DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING

A/N: Thanks again to everyone who left a review!

DUNCAN

The isle of Dragonstone had never been a lively place even during the time when the Targaryen dynasty had been at its prime and it's heirs proudly called the ancient castle of the dragon conquer their home. The place seemed perpetually gloomy and the smell of sulphur was overpowering even from sea, though Duncan supposed that the smell should be inviting to him, one of the dragon's own kin. A dragon with the name of a man…

The old castle was once to be Duncan's someday, back when he was still first in line for the throne before he had forsaken the damned chair in the name of the woman he loved. Now his ancestral seat belonged to Jaehaerys, though his brother seldom spent time in its cold and damp walls which would only quicken the death that had been patiently sitting by his side ever since the day he was born.

The ship his father had provided for him served him well enough on his trip, though the prince had to admit that he was not a great lover of the sea or its fickle nature and more than once he had to keep his head over the rail as he retched up his stomach's contents into the murky waters below. Thankfully the trip had not been too long and it was only a few days before he spotting the smoke that billowed from atop the Dragonmont. Perhaps a grim omen thought Duncan weakly.

He and his men were greeted by several knights wearing the red crab of House Celtigar, all of whom greeted Duncan with deep bows and low murmurs of 'my prince' and 'your grace'. Duncan had to stop himself from correcting them but never the less put on a false smile.

"Sers, would you be as kind as to take me to Lord Velaryon?" he told them stiffly, struggling to keep his cheerful demeanour up.

The men did as they were bid and lead Duncan and his two sworn shields through the large gates and up into the oppressive looking castle that was covered with all manner of stone monsters and dragons that had been carved into the stone centuries ago by his Valyrian ancestors.

The Celtigar men led him up along the massive staircase that wound its way up into the stone drum and up to the Chamber of the Painted Table where Aegon the conquer himself had carved out his original plans to take Westeros with his famous table that was shaped exactly into a perfect replica of the Seven Kingdoms. Duncan found his feet beginning to hurt around halfway up the great stairwell and had to pause and rub at them occasionally, despite the image it set with those around him. Not very princely he thought to himself, a slight smile break out on his face. When have I ever cared what other people thought anyway? If I did then I would have married the Blackfyre girl like father wanted and lived a life of misery and bitterness…

Eventually they made it to the top Chamber and made their way inside. Lord Aelix Velaryon was sitting on the painted table searching thoroughly through some old book that he had resting over Lannisport, murmuring to himself as he quickly flicked through the pages with dissatisfaction before looking up in surprise at Duncan, his purple eyes gleaming as he hurried over to shake the Targaryen's hand.

"Prince Duncan, thank the seven that you came! We've had some disturbing reports lately and now this situation with the ship…" trailed off Aelix with a shake of his head, sending long tangled locks of silver hair backwards and forwards.

Aelix Velaryon was an odd fellow, more comfortable with books than with people and it was little wonder why he and Jaehaerys were friends. The man was also the brother to Jaehaerys late wife Velena and it seemed that after her death the two had only become closer, so much so that the man now kept Dragonstone for Duncan's ailing brother.

"Has he said anything else?" asked Duncan curtly, his impatience growing.

Aelix waved his silver mane again in the negative and waved over a serving boy from the corner and asked him to fetch the Maester. "He has been in and out of consciousness since he washed ashore, we were afraid he'd die of fever those first few nights, yet it seems the Seven still have use of him yet."

Duncan nodded but otherwise said nothing as he observed the table before him. He thought about the generations of Targaryen Dragonlords whom had lived on the godsforsaken rock which had sheltered them from the Doom, of all of those many lords what was it that made Aegon so special? Why did he choose to go against generations of compliancy? Despite the two of them choosing opposite directions Duncan felt a connection with his ancestor. Neither of us settled for what our fathers chose for us…

"Prince Duncan, are you all right?" asked Aelix from beside him, his purple eyes looking down at him in confusion.

"Don't…don't call me that. Duncan will suffice." Replied the young Targaryen tired as he dragged his gaze from the painted table and over to the castellan of Dragonstone.

The Velaryon looked at him as if he had grown a second head but eventually nodded. Not long after an old man with great bushy eyebrows wearing a Maester's chain came into the room and bowed expectantly at the two men. "You called for me my lord?"

"Is the prisoner lucid Maester Alyn?"

"He is, though…I do not think he'll live through the night my lord, the sea took its toll on his body." replied the old man with a hint of sadness.

Aelix turned to Duncan with a shrug of his shoulders. "I suppose we best speak with him now before it's too late."

And with that they ventured down the ridiculous amount of stairs deeper and deeper into the castle. It seemed that with every step they took the stones around them seemed to grow warmer and warmer as they neared the volcanic vents that lay underneath of the Dragonmont. Finally they came to a halt at one of the more dank areas of the dungeon and Aelix had one of the guards open the cell for them to enter. It wasn't a particularly large cell and there seemed to be more than a few rats hiding amongst the straw that littered the ground that was used for the makeshift bed for the prisoners.

Duncan could vaguely see a crouched figure in the far corner of the cell, and when they moved closer the figure recoiled in fear before Aelix raised his arms in peace before slowly edging closer. "We're not here to harm you; I just need you to tell the prince what you told me and the Maester."

The figure seemed to hesitate for a beat before slowly moving into the light. Duncan had to stop himself from gasping at the sight of the man, or rather child as he was; the boy looked to be no older than ten and he seemed to be half a skeleton with his bones looking as if they were fighting to break free of the skin.

"Why has this boy not been fed?" demanded Duncan, shooting Aelix and the Maester a hateful glare.

"My prince the boy has spent weeks at sea, he was mostly unconscious for the first few weeks and only recently awoken and even then we could only feed him a little before he would retch it back up. It can't be helped." replied Aelix, giving another of those annoying shrugs of his.

Duncan frowned but then turned back to the boy. "Lad, can you tell me how you came to be here?"

The child looked up at him with eyes that had sunken into his skull like face and seemed not to hear him at first but then his cracked lips began to form words and he croaked out his story. "We were coming back from Pentos, we…..delivered a load of wine to the Magister….father always sold wines to the Magister….back since before I was born…..we were sailing back to Kings Landing…we came across a ship…Father told us that it was just a merchant ship…but then they boarded…started killing everyone… had to hide…in the dingy…was so thirsty…."

"Tell him about the sail, what was on the sail?" urged Aelix from beside him.

"The sail….had a dragon….three heads….black….on red…"

Duncan felt a shiver run up his spine at that and he exchanged a look with Velaryon and was about to ask him something when the boy cut in again. "The man….he killed father….."

Duncan looked at the boy sharply. "Man? What man? Maelys? Was the man deformed lad?"

The boy however shook his head wearily and instead looked off at some apparition that only he could see. "The snake man…..the snake…" and with that exhaustion seemed to finally overtake him and the boy's eyes began to roll back into his head and he fell back against the wall of his cell.

Duncan studied the boy's form for a moment before stepping back out into the corridor with the Maester and Aelix, a troubled look on his dark features. What the boy had described was surely an attack by the Blackfyres, yet it seemed far too random and too needlessly violent, even for Maelys. but perhaps it is one of the butchers from the East he brought with him…He would have to tell his father and brothers everything he had just heard; perhaps they could make sense of it. Gods help us all….

ALERIE

The night air was rather warm and pleasant at Summerhall. The insects and frogs chirped away happily in a pleasant melody outside of Alerie and Aemon's bedroom window the slight breeze that blew in was comforting to Alerie as she slept peacefully beside her husband's warm and protective form. Alerie dreamt that she was back in Oldtown with her family swimming out in the ocean like they would often do when she was a small child before her father fell from his horse and broke his neck. It was beautiful and warm and just like all of her memories of the Hightower were on those days when she would allow herself the time to recollect.

Her reverie was shattered by the violent movements of Aemon beside her. When she woke she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked over at her husband's tense form. Whatever he was dreaming about it was troubling him, his face was scrunched up in a deep frown and aside from the tossing and turning he seemed to be muttering something to himself. Gently she reached down to wake him but suddenly he snapped up with a bloodcurdling scream and immediately began kicking the bed sheets off before he scrambled from the bed screaming in pain.

"What's the matter sweetling?" asked Alerie as she tried to approach before he let out another scream, his hands grasping at his face.

"It bit me! Gods it bit my eye! We're all going to burn!" he shouted rapidly, his voice sounding horribly unlike Aemon as his lilac eyes looked around the room in panic. He looked more like a rabid animal than her husband.

"It was just a dream sweetling, your face is fine. Please let me take you back to bed…" she tried, forcing herself to be as calm as she could for his sake, sheer terror overwhelming her as she watched him continue to rave about madly.

"He's coming for us…the Serpent is coming for us all!"