142 A.L. The Shimmering Plains

Queen Saera Targaryen

Just as Saera had thought she might finally have settled down into something resembling a peaceful family life, her husband had declared war on the remaining independent Free Cities. Aemon had grown restless she knew, restless and tired of spending his days in council meetings and dealing with the bickering that Daenaerys and the two Velaryon girls seemed to get into, and so he hungered for war. The remaining Free Cities, Norvos, Qohor, Lorath, Braavos and the Slaver Cities all had armies that could threaten the peace in the Essosi states sworn to the throne and so Aemon had declared they must be brought down. Saera herself had found that she had become oddly comforted by having children, something she had never first thought she would want, having always been much more martially inclined than any of her elder sisters including Daenaerys whom she shared everything with. Still there was a certain sense of joy she got from watching both her son Maegon- who was also second in line to the iron throne behind Rhaena's weakling son Aemon- and Visenya who was a force of energy playing with one another and their siblings. Saera had had no more children since those two and she found that she was glad for that, Maegon and Visenya were enough for her, and besides there were far too many of Aemon's children walking around as it was without the need for more, she often questioned whether her brother thought more with his cock than his actual brain. Then again he had seen the wisdom in naming Daenaerys to the small council so perhaps he was not as ruled by his lust as she had first thought.

Of course her husband had placed her in command of the forces meant to take Lorath, whilst he and Ser Addam Velaryon led the way into Norvos. There had been a large sea battle on the Shivering Sea between the royal fleet and the Bravosi fleet which had seen the Bravosi fleet completely destroyed by dragon fire and superior Westerosi technology, but of course that was the only time the dragons were to be used. Under Saera's command, were Lord Jonos Arryn and his 25,000 Valemen and Lord Borros Baratheon and his 15,000 Stormlanders. So far they had seemed amiable to her command, most likely because Vhagar was there to intimidate them. Of course now was not the time to think on the matter, she had called a war council to discuss how best to take Lorath and as such meant to do just that. "My lords," she began. "We are but 50 miles east of Lorath, we have the numbers with which to take the city relatively bloodlessly if we wished to. But that would of course require me mounting Vhagar, and as you know his grace the King has requested that I refrain from doing so. And so I would suggest drawing them out into open combat, unless they are scared of fighting a host led by a woman."

There was some laughter at that before Lord Borros spoke then. "Aye they will come marching out to fight us Your Grace. Especially when they learn that Vhagar is not to be accompanying us. They will come streaming out of their walls the minute they learn of that fact in fact. And I would recommend that we prepare for that as best we can, catapults and archers are the way to deal with over eager Lorathi I have found."

There was more laughter at that before the ever serious Lord Jonos Arryn spoke. "Aye it might be funny to laugh at now, but the Lorathi shall come streaming out of their walls with a great force, for they have managed to bring the second sons and the company of the cat into their service, and they are two of the fiercest sellsword companies that have ever walked. This will be no cake walk, and we shall have to be on our guard for most of it, lest they try and tempt us away from the true nature of our battle."

"You believe they will try and use women to lure the men away from the fight and into temptation Lord Jonos?" Saera asked curious.

To his credit the man did not blush as he looked at her in the eyes. "I do Your Grace. The Lorathi are not known for their honour in battle. They will use whatever means possible to win, and as such as this army is not made up of virgins nor septons, they will bring the full force of their women and their brothels to use. I merely wonder if our men will be able to keep it in their pants."

Some of the men bristle at that and Lord Hugo Dondarrion booms. "Do you question our senses boy? Some of us were fighting these savages when you were still a spark in your mother's eyes. We shall not forget ourselves even if the Lorathi are stupid enough to use women to win this battle. The women, begging your pardon Your Grace, but they shall do nothing more than get in the way and as such will be treated as such by the men during the battle."

Saera did not need to ask what the man meant by that, and so pressed onto other matters. "Lord Hubert, you said that your scouts had reported movement from the northern gates? Has your man managed to pry out enough information about that movement to make it worth our while?"

Lord Hubert was an old man now, he had fought alongside her mother and father in Essos during their first campaigns and had served as regent for Lady Jeyne Arryn when she had been but a babe, he was now in his seventies but was still strong as an ox, his voice carried great weight. "Aye, he has Your Grace. The northern gates are now free for us to use should we consider using subterfuge to break into Lorath. But of course there are risks there, if we should be found out we risk the entire operation and of course the Lorathi might very well push us all back into the sea. Hence why I would recommend keeping Vhagar close by."

Saera nodded at that and then said. "Very well, we now know what needs to be done. Lord Borros you shall command the van, Lord Hubert shall command the left, Lord Jonos shall command the reserve and I shall command the centre."

There was some general murmuring of consent and then Lord Jonos asked. "And what of Vhagar Your Grace, where shall your great dragon be?"

Saera was silent for a moment before replying. "She shall be close by and ready and waiting for my call."

With that the meeting came to an end, and soon enough Saera was armoured and mounted atop a horse, with Ser Willis Fell her white shadow. Vhagar was hovering close by growling at those who came too close. When the sounds of the horn were heard, Saera tensed and prepared for the battle to come. After three blasts she knew that the right, the left and the van had all left camp and were most likely battering their way through towards Lorath. When the fourth horn blast came, Vhagar roared and Saera spurred her mount onwards and so the battle began for her. When she and her men arrived, the fighting was well and truly underway it seemed the Lorathi and the sellswords they had hired were pushing through tiredness and were fighting and fighting. Saera drew Dark Sister from its sheath and began hacking and slashing away at the men who came before, cutting them down to size. Blood began spattering onto her armour and still she pushed on, she felt her blood singing, this was what she was meant for not the endless courting and dancing of the court, but battle pure and simple. Hacking and slashing, cutting and blocking, onward she moved killing men as she went. She had to give it to the Lorathi, they were good fighters even if their movements were sometimes erratic and careless.

She takes her fair share of blows, one big brute of a man comes hacking at her with a greatsword and she manages to block some of his blows, some she doesn't manage to block in time and she feels the sting of those blows as they dent her armour and draw blood. She hacks and slashes at the man, and he does the same to her, their swords meeting in a great spring of steel and sparks and clanging. On and on this dance goes, seemingly forever, she can feel Vhagar growing restless, but still she pushes on, swinging and hacking, blocking and cutting, until she breaks through the man's defences with a coy smile and a hack and a slash as she separates his head from his body. Her sword is stained red with blood, and as she looks around she sees the battle beginning to die down, Ser Willis is nowhere to be seen either dead or engaged elsewhere, and so she pushes on, and her men follow her pushing until they reach the gates of Lorath which is where her dragon comes into play.