new keep was erected, all of logs and fifty feet high, with a cavernous longhall beneath it, and a kitchen, made of stone and roofed with slate in case of fire, across the bailey. Stables appeared, then a granary. A new watchtower was raised, twice as tall as the older one. Soon the Aegonfort was threatening to burst out of its walls, so a new palisade was raised, enclosing more of the hilltop, creating space enough for a barracks, an armory, a sept, and a drum tower. Below the hills, wharves and storehouses were rising along the riverbanks, and merchants from Oldtown and the Free Cities were tying up beside the longships of the Velaryons and Celtigars, where only a few fishing boats had previously been seen. Much of the trade that had gone through Maidenpool and Duskendale was now coming to King's Landing. A fish market sprung up along the riverside, a cloth market between the hills. A customs house appeared. A modest sept opened on the Blackwater, in the hull of an old cog, followed by a stouter one of daub-and-wattle on the shore. Then a second sept, twice as large and thrice as grand, was built atop Visenya's Hill, with coin sent by the High Septon. Shops and homes sprouted like mushrooms after a rain. Wealthy men raised walled manses on the hillsides, whilst the poor gathered in squalid hovels of mud and straw in the low places between. No one planned King's Landing. It simply grew…but it grew quickly. At Aegon's first coronation, it was still a village squatting beneath a motte-and-bailey castle. By his second, it was already a thriving town of several thousand souls. By 10 AC, it was a true city, almost as large as Gulltown or White Harbor. By 25 AC, it had outgrown both to become the third most populous city in the realm, surpassed only by Lannisport and Oldtown. Unlike its rivals, however, King's Landing had no walls. It needed none, some of its residents were known to say; no enemy would ever dare attack the city so long as it was defended by the Targaryens and their dragons. The king himself might have shared these views originally, but the death of his sister Rhaenys and her dragon, Meraxes, in 10 AC and the attacks upon his own person undoubtedly gave him cause…" "People wanted to be in a kingdom that would thrive and they wanted to be loyal to the Targaryen's," Ozpin spoke with admiration on how dedicated Aegon was after the conquest.
"And in the 19th year After the Conquest, word reached Westeros of a daring raid in the Summer Isles, where a pirate fleet had sacked Tall Trees Town and carried off a thousand women and children as slaves, along with a fortune in plunder. The accounts of the raid greatly troubled the king, who realized that King's Landing would be similarly vulnerable to any enemy shrewd enough to fall upon the city when he and Visenya were elsewhere. Accordingly, His Grace ordered the construction of a ring of walls about King's Landing, as high and strong as those that protected Oldtown and Lannisport. The task of building them was conferred upon Grand Maester Gawen and Ser Osmund Strong, the Hand of the King. To honor the Seven, Aegon decreed that the city would have seven gates, each defended by a massive gatehouse and defensive towers. Work on the walls began the next year and continued until 26 AC. Ser Osmund was the king's fourth Hand. His first had been Lord Orys Baratheon, his bastard half-brother and companion of his youth, but Lord Orys was taken captive during the Dornish War and suffered the loss of his sword hand. When ransomed back, his lordship asked the king to be relieved of his duties. "The King's Hand should have a hand," he said. "I will not have men speaking of the King's Stump." Aegon next called on Edmyn Tully, Lord of Riverrun, to take up the Handship. Lord Edmyn served from 7–9 AC, but when his wife died in childbed, he decided that his children had more need of him than the realm, and begged leave to return to the riverlands. Alton Celtigar, Lord of Claw Isle, replaced Tully, serving ably as Hand until his death from natural causes in 17 AC, after which the king named Ser Osmund Strong." "The hand is the closes advisor to the ruler and he makes decisions if they are not important to the king or queen," Draegon said. "So that's what you meant when you called yourself my strong hand," Ruby realized and Draegon smiled. "I was just messing around but I would advise you if you needed it," he replied.
"Grand Maester Gawen was the third in that office. Aegon Targaryen had always kept a maester on Dragonstone, as his father and father's father had before him. All the great lords of Westeros, and many lesser lords and landed knights, relied upon maesters trained in the Citadel of Oldtown to serve their households as healers, scribes, and counselors, to breed and train the ravens who carried their messages (and write and read those messages for lords who lacked those skills), help their stewards with the household accounts, and teach their children. During the Conquest, Aegon and his sisters each had a maester serving them, and afterward the king sometimes employed as many as half a dozen to deal with all the matters brought before him. But the wisest and most learned men in the Seven Kingdoms were the archmaesters of the Citadel, each of them the supreme authority in one of the great disciplines. In 5 AC, King Aegon, feeling that the realm might benefit from such wisdom, asked the Conclave to send him one of their own numbers to advise and consult with him on all matters relating to the governance of the realm. Thus was the office of Grand Maester created, at King Aegon's request. The first man to serve in that capacity was Archmaester Ollidar, keeper of histories, whose ring and rod and mask were bronze. Though exceptionally learned, Ollidar was also exceptionally old, and he passed from this world less than a year after taking up the mantle of Grand Maester. To fill his place, the Conclave selected Archmaester Lyonce, whose ring and rod and mask were yellow gold. He proved more robust than his predecessor, serving the realm until 12 AC, when he slipped in the mud, broke his hip, and died soon thereafter, whereupon Grand Maester Gawen was elevated." "So there like the doctors in ancient time," Pyrrha clairified and Draegon nodded. "And many other things for it was an Archmaester who wrote this book. Archmaester George R.R Martin," Draegon said admiring the man.
"The institution of the king's small council did not come into its full bloom until the reign of King Jaehaerys the Conciliator, but that is not to suggest that Aegon I ruled without the benefit of counsel. He is known to have consulted often with his various Grand Maesters, and his own household maesters as well. On matters relating to taxation, debts, and incomes, he sought the advice of his masters of coin. Though he kept one septon at King's Landing and another at Dragonstone, the king more oft wrote to the High Septon of Oldtown on religious issues, and always made a point of visiting the Starry Sept during his yearly circuit. More than any of these, King Aegon relied upon the King's Hand, and of course upon his sisters, the Queens Rhaenys and Visenya. Queen Rhaenys was a great patron to the bards and singers of the Seven Kingdoms, showering gold and gifts on those who pleased her. Though Queen Visenya thought her sister frivolous, there was a wisdom in this that went beyond a simple love of music. For the singers of the realm, in their eagerness to win the favor of the queen, composed many a song in praise of House Targaryen and King Aegon, and then went forth and sang those songs in every keep and castle and village green from the Dornish Marches to the Wall. Thus was the Conquest made glorious to the simple people, whilst Aegon the Dragon himself became a hero king. Queen Rhaenys also took a great interest in the smallfolk, and had a special love for women and children. Once, when she was holding court in the Aegonfort, a man was brought before her for beating his wife to death. The woman's brothers wanted him punished, but the husband argued that he was within his lawful rights, since he had found his wife abed with another man. The right of a husband to chastise an erring wife was well established throughout the Seven Kingdoms (save in Dorne). The husband further pointed out that the rod he had used to beat his wife was no thicker than his thumb, and even produced the rod in evidence. When the queen asked him how many times, he had struck his wife, however, the husband could not answer, but the dead woman's brothers insisted there had been a hundred blows." "She's a Just woman," Weiss admired and the rest of team RWBY agreed wishing she was still alive.
"Queen Rhaenys consulted with her maesters and septons, then rendered her decision. An adulterous wife gave offense to the Seven, who had created women to be faithful and obedient to their husbands, and therefore must be chastised. As God has but seven faces, however, the punishment should consist of only six blows (for the seventh blow would be for the Stranger, and the Stranger is the face of death). Thus, the first six blows the man had struck had been lawful…but the remaining ninety-four had been an offense against gods and men, and must be punished in kind. From that day forth, the "rule of six" became a part of the common law, along with the "rule of thumb." (The husband was taken to the foot of the Hill of Rhaenys, where he was given ninety-four blows by the dead woman's brothers, using rods of lawful size.) Queen Visenya did not share her sister's love of music and song. She was not without humor, however, and for many years kept her own fool, a hirsute hunchback called Lord Monkeyface whose antics amused her greatly. When he choked to death on a peach pit, the queen acquired an ape and dressed it in Lord Monkeyface's clothing. "The new one is cleverer," she was wont to say. Yet there was darkness in Visenya Targaryen. To most of the world, she presented the grim face of a warrior, stern and unforgiving. Even her beauty had an edge to it, her admirers said. The oldest of the three heads of the dragon, Visenya was to outlive both of her siblings, and it was rumored that in her later years, when she could no longer wield a sword, she delved into the dark arts, mixing poisons and casting malign spells. Some even suggest that she might have been a kinslayer and a kingslayer, though no proof has ever been offered to support such calumnies." "What does that mean," Ruby narrowed her eyes and Draegon answered. "To put it simply she would do whatever it takes to win and she loves her family more than anyone else in a dark way," Draegon said wary.
"It would be a cruel irony if true, for in her youth no one did more to protect the king. Visenya twice wielded Dark Sister in Aegon's defense when he was set upon by Dornish cutthroats. Suspicious and ferocious by turns, she trusted no one but her brother. During the Dornish War, she took to wearing a shirt of mail night and day, even under her court clothes, and urged the king to do the same. When Aegon refused, Visenya grew furious. "Even with Blackfyre in your hand, you are only one man," she told him, "And I cannot always be with you." When the king pointed out that he had guardsmen around him, Visenya drew Dark Sister and slashed him across the cheek so quickly the guards had no time to react. "Your guards are slow and lazy," she said. "I could have killed you as easily as I cut you. You require better protection." King Aegon, bleeding, had no choice but to agree." "Ok it's official, she scares me now," Jaune whimpered a bit. "But at least she's doing whatever she can't protect her husband/brother," Pyrrha said not liking the woman either but admiring her work and dedication.
"Many kings had champions to defend them. Aegon was the Lord of the Seven Kingdoms; therefore, he should have seven champions, Queen Visenya decided. Thus did the Kings guard come into being; a brotherhood of seven knights, the finest in the realm, cloaked and armored all in purest white, with no purpose but to defend the king, giving up their own lives for his if need be. Visenya modeled their vows on those of the Night's Watch; like the black-cloaked crows of the Wall, the White Swords served for life, surrendering all their lands, titles, and worldly goods to live a life of chastity and obedience, with no reward but honor." "I sometimes used to pretend I was my mom's queens guard and she would laugh and say I should try and build my own kings guard," Draegon said and everyone laughed with him while Jaune thought that if he lived in the time of Draegons ancestors he would try to become one because that seemed cool. Jaune kept those thoughts to himself.
"So many knights came forward to offer themselves as candidates for the Kingsguard that King Aegon considered holding a great tourney to determine which of them was the worthiest. Visenya would not hear of it, however. To be a Kingsguard knight required more than just skill at arms, she pointed out. She would not risk placing men of uncertain loyalty about the king, regardless of how well they performed in a melee. She would choose the knights herself. The champions she selected were young and old, tall and short, dark and fair. They came from every corner of the realm. Some were younger sons, others the heirs of ancient houses who gave up their inheritances to serve the king. One was a hedge knight, another bastard born. All of them were quick, strong, observant, skilled with sword and shield, and devoted to the king. These are the names of Aegon's Seven, as written in the White Book of the Kingsguard: Ser Richard Roote; Ser Addison Hill, Bastard of Cornfield; Ser Gregor Goode; Ser Griffith Goode, his brother; Ser Humfrey the Mummer; Ser Robin Darklyn, called Darkrobin; and Ser Corlys Velaryon, Lord Commander. History has confirmed that Visenya Targaryen chose well. Two of her original seven would die protecting the king, and all would serve with valor to the end of their lives. Many brave men have followed in their footsteps since, writing their names in the White Book and donning the white cloak. The Kingsguard remains a synonym for honor to this day." "Really," Nora asked surprised. "Yes, but not to the Targaryen's anymore," Draegon said quietly and kept reading before anyone can ask.
"Sixteen Targaryen's followed Aegon the Dragon to the Iron Throne, before the dynasty was at last toppled in Robert's Rebellion. They numbered amongst them wise men and foolish, cruel men and kind, good men and evil. Yet if the dragon kings are considered solely on the basis of their legacies, the laws and institutions and improvements they left behind, the name of King Aegon I belongs near the top of the list, in peace as well as war." Draegon said as he took a bookmark out and placed it, they're before closing it. "Wait that's it?" Yang asked. And Draegon pointed to the sky and the Sun was setting. "Will pick up another time," Draegon looked to see Drogon stretch his wings out. "What happened in Roberts Rebellion?" Blake asked. "That was the time of my Grandfather King Aerys II but I won't be spoiling anything," Draegon said and everyone nodded. Draegon looked over at the dragons who got up and flapped their little wings in trying to fly. It made Draegon smile before he broke his silence. "After everything that's happened, I think I found name for these three," Draegon said and everyone got excited to hear it. "I'm going to name them in honor of the big three," he continued as he picked up the silver one who looked right at Draegon. "Since you're a girl your name will be Meraxes," he said and the baby screeched happily. "You're also a girl so your name will be Vhagar," Draegon said as he picked up the bronze baby dragon and it screeched happily in reply. Finally, Draegon picked up the red baby with black wings as Vhagar and Meraxes clung to his shoulders. "you're colors maybe switched but I will still name you after him Your name shall be Balerion, these three dragons are the first ones to be born in Remnant just as their ancestors were the ones to land in Westeros," Draegon said and Balerion screeched with happiness. "Those are great names to honor your ancestors," Weiss said as she walked up to him as did the other members of team RWBY. The babies screeched and soon smoke was coming out of their mouths. "I guess they'll be breathing fire within a few weeks." Draegon said and everyone laughed and Drogon looked up to see the Sun set but the Red comet flew through the Sky sill burning brightly. Ozpin was deep in thought. "In all my time I've never heard of Westeros or a Targaryen so where did Draegon come from." Ozpin saw Drogon was looking at him but remained quiet.
Well what do you think it was long and hard. All bold words are from FIRE and BLOOD which belong to George RR Martin. Many of you guessed that I wanted to name the three hatchlings after the big three because I think their cool names. I hope you like this chapter I'm doing this once per volume. Next time it's RWBY Fire and Blood in Remnant Volume 2. See you soon and happy late birthday to Longclaw 1-6 one of the best Game of thrones fan fiction writers. :)
