150 A.L.: Slaver's Bay

King Aemon III Targaryen

Aemon often marvelled at just how different his two eldest sons were, his eldest son and heir Aemon was more of a bookish lad, slightly frail of health and good with people but completely going against what the King had always been told a true Targaryen was supposed to be like. His second son Maegon was more akin to what Aemon had always been told what a Targaryen was supposed to be like, strong and bold and aggressive and a natural warrior, yes King Aemon had found more connection with his second son than with his firstborn son, and for some reason he found himself wishing that Maegon had been born first. Of course though both his sons were different in manner, they both had qualities that balanced the others out. For example due to his aggression and temper, Maegon did not make friends all that easily, whereas Aemon was a charmer and drew people to him like light to the flies. Aemon was bookish and somewhat lacking in the martial department, but Maegon was a born fighter and had protected his brother on more than one occasion. They would make a fine team one day. As to his wife Saera, well he loved her dearly and as such was very happy that they had been reunited following the fall of Braavos, he had gone far too long without her company. He loved how she was so fierce both in and out of bed, and he loved that she knew what he was going to say before even he knew it. It was the same with Daenaerys, for the king his two sister-wives were like the two parts of him that made him whole, whilst his other two wives Rhaena and Baela were good friends but held nowhere near as much as importance to him as his own sisters did, which was as it was supposed to be as far as he was concerned.

Of course with Braavos now fallen and part of the empire, there was just the slaver alliance to deal with. The alliance had lost its fleet upon the Shivering Sea, but their armies were strong still and the Dothraki had allied with them as well. As such Aemon had called a war council to discuss what needed to be done. The apart from his wife and two sons, Lord Cregan Stark, Lord Borros Baratheon, Lord Addam Velaryon, Lord Garlan Tyrell, Lord Jonos Arryn and many of the other lords who had fought on this campaign were present. Aemon spoke and the tent went silent. "Well my lords, the slaver alliance sits just a mile south of our position. This is their last stand, they are down and out without their fleet, and without allies. For we know Asshai will not send men to fight for them, and whatever sellsword companies they might have hoped to employ for this battle have slowly disappeared into the shadows. Lord Garlan what have our scouts had to say about their movements?"

Lord Garlan was an old man now, but he was still smart and the best general here apart from Aemon of course. "Well Your Grace, our scouts have reported that the Unsullied have moved from their southern position and are now actually marching towards us at a quick pace. It seems that the Slavers want for us to throw our might at the Unsullied before they bring in the heavy horse and the Dothraki."

"And who is it who leads the Dothraki Lord Garlan? For the last we had heard Khal Rogo had taken command of the fallen Pono's Khalasar as well as those of Jogo and Vogo. If it is him then perhaps we might have a hammer and the anvil position come into play?" Maegon asked and Aemon beamed at his son.

Lord Garlan seemed impressed by his son's question and replied. "It is indeed Khal Rogo my prince. However, the man has more sense about him than most of the other Khals that were still in play. And as such he has split his host into three parts, and my scouts have not been able to work out which of the parts is the one commanded by him and so there is much doubt over actually using the hammer and anvil technique, that served us so well at Qohor."

Lord Borros spoke then, though the man was old and Aemon was actually very surprised that he was still alive, he still had that same brashness that House Baratheon was famed for. "I say we march our full strength against the Unsullied and force the alliance to send more men to their doom. After all we have the advantage here, we might as well push it. I would also suggest that all the dragons we have at our disposal get used Your Grace. This is not Braavos, there are no faceless men to fear here. We can do what we want, and we can make the Slavers fear for their lives if the dragons are used."

Lord Cregan spoke then. "Aye that does make the most sense. We have spent far too much time as of late, wondering what would happen to us if we had used the dragons before. Now we have the perfect opportunity to use them. I say we give the slavers another Field of Fire, and this time we end whatever chance they might think they have of reaching some sort of stalemate."

Lord Jonos Arryn spoke then. "Whilst I am deeply in favour of using the dragons, I must ask who would command the ground armies. After all we have come to rely on a certain formula during the battles, and as such without that formula there is a risk that the plans we have made here might come undone."

A valid concern and one which Aemon already had the answer for. "Well seeing as he proved himself during the taking of Braavos, Prince Maegon shall command the van and will lead the initial assault against the Slaver alliance. Lord Arryn and Stark you both shall have command of the left. Lord Baratheon and Lord Tyrell shall command the right, and the centre shall be under command of Lords Tully and Lannister."

"What of the reserve Your Grace?" Lord Blackwood asked.

Aemon looked at the man and smiled slightly. "We won't need the reserve for what I have planned."

And so it was that the council meeting came to an end, and soon enough Aemon was armoured and ready for battle. Before he mounted his dragon Malystryx he spoke to both his sons. "Be careful both of you. You are the future of the Targaryen Dynasty take no unnecessary risks and make sure that should anything look out of place to you, you let either Ser Arryk or Ser Criston know." That said he dismissed his sons and then mounted his dragon, waiting for the sounds of battle to begin. When the war horn was sounded once, then twice, then thrice, he spurred Malystryx on and took to the air, whip in one hand, Blackfyre strapped to his back. The wings of the dragons, all five of them, Malystryx, Vhagar, Thunderquick, Sunfyre, Tessarion and Seasmoke cast a deep shadow over the battlefield, and Aemon knew that the soldiers below had stopped fighting out of a sense of awe. Malystryx let loose a roar which was echoed by the other dragons and soon enough the flames of the dragons were let loose. As the dragons bathed the ground beneath them in flame and heat, the screams of the men floated up on dust and dark wings. Aemon did his best to block out the howling that came from the men but still it filtered through, and the heat continued to bathe the battleground below in a dark shadow.

This continued for what seemed an age, on and on the flames engulfed the battlefield and men were left dying and wounded. It seemed a year flashed by before the dragons stopped engulfing the battleground in flame and smoke, and what was left was ruin, the Unsullied were all dead. 10,000 men brought down low by dragonfire. But that was not all, still the Slaver alliance sent men to then burned and burned, and more men were sent forth and they too burned. All the men sent forth by the alliance burned to dust and smoke, and soon enough the men were cheering for victory, and when he thinks back on this battle in days to come, he will rue that they did for they became complacent in that. And when the arrows began reigning down on the men and up in the air, they were slow to react.

Scorpions were unleashed into the air and though the largely sailed by weakly, one struck Vhagar in the eye and brought her down, allowing the slaver fighters to litter Saera's body with arrows as her dragon fell. Aemon roared his anger at that and soon enough more fire burned through the fools who had dared to stand against them when they should have bent the knee. Vhagar crushed the walls of Astapor as she fell, and the city itself was burned into nothingness once Aemon was done with it. The Battle of the Burning Plains as it became known was the only time in history that five Targaryen dragons were used in battle, and at the end of it all some 50,000 men were dead and the ground before Astapor was nothing but desert and bones. Astapor a smoking ruin, Yunkai and Meeren surrendered when the king sent men before their gates, and they became protectorates under the command of the throne. The war was as good as over, though Aemon mourned his lost love and swore revenge on Essos for many years to come.