Chapter 51: The Spring Sickness's Scythe and the Sorcerer-Hand's Reign (Later Daeron II / Aerys I / Bloodraven)
The victory of King Daeron II Targaryen over Daemon Blackfyre at the Redgrass Field had been a bloody, hard-won affirmation of his legitimacy, but it did not usher in an era of untroubled peace. The shadow of the Black Dragon, carried across the Narrow Sea by the indomitable Aegor "Bittersteel" Rivers and Daemon's surviving sons, remained a persistent threat, a promise of future conflict that haunted Daeron's otherwise wise and conciliatory reign. From his eternal vantage point within Mount Skatus, Aelyx Velaryon observed Daeron's struggles to heal a fractured realm with a dispassionate, analytical eye, ever mindful of the long game.
Daeron II, Aelyx acknowledged, was a king of considerable intellect and good intentions. He fostered learning, encouraged trade, and maintained the peace with Dorne forged through his marriage to Princess Myriah Martell. His court was refined, his policies aimed at unity and prosperity. Yet, the bitterness of the rebellion lingered. Many lords, particularly those with strong martial traditions, still yearned for a king more in the mold of Daemon Blackfyre, finding Daeron's scholarly pursuits and Dornish affinities distasteful.
Brynden Rivers, "Bloodraven," Daeron's legitimized half-brother, became an increasingly indispensable pillar of his reign. A gaunt, albino figure with a single crimson eye and a reputation for sorcery, Bloodraven served as Master of Whisperers and later as Hand of the King. His network of spies – his "thousand eyes and one" – was omnipresent, his methods ruthless in rooting out Blackfyre plots and suppressing dissent. Aelyx found Bloodraven a particularly compelling subject of study.
"Here is a sorcerer who wields his power openly, or at least, with a notoriety that amounts to openness," Aelyx mused to his immortal council, as reports from his own agents detailed Bloodraven's increasingly firm grip on the reins of power. "He does not command dragons, yet he inspires a fear almost as potent. He uses knowledge, fear, and a touch of the arcane as his weapons. A different path to power than our own, more precarious due to its visibility, but effective in its own grim way." Aelyx tasked Tibbit's network, and his more subtly placed Emissaries in the south, to gather every scrap of information on Bloodraven's true abilities, the extent of his greensight, his rumored warging, and any other hidden arts he might command. He was a rival sorcerer on the world stage, albeit one constrained by mortal limitations and the volatile politics of King's Landing.
The relative stability of Daeron II's later reign was shattered in 209 AC by a catastrophe far more indiscriminate than any civil war: the Great Spring Sickness. It began in King's Landing, carried, some said, on trading ships from the east, and spread like wildfire through the Seven Kingdoms. Rich and poor, highborn and low, fell before its relentless Scythe. The descriptions that reached Skagos were horrific: entire towns decimated, the countryside littered with unburied dead, a pall of fear and despair settling over the land.
King Daeron II himself succumbed to the plague, along with his two eldest grandsons and heirs, the promising Princes Valarr and Matarys Targaryen. The line of succession, so recently secured by bloodshed, was once again thrown into turmoil. The Great Spring Sickness, Aelyx noted with grim detachment, was proving to be as effective a winnower of Targaryen heirs as any Blackfyre rebellion.
Publicly, Lord Aelyx Volmark II of Skagos (Aelyx's great-great-great-great-grandson, now a venerable figure in his own right in the eyes of the North) responded with characteristic Skagosi efficiency and generosity. While the plague did not reach the isolated shores of Skagos – a fact Aelyx ensured through potent, island-wide sanitary wards woven by Aenar and his teams, and the advanced hygienic practices instilled in the Skagosi populace, all publicly attributed to "Skagosi resilience and clean sea air" – Lord Volmark sent massive shipments of grain, salted fish, and medicinal herbs (cultivated in the ever-bountiful Glass Gardens) to Winterfell, to aid Lord Stark in alleviating the suffering in the North. Chests of Skagosi gold were dispatched to the Iron Throne to "assist the Crown in these trying times." These acts further cemented Skagos's reputation as a steadfast, almost miraculously prosperous, and compassionate part of the realm.
Within the sanctuary of Mount Skatus, however, the Great Spring Sickness was a subject of intense scientific and magical study. Aelyx, drawing upon Flamel's alchemical knowledge of disease and Voldemort's understanding of dark contagions (though he sought to cure, not create, such plagues), worked with his healers and alchemists to understand its nature. Phoenix tears, administered in minute, diluted quantities, proved to be a perfect prophylactic for the inhabitants of the sanctuary, rendering them entirely immune. This was yet another testament to the profound advantages of their hidden magical resources. Aelyx even considered, briefly, offering a "Skagosi remedy" to the outside world, but decided against it; such a miraculous cure would draw far too much unwanted attention and scrutiny. His priority was the preservation of his own hidden kingdom.
With King Daeron II and his direct heirs dead, the Iron Throne passed to Daeron's second son, Aerys I Targaryen. Aerys was a scholar, a recluse, a man who preferred the company of ancient scrolls and dusty tomes to the burdens of kingship. He was said to have dabbled in prophecy and ancient lore, but possessed none of his great-uncle Bloodraven's practical cunning or will to power.
"Another flawed king," Aelyx assessed, as Aerys I ascended the throne, leaving the governance of the realm almost entirely in the hands of his Hand, Brynden Rivers. "The Targaryen line thins, both in numbers and in kingly aptitude. This Aerys will be a puppet, and Bloodraven will be the hand that pulls his strings. A realm ruled by a spymaster and sorcerer… it will be a grim, shadowed place, but perhaps, for a time, a stable one, if Bloodraven's ruthlessness can keep the wolves at bay."
And so began the era of Bloodraven's de facto rule. Lord Brynden Rivers, now Hand of the King, intensified his efforts to suppress dissent and hunt down Blackfyre loyalists. His network of spies, the infamous "Raven's Teeth," were everywhere. He was rumored to use sorcery to watch and listen, to know men's secret thoughts, to strike down his enemies from afar. Fear of Bloodraven became as pervasive as the drought and famine that plagued Aerys I's early reign.
Aelyx found Bloodraven's methods both crude and fascinating. "He uses fear as his primary instrument, amplified by whispers of dark magic," Aelyx explained to his descendants, who were now studying Bloodraven as a key figure in contemporary Westerosi politics. "It is effective for suppression, yes, but it breeds deep resentment. True loyalty, the kind that endures, cannot be built on fear alone. He keeps the peace of a graveyard. Our own power, my children, while absolute within our domain, is veiled in benevolence and prosperity for our public subjects, and rooted in shared destiny and mutual benefit for those within the sanctuary. That is a more enduring foundation."
Despite Bloodraven's vigilance, the Blackfyre threat remained. In 211 AC, the Second Blackfyre Rebellion flared briefly, though it was less a war and more a conspiracy, centered around Daemon Blackfyre's son, another Daemon. It was swiftly and brutally crushed by Bloodraven at the Tourney at Whitewalls, where many prominent Blackfyre supporters were either killed or captured. This event further cemented Bloodraven's iron grip on the realm.
Throughout the reigns of Aerys I and his shadowy Hand, Skagos continued its silent, implacable growth. Generations succeeded generations in the public lineage of Lord Volmark, each lord playing his part in the grand deception, each eventually "dying" to retreat into the ageless society of the sanctuary. Aelyx's great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren were now young adults, their Valyrian features often strikingly apparent, though the public narrative attributed this to the "strong founding blood" of their house. Their magical education was comprehensive, their loyalty to Aelyx absolute.
The dragon legions of Mount Skatus now numbered over four hundred, a terrifying secret armada. The infusion of the stolen Targaryen bloodlines had produced dragons of remarkable size, intelligence, and unique abilities. Some Skagosi dragons now breathed fire of different hues – sapphire blue that burned with intense cold, emerald green that seemed to have a corrosive effect on metal, even pure white fire that left no ash. Aenar and his enchanters had developed lightweight, flexible armor for the dragonriders, imbued with charms to deflect projectiles and resist flame. They were even experimenting with rudimentary enchanted weaponry for the dragons themselves – sharpened obsidian or Valyrian-steel tipped prosthetic claws or tail barbs for the largest, most battle-hardened beasts.
Aelyx's Emissary program had also expanded. Volmark descendants, generations removed from Skagos, their origins obscured by meticulously crafted false identities and subtle, long-term illusionary magic, were now established in key positions across Westeros and even in some of the Free Cities. A "maester" with Volmark blood advised a minor lord in the Reach, his true purpose to monitor agricultural developments and the political mood of the region. A "merchant princess" of supposed Essosi origin held a popular salon in King's Landing, her gatherings a rich source of court gossip and political intelligence. A "sellsword captain" of Valyrian appearance commanded a small, elite company in the Disputed Lands, observing military tactics and recruiting individuals with unique skills who might later be… approached. These Emissaries were Aelyx's long-term investments, his unseen feelers in the wider world, their loyalty ensured by blood, magic, and the promise of an eventual return to the sanctuary and a life of extended vitality.
Aelyx himself, his physical form eternally that of a Valyrian lord in his prime, spent his centuries in deep contemplation, strategic planning, and the pursuit of ultimate magical knowledge. He delved into the nature of the Weirwood network, seeking to understand its connection to greensight and the magic of the First Men, wondering if it could be tapped or even subtly influenced. He studied the prophecies of Azor Ahai and the Prince That Was Promised, which Bloodraven was also rumored to be obsessed with, seeing them not as divine writ, but as powerful myths that could shape the destiny of nations, and perhaps, conceal deeper truths about a recurring cosmic struggle. The Long Night, the true nature of the Others… these were threats that transcended mere mortal politics, and Aelyx, with his eternal perspective, was perhaps the only being in the world preparing for them on a truly millennial scale.
He watched Bloodraven's efforts to combat the Blackfyres and stabilize the realm with a critical eye. "He is a formidable warden for a decaying house," Aelyx conceded. "But he fights the symptoms, not the disease. The disease is the Targaryen dynasty itself, its flawed successions, its dwindling magic, its reliance on a legacy it no longer truly comprehends or commands. Bloodraven may postpone the inevitable, but he cannot prevent it."
Lyra and Daenys, their greensight now reaching astonishing levels of clarity and range, brought Aelyx visions not just of Westeros, but of distant Essos, of the rising power of Braavos, of the ceaseless wars in the Disputed Lands, of the slow decay of Old Volantis. They saw the Blackfyre pretenders plotting in exile, Bittersteel forging the Golden Company into a formidable instrument of vengeance. They saw the last vestiges of Valyrian magic fading from the world, save for the growing, hidden sun of Skagos.
King Aerys I eventually died in 221 AC, his reign largely a footnote, overshadowed by his infamous Hand. Bloodraven, however, continued to wield immense power under Aerys's successor, his younger brother Maekar I. But Aelyx knew that Bloodraven's time, too, was finite. He was a mortal, albeit a long-lived and magically gifted one. His network, his power, would eventually pass.
Aelyx Velaryon, however, was eternal. His dynasty was eternal. His dragons were eternal. The Great Spring Sickness had been a grim reminder of mortal fragility, but it had only served to highlight the sanctuary's inviolable strength. The reigns of ambitious boy-kings, pious fools, and shadowy sorcerer-Hands were but ripples on the surface of the great river of time. Aelyx was the river itself, its current deep and inexorable, flowing towards a future he alone was shaping, a future where the true fire of Valyria, nurtured in secret for centuries, would finally reclaim its destiny, not as conquerors, but as the silent, eternal guardians of a world remade in their own image. The Dragonbane's shadow had passed. The Sorcerer-Hand's reign would eventually end. But the Shadow King's vigil was unending.