A/N: "Nothing of him doth fade. But doth suffer a sea-change. Into something rich and strange,"- William Shakespeare's The Tempest

Farwynd & Fire

By Spectre4hire

16: The Drowned God's Hammer

It wasn't until they were on Inevitable did, she learn what was happening.

They were going after a ship. An ironborn ship

"I don't understand," even after Lonnel had explained it to her. "I thought you could leave whenever you wanted." She had been told several ships had left when it was announced Dagon planned on marrying her.

Dagon had his back to them. He had barely spoken since stepping out onto his private balcony. Daenerys wasn't even sure if he was listening to his squire and spymaster.

"They can, Princess, but that time has passed," Lonnel answered. "Any ship still here is expected to travel with the fleet. It's a complicated endeavor, arranging our travel across such a great distance and with so many different and diverse ships. It takes time, so at this stage, our captain wants to know the count, and what to expect before the formal pledges are made."

"If you wish to leave you still can," Ramsay said, "But you must inform the captain."

Their captain didn't stir at his repeated mentions. His eyes were following something in the sea that only he seemed to be able to see.

"And they didn't," she correctly guessed given Ramsay's nod. "But what if the crew thinks their captain got permission?"

Again, it was Lonnie who answered her. "The crew presents themselves with their captain when seeking to leave, Princess. That way no crew can say we didn't know. "

"They're fleeing in the night," Ramsay said with a growing tinge of disgust. "And why would they leave without first speaking with our captain?" He asked them, but he was the one who answered, "Because they're working against him." His face darkened. "Everyone on that ship are traitors," He then turned to his captain for the first time. "Captain Guy Bloodsleeves is one of Drumm's men."

Dagon met his spymaster's stare. "Do you have proof of The Drumm sending him?"

"I don't." The disappointment was painted plainly across his face. "But give me time and some of their men…" He let his suggestion linger, a hopeful gleam in his pale eyes, but Dagon had already turned away from him.

"You know the traditions of the people," he said softly. "Every captain is a king aboard their ship."

"This king was about to lose his head."

Dagon's chuckling was what alerted her that she had muttered aloud her thought. "Not exactly," He replied, "But death comes for Guy and his crew." His eyes were a wall, but he still smiled at her.

She returned it, not even realizing it until her lips had already moved. That flicker of heat returned to her chest, that spark that his eyes always seemed to ignite in her.

"Captain," Morgan, one of Dagon's crew, appeared before them. "The ship's been spotted."

"They really thought they could escape," Ramsay snickered. "The Hand of God's reach is boundless."

Dagon merely nodded. "Prepare the men," he turned back to the sea. "Let them know he is coming."

"At once, Captain," Morgan flashed a look at Lonnie and Ramsay, all three sharing a secret she didn't know, but it had them excited.

Daenerys tried to ignore the slight uncertainty that was eating away at her. She was used to its hunger. It's constant presence in the company of Viserys. At the pain that would follow, if she guessed wrong when it came to her brother's moods. She opened her mouth to speak, to ask him, wanting to quiet it, to banish it, because that life was over for her. There is no uncertainty with him. She was so sure, but before she could, he spoke, and his voice stilled her.

"I have seen the dark abyss yawning, where the black waters roil without aim, where they roll their horror unheeded, without knowledge, or luster or name." The voice was unlike anything she had ever heard. It was a guttural growl that made her skin prickle. "Loathsomeness waits and dreams in the Deep." He had a white-knuckle grip on the railing. "Close!" The word was a rasp ripped from his throat.

She felt the icy needles skimming down her back, but Daenerys Targaryen stepped forward not backwards. I am the blood of the dragon. She moved towards him, but Ramsay and Lonnie intervened, it was the latter who spoke.

"It's time to leave, Princess."

She didn't budge. Daenerys was about to refuse them, but he spoke.

"You wanted to see my gift?" His voice was strained, a fading reflection.

"Yes."

"Then you need to leave," A violent shiver went through him. "Now!"

She wasn't allowed another word before she was ushered off the private balcony and then the captain's quarters. They herded her onto the deck like a lost sheep, who needed to be returned to the flock. She didn't understand, and they didn't try to explain it to her.

Daenerys stood upon the forecastle of Inevitable.

The moon swam in a sea of indifferent stars above her head, but her attention was not on the beauty of the night sky. Nor was it on the spotted ironborn ship, The Red Drum, the one they were after, the one they were closing in on. No, her mind was focused on one thing, blooming incandescently, dimming all other thoughts. Dagon, she couldn't forget how he sounded, or how he looked. That fleeting glance of him. His eyes, she shivered, but he still saw, she was certain, watching me.

It came back to her, his infamous name, Demon of the Tides. Is that what she witnessed? She had dismissed it as gossip, but now she wasn't so sure.

Was that his gift? But how was she supposed to know what it is if he wouldn't tell her? How was she supposed to see his gift if she couldn't even be with him?

It was the drums that broke her musings. The soft taps that reminded her of the first drops of rain. On the deck of Inevitable the crew quieted in an instant, all of them listening.

Ramsay stepped forward. "We are the drums on which He beats out his message." His words sparked a burst of cheers from the crew. The drums met it with a growing rumble.

The wind let out a soft sigh, but the drums swallowed it and all the sounds of the sea, as they grew louder. Pulsating, as if it was the steady heartbeat of the sea itself. The sound slithered in her ears, sinking inside her in a hot rush. The drums continued, their growing thrum, soothing and rhythmic. It washed over her in calming waves.

Then she heard voices. They pierced the low rattle of the drums, before following the sound, as if it was their procession. It was a word, a single word, but she didn't know it. The crew's chanting intertwined perfectly with the drumbeat. So ensnared by the steady rhythm and the reverential tones, she didn't know she had a visitor, until he was at her side.

"Princess," Lonnie announced himself as to not startle her. His voice barely carried over the din on the deck.

She greeted him with a nod. Daenerys turned away from him and out onto the sea, wishing it was Dagon and not his squire who was with her.

Lonnie's voice hadn't joined the others. "It's a name."

"A name?" Daenerys had never heard it before, but they chanted it as if it was worth worshiping.

"Yes," he said, "the name of His warhammer."

She knew who the He was. "Why?"

"You'll see, Princess," and then his voice was no longer part of their conversation. It had joined the chorus of chanting this-Grond.

"Grond!"

"Grond!"

"GROND!"

And then, something answered, a deep rumbling. Daenerys trembled at the noise, a great bellowing that sunk into her bones, rattling her. A primordial sound that seemed older than the sea itself.

The response roused a deafening and frenzied cheer from the crew. Fanning their excitement, and their growing bloodlust. They were celebrating with savage glee, spurring their chanting and the drums.

It was a glimpse that made her turn her head. That made her see it.

A leviathan. Pale as bone, scarred, and endless in size. It was said Balerion was the largest living thing since the fall of the Freehold, but it was this. She knew it as soon as she saw it. The whale's enormity was astonishing. This was a living, moving thing, her mind seemed to say, while still trying to comprehend what she was seeing. The thought that this was some conjured illusion was dispelled in an instant, because the Inevitable crew saw it and they cheered. This was Grond, she realized.

It let out a hollow wet roar that had her pulse pounding in her neck. Up and down her arms, goose pimples bloomed along her flesh. The whale's enormous body was etched and riddled with old scars, including along its large battering ram shaped head. It was off the prow of their ship, allowing her a long moment to marvel at its size. The leviathan moved in the water with such dignity and grace.

And it was moving towards the other ship.

They saw it too, The Red Drum. She could hear their reactions. Some were shouting pleas of mercy, others crying in fear while a stubborn few responded with rage cursing them and this creature. She suspected more than saw that there would be a flurry of activity from the ship, likely trying to escape by the means of their smaller, row boats. But how? She thought, how could anyone or anything escape it?

Daenerys watched the leviathan slip into the darkness of the sea. The last she saw of its pale form before it was swallowed up was its huge, horizontal tail, which had to be over twenty feet wide, dip into the waters. Its disappearance only made the Inevitable chants grow louder. As if they could summon the terrifying creature by calling out its name like a holy rite. The drums returned, thumping louder and louder with each strike until she thought her ears would burst.

She didn't see the strike, but she heard it. Wincing at what sounded like the sky being rent open, spitting out a terrible thunderclap, a great CRACK cut through the night. The Red Drum's mast fell into the sea with a loud groan like the felling of a towering oak. The cries of the crew grew louder, helplessly watching their ship splintering apart.

Inevitable drew closer so that she could now see the scurrying of sailors onto boats. Two small ones had been launched, while others bobbed in the water, crying for help. The crew of Inevitable did not answer. They are traitors, she reminded herself. Flotsam floated out of the sinking Red Drum like the spilling of a dying beast's innards.

A flash of pale gleamed in the starlight caught her eye and was her only warning before the deafening BOOM followed. The leviathan's enormous tail smashed into one of the two smaller boats, shattering it into splinters, killing most and scattering the rest. The remaining boat followed not long after. This time it came from below the water, rising out of the sea, breaking the boat with the force of its great head. It sent the sailors high into the air, screaming, before they crashed into the sea in several splashes. With all the sailors in the sea, and no more boats, the leviathan left them to their watery fates, but the sailors were not left alone for long.

Sharks! Dozens of them were ascending from the dark depths of the sea. It was as if the pits of the Seven Hells had been torn open, and its demons were free to roam the waters. She saw small and large ones, some were blue, others were grey or brown. Their sizes and colors varied, but they all came for the same reason-to feed.

The sailors had bunched around each other in small groups, clinging to flotsam while other bodies could be seen, floating, but unmoving. They slapped their arms into the sea, kicking the waters around them, shouting until their voices went hoarse, but the sharks weren't afraid. They kept coming.

One sailor broke away from the group, looking to be swimming towards some drifting wreckage from one of the small, broken boats. A grey fin rose several feet out of the water to give chase. Under the starlight and at their distance, it was hard for her to gauge its size, but she thought it had to be well over twenty feet. The sailor looked as small as a babe in its presence. The shark's pursuit was snake-like with its movements in the water. Its crescent moon shaped tail propelled it forward, cutting the distance between it and the sailor in a blink.

She didn't look away at what happened next. Daenerys watched the shark's teeth longer than fingers bite down onto the sailor, halting his escape in a bloody, painful instant. He screamed, trying to flail himself free from the shark's toothy grip, but the shark didn't release their prize. It whipped its head back and forth, severing him in half, but he was still alive, and he was screaming. For a few more heartbeats, he wailed and whimpered as the shark ate him, before death finally took him. Again and again, the shark threshed its kill upon its serrated jaws and hard shakes of its monstrous head, guzzling up pieces of the sailor's flesh in hungry spasms.

The crew of Inevitable sang and cheered over the sailors' screams. The drums were loud, but their prayers were louder. They called it justice. They called it a worthy sacrifice for Him.

The sea was seething with dying sailors and feasting sharks. The water flashed with twisting tails and slicing shark fins. The sailors wailed, overcome with terror, as they died. The sharks tore and threaded through the dwindling survivors, ripping and tearing, eating the living and the dead. A stripe of red as wide as a river cut through the black sea, floating lumps of flesh looked like small islands in the crimson stream.

Daenerys Targaryen never turned away. She felt oddly detached by the butchery despite never seeing such death before. It didn't turn her stomach. It didn't make her afraid. Her heart was steel, and their dying throes couldn't reach her.

Traitors, she told herself, while in her mind's eye, she envisioned different traitors were the ones being killed. Those that had betrayed her family. Let their screams be next, she prayed to Him. It was the quieting of the crew that finally got her to turn away from the slaughter. Dagon had arrived on deck. His eyes scanned the ship until they spotted her, and with a gesture, he left, and she followed.

"Dagon?"

"What I say can't be unlearned, Dany."

"I don't care," She wasn't going to abandon him. He was her path to a better, happier life. How could she abandon it? Him? To do so meant a return to Viserys, and that she wouldn't do. Dagon's my hope, my future.

He took her hand and led her in silence. His cabin was plunged in a smothering darkness, but he led her in as smoothly as if it was awash with light. In the night she heard a squawk that echoed in the room. "This will change everything."

Dany shook her head, realizing the folly of that in the darkness only afterwards, but before she could say the words, he was already responding to her.

"You're so sure even though you don't know what it is I'm to say."

"It doesn't matter," she said, "We are to be married." She clung to the words as tightly as she clung to his hand.

"Very well," a lamp was lit, and his body was covered in its haunting glow.

She saw that they were at his desk. He offered her the seat across it, but she hesitated, not wanting to release his hand, her tether.

"Dany," he said gently, and she let go and took her seat.

He poured them drinks. She noticed hers was wine, but his was something different. She took the offered drink with a smile in thanks but didn't drink from it. He, however, took a long draft from his cup. He didn't look at her when he started speaking. "You may not ask questions. Do you still wish to hear?"

"I do." She wouldn't let him dissuade her.

"We'll not speak of this again," His voice was final and firm.

"I understand." She just wanted to know.

A ghost of a smile played on his lips before he drank again from his cup. "No, you don't." Dagon poured himself another, but he didn't drink from it. "A sea change is what my family called it. Do you remember the story of Belit and her husband, Kull? And how they led my ancestor to our new home."

She did and said as much.

"The family legend goes that Belit and Kull had a daughter, and she fell in love with Lord Farwynd's son and heir. They had a child, a girl. It was said, she inherited it from her mermaid mother, since she was born of the sea, and with this gift, she could still see her mother's home." He sat down. The light of the lamp gave his color changing eyes an ethereal glaze. "But that's the past, and while my family considers this sea change a gift. It's not how others would see it, but I've seen much with it." He paused, and for a split heartbeat, she thought he had changed his mind, but he hadn't.

"In the wastelands of the sea there are crabs the size of horses that continue to grow. Eels that carry the power of lightning. Clams with pearls as large as cats. I've recovered shipwrecks from both famous and forgotten empires. I've explored the tottering ruins of vanished peoples and the oily stone idols they left behind, but I was not sated. I wanted to see more. I wanted to know more, so I went deeper." He spoke of these wondrous things without expression.

"Pure and perilous creatures that would never know the fisherman's hook or nets. Here, they dwell only in His shadow. The nameless things that sneak in the dark depths of the seas. Some with eyes that kept growing, to try to see into the endless black abyss while others had faces bare of all features save for a mouth filled with jagged teeth as long as swords. There was one hunter that could make their own light with a lantern of living flesh that dangled above their heads. An enthralling lure because in this everlasting darkness, light was an undreamed visitor." He finished his cup, and poured himself a third, and took a long sip. "Some I saw only once because upon seeing them, I fled. Those glorious grotesques that were closer to gods than beasts. One had many mouths that were always eating. Their black fangs were great and terrible. They could puncture skin, scales, shell, and likely steel itself if given an opportunity. Then there were slimy things with many tentacles, but at their ends they had hands that resembled human fingers which they used to kill their prey and hatch their mischief." He was quiet for a long heartbeat.

"With a thousand perceptions, I've lived and seen this watery oblivion like no other before me, so how was it that I could do it?" His color changing eyes shifted from his cup to her, wary. "The same way that I smashed that traitor's ship." He drank, but his eyes stayed on her. "I'm a skinchanger. And that leviathan is one of what we call our seaskins, but he has his own name," he finished with a tired smile, but his guarded expression remained.

It was so much, and yet she had her answer before he even finished. "This doesn't change anything." She wouldn't let it. Dany rose out of her seat, her wine glass still untouched when she placed it down. He's surprised, but she was determined to make sure he'd never doubt her. "Why would I be afraid of that power? Of you?" She walked around the desk to him. "You're using it for us?" She asked him, "Right?" This was how they were going to win.

"Yes," He slowly nodded, nonplussed.

She smiled. Dany enjoyed being the strong one, the reassuring one. In their time together, it had always been him, but now it was her turn to give him comfort. To be his support, to make him know that she was with him. She could not recall a mention of skinchangers in the histories or stories that she knew. Besides, she thought, her own ancestors had bonded with dragons, was this truly any different? She didn't think so. And then to prove she meant what she said, she kissed him.

When she was finished with their brief, but satisfying kiss, she moved to stand behind his chair, where she rested her chin on his head, her arms draped over his muscled chest in a warm embrace. "Is it always like that?" She asked, remembering how he had acted the way he did before she was escorted out of his cabin. It had scared her not knowing, but reliving it now, with the truth in her heart, she wasn't afraid. How could she be? He's doing it for me. He's doing it for our future.

"No," he answered, "Sometimes you'll not even notice."

"Truly?" She asked in a tone torn between dismay and excitement. "Are you doing it now?"

"Yes." He hesitated. "And yes."

She laughed, moving around so she could see his face to see if he was teasing her, but then she heard another squawk and her attention moved to the balcony where a great and beautiful sea eagle was perched on the railing. Daenerys turned from the bird to him, "You?"

His smile was genuine and open. "Me."

A/N:

Did I really give the leviathan the name Grond so I can have the crew chant GROND! as it sinks ships? Absolutely! Like I said, in the beginning of this story, there will be some crack elements sprinkled in. It can't be helped. I'm not sure it needs to be said or not, but to avoid any confusion: they're not really needed to summon the creature. It's all Dagon's skinchanging, but this is done to hide it. And (to me) it's such a fun way to induce dread and awe into your allies and enemies and have them think/believe that it's them calling the Drowned God and Him answering them. Grond was the name of Morgoth's warhammer, so in this I let it be the Drowned God's.

I know some were expecting and/or hoping it would Renly and/or his Fleet but consider this the appetizer of things to come. The ironborn ship in this chapter is irrelevant, might as well be called the S.S Red Shirt.

I hope you enjoyed their 'talk,' and found both sides believable. Skinchanging is unpopular, hence Dagon's reluctance to divulge even after he said he would. But of course, once he commits to it, he goes all out in what he's seen and done, because that's just who he is. The ironborn enjoy a good song/story. While Dany's reaction is partly ignorance because she isn't as familiar with the taint the skinchanger name comes with, but also her wanting to rationalize it, because she doesn't want to return to her old life. Dagon is her escape, and she's not leaving him.

I've had this chapter in my head a long time. And yet it remained frustrating and elusive, until the bitter end. So, I'm sorry if it didn't deliver like I wanted it to.

Just a friendly reminder that liberties are made for the sake of this story and AU world including new wrinkles/interpretations of lore and skinchanging to name a few.

Until next time,

-Spectre4hire

P.S: In this chapter I quoted Lovecraft, Tolkien, Shakespeare, and Joan of Arc.

I got an unexpected flurry of favorites the past two days (Sunday & Monday) I'm not sure what brought that on, but appreciate the support.