CHAPTER 5

AERYS

The corpse of Ethan Glover burned in the Hall of the King's Court. The smell of the burning body sickened everyone inside the hall but the King himself. The hand, Chelstead was murmuring something about it being all dishonourable-, well Aerys couldn't care less, traitors had threatened his rule, they had escaped justice and had the tenacity to kidnap his son along with absconding themselves. Well, they forgot one of their companions, Brandon Starks squire, the Glover boy. Ah, his screams were pure pleasure for the King.

He was not at all surprised to hear of Tywin's boy escaping with the traitors, he had always known that Tywin's brood were filled with treasonous currs. Oh well, he would enjoy separating the boy's head from his shoulder. Perhaps he would send it to the Rock later. It would be fitting punishment for the arrogant Lion, wouldn't it?

The wolves had come howling about some 'unjust crime' done to them. Bah! he was ashamed of the dullard who he called his son, boy couldn't even steal a girl properly. What was unjust in the whole matter? Dragon's do as they like and a Dragon answers to no one! To none!

As the final embers of the wildfire drowned out, he could feel his dragon rising, well, time to go to his useless bitch wife with her rotten womb which had destroyed so many of his dragon heirs, she should be honored he was still spending time with her instead of screeching every time he touched her. But then, he really did like the screams too!

As he made to go to Rhaella's solar Chelstead had the nerve to stop him,"Y-your grace, the P-prince Viserys?", squeaked the newly made Hand of the King.

The scab king turned back to face his hand and commanded,"Ah, yes.. send a letter to my loyal Bannermen all over the kingdoms, send word of the traitor's deeds and bring my son back to me."

As the Hand nodded and sped away, Aerys looked around the court to look at all the traitors assembled there, they were all traitors, everyone of them. They were scared traitors at the very least and Aerys had nothing to fear from them. He liked to see their scared visages, their agonized expressions that they did well to hide. The King had found himself liking such things since he had come back from Duskendale.

He took one last glare at his traitorous subjects and then headed off to his bitch sisters solar, he would relish in her agony tonight.

By the moon's end he would have his son back and the traitor's seen to justly.

And then, the Dragon would rise again.

XXXXX

JON

The Eyrie had been eerily quiet for much of the past days. Admittedly though there wasn't much to cheer about. The hard work he had put through building the Northern Alliance so meticulously with the Starks and the Tullys was crumbling apart due to actions he would have had never anticipated. It was a shame that he was even surprised by Rhaegar's actions, it was common knowledge that every time a Targaryen was born, the question of insanity was always but a coins toss away. To think that Rhaegar would be on the sane side was a mistake on his part. Even then he had doubts about Lyanna Stark's motives too whether the girls was really kidnapped or went on her own was a question where he more than often came to the opinion that perhaps it was the latter although he would never voice it in public lest he dismay his two almost-sons Robert and Ned.

Robert had been crushed they he heard of the abduction, punching his fists against the wall and demanding to march out for war then and there while Ned's icy face had showed some real agony for a while before it went to an even harder visage. Both of them were baying for blood now. But Jon wouldn't go to war unless he was sure of the outcome.

His bannermen were hesitant to raise their banners with Grafton and Corbray being the most vocal against it. Jon could understand their dilemma, the Arryns were one of the most loyal vassals the Dragons could count on when needed. Turning against them was one thing for hesitancy, winning against them required a completely different level of courage and confidence.

But the tables had turned.

Oh, they so had turned right into his favour. Where there was once desperate optimism regarding Lord Rickard's fate, the latest raven had filled him with a new sense of confidence. The letter read,

"All of the King's loyal bannermen are hereby instructed to put their efforts into nabbing the three traitors by the name of Lord Rickard Stark, Brandon Stark and the Oathbreaker Kingsguard Ser Jaime Lannister who have abducted his Grace's royal son, the Prince Viserys, the King expects his vassals to raise their banners and march to battle to apprehend the traitor's and their territories.

The King has also demanded Lord Eddard Stark to come to King's Landing to answer for his family's crimes. His Grace assures that the traitors will be brought to justice and his reign will be more peace shall prevail again.

King Aerys II Targaryen,

Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, King of the Andals, Rhoynar and the First Men."

This changed a lot of things, wondered Jon. He promptly ordered his men to summon his wards to his solar.

As Robert and Ned filtered in and looked surprised to see the broad grin on Jon's face.

Ned was the first to speak up,"What's the matter my lord, news of my father?"

"Indeed."

"What happened? did the King pardon Brandon?"

"He, didn't."

Ned looked bewildered to see the grin still on his face. The boy was utterly confused and Jon didn't wanted to torture him further. He handed both of them the parchment from King's Landing.

Ned broke out into a visibly relieved face while Robert looked back up puzzled and said,"B-but this doesn't make sense, why would the Lord Rickard abduct Prince Viserys?"

Aye, that was a curious move, Jon knew Rickard wasn't the sort to chase some abstract form of revenge by abducting Viserys as a reply for Rhaegar's actions with Lyanna. It was curious move indeed, all though it could be thought on later.

"It doesn't matter Robert and certainly doesn't change the plans I had laid out for such a situation."

"And what situations would those be?", enquired Ned.

"I had planned to raise my banners should your sire's death reach our ears along with requesting the both of you to raise your banners too. By the Seven's grace Lord Rickard's escape has blessed us immensely, coupled with the fact by the possibility of using the Prince as a hostage. Perhaps even Lord Tywin would help us…No, I'm rambling too much, Rickard may have escaped but he hasn't come home yet. There's no advantage to us till your father reaches his allies safely."

Ned looked worried when he replied," So what now, where do we go from here?"

Jon stood up from his study and placed a hand on both of his wards shoulder and said,"Now we fight, we raise our banners and hope to crush our opponents by the sheer force of the Wolf, the Stag and the Falcon."

"AYE!, we'll fight and crush that Dragonspawn", boomed Robert with his usual vigour for the first time in a long while.

He looked at both his sons and hoped they could prevail.

XXXXXXX

HEY GUYS, I NOTICED A FEW GRAMMER MISTAKES IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTERS, IT WAS MOSTLY BECAUSE OF THE BUGS IN THE APP I'M USING TO PUBLISH THIS STORY, THERE WEREN'T AS MANY MISTAKES IN THE ORIGINAL DRAFT. AS ALWAYS, THANKS FOR READING AND DO REVIEW