Chapter 18: The Battle & The Duel

Summary:

Willam deals with the clansmen, who are not as they would appear, while Aerion feasts with the Velaryons and Daemon pulls off his plan to be wed to Laena Velaryon.

Notes:

Hope you all enjoy the chapter! so close to the end of Act I

Chapter Text

Willam Royce

Stonefort

The detachment of clansmen had been swiftly dealt with in the village, the remaining forces were commanded to hold their position to the west, only a kilometre from where the other clansmen forces were stationed, protecting the village to allow the officers to come up with a battle plan.

They gathered within a place of worship dedicated to the faith, gathering around a table with the map of the local area, and many counters of various colours set aside.

Willam looked across the table to the officers, the flames from the torches casted a dark gloom on their faces as they prepared for a battle ahead.

"If the bulk of our men-at-arms attack from the centre, I can move around with our knights on horseback and attack at the rear." Willam said, positing a few of the white counters ahead of the village.

"Our Archers will keep their position." Ser Richard spoke up "If we are to use them, it shall be when the clansmen charge, it is peril that we do not kill our own men, we are heavily outnumbered as it is."

"On this much, we can agree, Ser Richard." Willam replied, nodding his head "Has Lord Redfort's men been spotted yet by the scouts, this is as much his problem, as it is ours."

"No additional men have been spotted coming from the Redfort, my lord." the scout officer answered "Nor any forces from Gulltown."

"I see.."

"I recommend a parley, m'lord, see if they may want to negotiate." one of the officers finally said "We pull our forces backwards towards the high hill, and then the village can serve as the meeting point."

Willam folded his arms and ran his hand across his lip, he was in deep thought, before looking for someone who agreed with the officer's idea.

"I agree, my lord." Ser Richard spoke up "We can avoid countless deaths on the battlefield if they are willing to leave our lands for a price, I say we give them something."

"Why would I give these savages anything? They killed our people, the only thing I am willing to give is a sword through the chest for each and every one of them." Willam spat, think further of a plan.

 "What if I challenge their leader to the death? It will prevent a battle from taking place, and if its anything that these savages respect, it is a fight."

"And if you were to lose, lord?" one of the other officers commented.

"The warrior is with me, Ser." Willam smiled "I have nothing to fear, for he will not sentence me to die on this day"

"I will order our scouts to watch for reinforcements from both Gulltown and Redfort, my lord, there is still hope that they may yet come."

"Send an envoy to the clansmen, and pull our men back on the outskirts of the village, near to the high hill."

"At once, my lord."

Willam sat waiting on his horse on the main road within the village, he could see the enemy forces from his position, it had been a while since they sent an envoy to recommend negotiations between the two parties and they had not seen him since.

He finally saw movement from the opposing force, three men on horseback and what appeared to be their envoy tailing behind tied up by his hands, Willam looked back to the two officers that stayed with him, Ser Richard and Ser Jasper, with concern in his eyes.

At closer view, the man in the centre appeared to be the leader of the forces; he had a long furred coat drapped over his shoulders and trailed down to his boots, with plated armor underneath, which caught Willam's interest and made him raise his brow in confusion.

"I have come at your request, your man says you want to negotiate." he said, his voice was rather soft and pleasant, he got off from his horse and pulled the rope that connected with the envoy.

"You don't sound like a clansman; who are you?" Willam asked, paying close attention to the men on the horses beside him, they had long wavy blonde hair and from what he could see, a shade of blue eyes.

"You are very perceptive, we are not those who live up in the mountains." he pointed up towards where his army is positioned "However, most of my forces are." the man placed his hand on an axe he had on his belt "My name is Roland, Leader of the Lost Sons."

"What is a mercenary company doing leading mountain clansmen in the Vale? Should you not be in Essos?" Willam asked.

He had never heard of the company before but knew that most mercenary bands are based in Essos as that it where the most fighting is to happen.

"We are currently under contract, I cannot speak to the motives of our employer" Roland responded.

The man then grabbed out a dagger from its slot on his belt and cut the rope of the envoy, pushing him over towards Willam.

"Shall the negotiations begin? Though I would like to know the name of the man I'll be discussing whether a battle is to take place or not with."

Willam pulled himself off his horse, placing his hand on the shoulder of the envoy "Make your way back to Runestone, inform Rodrik of what has happened here, and with hope, we will be behind you."

Willam then turned his gaze to Roland, placing a hand on the pommel of his blade "Ser Willam of House Royce, and I am still quite curious, if you can not answer the question of why you are here, can you at least tell us how you gained an army of clansmen?"

"Willam Royce…hm, I was expecting to meet with your lord…shame, I always wanted to meet a Targaryen, to see what makes them so different to you and I." Roland smiled broadly as he looked back to his men.

"Tell us what you want to leave these lands, whether that is to cross back over to Essos or scurry back into the mountains, I don't care - as long as you are away from here." Willam spoke, though Roland only shook his head.

"Ahhh..I was hoping this meeting was to negotiate your surrender - that is a shame, very well, we will leave if your entire army gives us their armour and weapons." he responded, chuckling.

"So in these negotiations, you choose to jest, very well then, we have our answer, I look forward to meeting you on the field of battle." Willam sighed out of frustration, feeling he had wasted valuable time, he pulled himself up onto his horse.

"You won't defeat us, you probably came here thinking that they were only armed with stone weaponry..but you are wrong, and you will learn your mistake when the fields run red with the blood of your men, but I will be sure to kill you last, Willam Royce." Roland said.

The man's laugh was not as soft as his voice, it was menacing and all Willam could hear as he made his way back to their forces.

An hour later, Willam sat upon his horse with the other knights, watching as the men-at-arms got into position, they left the village behind and moved up towards the enemy, who had positioned themselves upon a small hill enough to give them an edge, Willam's forces remained in a shield wall as they advanced forward, as they were getting hit with arrows.

He shared eye contact with the other knights, tapping his boot against the side of his horse and trotted to the left to get a better look at the battle that was about to commence, there plan was to break the enemy line once they had clashed with their own forces from behind.

Willam soon watched as men slaughtered eachother on the field, he looked past where the battle was taking place and spotted their leader, Roland watching from afar, he shook his head, wanting so bad to join his men on the field, when it came there time to attack, he looked to his fellow knights "CHARGE!" striking the horse with the side of his boot, and charged at the enemy.

They struck at the left side of the enemy, sending the forces into disarray and allowing their men-at-arms to attack from the side completely breaking any sort of strategy from the enemy, a barrage of arrows soon came from their archers further up and while Willam was cutting down some of their forces, an arrow pierced his armour above his heart, and he fell from the horse.

Willam rose back up from the ground in the middle of the battlefield, he gripped tightly onto his blade as two clansmen came towards him, he blocked two of their attacks, smacking one in the mouth with the pommel and striking down the other, the valyrian steel cutting clean.

He was in immense pain from the arrow, snapping it in half, though did not attempt to remove it, digging his blade deep into the enemy he had previously smacked, he then swung his sword again, bringing it down on another of his opponents, and a loud scream soon followed, he could see Roland looking down on the battle he was losing and Willam attempted to make it towards him without being hit by the archers or to be struck down by one of their men on the field.

He reached Roland, having to cut down three or so more men to reach him, he was standing there with two other mercenaries from the Lost Sons, Willam was breathing heavily and was showing clear signs of suffering from his wound "ROLAND! You and me, right here, let us stop this battle before more men have to die." he pleaded to him.

"Willam Royce, I must say I am impressed, you are as fierce as they said you would be." he pointed out to the battlefield "Isn't it beautiful, watching people slaughter each other for land that they do not own." he chuckled, the cries of war on the field made it almost impossible to hear him "Kill him." he demanded, looking towards the other lost sons.

Willam gripped his blade tightly, and took one more deep breath before this clash of steel commenced, the two men made their way towards him, and he had to quickly step to the side as one striked at him with their one-handed sword, Willam returned the strike with a slash at his opponents' arm, cutting it clean off with Lamentation, and a scream of pain soon followed as the man fell to the floor.

His second opponent looked slightly worried for a moment, he was carrying a great axe that looked like it would be double his body weight, and Willam made a swift step backwards as he brought the great axe down over his head but all he hit was the ground, Willam used this as an opportunity to spin his way behind him, and slit open his throat with Lamentation from behind before falling to the ground himself, gripping at his chest.

"Is this what you wanted, Roland of the Lost Sons." he shouted, digging Lamentation into the dirt and using it to rise back up to his feet "To see your men die, and your plans to defeat us fail." 

"I beg to differ, Willam Royce, our plan is going exactly as it was planned." Roland grabbed out his own sword from the sheath on his belt, pointing it towards him "As you are about to die, I will share a secret with you; this was all a distraction." he chuckled menacingly once more.

"What are you talking about?" Willam directly asked

"Runestone..by now it should already be captured." Roland responded "I will give you an honourable death, Willam Royce, for you deserve it."

Willam got on the defensive as Roland begun a flurry of attacks, their blades clashed with each strike, though he was caught lacking when Roland's blade sliced across his lower leg, and Willam fell to the ground.

He grunted in pain, though did not have much time to think, having to shift his body left and right as Roland attempted to strike him as he lays on the ground, he mustered up the strength to get back onto his feet "Runestone? What have you done?" he took a few steps away from Roland "No, you are lying to make me lose focus."

"I assure you, I am not." Roland told him "Our employer has ensured this to be true, for we are not the only Mercenary company under their command." Roland went to strike again, and their blades collided with each other, with Rolands shattering into two pieces, for it was no match for Valyrian steel.

"Still think you will win against me, Roland." a frustrated Roland grabbed out a dagger from the back of his belt and attempted to strike at Willam.

Willam blocked the incoming attack with his sword, grabbing out his own dagger and twisting himself around behind him and holding up the blade to his throat, grunting slightly from the pain "You are going to tell me everything you know about your employer - or I will kill you." 

"I won't tell you - " his words were cut short by a hit of Lamentations pommel at the back of his head, knocking him out, Willam finally fell on his arse and threw the dagger onto the floor, watching the battlefield as his men continued to have the advantage.

He couldn't remember much after that except darkness; he soon could see again but had two healers and many of Runestone's soldiers standing over him, he must have passed out from the agony he was feeling or from blood loss.

"My Lord, stay still while we remove the arrow." he heard one of them say, his voice muffled, they turned him on his side, and all he could feel was immense pain as the arrow was pulled out, his screams followed, then darkness once again.

Their forces had set up camp while he recovered; he woke up in a small tent; his tunic and armour had been taken off, and he had a bandage wrapped around his chest and leg where he was hit.

He slowly rose to his feet, taking his time and feeling in pain with every slight movement, he opened the hatch to the tent and made his way through the camp.

"My Lord." a voice called out to him from behind; he turned around to see it was Ser Richard "We won the day, many of their men have surrendered, and we have their leader, Roland secure." 

"What of our casualties?...we must get to Runestone." he said slowly, his hand gripped to his chest "I need you to prepare whatever force we have left, I fear we do not have long." he continued, if it was true what Roland had said, he feared the worst.

"We lost about half our forces, My Lord, the enemy was not as we expected…we have not got the exact number." they shared a worried look with each other "What will we not have long for, my lord?" 

"Runestone…Roland says this was a distraction; that the real target is Runestone, if what he says is true, we must get there before it is taken." he was panicking, he felt that if he lost the castle.

Willam worried he would be looked down upon, most of all by Aerion, but it was also who was currently at Runestone that worried him, Rodrik could be killed.

High Tide

Aerion Targaryen

Aerion was given a bed chamber on the eastern side of the castle to prepare for the feast that was to take place; although he had no clothes to change into, he was given a set of Laenor's which surprisingly fit well, although more elegant than what he was used to, and perhaps too blue for his liking, though he did not expect less from the heir to Driftmark.

Gaelithox had moved closer from the beach and was now resting near to his balcony, he placed a hand on the railing and just watched as the dragon rested, feeling at peace and had a broad smile on his lips.

"We'll be gone soon." he thought to himself, though it was as if Gaelithox could hear him, opening its eyes and blinking.

"Can you hear my thoughts?" he said in their tongue, squinting his eyes, though he was soon interrupted with a knock at the door, removing himself from the balcony and back into his chambers.

"Come in." he called out.

Aerion sat at the edge of the bed, running a hand through his hair and forced a fake smile as it was Laenor who came through the doors.

"I see you fit well into the clothes." Laenor smirked, "They look good on you."

"They'll be adequate for tonight, I suppose, though you really should learn to wear a colour that is not blue." Aerion replied, despite his own clear colour choices

Laenor closed the door behind him as he then positioned himself closer to Aerion.

"I was hoping we could speak before dinner tonight? There were some things I wished to discuss that are best kept between us."

"What did you want to discuss? Must be something severe not to include Joffrey." 

"I fear I just need someone to talk to, who may understand my position somewhat." 

He took it upon himself to sit down next to Aerion on the edge of the bed.

"I have been failing the people that I love - it was my duty to protect Joffrey, and I couldn't, and now he spends his days wishing he had what he lost - his eye, and he wants justice for what happened to him, yet I can not give it."

Aerion rolled his eyes, the last thing he wanted was someone coming to him with their issues that were of no relevance to him.

"How exactly would I understand your position, Laenor? Joffrey is a grown man, it was his duty to protect you, not the other way around."

"Well..I only meant.." Laenor found it hard to find the words.

"He is your sworn shield for gods sake…he knew the risk, the only one both you and I have to protect is Rhaenyra, and your future child." Aerion interrupted.

"Don't you mean your future child, Aerion?" Laenor responded

Aerion removed himself from the bed, running a thumb over his lips as he turned from Laenor, clenching his fists in annoyance.

"I know a part of you may hate me for taking what should be your place at Rhaenyra's side, but I just want to understand why go along with this lie?"

"Me and Rhaenyra are to be wed, remember?" Aerion looked back to him "you know, when I first laid my eyes upon her, it was as if I knew that she was meant to be mine."

"Right, but you will have to hide your feelings, can you handle that?" 

"If it meant I could remain near to Rhaenyra, then yes, I would do anything for her." he replied "that is why I risk banishment or execution, if she asked me to massacre a village, or burn down a keep, I would do it in a heartbeat if it meant she was safe." 

"That…sounds like a different type of love that I am not familiar with, I can't imagine doing any of that, even for Joffrey." Laenor , rather shaken by what he had said.

Aerion couldn't help but feel sickened, was this not what everyone would do for the love of their life? He considered this the minimum.

"Well, you best muster up the strength to be able to do those things, Laenor, for Rhaenyra, she is to be the mother of your children, and if I see that you are not being a dutiful husband…or father." he said, glaring at Laenor. "I'll kill you myself, and that is the truth of it."

"Takes a brave man to say that in a castle that is not his own." Laenor spoke up, removing himself from the bed and standing to his feet .

"One could say I am the bravest of men, and among the most dangerous." Aerion smirked.

"I understand my duty, and it is not something I take lightly, Rhaenyra will be safe and well cared for as my wife, and any future children will be treated as my own." 

"I am glad we can see eye-to-eye, I don't mean threaten you." Aerion shook his head "I apologise for that, when you've lived the childhood I had, you learn not to trust so easily, to see the good in someone is to be disappointed"

"I understand your distrust of people, I go about my life hearing people speak of my so-called sins who don't care whether I can actually hear them speak of it or not, for that I do not blame you for taking the safety of the one you love into your own hands."

"Right…"

"We should make our way to the hall, I am sure the feast is already underway." Laenor said.

They hasted to the hall, and did not speak much on their way, when they arrived the feast was already taking place, with everyone already gathered speaking with each other and drinking.

"Ah, you did not get lost?!" Daemon yelled, a smirk on his lips "We feared you may have fallen from a balcony, did we not Corlys?"

"Aye, we did, if only you knew how many guests found themselves falling from a balcony.." he trailed off, and Aerion paid them no mind, seating himself between Laena and Laenor, and opposite Rhaenys, who had her attention on him, with her glare that could break glass.

Aerion's eyes trailed towards the servant as she filled up his cup, her hands shaking with nervousness and almost spilling the wine over him before he helped her keep balance.

"Calm now, girl, I do bite." he said, giving her a sweet smile, and alleviating some of the girl's fears, managing to fill his cup without incident.

"Come on now, Aerion." Corlys spoke, tapping his goblet on the table a few times "Tell us all of how you claimed such a formidable beast, I am sure it will be a song for the ages!"

The Sea Snake had clearly been drinking for a while now and was already drunk, but Aerion rose from his chair, choosing to exaggerate his experience claiming Gaelithox.

"Oh and what an adventure it was, Lord Corlys." he looked around across the table to everyone seated "the great cannibal was torching my farms, so I set forth out to deal with the beast, and all tracks led me to its nest, it was littered with the bones of the dead, and all I could see was its' menacing green eyes looking back at me."

Laena, Laenor and Corlys appeared engaged with the story while Daemon was snickering to himself and Rhaenys was less than impressed.

"And so I grabbed out my sword." he tugged at his sword on his belt "And went to strike the beast, but the tale does not end there, for it escaped from my grasps and set its eyes upon one of my villages, where it went to burn my fleet to a crisp."

"It was then that I stood up to him, and impressed with my bravery, the cannibal allowed me to climb upon its back and from then on, I had claimed it, and its name was changed to Gaelithox, named for the God of fire, stars, moon, sun and the dawn, one of the fourteen flames of Old Valyria."

Aerion raised his goblet and smirked, taking a swig of the wine and sitting back down as they clapped.

 "An exceptional tale, Aerion, this should be spoken about by all men and women alike, a story to tell your future children and grand-children." Corlys announced

"I am glad you enjoyed it, Lord Corlys."

"Let us eat, and dedicate this meal to Prince Aerion Targaryen, a fierce new dragonrider and Lord of Runestone, who has agreed to aid us in the defence of the stepstones!"

Corlys rose from his feet "To Aerion!" raising his goblet, and to that all at the table, even his own father, rose and raised their goblets as well, repeating the same words as Corlys.

"I thank you, Lord Corlys, may our alliance bring us both wealth and reward." he raised his cup slightly and then took a sip.

Aerion turned his attention to Laena.

"Lady Laena, I wondered if you wished to go riding with me after this dinner, we both ride the two largest dragons in the known world, I would love to see Vhagar in the skies."

"I too would love to see your own dragon Gaelithox, I shall see if Vhagar is up to it, her old age means she is often sleeping rather than flying." 

they were soon served with their meal, which was Salt cod with eggs and a mix of beans, onions, spinach and carrots, served with two slices of fresh bread with garlic and pepper.

Aerion was expecting the table to be filled with food as it was in Kings' Landing but he much preferred the smaller meal.

He took the bread into his hands and tugged a piece off of it and began chewing on it "I thank you for this meal, Lord Corlys." he looked to Rhaenys "And to you, Princess Rhaenys."

Aerion took another sip of his wine, then grabbed his knife and began to cut the piece of cod, spearing a piece of it with his knife and took a bite.

The meal was soon interrupted by the man who looked all too familiar from last night, the Braavosi, wearing bright silks not found often in Westeros.

"You are late.." Corlys growled, his demeanour changing as the man came to sit beside his betrothed.

"I am sorry, Lord Corlys, the seas were rough and I joined some of the men in Hull, the women have fine tits there." The smell of alcohol was heavy on him and filled the entirety of the room.

Aerion looked over to Rhaenys, who's glare seemed to have transferred from him to the Braavosi.

"Welcome to High Tide." Laena said, though Aerion could hear the disdain in her voice "I am sorry to hear about your father's demise."

"Yes - yes…it was a tragedy." the Braavosi said, flicking his fingers at her, then looking back at Corlys and even gazing at Daemon a couple times "Now…where was I? Ah yes, the tits on the women here, I sucked them right there and then."

Aerion rolled his eyes, he wanted nothing more than to shove a sword through this man, the gall to disrespect his betrothed in front of her father was exceptional.

"But no whore here will ever be as fine as one's back in Braavos." he made a gesture of squeezing large invisible tits "Oh, I can envision them now."

Daemon shared a long concerned look with Corlys before speaking up.

"Perhaps you should go back there then..hm.." the room went mute as the two locked eyes with each other "Back to your ridiculous gods, and your pathetic whores..which might I add..are not impressive at all."

"You dare speak to me in such a way? I will cut you down where you sit, who are you to insult me as you do now?" the Braavosi yelled, rising from the chair, Aerion was surprised how quickly things had escalated.

"Well I am Daemon Targaryen, brother to King of the Seven Kingdoms, and I am of true Valyrian blood, the same blood that ruled over your pathetic excuse of a country." Daemon also rose.

"You do not deserve to marry such a woman, for you have lesser blood and have no rank or resources that would be beneficial to anyone." he continued.

The Braavosi did not take the comment as well as one would expect, grabbing out his dagger and sticking it into the table, making it shake "I will not take such disrespect from the likes of you, our actions will speak for us, I challenge you to a duel!" 

Aerion was snickering at the confrontation taking place.

"What are you laughing about?" the Braavosi yelled, to which Aerion looked at the man for a moment, not uttering a single word for a short while.

"I am laughing at you, thinking that you could speak of whores while in the presence of your betrothed, and then insult my father without your head being removed in the process, you will be glad that my father will be fighting you and not me, for I would make it slow and then once I was done, I'd feed you to my dragon."

They ate in silence after his comment, Corlys looked as if he was going to snap with the simple presence of the sea lord's son.

As soon as they were finished dining, they made their way out into the courtyard where the duel was to take place, in which Aerion seated himself upon the wall, wrapped in a cloak to keep himself warm, with Laena sitting beside him.

"That really was a great experience you told us." she smiled "I can't say my claiming of Vhagar was as interesting."

"Nonsense." Aerion said "you claimed Vhagar, that is great in of itself, no matter how the claiming took place."

They each turned their focus to the two warriors, each taking their positions.

Daemon wielded Dark Sister, while the Braavosi wielded an arakh, a common weapon used by dothraki warriors, it was a curved blade about two and a half feet lond with a thick handle.

Aerion was curious as to why he decided to use that blade compared to an ordinary sword.

"I took this from a dothraki I killed." the Braavosi announced, looking at Daemon and circling him "Perhaps once I have dealt with you, I will take that shiny valyrian sword you have."

Aerion looked to Daemon's composure, for the first time he saw Daemon completely calm, and without a single hint of any sarcasm or overconfidence that the rogue was known for.

There was a long wait before the Braavosi went to strike at Daemon, which went horribly wrong as Daemon trapped his arakh, catching it at the curve and pulling it away from his hands, throwing it to the ground.

The Braavosi was completely disarmed and went to run away before Daemon stabbed Dark Sister into the back of his neck and dug so deep that it came out at the front of his throat, the duel was over so quickly.

Daemon walked up to Laena who was still seated next to Aerion, looking extremely impressed "I have killed your betrothed, my lady, I ask for your hand in marriage." he asked, lifting her hand and kissing on her knuckle, Laena looked to her father who gave a nod of the head.

"I accept, Prince Daemon." she shared a smirk with him, and Aerion rubbed his head with a finger, jumping from the wall onto his feet once more and walking back to his chambers.

Aerion was happy for them, but he could help but feel sad for his own mother, who had been married to him for years and they hated each other.

He woke up the following morning and the only thing on his mind was to leave, he made his way to Gaelithox, though was stopped by Daemon on the way, as if he knew he was going to leave.

"I see you are up early, is this where you bid me farewell, son, are you not going to stay for a few nights until me and Laena are wed in the sept of High Tide?"

"Father, you understand why I can not witness such an event, I wish you the best with this marriage, truly I do, I hope it brings you the happiness you did not have with my mother." Aerion explained "But I must return to Runestone."

"Very well." he patted Aerion on the shoulder "I shall join you at Runestone once I have wed, then we can prepare for the war to come."

They said their farewells and Aerion climbed his way up onto the dragon's saddle "To Runestone, Gaelithox, it is time we travelled home." he said, patting his hand upon its' scales, then pulling on the reins, and the dragon would lift up into the skies, rising above the clouds heading north towards Runestone.

Aerion loved the feeling of the wind on his face, it was where he felt the most freedom, however he longed for a flying companion, while it was nice to speak with Gaelithox, he never received an answer in return, he somewhat looked forward to his father taking the skies with him again.

When he reached Runestone, Gaelithox settled down on a patch of land near to the castle, he climbed down the roped ladder, laying his head on its' side "I will be back soon, and bring you a fine sheep or two."

He was met with three guards wearing his household armor "My Lord, it is good to see you have finally returned, Ser Rodrik has asked we escort you to the Great Hall."

Aerion gave them a glance over, noticing their armour had blood stains on the arms and chest piece, and was reluctant to go with them.

"Come, my lord, we must make haste." One of them went to grab him by the arm, and that is when he realised something was truly wrong, swiftly grabbing out his dagger and slitting the man's throat.

He pulled out Goldfyre from his belt, and cut down the other two before they could even react, kneeling down and searching the body of the first man that had spoken to him, finding a note in his pouch.

"Keep watch for the forces led by Willam Royce to the west, and then inform the boss once they have been spotted ~ Roach"  he said aloud.

Aerion scrunched up the paper and throwing it on the floor, before running up to Gaelithox and climbing upon its' back once more "Fly, Gaelithox, we travel west."

They followed the road west to find the army that the note had mentioned, it was a days travel on foot, and a few hours in the air before he came across a large travelling party, he flew overhead and saw the soldiers looking up, and they came to a halt.

Gaelithox landed not far from the party, and he made his way to them once he had climbed off the dragon, they wore the coat-of-arms of House Royce. 

"I need to see Willam, now." he asked one of the soldiers, who bowed his head and led him to the front of the travelling party.

Willam looked worse for wear when he found him, his face was covered in mud and blood and they went for an immediate embrace when they locked eyes to one enough, though he flinched slightly.

"Aerion! You have returned, I feared the worst, brother."

Aerion placed a hand upon Willam's neck, smiling greatly and locking their foreheads together "I did it, Willam, I claimed a dragon after so long, I have brought power back to Runestone."

Aerion soon unlocked his forehead from Willam "Runestone has been overtaken, I found a letter written by someone called Roach, why were you not there?"

"I..I went to deal with the clansmen situation, they raided another village, when we arrived there, it was worse than my deepest fear, it was mere distraction to lure us away from Runestone, I had hoped we would arrive before it was taken..I am so sorry."

"Fuck…"

"But I saw your dragon…maybe they'll surrender if they know they are up against you."

Willam explained everything about the mercenary company, and how they had clansmen under their command, and also about Roland and told him that they captured him, to which Aerion asked to see him, he was pulled from one of the many cages that held the prisoners and was brought to him.

"Your name is Roland, I hear, and you lead the Lost Sons." Aerion spoke to him, sitting down on a chair "You know who I am?" he asked him.

"Aye, Prince Aerion Targaryen, we did much research on you, and have been watching your movements for months, that was until you left these lands." he spat at Aerion "If you are looking to get information from me, I ain't telling."

"Willam, pass me your knife." Aerion said, to which Willam did as commanded, passing him his knife "there are other ways of gaining information than talking; I much prefer to talk though, it means less blood on my hands by the end of it."

Aerion twirled the knife in his hand as he glared at the man.

"So, let me ask the first question, who sent you?"

"You best know how to use that knife, because I am not telling -" he was cut short by his own scream as Aerion plunged the knife into his knee.

"You fucker!" Roland cried out.

"I don't recommend you test me, Roland, I can be quite persuasive when I want to - for I don't believe in killing an enemy immediately, I like it nice and slow.." he said, pushing the knife further towards the top of his leg, Roland screamed more.

"Now..tell me, who sent you?!" he shouted

"I..I only got a nickname, they call him the bronze giant…that is all I know, I swear." Aerion pulled out the knife from his leg, looking back to Willam.

"Gunthor…" Aerion said "How many more cousins will come to bite me."

"How did he get the clansmen on his side, TELL ME!" Aerion yelled.

"There is another, I have only seen him once but I don't know who he is, he promised them that if they help him take the Vale, he will give lands back to them, and they will freely be able to worship their own gods." Aerion rose from his chair, and patted Roland's shoulder.

"That wasn't so hard now, was it." he said, looking to Willam "Lock him back up with the other prisoners, and send an envoy to Lord Redfort, I will need him if I am to take this castle back." he took a deep breath.

He felt foolish to have left his lands to be captured by an enemy force, though whoever this other mystery figure is, clearly does not care about angering the king with this rebellion, but to what end.