Chapter 7; The dragon's return

Dragonstone, eleventh moon of 283 BC.

The Targaryen ancestral island was a bleak and inhospitable place, but Lord Frey had to admit that the fortress was an impressive place. He had arrived a fortnight earlier to the island in a carrack, to carry out the ritual. The queen mother had already been transferred there, along with her sworn shield Jaime Lannister several months ago, who despite no longer being part of the royal guard, had insisted on accompanying the royal family, Lord Tywin did not mind, since he thought he could gain some influence over Rhaegar. What caught Lord Frey's attention was that how close they were, and according to several maids, strange noises and even moans could be heard from the queen's chambers. Although Lord Frey overlooked them. He though he had written to several servants, and it seemed that rapprochement had begun shortly after Aerys' death. But Lord Frey decided to silence the rumors, poor Rhaella had already suffered enough, and he had every right in the world to be happy with whoever he wanted, no matter how absurd or strange that union was.

Putting that fact aside, Lord Frey set about surveying the island. He then carefully observed the structures built with those arcane arts lost centuries ago. Naturally everything had been done in secret, and he had sent several of his agents to search for dragon eggs in the caverns of the ancient dragons.

"It was a shame that the achievements of that civilization had fallen into oblivion," he said to himself as he looked at the table with the map of Westeros on which Aegon had planned the conquest of the seven kingdoms. "They were the best at almost everything during that time." "Thousands of years, and they would have been the best in the world, but five millennia were erased in just one day... and in the end only this island remained"

"And it will be from where the house of the dragon will rise again" spoke the now king Rhaegar. He was next to him with a full smile.

Lord Frey gave him a light bow, and stared at the man.

"Your Majesty," he said in a respectful tone, "I celebrate your good humor, I trust that it is for good news."

"The explorers have found fourteen dragon eggs," he replied happily, "they are petrified, but they are a good size."

Lord Frey nodded.

"For the ritual we will only use six dragon eggs," he explained.

Rhaegar grimaced, this disappointed him, since he dreamed of all the possible dragons roaming the skies. He probably imagined himself replicating the greatness of the Valyrian empire. In truth, that man had a lot of megalomania, as much as his father had had, although Rhaegar kept it much better kept.

"Why only six?" the king asked, somewhat disappointed.

"At the moment the royal family is made up of only five members; Princes Aegon and Viserys, Princesses Rhaenys and Daenerys and you" he replied. He didn't believe Queen Rhaella would survive. "Dragons need their riders. The other six dragons, not having the link with their rider, would become wild, which would be a quite serious problem...so we cannot hatch more eggs, at least until the number of members of the dragon house increases."

Rhaegar nodded more convinced, but began to think. That didn't give him good signs.

"It's a shame that Elia can't give me more children," he admitted, annoying him.

Lord Frey frowned.

"Your Majesty," he said soberly. "We have only just resolved the problem of Lyana Stark and Robert Baratheon's son, this is not the time for more experiments," he warned her.

"Yes… that little one will be a good lord of the Stormlands" he acknowledged with a smile.

"A pity that Lady Lyana died in childbirth," Lord Frey replied, and he had had plans to send her to Braavos along with little Jon, but her death ruined those plans.

"Yes…it was a shame" said the king with a strange smile.

Flashback

King Rhaegar had appeared at the keep of joy. He had previously sent a message to Gerold Hightower and the rest of the royal guard to report to the capital, consequently to report to the Northern campaign and the reconquest of Gulltown. There were just a couple of guards and the septa along with a maester.

Lyana had given birth, and she was very weak, although despite the harshness of the birth, thanks to Maester Orys, it looked like she would survive.

"Rhaegar," said the maiden of the North with true love, "look at him, our son."

The king's smile disappeared when he saw that boy with brown hair and brown eyes. At that moment he understood that he had made the mistake of his life by taking that girl. And he ordered everyone to leave the room.

"What is this?" Rhaegar asked.

Lyana's smile faltered for a moment.

"It's Aemon, our son," he answered sweetly.

But Rhaegar looked at them harshly.

"That child can't be my son," he snapped. "He looks like Robert's son."

"He is your son!" Lyana shouted.

"Rhaenys and Aegon are my children! This one is not!" he shouted angrily pointing at the newborn.

"Aemon is your son!" he sobbed.

"He's not!" He yelled at her "After everything I have sacrificed for you… and this is what I get? I deserve it for noticing you! "if I ever find out"

Lyana burst into tears.

"How can you say that?" she asked him hurt.

"You will go to Braavos with that child," she told him a little more calmly. "There you will not lack for anything, and you will never return."

"No!" she screamed hysterically "I am your wife and Aemon is your son!"

"I already have a wife and children!" She snapped at him, "I don't need a stupid, wild, useless northerner who hasn't even been able to give me a proper child!" she yelled at him "Elia got it and she's a Dornish! That's not my son! "He is not!"

"Scoundrel!" She yelled at him, "My father and brother are dead because of you!"

"All your brothers are as short-minded as you, and the North is being occupied right now by my army!"

But Lyana spat at him.

"My son is the prince who was promised!" She yelled at him, "I'm not going anywhere."

"Yes… yes you will," he told her calmly.

Rhaegar approached Lyana carefully, looking at her coldly, leaving her perplexed. Then he put his hands around her neck, and strangled her. Lyana defended herself tooth and nail, managing to scratch her face. The baby cried uncontrollably, and Lyana uttered a strangled cry, but finally the life left her body, and she stopped moving.

She then picked up the newborn and took him with her. She could even be of some use to you.

End of flashback

Naturally Lord Frey knew nothing of that, but he had had to improvise about the plans to follow, inventing this whole story about him being the son of Robert Baratheon and the tragic fate of the Stark girl.

"There are already two hundred soldiers of House Bolton in the dungeons, including Lord Ross," King Rhaegar told him. "I am sorry for the death of your children."

Jared and Merrett Frey had died in a skirmish against the Boltons, one of the few casualties of the battle, as the royal army closed in on them. Which would be perfect for the ritual, however barbaric it might be, the truth is that he was doing the seven kingdoms a good favor, by freeing them from Lord Bolton and his offspring.

"What news do we have of Sir Gerold?" Lord Frey asked. It was necessary to put an end to the last remnants of that war.

"The Manderlys and Reed are either dead or in prison. As for the Flints, they are on the run. As far as we know, Winterfell has fallen and Benjen Stark is one of our prisoners," Rhaegar said satisfied.

"It is good to know," acknowledged Lord Walder. "Now the rebellion is history."

Finally, they both said goodbye and Lord Frey retired to his chambers. There he was reading the ravens of his children. To counter Tywin's influence in the capital, he had arranged for his son Aenys to be appointed commander of the city guard. It had not been difficult to convince the king. The only thing that weighed on him was that he had renounced being the king's hand. Tywin was dangerous, but he could keep him under control. In any case, he had taken over Varys' spy network, and the creation of the three excellencies was also convenient. With the army in the hands of the lord commander of the royal guard, and having to deal with the problems caused by the Targaryens, the day-to-day running of the seven kingdoms must fall to someone competent, Lord Frey would be in charge of introducing the reforms relevant. At the moment he had already sent instructions to Stevron who was already the acting lord of the riverlands.

A month later Queen Rhaella died giving birth to Daenerys. That had hurt Rhaegar slightly, but not too much. Even so, Lord Frey took a contingency measure, so that he could not do without it, and gave the newly Daenerys a few drops from a bottle, which were nothing more than water, but which he assured was an Elixir of his own creation, while the queen's corpse was still in the room, along with a sunken Jaime Lannister.

"With this the ritual will be successful," Lord Walder assured him.

"What ritual?" Sir Jaime asked worriedly.

"The one who will allow us to bring back the dragons," Rhaegar replied with a sad smile, as he turned away, leaving him to his pain.

As Lord Walder and the king walked through the corridors the lightning could be heard in all its splendor. Behind them were a procession of guards led by Sir Allister Thorne.

"The preparations are already made…but this storm" said a doubtful Rhaegar.

"We have no choice, time is short and we cannot stop now," Lord Frey warned him.

That same night the biggest storm in the history of Westeros occurred, but the bonfires were already lit, and the five eggs were laid out. The prisoners, led by Lord Bolton, were led out with the Lord of Dreadfort at their head, chained and somber.

Lord Frey walked through the rain carefully with Daenerys in his arms, followed by a dozen guards, while the court watched in silence what was happening. But Queen Elia, her children, and Prince Viserys were also present, somewhat confused by what was about to happen. He placed the princess in the center of the pyre, surrounded by the dragon eggs. And then he set fire to all the prisoners. Immediately following his orders, King Rhaegar tore his hand with the Valyrian steel dagger.

Queen Elia, horrified by what was going to happen, begged for little Daenerys to be handed over to her, but Rhaegar restrained her, and said some words that at least calmed her down. "What a man that is," Lord Frey whispered, while the guards kept watch. to the prisoners.

Then the fire appeared with its own force in the midst of the wind, the rain and the thunder and the court watched in terror as the screams of the northerners burned alive. And for a few minutes in the middle of the storm the fire reduced the pyre to ashes. Lord Frey had his heart in his fist, he wasn't really sure, but the blood ritual was the only hope of resurrecting them. Little by little the fire was extinguished by the rain, being reduced to barely embers. Then Lord Frey approached the pyre alone. And in the midst of the charred corpses, he repressed the horror, and with all the terror in the world, he walked through the ashes, until he saw something move.

"Thank heavens!" he said when he saw Daenerys sleeping, along with five dragons. With two legs and two wings, they growled. One of them, black as night, was curled up sleeping next to Dany. One of the dragons was golden in color, but lighter than dark. Another dragon was dark green, although it was haughty. Next to him was a purple dragon pacing back and forth. The last dragon was silver with sharp horns, fluttering energetically.

Lord Frey picked up little Daenerys carefully as the little dragon had awakened and fluttered next to them. King Rhaegar ran over, and looked in amazement at the five newborn dragons. The purple dragon, still fluttering back and forth, landed on one of Rhaegar's shoulders and cooed at him, leaving the king paralyzed for a moment.

"Your Majesty, it seems that you already have a dragon," Lord Frey said happily.

"Is incredible!" He shouted full of joy and with tears, "At last the dragons returned to this world."

"One hundred and thirty years ago the last dragon died, today one hundred and thirty years later they resurface," Lord Frey told him. He knew very well that dates could have a lot of power, so without thinking too much he tied together several facts: "Today the decline of the seven kingdoms ends."

Rhaegar smiled, as the court and soldiers were shocked by what had just happened. The queen approached Rhaegar with her children, and then Rhaenys approached the dark green dragon, and they both ran through the ashes, forming another dragon bond. Prince Viserys, who was scared and pained by the loss of his mother, tremblingly approached the dragons, and the golden dragon looked at him intently, and with many doubts caressed him, producing the fourth bond.

"My queen, place Prince Aegon on the ground," Lord Frey requested.

Queen Elia was stunned, but a hint from her husband brought him out of her reverie, and she made him somewhat hesitant. Then a laughing Aegon caressed the silver dragon and it flew around him, reaching out to pet the little prince with its head.

At that moment, taking advantage of the proximity of dawn, he proclaimed.

"The dragons have returned to this world!

And soon there were dozens of cheers from everyone present.

After the rebirth of the dragons, there was a lavish banquet in the fortress. Thanks to that feat, Lord Frey was effectively the first lord of the kingdom. Such was the influence he had on Rhaegar, which had been increasing progressively, that now he was not only sitting next to him at the table, but now he practically did not make any decisions, without first listening to him first, which would be very useful in the future, although he had to be careful when it came to committing imprudence. After the festivities were over, he went to meet Rhaegar privately in his chamber.

"As soon as we return to King's Landing, the people will be fervent," the king declared victoriously.

But Lord Frey did not agree.

"Your Majesty, I recommend that you do not do that," Lord Frey spoke to him, "it would negatively affect the development of the dragons."

That caught the king's attention.

"What do you mean?" Rhaegar asked intrigued.

"The dragons need the volcanic climate of this island, to develop in conditions, in addition to the space of the island, and the food…if we put the dragons back, in places like Pozodragrón the magic of the dragons will disappear again, and in a couple of generations will have died again"

"And what do you suggest?"

"Your Majesty, it would be best if you and your family remained on the island," Lord Frey spoke to him. "I assure you that within three years you will be able to fly with your dragon."

Rhaegar only had to take a look at Verys perched on one of the windows to convince himself that this was for the best. In this way, Lord Tywin was excluded from contact with the royal family for a time. Time that Lord Frey would gladly take advantage of to convince the king of certain ideas.

In the next chapter, Lord Frey will have Eddard Stark brought to Dragonstone, which will give some curious results.