The chapter's a bit later today but at least I got it out on time! It's part 1 of 2, and so it's a little bit shorter with less of an author's note as I'll just jump into it.
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE FATES OF A PAIR OF HOUSE OF THE DRAGON CHARACTERS ARE IN THE FINAL SCENE!
I own none of the actual characters and locations that appear in the books or show, those belong to George R R Martin or HBO.
Luke's refusal had continued in the fortnight after the ultimatum, and he was starting to realise just how badly thought out the Tyrell patriarch's plan was. They couldn't simply kill the Targaryen or else they would have done it quickly and proclaimed Aegon as King, and the Red Keep was on lock down, as the gates had only opened once that Luke had heard, and that was to let in an all too familiar carriage that no doubt housed the Queen of Thorns. Chuckling to himself louder than usual due to the isolation, Luke simply settled into his armchair and began reading the same book he had been reading cover to cover for two weeks.
He was interrupted a few hours after the carriage's arrival by another familiar sound. Four days into the coup Margaery had been granted access to his room and had tried to talk with him. At first he had shouted angrily, but eventually he just kept silent, frustrating his wife even more than an outburst had managed to.
The doors swung open and in stepped his heavily pregnant Queen. He regarded her for but a moment before returning to reading the scribbles that covered the pages.
"Luke." Margaery began. "I know you have been ignoring me for days, but please, today… just talk to me." He didn't, and so she continued. "My Grandmother agrees with me that this was foolish. Please, we can end this peacefully if you just agree to talk…"
"Peacefully?" Luke couldn't help himself as he launched the book he was holding onto another sofa and rose to his feet with a scowl, turning to glare at his wife. "The moment that peaceful talks were impossible was the moment your Father shoved a knife through Jon's heart."
"I know." Margaery stated, tears forming in her eyes. "And we will accept the punishments… but this has to end."
Luke turned to his balcony quizzically, before turning back. "I did not start this, Margaery. This ends one way, with your Father in chains before my feet. Until you see to that, we have nothing further to discuss."
Margaery sighed, her hands caressing her belly as she moved to sit down in one of his comfy chairs. "In a month we will have another child." She began. "I have no wish to see our baby born into a world of strife between us. We've come too far for that to be the case again, have we not?"
Luke scoffed. "This isn't my doing." The Targaryen repeated himself, though he went to sit back down calmly. "I have admitted my faults to you, time and time again it seems. I will never be the perfect husband, you knew that before you wed me as we spoke about Valarra. You simply wanted the crown atop my head, and you got it, and yet that is never enough. House Tyrell will always be climbing up the vines snatching at whatever they can grasp and clinging on until they fall."
"I know." Margaery nodded. "My Father has already received a raven from Storm's End demanding your release along with Lady Shireen's. More will follow I am sure, but I do not know how to persuade him to surrender."
"Making men do things you want is your specialty." Luke bit back, before immediately regretting it. "I'm sorry."
"No." Margaery shook her head surprisingly. "You are right, it's what I was educated to do. 'A woman has her own power, learn to use it' I was taught. But right now, I don't care about that. I care about little Aegon being used by men who do not care for him. I care about this babe here…" She caressed her stomach. "If Aegon grows to be unruly, will they move to his sibling? I do not want that, Lucerys. I made an agreement with you when you returned, do you remember?"
Luke did, remembering how he made her swear to serve House Targaryen above her own. "Then put an end to this." He insisted, moving over to kneel before her, grasping her hands in his. "You have the power to do so, Margaery, and you know you do. End this stupid plot of your Father's and have him accept the consequences, and then we can…"
The hairs on the back of his neck stood to attention and Luke stopped speaking as he could sense something happening across the city, his neck snapping around so that he was facing the balcony again. "What is it?"
"I'm not sure…" Luke trailed off, before he slowly walked over to the open balcony. He was feeling an urge to fly, far more powerful than anything he had felt before, and one word was flowing through his mind as he stared over at the Dragonpit. "Viserion…"
"What?" Margaery asked, not hearing him.
Luke looked out at his city, and then at Blackwater Bay which had been filled with Redwyne ships for days. In the distance however, he saw more ships. Smirking, he initially wanted to simply wait and watch what was about to unfold, but immediately the thought of his children stopped him. Turning back and walking towards his wife once more. "Go to your chambers and lock your doors." He said, though that same word was roaring at him. VISERION!
"What's going on?" Margaery asked, heaving herself up onto her feet.
"Margaery, listen to me." Luke insisted, as urgently as he could. "Get Aegon, and lock your door behind you. Do not open it for anyone."
Valaxes roared in the distance, and that was followed by an even more distant screech, one that both warmed Luke and terrified Margaery. "No…" She whispered. "I have to warn Father… get him to surrender… Otherwise…"
"If she sees you with him then I cannot guarantee your safety…" Luke tried urgently, grabbing his wife by the hands. "Just… please, for me, lock yourself and our son away and wait."
Margaery nodded, leaning forwards and pressing an awkward kiss to his lips. "I truly am sorry." She added.
"I know." Luke said impatiently. "And we can talk about it properly later, but right now for your own safety just hide yourself!" Thankfully, this time she heeded his words and made her way to the door. Luke attempted to follow her but he was soon stopped by the guards keeping him locked away. As his wife's footsteps faded into the distance of Maegor's Holdfast, Luke snarled at the two Reachman keeping him locked away. "I'll remember your faces." He stated, pointing at the pair of them.
"I'm sure, Your Grace." One of them rolled their eyes. "In you go."
Luke stepped backwards, not eve flinching at the door slamming shut and locking once more. Instead he smirked once again and raced back to the balcony, expectation looming large.
The clouds were low and covered the sky beneath her, but Daenerys could see the tip of the Red Keep towering above even the layer that separated the ground from the sun. It gave the Princess a sense of direction as Viserion roared in glee at the flight, and yet it gave the Targaryen pause for thought as she embraced what she was about to do.
She had been rocking Daeron back to sleep when Ser Rolly had informed her that Velaryon sails were nearing Dragonstone in their numbers, and it had been a quick change into more warlike clothing, the black and red of her house prominent, before meeting with the Lord of the Tides in the Great Hall of Dragonstone. By the time Lord Monford had explained the situation inside the Red Keep, Dany had almost hoped that the Royal Fleet had come to arrest her instead. The bulk of time had been in calling the banners of the island, with 2,500 men joining the sailors of House Velaryon all geared for war, being led by the white cloaks of Ser Barristan and Ser Rolly.
Daenerys, meanwhile, had been advised to sit out the coming fight. But the Princess of Dragonstone would never, not while her brother was locked away, imprisoned by traitorous Tyrell's. It was an almost gleeful Dany that had taken flight atop her dragon, eager to push back against the Queen and her ambitious family when for so long she had stepped away from fighting her brother's wife.
The Red Keep was growing larger above the cloud line now, and Daenerys had studied enough of the city's geography to know that she would be above Blackwater Bay. Urging Viserion along, she screamed her command. "DOWN, VISERION!"
The cream and gold dragon let out another roar, and swooped downwards through the layer of grey clouds to reveal the two dozen warships littered around the Bay. From her height she could only just see the little ant-sized men running around in terror, and as she looked further east she saw a mix of Black and Sea-Green sails, as a large portion of the Royal Fleet bore down on King's Landing.
She had taken the lead however, and as Viserion was rushing down towards the water, Daenerys urged the dragon to level out before screaming a command she had wanted to shout for a very long time.
"DRACARYS!"
The nearest ship that bore the colours of House Redwyne erupted into flames, engulfed by the heavy orange fire that Viserion was spewing out of its mouth. She waited, hovering as the dragon covered the entire galley with flames before urging Viserion upwards again, flying around the Bay warningly, though careful not to destroy more ships just yet. Her job had been to show the might of House Targaryen and to scare those that would defy them, next would come the time for diplomacy.
Ser Barristan Selmy was a veteran of many wars. Even before he was appointed to the Kingsguard he had slogged through the Stepstones for a year before finally felling what he had thought was the last Blackfyre Pretender. What had followed for the elderly Stormlander had been a number of campaigns for the King's he had served. The Kingswood Brotherhood, Robert's Rebellion, the Greyjoy Rebellion, The War of the 6 King's… it seemed all he had known was death, which was why he was eager to try and end Mace Tyrell's madness with words rather than swords as Seadragon led the Royal Fleet up towards the anchored Redwyne's. He spotted one moving in the distance, the Redwyne flagship Arbor Queen turning around before weaving in between the rest of the besieging Reach Fleet. Daenerys was hovering around overhead, but thankfully no more ships were being put to the torch.
"Will this work?" Lord Monford asked beside the Lord Commander.
"We shall soon find out." Ser Barristan noted, watching carefully as the Arbor Queen came to a stop nearby, and a small rowboat was lowered into Blackwater Bay. Barristan spotted Lord Redwyne himself entering the boat, a flag of truce being held aloft as it neared the Seadragon.
"Lower the ropes!" Lord Velaryon called out. "Let us welcome our guests!"
Soldiers with Sea-Green cloaks on fell into formation, spears held casually in their hands as Lord Paxter Redwyne hoisted himself up onto the deck of the Velaryon flagship. "Paxter." Lord Velaryon greeted, his voice cold and unyielding.
"Monford." Paxter Redwyne returned. "Ser Barristan."
"My Lord." Barristan greeted with a nod.
The Redwyne Lord stood firmly for a moment, before sighing. "I know the answer already, but for the sake of my liege lord and Goodbrother I must ask you to state your business. These waters are under the command of Highgarden."
"These waters are the property of King Lucerys, First of his Name." Barristan countered. "As is this city, and that castle." He pointed up to the Red Keep. "On what grounds does Lord Tyrell claim them?"
"Stupidity." Paxter frowned. "But Lord Tyrell ordered me to inspect any vessel that tried to enter the city, and he is my Liege Lord."
"And Lucerys is your King." Monford exclaimed.
"Which vow comes first, Lord Velaryon?" Paxter Redwyne bit back. "You do not have a Lord Paramount, your only vow is to King's Landing. I swear to Highgarden, who then swears to King's Landing."
Barristan shook his head. "You do not seem to agree with this coup, Lord Redwyne, why go along with it?"
Monford scoffed. "He hasn't, not really." He gestured around. "You have ten times the ships under your direct command, Pax. Your full fleet may stand a chance against our 70 even with the Princess up above, but this? This is appeasement at best."
"I did as my Liege Lord commanded." Paxter was being stubborn, but Barristan had spent almost a lifetime of reading the body language of those nearby, and he could see that the Reach Lord's heart wasn't in it.
"Stand aside." Barristan stated. "Surrender yourself to us now and order your ships to let us through to the city. On my honour I will ensure the King hears the truth of your feelings and the blame shall lie solely with Lord Tyrell." Paxter stayed silent however. "You are an honourable man, My Lord. The King knows that and he shall not judge you for following orders."
"One burning hulk of a ship is enough." Monford Velaryon added. "We need not make more, but we will."
That seemed to have an effect on the Redwyne, as he sighed, defeated. "I must return to my ship and give the signal from there." He countered.
Barristan immediately thought of betrayal, but he knew the Reach Lord better than that and nodded. "Ser Rolly shall escort you." Barristan insisted, and his White Brother stepped forwards at that point to move beside the Lord of the Arbor.
"Very well." Paxter nodded. "I warned the damned fool…" He whispered, before looking back at Barristan. "I may control the waves, but the gates are another matter. They are under direct Tyrell control."
"We shall deal with the gates as we have done you." Monford explained. "We shall give them a chance to surrender without loss of life."
"And if they refuse?" Paxter asked.
As if it were listening in, Viserion gave a shrill cry from above them to take all of the attention. "Then My Lord Tyrell had best remember the words of His Grace's house." The Velaryon said with a grin. "For that is what he has wrought upon himself."
Twenty minutes later and the Redwyne Fleet had parted, allowing for the Velaryon ships to sail closer to the River Gate. They didn't get too far however, as a fire ball was launched at them from the walls of the city, slamming through the sails of Seadragon and splashing down into the sea.
"A warning shot." Monford muttered grimly as the pair stood watching men in silver and green running around the tops of the walls. "This will be a fight."
Barristan grimaced, but he nodded his agreement, hearing the distant bells warning the citizens to hide in their homes. "May the Seven forgive me for this." He whispered quietly, hoping no innocents were close to the walls. "Lord Velaryon, signal the Princess."
The silver-haired Lord did just that, having flags signal for Daenerys' intervention before barking out commands. "Man the boats! Today we feast on the corpses of Flowers!"
The White-Cloak donned his helm as he made his way to the side of the boat, silently lowering himself into the first rowboat to depart. Without the King on the field it was his duty to lead by example, and so he stood as the boat filled up with soldiers of Driftmark and remained standing when it was lowered into the water and made for the shoreline.
The arrows had begun to fire then, and so the elder knight kept his shield up as the razored missiles were launched at him. His walk became a slower jog, his legs not carrying him quite as fast as they used to, and the Stormlander began to recite the saying he had first heard from his hero as a child…
"Oak and Iron, guard me well." He muttered as his feet pounded into the sand, the sound of men's shouts and screams covering his voice. "Or else I'm dead, and doomed to hell."
The hells erupted at that moment it seemed, as the River Gate exploded into the city in a burst of dragon fire. The stone gatehouse was splintered inwards and Barristan could now hear the screams of the burning. He took a deep breath to steel himself as his eyes narrowed into a scowl before he stepped through the breach and entered the city.
He ignored the crawling figures of burning Tyrell soldiers, not wanting to kill dishonourably. Instead the first to feel the kiss of his blade was a knight with the sigil of House Bushy adorning his surcoat that had come rushing from Fishmonger's Square with the reserves. That was when the battle had begun in earnest and Ser Barristan began to glide across the battlefield like a man a third of his age. Blood splattered in all directions as his sword carved through the Tyrell forces like a knife through soft cheese. Fishmonger Square was quickly becoming a pool of blood, and after dispatching of a lowly foot soldier in Middlebury colours, Ser Barristan's attention turned towards the Red Keep. "FOR THE KING!" He cried, holding his sword aloft.
Thankfully the roar that followed was louder than he had expected, and Ser Barristan took a second to look behind him. The tops of the walls were aflame, with bodies and banners all showing the aftermath of tangling with a dragon. The square however was filled with Velaryon and Targaryen forces having streamed through the gate with a vengeance, though all were looking to him for direction.
Fishmonger's Square had two roads that led to the Red Keep, but one led closer to the centre of the city and Ser Barristan had heard enough about the Sack to want to limit that. He charged towards the eastern road that ran parallel to the city walls, though as he neared the Red Keep his mind flashed back 30 years to another rescue of a different King, and the Kingsguard Knight prayed in his thoughts that captivity would not claim the mind of another son of House Targaryen.
As he ran he was brought immediately back into the present, however, by an angry, hateful roar from the sky that chilled his very bones. Looking up, the famous old knight stopped in his tracks as he saw a great black figure block out the sun as it flew directly towards the castle from the Dragonpit.
The novelty of seeing his captors engulfed in dragon fire had worn off quite quickly, a fact that surprised Luke. He had grown up with war surrounding him, being a part of battles in some regard from an extremely young age, but the thing that the King was reminded of was that he had always taken part rather than be forced to stand and watch. He was grateful to see the sails of House Velaryon and his own family sigil atop the ships that had parted the Redwyne Fleet, and at first he had been glad when the River Gate was bathed in powerful flames, but his head was roaring at him that he needed to be there, to be leading those men into the fray. Not for the first time the King cursed Mace Tyrell for locking him up senselessly.
His eyes kept flitting over to the Dragonpit, the one area of the city that the Tyrell's hadn't managed to control. He could feel Valaxes' restlessness even from the other side of the city, his bond with the large dragon so powerful that it was gnawing at him to escape, a feeling so fierce causing head pains. "Come to me." Luke whispered, though as he did he realised he had no idea how the dragon would rescue him without a lot of unnecessary damage.
Sighing, he looked down at the ground. His chambers were high up in Maegor's Holdfast, the keep which famously had a dry, spiked moat surrounding it to prevent attack. He was reminded of his history lessons then, recalling the Secret Siege over 150 years earlier where his ancestor, the future King Viserys II and his elder brother had managed to hold off the Hand of the King at the time and the entirety of the Red Keep from just the Holdfast. His thoughts then turned to those in his family that had suffered in the Dry Moat, the beloved Green Helaena and her daughter Jaehaera both meeting their ends impaled on the spikes that protected the castle within a castle. It wasn't a nice sight below him, the spikes weren't tended too very often at all so some of them still had stains where blood had been spilled, most recently in his own taking of the castle.
Despite all that however, the gnawing feeling in the front of his brain was screaming at him. And so once he saw the hulking figure of Valaxes had taken flight and was racing closer and closer to the Red Keep, Lucerys Targaryen did perhaps the single most foolish thing he would ever do in his life.
He hauled himself up onto the balcony, and he jumped.
The Redwyne Fleet has 200 warships… 24 of them shows just how little Paxter believes in this coup, though he could easily claim he can block the bay with that and with his own flagship there Mace would have been happy enough at first… The Velaryon fleet though is unknown, so with what they likely would have had in canon, adding part of the Royal Fleet and their own additions from this story, I went with 70.
I've been reading a lot of Dunk and Egg recently, and given that Ser Barristan would have met and known the pair of them in some regard, I had to get that famous line in there…
I'm also using the map of King's Landing on AWOIAF as a starting point for the layout of the city.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!
Next Time: The aftermath of Daenerys' return…
Reviews:
DarylDixon'sLover: Varys needed to have a point, or all of it just wouldn't make any sense at all.
Dreagon D. Dragon: They sure are!
FangRu: Aegon and his sisters had massive monsters for dragons. When Luke invaded, they were nothing more than babies, so they needed alliances.
Guest (Welp!): Valaxes is coming… Yeah I'll have to see about a Sequel. I don't want it to be more than 10 chapters so it's whether I can condense it into that or not.
Zhorvak: Giving Varys a good argument was extremely important to me so I'm glad others think so. I don't think Jon is close to having children yet.
Behold the Exalted One: Part 1 of that is here!
Mnava1205: I definitely intended to show a bit of that next chapter…
Loki: The fact that some people can at least see where Mace Tyrell is coming from, even if his plan is intentionally stupid, is something I'm happy at.