Disclaimer: I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire.
Another dragon, another wolf, another stag
Chapter 38: Aegon
"Talking"
"Thinking"
(Location: the North)
They had marched North with an army and a dragon. They had been hoping to catch whoever took Jon before they went through the Neck. But whoever had done had a lead that prevented such a thing. They chased them through the Riverlands, right through Riverrun. Lord Edmure and Ser Brynden had welcomed them, even if they were shocked by the dragon. It was at their castle that the king had learned Lord Tywin hadn't taken Riverrun and freed the prisoners. Lord Edmure had been told by his nephew to let them walk out of their own free will. It was puzzling to say the least.
They marched through the North expecting a fight. But there was none to be found. Each castle they passed, its lord was polite but asked the same question: what was the king doing in the North? It was like they were actually trying to be stupid. But it couldn't have been that. Aegon felt like something else was happening. He just didn't know what it was.
Their march continued up the kingsroad until they rested at the hills before Winterfell. Aegon sat upon his horse and looked at the seat of the Starks. "So, that's where he'll be," he said to his father.
"Yes, that's where your brother is," Father said. Mother said beside him and by her side, Rhaenys. Aegon thought they were supposed to stay in King's Landing but Mother had convinced Father that they should come.
Perhaps it was because so that Dany wouldn't be the only woman who wasn't a camp follower in the army. He knew that she had to come because she was the only one who could ride the dragon. They had all tried to ride it, with the exception of Grandmother. Father was snarled at again and received a jet of flame at his feet in warning. He and Rhaenys didn't get the same kind of warning but they knew with one look from the dragon that it was a wiser course of action not to try.
Aegon looked at Winterfell once more and noticed something. "They're not prepared for a siege." There were also no obvious signs of an army.
Mother's gaze was hard as she looked at the castle too. "Perhaps they mean to pretend that nothing is wrong, just like the other castles."
Ser Jaime rode up beside them. "Your Grace, there's a problem," he said immediately.
Father looked at him. "What problem?"
"The dragon has landed and is refusing to move."
They all looked at him when he said that. "What?" Father said. "Are you certain?"
"Yes, your Grace. Princess Daenerys has been trying to get it flying again but it growled at her and she stopped."
That was not something they wanted to hear. The dragon was supposed to be their advantage against the Starks. But if it wouldn't fly towards Winterfell, they couldn't use it. "Why isn't it flying?" he asked.
"Perhaps she has seen Winterfell once more, and that is enough for her," said Mother sadly.
He didn't have anything to say to that. He personally wasn't sure if the dragon was Lyanna Stark. For one thing, how would that have worked? She had been a Stark, a wolf of the North. How did she become a dragon? But even he had to admit that the way the dragon treated his parents seemed more than a dragon discouraging riders. If that was the case, he had to wonder what the Stark had thought about her parents in the end.
"What now?" Rhaenys asked quietly.
Father didn't wait long to answer. "We ride into Winterfell. I will talk to Lord Stark before I attack. I want to see that he has Daemon with him."
They all rode forward to the ancient castle, Ser Gerold, Ser Oswell, and Ser Arthur at their side. The army came behind them but they came slowly. They reached the gate first. "Who comes to Winterfell?" shouted the guard atop the wall.
They didn't have a herald with them. Father answered, "The King of Westeros. I have come to talk with Lord Stark!"
Aegon wondered if they would be refused. But the guard turned his head and shouted into the castle. The gate opened and they went through. The yard beyond was filled with men, all clearly armed and all clearly watching them. But Aegon wasn't looking them. He was too busy looking at the Lord of Winterfell, his wife, his heir, and Viserys. The rest of his children were not in sight.
All it took was one look to see how much Jon favored Eddard Stark. The grim, quiet man was a picture of what Jon would grow to be. He had no weapon in his hands and wore no armor but there was still the feeling around him that he had known battle and had emerged from it better than he had been before. His grey eyes were guarded, much like Jon's had been, but they were also cold. He didn't want them here.
Still, when the king approached, he bent the knee and acted like the perfect loyal lord. The rest of the yard followed his actions, even if they didn't want to. "Welcome to Winterfell, King Rhaegar," he said in a quiet voice just as guarded as his eyes. "We have been expecting you."
"I'm sure you have," Aegon thought to himself. They made such a scene riding north it would've been a surprise if they hadn't been seen.
"What business do you have in the North?"
"Cut the mummer's act, Lord Stark," Father said, his voice holding back a burning anger. "Where is he?"
Lord Stark only looked confused. "Where is you, your Grace?"
Mother looked just as angry as Father. "You know fully well who, Lord Eddard," she said to him. "Where is Daemon?"
"Daemon?" he repeated, still looking confused. "Who is this Daemon?"
"You know who he is! Where is your nephew, Lord Stark? Where is Daemon Targaryen?"
The Lord of Winterfell still looked confused, like he didn't know what they were talking about. "My queen, I'm afraid I do not know who you are talking about. I was not aware of any Daemon Targaryen." He looked to the dragon on his side of this verbal battle. "Prince Viserys, do you know of any Daemon Targaryen?"
"Only those in the books of history," replied Aegon's uncle.
Father was angered by the words. "You know Daemon, Viserys. You've seen him, talk to him."
"I told you before, Rhaegar. The only son of yours I recognize is Aegon." He looked at him as he spoke.
Aegon met his violet eyes and he realized what was happening. Both Lord Stark and Viserys, perhaps the entirety of Winterfell and the North, weren't just denying Jon's heritage. They were denying the idea that he had even existed in the first place. He was a little impressed by what they were trying to do but also astounded by what they were doing. He had gotten to know Jon in the days leading up to his disappearance and truly felt like they were brothers. His doubt about his parentage had dwindled until it was barely there.
Why would the North deny that he existed? "They're not," he understood. "They're denying Daemon existed." He saw what was happening. Despite what the king had proclaimed to be the truth, everyone in the Seven Kingdoms knew the truth: the only one who could say whether Jon Snow was King Rhaegar's son was Eddard Stark. If he spoke, people would believe.
He looked at his family. They all realized the same thing he did. "Your Graces," said Lady Stark, speaking before they had a chance to. "If you would like to search Winterfell, we will not stop you. Please look for yourselves and see that we are telling the truth."
"Wait, did she really just offer that?" Aegon asked. They were going to allow a possible hostile force search their castle? Was this some kind of trap? They hadn't been given guest rights. The Starks could have them killed easily.
But no one made a move against them. They waited silently. "Ser Arthur, Ser Oswell," said Father. "Take men and search the castle." It was all he said.
His son knew why he had chosen them before anyone else. All of Westeros knew of Ser Dayne's chivalry and while Ser Whent had a black humor, he had a true heart. They would search the castle and do just that. They would take no liberties with the servants of Winterfell nor would they allow their men the same.
The Kingsguard chose their men and disappeared into the castle. Lord Stark did not move from his place. Neither did Lady Stark nor Lord Robb. As response, the royal family stayed in place too. The time stretched until an hour passed, then another. No one spoke and the silence grew strong over their heads.
When the Kingsguard did finally return with their men, Aegon was glad to see them. His legs were becoming stiff and sore. He desperately wanted to sit down but he could not. "Your Grace," said Ser Arthur, a baffled look on his face. "It is as they said, he's not here."
Father and Mother were both shocked and angered. "He must be here," said Mother in a quiet whisper. "Did they move him?"
Ser Oswell shook his head. "We left a man in each room we searched, in case they would try to do such a thing. He's not here."
Lord Stark spoke, "It is as I had said, my king. There is no one named Daemon Targaryen here in Winterfell."
"Then where is he, Lord Stark!?" shouted Mother.
He remained cold. "Queen Elia, I do not know of any Targaryen named Daemon."
"Then where is Jon Snow?" Father asked him. "Where is your so-called bastard?" Aegon saw what his father was doing. If one name would not work, then he would use another.
Recognition spread across the northern lord's face. Then it was replaced with confusion. "Did he not tell you when he left King's Landing?" he asked.
"Left?" repeated Father. "You mean kidnapped."
They shared a look amongst themselves. "We were led to believe he left King's Landing freely, King Rhaegar," Lady Stark said, "when he joined the Night's Watch."
Silence reigned so strong that a pin would've dropped and sounded like the castle collapsing all around them. "The Wall?" thought Aegon. "He went to the Wall?" It was almost hard to believe that it would go this far. But as he thought about it, he saw it made a certain sense. If Jon wanted to go somewhere the king couldn't find him and take him back, the Wall would be such a place.
He glanced at his sister. She looked completely shocked. "The Wall?" repeated Rhaenys. "He went to the Wall."
"He did, with some of the friends he made in the south," Lord Stark told her. He looked at them all, still looking confused. "None of them told their families?"
"Who were these friends?" Aegon asked. He found himself a little surprised at having spoken but he did not let it show on his face.
"Samwell Tarly, Ser Daemon Sand, and Prince Quentyn Martell, among others," he answered.
The Prince of Dragonstone was surprised. He hadn't really thought about it but there had been the fact that Quentyn had disappeared. It was overruled by the fact that Jon had disappeared but Uncle Oberyn had been worried. Now he knew where his cousin was. He just had a single question. "Why?"
"Why what, your Highness?" asked Lord Stark.
"Why would Quentyn join the Night's Watch?" He was from Dorne, for the love of the gods. He didn't have the first idea of what cold was!
"He probably did not want to leave his friend alone," said Robb. It was the first thing he said throughout the entire meeting. He sounded much different from when they met in Riverrun. He sounded more like his father.
"Either that or he realized he wouldn't be able to stomach his sister," Viserys added. His scorn for the Martell princess was still obvious.
Lord Stark looked Father in the eye. "You have no business here in Winterfell, my king. If you wish to stay the day and the night to rest and recover, you may do so. But we cannot have you stay any longer than that. We've not the stores for it."
He was right and both men knew it. They had come with an army to storm Winterfell to take back Jon. But he wasn't here. He was at the Wall, probably having already taken the oath. Lord Stark was right. They had no business in Winterfell. They had no business in the North.
He glanced at his father. King Rhaegar was angry but he also knew that the man was right. Aegon could see in his eyes how he was tempted to order the army to attack. But he didn't. He stared at Lord Stark like he wanted to strike the man but he didn't. "There is no need to bother yourself, Lord Stark," he said. "We will not stay. But there is the matter of your heir."
"Robb?" the Northern lord asked. "What's he done?"
"Your son led an army south into the Riverlands. He held the heirs of Lords Paramount and others hostage at Riverrun. He meant to come to King's Landing to attack us and take away Daemon."
Lord Stark didn't look outraged at those words. He turned his attention to his son. "What do you say to that, Robb?"
"That the king, if he will pardon my words, is mistaken, Father," Robb Stark answered. "I did lead a force through the Riverlands for King's Landing, but I only did so to recover Jon. When I learned that he had left, I had no business in the south. So I turned back and came home."
"And his claim of hostages?" his father asked.
"That again, he is mistaken. I did not hold any man or woman hostage. We stayed in Riverrun for a few days coming down from the North, enjoying ourselves with the other young nobles. When it came time to march again, I had advised them it would not be a good idea if they were to try and leave for home, that it would be better if they stayed in Riverrun a little while longer. When the Pack and I travelled back north, I told them that they could leave now."
Aegon wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or was that good of a liar. They had all heard of Lord Stark was completely honorable and he had seen himself at Riverrun just how much his son took after his father. But here he was spinning a tale that was very different from the one they had heard first. But the first they had heard of it was from Viserys.
He eyed his uncle. "Did he plan to make us think the worse of this?" he wondered. He was beginning to feel that they had been caught in an elaborate trap made of half-truths and other words. It was something he didn't expect from the Starks and one look at his family told him that they hadn't expected it either.
He watched his father to see what he would do next. None of the people supposedly held in Riverrun had come with them. They were all sent home with loyal men quickly. They probably shouldn't have done that, he realized that now. So did Father. "We will leave now," he declared.
They all started to turn when Mother said, "Wait."
"My queen…"
"My king, there is something I wish to know from Lord Stark."
His eyes were full of anguish. He leaned in close to her. "He's not here, Elia," he whispered.
"I know. But there is something else we can learn." She turned to the northern lord. "Lord Stark, please answer a question."
"A question?" he asked.
"Yes, a question."
"If I can answer it, I will."
"You can answer it, Lord Stark. You were the last one to see your sister, Lyanna."
"What?" Aegon thought, looking at his mother. "Why would you ask that question, Mother?" She and Father claimed to love Lady Lyanna but to ask what her dying moments were seemed like something that should be asked in a more private setting.
He looked at Lord Stark. Something changed about him. Aegon wasn't sure what or how, but he looked at Lord Stark and got the feeling that he was looking at a wolf about to attack prey for the kill. "What of it?" he asked.
"Please, tell us what her last moments were."
His eyes showed nothing but Aegon felt like there was a hint of pleasure lurking in them. He was enjoying this. "Queen Elia, by what right do you ask for that?"
"The right of a sister-wife," she answered angrily. "I married Lyanna, the same as Rhaegar. Daemon is my child just as much as he was hers." She lost the furious look in her eyes and sadness replaced them. "Please, Lord Stark, tell us both of Lyanna. Did she think of us?"
"…She did," he answered. Smiles appeared on both the queen's and the kings's face. They were happy. "They were thoughts of hate."
The happiness drained out of their faces fast. Aegon was surprised too. "What?" the king said. "What did you say?"
"I say the truth, King Rhaegar, as your queen had asked me. When I found her, Lyanna cursed the both of you. She cursed you for proclaiming that you loved her, that you seduced her with your letters. She told me that she should have married Robert. She knew that she was dying and she was happy for it, for it meant that she would be free of you."
He was not cruel in how he spoke those words. He simply spoke them like he was answering a question someone want answered. But Aegon knew that he was enjoying the looks of pain and anguish on his parents' faces. "No," Father said, that single word covering all the pain he had.
"She begged me to not give her back. 'Burn me, Ned,' she told me. 'Burn until I'm nothing but ashes. Spread those ashes to the fours before you give them to those dragons.' She also begged the same of her child. She wanted me to take it with me, take it back to Winterfell. If you were to demand it, she wanted me to slit her child's throat."
Never had Aegon seen his parents so enraged. "What did you say?" Father demanded.
Lord Stark did not react to his anger. He kept talking as if he hadn't been interrupted. "I hadn't the heart to tell her that her child was dead, had been dead since her birth perhaps. She was delirious, from the pain of birth and no help." He looked the king in the eyes. "She did not know that her daughter was dead."
"He's lying," Aegon realized, shocked at his own recognition. Here was Lord Eddard Stark, a man renowned for his honesty and honor, and he was lying right to the king's face about Lyanna Stark. "Why? Why is he lying?" As soon as he asked that question, he felt foolish. He knew why the Stark was lying.
This was his revenge. This was his revenge for the rebellion, for the loss of his father, brother, friend, and sister. The king and Lord Stark had never met in battle. But now they were in verbal warfare and Lord Stark was winning. More than that, he was enjoying it. He was enjoying how he was torturing the king.
The queen looked just as pained as her husband. "This can't be," she said in protest. "She had a son, Daemon."
"She had a stillborn daughter." He kept his eyes on the king. "Had she lived, I expect that you would have wanted to call her Visenya. Lyanna would've named her after our grandmother, Arya."
And now, his daughter had been given that name instead. He was declaring to all that Lyanna Stark had no son but a daughter who had died. But he was lying. Aegon knew it now. He was lying to twist the knife in the king slowly and painfully. He didn't need to look at his family to know that they knew it too.
But there was nothing they could say against that. They had all known that if Lord Stark would speak, it would be the truth of what had happened in Dorne. They had been expecting it, hoping the matter of who Jon really was would be made clear. Instead, he was giving them his truth a truth they knew was false, just so he could torment the king.
Aegon didn't know what to say. Was there anything to say? He waited for Father to say something. The king looked as if he was in great pain. "Very well, Lord Stark," he said with a quiet voice. "Our business is concluded."
"That's it?" his son silently asked. That was all he was going to say? It couldn't just end like this.
But it seemed like it would be like that. The King of Westeros was turning away from his Warden of the North. Aegon had to follow his example. He saw Ser Arthur whispering in his ear. "What does he want?" the prince wondered. Whatever it was, the Kingsguard stayed behind while they left.
When Ser Arthur came back to the camp, Aegon wondered what it was he did inside Winterfell. When he saw him leaving Rhaenys's tent, he went inside. "Rhaenys?" he called out as he entered the tent.
His sister poked her head out behind a wooden cover. "Give me a moment, would you, Aegon?" she asked him. "I'm changing."
He turned back and faced the camp. Some people might've thought that since he was a Targaryen he should be looking inside the tent. He could admit that his sister was beautiful but that was it. He had enough proof from his own grandfather and the rest of his ancestors to declare them all fools and idiots. From here on out, the Targaryens would not practice marrying blood to blood. It was wrong, not just in the eyes of the gods, but in the eyes of…everything.
He heard feet moving behind him. "Alright, what do you need?"
She was wearing a robe when he turned around. She looked ready to go to sleep. "What was Ser Arthur doing in here?" he asked.
An amused smirk appeared on her lips. It wasn't so effective since she was tired. "Someone else might think something was happening if they asked that."
"I'm asking it. Was it because he stayed in Winterfell when we left?"
Her eyes were full of pain. He felt like a fool for talking about the castle. "Yes," he finally said. "He asked Father to stay behind for a little longer. He wanted to check in with Jocelyn."
In all the confusion and reaction following Jon's disappearance from the Red Keep (although that was probably now him running away) he had forgotten her friend had gone back to the North. "Is she alright?'
"She's fine. He told me that he found her happy to be back in the North. He also learned something else." There was a look of disbelief in her eyes when she said that but it was muffled by how tired she looked.
He still saw it. "What is it?"
"Apparently, Lord Eddard is not her father. He's her uncle."
He had not expected that. But his mind did not fail him. If it was not Eddard Stark, that left only one Stark who could've been her father. "His brother, Brandon Stark?" he asked. She nodded. "Is she alright?"
"From what Ser Arthur told me, she is. She's quite happy and loves her life in Winterfell."
The air turned a little awkward between them. "Do you think what Lord Stark said is true?" he asked.
That was the wrong thing to say. "Does it matter?" she asked. "Jon's gone." She turned her back on him. "Leave me be, Aegon."
"Of course," he told her, stepping back to the entrance. "Goodnight, Rhaenys."
As he stepped out into the open air again, his eyes found the dragon, resting on the hilltop nearby and watching Winterfell. In the setting sun, the dragon was majestic, beautiful, and deadly. He wondered if the dragon was truly Lyanna. If it was, why did she not get closer, to see her family once more. Was it because that she was a dragon now, she felt that she did not belong there?
Somehow, he found himself walking towards the dragon. He didn't know. Perhaps with what he knew, he could talk to her, see if they could come to an understanding. He shook his head at the thought. Two months ago, he would've thought coming to an understanding with a dragon sounded like a fool's game. Then again, two months ago, he didn't think there were dragons still alive.
He reached the hill and came to a stop. He saw his parents standing before the dragon. They were talking but the dragon was ignoring them. He came closer, close to hear them. "Lyanna, please," said Mother. "We're sorry. We're sorry. We didn't mean for this to happen."
"We didn't want to make you sad," said Father, sounding just as sorrowful and broken as his wife. "We wanted to make you happy. We wanted to love you. We didn't know things would happen the way they did. Please, forgive us."
They said those things again and again. But Aegon suspected that any chance for forgiveness had long since passed. The dragon didn't look at them. It was like they didn't exist to it. The son watched his parents apologize again and again to the dragon, only to get no reaction. He turned away and walked back down the hill. He didn't need to see it any more.
No one would remember it any way. They would remember how the dragon came north with an army, only to be quelled with a single stare of the wolf. Just how was his family going to explain this one?
End
Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews you've sent me.
Not what you were expecting, right? You see, I told you to feed me because I knew how this was going to end from the start. I expect a lot of you are going to be disappointed that it looks like that no one is going to have a happy ending with this. Come on, people. This is Game of Thrones, nobody ends up happy! If they do, they're either going to end up dead real quick or be in for a major disappointment.
For the record, I have my own theory about the dragons in this world and it does tie in to Lyanna being a dragon. I think that the Targaryen phrase "Fire and Blood," goes a little deeper than we think. I think when they said blood they were actually talking about the soul. The fire stirs the dragon but the soul awakens it.
Sounds ridiculous, I know. But look at it this way. When Daenerys hatched her dragons, there were three participants that we know of: Dany herself, Drogo, and Mirri Maz Duur. I'd be willing to bet that there was a fourth person: Rhaego burning alongside his father (as far as I remember, they didn't say what happened to his body).
Either way you look at it there were at least three people in that ritual. All three dragons hatched. If we look at it from the original three, I see how Dany came out of it alive and not the others, aside from the whole blood of the dragon bit. Drogo was dead, Mirri was strapped in and couldn't move, but Dany walked in willingly.
Everyone was asking me how Lyanna turned into a dragon (they're also accused me of bringing that out of nowhere. I left clues). My answer is this theory with a further addendum: the soul doesn't have to be a Targaryen to be a dragon. Maybe Lyanna was a skinchanger and just didn't know it.
I'll see you all next chapter!