129 AC – 130 AC
Being a queen was hard work. She had to rise early in the morning, get dressed, break her fast, and then go to the small council chamber where the queen would spend hours discussing or debating topics such as crime, the economy, taxes, and alliance statuses. Next, she would sit on the Iron Throne and have audiences with visitors who had traveled far and wide to bring light to issues from home that were beyond their capability of fixing, and visiting delegates from other lands. After this, the queen would return to her small council chamber for more discussions before going to her own study where she would sit behind a desk either reading letters from all over the Seven Kingdoms and the Known World or writing letters that were addressed to one of those places. The queen would have a few moments of respite for meals or family interaction before she was back at work and then to bed, restarting the cycle anew the following morning.
Nevertheless, Rhaenyra soon grew accustomed to her new daily routine. She was always punctual for the small council meetings, and she retained her focus no matter how boring those gatherings got. The same could not be said for her uncle-husband, however. Daemon never had any interest in politics, only in bloodshed. As a young man, Daemon had served briefly as Master of Coin and Master of Laws during the early years of his late brother's reign, with the first position barely lasting a year, and the second only six months. Losing interest in government affairs, Daemon finally found his niche when he became the Lord Commander of the City Watch. With Dark Sister in hand, Daemon drastically cut down King's Landing's crime rate and turned the City Watch into a prestigious force by equipping them with better armor, weapons, and their trademark golden-yellow cloaks, from which the Watch got their moniker of "the Gold Cloaks".
Since Daemon rarely sat in on small council meetings, unless the topic was about warfare and criminal punishment, Westeros's first king consort busied himself with turning his sons into men. Aegon and Viserys were not the strongest lads, their bodies being frail and lean. In fact, Daemon was positive that Visenya was more robust than her older brothers, and she was just a baby! The king spent countless hours in the training yard with his sons trying to hone their skills. But while Daemon's stepsons thrived, his sons usually floundered, frustrating him to no end.
His frustration was often compounded by tension. Besides Daemon and his children, Prince Aegon the Elder would often come to the training yard with his squire, Edmund, and son, Jaehaerys, in tow. The prince and king would keep to their own side of the training yard, but this could not keep the underlying malice between the two sides from spilling over occasionally. If one of Daemon's sons stumbled during practice, the king thought he heard a contemptuous snort coming from his nephew's direction. When Jaehaerys slipped in mud while trying to strike a dummy one day after a night of heavy rainfall, Aegon the Elder and Daemon nearly came to blows when the former thought he had heard his uncle laugh at his son.
During these incidents, both Jacaerys and Edmund would try and mediate between their respective stepfather and liege. Both men had the gift of negotiation and were able to stop anything terrible from happening, but the tension would remain. Since Aegon the Elder was rarely in the presence of his half-sister, his wife often bore the brunt of Rhaenyra's displeasure whenever she was in the company of the queen after the latter had been informed of the latest confrontation between their husbands. Words were never exchanged between the two women during these times, but Helaena could sense an icy aura emanating from her half-sister, and she was hesitant to say anything in fear of igniting the queen's temper. The negativity would rub off on Helaena, and she sometimes found herself being short with her children, something she would quickly hate herself for, causing her to apologize profusely to her little ones.
If it wasn't domestic spats within the walls of her own home, Rhaenyra was also contending with foreign issues. Just a month and a half into her reign, the queen received a declaration from the Triarchy, a triumvirate alliance between the Free Cities of Lys, Myr, and Tyrosh. The parchment stated that by a majority decision from the thirty-three magisters of the Triarchy, all mercantile relations would cease between them and the Seven Kingdoms. The reason behind their decision was due to the bad memories of the War of the Stepstones. The war had been fought by King Daemon Targaryen and Lord Corlys Velaryon against the Triarchy over the Stepstone island chain so that Daemon could create a kingdom of his own.
The decision was of course met with great disapproval by Rhaenyra's small council. However, the queen's Hand was quite pleased by this development. Founded in 92 AC to combat piracy on the Narrow Sea, the Triarchy had been a thorn in Corlys's side for the past thirty-seven years since the triumvirate was established. Keeping pirates under control, the Triarchy would also impose extortionate seafaring tolls on trading vessels. If the ship's captain could not pay the toll, Triarchy officials would often confiscate trade goods, or take crew members or passengers as hostages.
Corlys's merchant ships were frequently targeted by these glorified racketeers. The Lord of the Tides was quick to inform the small council that the Triarchy had pretty much sentenced themselves to death. The triumvirate specialized in trading luxury goods, and that they relied on imports of foodstuffs from the Seven Kingdoms since the farmland in that region of Essos was not enough to support the three cities. Taking in this information, Queen Rhaenyra predicted that the Triarchy would be on its knees within the next year or two. In lieu of Lys, Myr, and Tyrosh, Rhaenyra ordered for increased trade with the Triarchy's rivals of Braavos, Lorath, and Pentos; tariffs on their trade goods were subsequently decreased to facilitate easier transactions.
As the year wore on, a remarkable event transpired in the Red Keep's garden. One crisp day during the ninth moon, the younger royal children were playing tag underneath the warm colored foliage. Prince Viserys Targaryen was it and he was hot on the tail of Jaehaera when he noticed something unusual from the corner of his eye. Resting underneath a rose bush was a dragon egg. It was a beautiful thing, the shell was pitch black with a golden-orange lightning bolt shaped vein running down from the top of the egg to its middle. It was the young prince's most prized possession, and he carried it with him wherever he went.
And now, it was trembling beneath the dark green leaves of the bush.
Excited, Viserys stopped chasing after his cousin and he went over and crouched in front of his egg. A giggling Jaehaera looked over her shoulder and noticed that her cousin was preoccupied with something else. Her twin and younger brother followed their sister in suit to see what was going on. Curious as to why the garden was suddenly so quiet, the septa that had been watching the children got up from her bench and began looking for them. She soon saw their silver-gold heads and when she approached the children, Viserys slowly began to stand up.
The septa stopped dead in her tracks when saw what the seven year old prince had in his hands. A dragon hatchling that was half the size of a house cat. It's scales were midnight black with golden-orange ones on its belly and under its neck. The newborn creature had golden-orange wing membranes and horns that were ringed with black, and eyes like molten gold. The hatchling let out a series squeaks and hisses into the air as it observed its surroundings, terrifying the septa, but amazing the children that surrounded Viserys and they took turns petting the hatchling.
Because of the hatchling's predominant black scale color, Prince Viserys proudly named his dragon Ravenscale. Just like with the egg, Viserys took Ravenscale with him wherever he went. The hatchling could always be seen perched on Viserys's shoulder during lessons or meals (during which the prince would feed Ravenscale scraps from his plate), and when Viserys played tag and he happened to be it, Ravenscale would fly around and land on the heads of those escaping the prince, letting out excited screeches as if he were tagging them on behalf of his master. When Viserys would go to sleep, Ravenscale would curl up beside his future rider like a cat. When Ravenscale attempted to breath fire for the first time a month later, small black flares with golden cores shot out from his mouth.
The excitement over Ravenscale's hatching added to the jubilant attitude that was slowly building up in the Red Keep and capital city. The twelfth month was fast approaching and with it, the double wedding of the Velaryon Brothers and Targaryen Sisters. Soon, the waiting period for the wedding dwindled down from months to weeks and then days. As the final day of the year drew closer, the capital's population surged as nobles from all over Westeros and the Free Cities streamed into King's Landing. The most notable guests were Lady Jeyne Arryn, the Lord and Lady of Storm's End and their four daughters, the non-mute members of House Velaryon, and numerous Pentoshi magistrates and high-ranking merchants.
The wealthy visitors brought many gifts for the soon to be wed couples like silks, jewels, richly embellished tomes, perfumes, swords, armor, and practical wedding presents like cradles, blankets, and toys for the queen's future grandchildren. The wedding was a beautiful affair. Watching from the royal balcony, a tearful Rhaenyra and somewhat stoic Daemon watched as their eldest children were wed. Baela and Rhaena wore resplendent gowns and their shoulders were draped with capes bearing the Targaryen dragon. The capes that Jacaerys and Lucerys replaced on their fiancées bore their own custom made heraldry: both a party per pale with the Targaryen dragon on one side and the Velaryon seahorse on the other. For Jacaerys' heraldry the dragon was on the right and the seahorse on the left; the opposite for Lucerys, his heraldry depicted the Targaryen dragon on the left and the Velaryon seahorse on the right.
When the couples kissed, the entire sanctuary erupted into cheers that could be heard outside of the sept's thick walls, causing the gathered crowds outside to cheer as well. When the newlyweds walked outside into the sunlight, they held each other's hands up in triumph, causing more cheers to ring out and for hats to be flung up into the chilly air. Vermax, Arrax, and Moondancer were perched on the sept's roof, and when they saw their riders emerge from the sanctuary, they roared and began flying around the perimeter of the temple. That night's feast yielded even more joy. Toasting his newlywed daughters and son-in-laws, King Daemon Targaryen announced that he was formally adopting his wife's sons.
This allowed Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey to take on the Targaryen name, and they could pass it down to their children. After his cousin-in-law's announcement, the Hand of the Queen made his own proclamation. Corlys announced that after much tribulation during the previous years, he was going to name his second born grandson, Prince Lucerys Velaryon, as his heir to Driftmark. Both announcements were met with thunderous applause. Most of Corlys's kin were hesitant to clap at first, but they eventually did.
One month after the wedding, Jace and Baela departed for Dragonstone. Shortly afterwards, a great coincidence occurred. Both Baela and Rhaena wrote to their stepmother/mother-in-law that they had both become pregnant at the same time. When she read the letter, Queen Rhaenyra shouted with joy, startling her half-nephew and cupbearer, Jaehaerys, and he nearly spilled the queen's wine. Daemon's usually grim face lit up when he heard that he was to become a grandfather twice over.
More good news followed. Four months after the initial pregnancy announcement, Princess Rhaena Targaryen awoke early one morning hearing strange sounds. Perched on top of the footboard of her bed was a dragon hatchling. Her scales were pale pink with eyes the color of white wine, and she had a white belly and wing membranes, and black claws and horns. When she was a little girl, Rhaena had another hatchling who had died hours after it was born.
After Rhaena's stepmother had given her another egg from Syrax's nest, Rhaena prayed over it every night hoping for the hatchling to be born healthy and to be as strong as her twin sister's dragon. And now, Rhaena's prayers had come true, for she was now the mistress of a truly magnificent dragon. Rhaena's excitement was so great, that her husband became concerned for the wellbeing of their unborn child. Because of the time of day it was when Rhaena discovered her hatchling's birth, and due to her scale color being reminiscent of a dawn sky, Rhaena named her long awaited dragon Morning. Everything seemed to be going so well for Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen and her family.
But that all changed one evening on the 25th day of the seventh moon. At dusk, Mysaria was visited by a raven with a small scroll tied to its leg. Unrolling the scroll and reading its contents, the White Worm's eyes went wide with shock and she quickly departed her chambers. She burst into the Queen's Ballroom where the royal family was having supper together.
"Mysaria, what is the meaning of this?" Rhaenyra asked in astonishment.
"Pardon my interruption, your grace." Mysaria said suddenly with a grave tone. "But I have just received some information that requires your immediate attention."
Without a word, Rhaenyra, Daemon, Corlys, and Rhaenys rose up from their seats and headed to the small council chamber, the bemused stares of their children and grandchildren following them. The queen summoned the rest of her council, and soon the meeting chamber was full. With everyone in attendance, Mysaria read the contents of the scroll out loud. A fleet of ships carrying a mercenary army consisting of the Second Sons and Bright Banner companies, along with other armed men who were unaffiliated with any sellsword company, was on its way towards King's Landing from Lys, and was due to arrive in Blackwater Bay in the early hours of the morning. Even more shocking was the identity of the individual heading the armada, Lord Jasper Wylde.
An uproar rose up, and the queen tried to command everyone to calm down. When that did not work, the simultaneous slamming of two fists on the wooden table by both Rhaenyra I and Princess Rhaenys startled everyone into silence. The desire to shout 'quiet' died down with the noise, and both cousins looked at each other in surprise before deciding to just shake off the bizarre coincidence. With everyone's attention on both the queen and the Queen Who Never Was, Rhaenyra finally had the chance to speak.
"Now that I have your attention. My cousin Rhaenys has something she wants to say."
Clearing her throat, the Queen Who Never Was spoke.
"Although this situation has come as a great and terrible shock to us all, there is a rather easy solution to this."
"What? How?" Lord Gormon Massey said aloud. Undaunted by the Master of Laws reaction, Rhaenys continued.
"As I can see before me, most of you are old enough to remember the Fourth Dornish War of 83 AC."
"The War of a Thousand Candles." muttered Lord Lyman Beesbury.
"Morion's Madness." Lord Corlys Velaryon said to himself.
"Correct," Rhaenys said, "to those of you here who were too young to remember, or did not pay attention to their history lessons," faint chuckling was heard, "Prince Morion Martell of Dorne was not pleased about his country's lack of involvement in the previous Dornish conflict over two decades earlier. Craving glory, he created a ragtag army of mercenaries, corsairs, and cutthroats and set sail to invade the Seven Kingdoms. As you can imagine, creating a force like that will not go unnoticed, and spies within Sunspear were sure to inform my grandfather well ahead of when Morion was ready to set sail.
When the Lord of Sunspear's navy reached Cape Wrath, my grandfather, father, and uncle swooped down upon the ships with their dragons. In just a matter of minutes, the fires of Vermithor, Vhagar, and Caraxes laid waste to a navy which had taken months for Morion to assemble. The War of a Thousand Candles is not only the shortest war in history, but also the only conflict in which not a single soul was lost on our side."
Everyone took in Rhaenys's words with interest. The princess and her cousin Daemon were nine and two years old respectively when their grandfather and fathers incinerated Prince Morion's fleet. Aemon and Baelon would tell their children about the battle as a bedtime story in the years to come. And now it appeared that the cousins would have a similar tale to tell their future grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
"What an imbecile!" Lyman barked, "What in the seven hells is Jasper thinking?! All he is doing is repeating history!"
"He is." Daemon said. "But it is clear that the Ironrod has at least learned from the mistakes of the past."
"My husband is right." Rhaenyra added. "Just like what Rhaenys has just said, Prince Morion's plot was uncovered very early on, allowing my great-grandfather to plan an ambush. Here in the present, we have all just now learned about the Lord of Rain House's treasonous actions on the eve of his attack. Either he had the tongues of all of his coconspirators removed, or an oath of silence was sworn, only to be broken just recently."
"Not to mention Lord Wylde's fleet hails from Lys. There could be a connection between him and the Triarchy." Corlys added with a contemptuous tone.
"He is also sailing at night," Bartimos added, "using the stars to lead the way."
"That may be," Daemon cut in, "but the one thing that has not changed since the Fourth Dornish War is that House Targaryen still has dragons. We can just fly out onto the Narrow Sea and burn the whole fleet down to their keels."
"Not quite, Daemon." The queen said. Daemon looked at his niece-queen with a quizzical look.
"What do you mean, Rhaenyra?"
"I want Lord Jasper Wylde captured alive and brought back here for trial and execution. I want all of the coconspirators heads to roll if possible!" Rhaenyra stated, her hands balled into fists.
After a strategy was formulated and agreed upon, House Targaryen mobilized their forces. Rhaenyra sent out a raven to Dragonstone to call her firstborn son to arms. Both Lords Corlys Velaryon and Bartimos Celtigar rallied their navies, and Lord Commander Steffon Darklyn ordered for the Red Keep's battlements to be fully manned; Ser Luther Largent, the Lord Commander of the City Watch, was commanded to increase security within the city. Daemon headed off towards the Dragonpit with Lucerys and Joffrey in tow. Getting Joff to come with them had been a battle in itself. The queen had strongly opposed having her thirteen year old son go into battle with his brothers, stepfather, and grandmother since she felt that he was not ready for it, and believed that his dragon was still not mature enough for combat.
"I want to go, mother." pleaded Joffrey. "I want to fight for you. Please let me go… I will follow Luke and Daemon and attack when they do. I promise."
Clasping her third born son's hands in hers, Rhaenyra looked into his brown eyes with both worry and pride.
"You swear to stay with Luke and Daemon at all times?"
"Yes, mother, I do."
"Do you swear by the Seven to-"
"Yes, mother!" Joffrey said quickly, cutting off his mother. He regretted doing that, but Rhaenyra was not the least bit angry. Instead, she kissed Joff's forehead and caressed his left temple lovingly.
"Gods be with you, my son. Just know that I am so proud of you. You are a great man in the making…"
After having her husband and second son swear to protect Joff, the men got dressed in their armor and set off. Meeting the three at the Dragonpit was Rhaenys. She was dressed in steel and copper armor, her white streaked black hair tied in a braid that was hanging over her back. Rhaenys was surprised by the presence of her youngest grandson, but if she was against him being there, she did not voice her concerns. Instead, she headed inside, her cousin and grandsons following her.
A sleepy Meleys groaned as she was being led out of her enclosure by Rhaenys.
"Come on girl, not now." Rhaenys chided her mount. "We have a battle to fight. I cannot have you acting so petulantly. Your brother and nephews are not complaining. I promise you that it will be worth being woken up for."
Intrigued, the Red Queen made an effort to move more enthusiastically, much to her rider's amusement.
Joffrey went into Tyraxes enclosure with a chain harness in hand. The dragon had been awakened by the noise outside and he seemed nervous. Seeing his rider, Tyraxes walked up to Joffrey. Illumination from the braziers outside glimmered off of the dragon's orange scales. Tyraxes was a colorful dragon, with body scales being fire-orange, the crest to the tip of his tail were black, eyes like two yellow tourmalines, belly and wing membranes a light beige, and his horns, claws, and teeth black.
Tyraxes was the size of a grown female elephant and usually had the energy of a colt, but he was acting quite mellow right now. When the two got closer, Tyraxes lowered his head, causing Joff to smile and pet his mount. Pleased by his master's touch, Tyraxes leaned his head further towards Joffrey, causing the prince to chuckle.
"Hello, boy." Joff said as he traced a scale with his thumb. "I have good news." Tyraxes let out a grunt as if he was asking what the news was. "We are going into battle, Tyraxes! Is that not exciting?"
Tyraxes looked at his rider and nodded his head slightly. Smiling, Joffrey put the harness on Tyraxes neck and led him out of the enclosure. After the dragons were fully harnessed and saddled, they took flight into the night sky. Joffrey inhaled the clean night air. It was cold, chilling his insides, but it smelled so clean and fresh and it calmed his nerves.
The light of a full moon brightened the tops of soft, grey, wool-like clouds, and stars glittered in the black sky like diamonds. Looking down below, Joff could see the Narrow Sea and behind him, the fading flecks of light from King's Landing. This was happening, Prince Joffrey Velaryon-Targaryen was embarking on his first battle. He gripped Tyraxes's reins and inhaled deeply again. Lucerys, who was flying on Joff's left, took note of his younger brother's demeanor, and he glided Arrax a little closer to Tyraxes to talk with Joffrey.
"Nervous, Joff?"
"Yes." He said with a nod.
"You will be fine Joff, Daemon and I will both keep you safe. I promise that no harm will happen to you with your big brother around."
Joffrey smiled softly.
"Thanks, Luke."
"You're welcome." A short silence before Luke said, "I have to, or else mother and Rhaena will never forgive me, and I will be hounded from this life to the next for not keeping you safe."
"They wouldn't do that." Joff said disbelievingly.
"You have seen how angry mother can get," Luke countered, "but the seven hells have no fury like Rhaena's." Joff gave his brother a bemused look. Luke continued. "She does not turn red or shout like mother when she's wroth, but Rhaena has this glare that would have terrified the Black Dread…"
As the brothers talked, Rhaenys and Daemon were engaged in a conversation of their own.
"We should be getting closer to the Ironrod's navy soon." Daemon said. "We should stay above the clouds for now until we see the moment to attack."
"And when would that be?" Rhaenys asked.
"Corlys advised Rhaenyra to write to Jacaerys that he should be the first to attack since Dragonstone is closer to the navy's predicted route. In other words, when we see Vermax's dragonfire, we swoop down and strike."
The mention of Dragonstone worried the usually indomitable Rhaenys.
"What of Baela?" She asked her cousin. "Is she safe?"
"Yes, she is, Rhaenys." Daemon said quickly and reassuringly. "That was the exact same question I asked Corlys when I was getting ready. He sent some of his ships to protect the island and our precious Baela from harm."
Rhaenys sighed with relief. "Good." was all she said.
What Daemon did not tell his cousin was that in the (unlikely) event that Dragonstone was invaded, Baela and her companions were to be spirited away to Driftmark on a trading cog called "Mouse". The ship was captained by Marilda of Hull and her two sons, Addam and Alyn of Hull. Rumors abounded that Marilda was the Hand of the Queen's extramarital lover, and that Addam and Alyn were their lovechildren. Some claimed that it was Rhaenyra's first husband, Corlys and Rhaenys's son, Laenor, who was the father of the two Hull Brothers, but this was quite doubtful due to his rumored sexual preference for men. Rhaenys would not have been too happy to learn that her husband had put their pregnant granddaughter's safety in the hands of his purported mistress and bastards even as a last resort.
The group flew for almost a quarter of an hour before they saw what they were looking for. Jets of pale yellow fire and what appeared to be four ships that had been caught aflame. Daemon rallied his family.
"Jace has attacked! Let's go!"
Taking Daemon's lead, the dragons dove down from the clouds and flew towards the navy. The sound of men shouting grew louder, and the scent of smoke became stronger as the Targaryen's approached. Joffrey tightened his grip on Tyraxes's reins and steeled himself for what was to come. Vermax's actions awoke the battle lust of Jace's family members and their dragons. Mercenaries on one of ships heard snarling, and when they looked behind them, their eyes was greeted with the sight of four incoming dragons.
Caraxes unleashed his blood red flames upon the first ship he came across, bathing every soul onboard with his dragonfire and consuming the ship entirely. Meleys flew over the burning wreckage and she breathed a trail of rose pink flames over a series of ships. Arrax turned right, with Tyraxes on his tail, and shot out a torrent of green fire towards the navy. Encouraged by the colorful inferno, Tyraxes exhaled orange flames into the green conflagration caused by Arrax. The stained glass inferno lit up the Narrow Sea with a pulsing light and the dancing forms of dragons.
Even as their ships burned, the mercenaries put up a fight. Archers and crossbowmen aimed their weapons at the dragons and let out volley after volley of arrows and bolts. The missiles were more like stinging flies than a serious threat to the likes of Meleys and Caraxes, but to Vermax, Arrax, and Tyraxes, they were a little more debilitating due to the young ages of the dragons. Prince Joffrey Velaryon rose his shield up when he saw the first wave of arrows fly out from the ships. Being cautious, Joff flew Tyraxes away from the armada, arrows and bolts shooting past him, with three striking his shield.
While the youngest Velaryon Prince tried to avoid the brunt of the conflict, his stepfather had other ideas. Daemon flew Caraxes straight towards the ships in the line of fire, breathing powerful dragonfire upon his enemies or letting the Bloodwyrm snap at the puny men beneath him. As he circled around the burning fleet, Daemon noticed how some of the ships were pulling away from the armada in an attempt to escape. With the center of the fleet incinerated, Daemon watched as his cousin and stepsons flew out to intercept the stragglers. Looking down into the fiery fray, Daemon saw the armada's flagship.
Pink and orange flames made quick work of the sails and it consumed the outline of the ship. Men scrambled about the vessel, either taking up positions to shoot their crossbows or stripping off their armor so that they would not sink like a rock when they jumped into the water to escape burning to death. While chaos reigned onboard, Daemon saw a single figure standing alone in the middle of the ship. The king had a hunch that that man was Lord Jasper Wylde. Deciding to see for himself, Daemon urged Caraxes forward towards the ship.
As he got closer, Daemon released his harness to Caraxes's saddle. When they were close enough, the king leapt from his dragon's back and he landed on the stern with a loud thud. Standing up quickly, Daemon went into action before anyone could register who the intruder was. Dark Sister in hand, Daemon slashed the throat of the first man who tried to confront him, and clashed with the second who came up behind the first. Despite his foe's youth, Daemon, a seasoned warrior, was able to overpower him, and he sent the tip of his sword down through chainmail and into the man's left inner thigh, cutting open his femoral artery.
Crossbowmen took aim at the king as their comrade fell, blood spurting from his thigh. Before they could shoot, Caraxes bathed them with a torrent of crimson flames. Infamous for his ferocity during the War of the Stepstones, the sight of the Bloodwyrm attacking their ship caused most of the remaining forces to panic and abandon ship. Daemon made quick work of the brave few who remained with well-placed slashes and thrusts. As the blood of the fallen pooled around the corpses, Daemon made his way towards the treasonous Lord of Rain House.
Throughout the whole battle, Jasper had just stood outside the captain's quarters still as a statue watching the ensuing pell mell, seemingly indifferent to the fact that his planned coup d'etat had floundered before it had even reached Blackwater Bay. He looked up from the glistening pools of blood when he heard Daemon approach him. The king's plate armor was splattered with blood and Dark Sister dripped with the red ichor, giving the already intimidating man an even more formidable appearance. But if Jasper was terrified, he did not show it. Without a word, Jasper unsheathed a dagger from his belt.
Seeing the former Master of Laws's puny weapon caused Daemon to chuckle scornfully.
"Have you gone simple, Lord Wylde? You will look more pathetic before my wife and the nobility with one hand when you are being tried for treason."
Jasper's indifferent countenance morphed into a frown, and he spat on the deck. He pointed his dagger at Daemon and spoke for the first time.
"What you and the Blacks have done is treason. No woman, regardless of the circumstances, inherits before a man. That is the natural order that had been established by the Father Above, and you usurped it only because you wanted to be king…"
"Treason is treason, Jasper." Daemon said with a serious tone. He took a step closer and Jasper backed away, his dagger still held out in front of him. Daemon sighed with exasperation. "Come on, Wylde, lets not make this anymore difficult than it has to be." Daemon held out his hands and gestured to the burning carnage that surrounded them. "You have lost. Just surrender now and face your trial and death with dignity."
"Dignity? What dignity?" Jasper snarled, his blue eyes rapt on the approaching king. "Surrendering to you, a niece-fucker? And to be tried and found guilty by your crowned whore of a wife? Tell me, Daemon, where is the dignity in any of that?"
The insults caused Daemon's temper to rise, and he tightened his grip on Dark Sister and marched towards Jasper. The Lord of Rain House rose the blade to his throat.
"Not by you!" Jasper yelled.
He then dragged the dagger through his own throat. Blood shot out of the Jasper's opened throat and onto Daemon's cuirass and left gauntlet when he rose it up to shield his face from getting splattered. Lord Wylde's eyes rolled up and he collapsed dead on the ship's deck.
"Damn it…" Daemon groaned with annoyance. He really wanted to bring Jasper back to King's Landing alive like his wife had wanted for trial and execution. Looking at the corpse, Daemon had another idea. He could at least bring something back for his niece-queen. Grabbing Jasper's grey-brown hair with one hand, Daemon hacked away at the corpse's neck until the head was cut free from the body. Satisfied, Daemon called for Caraxes, and he jumped on his loyal mount's back when he neared the bow.
With that, the Wylde Rebellion, the name given to the first serious threat to Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen's reign was called, ended before it could even begin. The sea battle was henceforth called the "Burning of the Narrow Sea", others referred to it as "Jasper's Madness" in homage to the Battle of a Thousand Candles. Sadly, unlike the Fourth Dornish War, the queen's navy had some casualties. Some crew members aboard the Velaryon ships were lost as they tried to intercept the rebel stragglers. However, the Velaryon's were successful in capturing some of the mercenaries and the other men, who turned out to be some of Lord Wylde's sons and grandsons.
More drama followed after the Wylde Rebellion was crushed. Torturing the prisoners revealed the financier of Jasper Wylde's treasonous ambitions, Lysaro Rogare, the heir to the Rogare Bank in Lys, the most powerful financial institute in Essos. When this revelation reached Lys, chaos ensued. Not only was Lysaro a coconspirator in a failed coup d'etat overseas, it was soon discovered that Lysaro had funded Jasper's Madness with money he had embezzled from his family's own bank. Enraged Lysene aristocrats who had accounts with the Rogare Bank demanded reimbursement for their stolen money, and the downfall of House Rogare soon followed.
Reports came in from Mysaria's network in Lys about the mass liquidation of Rogare property and possessions, and the enslavement of their family members both young and old. Three days after his disgraced father, Lysandro "the Magnificent", had died from a heart attack, Lysaro was dragged to the Temple of Trade where he was whipped to death by all those he had wronged. After he had bled to death from his wounds, Lysaro's corpse was beheaded, and the severed head was pickled and sent to Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen. Upon receiving this gruesome gift, Rhaenyra had Lysaro's head staked alongside his coconspirator's on the Red Keep's battlements. Later reports stated that Lysaro's younger siblings and uncle had all fled to Dorne to escape further retaliation; a few of them were supposedly being sheltered by Prince Qoren Martell, the Lord of Sunspear and ruler of Dorne himself.
While discord engulfed Lys, a similar chaos was unfolding in both the Red Keep and the Stormlands. The captured sons and grandsons of Lord Jasper were all found guilty of treason by the queen. Due to their noble birth, the men were all given the choice between execution or taking the black. Misogynistic like their late patriarch, all but two of the Wylde men chose execution over having to spend the rest of their lives in exile under a woman's rule. A day after their trial, the Wylde's were executed, while the two men who chose a life of exile at the Wall, a father and his son, were both shipped off to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea that very morning.
The execution was a public spectacle. One by one, Jasper's sons and grandsons were led up to the scaffold to meet their end by the headsman's axe as the bloodthirsty crowd cheered on. Most of the men chose silence when they were given the option of saying any last words before they lost their head. Ser Waltyr Wylde, one of the Ironrod's sons, was one of the few who spoke up. Standing tall before the chopping block, which was wet with the blood of his brothers and nephews, Waltyr publicly denounced the queen and her family.
In the same vein as his late father during his confrontation with King Daemon Targaryen, Waltyr called the queen an "uncle-fucking bitch and whore." Vitriol growing with every breath, an impassioned Waltyr went even further by denouncing the Velaryon Princes as the "brown haired spawn of Ser Harwin Strong", and extolling his father as being the only man in Westeros who was brave enough to stand up for Andal tradition. Ser Wylde's final remark was that the only monarch he would ever acknowledge was "King Aegon Targaryen the Second of His Name". When the traitor was done speaking, an absolutely furious Rhaenyra I ordered for Waltyr to be hanged like a common criminal rather than be beheaded like his kinsmen. An indignant Ser Waltyr Wylde cursed the queen as he was dragged away from the scaffold to be hanged from the Red Keep's battlements.
While the queen oversaw the execution of the captured Wylde men in King's Landing, her husband and eldest son flew to Rain House in the Stormlands to exact punishment upon the surviving members of House Wylde. Accompanying the crown prince and his stepfather was a small force made up of men from Houses Baratheon, Darklyn, and Stokeworth as well as two members of the Queensguard, Sers Erryck Cargyll and Clothair Blackwood. Waiting for the Targaryen host when they arrived at Rain House was Jasper's entire family and household. Since the new Lord of Rain House, Cornelius, was just six months old at the time his great-grandfather had died, his granduncle and regent, Lord Adalbert Wylde, greeted the royal host in the boy's stead. When Daemon and Jacaerys dismounted their dragons and approached Rain House, Adalbert bent the knee as did the rest of his family.
Pleas of mercy were soon uttered by the prostrating lord regent.
"Please, my lords, please…" Adalbert begged. "The fault for this rebellion lies with my father and my wayward brothers and nephews, Seven rest their souls, not on those who are gathered here today. We are innocent of my kinsmen's treachery! Please spare us!"
Daemon snorted contemptuously at Lord Wylde's pleas.
"Innocent? Innocent? Do you take me for a fool, Adalbert?"
"No, of course not your grace!" Adalbert protested. Ignoring the man, Daemon did a cursory glance of Rain House.
"Your castle may be large, but it had to be difficult for you and the rest of your family to not notice something out of the ordinary, particularly when your patriarch and most of your kinsmen all left for Essos…"
"I knew nothing about it, my king! Nothing at all!" Adalbert exclaimed. "They must have conspired in the Rainwood. Surely a guard or our maester would have seen something!"
"And yet you did nothing when they left. How did you not notice a mass exodus like that?"
Lord Adalbert Wylde was at a loss for words when he heard that question. Daemon was not finished.
"You may not have had a part in your father's rebellion, but you did turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to his plotting. Because of that, you are partially guilty of treason." The king then drew his sword, all eyes were on Dark Sister as it was being unsheathed. Prince Jacaerys Velaryon did not say or do anything even though he had an inkling of what his stepfather was going to do next. Instead, Jace simply watched the spectacle unfold.
"For turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the machinations that had been going on under your own roof. You-," Daemon pointed Dark Sister at the petrified Adalbert. He then began pointing at the other mature male members of House Wylde as he spoke, "-along with every surviving Wylde man above sixteen years of age shall lose one eye and one ear to my blade."
There were horrified protests by the men and their loved ones, but the king had spoken. By the will of Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen, House Wylde's treachery would be harshly punished. Starting with Lord Adalbert, who was restrained by Sers Cargyll and Blackwood, Daemon used Dark Sister to cut out one of the man's eyes and slice off one of his ears. Following Adalbert's mutilation, his various male relatives above six and ten: sons, grandsons, brothers, nephews, and even an uncle or two, all had their gruesome appointment with the sword. While his stepfather meted out justice in his mother's name, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon-Targaryen ordered for the systematic dismantlement of House Wylde of Rain House.
Lands that had been in the family for centuries were annexed by neighboring houses, and younger members of House Wylde were made into hostages by the crown. However, there was an overabundance of Wylde's to be held hostage. At the time of his death, Lord Jasper Wylde had outlived four wives, from whom he had fathered twenty-nine children! Most of these twenty-nine offspring happened to have children of their own along with some grandchildren to boot too. Two of Jasper's descendants were brought to the Red Keep to become House Targaryen's hostages, Joyce and Percival Wylde, who were half-grandaunt and half-grandnephew.
Joyce was the Ironrod's youngest daughter at twelve years of age. Born from her father's fourth marriage, Joyce was Jasper's eleventh born daughter and twenty-seventh child. Queen Rhaenyra ordered for the girl to become a lady-in-waiting for Princess Rhaena Targaryen. At seven years of age, little Percival was one of Jasper's great-grandsons, his biological great-grandmother being Lord Wylde's first wife. He was made into the Prince of Dragonstone's pageboy.
After the excitement over the Wylde Rebellion had died down, the rest of the year passed by quietly, as did the trimesters for both Princesses Baela and Rhaena Targaryen. As their bellies grew, so did the queen's excitement. One month before the sisters were due to give birth, Rhaena and Lucerys sailed for Dragonstone. They had been invited by Baela and Jacaerys for a special reason. The fourteen year old twin sisters had been born together, and they wanted to give birth together side by side too.
The big day came on the fourteenth day of the eleventh moon. Baela and Rhaena both went into labor simultaneously sometime before dawn. The queen and king, who had come to Dragonstone a week earlier to be present for the births of their firstborn grandchildren, had been awoken from their sleep, and were now waiting outside of the main bedchamber that they had shared together just the year before. Waiting with the monarchs were Rhaenyra's ladies-in-waiting, the expecting fathers, Jacaerys and Lucerys; the soon-to-be uncle, Joffrey; the excited future great-grandfather, Corlys; Aegon and Viserys were later brought into the hallway after they had woken up, while Visenya was tended to by her wet nurse. The Sea Snake's equally excited wife, Rhaenys, was inside the bedchamber with their granddaughters giving them encouragement and comfort alongside the twin princesses' companions, two of them being Ladies Alysanne Blackwood and Joyce Wylde.
The queen paced up and down the hallway, turning the rings around her fingers multiple times. Rhaenyra recalled how her late sister-in-law Laena told her about how her father had done the exact same thing when she was in labor with Jacaerys all those years ago. Now it was Rhaenyra's turn to be the anxious expecting grandparent, and her two oldest sons to be the ones awaiting the births of their firstborns'. Daemon's anxiety manifested in his leg shaking and his sons-in-law twiddling their thumbs or sitting back straight against the wall on a bench. Everyone else just stood or shuffled about.
How long the labor lasted nobody knew. The hallway was fully lit by the morning sun when the cries of two newborns filled the air. Rhaenyra stopped pacing and stared at the door. Daemon, Jace, and Luke stood up rapidly. A few moments later, Grand Maester Gerardys exited the room and closed the door behind him. The queen held her skirts in her hands and she all but ran up to the Grand Maester with her companions following suit.
"How are they?! My grandchildren? Baela and Rhaena?" The queen blurted out.
Gerardys smiled softly at the queen's excitement.
"All four are doing well, your grace." Everyone relaxed. Gerardys turned his attention towards Jace and Luke. "Princes Jacaerys and Lucerys Velaryon." The boys stiffened up considerably in anticipation of learning the sexes of their children.
"Your wives have successfully given birth to your children, a boy and a girl. Jace, you are now the father of a son, and Luke, you have a daughter."
The two brothers grinned when they heard the news. As they were being congratulated, Gerardys ushered the brothers into the room to see their newborn children. Moments later, the queen, king, and their children and Corlys were brought in to see their two new family members. Baela and Rhaena were propped up against pillows, their skin clammy and hair matted from the strain of giving birth, their husbands hovering over them. In the new mothers arms were their swaddled babes.
Seeing their parents, Jace and Luke gently took their newborn children from their wives' arms to give them to their grandparents. An excited Rhaenyra sat down in a chair and held out her arms so she could hold her grandson. As gently as he could, Jace placed his baby son into his mother's arms. Luke did the same with his daughter by giving her to his stepfather, her maternal grandfather. The room became quiet as Rhaenyra and Daemon held their firstborn grandchildren.
Rhaenyra discovered to her delight that her grandson, who was born first, possessed both his parents features: a fine head of brown hair and purple eyes. He also had chubby cheeks and a strong grip, which his grandmother soon learned when the baby boy grabbed her finger with both his tiny hands. From Jace, Rhaenyra learned that her grandson's name was Baelor. The queen's granddaughter, who was born just a minute after her cousin, had her mother's Valyrian features: silver-gold hair and purple eyes. The newborn princess had been named Alysanne in honor of her great-great-great-grandmother, and she was just as strong and healthy as Baelor.
"So beautiful…" Rhaenyra said, tears of happiness welling up in her purple eyes. "So, so beautiful…" Even Daemon looked teary eyed as he gently rocked the newborn Alysanne in his arms. After exchanging grandchildren and admiring them in turn, the king and queen began to show the babies off to the rest of the family. Corlys and Rhaenys fawned over their firstborn great-grandchildren, and they congratulated their four grandchildren on creating such beautiful babies.
Having had practice in holding a baby after the births of his younger half-siblings, Joff held his newborn nephew and niece in turn with great gusto. The third Velaryon Prince even assisted his younger half-brothers with holding Baelor and Alysanne. The one year old Visenya was soon brought in to see her half-nephew and half-niece. Rhaenyra gently placed her daughter on the bed so that she could crawl over and see her older half-siblings children. The scene became adorable when the baby princess cuddled up and hugged Prince Baelor Targaryen and Princess Alysanne Velaryon.
Being a queen was hard work. Sitting in boring meetings, dealing with rebellion, discontent, and handling family dilemmas all fell upon her shoulders. Sometimes the weight of these responsibilities made the crown upon the queen's head feel more heavier than usual. However, it was moments like the births of her first grandchildren that seemed to make all of the queen's difficulties go away. Outside of House Targaryen of King's Landing, Rhaenyra was the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, but inside that bedchamber in Dragonstone, surrounded by family, she was just a new grandmother, and her grandchildren were her king and queen.
Rewrite Notes: Oh boy, so much has been added here!
1. The adoption of the Velaryon Brothers by their granduncle/stepfather, and Corlys naming Lucerys as his heir to Driftmark.
2. Mention of Marilda of Hull and her two sons Addam and Alyn.
3. Added more members from House Wylde. According to Fire and Blood, Jasper is a four time widower with twenty-nine children! Mushroom claimed that Jasper's fourth wife died from "exhaustion", and that Lord Wylde's high sex drive was where his nickname "Ironrod" originated from. The Lord of Rain House is basically that era's Lord Walder Frey! House Wlyde is punished more harshly in this version too.
4. After reading about Morion's Madness, I contemplated whether or not to scrap the Burning of the Narrow Sea since the two conflicts are very similar to each other. Decided to keep it anyway. :)
5. The Rogare Bank collapses earlier than it did in the canon timeline. Lysaro Rogare replcased Jasper's coconspirator, Vintennio Marzini, from the original chapter.