Lucerys Velaryon, Master of Ships to King Aerys II Targaryen, followed the tradition of ambition.
He would make himself useful to the king, and then he needn't worry about facing the dragon's fire, yet even he winces at the sounds of someone dying.
Brandon Stark choked himself to an early grave, trying to reach for a sword to save his father, the Warden of the North had all but become ash and burned bone when his grace's favorite pyromancer lit the wildfire.
What was worse was hearing the Mad King's mad laughter fill the hall. He couldn't even look above as the dragon skulls looked down with what he imagined was a sickening smile.
Dreadful beasts they had been, but he'd sooner faced those fires than whatever alchemy those lunatics created in their guild.
The trial by combat ended when both were well and truly dead, and Lucerys did fear for the retaliation that is sure to descend from the North for this treachery and it was a treachery of the highest order.
"Gods, to think the Starks who stood with the royal bloodline for nearly three centuries would be repaid like this... " he whispered to Lord Merryweather as the nobles and courtiers left after the King went to no doubt claim his husbandly rights.
"Careful, Lord Velaryon, or lest you end up there." Owen gestured to the charred bones at the center of the still-burning fire. "The King wants the heads of all of them, every Lord and heir that followed the Wild Wolf here."
There can't be any good coming out of this folly? "Surely the King must be reasoned with, talked down from this action."
"I'm afraid not." Owen left, and Lucerys stood as stone, the only one left to leave the hall.
It was times like this when he wished that Lord Tywin Lannister was still Hand, but after that business with Ser Jaime joining the Kingsguard, the Warden of the West resigned and left with his daughter back to Casterly Rock.
To think, he celebrated when the lion tucked its tail and fled the capital.
Outside the castle and on the yard, each Lord and heir were hanged for all to see, all except for Ethon Glover, who still resided in the black cells. Lucerys cringed upon seeing the blood and he knew a reckoning was coming.
Turning on his feet, he went in search of his son; he would send Corwyn from the city and back to Driftmark if Aerys truly intended to fight his realm over what seemed like a justifiable slight.
"And where is Rhaegar? Why is the Crown Prince not here?" These were questions he asked himself as he searched.
Making it to Maegor's Holdfast, he entered his son's chamber and saw him plowing a girl with the Darry sigil on her coat. Out, I need to speak to my son, and I will be having words with your uncle, Lady Darry."
Corwyn nervously covered himself with a sheet, "What is wrong, Father?" his son asked.
"Did you not hear the screaming from the throne room? His Grace executed a score of lords and their sons just moments ago, and here you are, shaming our house with another potential bastard." Lucerys knew he was being angry for no real reason; no, it was the stress and very real peril they were in.
Corwyn lowered his head with some embarrassment, "Apologies, Father."
"No. I am sorry." Lucerys looked around before turning his attention back to his son and heir. "I want you to leave on the hour and sail back to Driftmark."
"Why?"
"The King is on a warpath; he's ordered for the Starks and their allies heads, and your sister is married to Robert's brother." Jon Arryn raised Robert and Eddard as sons; his grace is sure to link House Velaryon to them. "I won't have my family butchered."
It getting near sunset when his son left through the main gate, a small retinue of Velaryon guards following Corwyn.
"Hold! By order of his Grace!"
Goldcloaks filled the space within and outside of the main gate of the Red Keep, spears and swords were drawn on himself, his son, and men. "What is the meaning of this?" Lucerys demanded of the Master at Arms, Willem Darry.
"I am sorry, Lord Velaryon but the King bid me take you and your son into custody."
Lucerys took a deep breath, fearful of what lay ahead. "Ride, Corwyn, get away from here!" He shouted and unsheathed his sword.
Melcolm Longwaters, the father of Jeyne Longwaters, pushed Corwyn to ride through the line of Goldcloaks while the rest of his fifteen men fought to give his heir time to flee.
Alone, surrounded, and resigned to his fate, Lucerys Velaryon swung his sword to disarm a guard, then ran another through the throat. Three crossbow bolts found themselves plunged into his back, which caused him to fall to a knee.
"Surrender, Lord Lucerys," Willem commanded again.
"I won't burn for a tyrant... I am the Old, the True... The Brave." With his sweet daughter and grandchildren in his thoughts, Lucerys Velaryon turned his sword towards him and fell on it.
Corwyn Velaryon, now Lord of Driftmark, hadn't even reached the port when he was captured. Melcolm Longwaters died from a spear to the heart, the body left to be robbed of possession by the peasants who lived there.
Aerys II Targaryen had the Lord of the Tides taken past his now headless father's body and thrown in the black cells with Ethon Glover, a hostage to keep the Velaryon ships and family from turning their cloaks on him.
Stupid Lucerys, he shouldn't have disobeyed his King and obeyed like the servant he was.
Alyssa had broken down in tears as the news came of her father's death and of her brother's imprisonment after the executions of Rickard Stark and his heir, among others.
She wept hot tears thinking that only seven years ago, her own Lady Mother died of fever.
"This treachery cannot stand!" She screamed in anger after the pain numbed all feeling, she wanted revenge for her father and the freedom of her brother.
Something she shared with her husband's brother.
It seems that the King wants the heads of House Baratheon and Stark; Robert wrote that Jon Arryn called his banners to war for his foster sons, and so her good brother answered in kind, asking Stannis to send ravens and call the Stormlands to fight for their liege lord.
Stannis did so, Cressen calling the banners to war.
Soon enough, word came of the first battle in the rebellion came when Gulltown fell in defense of staying loyal to the Mad King.
A moon and a half later, the household gathered to greet Robert. Stannis was dressed in his mail armor, the stag on his breast, when Robert stormed in, happy for the gathering camp growing outside of the castle.
"You did well, brother. I shall do the rest." Robert said, then turned to her, "I am sorry for your father, sister. I promise that he and all others will be avenged."
"Shall we ride with you, Robert?" A young Renly asked.
Robert stopped and looked to Storm's End's great tower, then to Stannis: "I will remain in the camp and ride out in force. Brother, I will leave you in charge of Storm's End with 500 men as a garrison to hold it."
"Brother, wait." Stannis called and walked up to Robert, "House Grandison, Cafferen, and Fell ignored our call. Lord Dondarrion said that a host was gathering near the ruins of Summerhall."
Robert growled in anger as he mounted himself on a horse, his warhammer in hand. "Then that is where I go, and I'll break them in half with my superior might."
Alyssa admired her good brother. He is surely to win against his bannermen, who seem to want to remain loyal to the tyrant king.
It was nightfall when she was in her chamber, holding her son. "I want to send our son to Greenstone." Stannis said as he entered the chamber, "Renly, too, a siege is no place for a child if things go terribly."
She smirked and looked at her husband, "And not me?" he scoffed and sat next to her, placing a gentle hand on Addam's head.
"You wouldn't go even if I ordered you to, so no, I wasn't going to ask you."
They spent another day waiting for good winds to send her son and Renly to Estermont, the island of House Estermont, and Greenstone.
Poor child Renly demanded to remain by the side of Stannis and serve as his squire in battle; she convinced him to rather be his nephew's fierce guardian while in Greenstone, to which the lad eagerly agreed.
She wore a black gown to mourn her father as she carried Addam to the skiff. "Mummy loves you; I will see you very soon," she whispered and kissed her baby on the forehead.
It hurt to say goodbye, even if it was only for a few moons or more, but she was sure to see him again.
Regarding her newest babe still growing in her belly, she chose to name it Lucerys after her father if it was a boy. "And if it is a girl... Hmm," she said to herself as her son and Renly rowed away.
283ac
Stannis was stone-cold, looking down at the body of his loving wife and partner.
Robert's near defeat and flight of the Stormlands left them open to a Tyrell/Tarly host, who would come marching in and laying a slow siege to Storm's End while breaking other castles along the territory.
The Redwyne fleet blockaded trade and started starving the castle when Mace attacked, but once, after, the men began feeling the effects.
Their food stores were depleted, so they resorted to eating the horses. After they were gone, they ate the cats, dogs, and rats. He had to imprison three of his men. Gawen Wylde wanted to go out and surrender, and he wanted to oblige him by sending the knight out in a catapult to where Tyrell feasted.
Alyssa suffered the most. She was pregnant with their second child and needed the nutrition which he was unable to give her.
He closed his eyes; she had gone into premature labor a day ago and died; their child, a girl, came to the world deformed and stillborn. "Larissa." was what she named her with her final breath.
It was one of the few times that Stannis allowed himself to cry, wishing he made her leave for Estermont as he did their son and Renly.
His weakness let her suffer a long death and the death of their daughter, who had his black hair and the lilac eyes of her mother. "Lord Stannis!" A soldier said while bursting into the room.
"Why do you disturb me, Donal?" he questioned the former blacksmith; he had lost his arm in Mace's single assault but was no less strong.
"A man sailed to the lower entrance of the castle. He's a common man."
Stannis reached out and picked up his wife's hand, kissing it tenderly before rising and following Donal to the servant's port to meet this commoner who brazenly sailed to his home.
The man was at least a good few years older than himself, with greying hair and brown eyes. Looking past him, he saw a small boat filled with boxes of food, dried meats, and onions.
"Who are you?" Stannis questioned, raising a torch to the man's face.
The man kneeled and cleared his throat, "Apologies, m'lord, I am Davos- A lowly man from flea bottom."
"Why have you come?" Stannis demanded to know, mostly to see if this was a plot by the Tyrells.
"Things have gone to shit in the world; I wanted to make a difference, so I brought as much as I could to feed you and your men." Donal and some other men started to unload some of the food and were surprised by how much there was.
"Where does a common man have the coin to get this much food?" With the war going on, everyone is starving, especially King's Landing.
Davos shifted a little out of nervousness before answering Donal, "I'm a smuggler. These were meant for other places, but I brought them here instead."
Smugglers are criminals, deserving of punishment for neglecting the King's laws.
In the end, however, he would relent with but one thing to say. "If only you arrived a few days ago, Davos the Smuggler."
The night fell over the castle, and his garrison was invigorated with full bellies after what seemed like months of rationing and watching the Reachmen feast in their camps.
Stannis took no more than his share, and at dawn, he gathered a few to send his wife to her ancestors as was the Velaryon way.
A stone face carved in her image depicted her holding a baby against her chest since their daughter would be buried with her. The Septon made a prayer, but Stannis didn't much care to hear, only looked out to the sea, to Shipbreaker Bay, which had slain his parents and all on board apart from a fool.
It was sometime after that he had Davos brought to the solar, and a wood table brought along.
"M'lord... You wanted to see me."
"The punishment of smuggling in the realm is death." Stannis watched Davos shiver slightly at his tone, "And yet you helped my men live for a few days or more, so it is worth a reward."
He knighted Davos for the actions displayed, heroism, and bravery in equal measure.
There is one more thing, however, "Your deeds on this day don't wholly absolve you of your crimes, so payment is demanded." so he required Ser Davos to relinquish the first joints of the fingers of his left hand. "If we survive this, you will be rewarded with lands in the Stormlands." He decreed in front of his lieutenants and knights in command of the garrison.