The confrontation
Edmure POV
"It is enough for today, Edmure."
Five simple words that all it took for him to drain me of my courage and strength. Everything started to spin around me. I could feel the rocking like I was back on that damn ship. My face began to burn in pain. I felt the countless cuts on my body. It was hard to breathe as I felt like I was drowning. I loosened my grip on my sword as I thought my fingers convulsed in pain as if nails were plied off.
I was back on the ship. Blood ran through my body as I shivered in the cold. The rocking of the ship made me sick. I knew it wasn't reality, yet it didn't matter as I couldn't escape it. The chains held me tightly, digging into my skin. I heard his footsteps as he approached, raising the Valyrian sword above me. I was defenseless. I couldn't do anything.
"Raise your sword," Patrek said next to me, and I listened.
The chains disappeared, and I had a sword in my hands. I raised it and blocked the swing from Euron. It was a weak block. The hit pushed me back, and I almost fell to the ground. Another swing made me flinch, and once again, I blocked. My sword was pushed aside with my arms. A kick made me fall on my back to the ground. I couldn't breathe. Fear and despair gripped my heart.
"You need to get up," Patrek said. "Think of what he will do if he defeats you now."
Images of my home emerged before me. Riverrun crumbled to nothing as I stood in front of it. My family was dead, with blood running beneath my feet. Riverlands were burning to ashes as my people begged for mercy and pleaded for someone to save them. The screams of my people merged with mine as I rolled to my feet and swung my sword at Euron.
It was a pathetic swing. There was no form. But I put all my strength and swung my sword. Euron laughed as he easily deflected it and kicked me again. Air escaped my lungs as I folded before him. Euron toyed with me as he let me swing at him again. Another kick, and I fell to the ground once again.
"Is that it?" Euron asked. "Maybe it is enough for today?"
I was helpless. What did I expect? Could I do anything, to begin with? He was a monster, and I was just a man. Could it be enough for today? Should I give up? I didn't know anymore. I didn't know what to do. I can't defeat him. His laughter was like when he cut me apart and melted my face.
"Edmure," Patrek looked down on me. "I know it hurts. I know you are afraid, but you must stand. You are not alone. You can defeat him."
It hurt to breathe. It was hard to think. So, I didn't, held my breath, and didn't think. I acted. Jumping back to my feet, I stood before the monster and readied my sword. This time I didn't swing foolishly. I went for his throat with a stab. He deflected, I swung at his thigh, and he blocked. For a minute, we exchanged blows, getting to a rhythm.
Euron was excellent and skilled with a sword. But I was more so. Even if he held a Valyrian steel sword that could cut skin and muscle like butter, it amounted to nothing if he couldn't touch me. Our swords collided with each other. No matter how often he deflected or blocked my strikes, I didn't stop. I only got faster and more precise.
I took long breaths and held it inside as long as I could. I didn't think about anything. I had forgotten who I was fighting. Before me didn't stand a monster, but another nameless and faceless man, like countless I killed before. I refuse to hear him speak. I only looked at his shoulders and tried to predict his movements. There was nothing else.
Then there was a loud and overbearing sound of a horn. It broke my concentration and filled the whole dungeon with its sound. Suddenly I was back in reality but didn't have time to panic. As suddenly as the sound came, it was gone. I, like everyone else, looked at the source of the sound.
Aegon stood holding the horn. His lips were still pressed to it. Then Aegon let it go. It fell to the ground. As the moment of the silence spread, we watched as the boy started to bleed from his eyes, nose, and ears. Jon Connington yelled out as the boy fell to the ground with hollow eyes and no sound coming from him.
"Euron!" Jon yelled out. "What going on? This isn't what you promised."
"I said I would get the dragons, and I did it," Euron laughed. "Finally, the fool did something worthwhile."
"No!" Jon dragged Aegon away and tried to save him, but it was too late. Then in a rage, Jon turned to Euron with his sword pointing at him. "You did this to him! And you shall pay!"
"Burn the fool," Euron said, then laughed. Nothing had happened. "Ah, what were the words? Oh, yeah, dracarys."
The white dragon turned to Jon and breathed fire on him, Jon screamed in pain as he burned alive, but he didn't let go of Aegon. I looked at Jorah, who was bleeding heavily. Daario looked shocked at the scene. The men from the Golden Company that were still alive looked as appalled as the rest of us. I had paled in fear. It was over. The Kraken had defeated us all.
"If it is over, then what is there to fear for you, Edmure?" Patrek asked. "It is time for you to rage."
"The horn!" I shouted. "Jorah, take the horn, Daario, take the warlocks. I will distract them!"
"No, you don't," Euron said. "Dra…."
But before he could even begin, I screamed with all I had. Euron couldn't say anything, the dragons turned to me and tried to come forward, but the chains around them stopped in place. Before Euron could regain his bearing, I rushed at him. I abandoned any reason. I just swung my sword at him with all my strength.
I heard Jorah and Daario move, but I didn't look. I raged at Euron, screaming, not letting him say a word as I swung my sword at him. I didn't stop even when my sword broke against the Valyrian steel sword. Seeing as my sword's top half flew in and descended to the ground, I gritted my teeth and grabbed it with my left hand. I ignored the pain of the sharp edges digging into my skin as I stabbed it into Euron's shoulder.
He yelled out in pain but didn't retreat. Instead, he stabbed his sword into the wrist of my right hand as I tried to cut his neck open with the other half of my sword. I had no choice but to release my broken sword from the pain. Euron kicked me away as I recoiled from the pain. Ignoring the top half of my sword sticking out of his shoulder, Euron swung at me.
With nothing to defend, I stepped backward, trying to dodge, but even then, the tip of the Valyrian sword managed to cut me, going through the chainmail and my skin, but not deeper. When he reeled his sword back and stepped forward to swing at me again, instead of stepping back, I lunged at him.
The Valyrian sword only cut my arm below my shoulder, but it wasn't deep enough to worry about. I grabbed his collar and headbutted him into his nose. With a loud crunch, Euron's head snapped backward, and blood spilled from his nose. As he was dazed momentarily, I tackled him to the ground.
I couldn't use my right arm as it was too injured to use, and I knew I couldn't hold him back for long. So, I took my dagger with my left hand and tried to stab his chest with it. Euron caught it and held it with both his hands, slowly pushing it away. Even if rage filled me, I didn't have enough strength to stab him.
The two dragons started snarling and tried to snap at me, but their chains held them back. Still, it made me flinch and loosen the dagger grip momentarily. Euron used the moment to push the dagger away from him and free himself from me before kicking me out of himself. I didn't give up and tried to fight him while we were still on the ground.
We wrestled for a long moment, with both having injuries over our arms. Euron's left shoulder still had the top half of my sword sticking inside, while my right arm was bleeding heavily, especially from the stab wound in my wrist. I tried my best but couldn't hold Euron forever with only my left arm. In the end, he managed to push me away.
I rolled on the ground, tired and too injured to fight for much longer. It felt like we were fighting for hours by now, but at most, it was probably a half-hour since the fight began. My rage had disappeared, and even though fear didn't grip my heart anymore, tiredness had settled on my body.
"Your sword, Edmure," Patrek ushered me to look at the Valyrian sword not far from me. "The fight isn't over yet. You can't stop. You can't let him free the dragons."
I took the sword with my left hand and slowly stood like Euron. His nose was bleeding heavily. Blood ran down the lower part of the face. His mouth was covered in blood. It dripped to his chest and the ground. Using the Valyrian steel sword like a crutch, I stood up. I heard as blood dripped to the floor from my right arm.
"I really should have killed you the first time I met you," Euron said. "Who could have guessed that you be torn to my side so much? Why? Why won't you accept your defeat? You can barely stand. Can you even lift your sword anymore? It is over."
"I will kill you like I killed your brothers," I replied tiredly.
"So be it," Euron stepped away from me. "Dracarys."
Before he could begin the word, I had already jumped and rolled away. The place I stood a moment before was blackened from the fire. There were only two ways to save me now, get close to Euron, so the fire would hurt him too, or get behind the dragons. Euron moved away from me, leaving me with only one choice.
With everything I had, I jumped in between the two dragons. Their chains and massive forms made them sluggish. So, when they went to bite me, I managed to dodge. Yet the green dragon's tail battered me, and I fell under the white dragon. Using my sword, I blocked the claws from the white dragon and crawled behind the dragon, The dragons tried to turn to me, but their chains wrapped around them and stopped them. I crawled away, not counting on my luck.
"For fuck's sake, why won't you just die?" I laughed at the angry Euron.
Before Euron could move to free the dragons and finish his plan, footsteps were heard coming down. They were loud and rushed. Euron face was beyond furious as he looked at the dragons and then behind him at the entrance to the dungeons. With a snarl, he turned and fled. I won, I thought as I leaned against the wall. I unwrapped my face and tried to stop the bleeding from my arm.
My eye started to lose focus as the footsteps got louder and louder. I looked up, seeing Patrek smiling softly at me before disappearing, as he wasn't here to begin with. I knew I couldn't muster the strength to chase after Euron, even if I knew leaving him alive would only cause me more problems. The last thing I saw before I closed my eye and welcomed the darkness was Daenerys coming in with the warlocks, the horn, and Jorah with her.
A.N. As always, If you want more, up to five advanced chapters, you can support me on pa treon. com \ ironwolf852