Chapter 1: The Blood of Valyria

Aemond Blackfyre

"There was talk of a pale-haired boy born in the year 280 after the Conquest. No one paid much attention to the Blackfyres after Ser Barristan Selmy had driven his sword through the massive chest of Maelys the Monstrous. How foolish we were to forget them; after all, they have the blood of the dragon in their veins."

—Tyrion Lannister

Every man, woman, and child in Tyrosh could speak of that little silver-haired knight who used to slip away from his nurses in the Blackfyre mansion and ran so fast that he could not stop amidst the crowd of people in the city market.

"Prince, prince," the feminine voices could be heard in the background, but he simply did not stop, with that gleaming smile and bright violet eyes.

The merchants would gift him fruits and sometimes help him hide from those insufferable women, which he always appreciated by bringing new tourists to their stalls. After all, he was a little rascal who easily charmed people with that innocent look.

At the age of five, during one of his morning escapes, he came across a Westerosi band playing at one of the many fountains in the city. He became so enamored with a song about someone named Jenny and her ghosts that he asked the singer to perform it again, promising that they would be paid once he got home. Persuaded by the silver-haired boy, the man from El Rejo dared to sing "Jenny of Oldstones" again, followed by "The Rains of Castamere" and "The Song of the Seven."

Confused, the motherless orphan asked them about the stories behind these songs, to which the band said they would tell him all the stories and songs of the Seven Kingdoms for more gold.

Fascinated, Aemond ran home to find gold and once again slipped away from his nurses with a bag of gold, which he gave to the band. Of course, these five men, having nowhere else to go, saw the idea of exploiting the boy who easily acquired gold as simple. However, they did not reckon with the ten guards the nurses sent when they could no longer find him.

Ten men hired by his father to guard the mansion during his many travels with the Golden Company. They wore iron armor and carried large war axes on their backs. So imposing were they that the band vanished when the ten stood behind the prince, who, disillusioned, resigned himself to returning home for one of his High Valyrian lessons.

Years passed, and the people of Tyrosh could see the silver-haired youth growing up, though facing certain difficulties along the way, especially when, at six years old, his father contracted greyscale on a foolish and unnecessary journey to the ruins of Valyria. Prince Aemon, not even named king, father of little Aemond, was forced to seclude himself in the lands where the troublesome disease had taken hold of his body.

Unable to say goodbye to his only son, the man of medium height, in his forties, and with a lazy appearance, set out alone to the ruins left three hundred years after the cataclysm. He insisted he was returning home; after all, as he said, "He was a dragon." On the other hand, there was his mother, the beautiful Alanna Celtigar, who died giving birth to her firstborn. The midwives insisted that the cause of death was that her delicate and beautiful body was not made to withstand such pain.

And though Aemond had been raised without knowing his mother and often without his father's presence due to his mercenary activities, the loss of his only family had greatly affected his character.

He no longer ran from his nurses, though over time, he was left without them, as he began to spend more time with the company's camp than at home. The stewards resigned when they saw they would not be paid, as did the guards. In just one year, the Blackfyre mansion was abandoned, as its owner had fallen under the tutelage of Ser Myles Toyne, better known as Blackheart, who taught him everything necessary to be a good Captain-General. In fact, Aemond could even say that Blackheart had taught him better things than his father had, and he held him in a much larger place in his heart.

By his adolescence, the dragon prince had become a gallant young man, with broad shoulders, strong stature, and challenging purple eyes that captivated any woman who saw them, as beautiful as only Valyrian blood could make one. He had taken up Blackfyre, the centuries-old family sword of Valyrian steel, first wielded by the Targaryens until King Aegon IV Targaryen, the Unworthy, gave it to his bastard son, Aemond, thus naming him his successor to the Iron Throne. Obviously, as many know, this act led to more than five Blackfyre rebellions, all of which the Targaryens always emerged victorious from.

Nevertheless, Aemond cared little for his family's past battles, as he had become arrogant and even irritating in his adolescence, so much so that Blackheart had to stop him with a long lesson on how a good captain should behave. What the black dragon did not know was that Myles Toyne was a shrewd man, beyond just and loyal, and was not preparing the next Captain-General, but the next pretender to the Blackfyres.

There was something about Aemond, something that every man who saw him could notice. When he wielded his sword, he was simply unbeatable. No man could fight against that innate skill he demonstrated at a young age, which he perfected over time. He acted at the perfect moment, synchronizing his movements with those of his opponent, as if something in his mind would ignite every time he fought, allowing him to anticipate his adversary's attacks.

"He is the Warrior in person," said the followers of the Faith of the Seven; "He is the reborn Azor Ahai," said the followers of R'hllor; "The Black Dragon reincarnated," insisted the faithful of the cause. Everyone had different endorsements for him, especially when he began fighting for the Golden Company.

With him leading, no army could defeat them, and though many times situations took him by surprise, he always had a secondary strategy in his mind that he carried out, leading to victory.

The transition to adulthood had made him a great man, worthy of all the nicknames and praises commonly given to him. Just, astute, daring, brave, honorable, and strong, though also audacious, temperamental, fierce, and cynical. With an inner fire that was hard to extinguish, and which could burn for days, even weeks, until returning to its natural state of calmness.

In short, he had become a great man, and an even better warrior. No one would dare to disobey the Golden Company for the simple reason that, if they did, they would send the Black Dragon to punish them.

Songs about the hero of the Golden Company were sung in various alleys, taverns, and pleasure houses of the Free Cities. They spoke of his victory against a khalasar of five thousand riders who besieged Lorath, the dozens of times he defeated the Second Sons or the Windblown, and the night he besieged Lys without anyone noticing.

Then, after almost fifteen years, that boy who once ran through the streets of Tyrosh now walked them, accompanied by men in golden and shining armor, heading to a tavern to celebrate his latest victory.

No Blackfyre had ridden a dragon, no Blackfyre had conquered the Seven Kingdoms, nor had any Blackfyre sat on the Iron Throne. Perhaps, after a century, it was time for one to do so. After all, the blood of the dragon was thick, and it ran through Aemond's veins just as it did through Daenerys Targaryen's.