The gaoler left a while ago and hadn't returned.
Corwyn was getting worried, having been trapped in blackness for months with only Ethon Glover for company.
He's also grown accustomed to hate down here, wondering if this was how the Sea Snake felt after the Queen he swore loyalty to had arrested him and thrown him in the dungeons.
In fact, he wondered if this was the exact cell he was thrown in and awaited execution until the Greens pardoned him.
He slumped back and thought about his father, mourning and grieving for the treachery they were given by Aerys the Mad. He may have succumbed to his fate were it not hope to see his sons, his sister, and his nephew.
House Velaryon had been staunch friends and even relatives for three centuries, before that, even.
His own father was even kin to Jaehaerys II, Corwyn's grandfather, who married Aelora after she was widowed in the late demise of her twin, Aelor. He sat straight and rested his head against the wall, these blasted chains on his wrist had started to give him a rash.
"We will die here... " Ethon said with a raspy voice, and all Corwyn could do was grunt as he was far too thirsty to give the Northman a reply.
An unknown savior stormed down to the cells and unlocked the doors. He was cloaked and covered his face as he freed Corwyn and Ethon. "Who are you, Ser?"
"Not a ser, Lord Velaryon, but a man who needs you to save the royal family." Save them?
"Why would I do that? Aerys killed my father."
"Does Princess Elia and her son and daughter share Aerys crime?" No, no, they don't.
The mysterious man placed a sword in his hand and helped him up, then started undoing Ethon's chains. "You won't have much time; already, the city has fallen, and King Aerys is dead."
Corwyn gripped the weapon and swung it a few times.
He hadn't been so flexible for months. "Where is the Princess?" he asked, and the man who realized was Lord Varys told them they were within Maegor's Holdfast.
Ethon followed him. He had said the man owed him nothing, but the Northerner said that he could try and flee, or he could die protecting innocent children from whatever was after them.
It was something he agreed with, though he does spit on Aerys for what happened.
The castle was wide awake, and the city was loud with fighting and fires as Goldcloak and Targaryen soldiers ran from post to post, ignoring them as they trudged toward Maegor's Holdfast and, from there, to the royal apartments.
Corwyn found Prince Rhaegar's chamber and saw the door open. He heard screams and the sounds of a child and a woman screaming.
What he saw horrified the Lord of the Tides, a baby's corpse against a wall, and what looked like Gregor Clegane was forcing himself on Princess Elia. Ethon took a moment before going in and bringing his sword down on Gregor's head, it didn't wholly behead Clegane, but it stopped what was happening.
Corwyn went into the bedroom and saw a man dragging Princess Rhaenys from the bed and stabbing her once, "Daddy!" the three-year-old cried out.
Blood boiled in Corwyn's body, and before the brigand could go in for another stab, he had thrust his own blade into the one end of the cunt's ear and out the other end.
"Shh. Stay still, Princess." He said as she fidgeted to get away, she calmed after a few moments, and the blood seeped into the red stone floor.
Wasting little time, he heaved the child onto the bed and got to work on her wound. His time on the sea and the few sea battles he fought gave him some technique in dealing with various wounds.
"This is going to hurt, Princess. Deep breath." He heated a dagger and laid it on her abdomen where the bastard harmed her. She screamed and wriggled, but he held her steady until she passed out.
Elia was carried in by Ethon. She was heavy in the eyes and had suffered a blow to the face with what he imagined was a hammer.
After stitching Rhaenys wounds, he and Glover barricaded the room and prepared for company outside which appeared moments later in the form of lion-headed cunts of Lannister.
"You want them, come and try it." He challenged the six, and they came forth.
The hallway was blooded, and corpses fell; Corwyn sustained more than a few wounds. He knew his days were numbered, and Ethon Glover was already dead.
He was knelt and kicked on his back, and the last man was a brute who stabbed him in the groin. "Gah!" Corwyn cried out in pain.
"Stop this at once!"
A voice came over, and at the end of the hall were a dozen Northerners with the Stark banner on their coats. The lead of them, he knew enough and well from Harrenhal.
Taking the distraction, he was able to reach for a dagger and thrust it into his killer's throat.
"Ser Corwyn, I am Eddard Stark. Where is the royal family?" He couldn't answer; it wasted too much energy on his end, so he nudged to the room. Eddard looked him over and met his eyes, "Do you need a Maester?"
No, he wanted to say but couldn't. Then he saw nothing and felt his life fade.
Corwyn Velaryon left the world a symbol of the bravery that his House was known for, Eddard Stark and his men broke down the doors of the royal apartments and entered the bed chamber to see a stunned Elia holding up a sword to them, in her other hand was her dead son and she was in front of an unconscious but living daughter.
Only once he swore to protect them did he take the child and her mother into their custody.
Robert Baratheon entered the city a half-moon after it was taken.
The streets were quiet as Baratheon, Vale, and Tully soldiers marched up its street and towards the Red Keep. He heard the sack was rather horrid and he wished there had been another way, war is a savage thing and it can only end savagely.
Ned met him with Lord Tywin, the Stark and Lannister flags flew from end to end, and Targaryen banners burned in a pile along with the bodies of those who resisted the sacking.
He was solemn, unflinching as he dismounted and walked past his friend and ally to the throne room.
The blasted dragon skulls will need to be taken down. He was half-minded about grinding them to dust or throwing them into the Blackwater as payment for Aerys and his son's crimes, no, the crimes of every damned dragonspawn.
Robert gazed upon the Iron Throne, the monstrosity that all of the blood spilled, other than his quest to rescue Lyanna from the clutches of her captors.
Slowly, he rose to the seat and sat down on it, his hands lying on the pommels of melted swords. Then he saw the bloody puddle left from where Aerys was slain. "The Kingslayer is a hero," he said.
"Hero? Robert, he killed the King he was sworn to defend. He is an Oathbreaker, a traitor to his King." Ned said in defense of the dragon.
Tywin stepped forward, "He saved the Keep from turning into a bloodbath, Your Grace. If nothing else, he should be rewarded for his actions." The Warden of the West continued, "Unlike yourself, Lord Stark, who has taken Princess Rhaenys into custody."
"What?" Robert turned to his friend, "They should all have died."
He hoped they would be dead, not Elia but Rhaegar's seed. Now, he fears he would need to do the deed himself. "Where is the girl, Ned?"
"He is just a child, Robert. A woman if tradition says so, she is no threat to you."
"And what if she decided to breed a silver-haired spawn? Will you take responsibility if she has a boy who wants what is mine?" Robert roared from his throne and then calmed, "After what he took from us, Ned, how can you defend his blood?"
"Because she is an innocent."
He was going to rage further until Jon Arryn stepped forward, "Robert, there are other options than simply murdering a girl."
"And what, Lord Arryn, could that be? The longer she lives, the stronger the old regime becomes." Tywin mentioned and Jon shook his head no to that.
"There is the Faith." the Warden of the East suggested, "Keep her here, under guard, have her take holy vows. It would have her forsake any claims as those now belong to Viserys and Queen Rhaella."
To his annoyance, a lone male heir is the most threatening to his rule.
Robert sighed and was tired, "Very well, she goes to the Faith upon her fourteenth name day." He should be lucky that Rhaegar's male brat is dead, and soon Viserys will be as well. "Lord Lucerys Velaryon was the Master of Ships. I would have a new royal fleet built to lay siege to Dragonstone."
So he named his brother Stannis to the post and ordered Eddard to ride forth with his Stark and Baratheon forces to break the Tyrell hold on the Stormlands.
The Trident and his battle against Rhaegar left him wounded still, and as much as he wished to ride with Ned to save Lyanna, who they found out was in Dorne, he knew that he would have to take time and rest before assuming the throne in his name.
Jon Arryn eagerly took his offer of Hand of the King; there were some other posts he needed to appoint, such as Kingsguard, who he named Barristan, and then Jaime, who insisted on keeping his title.
Robert saw the need for good swords, although none could compare to him on the field of battle.
284ac
Stannis was aggrieved and insulted by his conversation with his brother just moments ago.
In the aftermath of the war, Robert made him Master of Ships and Lord Admiral of the Baratheon Royal Fleet, and he did his duty. He made twenty new war galleys and sailed them to Dragonstone, where the Targaryen fleet was anchored.
He enlisted his nephew, Monford's Velaryon, and Adrian Celtigar's ships, doubling his fleet by twenty more ships.
The Master of Ships expected a fight, but a storm lashed the island, and what vessels that still floated had surrendered and allowed him and his men to get to the island and take the beach. from there, he marched up to the keep to see the garrison did the same.
To his dismay, he found that Queen Rhaella had died giving birth, and Ser Willem Darry whisked away Viserys and the newborn Daenerys Targaryen.
His triumphant return was met with roars from his brother.
"How could you let them escape, you fool!" Robert shouted from the Iron Throne, a crown on his head after being coronated whilst he was away. "You had one task, and you botched it!"
"They must have been forwarned, Robert. I had no- "
"I'll not hear your excuses, now begone from me." Stannis remained standing where he was, infuriating Robert further, "What are you doing?"
"You are the King, Robert, and a King cannot be Lord of Storm's End and Lord of the Seven Kingdoms at once." He wanted his rights, his son's rights, and would do this before leaving this room.
Robert leaned back and narrowed his eyes, "Ah yes, well, I know this, and that is why I named Renly the new Lord of Storm's End and Lord Paramount of the Stormlands."
It came as a shock to Stannis, who had fought to keep their home for a year. "What?"
"I want you to be Lord of Dragonstone, as the Kings before named members of the family to it. It's an honor." An honor or a slight? Stannis could barely find the words to express how he felt.
Then he remembered his way, how he was brought up but he wouldn't forget this insult... He would never forgive it.
Later that night, he was returning to his room within Maegor's Holdfast, and he had his son brought with Lady Jeyne Longwaters to serve as Addam's caretaker and watched as he played with his toys.
Robert's hatred of the former ruling house extends to all who share the blood and features of old Valyria.
Addam may have to go away as he does his duty to his wretched older brother, had only made the King more hateful of Targaryens and decreed that Viserys be hunted down and killed, the girl Daenerys too.
Stannis frowned, something he's been doing a lot since Alyssa's death. Her light was something he will never see again, nor does he want to replicate such light or love for another.