Maegor VII
It was a strange feeling touching down in the godswood of the monstrosity that was Harrenhal again. The last time I was here I had only just spread my wings so to speak. I had no friends and I had only just met half of my family. Now here I was once more, with a burgeoning family, even if half of them either hated me or were too young to make conscious thoughts. I also have real friends now. On top of all of that, I was now a knight. A warrior sworn to defend the innocent and serve my superiors no matter the challenge. It was quite a change to say the least.
I dismounted my dragon and moved towards the Kingspyre Tower. My father had sent a letter here before I took off and given that I took the much more scenic route along the Blackwater Rush and then over the God's Eye, it must have beaten me here. So I was fairly certain I would arrive to the small House Qoherys and a castle staff frantically trying to prepare to house me.
I was half right, I was indeed met by Lord Daeron Qoherys and Lady Ralla Qoherys neé Celtigar. Their son, however, was missing once more. I narrowed my eyes at the slight. Shiera was also not here, she was staying in King's Landing with my mother. Much to her displeasure, I was still avoiding directly speaking to her about that night.
I had no idea of what to say to her. Her intentions were pretty clear but I was nervous to look into them and my own feelings. I cherished the current friendship we had and I was in a precarious position regarding my betrothal. Accepting her affections and pursuing her could have grave consequences should it be discovered and she could even be sent back to this castle. Due to my efforts, we had essentially slipped back into the normal routine, much to my relief. I decided I would just have to kick the pot down the road for now, I had already paid her off with the wink at the tourney so I would say we were even. I had a giant to hunt, I could focus on my friend later.
Back to my current situation, I widened my eyes once more. Truth be told, I was kind of expecting Gargon Qoherys to not show up. Shiera had been very vocal about her complete and total disdain for her "craven, lecherous, disappointing, fat, failure of a brother." Me and the rest of my little posse always found her disdain funny.
It was interesting that basically all of my group had family troubles. I was neglected by my father for ten years and my goodsister hates me. Aeron was neglected by his father for, his whole life I guess, and his mother too from what I can tell. Aeron has it rough, from what he told me the only family members who really care about him are his brothers Daemon and Valarr. Then there is Jasper, who does not have it so bad. But he is trapped between a loveless marriage between his mother and father. A political marriage set up by my aunt Rhaenys. Between Lord Ronnel Arryn, the King who Flew, and Lyarra Stark. The sole daughter of the last King in the North, Torrhen Stark, the King who Knelt. Then there was Rayford, who was the eldest son but his mother died in childbirth, giving him his younger sister. He also had a younger brother but as his father got older and older Rayford had to take up more responsibility than a child should have to. Then finally there was Shiera, who probably had it the best all things considered. She had loving parents and both of them were still alive. Even if her other family is all dead. Even her brother does not seem to hate her, even if she does hate him.
Regardless of my expectations, Gargon Qoherys not showing up still irked me. It was a gross sign of disrespect. I doubted I would do anything about it. As I did not really care about him. If he really wished to be so cavalier with his life then that was his decision. My father had let it go when we visited last because he found Lord Daeron's reactions funny. I also assume that Lord Daeron thoroughly punished his son after that so I think my father was also counting on that. I imagine that he will receive another admonishment after my visit.
"Good evening, my prince. Harrenhal is yours." Lord Daeron broke me from my thoughts and knelt along with his whole castle. A servant presented me bread and salt and after partaking the castle returned to their feet and began scurrying about like I had predicted they would be.
"Good evening, Lord Daeron. I see you are missing not only a daughter but a son too." I decided to emulate my father here. I had interacted with more lords over the last few years but I thought seeing his reaction would be funny.
"Indeed, my prince. I apologize for his disrespect, I will ensure he is punished later." He bowed profusely but I could only smile.
"I am sure you will." I smiled back at him, though he was still bent at the waist so he did not see. I had no intention of punishing Lord Daeron. I was not sure if I even could but I would not even if I had the ability. I imagined parenting was quite a challenge. A challenge I had no intention of partaking in any time soon. My betrothal be damned.
"Does your dragon require any accommodations, my prince?"
"No, he should be fine in the godswood like the last time I was here. Though he will need a few goats each day or one bull. I will pay for everything of course. But if he is not fed he will go hunt and I would prefer he stays here." My dragon was a fickle beast. A large fickle beast with a voracious appetite and if it was not satiated he would make it everyone's problem. During my progress with my father, the Freys failed to feed him sufficiently. Only having been fed two goats he took to the skies and decided to hunt his own food instead. It ended with a burned farmhouse and a small family losing all their livestock, though thankfully Terrax prefers beef to human flesh. Ever since that little event my father has made sure Terrax is left more stuffed than hungry. I also did not want to deal with another headache like that so I figured it was best if Terrax remained full.
"Very well, my prince. Might I show you your chambers?" Lord Daeron was very polite. I remembered that my mother had negotiated something with him earlier, which knowing my mother most likely resembled more of a threat than a negotiation, and for some reason that was all I could think of. He was far less stiff with my father.
"If you would, Lord Daeron. I would like to rest a bit from my flight before I begin searching."
…
The room I would be staying in was the same one my father stayed in the last time we were here. The room that once belonged to Harren Hoare. The fool who thought his castle could survive Balerion. Apparently House Qoherys decided to reside on the lower floors. Because climbing all the way to the top of this fucking enormous tower every night was likely not all that appealing. It certainly was not for me but given that I would only be staying here for a little while so it was not that bad.
I left King's Landing just after midday and now that I was here the sun was beginning to set. No doubt by the time I awoke tomorrow the hunting party from King's Landing would have set out and I would fly to meet them once they entered the Riverlands and properly began their search. Until then my father told me to familiarize myself with the land. Fly around and scout out possible hiding spots they could be in. I decided to start that tomorrow. It was already late and it was not like I would be able to see anything in the dark.
"My prince, are you going to begin your hunt tonight or tomorrow?"
Lord Daeron had just finished showing me this massive bedroom and it seemed he was more curious about my hunt than I thought he would be. Though, I had no idea what my father said in his letter.
"I think I will begin on the morrow. It is already quite late. I think I will take the chance to rest and prepare."
"Might you join us for a meal then? We have prepared a small feast for you."
"I think I will, that sounds quite nice. You have my thanks, Lord Daeron."
He seemed to almost sigh in relief with my agreement to join him. I was thoroughly confused. ' What kind of madman does he think I am? I spoke to him plenty just a few years ago, ' I could only ponder as we made our way down the frankly, too many gods damned stairs.
I took my seat at the head of the table, opposite the lord of the castle. As denoted my status as a prince. We sat at a smaller table than the last one used to feast me and my father. Presumably this one was for more family dinners rather than proper feasts. I certainly would not complain. It was much easier to talk with someone when they weren't sitting twenty paces away from you.
The meal was quickly brought out and I soon found the cooks of Harrenhal were just as good as last time. This little feast they prepared for me was just as good as the farewell feast me and my father ate here last time. Smoked venison with fresh fruits only the cool air of fall could truly bring. The wind was getting chillier and my father was essentially just waiting for the white ravens from the citadel to announce the winter.
I had lived through one winter before now. It was when I was very young. Being cooped up on Dragonstone meant that I never really had to deal with the chill as the heated castle kept me warm. The winter lasted until I was roughly seven. Since then it has been summer. Because of the long summer we got we were staring down a very long winter. My father had ordered people to begin stockpiling grain last year. Foreseeing the damage this winter was likely to cause.
Even still the meal was rich. A wonderful array of perfectly ripe fruits and meat laid before me and I was practically salivating at the sight. Food was one of the few things I thought this world excelled in.
As I was observing my meal with glee it was Lady Ralla who spoke to me first. Much to my surprise.
"My prince, might you tell me how Shiera is doing?"
"Oh, uhm…" I was kind of caught off guard.
"Ralla! This can wait!"
"What can wait?" my interest was piqued now.
"Sorry, my prince. I am just worried for my daughter."
"I am terribly sorry, Prince Maegor. Please heed her no mind." Daeron was trying to cover for his wife. Admirable, but I wanted to know what they were referring to.
"No, I will heed this. Speak your mind Lady Qoherys."
"I am sorry, it is just… she has never been gone so long. I am worried for her health."
"Then, you need not worry. She appears quite healthy to me. We dine together quite often."
"That is good to hear…" She looked off, like she had more to say but was refraining from doing so.
"Speak your mind, something is still troubling you," I stated a matter of factly. I was not the best at reading people but her worry was written all over her face.
"Please, my prince. You need not worry about this." Lord Daeron tried again but I sent him a quick glare.
"You will not be punished for anything you say, I swear it. Speak truthfully, I grow tired of dancing around this subject."
"There are rumors, my prince. I am worried for my daughter."
"What rumors?" I have heard no rumors of Shiera. Most rumors I hear of are about me. Granted, I was not exactly tied into the lady's circles and my mother would sooner gauge her eyes out than attend a luncheon or tea party. So I was quite out of the loop.
"Forgive me Your Grace but they are quite crass. I have tried asking her through letters but I remain worried."
"Speak." I was growing tired of pussyfooting.
Lord Daeron answered me instead of his lady wife. Who was still worried about speaking, despite my guarantees. "The rumors say that my daughter is a whore, my prince. They say she is dressed in hardly anything at all. Some of the more bizarre ones I have heard say she is practicing magic."
I could hardly believe my ears. I kind of expected there to be a few rumors about her. I mean she was spending most of her time either with my mother or with me and the rest of my friends through me. But I had not expected them to be this bad. The worst part was there was at least a grain of truth here.
Shiera was certainly not a whore but with her kiss, I guess that could be construed as trying to seduce me. But nobody but me and her knew about it. Unless she was speaking about it. But she had no other friends to speak about the event with. She was quite literally alone in King's Landing. She only spent her time with my mother or with my friends. That was it.
The rumor about her dressing behavior is certainly slander and it pissed me off. She has remained in her lighter summer dresses despite the coming winter but she is certainly not acting immodestly. Though, the one about magic irked me the most. ' Who the hell would know that? ' I pondered. I had certainly not been teaching her anything and we were forbidden from using magic on the mainland. Unless my mother was teaching her behind my father's back, someone in the loop must have been whispering about this.
These rumors had to have come from somewhere. It was easy to realize who. Alyssa was spreading rumors about my friend, I had no doubt about it. I was enraged, to say the least. I knew that Alyssa and Shiera were certainly not friends but why slander her? Shiera has done nothing to Alyssa beyond following my mother around. I resolved to track down these rumors when I returned to King's Landing. If Alyssa really wanted to expand our feud then that would be fine by me. I had been nothing but kind to her until now. ' I suppose it is time to stop with diplomacy,' I thought with a determined glare.
My prolonged silence seemed to scare the two Qoherys nobles as I could see they were visibly sweating.
"They are all lies. I speak to Shiera quite frequently and she is nothing but courteous, I swear it." I decided to assuage their fears. There was a grain of truth to the rumors but I decided it would be better if they did not have to worry about this.
Both sighed in relief, it seemed they were genuinely worried.
"Thank you, my prince. I am sorry we were so cautious, these rumors are quite crass." Lord Daeron spoke again.
"Think nothing of it Lord Daeron. I would prefer a hard truth to a pretty lie." I spoke with a false smile. I had just told a pretty lie instead of the pure harsh truth to them. So I guess I would just have to live as a hypocrite. Though I guess I do not know if they would prefer the same as me.
"Onto a nicer topic, although still related. Please do tell Lord Daeron. What did you and my mother speak of?" This was a question I had wondered about for a while now. I asked my mother but she told me it was not my concern.
"Oh, that. I did not speak to the Queen herself. I instead spoke to one of her liaisons."
"What was discussed?" I was kind of tired of dancing around. This was why I hated speaking with nobles. Most were like this, liking to dance around a subject instead of just answering my damn questions.
"Queen Visenya said that if I would leave my daughter in her care as a lady in waiting then she would secure for her a good marriage," he said after he caught my unimpressed stare.
"Hmm, that actually makes a lot of sense," I said flatly. For some reason, I hated the idea of her getting married, but I shook those ideas away. I could just speak to my mother about that later.
"Speaking of, do you know if the Queen has found a match for our daughter? We were hoping to wed her to one of Lord Aethan's sons," Ralla spoke to me again and I was kind of piecing together their personalities by now.
Lord Daeron Qoherys was an intelligent man. That much I could tell by his deferral to me. He was clearly trying his absolute damnedest to not make me upset. Whenever he fails he quickly course-corrects. He acts a lot like Shiera does when she realizes she fucked up. She acted largely like this ever since she was dismissed from Alyssa's retinue. In public, she was deferral and quiet and the picture of a perfect little lady.
In private she was much more like Lady Ralla Qoherys nee Celtigar. She was emotional first and foremost. Clearly worried about her daughter she spoke out when her husband likely wished for her to remain quiet. It was kind of how Shiera sometimes spoke first and thought after. Normally her quips resembled this. Casually commenting on things she probably should not have.
I admired how their personalities worked well. It allowed Daeron to come off as calm and collected, answering questions coolly while both got the answers they liked. I hoped that one day I could have a relationship like that. However, that was a different problem from the one I currently had.
"I apologize, I have heard nothing of the sort. But my mother is nothing if not a woman of her word. If she makes a promise she will keep it."
"Oh… alright, my prince." Thank you for letting me know. She looked a little disappointed but I decided to file that one away for now. The food was getting cold and I wanted to enjoy this food before it lost what made it so good.
…
I awoke the next morning and continued the routine I had been doing since I became a squire six years ago. I woke up at the earliest possible part of dawn and I went to the yard to practice. I had no sparring partner this time but given that I was sparring with my new sword it was probably for the best.
I spent at least an hour or two there because, by the time my arms grew tired, the sun was properly peeking itself above the horizon. After my little impromptu lesson from Ser Gawen and a little more practice, I felt more confident with my blade. It was still a little odd in my hand but I could actually slice the target in two cleanly now.
' Hmm, what do I do? ' I thought idly while staring at the thoroughly destroyed targets. Last time I was here I was kept busy by my father and Ser Gawen's training. When I was not busy I was speaking with or exploring this fortress with Shiera. Who was decidedly not here.
I spotted a few goats being led into the godswood out of the corner of my eye and I decided on my course of action. It had been a long while since I last just spent some time with Terrax. I was flying on him very frequently. Nearly once a day, I was still less skilled at flying compared to Aenys but I was no longer completely outclassed. On the other hand, my constant busy schedule meant that I had basically no time to just be with my dragon.
"I will feed my dragon today." I scared the poor servant stiff after I spoke and took the reins straight out of his hands. ' This is probably for the best, my dragon might eat this guy, ' I smiled as the servant bowed and left me to do what I wished.
I entered the enormous godswood with the four goats tagging along behind me. They had not the faintest idea that I was leading them straight to their deaths. It would have been quite difficult to spot my coal-black dragon in the dark godswood if he had not sought me out the moment I entered the wooded area.
"Good morrow Terrax, I assume that you are hungry," I said not expecting a reply. Some might find me talking to my dragon weird because he could never respond back but I mean. People spoke to their dogs and cats and horses. I did not really see how my dragon was all that different.
Terrax responded immediately to my words with a snort but I could tell his eerie green eyes were absolutely focused on the goats trailing behind me. Who was now freaking out at the presence of my dragon.
"Well, I am sure you can do the rest," I said with a smile before I stepped out of the way of Terrax. He was hungry and getting in his way when he was hungry was a frankly terrible idea.
I didn't even have to shout the words as my dragon quickly spewed a torrent of green flame from his mouth before the few goats could flee into the surrounding forest.
He lunged on the blasted ruins of the animals and I walked towards his head. My dragon was of a ferocious size. He was now quite a bit bigger than Quicksilver. I patted his head as he wolfed down the last of the charred goats and I could only smile at my dragon.
Terrax was what I would lovingly describe as an absolute asshole. He was hateful towards every single other person and creature I met besides me. He still hated the dragon keepers and loved nothing more than to scare them. He would rattle his stable at random intervals to scare the dragon keepers out of his place along with all the old things he used to do. The dragons were currently kept at Aegonfort. Well more specifically atop Aegon's High Hill. The Dragonpit would soon be complete and once it was, the dragons would be moved there, along with their caretakers.
With the other dragons, I was a bit more confused. He never lashed out at Balerion or Vhagar because my dragon did not have a death wish but he used to try and fight Quicksilver. He stopped around a year after I moved here. Instead choosing to merely stare menacingly at my brother's she-dragon.
All of this meanwhile meant little to me. I was freely able to approach my dragon and he never lashed out at me. I decided that would be how I spent the rest of my morning. My dragon laid down after he finished devouring the unfortunate goats and I just leaned against his side. He looked at me questioningly but he raised no issue so I just stayed there for a while.
I heard my mother once say that my aunt liked to just do this with her dragon. She would just lay atop Meraxes's great wing and read. It was relaxing in a way. The constant drum beat of my dragon's heart and the heat he gave off with the cooling weather were nice.
I used the peace and quiet to start thinking. I had a lot of things I needed to do when I got back. First of all was dealing with Alyssa. I had allowed her to walk over me for the last two years in the vain hope she would give up her stupid feud with my mother.
I was wrong it seemed. I could tolerate her attacks on me for a time. I fully intended to be Aenys's Hand of the King when he ascended the throne and so it would not do to alienate the future queen yet Alyssa attacking my friends was not something that I could abide.
I already had some plans brewing. It would be pretty easy to reveal her slander, her posse was filled with airheads and fools. Getting one to spill the beans with a few nice words would be easy.
Even if I could not do that I had some other ways to get back at her. I had allowed her to do whatever she wanted for too long. If she really wanted to commit to tarnishing my reputation and harming my friends then she would get her comeuppance. I would ensure it.
…
I fell into a nap not long after I laid down on my dragon. I always loved sleeping and I did not have the chance to sleep as much as I would have wanted to for the last few years. Constantly waking up early and going to bed late. I chanced naps where I could but I always loved sleeping. Now that I did not have as much to do I decided I would like to start taking more naps when I could. It is not like Ser Gawen or my mother would kick me awake anymore.
After I woke up I realized it was already well past midday. 'Well shit, I need to get into the air and start searching! ' I thought with haste and moved to mount my dragon. He also fell into a slumber after breaking his fast and was roused when I strapped myself in atop his saddle.
" Soves!" I quickly shouted and my dragon sprang up and beat his great coal wings. I was soon hoisted into the air and we flew over the walls of Harrenhal. I was supposed to go north to the trident and familiarize myself with the terrain. Look out for any potential spots this band of brigands could be hiding and find available trails through forests where I could.
As a result, I did not fly super high. Just high enough to get a bird's eye view of a lot of the land. Maybe a few hundred feet above the ground.
After a relatively short bout of flying, I reached the Trident. The river was enormous and had dozens of ships sailing along it. I mentally marked the location of a town where the three branches of the trident met. As it was there I had to fly south and find Harrenhal after my little flight.
I made several sweeps over the absolutely gorgeous landscape. I flew very often but I rarely flew this much inland. The last time I did was the progress I went on and since then I mostly flew along the Blackwater Rush, Coastline, or the Blackwater Bay to Dragonstone. Seeing all the gorgeous fields, forests, and farms was a sight to behold.
My little exploratory mission ended up with me finding nothing, however. I found a few clearings in the woods but nothing I could see as definitive proof of a hiding place. I resolved to turn back once I saw the sun beginning to set on the horizon.
After I landed back at Harrenhal I was informed that my father had sent me a letter. It detailed the hunting party that would be joining me in hunting this menace. It was to be led by Ser Corlys Velaryon much to my shock. I had figured that the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard would have better things to do. ' Mayhaps he was inspired by my little speech, ' I thought with some amusement. He was the only Kingsguard but there were perhaps two dozen knights going along. Ser Gawen was going too, much to my surprise. Though I guessed he was bored without having to teach me every day.
My father said that I should fly for Saltpans in around a sennight given the poor weather and state of the roads. They were traveling light so they should not take too much time to get there. So I would continue this routine for the next few days. Get up, practice, spend some time with Terrax, and then I would go flying.
…
On my fourth day there I decided this would be my last day at Harrenhal. The hunting party should be arriving at Saltpans soon and I would like to be there when they get there. So this would be my last day of scouting out the Riverlands. I hoped to find their little hiding place today. It meant that we would not be spending several sennights aimlessly searching for a small band of troublemakers, though we were truthfully only looking for one man.
I wanted to be useful more than anything. I had spent so much time with so little agency that I could hardly wait to get into some action. I had waited almost ten years in this body to finally do something, to help out, to make a difference. I did not want to waste the opportunity. Plus this might make my father more amenable to my requests. Showing I am capable and worth keeping content.
I took my dragon up once more and I was determined to find something this time. Three days of nothing but picturesque landscapes and a strong desire to be useful led me to fly longer than I had last time.
I flew until the night was almost upon me. Tonight was the change in the moon so it would be quite dark out so I needed to get back before I got lost. As I was flying somewhere between The Trident and Harrenhal I spotted a great bright light on the horizon.
'Is that a fire? ' I thought with wide eyes.
…
' What do I do? ' I could not help but think as my dragon drew us closer to the light. As we closed in, I saw it was a small village that was currently on fire. I had seen this village on one of my previous flights. It was a quaint little thing, no more than perhaps twenty buildings but now many of them were on fire.
My mother's words rang in my head. ' Whatever keeps you safe, ' she told me with her normal ferocious sincerity. Yet there was another thing pulling me towards this village. My oath to protect the innocent. I swore before an enormous crowd and more importantly my family. I swore to defend the innocent and if I just turned my dragon away the people in the village would be abandoned.
' I will help however I can, ' I decided after a small break of thinking. I would prioritize my own life but I still had to help however I could. I had a dragon and training, two things the villagers certainly lacked.
Thankfully I got there very quickly. It helped that my dragon was already moving towards the chaos. He was deftly interested in the fire and with my absent commands, he moved there of his own volition. In what seemed like mere moments, I was swooping low over the burning village. I could see a group of people fighting in the town square. There was a small group of perhaps ten people brawling it out but I could only spot two people wearing plate armor. They were fighting each other so I assumed that one of them must be the local landed knight.
The fighting stopped for a moment as my dragon swooped over the town but after I continued along my path the fighting resumed. The awe of a dragon only captured their attention for a short amount of time.
' I need to find a good place to land, ' I thought with some hesitation. Terrax was willful and dangerous to everyone except me. If I put him down in the village he was just as likely to kill the villagers as he was to kill the bandits. I spotted the small keep the landed knight presumably lived in and I decided to put my dragon down there. 'He will be away from the smallfolk there at least.'
I was hesitant to use my dragon in combat. Sure I had trained him well, I spent what must have been a combined few weeks of my life in the Dragonpit or atop Aegon's High Hill with whip in hand but I was still nervous. If I lost control of Terrax he could bring the whole village down around him. Or he could kill my allies in the town. I did not want to kill everyone there. The landed knight and his aids were my allies in this fight. Dragons were best used for broad strikes, not precision ones. If I needed to reduce the whole town and everyone inside it to ashes Terrax would be incredibly useful. But I needed the people in the town alive or what I was doing would be pointless.
I put my dragon down perhaps a hundred paces from the keep and dismounted with due haste. The sooner I got there the better off the situation would be.
" Stay Terrax, " I told my dragon sternly. He was my ride out of here so if my flippant dragon wandered off then I would be stranded in this tiny village.
My dragon huffed in response but curled himself into his normal sleeping position. 'Good, maybe I trained him well after all.' I thought with a smile.
…
I started shaking in earnest once I entered the town. I had been training not only my strength but also my stamina for the last six years of my life so the quick run did not exhaust me but the excitement and fright of the fight was starting to get to me. I had yet to draw Dark Sister but my hands were shaking. I passed by a burning house and spotted a young woman cradling a burned body.
She was silently crying and I felt my blood boil. Theft was one thing but murder was another. ' These people need to die, ' I thought with conviction as I finally drew my great black blade. I doubled my pace towards the town square and once I arrived I regretted putting my dragon down so far away.
Only the knight remained alive, fighting against an enormous man. He easily cleared my height and I was not short by any standard. I was taller than everyone else in the Aegonfort and likely well over six feet tall from my memories to go off of and this man was still well above me in height. He was dressed in an ill-fitting plate that only covered parts of his body effectively, the rest of his body was covered with a mix of mail and leather.
' The Giant of the Trident, ' I thought with rage. This up-jumped hedge knight had turned to pillaging the Riverlands instead of doing his sworn duty. I originally intended to try and take him alive with the hunting party. So that my father could pass his sentence but now I changed my mind. This man needed to die, here and now.
It seemed his friends were mostly dead or injured as it looked like the knight's followers had managed to at least injure every member of the Giant's posse. A few of them looked like they could still fight but the clear enemy was the Giant. He was currently fighting with the landed knight of this little town. No doubt he sprang straight into action once this band of rabble showed up in his town. 'Mayhaps I should tell Father to reward him' I thought before the knight was split in two from the shoulder to just under the ribs. The knight must have gotten distracted with my appearance and his lapse in judgment gave the Giant just the opening he needed.
"No!" I yelled as I jumped into the fray.
I brought Dark Sister down in a swing aimed at The Giant's head. He was taller than me but I could still reach his head easily. He quickly raised his greatsword and Dark Sister sang as it clashed with the large weapon.
"Ho? A Targaryen? Here?" he seemed curious but I was still pushing him back, I had run into this swing and put my full weight behind it.
He eventually stalemated us and I stared at him through my helm. He wore a similar one but his was less well made. His armor was a mix of different colors of steel, likely pilfered off fallen warriors. He pushed me back and we both stared at each other a few paces away.
"You will die for what you did here, Giant," I spoke with a sneer. Seeing the burned husks of buildings and corpses along the path here and seeing the Giant split the knight in two had thoroughly poisoned my view of him.
He just chuckled to himself and then spoke to me through his large helm. "That is the same thing those little lords said to me. I hope you are better than them at least."
"Your arrogance will be your undoing."
He raised his arms wide at my quip. "You say that to me!? HA!"
I ended our little conversation and closed in. I needed to let him rest as little as possible. He must have been at least a little worn out fighting the knight and I intended to take full advantage.
A great clang sounded from our second clash and many more followed. The Giant wielded a greatsword in both hands. This weapon looked more like a longsword in his hands but the overwhelming size of it still limited his maneuverability.
In contrast, Dark Sister was slim and short. I could shift directions and get leverage laughably easy and I wanted to keep The Giant on defense. ' He can match me in strength, I would rather not take the chance .'
I raised my sword high and then low. I tried all sorts of different angles, swift strikes, and heavy ones but I was making no real progress.
He was armed with the perfect defensive weapon for his size. The greatsword he wielded must have been castle-forged as it held up well to the onslaught of attacks by Dark Sister and its wide blade allowed him to make small incremental shifts to block attacks.
I could feel him getting irritated at the fight as he slowly gave up ground. I was driving him towards one of the burning buildings. The heat wafted off the surrounding buildings like I was inside an oven with my armor on but I had suffered far worse in the caves of Dragonstone. The Giant on the other hand must have been feeling the heat.
This was just part of my plan. I noticed after my second swing that while the Giant's Greatsword was well-forged. It was still not good enough. Each heavy-handed swing with my slim blade took a small chip out of the Greatsword. I was gradually whittling down my enemy's blade and as soon as I noticed it I figured this was my play.
I also found that my position was remarkably advantageous in some aspects. Everyone here had to die so my using a little magical help could not hurt. I reached out with my mind and the fires engulfing the buildings responded in kind. I pulled them ever closer to where we were. Ramping up the heat the Giant had to deal with.
I might have been able to simply overpower him but my mother's words rang in my head once more. So I decided to play it safe and lead my opponent to his own demise.
I had gotten distracted in my thoughts and the Giant capitalized. He shoved me with the flat of his blade with his full strength. It had caught me off guard so I stumbled backwards from him. I was able to right myself before I landed in the dirt but my assault was ended and the Giant meant to utilize my lapse in judgment.
He roared louder than any creature I had heard besides a dragon and ran at me with his greatsword held high above his head. He lunged at me with great speed and it took all of my strength to sidestep his swing. His sword collided with the empty dirt to my left and moved a few paces away to reorient myself.
I heard the loud clang against the dirt and that was my signal. I returned the favor and rushed him. He met my swing with his greatsword once more and then drew one of his hands back to hit me with all he had.
I met his fist with my own and we grappled in the middle of the burning village. I shoved with all my might and he began to be pushed back. Even with his larger size, it seemed that I was stronger than him. ' His exhaustion is getting to him, ' I thought with delight.
As I pushed and pushed him back towards one of the smoldering ruins of a house, he took notice of his worsening position and I spotted his frightened eyes behind his helm. The brown orbs glowed with the light from the burning buildings around us.
He seemed to get a second wind with his desperation and he shoved me hard enough to knock me off my feet. I slid across the sand and got to my feet as fast as I could. ' He is tired I cannot let up now, ' I thought as I stood back up.
I turned to look at him and he was slumped over, barely on his feet. I assumed he was not used to fighting people of equal ability to him. I could not totally fault him for that. I only noticed after my retraining with Dark Sister began but I relied heavily on my strength. I was the strongest person in the Aegonfort with my losses mostly being due to skill rather than raw ability. The only Kingsguard who could keep up with my strength for long periods of time was Ser Raymont Baratheon. Even then I still outclassed everyone I had ever met when it came to straight-up strength. I was still heavily outclassed by the knights in the Aegonfort when it came to experience but strength wise I was the strongest.
While I relied on my strength heavily I still had to learn to fight normally as well. My strength alone could not carry me to victories against the Kingsguard. So I supplemented my overwhelming strength with technique taught to me by one of the best knights of the realm. The Giant had no such luck. I imagined that he never ran into a challenge in his entire life. So he merely relied on his strength to carry him through battles. ' That will not work against me, ' I thought as I began walking towards where he was catching his breath.
Before I could close the distance fully I heard shifting in the dirt behind me and I quickly spun on my heel. ' Shit I forgot about the others! ' I thought as I brought my armored forearm up to catch the sword. It got caught on one of the grooves in my armor but thankfully the armor held up. One of The Giant's followers seemed to be in better shape than the others and I quickly needed to dispatch him.
The man was the very definition of what my mother described as an unwashed peasant. He was clothed in just dirty rags and some mail here and there. Likely pilfered off Lord Jaimie Dedding's retinue. He was huffing and puffing and desperately pushing against me, blood trickling from his forehead where a man must have hit him quite hard.
I acted quickly after I caught up with the situation, I shifted my arm down to move him and his blade into a more advantageous position and brought Dark Sister up quickly. My gorgeous black blade was then slathered in blood as it was brought through the man's wrist with little effort. I barely felt any resistance from the leather and light scraps the man was wearing and my blade was soon raised above my head.
The man quickly began screaming at the pain but I merely backhanded him with my armored fist, I felt his jaw break beneath my fist and he spun to the ground and face-planted into the dust. I then returned my attention to The Giant. ' Any more distractions could be deadly. '
I reacted just in time as the Giant used the lull in our fight to rush me once again. ' This again? ' I thought with mild surprise. He already tried this twice now and it hadn't worked the first two times.
I decided it was time to end him as I willed the blood on my blade to ignite. Dark Sister was then coated in a brilliant green flame as I prepared myself to meet his swing. That was when I felt a sharp pain hit me in the back of my leg, just below my knee.
I did not yell out in pain but I did fall to one knee. ' Oh shit! ' I thought as I quickly brought up Dark Sister to block The Giant's swing. His sword hit Dark Sister and I felt as if I had just been hit by Terrax. Sparks flew from our clash and rained down upon me, along with specks of green flame. I managed to block the strike but I had no idea what had happened to my leg. I didn't even have a chance to look around as the Giant was still pushing against me and I was in a very disadvantageous position.
It was then that the Giant got the better of me. He kicked me in the chest as hard as he could manage. His foot connected with the great three-headed dragon emblazoned on my chest and I landed on my back in the dirt. My head snapped back and hit the dirt and I was left dazed on the ground. I could barely think straight when I felt a boot be placed on my wrist which still held my blade.
I briefly looked behind me and I saw what had been my undoing. Another one of the Giant's followers had shot me in the back of the leg with his bow. Now it mattered little though as I stared up at the Giant.
He huffed and puffed between every word. "Ha … looks like … I win … Targaryen…"
He lifted his sword to look at it and it was only then that we both realized that there were large gashes in the greatsword. Chunks were taken out of the blade from its clashes with Dark Sister and I would have smiled at the sight if I were in a better position. As of now I was too dazed to even think straight. Thoughts of ' What do I do? And I need help! ' flooded through my head and I tried to shift my sluggish arms beneath him.
"Well I guess … I will take your sword…" he said to me before he lifted his greatsword above his head with both arms.
' I am going to die ' I thought helplessly before a great thump resounded behind me. The ground shook from the thump and it felt like a great drum was beating right beneath me.
The Giant froze in his tracks and I craned my head up to check what happened. I locked my own violet eyes with the vibrant green of my dragon and I could only smile. My smile stretched from ear to ear as my dragon chose the perfect time to drop in on this fight.
Everyone around the town square merely stared in awe at Terrax. He turned his long neck left and right staring daggers at the injured members of the Giant's posse. Like a bear staring down a group of helpless fawns.
I pounced at the chance before the Giant was knocked from his stupor. I roared with all my might " DRACARYS!!!"
That seemed to break the frozen air and my dragon reared his head back before he unleashed a torrent of green hellfire onto the scattered remains of the bandits. The one who shot me with an arrow was soon bathed head to toe in the vibrant green flames and an unimaginable surge of scalding heat washed over the area.
The heat felt oddly comforting as it washed over my body but it was far less pleasant for the Giant. He reeled back from the heat spewing from Terrax's maw, taking his foot off my arm and giving me my freedom once more.
I pounced at the opportunity, my body acting before I even really thought of what to do. I quickly bounced back up to my knees and I swung the still flaming Dark Sister at the Giant with all my might.
I heard the sound of mail snapping and a sickening gushing sound as my blade was brought back down into the dirt. I swung with such ferocity that I had thrown myself onto all fours with the sheer momentum of my swing.
Turning around expecting to continue the fight I noticed that the Giant had dropped his sword with a clang and was just standing amidst the burning hellscape around him. Terrax had bathed the entire town square in the scalding hot green dragonfire. Houses screamed from the heat and small explosions of steam erupted from the well.
It perfectly illuminated the scene that lay before me. I noticed the torrent of red liquid that spilled forth from the Giant's neck and then I saw his head lean back and back and back. His body crumpled to the ground with the action and I then turned to look at Dark Sister.
It was still flaming before I willed it to go back to normal. I did not need the flames anymore and the fire was unnecessarily sapping my stamina. The now cooled blade was covered in blood from the hilt to the tip and it almost shined in the green light that surrounded us. It looked hauntingly beautiful then and I was nearly mesmerized by the look. I shook my head and I got to my feet and walked towards the Giant to confirm what I suspected.
His head was held onto his neck by a thread and I saw the look of frozen horror etched into the monster's eyes. I stared at his eyes and then back to my sword and then back to his eyes. Back and forth I went as the smell of ash and blood filled my senses.